Two New Products in GRAITEC’s Advance 2016 Suite Release

Revit Powerpack includes a tool to create 3D views of specific sections or each building level. Expand levels of the 3D view with the Levels Displacement tool and reset the split view.

GRAITEC, founded in 1986 and headquartered in France, is a developer of structural steel and civil engineering software used in architecture and construction. I have some familiarity with GRAITEC since I reviewed and wrote about its Advance Steel software on different occasions, before it became an Autodesk product (see press release). My experiences with its software have been positive ones. Because of this, I was excited to hear about the new release of its Advance 2016 suite, which includes two new products — an extension for Autodesk Revit, and a steel production management information system (MIS) — along with two products included in previous releases.

The full suite is comprised of Advance Workshop, Advance PowerPack for Autodesk Revit, Advance PowerPack for Autodesk Advance Steel and Advance Design.

Advance Workshop, GRAITEC’s new steel fabrication MIS was designed for steel fabricators of all sizes to help manage every step of the fabrication process from raw material stock to labor and CNC processes. It is similar to an enterprise resource management (ERM) system, although Advance Workshop links directly to Autodesk Advance Steel. It allows the system to access and use 3D data from the detailing software. This helps increase production and lower costs.

Advance PowerPack for Autodesk Revit is another new application for Revit users of all disciplines. It offers tools for more efficient modeling, controlling annotations and dimensions, importing data from Excel, exporting to .DWG format and the ability to share BIM models between Autodesk Revit and Advance Design.

Advance PowerPack for Autodesk Advance Steel has been included in previous releases. The 2016 version offers enhancements and new tools such as cloud connectivity, new floor covering macro, added localized manufacturer profiles, more intelligent and automated templates, a new user-friendly ribbon and improvements to many of the existing tools. These are all designed to “enhance the user experience and project design workflow.”

Advance Design, also previously included, was developed for “industry professionals that require a superior solution for the structural analysis and design of reinforced concrete and steel structures.” Its features include modeling tools, finite element analysis, automated reports and top-level design wizards. The new release of Advance Design includes an ergonomic ribbon-based interface, new design codes to expand the software’s reach to additional global markets and a “bi-direction link between Advance Design and Autodesk Revit was updated to enable the sharing of BIM models containing building performance data.”