Our proposal to perspective clients:

• Rely on our experience in documenting existing structures. Using in-house staff may seem like the best solution, but consider: if your staff has been reduced due to the economy, it’s important to keep them in productive at what they are best at;  how often does your staff travel; how often do they document existing structures; can they perform the survey efficiently; can they perform the survey effectively; we are able to survey approximately 35,000 SF a day.
• Our surveys are intelligent.
  Items Provided: Printable Format
• Final surveys are delivered in Autodesk Autocad (CAD), Autodesk REVIT (BIM) or Nemetschek Vectorworks (CAD/BIM). Our drawings comply with AIA CAD standards or we can incorporate a client’s existing standard.
• Delivery of surveys generally take two weeks from the date that we have access to the structure, however we can rush a project if needed.
• Our fee structure is based on the building area and given by proposal. Clients are able to accurately budget projects rather than guessing at unknowns.
• If we overlook something, we will provide it or return to the site free of charge. See Notes below for exceptions.
• All travel, lodging and scheduling are inclusive in our fee structure.

AEC Communications, Inc. provides nationwide as-built surveys to existing structures for Architectural design, facilities management, insurance records, and lease area verification purposes. The goal of a survey is to accurately convey existing conditions in a manor that client understands and can develop a scope of work for new construction.

As the A|E|C industry moves in the direction of Sustainable Design and Green Buildings (LEED) the need for this service is increasingly important. Whether a survey is provided by in-house staff or by a consultant, such as AEC Communications, Inc., accurate knowledge about a structure is required for several reasons including building code compliance, LEED calculations and limiting change orders.

Architectural As-Built Survey – Items Provided: Printable Format

Floor Plan:

• Wall composition, materials and heights.
• Floor materials.
• Door and windows size, type and hardware.
• Ceiling heights and materials.
• Lighting locations.
• Sprinkler Riser location, design data and contact plaque information.
• Locate Utilities/Equipment (Phone, Data, Electrical, Gas, Plumbing, Steam, sewer) (equip: Panels, Meters, Transformers, VAV Boxes, etc.).
• Water, sewer clean-outs and plumbing fixture locations.
• Restroom equipment.
• Location and size of Handicapped ramps.
• HVAC equipment locations.
• Stairs (no. of risers/treads and sizes).
• Column Locations/x-bracing size and locations.
• Loading dock locations, levelers and bollards.
• Casework.
• Misc. Equipment.
• Deck and bottom of beam/joist/girder elevations.
• Note changes in floor elevations and exterior grade elevations.
• Note header/valance heights and headroom obstructions.
• Note unusual conditions or damage (not all inclusive).

Exterior Elevations:

• Eave/parapet Height(s).
• Roof Heights.
• Roof Drain/Downspout locations.
• Signage Locations.
• Exterior Finishes.
• Storefront window system elevations.

Drawings:

• Floor Plan(s)
• Reflected Ceiling Plan(s) if required (Acoustical Tile Ceilings)
• Building Elevations (all exterior walls)
• Photograph Key

Notes:

• Some items may not be available or accessible.
• No exploratory demolition unless specifically contracted to do so.
• We do not dimension furnishing or items that can be easily relocated after the survey.

The rendering work were originally composed in REVIT and later modified by hand in Adobe Photoshop for color correctness. Colors and textures were calibrated with materials supplied by the Architect.

AEC Communications, Inc. releases a Free-for-Use structural shape library for products based on core Autocad 12 through Autocad 2009. STRUCT parametrically draws shapes in section, plan view and elevation using property libraries and user defined layers. Struct also provides quick access to shape dimensional properties for reference. Shapes included are Wide Flange (W, M, S), Angles (L), Channels (C), Pipes, Tubes (HSS), Tees (WT, MT, ST), Lumber and Concrete Masonry Units (CMU).

In addition to leveraging our artwork, photograph modification and animation expertise used in previous visualization projects, we created custom programs, plug-ins and server-side scripts.

Aspects of this project include: Cascading Sheet Styles (CSS), Hypertext Preprocessor Scripts (PHP), Adobe Flash Animation, Adobe ActionScripts, Audio Editing and Content Management System Customization.

The Technical Illustration process constitutes a small percentage in the project’s overall design process, but it is an important component. This process can begin during any stage of the project’s design schedule. The level of effort required to produce a rendering varies, depending upon the stage in which it is produced. For example, producing renderings during the concept stage of a project requires more interaction with project team members than producing illustrations once the final design of a project is complete. Renderings developed “early on” offer assistance in the development of a concept, where those developed after the design stage reflect the completed design. Regardless of when a renderings is produced, the process seems to follow the same routine-information gathering, model development, scene creation, pre-final rendering, final rendering and post production.

Gathering Information for a rendering can be as detailed or abstract as conditions permit. A rendering can be produced from either verbal instructions or sketches just as easily as it can be produced from a final set of plans. At this stage, all of the available information about a project’s composition should be discussed and a determination about which items will appear in the rendering. Items to be covered are related to specific ideas that will be communicated, the purpose of the illustration, camera orientation, color scheme, architectural elements and any other specific needs. Note that the level of detail has a direct influence on the amount of effort to produce a rendering.

Developing the Model begins when there is enough information available to produce any element of the model. For example, (in Architecture) the exterior walls and roof may be ready to model even when specific door and window locations are still in question; (in transportation) the piers and fascia girders of a bridge may be ready to model even when the profile and baseline are still in question. When desired elements of the model are complete, a preliminary rendering may be produced for review and approval.

Creating the Scene is the stage of the illustration process in which the camera orientation is determined, along with lighting and solar position. The materials and colors for the project are obtained from libraries or created using color matching techniques. Additional elements necessary to complete the scene are added-sky, water, plants, automobiles, people, ships, etc.

The Pre-Final Rendering is a low-resolution image developed for review. This stage allows for the verification of colors, materials, lighting, solar position, camera orientation, image cropping and other elements that make up the scene.

The Final Rendering is produced after the comments from the preliminary review are incorporated. The illustration will receive one last quality control review before going to the Post-Production stage.

Post-Production includes touch-up work, such as adding a watercolor effect, inserting logos, or placing an existing inset photo on the rendering. The illustration will receive one last quality control review before it is delivered in the desired media format.

Understanding the type of information required to produce an illustration, is essential to ensure that the finished product meets the needs and expectations of the client. Items that should be considered are the project details, the type of illustration and media format.

Project Details include plans, elevation and architectural/engineering information used to depict the project; however, in many cases these items are not available at the time an illustration is produced. The minimal amount of information needed to produce an illustration includes (for architectural) building footprint, elevations, roof slopes, door/window locations and finish material types; (for transportation) the baseline, profile, roadway cross section, pier locations, pier types, special girder types, color scheme and material types. Prior to creating the model, additional items for consideration are the architectural features of the project and the use of existing images in the illustration; specifically, if the illustration is going to be a photo modification.

The Type of Illustration that is selected affects the creation of the model. In the previous article, each type of illustration was introduced-renderings, photograph modification, architectural collage and animations. Determining the type desired prior to starting the Technical Illustration process ensures the proper model, lighting, materials and environment are used. In addition, this will ensure an appropriate amount of effort is allocated for creating the illustration itself.

The Media format is the final product of the Technical Illustration process. Determining the best media format for a project depends on how the illustration itself will be used. Will the illustration be used as a PowerPoint slide, a prop, printed materials, a leave-behind or a website graphic?

Available types of format include digital images, large-format printing, color printer media and photographic media. While renderings, photograph modifications and architectural collages can be displayed as digital images or printed media, an animation can only be viewed in a video format. Video formats comprise computer media, online/streaming media, videotape and DVD.

DEFINITIONS:
Scene – the collection of all individual parts that make up a rendering or animation.

Resolution – describes the quality of an image in dots per inch (DPI) or number of pixels. Low resolution denotes a low quality image and high resolution denotes a high quality image.

Solar Position- in 3D scene creation,the position of the sun is calculated from the global geographic location of the project, time and date.This can also be used to perform solar studies in relation to a project.

Existing Inset Photo- often a smaller existing image of the project site is placed on an image to provide a before and after effect. (Example)

In addition to the rendering, AEC Communications, Inc. provided CAD support for the project.