script monkey: business soutions using digital intelligence 
Case Study – 3D Automation in Facade Engineering
Script Monkey has implemented 3D Automation in Facade Engineering by parameterising UCW Unitised Curtain Wall panel models then driving individual panels to create entire building facades.
One of the best things about 3D modelling is that you can test the model fits the building digitally before any painful real-world mistakes are found.
The problem with 3D modelling is that there are few people who can do it. Even more so in façade engineering where 3D modelling façade designers are as rare a hen’s teeth.
The problem with having a rare resource is that one is always under client / in-house pressure to design faster, so it is all too easy to drop out of proper 3D modelling and take a chance with 2D modelling. This may work in a conceptual environment, but not in a manufacturing environment where the benefit of 3D clash checks and fit testing are all too obvious.
The solution is to template and parameterize the core models using the 3D modelling talent and then use automation to mass produce custom sized and shaped panels based on the design template, but with different geometries, glass make-ups, silicone bites and so on.
By creating a master panel schedule wherein, the panel types were known at every location, it was possible to drive the required geometries, acoustic configuration, back-pans, fin sizes, embedment selection and more into the templates to produce out panels for production, each containing 600+ components. At the same time, a simplified version of the same panel was created with exactly the same geometry to allow BIM packages to read the geometries without falling over due to memory constraints.
With this system in place and the positional information for every panel being written into the assembly properties, it was possible to digitally fit an entire building against a concrete as-built without the host computer crashing and providing advance information about suitability without a single profile being cut.
It is our belief that one day all facades will be engineered this way!