The Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta has been downloaded over half a million times and counting.

Photoshop CS6 beta, a preview of what’s to come in the next release of the standard in digital imaging, is available for Mac or Windows as a free download from Adobe Labs. With new features and performance enhancements, customers are encouraged to download the beta and provide feedback to the product team.

The beta is available in English and Japanese. For information on how to install Photoshop CS6 beta, visit www.adobe.com/go/photoshopcs6.

Autodesk announced its 2013 product suites in San Francisco last week. While the biggest change was that all three versions of Revit will now be available to subscribers who purchase the premium and ultimate editions of Autodesk's Building Design and Infrastructure Suites, there were some significant enhancements to the programs in those suites as well. Autodesk's senior executives also laid out their strategy for expansion in the increasingly segmented computing market.

New Millennium, a division of Steel Dynamics, has released a new series of online, digital joist specification “tools” so that specifying engineers can more easily design and specify steel joists and joist girders. The online
tools are also available as mobile apps for Android and iOS devices.

In its 10th edition of its flagship product,Revu, Bluebeam has beefed up its Bluebeam Studio collaboration tool and added a real game-changer when it comes to information management using PDFs: The ability to cut and paste 3D content into a PDF from Revit or Navisworks Manage for forms such as RFIs or change orders.

San Rafael, Calif., AEC software giant, Autodesk announced the 2013 versions of its product line today in San Francisco. Among the many enhancements to the line is a new version of the Revit suite of products that combines Revit Architecture, Revit MEP and Revit Structure into one product, available in many of the premium and ultimate editions of Autodesk's suites. Users will still be able to purchase Revit MEP, Revit Structure or Revit Architecture as stand-alone products but will, rather, receive a combined version with the suites.

Schindler, one of the leading global manufacturers of elevators, escalators and moving walkways, is using Autodesk Digital Prototyping software to cut the costs and risks of replacing or retrofitting escalators in existing buildings. 
 
Schindler’s escalator division uses Autodesk Inventor as its standard 3D mechanical design and engineering software. Working with Autodesk Consulting, the company has now expanded its Autodesk software deployment to include Autodesk Navisworks and Autodesk Showcase.

Balfour Beatty, an international construction company and general contractor, and Autodesk, a manufacturer of 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, have signed a three year, $12M agreement that will help Balfour Beatty expand its adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The agreement, one of the first of its kind and size in the infrastructure industry, will enable Balfour Beatty to better serve customers across the world through increased use of BIM, an intelligent model–based process that provides insight for creating and managing building and infrastructure projects faster, more economically, and with less environmental impact.The UK Government will mandate the use of BIM on public building projects beginning in 2016.  

ArchiCAD STAR(T) Edition 2012 is a full-fledged BIM solution with critical features most smaller practices need. Architects can take advantage of a full BIM toolset and create any type of Virtual Building model and architectural documentation (floor plans, sections/elevations, 3D views, details). The new release introduces functions to STAR(T) Edition users including:

Bentley Systems today announced that Ghafari Associates, a leading full-service architecture and engineering organization with offices in the U.S., the Middle East, and India, has standardized on ProjectWise for collaborating on all of its Building Information Modeling (BIM)-enabled design/build and integrated project delivery (IPD) workflows. Ghafari first deployed ProjectWise as a pilot to better support multiteam collaboration on a fast-tracked and complex design/build manufacturing facility project. Following the many successes of this pilot project, Ghafari expanded its use of ProjectWise’s capabilities and made it the system of choice for all of its collaborative projects. Many of the Ghafari BIM-enabled design/build projects that were managed by ProjectWise have received national and international recognition for their breakthrough results and improvements in all project metrics, including schedule, cost, and quality. Ghafari is currently using ProjectWise to manage AECO content in over 450,000 documents and to serve the collaboration and work-sharing needs of more than 2,500 users from 200 companies – all in a secure environment.

BuildingSMART International, members of the Nemetschek Group, Tekla and other leading software vendors have joined forces to launch a program to help promote Open BIM collaboration workflows throughout the AEC industries.