Cadalyst - September 2007 - (Page 37)

cadmanager Managing 2D and 3D in the Same Office Improve productivity and keep your sanity in 2D/3D hybrid CAD workplaces. By Robert Green Root Problems So if a hybrid 2D/3D environment is something you’re likely to deal with, what are the CAD management problems you’ll face and how might you tackle those problems? I can’t identify everything that could go wrong, but I would like to share some common scenarios I see all the time: separating 2D and 3D processes defining the 2D-to-3D and 3D-to-2D interface points finding the best practices for use of your 3D software file management for complex 3D systems training and staffing decisions These vexing problems need to be tackled in a certain order if you want to gain control of the hybrid workplace. I’ll offer suggestions for each and the optimum order of attack. Y ears ago, I noticed a growing trend of mixed 2D/3D CAD use taking hold in all types of companies, and I wrote about it as part of a twopart “CAD Manager” column (www.cadalyst. com/1104cadman and www.cadalyst.com/1204cadman). What I found interesting then was that 3D wasn’t replacing 2D; instead, it was augmenting and living alongside to form what I call the 2D/3D hybrid CAD environment. After some substantial industry changes, I’m revisiting the topic of hybrid offices to pass along some helpful hints for improving productivity while retaining your sanity in these sometimes-confusing CAD workplaces. Why It Happened, Why It Continues When I first examined the phenomenon four years ago, I concluded that hybrid CAD came to fruition because 3D CAD was harder and more expensive to implement than we were led to believe. It turned out that teaching people to abandon their familiar AutoCAD or MicroStation software to learn something totally new required hard work on users’ parts and a lot of adaptation by CAD managers. Add to these issues the cost of higher-end hardware, challenges with training and implementation, schedule effects caused by learning-curve time, and plain old human desire to avoid change, and it’s easy to see why the rosy assessments of overnight transition to 3D software gave way to slower, evolutionary adoption. Four years later, 3D has made more inroads, and more companies are using 3D design tools. But the 2D CAD tools have not gone away. In fact, the reasons companies cite for having hybrid CAD environments today are exactly the same as they were four years ago. Although some factors (such as hardware cost) have become less vexing, the main culprits that keep 3D from widespread adoption are long learning curves, training costs, and a lack of skilled staffers available in the labor market. Bottom line: it’s still expensive to implement 3D technology, so 2D is still with us, albeit a little less so. Get Smart and Plan More Before you can manage any of the problems I’ve listed, you need to understand your CAD software completely. More importantly, you need to plan for how those systems will work together. For example, if you worked in a Revit/AutoCAD hybrid environment and understood everything about the two systems but never thought about how project information would flow in the various information formats, you’d preside over a train wreck in short order. Everything you do must be geared toward blending multiple pieces of software into a single, functional CAD environment. Those who manage hybrid environments capably are always trying to learn everything they can, but they never lose sight of the fact that planning how everything will work together is more important than all the bits, bytes, and feature-speak they read about. Training and Staffing Decisions One thing that I’ve noticed without fail since I’ve been tracking the hybrid CAD office is that nothing determines your eventual success as much as your staff. Simply put, you can buy all the hardware, software, and network tools you’d like, but you’ll have nothing but problems without good people that are correctly deployed. Here are some pointers I’ve found to be very helpful in developing 3D expertise over the years: 37 www.cadalyst.com | cadalyst | September 2007 http://www.cadalyst.com/1104cadman http://www.cadalyst.com/1204cadman http://www.cadalyst.com/1104cadman http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - September 2007

Contents Editor's Window Techtrends: Resurrecting an Unforgettable Second Living Large UGS Solid Edge v20 Adobe Acrobat 3D v8 Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended CAD Manager: Managing 2D and 3D in the Same Office MCAD Modeling: Where is MCAD Going? AEC in Focus: Automated Estimating and Scheduling Using BIM CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes CADfidential

Cadalyst - September 2007

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