Another BIM Solution

When people talk about BIM software they tend to talk about Revit or the Autodesk Suite of software. Revit is a brilliant product without doubt but like every software it has its issues.

I have an Autodesk and Bentley background having used and trained numerous products from both sides of the fence for over 20 years. Over the last while I have been talking to clients both here and the UK and Bentley AECOSYM (pronounced Ecosym) has come up in discussion.

As I have mentioned earlier AECOsym  is a product Bentley systems are the company that developed the CAD product MicroStation which is the main competitor to AutoCAD.  Now Bentley have come up with a multi-discipline solution for BIM projects in AECOsym. This tool includes tools for Architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical and multi-discipline coordination.

AECOsym  uses a what is known as a federated approach to BIM which means that a building and its data do not need to be centralised in one single model. This gives a lot of flexibility and makes it possible to work on much larger project and enabling large teams to also work on the project. This is a slightly different approach then Revit.

AECOSym supports dwg, IFC, point clouds and Revit families. So it can work well in an open BIM project. Bentley have also developed their own open file format called i-models for exchange between Bentley products. They have also created a free tool to create i-models from Revit and 3D PDF.  AECOsym will also link directly to structural analysis packages such as RAM and Staad. It also integrates with Bentley projectwise which is used in a lot of companies for project collaboration and managing engineering documentation.

AECOsym can run clash detection, group clashs add suppression rules to add and manage clashes, clashes can also be exported to excel. This can be done without the need of a third party product.

I know people will ask me which is better Revit or AECOsym. But the answer is never that simple. It depends on numerous factors such as the particular project, the deliverables required, the type of workflow required. It is good to see another company with multi-discipline approach and I think competition can only be good for the market.

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If you have any questions on anything in this blog or any other blog please feel free to contact me at dan@siscin.ie

Dan Deery is a director of Siscín which is a company based in Ireland specialising in BIM Consultancy, 3D modelling Animation and Visualisation. Siscín have worked on many different projects across the world. For more info on Siscín and their services check out their web site on www.siscin.ie or contact info@siscin.ie.