Many of the changes in Archicad 25 come in the form of small updates that improve the visualization workflows. Surface textures can be used in section and elevation views, while soft shadows can add depth without additional rendering. Graphisoft also has expanded the asset library of 3D parametric objects for designing interior spaces. 

Pushing BIM models to other rendering environments from Archicad has been improved with new integrations. Earlier this year, Archicad got a linkage into Nvidia’s Omniverse platform, a cloud-based collaborative rendering environment that lets users from different types of design software work on the same model. Omniverse already has integrations with BIM design software suites from Autodesk and Bentley Systems. 

Archicad 25 will include a larger asset library for populating BIM designs.
Photo courtesy of Graphisoft

Graphisoft also is offering an integration into the GPU-accelerated rendering engine Redshift, which is made by its sister company, Maxon. Redshift is a popular rendering engine that is often used for creating photorealistic environments.

“With the design of buildings, there are lots of different ways architects and engineers want to visualize their work,” says Roberts. “Having connection to Omniverse, Redshift ... sometimes it’s [about] speed, sometimes it’s photorealism. We want architects to have all of that at their disposal.” Archicad added an integration to BIM coordination software Solibri last fall, speeding the BIM quality-control process. Archicad, Maxon and Solibri are all owned by Munich-based Nemetschek Group.