ARKEY on Wakoopa

A vector tool on Windows

ARKEY is a CAD system for designing buildings.

It is a production drawing system and a basis for information management during the building process. Starting points during development are long term planning, continuity, flexibility, profitability and particularly architecture.

ARKEY sets the trend in both 2D and 3D CAD in the areas of user friendliness, speed, efficiency and its unique architectural object structure.

This makes ARKEY the market leader in the Netherlands for architectural design systems, having several thousands of commercially used systems for architects, contractors, building managers, builders, project managers, stand designers and housing corporations.

User friendly

ARKEY is operated using a simple and easy to use interface. It is worth noting that ARKEY's powerful functions can be accessed with a relatively small number of commands. The commands are unambiguous which reduces learning time and increases operation speed. During input and edit operations, elements are continually displayed in full making the result visible in advance and preventing operator error.

(c) Architectenburo Roos en Ros BV BNI BNA

Even the changes made are not lost during system failures which may occur and there is always the option of undoing them.

Point input is fast and precise due to flexible construction options. Particular points are automatically connected to previously input points and lines (horizontal, vertical, intersection, perpendicular and parallel).

In CAD systems, different windows of the model are often chosen during work. ARKEY ensures there is no time lost, with its fast display of the drawing which is unmatched, the quick commands for changing the view and an optional window with total overview of the drawing.

Modelling with architectural objects

ARKEY works with components which contain one or more graphic representations of an object.

The behaviour of architectural objects can be divided into various classes:

Fixed shape (e.g. doors and furniture),
Line shaped (e.g. columns and pipework),
Surface shaped (e.g. walls and floors),
Free form (e.g. elements of poured concrete).

These are quantified in items, metres, square metres and cubic metres respectively. ARKEY has specific component types for each of these classes. Each component is defined in a library and can be placed as often as desired in a model (drawing).

The definition of a component contains the part of an object which is identical for all placings in the drawing. A placing of a component describes the positioning and shape at a particular instance of an object.

For example: A definition contains the description of the cross section of a particular type of wall with thickness, materials and the method of hatching; the corresponding placing is a line in a model (drawing) which indicates the centre line and height of the wall. Changes in definitions of components are automat-ically visible with all placings of these components.

Components show intelligent behaviour - if a door is placed on a wall, a space automatically appears in the wall.

A group of dimension variants of a fixed shape object can be defined using a single parametric component.

Precise dimensions are stated for placings and only particular parts are lengthened or shortened, not scaled. Components may contain different representations for the three orthogonal projections and for 3D display. ARKEY automatically displays the correct projection depending on the status of the placed component.

Project based work

The architectural components used are not saved in the drawing itself, but in libraries. A main library contains components which may be relevant for all the projects to be carried out. While drawing these components can be selected and placed as desired. The user can create and develop his own library or use commercially available ready to use parts libraries.

Apart from the main library there is also a separate project library for each project which contains all the components actually used. Several drawings may share the same project library. This offer several advantages: when changing a component all drawings automatically remain consistent which keeps maintenance simple and prevents errors; there is no redundant information which makes the drawing files highly compact, quick to load and cheap and quick to file.

ARKEY completely supports local networks so can be used as "groupware" without loss of speed. Various people can work on the same project at the same time. Changes on one screen are immediately visible on the other screens because all operators use the same components. A drawing changed by one person can be used, at the same time by another as a reference drawing.

Information seperation

Important added value of designing with computers is the ability of applying information separation to the model. This is used for example to selectively make (in)visible parts of the model, apply functional separation and to record choices and design decisions. To achieve these goals, ARKEY has separate mechanisms (organisation according to layer, level and aspect), which can be used simultaneously and independently of one another. With ARKEY the user is not troubled by having to apply and guard inform-ation separation because it is incorporated into the components.

Visualisation and presentation

ARKEY can also be used as an aid when creating convincing present-ations of designs. A 3-dimensional model can be displayed in perspective and parallel projection from any point of view. Shadings, animations and hidden line drawings can be created from these images where all covered areas and line sections are omitted. For shadings and animations, colours can be set and special effects such as shadows, light sources, glass and depth dependent colour variations can be applied.

(c) Atelier PRO Architekten bv

From model to plot

Several different types of plots are usually made of model drawings. Requirements for detail, visible objects, annotation, window and scale depend on the final use. ARKEY therefore has the option of controlling the presentation in many ways without having to modify the model. Plot drawings can be designed with windows which refer to model drawings. Each window has its own display parameters including, scale, hatching types and visible information. Annotation can be added with specific component types - symbol components which can be scaled as a group and components which can be scaled separately per placing.

Other annotation elements are associative dimension lines and text. Apart from fixed text lines, text elements can display automatically calculated quantities, element information, database fields and external files. All text can be scaled as a group.

The appearance of all graphic elements (determined by their line type, thickness, area hatching, text height, font etc) is jointly defined. This allows it to be altered simply and quickly for each type of image on screen or on the plotter.

ARKEY is an open system

Database-Coupling

ARKEY possesses an integrated database coupling through which the drawing and database really do constitute a unit. Modifying the drawing automatically leads to modifications in the database and vice-versa.

External applications

Applications which can be started directly from ARKEY exist for all kinds of specific purposes such as creating window frames. Such applications can quickly access the model and program functionality because they use the in-built Application Program Interface (API).

Exchange with partners during the building process

During the building process, the architect, draughtsman, contractor and building manager are always exchanging plans. If the partners use CAD systems other than ARKEY, built in translators are called upon. Supporting file formats are DXF, DWG and the FORUM CAD format.

Bills of products

ARKEY works with components which correspond directly to real architectural objects which makes it simple to produce bills of products and schedules with numbers and dimensions. Counting can be selective and quantities may be summed. The resulting lists may be printed immediately or export-ed to word processors, databases and spreadsheets.
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