Summer 2011
Trimble’s offer to buy all of Tekla's shares  is attractive to Tekla and reflects our improving business while providing an outstanding opportunity to accelerate global growth. Given the strategic reasons outlined by Trimble and our shared product vision, significant value is to be gained for our customers if Tekla becomes a part of the Trimble organization. The board of directors and the management of Tekla are of the opinion that this is a beneficial development for shareholders, customers and employees. For further information on the acquisition, please follow notifications on the Tekla Website.

Contents:

Tekla is committed to creating value for your software maintenance. To benefit all users in terms of maintenance, you can expect the upcoming Tekla Structures 17 service releases to be richer in content and to contain more fixes and features than usual. This year Tekla Structures 17.1 will be released as a progress version only.Tekla Structures 17
                     
There will be several Tekla Structures 17.0 service releases that include more features than usual. You can follow and download service releases on the Tekla Extranet.

The Tekla Structures 17.1 progress version, available in the fall 2011, offers an intermediate checkpoint into the future development of the software for a limited group of users. The progress version will include some technology changes:

  • The Model Sharing collaboration feature enables efficient sharing of the model with other parties taking part in a project. In Tekla Structures 17.1, Model Sharing is a feature that is enabled for a limited pilot group of users only.
  • From 17.1 onwards, GUID is the object identifier that will be kept throughout the project, and therefore you should update your export-import-related reports, macros, and .NET applications to use GUID instead of ID.
  • Please note that the Tekla Structures 17.1 model database is not compatible with the 17.0 database. This means that if you have created or saved a model in 17.1, you cannot open it in 17.0 anymore.

By delivering these technology changes in the 17.1 progress version, we want to provide an on-request intermediate check point into the future product development of Tekla Structures. The changes will be in place in future versions, so 17.1 provides an excellent opportunity to test and prepare reports, macros and extensions for upcoming changes.

Fuller version Tekla BIMsight 1.2 now available for downloadSince its release in February 2011, the Tekla BIMsight application for model-based construction project collaboration has received much positive feedback based on which Tekla is committed to furthering its development. The next non-beta version 1.2 has been released for everyone in the construction industry to download for free at www.teklabimsight.com

Tekla BIMsight has been tested on the AEC market and found to be a solid tool. Fuller version Tekla BIMsight 1.2 includes new features, such as redlining, an option to link documents to model objects, enhanced moving of models, and improved usability. Join the crowd and be among the first to download Tekla BIMsight 1.2, and share it with your colleagues for more efficient and accurate project communication and collaboration. Read news about Tekla BIMsight 1.2 on the Tekla Website
Did you know that you can manage the whole construction process in Tekla? There is a new Construction Management module available that you can add to your existing Tekla Structures 17 software configuration for a special discount price until the end of this year.   
Add Construction Management to your Tekla Structures 17 configuration
                       
With the module, you can now add construction management functionality on top of your Tekla Structures 17 configuration to model and manage in the same package. For example:
  • Manage process information of individual building components, e.g. installation sequence and delivery lots.
  • Create your own breakdown structures (WBS) easier and faster, e.g. drawing  and NC file packages. 
  • Use-model based scheduling throughout your project from detailing to fabrication to erection
  • Manage clash checks better and faster than before
Read more and watch videos about the new Construction Management module

Contact your local Tekla office or representative for more information on the deal

Extensions, version downloads, questions and answers... Go take your pick of the content available on the Tekla Extranet

Drawing Detail Manager and Comment Tool at the top of extension downloads

Extension download ranking on the Tekla Extranet
                  
"Excellent extension!" says Jon about the Comment Tool, the most popular full 5-star-rated Tekla Structures extension so far.
 
"By combining the Comment Tool with Dropbox I can create comments which are automatically visible to the engineers in the office while sitting in my home office. By using the Comment Tool in this way I now have an easy way of keeping track of all my queries and answers without searching through hundreds of e-mails. It also has the added bonus of backing up all comments into one zip file. I can't rate this highly enough!"

Q&A: Set work plane to part top plane

Question: I have a pipe section cut in half. Why, if I create a single part drawing (workshop view) of this part, do I get an empty drawing?

Set work plane to part top plane in Tekla StructuresAnswer: The single part drawing is empty because Tekla Structures has not been able to successfully unwrap the part. This is usually because Tekla Structures could not determine an adequate unwrapping point on the part. The unwrapping point is determined by the direction of the part's y-axis as given by the command Set work plane to part top plane. The projected tail end of the y-axis arrow indicates the unwrapping point on the part. Therefore, it is important to change the orientation of the part (in Beam Properties > Position > Rotation) so that the unwrapping point lies on some part of the object. If unwrapping is not achieved, it is useful to try some rotation settings and/or beam directions before doing any cuts. The aim is to get the unwrapping point to lie on some part of the material, not 'in the air'.

Nathan Wood of DPR Construction, USA, receives the Tekla Global BIM Award 2010 from Andy Dickey for Sutter Medical Center CastroLocal Tekla model and BIM Awards competitions for 2011 have been held or are currently going on in many countries. Check the links below for local winners, or to enter or vote for your favorite Tekla 3D model.
 
Some of the best Global BIM Awards projects from last year are now available in an easily browsable PDF booklet and on video

Nathan Wood of DPR Construction, USA, received the Tekla Global BIM Award 2010 from Andy Dickey for Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley on behalf of the whole IPD Team.

The engineering team of Yugasoft, India, was delighted to receive their Tekla Global BIM Award 2010 in the Steel categoryThe engineering team of Yugasoft,  India, was delighted to receive their Tekla Global BIM Award 2010 in the Steel category for the modeling of Chennai Airport expansion from Tekla Executive Vice President Risto Räty and expressed their excitement by committing to participate in future competitions.

Tekla model competition in Italy

Tekla model competition in India

Tekla model competition in France

Tekla model competition in Germany

Tekla model competition in Sweden 

Tekla model competition in the UK

Tekla BIM Awards in North America

Tekla model competition in China 

The UK Buildoffsite delegation visited the SRV construction site and Peikko concrete component factory in Lahti, FinlandThe Buildoffsite organization works to promote the increased use of quality off-site construction solutions within all sectors of the UK construction industry. This includes increasing the awareness of these solutions as well as the project, process and sustainability benefits they offer. Tekla invited Buildoffsite to see how BIM-based steel and precast concrete manufacturing is done in Finland.

Buildoffsite's Chairman Richard Ogden is committed to radical change within the industry and claims faster ROI for manufacture. "Construction is too expensive and takes too long; it's got to change," Ogden said during his visit to Finland. "The industry loves its bricks and blocks and is slow to change but there are huge opportunities in the 'global village' we live in."

Peikko 3D components and concrete connections, such as Deltabeams, can be downloaded to Tekla Structures"Precast elements, for example, should be so simple and standard that we could buy them at IKEA," Ogden said. "The most economical, safest and sustainable elements are hybrid structures of wood, steel and glass. Pre-manufactured components are the 'white goods' of construction."

Ogden makes a point of talking about BIMM with two Ms in order to not forget that BIM is not only about modeling but building information management, too. BIM guru Rafael Sacks says that the biggest growth in construction productivity will come from the automated off-site activities that BIM enables. "Look at how the steel industry is working; they can't afford to do without modeling," points out Ragnar Wessman, product strategist at Tekla.

Buildoffsite currently operates in the UK but Ogden would like to see its organization spread to other countries, such as the USA, New Zealand, or Finland. James Guthrie of Miletus Group, the US representative in the delegation, recently contributed to Buildoffsite's newsletter:

"Improving productivity can really only be tackled by carrying out as much construction as possible away from the construction site. I have absolutely no doubt that the future of construction is going to be offsite. In the US we don't yet have the equivalent of Buildoffsite but we are working on greater knowledge sharing and integration."

During their visit, the Buildoffiste delegation saw presentations and case studies from Skanska, Lemminkäinen Talo, A-Insinöörit, Senate Properties, SRV and Peikko, among others.

Buildoffsite in Finland was also covered by the BIMsight blog
Tekla at Georgia Tech, USAIn April, Tekla participated in Georgia Tech's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering undergraduate and graduate student presentations on various BIM topics. As part of their semester class, students were assigned to address problems within the construction industry currently not addressed by technology. They solved these challenges using Tekla Structures BIM software.
 
Read more about the BIM sessions at Georgia Tech on the Tekla North America website


                          

These hardware locks are history for Tekla after moving on to FlexNetThree years ago Tekla Structures licensing was moved to FlexNet. Because of this transition, license holders were asked to return their hardware locks i.e. dongles to Tekla. Many of these plastic locks have indeed returned home; there are boxes and boxes of them at Tekla HQ in Finland, waiting for productive re-use.

About a thousand Tekla dongles, however, are still missing in action. "If you are on Tekla software maintenance and find Recognize any of these? Jake is waiting for the last 1,000 dongles to return home to Teklaa shabby old gray, red, black or purple object with a Tekla label floating around in your office, please send it home," urges Jarkko "Jake" Stenvall, director of business administration at Tekla. He thinks dongles can still be made useful somewhere else.

"The FlexNet licensing system supports Tekla Structures down to version 12, so there really is no sense in holding on to that old piece of plastic anymore," Jake says. "With Tekla we've simply outgrown the use of dongles, which are more suitable for small software companies just starting up in business. Utilizing network connections and a laptop you can access Tekla licenses remotely, as FlexNet licensing allows the same kind of mobility as dongles did but in a more secure and versatile way."

Information about Tekla Structures licensing on the Tekla Website