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Stable Diffusion is an advanced AI text-to-image generator that can create incredibly coherent images from a text prompt. Created by the researchers and engineers from Stability AI, CompVis, and LAION, “Stable Diffusion” claimed the crown from Craiyon, formerly known as DALL·E-Mini, to be the new state-of-the-art, text-to-image, open-source model. It is primarily used to generate detailed images conditioned on text descriptions, though it can also be applied to other tasks such as inpainting, outpainting, and generating image-to-image translations guided by a text prompt. Stable Diffusion is growing up so fast. Barely three months after Stability AI introduced the image generator to the world, version 2.0 is out.

Let’s look at how you can get your hands dirty with Stable Diffusion for Free, both locally on your computer and on the web.

Diffusion Bee • Generate AI Art Locally On Mac

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Diffusion Bee is the easiest way to run Stable Diffusion locally on your Intel / M1 Mac. It comes with a one-click installer, is free, and runs locally on your computer. Once downloaded and properly installed, it requires no internet connection, and nothing gets sent to the cloud — ensuring complete data privacy. For optimal performance, it is best to install Diffusion Bee on Mac computers with 16GB of RAM. You can use Text to Image, Image to Image, In-painting, Out-painting, and Generation history features. Check out the source on Github to learn more about how all this works.

Stable Diffusion UI • Generate AI Art Locally On Windows

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Stable Diffusion UI is an easy-to-install distribution of Stable Diffusion, the leading open-source text-to-image AI software. Stable Diffusion UI installs all required software components required to run Stable Diffusion plus its own user-friendly and powerful web interface for free. No dependencies or technical knowledge is required. This version supports Text to Image, Image to Image, In-Painting, and Task Queueing feature.

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DreamStudio Beta • Generate AI Art On the Web

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While the Stable Diffusion model has been made open source by Stability AI, the DreamStudio website is a service to enable anyone to access this powerful creative tool without the need for software installation, coding knowledge, or a heavy-duty local GPU. The fees charged on DreamStudio cover the compute costs to create each image and offer 200 free points to new users. Beyond 200 free points, you have to purchase credits. Each credit costs ~$0.01 and allows you to create an image. At default settings, it’s one credit per image. Depending on the image resolution & step count you choose, this can go as low as 0.2 credits per image or as high as 28.2 credits per image. A more detailed table of credit costs is posted in the FAQ section of the website.

Replicate OpenJourney • Generate AI Art With Cloud API

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Replicate lets you run machine learning models with a cloud API, without having to understand the intricacies of machine learning or manage your own infrastructure. You can run open-source models that other people have published, or package and publish your own models. The web interface is great for getting acquainted with a model, but when you're ready to integrate a model into something like a chat bot, website, or mobile app, that's when the API comes into play. As a free user, you get a little bit of free compute time to try out the web interface and the API. Open Journey is simply Stable Diffusion model fine-tuned on Midjourney v4 images. Every model has different performance characteristics, so the number of predictions that you can run with your free compute time varies. Predictions run on Nvidia A100 GPU hardware and typically completes within 13 seconds. Just make sure to add "mdjrny-v4 style" at the beginning of each prompt.

Prompt Hero • Search the Best Prompts for Stable Diffusion & More

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Prompthero is the biggest prompt database for Stable Diffusion, DALL-E, Midjourney, and other AI image generation models. Search millions of AI-generated art images, and discover the exact words that generated them. Writing prompts for artificial intelligence is not easy. Does everything feel overwhelming and new? Dont worry! We have got this comprehensive Stable Diffusion prompt guide (also featuring other AI models like Midjourney and DALL-E!). This guide contains everything you need to know to get you from absolute zero to creating amazing images, including Stable Diffusion tips and plenty of Stable Diffusion examples.

TGIC is a community-driven platform providing concise technology education to students and professionals in the AEC industry to learn at their own pace. If you’re not a member, consider joining the community and supporting our work.

Generated Photos • AI Photos of Fake People

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Generated Photos use AI technology to create realistic, yet fake, pictures of people that you can download and use in your work as placeholders without any risk of sensitive use or right of privacy infringement. This could sound creepy - the tool includes a face generator that lets you adjust a few preferences such as gender, age, ethnicity, and background color, and then generates an image of a fake person with a unique style, matching all those parameters. Another use case is it helps reduce bias in training AI and keeps real people's biometrics anonymous.

Magic Eraser • Remove unwanted things from images in seconds

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Use AI to remove unwanted things from images in seconds. Upload an image, mark the bit you need to be removed, and download the fixed-up image. Dead simple.

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Imglarger • All-in-one AI toolkit to enhance and upscale your photos

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Imglarger is an all-in-one AI toolkit that helps you enhance and upscale images. Increases image resolution without losing quality. Imglarger employs AI upscaling algorithms and fills missing pixels to improve the quality of an image and add real detail. It has been trained through thousands of real photos before it was released. Based on deep learning and AI techniques, Imglarger can recognize any kind of photo quickly and accurately. It won’t stretch your visuals, instead, its smart algorithm will expand any image to your desired dimensions while optimizing the tone, texture, color, and clarity.

Craiyon • AI model that can draw images from any text prompt

SYNTHETIC MEDIA

OpenAI had the first impressive model for generating images with DALL·E. Craiyon, previously DALL·E mini is an attempt at reproducing those results with an open-source model. DALL·E is a 12-billion parameter version of GPT-3 trained to generate images from text descriptions, using a dataset of text–image pairs. We’ve found that it has a diverse set of capabilities, including creating anthropomorphized versions of animals and objects, combining unrelated concepts in plausible ways, rendering text, and applying transformations to existing images. See also: DALL·E 2, which generates more realistic and accurate images with 4x greater resolution.

Imagen • AI-powered batch photo editing

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

ImagenAI uses machine learning to help you batch-edit your photos in record time. This makes it an incredibly useful piece of software for anyone shooting high volumes of photos for any event. It is an incredibly intelligent tool that is able to learn your personal editing style and apply it quickly, and consistently to an entire Lightroom catalog. If you want to teach ImagenAI your personal style, you’ll need at least 5,000 edited images in the form of Lightroom catalogs in order to make your Creator Profile. If you don’t have that many edited images, do not worry – ImagenAI has several editing profiles to choose from that have been created by some truly amazing professional photographers.

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In this Computational BIM workflow, let’s take a look at how could we leverage the urban data in Open Street Maps (OSM) database to generate building contexts automatically in ArchiCAD. This is super useful for Architects/Designers to position their project site and have the surrounding buildings generated for them without having to trace and draw them one by one manually. It can save many hours of boring, mundane work.

Below is a simple 4-step process:

Step 01: Download .OSM file

OpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all over the world. OpenStreetMap emphasizes local knowledge. Contributors use aerial imagery, GPS devices, and low-tech field maps to verify that OSM is accurate and up to date - but there could be chances of slight errors - so use the below workflow with that caveat in mind.

Go to www.openstreetmap.org and search & select the extent of the map that you’d like and hit the export button. This would download an .OSM file to your selected folder.

An OSM file contains street map information in the OpenStreetMap (OSM) format. It saves XML-formatted data in the form of "nodes" (points), "ways" (connections), and "relations" (street and object properties, such as tags).

One can also cross-refer the selected context on the OSM Buildings website to view the buildings in 3D if the data is available. OSM Buildings is a free and open-source web viewer for 3D buildings. The data is based on XYZ tiles and the data format is GeoJSON with geometry projection EPSG:4326 (WGS84). For business users who’d like more premium data, head over to 3dbuildings.com.

Step 02: Install Elk grasshopper plugin

To read the .OSM file in Rhino/Grasshopper, you would need the help of the Elk plugin. Elk is a set of free tools to generate map and topographical surfaces using open source data from OpenStreetMap.org and USGS. Elk will organize and construct collections of point and tag data from .OSM file so that you can begin creating curves and other Rhino/Grasshopper geometry.

To install:

• Download the ZIP file containing all of the Elk and GDAL library files.

• Right-click the ZIP file > Properties > make sure there is no "blocked" button

• Unzip the downloaded file

• In Grasshopper, choose File > Special Folders > Components folder.

• Elk's Topography component uses the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library to read the GeoTIFF and IMG files so it will contain a larger number of files than previous versions.  For this reason, it is recommended that you copy the Elk folder with all of its GHA and DLL files to this Libraries folder rather than the individual files.

• Restart Rhino and Grasshopper

• Find the Elk components under the ‘Extra’ tab in Grasshopper

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Step 03: Set up Rhino/GH script

Now that you’ve installed the Elk plugin, you’d use the 2 components - Location & OSMData.

Location Component

The Location component is primarily for preprocessing all of the node or point data from the OSM export. It wants a file path to an OSM file as it's input and will output OSMPoints, a Point3d with an OSM defined ID, the text string of the full XML file, and the latitude and longitude domains.

OSMData Component

The OSMData component is what you use to start organizing and collecting the data from the OSM file. It defaults to selecting Building elements but can be changed to select from any of the other map features in the OSM spec by right-clicking and selecting the feature type.

For the purpose of this demonstration and also for most practical use cases, you’d want to create at the least these 4 feature types - Highways, Leisure/Open, Waterways, Buildings. Using the 3D point collections output from OSMData component, you could create open and closed polylines where appropriate.

When selecting the ‘Buildings’ feature type, you’d also get an option to create 3D buildings along with the 2D polygons. The availability of 3D data is not guaranteed and may vary from place to place.

Step 04: Setup Rhino/GH to ArchiCAD workflow

Now that you have the urban context in Rhino/Grasshopper, you could generate the same in ArchiCAD using the Grasshopper-ArchiCAD live connection plugin. This plugin provides Architects/Designers seamless bi-directional interoperability between Grasshopper and ArchiCAD and allows for very creative computational workflows. After installation of the plugin, you’d find several nodes that allow you to convert native grasshopper geometry to ArchiCAD readable geometry.

The easiest way to move 3D building massing to ArchiCAD is by using the ‘Morph’ node since it can take any mesh as an input. Since the massing will be used for providing urban context to the project site, this is an acceptable method to quickly bring the 3D massing to ArchiCAD. All the 2D geometry that represents Highways, Waterways, 2D building boundaries etc., can be moved to ArchiCAD using the ‘Polyline’ node with the 2D viewpoint set to 0.Ground Floor.

Once you have a new file open in ArchiCAD, you can kick start the interoperability process by switching on the grasshopper connection (File → Interoperability → Grasshopper Connection). As soon as the connection is established with the active grasshopper file, geometry and data will start flowing in and you can see the 2D lines and 3D massing appearing in the file.

This is a quick and effective process to automatically generate urban context in ArchiCAD using Open Street Maps & Rhino/GH.

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This Computational BIM workflow showcases how Excel could be as a Parametric Model Interface for SideFX Houdini that generates MRT Station Design in Native BIM in ARCHICAD.

This automated workflow allows Architects to iteratively prototype Singapore MRT Station layouts in BIM in a matter of minutes, using just an Excel Spreadsheet. It saved my team a ton of rework while designing the right fit for the underground station box in 2017.

Using this parametric script in SideFX Houdini, one can create any type of underground MRT station within the guidelines set by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore.

Since the team involved designers who were not familiar with the parametric design process, I had written custom scripts that will enable non-computational designers to use a simple Excel file to control a parametric model and automatically generate a native BIM model in ARCHICAD.

This workflow involves MS Excel as the parameter input interface for SideFX Houdini, which is used as the Parametric Engine that generates the lightweight BIM model. This lightweight model is then imported into Rhino/GH that then uses the GH-AC Connection plugin as an interoperability tool for creating a native BIM model in ARCHICAD. This workflow is entirely automated using a simple .BAT script that takes less than 60 seconds for the final BIM model to be generated in ARCHICAD.

I know what you’re thinking - why not use Grasshopper to write the parametric script also? Yes, that’s also possible. However, in this case, I wanted to explore using a much more advanced parametric engine like SideFX Houdini and decouple the parametric and interoperability script development.

• The .BAT file enables the conversion of Excel into .CSV file using another .VB script.

• SideFX Houdini is then launched that runs the parametric script that creates the lightweight BIM model using the parameters from .CSV file.

• This lightweight BIM model is then imported into Rhino/Grasshopper as input for the H-AC interoperability script that recognizes that new geometry has come into the model.

• It then pushes the light-weight BIM model to ARCHICAD as native elements including walls, floors, openings, doors, furniture objects, etc.

@ECHO OFFexcel-to-csv.vbs Parameter_Input.xlsx Parameter_Input.csv

ECHO Begin Excel to Houdini Automationstart happrentice Generic_MRT_Template.hipnctimeout 40taskkill /IM "happrentice.exe" /F

ECHO Begin Houdini to Rhino/GH Automation

ECHO Begin Rhino/GH to ARCHICAD Automation

cd C:\CRLE_MRT_Automation

"C:\Program Files\Rhinoceros 5 (64-bit)\System\Rhino.exe" /nosplash /runscript="-_import MRT_Output.obj enter -grasshopper editor load document open Generic_MRT_Template.gh _enter" "Generic_MRT_Template.3dm"

The entire workflow is recorded in the video below.

This webinar will give you an introduction on how to create Grasshopper components that can utilize the full potential of CPython. We will cover the connection between Grasshopper and CPython using the Livestock Template Method, so you can write components that use libraries such as NumPy, SciPy, or Pandas. Furthermore, will we get into how you can get your code to execute on a remote server.

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In 60 mins, you’ll learn:

• Create Grasshopper components that are connected to outside applications

• Speed up your Grasshopper components with CPython packages such as NumPy

• Compute your scripts on a remote server

• Organize your GHPython code so you can use programming tools like Github and PyCharm

In this webinar, we will explore the integration of Machine Learning and Parametric Models for the purpose of early design space exploration and optimization. Several case studies will be used to describe the different considerations and best-practices regarding setting up parametric models, generating and extracting data, applying learning tasks (classification vs regression), and optimizing, selecting & deploying models into production.

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In 120 mins, you’ll learn:

• A quick set up of Anaconda and libraries

• Case study 1: Parametric Energy Simulation (Machine Learning)

• Case study 2: Daylight analysis (Machine Learning)

• Case study 3: Urban solar radiation (Deep Learning)

• Thoughts and future steps

TGIC is a community-driven platform providing concise technology education to students and professionals in the AEC industry to learn at their own pace. If you’re not a member, consider joining the community and supporting our work.

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Real Estate industry is evolving in so many exciting ways with greater access to data and technologies that allow Realtors to target potential buyers, streamline searches & matches, assess risk & repairs, and ultimately take on client care. The use of artificial intelligence drastically improves matching between prospective buyers and desirable properties, thus reducing workload for the Realtors.

But, it may not be easy to completely replace the Realtor just yet. When the ATMs became popular, people thought bank tellers would disappear. But in fact, they became more valuable, simply because of the human interaction. I’ve compiled a list of five startups that hopes to disrupt the real estate industry using AI-based solutions.

Blok • Predictive Analytics for Real Estate

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Blok aims to be the leading, fully automated virtual real estate agent in the Nordics. The AI part kicks in early during the process when the company’s algorithms pull housing data to produce a price estimate. The valuation is based on factors such as the age of the apartment and its amenities, renovation year, floor level etc. Prospective buyers leave bids for the apartment through Blok's electronic bidding platform. In return, Blok gets 0.75 percent of the sales price. The concept makes apartment sales many times cheaper and faster compared to human real estate brokers.

First • Empowering Realtors with AI

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First claims it can predict which contacts within a real estate agent’s network are ready to sell a home based on a variety of factors, such as spending patterns, employment changes and income history. First helps agents identify the relationships they should be nurturing, and puts them in the right place at the right time to unlock the latent value of an agent’s network. The platform is used by more than 200 agents at major brokerages in the US and its algorithms improve the chances of a broker connecting to a potential seller by four-fold.

REX Real Estate • Replacing Realtors with AI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

REX is a technology platform that replaces the conventional real estate model with a digital alternative for home-selling. The company is a fully licensed brokerage that charges a 2% flat fee — compared to the industry standard of 5 to 6% — leveraging big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning to market homes directly to buyers instead of relying on traditional agents. REX computers crunch over a hundred thousand data points to find the likely buyers for home and targets them with digital ads.

Enodo • Automated Real Estate Underwriting

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Enodo is a predictive analytics platform for the commercial real estate industry that measures the investment grade of multifamily properties. The company’s platform enables realtors to instantly analyze new markets, test value-add strategies, and objectively compare investments. Enodo’s machine learning models can also calculate market rents, identify the rental impact on any given amenity package, and offer statistical comparisons to properties by providing a composite score.

Skyline AI • Turning Real Estate Investment to Science

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Skyline AI is a real estate investment technology using proprietary artificial intelligence to outperform commercial real estate investment benchmarks. The startup claims its platform can tell real estate investors what properties offer the best return by ingesting tons of data from more than 130 sources, analyzing over 10,000 different attributes on every property, going back up to 50 years on every multi-family property in the US.

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Digital twins are seen as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds. By turning data about a physical object into a model, we gain access to new ideas and insights. A digital twin for cities will help urban planners and policymakers visualize the insights gained from various sensor networks and use them to make informed decisions.

A typical GIS map of a utility network is not a Digital Twin. The data used in the GIS system is very often out of date moments after it is captured, meaning that it is not a true reflection of reality. However, Digital Twin is the natural evolution of GIS.

Between the sensor cloud, mobile technologies, BIM and GIS, we’re now seeing an explosion in the amount of data being created. A click on a building can show how much electricity it consumes. We can even go down to the pedestrian level, looking at accessibility, traffic and availability of shaded walkways.

Singapore is one of the latest examples of digital twins, as the entire country is currently being fully mapped out in the digital world.

Let’s take a look at five software tools that help urban planners & policymakers build real-time digital versions of their cities.

3DEXPERIENCity • 3D Collaborative Environment for Cities

DIGITAL TWIN

The 3DEXPERIENCity is the virtual double of the real existing city, capturing changes as they occur over time. Data developed at different scales can be integrated into one collaborative platform, fostering the development of effective public policies. The continuous feedback between the virtual dynamic city model and the real city ensures that both represent each other. Virtual Singapore is an online platform that gives insight into the country’s real-time functioning, and the government shares data with the private sector and the public.

CityZenith • All-in-One Digital Twin Solution for the Real Estate Industry

DIGITAL TWIN

Smart World Pro revolutionizes the way Architects and Property Owners use public, project, and property data to make better decisions during the planning, design, and operational phases of the building lifecycle. Users can aggregate BIM, CAD, CRE, and GIS tools, spreadsheets, documents, IoT and BMS sensor feeds, social media posts, etc., all in one universal 3D data platform. 

Bentley 3D Cities • Re-imagining Urban Planning

DIGITAL TWIN

The 3D Cities solution provides an integrated above- and below-ground information model of the city comprising the built environment and utility infrastructure. Manage, edit, analyze, and visualize large 3D city models for practical applications such as advanced thematic mapping, line of sight studies, noise simulations, urban planning, zoning, and 3D cadastre.

Genview 3D • Cockpit for Smart Cities

DIGITAL TWIN

By regrouping data coming from multiple sources, GenView 3D recreates a dynamic virtual representation of the city. GenView 3D provides the information restitution layer among the various solutions used for Smart Cities. It enables cities' representatives to visualize the data produced, by transforming it into valuable information such as KPIs, processes and activities, in order to ensure proper governance and smart decision-making.

SIRADEL's Smart City Explorer • Open architecture for 3D engineering and simulation 

DIGITAL TWIN

Smart City Explorer is an open and collaborative platform with advanced features for interactive 3D visualization, simulation and planning for urban infrastructure projects. It has been developed around a plugin-based architecture: an API allows connecting SIRADEL or 3rd-party simulation software to the platform. Other computational tools can also be plugged and used in an interactive way (noise, air quality, solar potential, wind…).

ArchPlus is a 3D modeling and simulation software both for mobile (IOS and Android) and standalone (Windows & Mac) platforms. It enables users to conduct wind and solar analyses (shadow range studies). Real-time airflow can be visualized with streamlines changing in size and color in adaptation with wind speed. Besides real-time shadow ranges can be seen realistically with defining location parameters like latitude & longitude.

In this webinar, the basics of natural ventilation and wind-building interaction will be shown at first to explain the many features of ArchPLUS. Then, for example, scenes at building scale and urban scale will be analyzed with ArchPLUS.

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Features

• 3D model import, view and analyze

• Solar study

• Natural Ventilation Analysis

• Building Aerodynamics Simulations

• Urban Planning

• Fire Evacuation Module

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There is an onslaught of many tools & technologies in the market for AR/VR in various stages of funding and development. Many fellow designers & architects are overwhelmed with the choice and usability of such tools in their work. With all the rising interest in XR (VR, MR, AR) in 2018, I figured I should curate a list of hardware, tools, development kits, assets and learning resources. So, this entire month will be about XR tech. Let’s take a look at five AR/VR/MR APIs and SDKs that we can use in creating content and tools for Architecture & Urban Design.

HoloSketch • Spatial layout and UX sketching app for HoloLens

AR/VR/MR

HoloSketch is an on-device spatial layout and UX sketching tool for HoloLens to help build holographic experiences. It works with a paired Bluetooth keyboard and mouse as well as gestures and voice commands. The purpose of HoloSketch is to provide a simple UX layout tool for quick visualization and iteration.

A-Frame • A Web Framework for building VR

AR/VR/MR

A-Frame is a web framework for building (VR) experiences. Originally from Mozilla, A-Frame was developed to be an easy but powerful way to develop VR content. A-Frame is based on top of HTML, making it simple to get started. But A-Frame is not just a 3D scene graph or a markup language; the core is a powerful entity-component framework that provides a declarative, extensible, and composable structure to three.js.

Networked-Aframe • Multi-user VR on the Web

AR/VR/MR

This is a web framework for building multi-user virtual reality experiences. You can now write full-featured multi-user VR experiences entirely in HTML. It is built on top of the wonderful A-Frame Cross-platform. This works on all modern Desktop and Mobile browsers, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Google Cardboard + Daydream support.

DataMesh • Mixed Reality Meets Data Science

AR/VR/MR

DataMesh is the first product built for the integration of data and Mixed Reality. METoolkit from DataMesh is an open-source Unity toolkit for developing quick, interactive mixed-reality apps for HoloLens, Surface, iPhone/iPad, Android devices, etc.

vGIS • Transform GIS data into AR/VR 

AR/VR/MR

vGIS is a platform that transforms typical GIS data into augmented-, mixed-, or virtual-reality solutions. By merging and then visualizing information from multiple sources, such as ArcGIS, Esri maps, and custom client data, vGIS delivers practical productivity tools that address real-life challenges. You can transform your data into 3D holograms to gain new insights, simplify common tasks, reduce errors and delays, and increase safety.

This webinar discusses optimization in Rhino/Grasshopper. Using benchmark results from (mostly single-objective) structural, building energy, and daylighting problems, we discover which optimization algorithms to use when, and how Opossum uses a cutting-edge, machine-learning-related algorithm to get a head-start on other algorithms.

We will see how to structurally optimize a small pavilion with Opossum 1.5 and catch a sneak preview of Opossum 2.0, which allows the visualization and interactive exploration of machine-learned fitness landscapes.

You'll receive all raw files (.zip) and will have lifetime access to the video recording.

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Opossum 1.5 is free to download. (http://www.food4rhino.com/app/opossum-optimization-solver-surrogate-models) In addition, participants will gain exclusive early-access to Opossum 2.0. (Rhino 5 and Grasshopper required).

TGIC is a community-driven platform providing concise technology education to students and professionals in the AEC industry to learn at their own pace. If you’re not a member, consider joining the community and supporting our work.

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There is an onslaught of many tools & technologies in the market for AR/VR in various stages of funding and development. Many fellow designers & architects are overwhelmed with the choice and usability of such tools in their work. With all the rising interest in XR (VR, MR, AR) in 2018, I figured I should curate a list of hardware, tools, development kits, assets and learning resources. So, this entire month will be about XR tech. Let’s take a look at five AR/VR tools that architects & designers can use in their work straightaway.

Vizible • Meet in VR in real time

AR/VR/MR

Vizible operates like GoToMeeting for VR and allows designers to create presentations, demos, and mockups via its drag-and-drop interface. Then, the presentation can be uploaded to the secure Vizible cloud and clients can be invited to the meeting via an email. Once in the meeting, built-in avatars and tools like laser pointers and measuring tapes pinpoint what is being discussed and accurately conveys it to other members of the project team or clients.

Yulio • Gaze-Tracking Technology

AR/VR/MR

Yulio Technologies has developed a new VR “gaze-tracking” heat map that accurately records where users are directing their attention. With the heat map tool, designers will be able to better understand what catches a viewer’s eye. Architects can test sightlines before construction begins. Retailers can test traffic-flow patterns and the effectiveness of displays. The tool can gather data from both VR headset views and fishtank displays (browser-based mode).

Google Blocks • Create 3D models in VR

AR/VR/MR

Blocks is a VR app that lets you easily create beautiful 3D models in VR. Starting with a simple set of shapes, a color palette, and an intuitive set of tools, you’re able to naturally and quickly create almost anything you can imagine. Google Blocks is supposed to be intuitive enough for newcomers to use, but full-featured enough to support making artistically compelling models.

Sketchbox • Rapid Prototyping for AR/VR

AR/VR/MR

Sketchbox is the first design tool crafted for AR/VR prototyping. With easy to add annotation features, your team can give immediate feedback - even non-technical people. You can also import your files, build your scenes, and transform your assets into a VR storyboard that everyone can understand. Finally, you can design for AR & VR without having to use a game engine or engage a developer.

Google Earth VR • Teleport Anywhere Across the Globe 

AR/VR/MR

With Google Earth VR, you can go anywhere in virtual reality. Whether you want to stroll along the canals of Venice, stand at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro or soar through the sky faster than a speeding bullet, there’s no shortage of things to do or ways to explore. The latest update lets you also explore Street View imagery from 85 countries right within Earth VR.

Agile energy modeling provides a framework for robust energy modeling practices based on iterative development, where the energy model evolves through collaboration between a self-organizing cross-functional team of members. The collaborative and communicative nature of agile energy modeling needs a scalable infrastructure that can support building model management, analysis as well as delivery of modeling outcomes with software tools and infrastructure solutions.

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Cloud-based energy simulation tools like BuildSimHub can provide the on-demand infrastructure to support:

• Versioning and data management of components

• Process high computational tasks

• Collaborations and communications

In this webinar, you’ll learn about Residential Engine, a parametric and algorithmic modeling tool for multifamily buildings, and see it's used on a real-life project. You'll learn about a new ground-up software application that provides users access to design algorithms from a simple and intuitive interface--no scripts, connecting nodes, or coding required. Finally, you'll also be introduced to the concept of Macro-BIM and how it will affect buildings moving forward.

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What is Residential Engine?

Residential Engine is a Macro-BIM Software application, built from scratch in the C programming language, by Building Forge. Residential Engine, in its current form, is the first step to creating a generative design platform that is accessible and easy to use for designers and developers. The long term vision for Residential Engine encompasses cloud computing and building design optimization from the onset of the design process.

In 60 minutes, you'll learn:

1. Introduction to Macro-BIM

2. Algorithmically generate a building diagram

3. Parametrically adjust the building diagram

4. Strategies to boost housing unit yield

5. Analysis of Macro-BIM data

   + Bonus PRO Tips

TGIC is a community-driven platform providing concise technology education to students and professionals in the AEC industry to learn at their own pace. If you’re not a member, consider joining the community and supporting our work.

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There is a growing demand for platforms that allow you to search for new construction projects, both public and private, in your area and globally. These platforms also provide information on the construction progress from planning to realization. This can be very useful to architects, developers & realtors to track projects in their area of interest, create strategic partnerships and learn more about what companies they’re interested in are up to. Let’s take a look at five such tools that have an automated lead search engine powered by reliable real-world data.

Construct-A-Lead • Connects users to large-scale construction projects

PROJECT DATABASE

Construct-A-Lead’s comprehensive online construction database offers the information you need to compete in the multi-billion dollar construction arena. Find all types of large scale commercial construction projects, including those hidden, private project leads, to help you grow your business.

CitieSense • Track development activity in your City

PROJECT DATABASE

Citiesense is a map-based platform designed to help communities improve their neighborhoods by enabling them to access, manage and share information about specific areas in their city. It organizes data into four main categories for analysis: property details, land use, market activity, and socio-economic/demographic data.

Building Radar • Spot projects 2 years before construction starts

PROJECT DATABASE

Building Radar is a leading satellite-supported search engine for construction projects worldwide, providing leads, analytics, and notifications on new and ongoing construction projects. It uses search algorithms with machine learning, geo-informatics, and satellite image analysis to provide real-time information on more than a million construction projects.

SmartBuild Asia • 16,000+ projects in Singapore

PROJECT DATABASE

SmartBuild Asia gathered 37,600+ companies in a single construction portal. This gives companies the opportunity to search within up to 500 data fields from 25+ trusted data sources in Singapore construction. They integrate all this data with a very powerful search engine that allows members to refine searches using 100+ construction focused filters. At every step, it helps construction contractors and suppliers to improve productivity.

Site Identify • Off-market development opportunities 

PROJECT DATABASE

Site Identify makes it easy for developers and brokers to target ideal off-market development and land acquisition opportunities. It provides them the power of both advanced geo-spatial analytics and GIS, without burdening them with the complexities of a traditional GIS platform. Site Identify's new scan function can help you target neighborhoods based on demographics and many other characteristics.

In this webinar, you'll learn a computational workflow to transfer a complex parametric roof canopy design in Rhino/GH to Revit for BIM implementation without using any special plugins. To demonstrate this workflow, we'll take inspiration from the canopy of one of Sydney’s iconic buildings, 580 George Street, designed by FJMT with the help of AR-MA as our design case.

You'll receive all raw files (.zip) and will have lifetime access to the video recording.

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In 60 minutes, you'll learn how to:

1. Set up the initial design conditions in Rhino

2. Reference the objects in Grasshopper

3. Surface deconstruction & panelization

4. Create Unique Identifiers

5. Create Adaptive points using Dynamo

6. Assign parameter transfer from Rhino to Revit

   + Bonus PRO Tips

TGIC is a community-driven platform providing concise technology education to students and professionals in the AEC industry to learn at their own pace. If you’re not a member, consider joining the community and supporting our work.

Subscribe now

APIs for cities are increasingly becoming essential for smart urban planning because it can give us a real-time understanding of what cities feel like moment to moment rather than a decade to decade. Let’s take a look at a few APIs that help us better understand how cities work and could potentially alter how planners and policymakers engage with urban areas.

Topos Similarity Index • Transforming the way we understand cities with AI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Pulling data from a wide variety of technologies and disciplines — computer vision, natural language processing, network science, machine learning, statistics, topology, urbanism, data visualization, and information design — Topos are creating a transformative, globally scalable platform for understanding urban life and the culture of neighborhoods. Topos Similarity Index (TSI) takes 50+ heterogeneous data sources and integrates these inputs into a single normalized similarity metric.

TransitFlow • Visualizing transit frequency from the command line

DATA MAPPING

Analyzing transit frequency in an intuitive way can be difficult. Static transit maps provide geographic context but do not give any information about frequency. Timetables provide information about frequency but can be overwhelming, unintuitive, and lacking geographic context. Perhaps we can use spatial-temporal visualization to combine the spatial information of a static transit map with the temporal information of a timetable, and make it easier to think and talk about transit frequency!

Coord • The API layer for the urban transportation market

DATA MAPPING

Coord provides developers with APIs to access curb-related data around loading and passenger pick-up zones, street-parking rules, bus stops, and more for New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Integration through the API makes it easy for a navigation app to show users which blocks have ride-hail pick-up zones, for example. Developers can also test out street regulations for Seattle using Curb API.

TopoTopo • Data-Driven 3D Topography Puzzle

DATA MAPPING

HUSH used the geographic, open-source data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), and parsed the data using Google Maps APIs, to make it simple for users to search for virtually any location on our planet. Just type in the name of a location, and the TopoTopo interface makes a 3D visualization that can be customized and explored. Once you’re done playing with the design, select ‘puzzle preferences,’ and you can have your chosen location 3D printed in a number of materials, and shipped right to your door in a customized 5″ topographically-accurate puzzle memento.

MapD • Interactive Analytics at Scale 

DATA MAPPING

MapD has radically reinvented analytics by enabling you to explore data at the speed of thought. Even as your data grows to a size that makes other tools slow to a crawl, MapD allows you to instantly interact with up to billions of records. The speed and ease-of-use of MapD mean you can start exploring your data and finding hidden insights straight away.

How many times has someone told you that Rhino is the most efficient 3D modeling tool for Architects? Well, they are absolutely right. And how many times have you thought that there’s nothing like Revit to control your BIM data? That is also right. Now, have you ever heard that Rhino and Revit won’t communicate with each other? Well, that is not true.

This webinar will explore some key strategies and techniques to make this communication as seamless as possible, exploiting the strengths of both the tools using a cloud-based data exchange software called Flux.

You'll receive all raw files (.zip) and will have lifetime access to the video recording.

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In 60 minutes, you'll learn:

• How to move a building project from Rhino to Revit?

• How to identify what’s relevant to your workflow?

• How to use Flux to streamline interoperability?

• How to extract relevant data from Revit and send it to Rhino?

• Explore workflows to import, recreate and verify complex paneling options

• How to keep your Grasshopper specialist in the loop while you’re working on a BIM environment?

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to perform a quantitative analysis of urban space using various components from the DeCodingSpaces Toolkit for Rhino/GH on a real-life project. You’ll learn how to analyze Street Networks effectively to compute real-life phenomena such as the distribution of functions in a city or the movement patterns of citizens. Finally, you’ll also be introduced to the various methods for the synthesis of urban morphology (street networks, plots, and buildings) and how they connect to the analysis methods.

You'll receive all raw files (.zip) + life-time access to the video recording.

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In 90 minutes, you'll learn:

1. Introduction to urban analysis and synthesis methods

2. Overview of the DeCodingSpaces-Toolbox for Rhino/GH

3. How to use Isovist Analysis in Rhino/GH

4. Understanding of network analysis methods

5. How to compute shortest paths, centrality, and accessibility

6. How to synthesize street networks, parcels, and buildings

   + Bonus PRO Tips

What is DeCodingSpaces-Toolbox?

The DeCodingSpaces-Toolbox for Grasshopper is a collection of analytical and generative components for algorithmic architectural and urban planning. The toolbox is free software released by the Computational Planning Group (CPlan) and is a result of long term collaboration between academic institutions and praxis partners across the globe with the common goal to increase the efficiency and quality of architecture and urban planning. It integrates established urban analysis methods, extend them with new features, and introduces new methods for the analysis and synthesis of urban morphology.

Most software solutions merely simulate the room, and provide us simulated measurements and performance. That's great, but it tells us very little about how to improve a room. What we need is a design tool that can help us understand why a room sounds the way it is, and figure out how could we improve it. This is where an open-source solution like Pachyderm shines.

You'll receive all raw files (.zip) and lifetime access to the video recording.

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In 60 minutes, you'll learn:

1. The basics of room acoustics.

2. How and when to apply acoustical modelling.

3. Acoustical materials and the optimal scale of modeled elements.

4. What kinds of problems acoustical modelling is well-suited to.

5. How to study not just simulated impulse response, but also room geometry and wave propagation.

   + Bonus PRO Tips