Tekla's BIMsight 1.4 Released

I've not mentioned subsequent updates for this IFC based model viewer since my original post when it first became available. I received an email the other day letting me know that they released version 1.4.

This release includes enhanced presentation tools and they are really pleased to provide a new dedicated UI for Windows tablets! That should help focus effort on field applications?

A day late and dollar short, they ran two webinars yesterday...should have mentioned this sooner, sorry!

If you'd like to check out some images, CLICK HERE.
Want to read their PRESS Release?

Tekla BIMsight - Free divided by Free is still Free!

Another item that came from attending BIMForum Winter 2011, Tekla BIMsight. I admit that my first reaction to hearing the name was, "Oh, a cloud sharing/viewing solution?" Then I saw the spelling of the name.

Using price alone, if we compare Autodesk's Navisworks Manage and Tekla BIMsight:

Navisworks Manage: $10k-ish (USD) $1.5k yearly subscription
Tekla BIMsight: $0.0k (USD) aka FREE (no subscription)

Okay, if BIMsight doesn't do everything that Navisworks does how fair is that?
Consider this comparison then:

I spoke to Andy Dickey (Business Manager - Construction North America) for a couple minutes and he said that it is Tekla's "bully pulpit" for IFC. The files that are supported by BIMsight are: .ifc, .ifcxml, .ifczip, .dwg, .dgn, .xml. That is a lot less than Navisworks but the price is a lot less too eh? Seems to me, between price and features, that Tekla is throwing down the IFC and price gauntlet? Here's a screen capture of their sample "model" which is comprised of 8 IFC files and 1 dwg file.

As for IFC, if people want to use the viewer and their IFC export data doesn't live up to expectations then it will put more pressure on each software developer to improve it. That's the assumption/expectation anyway. Revit will have some issues I'm sure as others will too. If they are successful applying pressure and it working then perhaps my concerns about IFC will be unfounded.

Triva department: The download is 46 MB. Revit's early releases were about the same size, been a long time since though. Interesting to me that a "viewer" tool is the same size download as early Revit. Though download file size is hardly a real measuring stick.

[Update 03/16/2011: 64bit Version now Available]