Dear eNews reader,

In May birds hatch eggs … so does Nemetschek Scia. We are happy to announce the winners of the Nemetschek Engineering User Contest 2009 and we are proud to launch new releases of our product portfolio: Scia Engineer, Scia Steel and Allplan 2009.


Who are the Nemetschek Engineering User Contest Winners?
Amongst the 122 competing projects in the User Contest there are 8 happy winners: CSM nv (BE), Ney & Partners (BE), Mott MacDonald (CZ), IV-Consult (NL), BG-Ingénieurs Conseils (CH), Vahanen Consulting Engineers (FI), Tauw (NL) and BESIX (UAE).

The quality of the submitted projects, coming from 16 countries, is very high; we invite you to read more about the User Contest and the winning projects in the added press release. The User Contest book can be viewed and downloaded, or you can order your personal hardcopy.

Scia Steel – the steel manufacturing software of Scia – is currently being renewed. The user interface is upgraded, the handling of shipments is enhanced, the fabrication of steel plates is much improved (manual nesting, splitting, graphical output, etc) and time registration is added, all in rel. 2009. To learn more, please read 'New in Scia Steel 2009'.

And Allplan version 2009 is on the market; the focus of this new release is 'enhanced ergonomics and interoperability'.
Allplan 2009 supports a series of new file-formats and offers a solution for long-term archiving i.e. the ISO-standard PDF/A-1a.
Among the innovations there is a GEO-module for meshing up to 300.000 points, a function to map digital terrain models with ortho-photos and several improvements to steel reinforcement modelling and drawings.
To learn more, please read 'New in Allplan 2009'.

The winners of the Nemetschek Engineering User Contest 2009 are known!

Last March, an international jury, composed of specialists from the academic and business world, gathered to judge the projects of the sixth edition of the Nemetschek Engineering User Contest 2009. All projects were evaluated on originality, level of complexity, technical expertise and correct application of the used software. More international than ever; this contest was open to all users of software from the Nemetschek engineering companies i.e. Scia Engineer, Allplan Engineering, Allplan Precast, Frilo statics and Glaser -isb cad-.

Many of the participating projects illustrate how building information modelling (BIM) and other data exchange possibilities between engineering design and CAD modelling are working in practice. All 122 participating projects are bundled in a colourful book of nearly 300 pages, explaining in detail the technical challenges and how the users solved these with the help of Nemetschek Engineering Group software. This book offers all participating companies a unique opportunity to show their know-how and professionalism to the outside world. As many as 13,000 copies are printed for free distribution. You can order your free copy of the User Contest Book, browse the online flippable ebook or download it in PDF.

We sincerely congratulate all winners, nominees and participants individually.
We also invite you to read the latest press release of May, 4th.

New: Scia Engineer 2009 - the X release

Many of us find themselves in search of an elusive X factor that stands, often in a metaphorical sense, for the ultimate eXperience, for something eXtraordinary, eXceptional and absolute. When preparing the version 2009 of Scia Engineer, we focused on X factors that create first class structural software: Quality – Performance – Openness and we have made Scia Engineer 2009 - the X release.

Performance
Better memory management, one of the key X-factors in 2009, means namely the reduction in usage of computer resources, which in turn speeds up the computer response during modelling, design and optimisation of the structures. We have also optimised the Drawing Engine in Scia Engineer and got faster redrawing of the structure including additional model data such as loads, supports, etc. All this opens doors to the effective usage of Scia Engineer for the analysis of 'larger-than-ever' models.

More and more computers are equipped with 64-bit processors. For this reason, the new solver in Scia Engineer has been developed for both 32-bit and 64-bit computing. In addition, the solver is able to use all available processors in the PC hardware. Both these refinements produce faster calculation, which is mainly noticeable for big projects (with several thousands of equations). Furthermore, huge structures can be calculated using the direct solver instead of the iterative one, which again results in a reduction of the calculation time.

Openness
The openness of the system can be perceived as a support of generally accepted formats such as IFC, DWG, DXF, VRML, U3D etc. and as a support of export to PDF including 3D PDF.

On the other hand, the openness can have a broader meaning.
The X release focuses on the improvements of other means that allow for the exchange of data with third party programs via XML interface. Moreover, the users can link their own checks prepared in MS Excel© to Scia Engineer and use them the same way at other checks integrated in Scia Engineer.

We invite you to read more in the "What's new in Scia Engineer 2009" brochure.

New: Scia Steel 2009 3D+

Scia Steel offers increased functionality by adopting the latest tried and tested state of the art IT technology. Nemetschek Scia continues to offer its customers competitive advantage. Scia Steel ensures every steel project is efficiently executed throughout the whole production process so that it is on time, at reduced cost.

• Planning
• Project-management
• Nesting of plates
• Shipments

To achieve a major order of magnitude increase in the competitive advantage of our customers, development of a new generation ‘Scia Steel’ is also in full swing. Fitting perfectly within the ‘BIM’ (Building Information Modelling) approach this will put complete 3D information at the fingertips of our users. In addition to the present functionality the future version will be able to offer 4D (project with progress in time) and even 5D (project with full cost estimating) information on the project.

The following modules are already available: Project-Model-Estimating Project-Progress Project-Document-Management Scia Steel 3D+ “IFC” is now established in the building industry as the new integration standard. IFC describes the entire 3D structure; for the steel part as well as for all other construction parts (concrete, reinforcement …). Most of the commonly used CAD software for steel construction has an IFC export facility. Scia Steel uses this to visualize their CAD model and data and to add extra information: Status (drawn, approved, in production, delivered, assembled…) Management of the list of elements Production drawings, order forms... Cost accounting

Via a free definable cost accounting methodology (via XML technology) it is possible to calculate the cost automatically for each separate element and consequently for each project. This cost calculation can be used for drawing up proposals, production budgets...

More and more Scia customers use this cost accounting in conjunction with Scia Engineer. After the design of a structure it is possible to quickly draw up an estimate of the cost of the entire project. In the near future all 3D+ functionality will be available in Scia Steel.

New: Allplan 2009, "Enhanced ergonomics and interoperability"

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