3D Pirating by Mike Wright & Teddy Bruder

Description of Project

3D printing is something that is becoming very popular in future technologies. It will soon be an everyday household item that everyone uses and is proficient at. It will be so common to the point where most of online shopping will be printed at home. This is a very optimistic outlook at what 3D printing will become, but is also not far off of what it can become. This arises the concern for pirating. Once upon a time everyone had to pay for music and movies off the internet, but now everyone downloads everything illegally, and that is what could happen with 3D printing. So we will cover the possibilities of pirating and the protective measures that must be taken into account before it is too late.

Why we Chose Our Project

We chose this project because it is a real possibility and is not far in the future. This is a real issue that could cause pandemonium. People see 3D printing as a very optimistic future and really only think about the wonderful possibilities of 3D printing, never the downsides of 3D printing and the negative effect of it. Plus everyone loves some good drama.

Challenges

Challenges faced during this project will be finding adequate and reliable data to define what the future holds for 3D printing. While 3D printers are a hot technological item currently, there is not much discussion based upon the negative impacts. People are more interested in the possibility of being able to print a pair of boots from amazon rather than consider the impact it has of the postal service or the manufactures. Data may be slim with this look into the subject. Another challenge will be developing or finding restrictions that will be put on these devices to control illegal downloading and printing. If this technology becomes available to the public, overly-restricting the technology will turn people away and reduce the possible advancement in 3D printing. 

Deliverables

For this project the main deliverable will be a paper of 1,750 words or more. A powerpoint project will also be created to present our research and paper.

Relation to Intelligent Buildings

It is possible that 3D printers may one day be capable of printing buildings. While this capability is exciting, it is also dangerous. This project will look deeply into manual labor vs. intelligent buildings and whether or not they can coexist or if the advancement of automated manufacturing will destroy the jobs of manual laborers.  

Project Outline

1. Introduction
1. 3-D printing is a recent development in manufacturing that allows a user to develop a model to be mass produced. This essentially cuts out manufactures of these items. Designers of the models can potentially design, manufacture, and sell the good all in-house. In the future, it may be possible for 3-D printers to be a household item where users can purchase the rights to a model and print at their home. While this technology has great capabilities, it may prove detrimental to many aspects of society.  
2. 3-D Printing- Current State
1. Discuss the current state of 3-D printing and their capabilities.
1. Background information
2. Discuss limitations of current technology.
1. Cost of equipment
2. Ease of use
3. 3-D Printing- Future State
1. Explain what is possible with future technology
1. Future cost
2. Household item possibility
2. Discuss future plans for commercial 3-D printing
1. How will it be incorporated into traditional manufacturing?
3. What is theoretically possible for 3-D printers to achieve?
1. Food
2. Homes
3. Vehicles
4. Pirating
1. Discuss limitations of online piracy in its current state.
2. Explain how being able to access to pirated 3-D plans could affect the industry.
3. Research and explain the potential dangers of this.
1. People illegally downloading weapons.
5. Social Impacts
1. How will the job market be affected if people can print clothing, electronics, or even homes?
2. Will this benefit or harm society in the long run?
6. Regulations
1. What regulations will need to put on 3-D printers in order to stop illegal activities?
2. How will these restrictions limit the capabilities of future 3-D printers?
7. Conclusion

Comment on Other Blog Post
To Dave Barbalace:
I personally think that 3D printing an entire house would be difficult unless they are small in size. I felt like having a 3D printer that big is unpractical and would take as much time to construct as a house would. I look forward to seeing what you come up with and it seems like a very difficult but interesting topic. Over all good post, thorough but short and sweet outline, getting straight to the point so I don't have to read as much, I like that.

To Brian Benson

Brain,

I believe this is a very interesting topic. Most people assume that sustainability and intelligent buildings coincide with each other. It will be interesting to see if that is actually true. I personally believe that sustainability should be a prime concern in intelligent buildings but it is possible that your research may prove otherwise. I look forward to hearing about your results and potential improvements for intelligent building design. 

Week 4 - BIM will Improve vs Not Improve Buildings

The topic I chose to analyze is the impact BIM actually has on buildings, whether it improves them or not.

To better see how BIM influences buildings, we have to go back to a discussion we had in an earlier week of class and revisit the needs of a building as well as its life cycle. As Andrew Palladino points out in his post, the building owner can now have a tangible idea of how much his building will cost to build and maintain with BIM, as opposed to only knowing the initial costs. A building needs to have adequate architectural, structural, HVAC, electrical, lighting, plumbing and fire systems for the basic needs. BIM software, like CAD programs, can model and show all these systems and even their relationships with each other. A change in the structure and area of a building may have a serious impact on the duct sizing and other associated costs of construction and maintenance. By monitoring the changes done in any system, BIM can track the changes of other systems and present important information to the architects and engineers. The cost of building and maintaining the building can be identified in the BIM software by the use of materials and measuring energy use. An intelligent building, then, would benefit from the use of BIM software.

A Study Conducted by the University of Florida in 2007 identified the impact BIM had on the six highest construction key performance indicators (KPI’s) commonly used in the construction industry as accepted metrics for assessing job performance. The study showed that BIM positively influenced, from highest to lowest, Quality Control/Rework (94%), On-time Completion (88%), Units/Man hour (86%), Dollars/Unit (80%), Cost-Overall (80%), and Safety (54%). This study shows that BIM has a positive impact on the construction of buildings, specifically on the quality and on-time completion of the project which saves the owner money. (Suermann)

Figure: Overall Favorable Responses when ranking KPIs with respect to impact on BIM

A second study provides some perceived negative effects of BIM on the building process. They point out that the BIM software can track the numerous changes done on the project, no matter how minimal each one is. The author questions the abilities of the engineers to identify all the changes that the program itself can make to the model and if they would be willing to sign and seal the drawings not knowing what changes may have taken place from their original intent or design. My suggestion would be to limit the amount of people who can actually make changes to the BIM (so only a select few architects and engineers) can alleviate this perceived threat. (Kuehmeier)

References:

Suermann, Patrick C. "EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING (BIM) ON CONSTRUCTION ."http://www.engr.psu.edu/. International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality, 27 OCTOBER 2007. Web. 28 Jan 2014. <http://www.engr.psu.edu/convr/proceedings/papers/22_Suermann_submission_47.pdf>.

KUEHMEIER, JOSEPH. "BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING AND ITS IMPACT ON DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION FIRMS."http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, n.d. Web. 28 Jan 2014. <http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/02/22/11/00001/kuehmeier_j.pdf>.

Comments on other posts:

To Teddy Bruder: Great post! The graph is a good illustration of the costs of a project along it's life cycle. The cost of the Drafting Centric Workflow (#3) rises to a similar cost point in the Construction doc phase as the BIM Workflow (#4) does in Detailed Design, but since the cost of design changes gets more expensive as the project moves forward (#2) does the graph take that increased cost in consideration when plotting the #3 line?

To Dongyan Qi: Would you happen to know the difference of cost of teaching a contractor to use BIM as opposed to current methods of analyzing drawings? I also think the advantages of using BIM are greater than any disadvantage, you also have to consider that certain BIM software may have higher learning curves.

Week 4 Blog Post - Edward Bruder

The topic I choose is:

• BIM makes the Engineer's Work Easier vs It makes the Engineer's work Harder

     I choose this topic mainly because I personally and strongly believe that BIM will make engineers work easier rather than harder. Not only is it easier, it is also, in my opinion, a lot more fun to work with. BIM is much more advanced then CAD or hand drafting thus leading it to improve building in the future as well.

     BIM can be used many different ways, such as; 2D, 3D, and even 4D. At its most sophisticated level, BIM combines all the documents, data, and software packages used during design, construction, and, ultimately, operation and management into a single electronic source. [1] This will ultimately replace all types of engineering into one system. This system is so powerful that I only know a percentage of what the program can do.

     The performance from BIM will ultimately make work easier for engineers. This is because BIM can do multiple operations to help create a final design. Not only can it help find errors it can also help fix them. This will save time and ultimately help engineers create more efficient and creative designs. BIM is a platform that can provide a comprehensive and interactive assembly of the components in a building to create a new type of energy model. As more information is added to BIM for each individual part of the building, BIM becomes increasingly closer to matching the real world building itself. [3]Designs that would never be possible if not for BIM are being created every day. It is truly amazing.

     BIM’s 3D modeling is also impeccable comparatively to some other programs. You can actually see what the project would look like before it is even built. This is a huge advantage to the industry in the sense that you can change the way the building looks and see what the cost difference will be. All of which makes an engineer’s job easier.

[2]

     As seen from the graph the BIM work flow only has an increase in cost and effort in the detailed design phase of a project. This is a huge advantage over the other phases in a project.

In conclusion I believe that BIM works seamlessly with engineers to create amazing projects. BIM will definitely make work for engineers easier and will further the human advancement with in building projects.

References:

[1] Fortner, Brian.  Special Report: Are You Ready For BIM.  Civil Engineering The Online                 Magazine.  May 2008.

[2] Strafaci, Adam. What Does BIM Mean for Civil Engineers. CE News. October 2008.                       http://www.cenews.com/magazine-article----                                                                                     what_does_bim_mean_for_civil_engineers_-6098.html

[3] Alcorn, Terence. "How BIM Can Improve Building Efficiency." Facilitiesnet. n. page. Print.               <http://www.facilitiesnet.com/green/article/How-BIM-Can-Improve-Building-Efficiency--14297

Comment on Other Blog Post:
To Matt Morimoto:

Matt: I liked how you talked about both the positive and negatives of the BIM system but I'm not sure which side you chose. I do understand the pitfalls of using a BIM program but when I looked at the question I thought of BIM in a personal use frame of mind. What I mean by that is I understand that moving from CAD to BIM is frustrating but I believe that once BIM takes over and it more widely taught in schools it will become like a second language. But very nice post, very well written and insightful.

Week 4: BIM Will Improve Buildings

          Within recent decades, engineers have abandoned the old ways of using paper drawings, limited by their two-dimensional illustrations, for building design and construction. The new storm sweeping the industry is that of BIM modeling. BIM stands for building information modeling, and they are most effective for the design of advanced, technological buildings. BIM allows designers, from architects to engineers and everyone else involved, to create a full, conceptual model of what the proposed structure will not only look like, but simulate how it will function on a grandiose scale.

          As civilization has progressed and become more advanced, so too have our buildings. Even since the dawn of the skyscraper just about a century ago, our buildings are evolving exponentially with each new level of technology. In this day and age, it is absolutely necessary to facilitate the development of these complex buildings in an organized fashion. BIM allows for that facilitation and organization.

          Terence Alcorn writes in his article,

BIM is a platform that can provide a comprehensive and interactive assembly of the components in a building to create a new type of energy model. As more information is added to BIM for each individual part of the building, BIM becomes increasingly closer to matching the real world building itself.

Here, Alcorn stresses the necessity for creating an accurate ‘preview’ of how the building will operate – not just structurally, but including all of its systems working in unison – interoperability.

          Alcorn continues to make another point later in the article, something I feel like in the past no designers have really put too much emphasis on. He explains how in the past, most designers don’t care about the performance of the buildings past one or two years, they are just designing for the now, and the owners are left abandoned with the maintenance on their own. BIM modeling gives the owner a tangible reference to consult with his maintenance crew and future designers of the buildings that can even outlive the designers, owners, or anyone who worked at the building at the start for 50 to 100 years. BIM is necessary to prolong these highly technological buildings and increase their longevity and efficiency – something that designers have heavily neglected in the past.

Alcorn, Terence. "How BIM Can Improve Building Efficiency." Facilitiesnet. n. page. Print. <http://www.facilitiesnet.com/green/article/How-BIM-Can-Improve-Building-Efficiency--14297

Comments:

Audrey Ryan - Great post Audrey! I really agree that BIM will undoubtedly make buildings more efficient. It's definitely necessary, as you said, for the BIM model to transcend the "ladder of ownership" if you will. Once the designers finish their part, the owner should have something to show future engineers and designers for his building. 

Michael Kilgallon - Well written Mike. I to agree that BIM helps significantly with regards to building efficiency. The ability to model the organization of the systems of a building is vital to maximizing its effectiveness and efficiency. Very good point about different patterns and trends within the building as well. I did not consider that you could gather more future information from BIM.