Which building information is best conveyed in 3D, and which still requires 2D?
◦ Which stakeholders need 2D drawings, and why has that not gone away? I think contractors, site builders, and city code officials need to be able to see them in 2D, it’s easier to read . More importantly, 2D drawings act as a stable contract that can be signed, stamped, and cannot be accidentally modified by pressing a key.
◦ Give an example of something in your building a 3D view fails to communicate. Showing the raw colors, textures, and more aesthetic design. In 2D, I can easily draw or color a flat surface without any issues. In 3D, trying to load realistic materials and textures makes the file way too heavy for the computer to handle, so 2D actually excels at showcasing the look without the lag.
The same location needs to be shown differently to different audiences.
◦ How would information at one spot be filtered for a client, a contractor, a code official and a fabricator? I think it all should look different depending on the audience. For example, at one specific wall location, the client only sees color finishes and furniture to understand how their house/building would look. The contractor sees that same wall with numbers and labels to know how to build it. The building inspector sees that wall highlighted for fire safety and legal regulations. The fabricator sees a massive close-up of the metal bolts inside that wall so they can make the parts in their workshop.
◦ What is the risk of showing everyone the same view? Showing only one side to everyone would end up in confusion and possibly several mistakes. The client probably wouldn’t understand or care much for the legal regulations an inspector would, a fabricator wouldn’t be able to understand the type of materials needed if only showed the walls with a design and a contractor wouldn’t really care for the material without any of the measurements.
View templates enforce consistency across a set.
◦ What goes wrong on a real project when views are configured individually? Setting up each drawing page one by one ruins the project look. The drawings look messy and unprofessional because colors and line thicknesses would change from page to page. It also wastes hours of work because changing one line style means you have to click and fix dozens of pages by hand, making it easy to miss mistakes before printing.
◦ Who should own the templates and standards, and why?
The Technical Lead must lock and own the templates. If every worker changes the settings how they want, it gives opening to huge mistakes. A single owner keeps all drawings looking clean and uniform so the rest of the team can focus on designing buildings instead of fighting with the computer software.