FAQ's About Vertex BD

Who should use Vertex BD?

Vertex BD is an advanced software application designed with volume production in mind, specifically for medium to large sized residential and commercial builders. Production home builders have been utilizing our industry leading Automatic House Options Manager to automate the process of generating lot specific drawing sets, while wood and cold-formed steel panelizers, component manufacturers, and modular and manufactured home builders have taken full advantage of our extremely customizable framing generator to automate the generation of production drawings.

Vertex BD has been delivered to thousands of companies all over the world, including:

• production home builders
• custom home builders
• commercial builders
• manufactured home builders
• modular home builders
• component manufacturers
• architecture firms
• engineering firms
• material suppliers
• plan service providers
• educational institutions

How is Vertex BD different than CAD?

CAD refers to the old-fashioned software applications used for creating 2D line drawings, and eventually 3D models, that contain only simple geometry.

Vertex BD is a 2D and 3D design system that enables a designer to build a structure in virtual space using objects that contain information about themselves. For example, when you draw a wall in Vertex BD, the wall object has information about what it should look like in 2D and 3D, as well as, the materials used to build that wall, the framing details to be used when generating the production drawings of that wall, and what connections that wall has to other walls, floors, roofs, etc.

Once the building has been created in the software, all this information is used to generate architectural layouts, elevation and section drawings, structural layouts, production drawings, material reports, manufacturing data, and rendered images, all from one source. This eliminates the task of creating all of those drawings and reports separately, and ensures they are all consistent with each other.

Is Vertex BD a BIM software application?

Yes. Vertex BD, and its predecessor Argos BDS, have utilized BIM technology long before the term BIM was commonly recognized in the industry. BIM stands for Building Information Modeling, which basically means that the model created in the software contains information about itself. See "How is Vertex BD different than CAD?" to read about how Vertex BD takes advantage of BIM technology.

In recent years, many people have misunderstood the term BIM to mean a file format compatible with Autodesk Revit. BIM is a generic term used to describe a type of software, not any one specific application.

What makes Vertex BD different from other building design systems?

Vertex BD is an advanced software application designed with volume production in mind, specifically for medium to large sized residential and commercial builders.

How are Vertex BD licenses managed?

Vertex BD uses a USB HASP key or dongle to control the product and module configuration, and number of users that can run the application at the same time. The software may be installed on any number of computers, but it can only run on computers that have a HASP key. The HASP keys may be moved to different computers as needed. Each HASP key may have a different product and module configuration, for example, you may have one key for Vertex BD Pro with the Automatic House Options Manager, and another key for Vertex BD Framer with a manufacturing link.

Purchased licenses have no time limit and will run indefinitely with the initially installed version of the software. Licenses covered by our optional Support and Maintenance service are eligible for periodic updates and annual software upgrades. Licenses not covered by the Support and Maintenance service are not eligible for updates, and will not work with updated software.

Rental licenses expire at the end of each rental period and are renewed with payment for the next rental period. Support and Maintenance service is included with rental licenses, and are always eligible for software updates and upgrades.

Can I purchase or rent the software?

Vertex BD is available to purchase or rent-to-own. Please contact Argos Systems for current pricing and details.

Do you provide software training?

Yes. We provide on-site training, as well as, training at our office in Bedford, MA. We can also provide shorter 2 or 4 hour online training sessions for limited topics (not recommended for new users). Training is always conducted by one of our expert software support engineers, and is private for each customer.

How much training should we get?

Our training sessions are tailored to specific needs. We recommend 3 days of training for Vertex BD Framer and Architectural, or 5 days for Vertex BD Pro. Additional days are also recommended based upon the selected add-on software modules. Please provide at least 2 weeks advanced notice so we may try to accommodate your needs.

Can Argos Systems help us setup and customize the software?

Yes. Argos Systems support engineers can develop customized functionality such as modifying/creating component libraries, framing rules, and material databases to more closely integrate the system to a company's existing and long term goals. Services can be performed both on-site and off-site according to what best suits your company's needs.

What are the hardware requirements?

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Recommended Hardware

**NOTE: Integrated graphics processors are not supported.**