Update 4

This is the fourth major update to the Vectoworks 2026 product line, and it expands on capabilities that architects, interior designers, and other creative professionals are looking for, including enhanced data-driven design workflows.

Maxon Redshift for Vectorworks is a plugin for the BIM software adding real-time, photo-realistic, GPU-accelerated raytracing to Vectorworks workflows.

“Vectorworks 2026 Update 4 reflects our ongoing commitment to empowering designers with smarter, more efficient tools,” said Vectorworks Vice President of Product Development Hugues Tsafak. “From the first iteration of phasing, supporting various project types and sizes, to enhanced sustainability dashboards and Maxon Redshift for Archviz, this release leverages our strength in data management to help designers plan, document, and visualize projects more accurately and sustainably. We remain committed to evolving these tools to meet the growing demands of modern design.”

Details

Already covered in some detail in this report on Maxon, new in Update 4 is support for Maxon Redshift for Vectorworks, bringing next-generation visualization rendering features to the popular design and BIM software platform. Vectorworks is the first of the four major BIM platforms (Revit, Archicad, Vectorworks, and Bentley), used by architects worldwide, to leverage a direct integration with Maxon’s Hollywood-level Redshift rendering technology. As Redshift is available as a standalone product from Maxon, those with existing Redshift licenses can now access the integration directly from inside Vectorworks 2026, Update 4.

MORE: Maxon Enters AEC with Real-Time Rendering

Unlike export-based rendering workflows, the Maxon Redshift for Vectorworks plugin maintains a live synchronization between your Vectorworks main window and your Redshift rendering window. Geometry, lighting, cameras, and scene elements remain aligned between both environments.

Update 4 also introduces new renovation and multi-phase workflows technology. Now, a time-based dimension is embedded directly into your BIM model, assigning defined status conditions. With data visualization integration, Vectorworks 2026’s new phasing status capabilities can now control object visibility and graphic representations.

Other improvements included below in highlight format include:

• Updated Vectorworks Embodied Carbon Calculator (VECC)
• Improved Class and Layer search for AEC professionals
• Linear Material tool now includes world-based parameters for stucco and plaster
• Hedgerow tool is now fully integrated into the Styled Landscape Area object
• Refinement in Spotlight numbering device management tools for Entertainment Industry professionals using Vectorworks Spotlight 2026.
• New Cable tool insertion modes for enhanced efficiency

This update is now available for all currently released English-language versions of Vectorworks 2026 and is immediately accessible to subscription and Vectorworks Service Select customers. To install, select “Check for Updates” from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or the Help menu (Windows).

Redshift Availability

Maxon Redshift for Vectorworks, which powers the new live rendering integration in Update 4, is available as a standalone product from Maxon and can be purchased either through Vectorworks or Maxon. To use Redshift for Vectorworks, customers must create a Maxon account and purchase a Redshift subscription.

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Real-Time Redshift

Starting with sister company Vectorworks, Maxon has launched Redshift for Vectorworks, the German company’s first real-time archviz solution. Alongside this release, Redshift for Revit is also announced as an official beta launch. (There are open sign-ups here.)

Maxon Redshift is now available for Vectorworks, offering an industry competitive real-time to final render pipeline solution.

Graphisoft’s Archicad will get its real-time Redshift for Archicad later in 2026. In all cases, the new real-time Redshift solutions for architectural design tools mark a major milestone for Maxon, which has always served high-end architectural visualization users with its famed Cinema 4D solution. The new Redshift real-time technology embeds its features directly into the host design applications.

“Maxon’s tools have a rich history in media and entertainment, used by the creative teams behind so many popular Hollywood movies to create Oscar-winning visual effects,” said Nicolas Burtnyk, Maxon’s Executive VP Rendering. “Now, we’re bringing this same magic to architects and interior designers, helping them translate their vision into cinematic visual experiences worthy of big screens.”

Solution Details

Engineered for architects and interior designers, Maxon is bringing its award-winning Redshift rendering technologies straight into the AEC industry’s globally leading BIM and design solutions, beginning with global BIM/CAD solution Vectorworks.

An example of Maxon Redshift’s rendering quality.

Redshift for Vectorworks launches alongside the release of Vectorworks 2026 Update 4. The solution allows users to smoothly move from real-time design previews to high-end, photorealistic renders all within the same unified ecosystem. Redshift for Revit (now in beta) and Redshift for Archicad will be released later in 2026, with further launches planned for 2027.

Technicals include:

• Archviz in real-time — Architects can visualize designs instantly in real time, then elevate scenes using the same Redshift technology used in feature films – without leaving their CAD environment. Projects can be sent to Cinema 4D with a single click for advanced modeling, animation, simulation, fly-throughs, and rendering.

• Exceptional ease of adoption — Early user testing highlights a key priority: effortless setup, intuitive controls, and fast results, especially for iterative workflows where architects need to explore lighting, materials, and composition quickly.

• Intelligent, production-ready asset libraries — Maxon’s platform includes a vast library of assets known as “Capsules” – materials, plants, furniture, and environmental elements – updated monthly and supported by procedural tools and AI-assisted search for rapid scene building and creative iteration. As the Archviz solution evolves, so will its library.

• Full Mac and Windows parity — Whether teams work on Mac, Windows, or a mix of both, Maxon’s AEC solution delivers consistent performance and functionality across platforms. Architects can collaborate fluidly, share files with confidence, and maintain unified workflows throughout their design-to-visualization process.

• Better value for architects and studios — Compared with market alternatives, Maxon’s first-wave AEC offering launches at a significantly more affordable price, while offering compatibility with broader DCC pipelines, including Maya and Houdini.

Maxon will be showcasing this new Redshift product line at upcoming architecture and AEC events, including the DigitalBAU (24-26 Mar 2026) and AIA26 Conference on Architecture and Design (10-13 Jun 2026), in San Diego, California.

Availability and Cost

Redshift for Vectorworks is available now for purchase through either Maxon or Vectorworks (initially only in English language, with additional language support coming soon). When bundled with Vectorworks, users can benefit from significant discounts, making it the most affordable renderer in its category.

Redshift for Revit Beta Sign Up

For readers who are Revit users and want to sign up to test out the beta, visit here.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Maxon’s Redshift renderer is a GPU-accelerated raytracing system and provides real-time raytracing. The more powerful your GPU, the faster and smoother the UX. Like several of its chief real-time rendering competitors, Redshift for Archviz—which will ship as an annual subscription and include all integration plugins—works as a plugin in a host application and brings up a second dedicated Redshift rendered window from which a side-by-side view is shown. When you rotate your building model in, say, Vectorworks, the building rotates in synch in the Redshift window. 

The visual results shift as you move around in the environment. When you stop the rendering, it up-scales in quality. We are curious how fast Redshift may be on the latest M5 Pro and M5 Max chips since they have much more powerful GPU cores with a neural accelerator in each core. We hope to speak to Maxon executives soon to learn more details about this new offering. So far, the demo results look compelling, but the market is crowded with excellent solutions. One thing we did notice is that Redshift for Archviz is priced quite low at just USD 289.00 per year. That is a compelling offer. 

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Miris is a newer 3D technology company we have never written about before that will be at Nvidia GTC as part of AI heavyweight company Coreweave (both 913). Miris will be demoing their exciting tech inside the Coreweave booth.

Miris

Miris is launching a public beta of its new 3D asset streaming platform. Miris is building the infrastructure to deliver high-fidelity 3D streaming at internet scale, and its technology sets it apart. Let’s discuss how things are a bit different right now. Developers today are forced to pick a lane: trade streaming speed for fidelity, or fidelity for reach. Miris says that neither really scales at the size of the Internet. This is the problem they are solving, delivering photo-realistic 3D at the cost (price) of 2D streamed content.

An example of Miris streaming technology in action. Notice the visual detail and quality. When zoomed in more, 3D texture data streams in real-time, zooming out purges that data, making the whole UI extremely fast while retaining high-visual fidelity.

Miris CTO Sean Looper says:

Rather than sending rendered pixels, which requires GPU infrastructure on a per-user basis, or entire asset files, which requires user downloads and asset compression, Miris uses adaptive spatial streaming to achieve sub-second load times and horizontal scaling.

Miris does this by implementing what is known as “preconditioned 3D assets” for on-demand delivery, only transmitting necessary geometry and texture data in real time. Miris features at launch:

• Sub-second load times for complex 3D assets – Even a 500MB product model loads and responds as quickly as a simple 5MB scene.
• High visual fidelity without massive client downloads – Only necessary geometric and texture data are transmitted, enabling real-time delivery.
• Internet-scale without per-user GPU costs– Since edge GPUs are not needed for every concurrent user, the architecture scales without additional infrastructure costs, supporting lower total cost of ownership compared to pixel streaming.

Miris is making it simple and cost-effective for organizations to enhance their applications’ user experience with high-fidelity 3D assets. They are doing this by tackling the four pillars of an ideal system for streamed 3D:

• Speed — sub-second load. No app to install
• Fidelity — Photorealistic quality is preserved
• Scale — Stream 3D as easily as video. Billions of viewers.
• Cost — Economics comparable to serving images.

Developers with beta access can use Miris with sample assets or their own content. Detailed documentation provides guidance on the integration process, and the entire flow is self-serve.

Miris technology in a diagram. The. steps and stacks are highlighted in stages.

Sign up for the public beta here.

About Miris

Miris is a 3D streaming infrastructure company applying the same paradigm shift to spatial content that adaptive streaming brought to video. Instead of downloading complete assets or renting cloud GPUs to render frames remotely, Miris streams spatial data that reconstructs on end-user devices in real time. Content loads in under a second, refines progressively, and scales to millions of concurrent users at CDN economics. Founded in 2024 and backed by IAG Capital Partners, Miris is headquartered in Culver City, CA. https://www.miris.com/

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Miris’ technology could be used across a wide variety of industries, including the AEC building industry, from windows to lighting to furniture. We also think this technology could enable streaming of 3D building scenes as well, but Miris did not focus its press materials or press-invite presentations in that direction. We will be following this company closely. 

The post Miris unlocks high-fidelity 3D streaming at scale appeared first on Architosh.

Collaboration

The nature of the collaboration highlights Trimble’s trusted thought leadership in AEC, and this will manifest in opportunities to contribute to architecture and design continuing education programs, event panels, research, and knowledge community engagement. AIA members also benefit from this collaboration in that they gain technical expertise, professional development, and specifically learn how to bring vision to life using Trimble’s leading 3D design software under the SketchUp brand.

Trimble’s new SketchUp AI offers new tools.

“United by a shared vision for the future of the built environment, we’re excited about the opportunities this relationship will shepherd,” said Andrew Flank, Senior Vice President of Sales, Events & Exhibitions at AIA. “Strategic partners help fund key initiatives, empowering AIA to provide valuable resources to members while upholding independence and mission alignment.”

MORE: Trimble Launches SketchUp AI—New AI-Powered Modeling

“We are committed to helping architects move their digital designs from concept to reality,” said Chris Cronin, VP & GM of Architecture, Design, and Education at Trimble. “Teaming up with AIA creates meaningful intersections between technology and practice, empowering architects to design with greater confidence, iterate faster, and deliver more resilient, high-impact outcomes for their clients and communities.”

Trimble SketchUp

Trimble provides a large range of software and digital solutions for the AEC/O industry, but SketchUp is the primary software tool that millions of architects and designers know and utilize in their creative processes.

Trimble notes, “as the creative anchor for Trimble’s mission to bridge the digital screen with the physical world, SketchUp has evolved from a standalone 3D modeling tool into a comprehensive and collaborative ecosystem.”

The post AIA Announces Strategic Sponsorship with Trimble appeared first on Architosh.

This collaboration was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Spain.

Integrated HY 3D

The HY 3D engine is developed by Tencent Cloud and trained on the company’s vast library of games. This helps artists jumpstart their creative efforts, serving as a creative and explorative starting point. Once the engine generates assets, they are fully customizable in Cinema 4D and compatible with Maxon’s broader ecosystem, including ZBrush, Redshift, and Red Giant tools.

“At Maxon, our mission has always been to empower artists,” said David McGavran, CEO of Maxon. “This partnership is about giving creators additional tools to move faster when they choose to, especially in early-stage ideation and prototyping. The artist remains in complete control of the final result. AI can assist with iteration and experimentation, but authorship and creative direction stay firmly in the hands of the creative.”

Maxon and Tencent Cloud partner on AI integration path.

Maxon’s longstanding philosophy of meeting artists where they are at means understanding that while AI technologies are de riguer artists want creative freedom and ultimately creative control. Therefore, the use of Tencent’s HY 3D integration within Cinema 4D is entirely optional. If artists prefer traditional modeling workflows, they can simply stick to that.

“Artists care deeply about authorship and originality – and so do we,” said Philip Losch, Chief Technology and AI Officer at Maxon. “Our approach is focused on responsible integration of AI capabilities into our tools. We are not building an autonomous system that creates finished art. We are applying technology that accelerates certain steps in a broader creative process that remains artist-led.”

Partnership and Availability

Cinema 4D is widely used across multiple industries and disciplines, including AEC, film and broadcast, motion graphics, advertising, product visualization, and game development. The new HY 3D integration gives users options and can help them meet tighter deadlines.

Once an asset is created, artists can refine it in ZBrush, texture and light it in Cinema 4D, and render it in Redshift renderer.

The partnership grew out of a long-standing relationship between Maxon and Tencent, including the latter’s continuous use of Maxon technologies in game development pipelines.

The integration of Tencent Cloud AI technology into Maxon tools marks a significant milestone. The HY 3D integration will be introduced later in 2026. More details will follow closer to the release date.

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Over three days, Newforma’s user conference promises plenty of learning, certifications, networking, and fun. But there is more!

A New Wave Begins

Newforma World 2026 will showcase the next generation of innovation and collaboration tools shaping the future of AEC project delivery. Attendees will uncover the latest technological advancements from Newforma, deepen their expertise with practical sessions, and connect with a wide industry of peers and experts.

Erik Qualman will be the keynote speaker. He is the best-selling author of The New Wave and a global authority on digital leadership.

“Newforma World is where the future of connected AECO work takes shape,” said Peter Cannone, chief executive officer at Newforma. “The New Wave theme reflects how Newforma and our community are embracing innovation, enhancing collaboration and elevating performance across projects of every size and complexity.”

On Tap at Newforma World 2026:

• Keynote by Erik Qualman – Qualman, a bestselling author and global authority on digital leadership, will deliver a high-energy keynote on leading through change and navigating The New Wave, transforming the AECO industry.

• Inspiring & Informative Sessions – Hear from industry pioneers and Newforma experts on trends, strategies, and breakthroughs in AECO technology.

• Interactive Workshops & Certifications – Participate in hands-on sessions, including Newforma Konekt and Newforma Project Center certification tracks to take skills to the next level.

• Networking & Connections – Build meaningful relationships at premier networking events, including the May the 4^th Welcome Reception, Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, and Newforma World Birthday Bash.

• One-on-One Expert Access – Engage directly with Newforma leadership, developers and product specialists to share feedback and learn industry best practices.

The conference is ideal for AEC industry executives, project managers, CIOs and digital design directors, IT professionals, and project team members seeking to improve workflows across project portfolios.

Registration and Pricing

Early registration is now open with special pricing available through March 13, 2026.

Visit www.newformaworld.com for complete details on registration, agenda, speakers and travel planning.

About Newforma

Boston-based Newforma sets the standard for project and information management across the global AECO industry. By centralizing communication, documents, workflows, and decision records in one connected platform, Newforma empowers teams to work smarter, collaborate better, and deliver higher-quality projects.  Discover how your firm can achieve more with Newforma at www.newforma.com.

The post Newforma World 2026 Announced—The New Wave appeared first on Architosh.

We have seen the Fusion technology Apple has used in the past for creating the “Ultra” versions of its M1, M2, and M3 chips. It skipped the M4 Ultra to focus on re-engineering Apple Silicon for the M5 line. Apple says this is the biggest chip design update since the original M-series debuted.

In this article, we will dive into details that others may miss and highlight the relevance of these chips to the AEC markets.

M5 Pro and Max

The M5 Pro and M5 Max are interesting because now the fusion technology is deployed between the Pro and Max, whereas previously it was deployed between the Max and Ultra. More than that, the division is between CPU and GPU, where before an entire Max chip was doubled using Apple Fusion to create the Ultra version.

Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max introduce a totally new Apple Silicon architectural strategy and industry-leading chip performance.

This time, the CPU for the Pro and Max is essentially the same, just binned with one core each, but the GPU die is doubled to get the Max variant from the Pro.

• The M5 Pro – 
• 5/6 – super cores
• 10/12 performance cores (18 core total max)
• 16/20 GPU cores

Or the:

• M5 Max –
• 6 – super cores
• 12 – performance cores (18 cores total)
• 32/40 GPU cores

Apple explicitly says in its press release that the “M5 Max pairs the 18-core CPU with an up-to-40-core GPU.” So the CPU and GPUs are definitely their own dies, and the GPU dies come in two sizes, and Apple may have engineered them so they are cuttable at the wafer level to control how many of each-sized GPU die they need.

Fusion Architecture Details

The new Fusion Architecture connects two dies with advanced IP blocks and maintains high bandwidth and low latency using advanced packaging. Exactly which sub-components on which die isn’t fully clear.

M5 Pro chip diagram (not official), based on Apple’s descriptions of the Apple Fusion Architecture. (Image: screen grab from Gary Explains, with Architosh-added text)

To make this efficient at the wafer level, the CPU and GPU dies would likely want to be the same die size, unless Apple engineered its chiplet so that TSMC produced the CPU and GPU dies on separate wafer runs. But how Apple achieves this at the manufacturing level isn’t really our concern, and we may learn about it eventually.

Super Cores and P Cores Only

Another interesting aspect of the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips is that they feature only performance and super cores. There are no efficiency cores for the Pro and Max. This isn’t a full departure from ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture philosophy as the super cores are larger than the performance cores, but it signals that Apple is gunning to compete with chip competitors trying to nip at its heels, especially at multicore CPU performance.

For instance, ARM competitor Qualcomm, with its Oryon architecture, only has “performance” and “prime” cores and explicitly omits traditional efficiency (or E) cores. Qualcomm’s thinking is that performance cores are efficient enough at low voltages to handle background tasks without needing purpose-built efficiency cores. Apple seems to have fully embraced this strategy as well, at least for the M5 Pro and M5 Max.

The GPU also features Neural Accelerators integrated into each GPU core. This is a game-changer for GPU performance and AI performance alike, and it shows in Apple’s AI benchmarks.

Node and Performance

The M5 Pro and M5 Max are manufactured on TSMC’s third-generation 3-nm process (N3P), which yields only a 4% improvement in transistor density but up to 30% faster multithreaded CPU performance, which is notable. GPU performance is also substantially faster than the M4 series. Even without the efficiency cores, the new node is helping Apple get up to 24 hours of battery life.

Another notable improvement is the memory speed-up. Bandwidth is now up to 307GB/s for the M5 Pro and 614GB/s for the M5 Max, with maximum memory of 64GB and 128GB, respectively.

For graphics performance, the new chips feature enhanced shader cores with second-generation dynamic caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading. Also, Apple’s third-generation ray-tracing engine is onboard these new chips, which will improve rendering performance across numerous AEC applications.

Massive Single-Core

Apple leads the world in single-core performance, and the new super cores are the world’s fastest yet. This is partly driven by increased front-end bandwidth (wider front end, new cache hierarchy, and new branch prediction technology. Apple remains hyper-focused on industry-leading IPC (instructions per clock), and the ultra-wide fetch and decoder can process more instructions simultaneously before they even reach the execution units.

Vectorworks Architect is showcased on Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max webpage. The application is a model of modern code development for OS-centric optimization across platforms, but especially macOS. Maxon’s Redshift rendering engine is also noted and featured in this image. These kinds of tools are highly single-threaded dependent for main design modeling tasks.

At the same time, the 30% improvement in multicore CPU performance is also dramatic, and we will see how the M5 Max fairs against the leading Apple Silicon chip on multithreaded performance, the M3 Ultra.

AI Performance

But beyond Fusion, Apple’s strategy of placing a Neural Accelerator into every single GPU core is another major architectural change in Apple Silicon, yielding big results. Apple says the M5 Pro and M5 Max offer over 4x peak GPU compute for AI compared to the previous M4 generation of chips. This is massive.

Additionally, the Neural Engine itself is faster than previous versions, and these chips also boast the latest Media Engine for video workflows and an industry-first Memory Integrity Enforcement and Thunderbolt 5. Learn more here.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Apple Silicon has traditionally been strongest in IPC and single-core performance, an area we have emphasized is absolutely critical to the CAD industry because CAD and 3D software are intrinsically resistant to parallelization. The entire M5 chip family continues to place emphasis on this industry leadership, which is a boon for performance-hungry BIM and CAD professionals using macOS native CAD and BIM platforms, from AutoCAD to Vectorworks and everything in between. 

It is notable that the M5 base model chip also features the same architecture core improvements, with four Super cores being paired with six Efficiency Cores. The base M5 chip maxes out its unified memory at 32 GB, which is the threshold you need to run Windows in Parallels in a professional AEC environment. This is the one regret we have, as a 48 GB option would have given the market a more affordable machine for contractors. They only need to run tools like Revit, SketchUp, and Bluebeam, along with web-based tools like Procore, but they are generally not authoring in tools like Revit. 

For architects who need access to Windows apps like Revit but prefer working on the Mac, the MacBook Pro with M5 Pro at 48 GB is an ideal starting point for a powerful mobile workstation with industry-leading snappiness across all native applications. 

Beyond all this, the new shader cores, third-gen ray-tracing engine, and Neural Accelerators in each GPU core all benefit visualization tools and workflows that architects and designers need.

The post Apple M5 Pro and M5 Max introduce new Fusion Architecture appeared first on Architosh.

New Capabilities

The updates add more than 20 new capabilities across lighting, scene population, AI materials, and more. Teams can now deliver and work within an uninterrupted workflow from ideation through review and approvals, within the Enscape design workflow.

Chaos has delivered major updates across over six products.

“Architects need to deliver more, faster, with less— while adapting to AI transformation,” said Petr Mitev, VP Product, Solutions for Designers. “Our end-to-end design and visualization workflow gives them integrated solutions that eliminate workflow friction from their first moments with Enscape to their final presentations, so they can focus on design instead of managing disconnected tools.”

Design Faster from the Start

Used throughout the architectural world, Enscape is one of the easiest ways to visualize CAD/BIM data in real time and is often most people’s entry point into the Chaos design ecosystem. Today, architects can take advantage of:

• Asset Brush Placement — Used for rapid scene population, 3D assets can now be painted into designs for refined creative control and instant visual feedback. Since assets are fully connected to the original BIM model, choices will remain consistent as projects evolve.
• Centralized Light Management — Users can now manage all of their light sources via a centralized list, removing the need for manual searches. Multiple presets can also be added to a single scene, making it easy to test, compare and refine lighting scenarios without duplicating views or breaking the workflow.
• AI Material Generator — Architects can now create custom 3D materials with real-world photos. High-resolution outputs not only support close-ups and final presentation deliverables, but encourage high-quality experimentation with finishes, surfaces and more — all without leaving the design environment.
• Consistent Assets from Design to Presentation — Assets placed in Enscape transfer cleanly into Envision, maintaining placement and quality across real-time and high-end workflows.
• Grass Visualization Improvements — More realistic grass rendering delivers denser, more natural-looking landscapes with better shading and detail.
• New Chaos Cosmos Assets — Over 1000 high-quality vegetation and branded assets – optimized for both real-time and high-end use cases – have been added to Enscape. These new assets are also designed to work seamlessly across Envision, Enscape and more.

There are also new AI-assisted ideation and design exploration features. Chaos says that AI is a rising star in AI-powered visualization and helps architects explore, ideate, and deliver moods and emotional imagery that propels projects forward through buy-in and approvals. Veras’ AI technologies work without breaking geometry or design intent.

New Cosmos assets are part of this round of updates. Over 1,000 high-quality vegetation and branded 3D assets have been added to Enscape.

Major updates include:

• Render Engine 7 — The recently released Veras 4 now comes with a new AI rendering engine powered by Google’s Nano Banana Pro. The new engine delivers cleaner, higher-fidelity images with fewer artifacts, so architects can cycle through faster ideations while working with SketchUp, Rhino, and Revit.
• Image as Input — Designers can now generate concepts using reference images like photos, plans or sketches on a napkin, offering one of the fastest ways to visualize full scenes without a prompt.
• Gallery Mode — A grid-based, thumbnail view of past renders has been added, making it easier to compare variations over time.
• New Video Presets — Twelve video presets provide render-ready animation settings for smooth, photorealistic motion, balanced lighting, and various cinematic styles.

Of course, more than Enscape obtained new updates. Chaos Envision has also been updated with significant new capabilities. The higher-end standalone visualization software that only runs on Windows and uses its own rendering engine gains several features that will help architects visualize, animate, and produce fully interactive scenes with complex multi-element interactions, such as traffic and crowds. New features include:

• Live CAD Linking — Envision now includes live links to Revit, SketchUp, and Rhino, ensuring that all changes are reflected in the original CAD file.
• Cinematic Camera Movements —  Users can now create smooth, natural camera paths with refined motion control for more polished and intentional walkthroughs.
• Animation Smoothing — Improve the flow of animations with smoother transitions and better interpolation between keyframes.
• Advanced Light Controls — Refine and adjust lighting with greater precision to achieve more accurate mood and presentation quality.
• New HDRIs — 20+ New Chaos Cosmos HDRIs expand your environment options, making it faster to set up realistic lighting and contextual backdrops.

Chaos Cloud, the software firm’s cloud service, helps teams do more together through collaboration, design reviews, and cloud rendering. Added to this are now these new abilities:

• Centralized Reviews — Chaos Cloud now helps teams share, review, and improve designs directly in the cloud, removing the need for downloads or external tools.
• 3D Streaming — Architects can now stream scenes directly from Enscape, providing full fidelity reviews from any remote location.

These features will aid architects in getting faster approvals within their workflows.

Performance Insights

Chaos has been focused on helping architects meet sustainable design objectives for several years now through its Enscape Impact product line. Impact helps teams understand energy analysis early in the design process, when larger impact decisions come more easily and with less rollback on interrelated decisions. New additions include:

• Thermal Comfort Analysis — Architects can now determine if a building will hit the sweet spot between too hot or too cold for occupants, assessing everything from air temperature to humidity in moments.
• Performance Summaries — All performance reports can now be exported and shared amongst relevant stakeholders, ensuring sustainability goals are being hit before decisions become too costly.

All of these new tools and updates benefit Chaos workflows and will help architects communicate more effectively with end users and clients. Chaos says that while each tool is designed to carry out specific workflows, sometimes from end to end, the Bulgarian-originated software firm says users should consider mixing and matching products to fully leverage the technical leadership and features Chaos offers.

New ThermalComfort measures are added to the energy-facing analysis tools for Enscape Impact. Architects can now determine and visualize thermal comfort in their designs.

New architectural design offering updates will be released on a quarterly basis. Stay tuned to Chaos’ blog and social channels for sneak peeks.

Price and Availability

The ArchDesign Collection update is available now for users with an annual license. The collection includes Enscape, Veras, Envision, Chaos Cosmos, Chaos Cloud, and Enscape Impact, and all subsequent updates as long as the subscription lasts. For full pricing details, please visit the ArchDesign Collection pricing page.

About Chaos

Founded in 1997, Chaos provides world-class visualisation and design solutions that empower creative minds to bring ideas to life.

The company serves multiple industries, including architecture and design, media and entertainment, and product e-commerce, providing an ecosystem of accessible tools that support every stage of the design and creation process. Its innovative solutions help architects, designers, VFX artists/animators, and other creative professionals share ideas, optimize workflows, and create immersive experiences.

Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, Chaos has offices in 11 cities worldwide. For more information, visit chaos.com.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Envision’s live links to SketchUp, Rhino, and Revit are a big deal and will be greatly appreciated by users of Envision and those dominant CAD/BIM platforms. The Thermal Comfort analysis with Enscape Impact is also a significant end-user benefit to architects to ensure that their designs offer thermally balanced and comfortable environments for owners and users. And finally, the Enscape streaming to Chaos Cloud is another boost for users to leverage the Chaos Cloud in their workflows. 

We have already written about Veras 4.0 with Nano Banana Pro and all that it can do. The big improvements there (and yet we have not tested this ourselves) are the engine’s better understanding of the architect’s intent, especially in holding to intentional geometry. All these updates continue to add value to architects’ workflows, and we suspect that most practices still lag in leveraging the full capabilities of Chaos’ software tools. The Architectural Design Collection (which includes Enscape, including both Veras, their AI tool, and Enscape and Enscape Impact, the latter two likely not being fully appreciated in the market) could help solve this problem by getting these tools into more users’ hands. 

The post Chaos delivers major product line updates appeared first on Architosh.

A Direct Presence

By acquiring these distributor companies, Graphisoft gains the assets it needs to operate directly in the region, serving its customers in two critical BIM markets, whilst also delivering direct customer support as the company rolls out an expanded product line.

“By welcoming our Australian and New Zealand distributors into the Graphisoft family, we accelerate growth, strengthen customer relationships, and deepen our long-term commitment to both markets,” said Daniel Csillag, CEO, Graphisoft. “The Central Innovation team brings over 30 years of market expertise, strong customer relationships, and deep insight into user expectations, further enriching our global experience and strengthening our presence in the Pacific region,” Csillag added.

Graphisoft acquires its Australian and New Zealand distributors. See our Analysis section below for more info.

“We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in expanding BIM adoption across Australia and New Zealand, and we’re confident our customers will benefit significantly from Graphisoft’s hands-on approach to support and services, as well as its long-term vision for the AEC industry,” said Shannon Reshno, COO, Central Innovation.

Continuity

Graphisoft’s customers in Australia and New Zealand will continue to work with the same teams they already know and trust, and these organizations become part of Graphisoft’s global organization.

For more information, visit graphisoft.com/en-au in Australia, and graphisoft.com/en-nz in New Zealand.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

There has been a long-term trend in the AEC software world where makers of software are acquiring regional resellers and distributors, often after decades of running these businesses. For the reseller or distributor, this often times with retirement and provides liquidity and an exit strategy, but for the customer, it often means continuity with the teams they know and the regional teams that know their markets.

Moving to the DTC (direct-to-consumer) model can offer the regional user improved access to global resources, but in Graphisoft’s case, this aspect of providing support is likely already excellently handled by these Australian and New Zealand distributors. For Graphisoft, the channel discounts they provide to distributors and resellers are now internalized, offering improved margins. Often, the distributors of CAD and BIM software offer unique packages and incentives to move product, but the days of renewing perpetual licenses are very much in the rearview mirror. 

The acquisitions of the AEC businesses of Central Innovations include the entire AEC side of their business. We assume this includes Ci Tools, the company’s own software extension package for Archicad.

A key point to note is that parts of these businesses appear to have been acquired from Central Innovations of Australia, the parent company of Intercad & Graphisoft (Australia). Here is the announcement from Central Innovations, directly. Central Innovations focuses on both AEC and manufacturing CAD solutions. Only the AEC part of the business is acquired with capabilities beyond serving Archicad, including support and solutions for Twinmotion, Solibri, and Ci Tools. Ci Tools, is an extension toolset for Archicad sold by Central Innovationthat enhances Archicad’s core functions in areas like cabinetry, 3D roof claddings, a keynoting system, a Fitout tool, and more. 

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From Alphabet X Lab

Dandelion Energy, a startup incubated within Alphabet’s X Lab, is attempting to move geothermal from a niche architectural choice to a standardized industrial product. By targeting the top 25 production homebuilders in the United States, Dandelion is not just selling geothermal systems; it is re-engineering part of the business logic of production housing, offering housing customers superior cost of ownership and heating and cooling operational costs, while also delivering other tangible benefits.

To understand how this shift is occurring, Architosh spoke with Wyatt Roberts, Vice President of New Construction at Dandelion Energy. A building scientist and Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD), Roberts is the architect of Dandelion’s expansion into the high-volume market—most notably a massive 1,500-home partnership with Lennar in the Denver metro area.

The Risk Mitigation Barrier

For a titan like Lennar, the primary hurdle to innovation is rarely the technology itself—it is the disruption of a hyper-optimized, risk-averse workflow. “They are very motivated to not have problems,” Roberts notes. “Their risk mitigation is significant, and they are conservative in adopting new technologies.”

Dandelion’s geothermal partnership with Lennar homes in this picture of a development in Colorado.

In the production homebuilding world, a single localized failure in a new HVAC system can cascade into thousands of warranty claims across a national footprint. Consequently, Dandelion’s first challenge wasn’t just proving that the earth is a stable thermal battery; it was proving that they could supply the system at a scale that matched Lennar’s pace without introducing new liabilities.

“The first hurdle was small relative to the pricing hurdle,” explains Roberts. “They were happy to give it a try as long as it didn’t cost a penny more than traditional systems. And that became our next challenge.”

De-conglomerating the Supply Chain

The traditional AEC perception is that geothermal costs roughly three times as much as a gas-fired furnace. According to Roberts, this is often a byproduct of a fragmented, multi-layered supply chain. “In the high-end home market, the GC calls his preferred HVAC subs, who then call the drillers, and they put this conglomerate together… There are all these layers of markup, and it ends up costing 2.5x – 3x more than what is possible with a traditional system.”

Dandelion’s solution is a vertically integrated design-build operation. By controlling the engineering and drilling, they have driven hard costs down by nearly 40% compared to one-off installs by driving economies of scale in their supply chain and mobilization costs. However, they focus solely on the geothermal system itself and aren’t looking to replace the builder’s trusted partners with the entire HVAC system. Instead, they act as a turn-key distributor, offering certification and installation training for the HVAC subcontractors who already work with Lennar. This allows Dandelion Energy to maintain specification control of the geothermal system while keeping the labor force familiar and the delivery model scalable.

Cracking the Cost-Basis Code: The HERS Advantage

The true breakthrough in the “cost win” for builders lies in the nuances of energy modeling and the HERS (Home Energy Rating System). In markets like Colorado and Maryland, Dandelion has leveraged incentive landscapes to bridge the cost comparison gap entirely.

In Colorado, for instance, a $25,000 whole-home energy rebate requires homes to be Energy Star Next Gen and DOE Energy-Ready. “Only $5,000 is directly attributed to the geothermal,” Roberts reveals, “but because the geothermal efficiency is so high, it allowed [Lennar] to hit other HERS rating targets with less costly building components.”

By maximizing HERS points through a geothermal system that is vastly more efficient than fossil-based systems, builders can eliminate expensive components elsewhere—such as triple-paned glass or specialized wall insulation. In effect, the geothermal system becomes a strategic asset that reduces the total construction cost of the building envelope.

The Case for Single-Home Loops

One of the most debated topics in industrialized geothermal is the choice between centralized “district” systems and individual loops. While district systems offer a certain communal elegance, Dandelion has found that for production homes, the greater economy lies in single-home systems drilled directly under the footprint of the building.

Another view of the Lennar development with geothermal deployment at scale with Dandelion.

“This eliminates the extra pumping and other equipment costs of distributing the system around an entire neighborhood,” says Roberts. “A single loop per house is more cost-efficient… and the pumping power is much lower. You can just use the pumps in the heat pump.”

The efficiency of this model is further boosted by the mobilization scale. By drilling dozens of homes simultaneously, the expensive “heavy equipment mobilization” cost is amortized across the entire neighborhood. Depending on site geology, Dandelion typically utilizes either a single 600-foot bore or two 300-foot bores to tap into the earth’s constant temperature. In Colorado, where deep earth remains in the low 50s, the system leverages a tight thermal delta—sending water out at 30°F in winter and receiving it back at 42°F—to provide the base energy for the compressor with minimal electrical lift.

Site Planning and Lifecycle Value

Beyond the balance sheet, the move to geothermal solves a significant spatial problem for the AEC professional. On modern, high-density “tiny lots,” the removal of the outdoor condenser unit is a major victory for site planning and outdoor livability. Dandelion’s system uses a packaged heat pump with an integrated air-handler, moving the entire thermal process indoors.

The result is a quantitative win for the homeowner:

• Operating Costs: Roughly half that of traditional fossil fuel systems.
• Equipment Longevity: Because the heat pump is protected indoors, it boasts a 20-25 year lifecycle, compared to the weather-beaten 10-15 years of an outdoor unit.
• Infrastructure Permanence: The ground loop piping is warranted for 60 years, effectively becoming a permanent part of the home’s real estate value.

These are substantial quantitative wins for the homeowner, especially in the near-term value of monthly energy costs.

Societal Impact and the Grid

The broader implications are staggering. A recent U.S. Department of Energy study suggests that widespread geothermal deployment could result in $1 trillion in electricity grid savings. Because geothermal reduces summer peak demand by 3-4kW and winter peak by 3-6kW, it serves as a stabilizer for a grid increasingly strained by the “electrify everything” movement. Additionally, the AI infrastructure race worldwide is further straining electric grids, compounding the “electricfy everything” movement.

“My passion is with the production builders because it makes a societal impact at the scale we are working,” Roberts concludes. By aligning the financial incentives of the builder with the performance demands of the energy grid and the pocketbooks of the homeowner, Dandelion Energy is proving that the “green premium” is a relic of the past.

In the new AEC landscape, geothermal isn’t just a sustainable choice—it’s a competitive advantage.

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This is the largest startup investment in Autodesk’s history and echoes a conviction that AI should augment, not replace, human ingenuity while going beyond text and language and entering the physical world.

World Labs

World Labs is a frontier AI research company co-founded by Dr. Fei-Fei Li (CEO), Justin Johnson, Christopher Lassner, and Ben Mildenhall. The company is focused on spatial intelligence and is a world leader in this domain of artificial intelligence. World Labs is building AI models that can perceive, generate, reason, and interact with the 3D world.

A screen capture from Autodesk’s video on its investment in World Labs. We like this image because it conjures the feeling of the unknown and the weightlessness of the promises of AI. How much weight will AI tech take off the shoulders of design professionals? But at the same time, working in the future of AI is like working in outer space. It’s that radical. (IMAGE:  Autodesk)

World Labs’ first product is called Marble, and it generates spatially consistent, high-fidelity 3D environments that you can inhabit and move through. Once created, you can also edit them as you are inhabiting them. You can also model inside them with familiar modeling tools, but in general, the feeling is a combination of traditional 3D manipulation and text-prompt-based editing and generation.

Investment from Autodesk

World Labs’ Marble platform looks especially strong in many, if not most, of the fields that Autodesk software operates, from architecture and interiors to robotics and manufacturing to gaming and entertainment. The strategic investment at a glance looks like this:

• USD 200 million in World Labs (an AI startup working at the frontier of AI)
• Autodesk’s largest startup investment to date
• A research-level / technical collaboration focused on physical-world AI and multimodal world models.

Dr. Fei-Fei Li remarks about the backing and investment by Autodesk and their strategic collaboration, saying:

“Physical AI must understand worlds, not just words. With Autodesk’s deep expertise in geometry, simulation, and real-world design, we have a uniquely complementary opportunity to ground AI in how the world is actually designed and built, for designers, builders, and creators.”

Marble’s API technology enables third-party tool providers to leverage the World Labs AI technologies in their host applications. One such application is web-based Fenestra. (see image below).

World Labs spatial intelligence AI technologies have attracted the investment interest of Autodesk, AMD, Nvidia, Fidelity, and more.

Both Marble and Fenestra are fully web-based, and both support Gaussian Splats rendering through SparkJS. When a user submits an image or text prompt using Fenestra, the web-based software connects to the Marble API and constructs a navigable 3D environment, which can be further edited and explored. Both spatial and 2D elements can coexist in supplying the AI engine the inference data it needs.

Another tool using the Marble API is Interior AI. This new tool has garnered quite a bit of publicity from top-shelf press, including the New York Times and Fast Company. We don’t like its homepage tag line, “Fire your interior designer,” and the messaging it sends, and especially think that Autodesk’s position with AI technologies is that they will complement the design professional, not eliminate them.

What Autodesk is saying is that the company wants to forge a different path for AI, as opposed to the hyperscale AI investments and centralized platforms crunching on ever larger LLMs. They write, “Our investment in World Labs represents a different path, focused on solving the hardest problems in designing, building, and operating the physical world, guided by human needs and domain expertise rather than scale alone.”

To read the blog post about the investment, go here. 

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

With a USD 1 billion funding round from heavy hitters like Nvidia and Fidelity, Autodesk’s largest-ever investment in a startup appears to be a strong strategic play. We wonder how the Marble API may interact with the new AI technologies we saw at last Fall’s Autodesk University. Those neural CAD engines were aimed at a different kind of utilization of AI technologies, but we can certainly see how multimodal AI workflows and technologies can be combined. 

World Labs says they are focusing next on fully interconnected design canvases. Fenestra is working on what they are calling an Infinite Canvas. CAD and BIM systems today already have infinite internal 3D and paper-space 2D worlds (ie, “canvases”). What we are seeing in the AEC/O market is vast, rapid advancements in the “pixel”-based technology stream of our industry. This has been the case since Midjourney and GANs. AEC pros, however, must get this pixel image-oriented or vide-oriented pixel laden content into precise and accurate parametric 2/3D vectorial data. That challenge has begun, but it’s a vital bridge piece that will greatly help the acceleration of these kinds of AI visual tools in the AEC markets (not that these tools aren’t already on fire in the market, because they are!) 

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Morpholio Acquired

The award-winning Morpholio Trace came to the AEC market after the iPad became a hit new device for AEC professionals. Over the years, other tools emerged, including Morpholio Board and Morpholio Journal—all apps for Apple’s popular iPad and iPhone. The iPad is the dominant marketshare leader for tablet computers in the United States’ construction industry.

The news means architects, interior designers, and other creative professionals can extend the design-centric workflows of both companies’ solutions from the earliest ideation and sketching all the way through complex and sophisticated Open BIM workflows with documentation and delivery.

Morpholio is now part of Vectorworks Inc, after a strategic acquisition by the Nemetschek Group’s daughter company.

“We are thrilled to welcome Morpholio to the Vectorworks portfolio,” said Vectorworks CEO Jason Pletcher. “Morpholio shares our belief that software should enhance designers’ creativity, not hinder it. By combining Vectorworks’ CAD and BIM platform with Morpholio’s expertise in mobile sketching and presentation, we are strengthening our foundation and expanding what our tools can do together, so customers gain even more freedom, confidence, and creative control in their workflows.”

Joining Forces

The founders and team members of Morpholio, who are architects and designers with a strong passion for design and quality, will now join the Vectorworks team. With Vectorworks’ global resources, scale, and commitment to innovation, the Morpholio apps will now advance even more rapidly than before, serving both the needs of existing Morpholio customers and the strategic goals of the Vectorworks platform.

“This partnership allows us to put the best of mobile together with the best of desktop and create opportunities for designers to bring the unique magic of drawing to more parts of their process,” said Morpholio Co-Founder Mark Collins. “In the years ahead, we see an opportunity to support a richer design experience where sketches, markups, BIM, and AI work seamlessly together. That’s how we unlock new creative superpowers without losing the soul of design.”

The two companies see building on existing AI technologies in Vectorworks and leveraging that to bring additional AI-ready features to Morpholio Trace via sketching, moodboarding, and presentations.

The Power of Morpholio

Morpholio Trace is widely regarded as an all-in-one drawing and design app for architects and designers, offering “scale-aware” sketching, layers, markup, and presentation-ready imagery that pair naturally with Vectorworks models and drawings. The acquisition actually formalizes an existing relationship between the two companies, including work to advance connectivity between Morpholio apps and Vectorworks Cloud Services.

Morpholio Boards serves interior designers and stylists with powerful moodboarding, product curation, and presentation tools. Interior designers use it to deliver polished deliverables to their clients.

Morpholio Journal provides a flexible digital notebook and sketchbook, giving architects and designers a place to capture ideas, notes, and visuals.

“Over the past decade, the iPad and Apple Pencil have sparked a creative renaissance for architects and designers,” said Morpholio Co-Founder Anna Kenoff. “Morpholio was founded with the vision to help define that era. While that has been an incredible beginning, we’re now ready to lead the design industry into its next creative technology revolution.”

Going Forward

For existing Morpholio users, day-to-day use of the apps remains unchanged, and customers can continue to subscribe to Morpholio Trace, Board, and Journal through the Apple App Store. Vectorworks also plans to introduce new offerings designed for larger offices collaborating across devices in Morpholio Trace and Board in the future.

“As part of the Nemetschek Group, Vectorworks’ acquisition of Morpholio is an important step in our strategy to deliver intelligent, connected, open solutions for customers across AEC brands,” said Sunil Pandita, Chief Division Officer Planning & Design, and CEO of Allplan. “Over time, we see a strong potential to expand Morpholio’s mobile sketching and presentation capabilities available to designers working in a multitude of Nemetschek applications, so more of our customers can benefit from cognitive, richer, and cohesive workflows from concept through construction.”

“I believe strongly that joining forces is not an additive operation—it’s a multiplier,” said Morpholio Co-Founder Toru Hasegawa. “Vectorworks and Morpholio coming together is not simply a sum of capabilities, but the start of a multidimensional expansion of initiatives, reach, and long-term value.”

To learn more about Morpholio, go here or here for more on Vectorworks.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary

Morpholio was founded in 2011, a year after Steve Jobs first unveiled the iPad on 27 January 2010. At that time, Architosh did a series of features focused on the revolutionary iPad because we instantly saw its potential for field work in AEC, including bringing construction drawings onto the job site as well as sketching and more. Morpholio’s founders, Mark Collins, Anna Kenoff, and Toru Hasegawa, were architects and clearly saw the same potential and more. Based in New York City (by the way, one of the strongest architectural markets for Vectorworks), Morpholio Trace was quickly recognized within the industry. We first wrote about it in 2013, including it on a list of drawing apps for the iPad. 

Winning multiple awards and honors, and being featured in the New York Times, Fast Company, TechCrunch, and Architectural Digest, among other publications, Morpholio Trace has evolved tremendously over the past decade and a half. Looking forward to the era of artificial intelligence, what is exciting about this pairing is that AI visualization tools are getting much better at staying closer to what architects are actually trying to envision, and are able to be fed hand sketches and stay quite close to the design intent in those hand sketches. 

But where were those sketches taking place? 

By and large, tools like Chaos’s Veras 4.0, which we just wrote about, and numerous other AI-powered visualization tools, including Vectorworks’s own AI Visualizer, can leverage hand sketches, but much sketching, if not the vast majority, takes place on actual trace paper. Morpholio Trace was always meant to be the digital equivalent of a roll of tracing paper. You can already sketch over 3D models (that can come into Morpholio Trace) for your 3d sketching, but now we can imagine the Nemetschek Group’s AI Visualizer rendering technology going to Morpholio Trace so that architects can deliver client-facing workflows that go from sketching to photo-realistic AI-powered visuals and animations. Moreover, its moodboards content can feed the AI engine. 

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In recent years, Graphisoft has poured energy into building out its ecosystem, anchored by two key extensions: its award-winning BIMx mobile, web, and desktop viewing collaboration and viewing application, and its industry-leading BIMcloud technologies, which arrived with great fanfare in 2014. (see: Architosh, “Special Event from Japan: GRAPHISOFT announces new ‘BIMcloud’ for global architectural industry,” 25 Mar 2014)

To be sure, BIMcloud, in particular, was the technology ready for the global pandemic in 2020, and while thousands of Archicad-based architects smoothly adjusted to remote work because their projects were already in the cloud within BIMcloud, many colleagues using other solutions (notably Revit) had a much more difficult transition. Fast-forward from the pandemic years to the present, Graphisoft has further expanded its ecosystem, especially in the MEP space. Its latest addition to this arena is MEP Designer, a purpose-built MEP BIM solution built on the same Archicad core platform.

But what about Archicad itself? This is largely the subject of this feature product review article. So let’s dig into it.

A full-screen view of Archicad 29 with its new Learning Center shown and the AI Assistant (beta) icon in the lower right-hand corner of the main viewport window. The Learning Center gives the user quick access to Product Tours, Quick Tutorials, and Help.

With Archicad 29, Graphisoft delivers a pivotal new AI Assistant (Beta) technology, offering intelligence built into model queries and expert guidance on all things Archicad. One important note: the Hungarian BIM provider says that “Archicad 29 is the centerpiece” of their “Design Intelligence Strategy” and a type of “backbone” for next-generation AI-enabled workflows.

Why AI is Key

If this is the future backbone of the next-generation design-centric experience, then it stands to reason that the AI Assistant (Beta) is a critical technology to understand, and that it is our first step in this review.

To get started, the user can find the new AI Assistant in the lower right corner of the main interface window. Clicking it opens the AI Assistant main window. When you first use it, you must agree to the terms and conditions, and there is an explanation of the terms of use. In short, Graphisoft is the Data Processor (or Processor), and the user is the Data Controller (or Controller). Personal data is used solely to the extent necessary for the query and in accordance with Article 29 of the GDPR. The “processor” (Graphisoft) shall not use the personal data for any purpose other than the one addressed in the AI query.

The AI Assistant window is full-height along the left side of the Navigator palette on the right. The assistant guides you with the types of questions you can ask (see text below). The globe icon in the text prompt box enables queries to access information on the Internet.

Once agreed to, an Archicad 29 user can engage with the AI Assistant (Beta) features, which include things like learning about Archicad, asking about best practices and regulations, filtering your BIM model elements, and creating AI visualizations.

Asking about Archicad

I tested the first type of query, which is about knowing about Archicad, and I was quite satisfied with the initial results. I asked, for example, to help me understand the Navigator in Archicad, a key aspect of the program’s functionality that can initially challenge new users. Because we know Archicad, we could evaluate the results against experience. We were pleased to see it make the key distinction between Viewpoints and Views, for instance.

Asking about Best Practices and Regulations

I tested the AI Assistant and its knowledge of best practices by asking a series of planning questions, first about metal flashing under windows and doors (a question the AI Assistant couldn’t provide any answer to) and next about how far a toilet should be placed relative to a side wall (which it was able to answer correctly refering to ADA regulations). I then asked about the minimum ceiling height above a toilet in the United States, but the AI did not know the answer because the regulations Archicad 29 is using are strictly UK-based. So why are they just UK-based at this beta release stage?

An example of the AI Assistant helping with questions about learning the Navigator.

The answer, says Graphisoft, is to help the LLM better understand the domain and context, and adding more codes and regulations would (or could) increase the risk of hallucinations. If you have ever done code research in early versions of ChatGPT, you may have experienced some hallucinations. Graphisoft is committed to emphasizing safe and reliable AI solutions; hence, the limited use of UK standards today. In the future, the company says, users should be able to upload the most relevant building codes for themselves.

Filtering BIM Model Elements

Perhaps the most exciting and useful AI feature beyond having a learning buddy (over-the-shoulder AI) is what AI can tell you about your BIM model. I ran a quick testing telling the Assistant to highlight all the load-bearing columns. It selected them properly and told me how many of them I had. That immediately suggested to me that perhaps the assistant could do quantification work. However, at this time, it cannot.

I asked, for example, to give me the average height of all the load-bearing columns or the shortest and tallest load-bearing columns. But Archicad’s AI Assistant at this time is only optimized to find BIM model elements and not to provide numerical analysis. Our understanding from feedback from Graphisoft is that LLM’s scan struggle with this kind of numerical analysis, but the company absolutely sees this as a logical next step, and the support of MCP (Anthropic’s model context protocol) will enable the AI Assistant to use tools that humans can use today in Archicad and unlock such possibilities to answer numerical analysis questions.

An example of filtering with the AI Assistant querying the model. Notice how the filtered elements get selected (highlighted in green). Once selected, the user can navigate from 3D views to 2D views to see the filtered elements or orbit around the 3D model to gain different vantage points.

Meanwhile, in my review, I used the AI Assistant to filter for “all doors less than 36 inches wide,” and it found them all and highlighted them in the BIM. I was able to see them in both 3D and 2D plan views, and they remained highlighted as I navigated between them. However, I encountered something unexpected when orbiting after a filter selection in the Assistant.

If I filter for elements and then want to orbit the model, the selected (filtered) elements stop being highlighted upon orbital rotation. To get them highlighted again, I need to click the orbit button in the lower-left corner of the main window. This will deselect the orbit tool and bring back the filtered highlight. Okay, I wasn’t expecting that, but at least I solved it and could orbit the model to view my AI-filtered elements from different perspectives.

How Good for Beta?

For a beta status technology, Archicad 29’s AI Assistant is valuable, especially if you are new to learning Archicad. I feel this feature set will greatly aid your ability to master learning the program, and even if you have some prior experience or are an infrequent user (like we are, in general, for many of the applications we review), the AI Assistant provides excellent support.

As for filtering, we think this is a good start, but look forward to more advanced capabilities, especially the ability to automate workflows once Graphisoft implements MCP (model context protocol), an open-source standard created by Anthropic that sister company Bluebeam showed off last fall at its user conference in Washington, D.C. (see: Architosh, “Bluebeam Rebounds: The Comeback of Construction’s Original Digital Rebel,” 20 Oct 2025)

AI Visualizer 2.0

So version 29 introduces the 2.0 release of AI Visualizer, an AI visualization technology that originated at Graphisoft and is shared AI technology across other Nemetschek brands. This technology is now potentially co-developed by the Nemetschek Group’s Germany-based AI hub, which has at least one staff member assigned to it from multiple daughter companies, including Graphisoft’s sibling rivals. We are speculating here.

We didn’t test this feature set directly, but let’s summarize what AI Visualizer 2.0 does, then move on to the items we looked at in detail. The big new update to this AI technology is an interface with more detailed settings. All of this is designed to give the architect greater control, which is the difficult nature of using generative AI technology.

The interface for AI Visualizer 2.0. New capabilities and controls enable the architect or designer to direct the generative AI technology closer to intentions.

The user can upload images, such as photo boards of actual materials, to use in the visualization, along with composition imagery, such as a hand-drawn perspective sketch of the view they like. The “creativity” slider is there to give the architect less or more control. If you want more restrictions on the AI’s creativity, you lower the slider. If the AI Visualizer creates items in your image you don’t want, a paintbrush tool gives you the ability to delete them. Or, alternatively, use the paintbrush tool to highlight and enhance areas of the image.

AI Visualizer 2.0 can also generate textures and objects for your scene, in addition to rendering image compositions. You can create seamless textures from text prompts or upload pictures. These updates to AI Visualizer streamline image creation and automate the generation of useful objects and textures, saving architects and interior designers a ton of time.

Productivity Improvements

New Rotation Tools

While the new rotation functionalities seem trivial, they have more value than they first appear to have. For example, they also use section elements, so you have a faster and easier way to change a building section’s direction than previous methods. That will please existing users. And you can also rotate elements in the same way in 3D views, like a car in a driveway. While there has always been a good rotation tool, the new rotation shortcuts are simply faster and easier to implement for basic rotations.

The new rotation tool is a simple new feature, but sure to please existing users.

Finally, note that the rotation tools work on layouts, so you can quickly change elements placed directly on them. This may be more rarely used, but it is valuable.

Direct Input Opening in Section and Elevation

The new ability to input openings in section and elevation views is another feature that long-time Archicad users will find quite useful and an expanded improvement on cutting openings in target elements compared to previous methods, including the method of using an “operator” object like a morph or slab and then performing a subtraction to cut the target element.

A complex shape drawn in elevation will form the opening.

The complex-shaped opening is now shown in a 3D view.

The new ability allows the user to use a rectangular or circular shape or a polygon for just about any shape (see images below). In the 3D view, users can also further manipulate these opening shapes by sliding them along surfaces like the garden wall in this example, including with numerical accuracy via the pet palette. The depth of an opening is also numerically controlled with the new tools. And you can edit dimensions of openings when they are selected, like making these round holes fit for step lighting bigger or smaller. (see image below).

This round opening for a step light can be easily adjusted in size or position using the features of the Pet Palette.

Moreover, when you migrate older Archicad files to version 29, openings made via previous methods will gain new editing powers. In other words, it changes how you can interact with them.

Filter and Select Unused Views

So anyone who has used Archicad for any length of time knows the beauty and power of the Navigator. However, they also know its pain points, and there have always been a few. One of those prior to Archicad 29 is the ability to determine whether a view has never been used in a layout or publisher set. For those unfamiliar with Archicad, layouts are where you construct your drawing sheets. You place views on layouts to construct sheets, so if you have views that have not been placed onto sheets, you may want to now delete them if they serve no other purpose.

Finding unused views or views not placed on layouts is the first step in helping to lighten the Navigator’s content lists and streamline workflows. This image shows the setup process for the filtering process.

However, you must first find these unused views. That is where the filtering features come into play. Now, in the Project Map at the bottom, you can find Project Indexes > View List. Click on that get a view similar to the image above. From there, the user can add criteria for filtering via criteria like “Placed on Layout” and such, and generate results. Once the view list is filtered, selecting any row (view) and then clicking on another button (upper left) takes you either to that view or to its location in the saved views in the navigator. Then you can delete it.

So far, these items, which at first seem minor, are actually significant and much appreciated useful feature improvements or feature additions to Archicad.

Library and Content Improvements

New additions and improvements to the Library now happen as they develop, which means this content comes to users far more frequently (in theory) than with major software releases. Users must go to the Download section of the Graphisoft website to see these more frequent Library content updates. A better and faster way is to use the Help menu > Check for Updates, and you end up with the screen below. (see image below).

Checking for library updates via the Archicad 29 Help menu interface is faster than the website method.

Notice that it not only tells me there is an Archicad 29.0.2 hotfix available, but below that, Library Updates are also available. Click the download link shown.

The updates to the Library in Archicad 29 are quite extensive, including hundreds of new 2D tree graphics and the plants and outdoor accessories package. There are also new door objects with special door types.

Other Productivity Improvements

Parametric kitchen cabinet features have advanced further, offering greater control for architects and designers. Cabinets can now have up to five drawers.

Archicad 29 also offers new “show contours” in PBR rendering mode. Physically-based rendering was introduced a few versions back, but this new feature with contour support adds visual rendering options for the edges of objects. A bigger number in the settings corresponds to a thicker line at the edges of objects. (see next image)

This setting combines the qualities of physically-based rendering (PBR) with the edge-like qualities of modeling tools like SketchUp.

This image shows the new dark mode UI option and the new show contours option under physically-based rendering mode.

Another new feature for macOS users is Dark Mode. This feature is a bit late to the “dark interface” party that began quite a long time ago now, but certain users will surely enjoy it if eye strain is an issue. For Mac users, they can make Dark mode always on, or off, or match their device (computer) so it turns on in the per-dark interface settings for the Mac itself.

Finally, in addition to the AI Assistant’s ability to answer questions and provide user guidance about Archicad, there is a new dedicated Learning Center palette that provides guided product tours and quick tutorials, plus Archicad tips.

Documentation Updates

Archicad 29 features several new features and updates to improve the documentation process. Schedule formatting and renovation status are the two bigger updates in this area, while new arrow types are a minor new feature that experienced users will appreciate.

Schedule Formatting Improvements

The new updates to schedules include customization options for background cell colors, how they are handled based on simple rules such as matching a header cell, plus a range of other customization options for how units, numbers, and custom text are entered into schedules.

Archicad 29 added substantial new features for schedule formatting.

Additionally, you can control whether color customizations carry over to views within layouts.

Archicad 29 now offers new tools for arrowhead styles, including size and pen. This includes the start and endpoints of lines, arcs, and related shapes, each with its own unique arrowhead. Plus, you can save unique combinations of arrowheads, complete with line thickness and sizes, and save them to your Favorites. These new capabilities will help architects create diagrams, timelines, different types of flow diagrams, charts, and more.

Renovation status for elements in BIM models already exists, but it can now be assigned to markers such as sections, elevations, interior elevations, details, and worksheets. So how would you use this?
So essentially, what this does is enable architects to change the status of markers in previous Archicad projects to “renovation” status. This helps them essentially disappear without having to delete them. You don’t want to delete them as they may still be in existing views.

The new arrowhead options are useful for more than one drawing, such as this 3D view. They can also help in chart-making.

A particularly handy new update is the Replace PDF Pages feature. If you have a multi-page PDF document that is incorporated in your layouts, you can easily leverage a single link to that PDF and access any of the multiple pages in the PDF to appear in a view on a layout. This means you can also update a single page and save time by not having to reinsert the file.

Finally, several new features are designed to improve documentation, including more formatting customization for keynotes. You can also place keynotes on the master layout, and if no keynotes appear on a given layout sheet, the keynotes legend does not appear on that sheet.

Collaboration Updates

There are many new updates and features that add to Archicad’s already robust collaboration capabilities. These include IFC 4.3 and OBJ support, BIMx 2025 improvements, and much more. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Archicad has several new or updated “Archicad connections.” BIMPLUS connection is one of them. This is the Nemetschek Group’s cloud-based platform for model-based coordination and collaboration. You can now log in to BIMPLUS directly from Archicad.

There is also a newly updated Bluebeam connection. This brings in an integrated documentation review workflow. There was already a Bluebeam integration with Archicad prior, but that connection technology has been discontinued and replaced by this new connection. The new Bluebeam Connection is entirely recoded.

Archicad previously had a connection to sister company Bluebeam, but this version is entirely rewritten and superior.

The new setup integrates with Bluebeam Cloud and supports Bluebeam desktop workflows. Importantly, Bluebeam markup can be imported into Archicad as native Archicad issues. To generate such markup, users can start a Bluebeam Session directly in Archicad 29. Users participating in the Session do not need a license of Bluebeam software, just a user account. Multiple parties can produce markup in the Session, and that data can be piped into Archicad as native Archicad issues, which can then be assigned to team members to resolve.

The adoption of IFC 4.3, the latest industry standard, positions Archicad for a stronger market presence in infrastructure projects, which is partly what IFC 4.3 addresses. This version is not yet widely supported, but it helps future-proof projects and workflows with its integration in version 29.

New “Archicad Project Compare”

This is a new tool that works between versions 25 and newer, making it easier to identify hard-to-notice differences between two project states.

This is a new application that you download and run to prepare migration audits. The package you download contains both the Archicad plugins and the stand-alone Archicad Project Compare application. You need both.

The add-on produces output files that serve as the basis for comparison. This runs on each version of Archicad you use, providing a comparison. Say you were migrating from version 28 to version 29. You install the add-on to both versions of Archicad and run the process to generate output (.pmx) files needed for the comparison. Once the comparison is run, it will be visually apparent whether the content has changed, is faulty, or is missing elements.

Importantly, Graphisoft tells Architosh that while the tool can be used within the same version of Archicad, that is only a bonus workflow. The tool supports migration workflows and is essentially a BIM management tool, not an Archicad utility.

BIMx 2025

BIMx is a critical layer to the Archicad ecosystem, and it is always shocking to learn that some Archicad firms don’t use it.

The new BIMx has several new features, including parallel projection for axonometric views like this one.

New this year is the unification of the features of BIMx across all platforms. There are now customizable cut planes, new parallel projection, and animation toggles. This means you can toggle on or off the animation transitions between the BIM model and 2D documents.

MEP Designer

A huge component of Graphisoft’s annual updates is now outside of Archicad itself in the form of various Archicad ecosystem applications. This could be BIMcloud, BIMx, or the new MEP Designer, which is built on the same fundamental engine as Archicad. But again, we really want to just focus this review on Archicad itself. Typically, that is how we review Archicad, even if we cover these ecosystem tools lightly. We have written about MEP Designer before (see: Architosh, “Graphisoft releases Archicad 29 with game-changing tools,” 7 Oct 2025), but the chief take-away is that MEP Designer is a new solution that simplifies BIM adoption for MEP engineers, breaking them away from the limits of 2D CAD workflows and driving deeper integration with architects working in BIM workflows using Archicad.

Being that MEP Designer is built essentially on the Archicad platform, it ships both natively for Mac and Windows, making it the first Mac-based BIM solution for MEP engineers to design and document MEP systems in 3D format with complete IFC 4.3 support to work with other engineering BIM solutions. Chief among its key features is its simplified MEP modeling and built-in collision detection and model checks.

Closing Thoughts

While Archicad 29’s release late last year was a bit lighter update than Graphisoft’s typical annual release, one must factor in a few unusual or background factors. One of those is the programming effort put into MEP Designer. Another aspect that the company has discussed publicly in the “data plumbing” reworking going on behind the scenes to get the data or “I” in BIM set up correctly to service new artificial intelligence (AI) workflows. This is the same kind of foundational programming affecting all legacy (desktop-era) BIM developers, and even newer BIM 2.0 tools that began before the emergence of LLMs and ChatGPT.

We see in version 29 the beta version of the new AI Assistant. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what is coming to AI functionality in Archicad. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) will likely bring major new capabilities to the AI Assistant, not to mention an emphasis on open protocols to avoid fragmented connections to multiple new AI models and instead provide seamless, integrated, diverse data sources securely. All of this is critical to Archicad’s agentic AI foundation, where multi-agent support and task decomposition set up AI workflows that enable complex user requests and break them down into manageable steps by the AI Assistant.

Having shared our thoughts on the AI Assistant above, our other favorite features in the new version 29 update that have nothing to do with AI include key productivity updates such as direct openings in section and elevation views, and filtering for unused views. While neither of these is sexy or massive, they are impactful. The same can be said of the new schedule formatting capabilities and arrowhead types that open up new possibilities.

So should Archicad firms rush to upgrade to this version? Well, that depends. If you are new to Archicad or at an intermediate skill level, the AI Assistant is a powerful tool to help you deepen your understanding and capabilities in Archicad. For all other users, the mix of very practical updates offers workflow streamlining, and it will just depend on their particular present needs.

To learn more, visit Graphisoft’s website and read our summaries below.

Pros — Archicad 29 intros new beta level AI Assistant that delivers solid and practical assistance for using and learning the popular BIM authoring tool; new rotate and opening tools for elevation, and section views will be highly adopted by veteran users; new productivity enhancements and abilities to sort for unused views benefit project management and keep projects streamlined. New dark mode UI for Mac is a bonus for that platform, new updates to BIMx and MEP Designer are excellent updates to the Graphisoft ecosystem, as well as new connections like the BIMPLUS and Bluebeam Connection. The new line contour feature for PBR rendering is especially nice to see in Archicad. AI Visualizer can create seamless textures and objects, offering big time savings. 

Cons — None of the new features are poorly implemented, but Archicad 29 is on the smaller size for an annual update, and the coolest new feature (AI Assistant) is technically a beta. Having only UK regulations for the data source felt limiting for market use outside the UK, but future updates will include many more connections. 

Advice — The new AI Assistant delivers helpful direction for newcomers to Archicad as well as useful filtering of BIM elements, making version 29 a smart upgrade for less-experienced Archicad users or those just learning the program. Veteran users will appreciate updates that improve the Navigator, enable the creation of openings in elevations and sections, and the new schedule formatting. While a bit lighter than average annual releases, a lot of foundational work for the future has been implemented behind the scenes. New IFC 4×3, BIMPLUS, and a rewritten Bluebeam Connection mostly seal the deal for upgrading to this version on the next new project. 

Price — Archicad 29 is available exclusively through a subscription model, and pricing depends on the tier and payment frequency. Options include Archicad Collaborate, which includes BIMcloud and MEP Designer, and is USD 2,840 per year with optional monthly pricing. Archicad Studio is USD 2,414 per year with optional monthly licensing, and while it does not include other components, users can optionally add BIMcloud SaaS at USD 47 per month (annual). Pricing can vary per region, so check specific pricing at your Graphisoft Store. (USA store).

Volume of New Content =  4 —   Total list of new features is on the lower side for this annual update compared to historical data, and its major new feature, the AI Assistant, is still in beta.

The post Product Review: Archicad 29 with AI Assistant (beta) appeared first on Architosh.

Veras 4.0

The new Veras 4.0 focuses on delivering higher fidelity output with fewer unwanted errors. The latest engine reportedly makes a huge improvement in how it understands geometry, a key aspect that architects are focused on intently as part of any design workflow. Not just geometry, but lighting and materials fidelity are also much improved, says Chaos.

Unlocked Workflows

With this new engine, new workflows are unlocked for the first time. Images can be created from turning 2D floor plans, drawings, or even hand-sketched images into 3D scenes. The engine can also create multi-angled perspectives from mood boards and retain the correct geometry.

The hero image for the new Chaos Veras 4.0

When working with Veras 4.0, designers can add furniture and other entourage with a single text prompt or make changes like “change the color of the couch to blue” without selecting the item itself. Such capabilities speed up the workflow and eliminate tedious steps.

Clarity in Prompts

The new engine treats prompts as clear instructions and not as loose suggestions, producing outputs that more closely follow the stylistic intentions of the designer, or material changes or environmental adjustments.

version 1 image and text prompt version 2, next image

A version 2 text prompt image is different than version 1 image at left.

“When AI renders drift from the design, they create rework, lost time and awkward moments in client reviews,” said Bill Allen, Director Product Management, Chaos. “Veras 4.0 directly addresses this by keeping the AI aligned with the designer’s vision, rather than inventing its own version of the project. With greater control, designers can trust Veras to reflect their intent while exploring concepts quickly and confidently.”

Quick Iterative Visioneering

Chaos Veras 4.0 is built for architects and interior designers who need fast, design-faithful visuals directly from SketchUp, Revit, or Rhino without needing to have even intermediate rendering skills.

Image Reference as Input has also been updated, allowing designers to guide new outputs using an existing image instead of relying on text.

There is also Gallery Mode, a grid-based, thumbnail view of all past renders, which makes it easier to compare variations over time. Twelve new video presets have been added for ready-to-use animation options. Designers can produce smooth, photorealistic motion graphics with balanced lighting and a consistent cinematic style.

More Info

With this update, Veras becomes more predictable and versatile, providing a more stable foundation for daily design work.

For more information, please visit Chaos. 

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glTF 2.0

Khronos has announced an official glTF release candidate that enables storing 3D Gaussian splats in glTF 2.0. The release candidate allows for broad industry feedback prior to an official ratification of the standard to make sure it truly meets the needs of the industry broadly.

3D Gaussian splat tileset of a chemical refinery embedded with Celsium World Terrain in CesiumJS. (Data and image from Bentley Systems).

Gaussian splats support via glTF happens via the KHR_gaussian_splatting baseline extension. Splats are an important new geometry and visualization technology in 3D industries like AEC and infrastructure, among others. They support real-time graphics, digital twins, and large-scale geospatial visualization.

Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group, says:

Gaussian splatting is a radiance field representation technique that converts multiple 2D images into realistic 3D assets. Applications supporting this format use a collection of photos and videos to create a type of 3D point cloud data of an object or scene–more commonly a scene in the AEC and infrastructure industries. Cesium is one of the bigger exciting visualization platforms with Gaussian splat support.

MORE: D5 Render and Cesium Integration Unlocks City-Scale Storytelling

Gaussian splats are extremely useful for infrastructure, as seen in the Bentley-supplied image above of a chemical plant. Geospatial and similar AEC industry workflows are all well-suited, including:

• City-scale and corridor-scale reality capture
• Complex natural environments with vegetation and irregular geometry
• Reflective, translucent, or detail-rich urban surfaces
• Rapid field acquisition using commodity cameras, drones, or mobile devices

Gaussian spattting has also been adopted by other industries not yet mentioned in this article, including photojournalism, media and entertainment (M&E), robotics training, cultural preservation, and is well-positioned to bring 3D reality capture to social media. Despite this, generation, training, rendering, and compression techniques continue to evolve and advance.

Industry Need for Standardization

A need for standardization is important to prevent fragmentation in this critical new technology. The Khronos Group has been the steward of dozens of key industry standards in CAD and 3D technologies over the decades. The Khronos 3D Formats Working Group is focused on this development with Gaussian Splats resulting in the KHR_gaussian_splatting glTF extension.

KHR_gaussian_splatting extends the glTF 2.0 mesh primitive to represent 3D Gaussian splat datasets, including:

• Position, orientation, and scale
• Color and opacity attributes
• Interpretation rules for rendering spats rather than triangles.

With the extension, compatible renderers interpret primitives as Gaussian splat datasets. This eases the new standard and technology into existing tooling pipelines. To learn more, visit here for all the details.

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Steve Forde

Forde comes to Maxon with a long history of connection to the company. Earlier in his career, he founded two startups, including Gridiron Software, where Forde oversaw the development of plugins for Adobe After Effects, which led to his first deep connections to Maxon.

Steve Forde comes to Maxon with deep roots at Adobe and veteran software startup experience.

During his career, he held senior leadership roles at Adobe and Amazon, where he led product, engineering, and design teams for large-scale platforms such as Adobe After Effects and Amazon Prime Video.

“What drew me to Maxon was the convergence of people, technology, and a fundamental shift in how creative content is made,” said Steve Forde, Chief Product Officer at Maxon. “The proliferation of games, advertising, and social media is driving 3D from niche skillset to mainstream job requirement. With the right combination of product innovation and intelligent workflows, it can become accessible to an even broader audience. Maxon is uniquely positioned to lead that transformation, not just by building powerful tools, but by delivering experiences that scale with creators as their needs evolve. I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines while it happens.”

Industry Shifts

This new appointment comes at a time when the industries Maxon serves are undergoing skill democratization, and 3D skills are becoming increasingly mandatory across standard roles, including architecture, graphics, advertising, and film and television creatives. Specialists will continue to exist, but companies like Maxon are increasingly targeting their technologies to support broader access to 3D skillsets.

MORE: Maxon aims to bring Hollywood-level rendering to AEC

Forde’s appointment will reinforce Maxon’s promise to strengthen its leadership team while advancing its product offering to address the evolving needs of creators in the markets it serves.

“Steve brings a deep understanding of both where Maxon comes from and where the market is heading,” said David McGavran, CEO of Maxon. “His ability to connect long-term vision with practical execution makes him an ideal partner as we continue to grow. This appointment strengthens our leadership team and positions Maxon to lead the industry through the next phase of creative evolution.”

The Future

Forde’s mandate going forward will be to guide software and technology developments that integrate emerging technologies into Maxon’s products in ways that respect artistic craft and amplify human creativity. He will focus on removing friction in workflows and expanding the possibilities of creative 3D artists so that they spend less time navigating complexities in workflows and tools.

Maxon will continue to invest deeply in product innovation and deepen its connection to the artist communities it serves. To learn more about Maxon, visit here.

Architosh Commentary and Analysis:

Steve Forde had a prominent 10-year career at Adobe and was a key figure in the strategic alliance between Adobe and Maxon in 2013 when Cinema 4D Lite was directly integrated into After Effects. His career at Adobe began with After Effects, becoming principal product manager in 2013, group manager in 2014, and finally general manager of emerging products in 2017. Like Maxon’s CEO, David McGavran, Forde spent many years leading large teams centered on After Effects and Adobe’s motion graphics and video tools. 

This appointment further strengthens Maxon’s leadership with former key leaders from US-based Adobe. The two companies began with a single tool bridge into a deep, cross-platform ecosystem and has grown to include native engine integrations, specialized plugins and strategic product bundles. Adobe’s acquisition of Substance resulted in the recognition that a powerful bundle between the two companies is Maxon One + Adobe Substance 3D, which provides a complete 3D design and texturing pipeline in a single subscription. That was initially released as a limited-time bundle. 

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An essential theory change is to challenge the notion (current working method) that workflows function in separate stages, with visualization being its own stage across disconnected workflows. For decades, design, modeling, visualization, asset-sourcing, and presentation happened in isolated steps, often requiring repeated export, re-imports, etc. The underlying workflow remained fragmented.

D5 Workflow

D5 is aiming to reduce this friction inherent in this fragmented workflow by enabling visualization to be part of the design process itself. At the core of the new D5 Workflow is that visualization shouldn’t be treated as a downstream task but an upstream one. Architects should be able to immediately visualize and test their design ideas.

The new D5 3.0 delivers a smoother, unbroken workflow with AI at the center.

This shift is enabled through three components.

• D5 Lite, which brings AI-native real-time visualization directly into early design tools like SketchUp, bridging the gap between conceptualization and design development. It allows architects to visualize instantly, lowering the barrier to professional-grade rendering and keeping ideas moving from the earliest stages.
• D5 Works, a curated asset platform designed specifically for architecture, landscape, and interior design, is integrated into the workflow to remove the need for external libraries, manual file management, or format conversion.
• D5 Render 3.0, the latest evolution of D5’s real-time rendering engine, serves as the intelligent core of the workflow with advanced AI capabilities and physically accurate realism.

These three components of the workflow form a continuous loop in the workflow process, reflecting the ideal way in which architects want to work.

AI as Enabler

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a core component of the new D5 Workflow. D5 leverages AI to become a key assistant and to tackle repetitive tasks and set up work, all shortening feedback cycles. This happens through:

• AI Scene Match — use AI to simply describe your desired atmosphere in words such as ‘Autumn dusk’ or ‘Snowy winter’ and D5’s AI Agent generates reference visuals, matching lighting and post-processing parameters to your scene in a simple click.
• AI Asset Recommendations — either using an uploaded reference image or prompting D5’s AI Agent, will suggest the perfect models from the library for your scene. This can save hours in a standard week.
• AI Image-to-3D generation — upload an image to generate a 3D model to use in your scene. The AI Agent will analyze the image and smartly build a high-accuracy 3D model in seconds.

All of this helps architects and 3D artists iterate without restarting their work, and the emphasis is not so much on automation but on continuity in the design process.

AI technologies in the new D5 enable rapid asset recommendations based on uploaded reference images or text prompts, using AI Scene Match.

D5 notes that other similar industries have made a similar transition to integrated workflows by replacing collections of specialized but disconnected tools. As such, D5 sees the latest enhancements as signaling a long-term commitment to reduce friction in the entire architectural design lifecycle.

D5 Render 3.0

Other new features in the new rendering engine update include a new Ocean System. The new ocean system delivers dynamic waves, caustics, and shoreline interactions. The system will smartly analyze your terrain to generate organic coastline transitions, rolling waves, and wet-sand effects.

Also new is Displacement Material (beta) to complement the existing Parallax solution. Now users can physically displace geometry based on height maps. The weather system is also completely updated in version 3, with a new Volumetric Cloud. A new set of accurate preset skies gives your scene a start, and then you can fine-tune with sliders.

D5 introduces a new Ocean System that dynamically interacts with your terrain modeling, creating truly organic coastline transitions.

A new City Generator takes large urban models and transforms them to life with realistic building facades, urban streetscapes, and treelined parks and boulevards.

D5 Works

Directly in the launcher, D5 Works is a materials and creative hub putting comprehensive resources at your fingertips. This includes being able to acquire affordable assets to use in your scenes that complement the D5 Asset Library’s assets and workflow.

For presenting your visualizations, D5 v3 offers simplified ways for users to create Panorama Tours, Spatial Tours, and XR Tours, with the latter supporting 3D Gaussian Splatting. And there is also Cesium integration now in D5 for instant massive urban real-life context.

Supported Platforms and Integrations

For workflow integration, D5 version 3.0 works with SketchUp, 3ds Max, Rhino, Revit, Archicad, Vectorworks, Blender, and Cinema 4D.

D5 requires Windows 10 v1809 or later and has GPU threshold requirements of NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB or higher, AMD Radeon RX 6000 XT or higher, or Intel Arc A3 or higher.

To learn more, visit them here.

Architosh Analysis and Commentary:

D5 Render does not support Mac natively because its core rendering engine is built on Microsoft’s DirectX 12 (DX12) with DirectX Raytracing (DXR) technologies, which are incompatible with Apple’s Metal Architecture. While the development team has noted that they plan to support the Mac, there is still no official release date. To support the Mac, they likely would need to develop a cross-platform compiler to translate their code into Apple’s Metal API. 

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GoCanvas

Working with all sizes of organizations in AEC, including large engineering and construction firms, IMAGINiT Technologies also provides detailed technical consulting for AEC and manufacturing sector firms, including infrastructure organizations. Recently, the firm has been focusing on teaching such firms about the benefits of digitizing field-based workflows that have long been the domain of paper-based methodology.

IMAGINiT Technologies can help AEC contractors digitize old paper-based workflows with GoCanvas.

To accomplish that, IMAGINiT Technologies provides full services and software support for GoCanvas, a leading field industry software solution that is now a part of the Nemetschek Group through its acquisition and merger with Bluebeam. IMAGINiT Technologies is showcasing how contractors and concrete professionals can move beyond fragmented tools by connecting office and field workflows, improving productivity, and reducing risks across the construction lifecycle. IMAGINiT Technologies showcased such capabilities at World of Concrete 2026.

GoCanvas In Action

In general construction or in infrastructure, the industry needs to keep track of processes and progress in the field, and this generally means site walk-throughs and inspections. GoCanvas can transform these field procedures where engineers, architects, contractors, and specialists conduct field operations and record progress, review process, and procedures. Generally, these methods have been done by hand through paper-based forms. GoCanvas enables its users to rapidly and easily create custom field forms for data collection in the field directly on a field worker’s smartphone or tablet and then deliver that data to the office via the web. This keeps field or job site teams in synch with office teams.

GoCanvas can help contractors and facilities professionals automate safety checklists, incident reporting, and compliance documentation, all enhancing safety through compliance with regulations and company standards.

IMAGINiT Technologies can help AEC contractors digitize old paper-based workflows with GoCanvas.

GoCanvas can also be used beyond daily or specialized inspection reports; it can be used to complete timesheets and create RFIs and punch lists. Trusted by leading large general contractors like Gilbane, Helm, Keeley Construction and others, GoCanvas can form a critical piece of a project management software company ecosystem with support for offline access, GPS tracking for real-time location updates, dispatch and scheduling, multi-person workflows, image and video capture and integration, auto-fill for tedious data entry and auto-calculations, plus barcoding and IF/THEN logic to only display the next relevant contect based on field input.

With the ability to use standard templates for forms across industries and workflows, and to fully customize your own from scratch, GoCanvas is a natural choice for connecting field data to numerous software applications. These include over 1,000 software tools from Salesforce, SAP, Jira, Autodesk, NetSuite, Google Sheets, Dropbox, and Google Drive, among many others.

To learn more about GoCanvas and find a partner like IMAGINiT Technologies that can fully demonstrate its benefits and support your company’s adoption and integration, click here.

Or visit GoCanvas directly to see more.

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If you ask founder and CEO Paul O’Carroll what kind of product Arcol is, he doesn’t start with “feasibility,” “mass modeling,” or even “BIM.”

MORE: Arcol Makes Big Splash at AIA National Boston

“Arcol is not a feasibility tool,” he says. “I didn’t set out to create a feasibility tool for our industry. I wanted to rethink all of authoring in our industry, with the browser, with collaboration, and, increasingly more importantly, with AI at its core.”

Early design became Arcol’s starting point, not because it was the company’s focus, but because it is where the industry feels most pain. It is, O’Carroll says, “a mess,” a stage where most firms stitch together SketchUp, InDesign, Excel, and Miro to assemble presentations to owners. BIM tools were never built to handle this phase gracefully. Autodesk’s acquisition of Spacemaker, which evolved into Forma, is one acknowledgment of that gap.

Arcol aims to collapse that fragmentation into a single, fluid environment where concept modeling, layout, costing, and collaboration coexist from the moment a design idea is born. For architects using Arcol, early-phase modeling isn’t something done in isolation and exported later. It becomes the foundation for everything that follows.

Arcol’s long-term ambition is expansive, but its entry point is deliberately narrow: owning the earliest decisions in a project, before documentation, before detailing, before traditional BIM tools are at their strongest. And this is not just about the design team, but rather every player, from owners, architects, engineers, and the general contractor.

Rethinking the Design Phase—Not Just Dressing It Up

O’Carroll is very clear that Arcol’s entry point—early-stage design—is strategic, not limiting.

On one level, this is about going where incumbent BIM tools are weakest. Revit, he notes, is “a big, scary product” with enormous surface area and legacy. It dominates documentation and production, but it’s notoriously clumsy in the conceptual phase.

“The way we think about our product strategy,” he says, “is to effectively and discreetly attack the design stages.”

Today, that means owning the earliest phase—concept, options, and feasibility studies—as a fully cloud-based, real-time multi-user BIM environment.

A view of Arcol’s hybrid 2D and 3D user-interface interlaced with planning data that updates in real time to modeling and design configuration changes.

Owners respond positively to this transparency. Instead of seeing a frozen design snapshot, they see the thinking and the possibilities behind it. And because Arcol updates instantly as the model changes, cost implications, area take-offs, and diagrammatic relationships all move with it in real time. This ability to treat the early design phase as a true BIM space—data-driven, collaborative, and representational—sets the foundation for the platform’s broader ambitions.

Boards: Rethinking the Pin-Up Wall

One of Arcol’s most distinctive features is Boards, an infinite 2D canvas that blends model views, diagrams, images, annotations, and layout into one freeform presentation environment. O’Carroll says the idea came from watching firms adopt Miro and other whiteboarding tools to replace the studio pin-up wall. When the company wrote its early manifesto, it included the notion that architects needed a digital space that combined “Miro plus InDesign,” allowing creative composition rather than rigid sheet construction.

Boards are a critical feature in Arcol and marry aspects of Miro and Adobe InDesign. They are useful for multiple functions, from pin-up reviews, inspo boards, and team and client meetings, among other things. They are also part of its long-term strategic planning to take on documentation.

Boards function as both an ideation surface and a presentation environment. They allow designers to work the way they sketch and think—freely, visually, and without the constraints of margins or pagination. But Boards also reflect Arcol’s long-term view of documentation. O’Carroll notes that as AI automates more aspects of documentation, architects will still need a creative 2D space to arrange, communicate, and curate the story of a project. Boards are designed as that future-proof layer. They solve today’s layout needs while preparing for an era where documentation becomes more automated, and presentation becomes more emergent.

Rhino and the Quest for a Unified Authoring Tool

The early-phase space is important to Arcol, but O’Carroll’s long-term goal is to build a next-generation authoring tool that handles both experimental geometry and production documentation. He is blunt about the limitations of current workflows. Revit, he notes, is not just poor at advanced geometry—it is “not a good design tool in general.” Rhino, meanwhile, is beloved for its geometric power yet “not a building design tool” and not inherently BIM. It emerged from boat modeling and remains a freeform NURBS environment, not a structured architectural one.

Arcol has developed its own proprietary geometry engine purpose-built for AEC and the needs of architects. This gives Arcol control and development speed over rivals. At the same time, Arcol is developing a Rhino integration coming soon.

Arcol wants to merge the strengths of both worlds. When O’Carroll describes the future of authoring, he argues that “you should be able to do the crazy, curvy architecture and the documentation in the same tool.” This is why Arcol is investing so heavily in a geometry engine capable of “complex buildings”—twisting towers, leaning slabs, and curved envelopes that are not just shapes but data-bearing elements that support floor cuts, schedules, and quantities.

Arcol is not building a mesh modeler. It is building a BIM-first geometry engine that can handle complex, expressive forms in a structured way.

Deep Rhino Integration: A Bridge to the Future

For now, Arcol is aiming to pair that ambition with a deep Rhino integration designed to allow firms to keep using Rhino while gradually shifting BIM tasks into Arcol. This is more than a file importer. O’Carroll describes the goal as enabling designers to model in Rhino, send geometry directly to Arcol, cut floors and extract data, then push changes back to Rhino and have Arcol update automatically. He contrasts this with solutions like RhinoInside, which he says can feel clunky and incomplete.

Arcol’s approach positions Rhino as an advanced geometry companion rather than a separate design silo. Rhino handles the most complex shapes, and Arcol handles the BIM, the cuts, the data, the sheets, and eventually more advanced geometry itself. This bridge allows Arcol to focus on the design-development and documentation domains currently dominated by Revit. And because Arcol treats Rhino geometry as native, it dissolves the typical boundary between concept modeling and BIM authoring.

Rhino integration with Arcol further cements Rhino’s reputation as the dominant 3D modeler for advanced form-making in architecture while delivering the critical data layer and data analytics that power Arcol’s strengths in early design and test-fitting type workflows.

O’Carroll sees this as essential to Arcol’s long-term goal. When asked whether he means to displace Revit only in the design stages, he is direct: “In the future, with Arcol, you shouldn’t have to ever use Revit.” This is not a timid ambition. It is a strategic direction.

Forma and the Incumbent Cannibalization Trap

Autodesk’s Forma validates Arcol’s direction, but O’Carroll sees Forma’s challenge as one not of creativity but of cannibalization. Revit remains Autodesk’s core revenue anchor. Forma must innovate enough to compete with startups like Arcol, but not so much that it undermines the mothership. O’Carroll says this forces Autodesk to “walk a very slow, precise line” that startups do not have to respect.

He also believes that Forma has been following, not leading. He notes that Forma has repeatedly copied Arcol’s features, calling this “validation” of Arcol’s direction. And because Forma is bundled with Autodesk subscriptions, many customers have access to it for free but still choose Arcol for its speed, immediacy, and collaborative depth. The implication is that Forma cannot move as fast as it needs to, and its strategy is constrained by a business model built around per-seat licensing in an era barreling toward automation.

While Autodesk talks about fixing industry data to unlock AI, O’Carroll argues the deeper issue is that legacy BIM platforms were architected before LLMs or agentic workflows existed. Their challenge is to rewrite decades-old file structures; Arcol’s advantage is simply that it doesn’t have that burden.

AI Agents and the Future of Model-Centric Collaboration

One thing that Autodesk Forma does have is an expanding ecosystem of apps and connections to Forma. Yet, O’Carroll feels this is far less important than the core problems that remain unsolved. “Our strategy is on users’ problems, not building out an ecosystem,” he says.

One of the biggest core problems facing the industry has always been collaboration, and Arcol, from the beginning, has taken an approach that stemmed from Figma’s groundbreaking collaborative approach.

Arcol firmly believes that agentic AI will power Arcol along with human architects in the near future as just another type of “collaborator” in the design process.

“Figma was really the first company that did this. That company’s CEO is one of our early investors, and we have been really fortunate to hire a lot of Figma engineers, and this is an important part of the DNA of our company,” says O’Carroll.

Connected to that DNA about collaboration is the role AI may play. If Arcol’s collaborative engine comes from its Figma DNA, its AI strategy follows naturally from the idea that the model should host not just humans but agents. O’Carroll believes that within a few years, “there will be more AI agents in our industry than individuals,” he says, and that these agents “will behave not as separate tools but as collaborators” occupying the same design environment as architects, engineers, and builders.

In this future, a general contractor might provide not a human preconstruction service but a preconstruction agent that joins an Arcol file to run cost, risk, or schedule assessments. Because Arcol’s environment is real-time and multi-user, agents can coexist with human designers and provide feedback instantly. O’Carroll says this agentic future amplifies Arcol’s collaborative advantage: “Agents are just collaborators,” and Arcol aims to be the best collaborative workspace in the industry.

This philosophy drives Arcol’s insistence on a browser-native, multi-cursor system. Collaboration is not a feature—it is a foundation enabling a future where teams and agents share a single model space, responding to changes as they happen.

GCs and Owners: Rise of Preconstruction-Driven Design

Perhaps the most disruptive change Arcol is accelerating lies not in geometry but in cost. Across the US, large general contractors are moving upstream into design, using their vast Procore project histories to guide owners earlier and with more accuracy than ever before. Many are acquiring architecture firms or building in-house design teams.

Arcol sits at the center of this shift because its conceptual cost engine runs directly off the design model. As a team pushes and pulls geometry, Arcol updates quantities, assumptions, and cost implications instantly. And unlike traditional conceptual estimating, Arcol does not require detailed modeling of components. Instead, it uses user-defined rules—such as structure type or stud spacing—to “infer costs” from high-level geometry. Inferring will only take costs so far, but in the early stage, this level of information can be impactful.

Arcol’s early-stage building costing functions leverage “user-defined” rules to infer costs from high-level geometry rather than itemize every building element, since such data does not exist in early-phase architectural work. This enables architects to see cost impacts from various design options early.

This enables a form of real-time value engineering. O’Carroll describes GCs who load their historical Procore data into Arcol to compare a new design against dozens of similar past projects. The confidence this gives owners is transformative. They see cost implications unfold as the design evolves rather than weeks later during bidding.

Arcol is not trying to replace detailed estimating, but it wants to own the early conceptual cost space—the part of the design process where architects frequently struggle to keep budgets aligned with design ambition. O’Carroll acknowledges that architects often let cost control drift downstream, only to be surprised by budget overruns. He imagines a more collaborative approach where architects send GCs an Arcol link and work together live, clarifying where design intent and cost flexibility intersect.

In this scenario, Arcol becomes the shared language of early decision-making. Owners, architects, and builders see the same model, the same numbers, and the same assumptions. And because the model drives the cost, trust grows. This transparency marks a cultural shift from the old paradigm—design first, cost later—to a new one where cost and construction inform design from the outset.

Beyond Collaboration: A Shared Digital Room

Arcol’s real-time engine makes meetings less about screen-sharing and more about co-presence. O’Carroll notes that he doesn’t feel compelled to embed video chat into the tool because teams can simply open Arcol in parallel with a Zoom call. The important part is not the communication channel—it is the shared world the participants inhabit. The 3D model becomes the room where decisions are made, explored, iterated, and understood.

As more GCs bring design services in-house, and as more owners demand cost-aware early design, Arcol’s collaborative fabric becomes an industry equalizer. A designer in New York, a GC estimator in Phoenix, and an owner in Miami can all pull on the same model together. The geometry does not hide cost assumptions. The cost assumptions do not rule out geometry. And the entire early-phase process becomes more intelligible to all parties.

The BIM 2.0 Horizon

The coming Rhino integration remains one of Arcol’s most important strategic moves. Not only does it allow firms to continue using a beloved modeler, but it positions Arcol as the natural next-generation BIM environment for those Rhino workflows. By turning Rhino geometry into BIM-ready data without losing fidelity, Arcol effectively unifies two worlds that were historically forced apart. And by committing to its own complex geometry engine, Arcol signals its intention to eventually shrink the distance between conceptual modeling and BIM authoring to zero.

Revit, meanwhile, stands on the opposite side of this equation. It anchors production workflows but struggles to move upstream. Forma hints at Autodesk’s understanding that BIM must evolve, but it is bound by the need not to disrupt a massive incumbent revenue base. Arcol does not have that constraint. Its strategy is simple: innovate where incumbents cannot, connect worlds they cannot connect, and shift the center of BIM gravity into the browser.

Conclusion: A New Center of Gravity for Design

Arcol is far more than an early-stage generative modeler. And it is not just an extension for Rhino, or a rough estimator, or an AEC industry presentation layer. It is an attempt to rebuild architectural authoring around modern principles: real-time collaboration, browser delivery, agentic intelligence, integrated cost logic, and complex geometry conceived as data from the start.

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In 2014, he founded Green Badger to solve the problem. The mission was straightforward but ambitious: automate the tedious, error-prone processes behind green construction compliance. Over the next decade, the company’s cloud platform became a widely adopted tool across architecture and construction, particularly for simplifying LEED documentation. But the tectonic shifts underway in global ESG reporting, corporate sustainability transparency, supply-chain responsibility, and embodied carbon accountability would soon push Green Badger—and the entire AEC sector—into a much broader landscape.

Late last Fall, Green Badger unveiled the most consequential update in its history: a rebuilt LEED platform designed for modern workflows and a brand-new Construction ESG platform capable of tracking “environmental, social, and governance” metrics across entire portfolios. With this launch, Linstroth is positioning Green Badger as an indispensable system of record for the next decade of AEC sustainability.

The Rise of ESG and Why AEC Needs New Tools

Although Green Badger built its early reputation on LEED documentation automation, the pressure on organizations to track sustainability performance now extends far beyond certification. ESG frameworks—once relegated to corporate sustainability offices—have reached deeply into the construction and real estate sectors. Owners ranging from technology giants like Apple to private developers and institutional clients are now expected to report on carbon, water, energy, waste, supply-chain equity, and workforce wellness with a degree of accuracy and transparency previously unimaginable.

Green Badger’s new ESG software, showing the dashboard on the left and sustainable materials info on the right screen.

Linstroth explained that roughly two years ago, Green Badger expanded its focus beyond LEED so firms could benchmark and report ESG-related outcomes irrespective of certification paths. Increasingly, design and construction teams are being asked to deliver data for corporate social responsibility reports, internal carbon budgets, materials pledges, and public environmental disclosures. AEC professionals, he says, “are now being asked for sustainable development and construction and the reporting and certifications that go along with leadership in ESG,” necessitating tools that can keep pace with an explosion of metrics and accountability requirements.

The new Construction ESG platform addresses this by enabling organizations to track and benchmark everything from embodied carbon to M/WBE participation, from water use to workforce indicators, all within a unified cloud environment. For large enterprises, this allows project-level data to roll up seamlessly into corporate reporting structures. For smaller firms or mission-aligned organizations, the platform offers a level of visibility and structure typically accessible only to large sustainability departments. Whether the user is a Fortune 500 company or a regional design practice, the need for transparent, validated sustainability data has become universal.

Architects Push for Early-Stage Tools—and Green Badger Responds

One of the more unexpected drivers of the new update came from the architectural side of the industry. Architects had long used Green Badger’s LEED product database reactively—typically after materials were specified or procured. But over the past several years, more firms began asking for better tools to use the database proactively, particularly for material research aligned with the AIA Materials Pledge or early-stage embodied carbon decision-making.

Linstroth said many architects expressed the same sentiment: if the platform allowed more flexibility, they would use it at the beginning of the design process, not just at the certification phase. That feedback shaped a major expansion of the new platform. Green Badger now includes a fully revamped product research environment built specifically for architects, allowing teams to evaluate embodied carbon levels, access EPDs and HPDs, compare material options, and assemble firm-wide brand standards.

Architects can now search tens of thousands of verified product entries and compare something as simple as two tile options for their embodied carbon impact. They can save preferred products for reuse, organize materials into firm standards, and ensure that early design moves align with sustainability commitments. According to Linstroth, these workflows can save firms “hundreds of hours” by consolidating material data that previously lived in disorganized spreadsheets or scattered repositories.

This shift reflects a larger industry trend: embodied carbon decision-making is moving upstream. Tools that once served compliance roles are now becoming foundational research companions at the design table.

A Vast and Verified Materials Database

Central to Green Badger’s platform is its vast materials database, which has evolved substantially over the years. Originally populated through internal curation and crowdsourced user input (with validation), it has now expanded through direct relationships with manufacturers, certification agencies, and major industry data sources.

With this update, Green Badger integrates directly with the two largest environmental product data ecosystems in the world:

• Building Transparency (EC3) for carbon data and tens of thousands of EPDs
• HPD Collaborative for health product declarations

This allows users to access environmental and health documentation directly from within Green Badger, complete with associated files such as EPDs, HPDs, VOC certifications, and CDPH documentation. The platform aggregates these sources, along with additional materials data, giving architects and contractors a centralized, verified repository rather than relying on scattered links or file-hunting.

Manufacturers cannot upload data directly—submissions must go through Green Badger’s internal validation process. This ensures the system maintains data integrity, an essential requirement if sustainability reporting is to mature from aspirational messaging into auditable evidence.

Dashboards Designed for Immediate Insight

A major visual change in the new release is the introduction of redesigned dashboard interfaces built on a modern tech stack. These dashboards use intuitive radial gauges—similar to automotive speedometers—to help teams understand progress instantly: LEED credit achievement, embodied carbon reductions, waste diversion, water and energy benchmarks, and M/WBE participation all surface visually and in real time.

Another view of the new Green Badger software and its new user interface, all built on a modern web browser tech stack.

For many firms, this replaces workflows traditionally run through spreadsheets—systems that often obscure progress until it’s too late to course-correct. The new dashboards can be tailored to firm or project goals, offering a personalized cockpit that aligns with sustainability targets.

Teams can view projects by stage, certification path, or performance status. They can compare similar projects or zoom out to see patterns across entire portfolios. For owners managing multiple developments or architecture firms juggling dozens of concurrent efforts, the ability to glance at a dashboard and quickly diagnose performance is a marked improvement over reactive end-of-project reporting.

Rebuilding LEED Tracking for a Modern Era

While the ESG platform is the headline, the renewed LEED documentation tool is also a significant milestone. Originally developed during the LEED 2009 era, the previous software had reached the natural limits of its architecture. Instead of layering updates onto aging code, Green Badger rebuilt the LEED environment from scratch on top of its ESG foundation.

The result is a LEED tracking system ready for LEED v5 reporting. It supports cross-certification tracking beyond LEED itself, enables real-time collaboration across owners, GCs, subs, and consultants, and automates the generation of LEED submission packages, including ZIP archives of backup documents and auto-filled LEED worksheets.

Field reporting has also been enhanced on mobile iOS and Android apps, enabling site teams to complete IAQ inspections, erosion control reporting, and other required documentation directly on the jobsite. The platform maintains a time and user-stamped record for accountability, centralizing all documents within the project space.

Users report finding the vast majority of their materials inside Green Badger’s database, making the gathering of certification documentation far less arduous. Where custom or project-specific materials arise—such as custom millwork—teams can upload and track them manually with the same consistency.

A Centralized Future for AEC Sustainability Data

Green Badger’s latest platform is as much a reflection of industry evolution as it is a technical achievement. The building sector is transitioning into a phase where sustainability documentation is no longer isolated or optional. Firms are being called upon to prove environmental performance, demonstrate supply-chain responsibility, and deliver verifiable data across dozens of metrics.

Spreadsheets cannot scale to meet that challenge. What the industry now requires are centralized systems that validate, organize, and standardize sustainability information across disciplines, firms, and project lifecycles.

The new Green Badger is the industry’s preferred tool for ESG and LEED compliance management, and now with a very large and growing material research database that provides architects with the environmental and sustainable data they need to make material selections for their projects.

Green Badger appears to be aiming at exactly that role—a sustainability data backbone for AEC.

The platform’s combined ESG and LEED capabilities, architectural research tools, firm-wide standards workflows, integration with global environmental databases, and collaborative project environment all point to a future where sustainable construction data is continuous, transparent, and fully traceable.

The company’s decision to rebuild its tech stack signals confidence in where this market is heading. As Linstroth put it, “this platform is built on an ESG foundation and starts from the beginning—a ground-up reinvention shaped by new expectations, new regulations, and a rapidly maturing sustainability culture across the built environment.”

With embodied carbon commitments accelerating, LEED v5 in place, AIA materials pledges gaining traction, and owners demanding clearer sustainability reporting, this is a timely and meaningful advancement for AEC professionals.

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