moiré

Location, Location, Location: 50 Models, 50 Contributors, 20 Companies, 5 Buildings, and 1 Site

2011-09-29T22:19:00.002-04:00

I'll be presenting at Autodesk University 2011 in Las Vegas. We'll be discussing the management of large multi-file, multi-building, multi-team projects. (LF5038 At the Design Leadership Forum before Autodesk University, on Monday, November 28th 2011 in Marcello 4504 at 1:00 PM-2:00 PM)
Class Description:
Location can become a big issue in an Autodesk® Revit® project. How do we collaborate between multiple offices? How do we exchange data, coordinate building position, link models, and keep the chaos away when everyone is working in multiple companies, locations, platforms, and units? We will look at lessons learned, and the management tools and techniques used to settle issues of model linking, central file sharing, shared coordinate systems, Revit Server, and model content.

Audience Level of Expertise:

Intermediate

Target Audience:

Autodesk Revit users and BIM managers, and collaborators on large projects in any software

Track

Leadership Forum

Key Learning Objectives:

Plan model contributions for multiple offices to collaborate successfully on a multi-firm project.
Describe how Revit Server can function within a multi-location company to help share models.
Explain how the shared locations and other file formats are affected by the use of Revit Server.
List the capabilities of Revit Server and Autodesk Project Bluestreak Mobile to aid with inter-company communication.

Re-Thinking Your Firm into Autodesk® Revit®: The Transition to BIM Takes More than Software.

2011-09-29T22:13:00.003-04:00

I'll be hosting an Unconference at Autodesk University 2011 in Las Vegas. We'll be discussing the management task of changing a practice from traditional drawing delivery to BIM-Based design in an Unconference. (CM4777-U on Wednesday, November 30 2011 in Zeno 4601 at 3:15 PM-4:45 PM)

Wednesday 3:15 PM

Zeno 4601

Class Description:
Building Information Modeling (BIM) as a technology and process is radically different from traditional design practice. Are you going to try to press your traditional practice into the BIM mold? If we are going to re-organize design to use BIM, then let's re-think the way we approach and manage design. When does engineering work start on a facility? Why do your staff sit where they do? How do you evaluate computer hardware purchases? What has worked and not worked in your practice to leverage the tools that BIM provides to produce better and/or more profitable projects? How do you train your users? How do you measure their abilities? Do you continue to use drawings? How and why? What radical change can you imagine to the design process that will make use of the technology and tools now available to us as designers? Speak out and learn from others at this unconference session!

Audience Level of Expertise:

Beginner

Target Audience:

CAD and BIM managers, project and office managers, and those planning to implement a transition to Revit from other software, either gradually or suddenly

Track

CAD Management and IT, Business Owners

Key Learning Objectives

Identify key differences in the way information is gathered and communicated when using BIM.
Evaluate the way team and process organization are shaped by the format of the design medium.
List potential techniques and pitfalls discussed by industry compatriots who are working on the same transition.

Please Fill Out the Survey!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/URS_BIM_AU_2011

Open Memo to Autodesk - Improve Deployment and Installs

2011-09-21T11:34:00.011-04:00

This posting is intended to list issues for large-scale deployment techniques using Autodesk installers. It’s my manifesto for Autodesk Application deployment: I’m a big fan of Autodesk software, but I’m often frustrated with trying to get programs installed for people. This is maybe a long whiney list of issues, but also a list of suggestions for Autodesk. Addressing these problems would make their products the best in the market at ease of deployment and maintenance!

1.Acquisition

It is difficult to acquire all the necessary files for a complete installation. It generally takes me more than a month, with an average of 2 attempts per file (sometimes as many as 6 attempts are required (12+ GB of downloads) to acquire working deployment files. If you have many products, this adds up! I download in the neighborhood of 50 products per year, English, International, Metric, Imperial, 32 bit, and 64 bit.

Multiple Locations

Before downloading files, they have to be found. Currently there are 4 locations (subscription Software, Subscription Updates, Autodesk.com service packs, Autodesk KB for bugfixes and minor repairs) that must be scoured for applicable files, and there’s no single list of the files available relative to a software release.
Customers, especially subscription customers, should have a single list somewhere that provides us with ALL installs related to a product. Subscription tools, extensions, Subscription and Non-Subscription service packs, along with associated GUIDS and BUILD NUMBERS. This list should be available as an RSS/twitter/linkedin/facebook feed so that we can keep track of multiple programs without having to actively check the list for changes. The list should be sortable and filterable, and include; Application install, List of Service Packs, List of KB installs, List of Extensions, List of Subscription tools, list of service packs for subscription tools. Each entry should include a build number, link to the download, list of dependencies/prerequisites (SP-2 needs SP-1 or doesn’t it?) and release date. It would be so easy if we just could see a big table with all the values filled in;

Column	Contents
ID	(Unique ID)
Product Family	(Revit, AutoCAD, 3D Studio, Inventor, etc.)
Member of Suite	(AutoCAD/Revit MEP Suite, etc (Tied to our Subscription Information))
Licensed	(True of False (Tied to our Subscription Information))
Product Name	(Revit MEP, AutoCAD Architecture, 3DS Max Design, etc.)
Version	(2011, 2012, 8.1, etc.)
Operating System	(Windows XP-7, Windows 7, OSX, Linux, etc.)
32 Bit Compatible	(True or False)
61 Bit Compatible	(True or False)
Release Date	(2011.05.04)
Update to a Previous Release?	(True, Link to Previous, or reference to row ID)
Install Type	(Deployment, Service Pack, Subscription Advantage, KB, Extension, Content, Tutorial, etc.)
PreRequsites	(Revit MEP, SP1, etc.)
GUID	(4bcc6b9d-cba1-4a10-bac4-d9f52b1e0fcf, etc)
FlexLM ID	(699003DSMAX_2010_0F)
Description	(Optional)
Download Links	(Link directly to download(s), not to download page.)
Silent Install Command	(setup.exe /w /qn)

BUILD numbers need to be more prominent – visible in every install, every splash screen, and every deployment creation dialog box. This is the only way to know sometimes if a product is up to date, and it can be difficult to find in many applications. A standard location for a text file containing the build number would be nice for access by scripting tools!
Perhaps consider a list of appended numbers to the build number to identify the presence of extensions and SAPs so that we can use the CAD Manager tools and other network management tools to easily identify computers that need updates in a consistent way, and so we can easily identify what the current build number should be if a user is to be "Up to date".

Autodesk ID

The Autodesk subscription ID login occasionally stops working, sometimes during downloads. Checking the “Keep me Logged in” option on the login screen doesn’t keep you logged in. Sometimes, checking that box will result in login failure, and I’ve had to request password reset numerous times after trying this option.

Download Size

The download files are very large, single files. I don’t know if there’s any way to avoid this, but it can take weeks to download a full set of applications, and 30% are usually corrupt when completed. The browser download, in conjunction with Free Download Manager has been the best performer, but sometimes login permissions will be reset during a download and cause it to fail. The built-in download manager (on the website) rarely works.
CRC and SFV files would be helpful – so we can validate the download before waiting 20 minutes for it to extract files to find out whether it’s corrupt.
Multiple smaller pieces would be helpful… maybe just a series of 20MB RAR/R01/R02 files would be easier? So that regardless of download size and technology, a download can be resumed or repaired without starting completely over and each piece can be CRC checked before you use them so they can be replaced if damaged.

2.Deployment maker

All deployment makers should work the same.
They need to run much, much faster. Determining installation requirements?? How? It’s a DEPLOYMENT, and shouldn’t be reading the current OS for anything
They shouldn’t delete all deployment files if a service pack fails to apply during deployment creation.
Make it completely clear if multiple deployments can be put in the same location. Can you really set up 3 deployments in the same admin image folder and have it create 3 shortcuts and INI files that work? Even if some are 32 and some are 64 bit? …for all applications?

3.Unattended Deployment

It is difficult to create unattended deployments that are successful in a large, multi-location environment.

Consistency

ALL extensions, Worksharing Monitor, Robot Extensions, Batch Print, Subscription Advantage Tools, etc. should have the same structure, either msi /qb, or .exe /SILENT or something, ANYTHING, that allows us to deploy silently to multiple users, from the administrator account, for all user accounts, in both 32 and 64 bit environments. Also, all installs (deployment, extension, or otherwise) need to function such that the command line, Start /Wait setup.exe... command will actually wait until the deployment has completed
Also, Can we name folders and shortcuts consistently? Is the installation going to be in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Appname YYYY\, or C:\Program Files\Autodesk Appname YYYY\? Will the shortcuts be Appname-YYYY, or Autodesk Appname-YYYY, etc. Same goes for the registry entries. Not that it matters which way the programs are named to us, just pick one method and stick with it! It makes many other automated and scripted processes much simpler if we don’t have to custom hard-code a path for every Autodesk product each year.

Consistency in 2012 deployments

Revit Architecture 64 bit deployment warns on each shared folder that content exists and you can answer ‘NO’ to overwrite… doesn’t appear to have any affect. In 32 bit it only asks the first time.

Deployment dependency in installed programs

Updates should not need to refer to the original MSI Path in order to succeed. If the original MSI is needed, it should be placed in the install directory and referenced there.

Silent, Wait options in deployment maker

The ability to run silent and wait (setup.exe /w) should be in all deployment makers. Deployment makers should also allow the addition of not just service packs, but extensions and Subscription Advantage Packs as well. It would be nice if Autodesk would provide other extension developers the ability to make their extensions compatible with this format, so that tools from SmartBIM, Avatech, Ideate, etc. could also be included in a deployment.
Another suggestion, provide a deployment maker for all additions, so that service packs, subscription advantage packs, and extensions can be added as they become available without having to try to custom-script the install (which often entails extracting files from the exe, writing a command line, and putting that command inside of a bat file that checks for the appropriate installed programs (See Consistency, above)
Deployments also must be able to provide for multiple user profiles. If installation happens under a network-managed, local admin account, this shouldn’t affect the required permission level of the user. Files should not become read-only or inaccessible in the install directory or support directories simply because of the permission level of the user who logs in after the deployment has run.

Simple uninstall procedures;

Applications should uninstall remotely and easily through a command line that works consistently for all projects. Uninstallations of multiple related installs (Like Navisworks Manage and Navisworks Language Packs) should either take care of all associated related installs at that time, or the removal of one shouldn’t make it impossible to remove the other. Maybe the best solution would be a “Completely Remove” exe, or a negative deployment that could be made by the deployment tool for the product.

4. Portability & Maintenance

Location-Dependency in deployments

Deployments need to be made consistent for multiple locations. This generally means 1 person creates a deployment and provides it to others, in other locations to execute. Deployments should not contain the UNC Path to where they were created as part of the deployment in any circumstance. I have been able to manually replace this in the deployment.ini with %~dp0\... This should be the default. This allows us to create standard deployments and move them to other locations without breaking the deployment. This applies to logfile paths as well!

Network Content

Deployments and service packs should never, ever, ever install content by default. All paths to configuration files need to be editable to allow the installation of software in an environment where shared parameter files, templates, library content, hatch patterns, various config and ARG and PCP files, are all stored in shared network locations. It’s OK if those locations must be written into the deployment, as long as they’re all able to be mapped paths (B:\Config\Acad, B:\Config\Revit, etc.)

Web Content

Downloads should never, ever be forced by a deployment. Installs may need to download content and check for updates, but once a deployment is created, ALL required content should be on the local network. 500 Revit installations trying to download material libraries is a disaster.

Upgrade and Maintenance

Service packs should never install content, ever. If content dependency exists, it can be paired with the SP (with instructions and a zip that extracts both installs), but the content must be upgraded separately. If it happens to be in a
Many of these things are acomplished by some versions of some products, but many are not. Do they test their installers? at the command line? what about the uninstallers/ Does anyone else find they have issues with deploying Autodesk products?

Autodesk University 2010

2011-03-25T09:26:00.005-04:00

Finally, I'm getting around to posting the post-session class materials from AU 2010. Unfortunately, I can no longer contact attendees throught the AU event system, so I hope that posting here will help any one who still cares to find a copy.

I've also put the notes (http://www.scribd.com/doc/51534772) and Slides (http://www.scribd.com/doc/51534765) on Scribd.

Building Information Modeling in K-12 Facilities

2010-09-30T16:12:00.008-04:00

I'm Presenting BIM for K-12 Facilities at MIEM, October 5th, and AIA Michigan Educational Facilities conference on October 7th.

Learn what BIM is and what it offers to school systems looking for efficiency in facility design, construction, and management. Learn about what you can get from a BIM-Based design process and how to use BIM deliverables to your advantage; what you should ask for, and how you can use it. The answers to these questions can change the way you look at planning and maintaining your facilities. Also, hear answers to: Is BIM good for sustainable design? Is BIM good for your budget.

Download Suplemental Information here:

MIEM Conference, Oct. 5th
- Supplemental: http://scr.bi/aPICbu
- Slides: http://scr.bi/bPOCUh
AIAMI Conference, Oct. 7th
- Supplemental: http://scr.bi/9C8H7s
- Slides: http://scr.bi/buDvxU

RE-thinking your Firm Into Revit: The Transition to BIM takes more than software.

2010-07-19T08:31:00.005-04:00

I'll be presenting an Unconference at AU 2010 in Las Vegas. We'll be discussing the management task of changing a practice from traditional drawing delivery to BIM-Based design in a 1 hr. Unconference.
Class Description:
BIM as a technology and process is radically different from traditional design practice. Are you going to try to press your traditional practice into the BIM mold? If we're going to re-organize design to utilize BIM, then lets Re-Think the way we approach and manage design. When does engineering work start on a facility? Why do your staff sit where they do? How do you evaluate computer hardware purchases? What has worked and not worked in your practice to leverage the tools that BIM provides in order to produce better and/or more profitable projects? How do you train your users? How do you measure their abilities? Do you continue to use drawings? How and Why? What radical change to the design process can you imagine that will make use of the technology and tools now available to us as designers? Speak out and learn from others!
Key Learning Objectives
After attending this class, you will be able to:

Identify key differences in the way information is gathered and communicated when using BIM

Evaluate the way team and process organization are shaped by the format of the design medium.

List potential techniques and pitfalls discussed by industry compatriots wh're working on the same transition.

Feedback
So, Start the discussion now. If you are, or would attend this class, what would you like to hear about the most? What elements of transitioning to BIM are difficult or mysterious? What have you tried in your firm that has succeeded or failed? Post your feedback here and let's discuss!

Revit3D.com - BIMBoom Revitlution: It's official. April 16th is Revit release day

2010-04-13T13:26:00.000-04:00

According to Revit3D.com - BIMBoom Revitlution: It's official. April 16th is Revit release day. I don't have my copies yet, but definitely looking forward to putting the repaired ribbon into production and playing with some of the great new analysis capabilities.

Watch your license usage

2009-05-13T05:42:00.003-04:00

For better or worse, nearly all Autodesk programs use Macrovision's FlexLM licensing system.
Sam Report is ok, but if you want to really watch usage, Here's a tool that provides a graphical interface.

FLEXlm License Statistics 2.3

Wall Panelization for Revit Structure

2009-03-20T10:51:00.004-04:00

This is really nice looking! - : A Metal and Wood Framing module for Revit. Great features, includes built-in QTO, and even CNC output for framing fabrication.

i7 XEON version - Apple's first

2009-03-06T16:26:00.002-05:00

Apple is selling new Mac Pro desktops with the new i7 XEON chip. This should be good! Looks like they're the first - also mentioned on Develop 3D.

The power of Xeon muliticores + Hyperthreading + i7's memory throughput.. should be wonderful for 3D work. Revit has typically not run very well on XEON cores. I wonder if this will change with the Nehalem architecture...

An argument for keyboard commands

2009-03-04T09:14:00.004-05:00

Many pieces of software today are going to great lengths to improve the GUI... ribbon bars, Right-Click menus, etc.

That may be nice, especially for new users and people who don't understand computers, but we shouldn't forget the power of keyboard shortcuts.

If I assume I never let go of the mouse because I'm using a CAD or Drawing-type application, and I'm not using anything fancy like a 3D mouse in the left hand, that leaves my left hand resting on the keyboard and ready to instantly start commands.

For keys in Home Row, you can create

560 3-key combinations
120 2-key combinations
016 1-key combinations

696 total commands

this is for the following keys

qwert
asdfg
zxcvb
[Space] (16)

Back in the day I had a killer PGP file for AutoCAD that leveraged about 200 of those options to make me really, really fast. Only 50 of them were used very often, and I still remember them, they're so embedded now. Too many programs now take away my screen space for icons and forget that a daily user will eventually be able to memorize a few shortcuts and be much more efficient than a mouse-clicker.

Revit Content for sale

2009-03-03T10:00:00.002-05:00

A new company called Andekan provides Revit content at a price from SF, CA.

Wiimote for Design Review

2009-01-26T15:03:00.003-05:00

This reminds me a bit of Johnny Chung Lee's wiimote hack he demonstrated at TED... but this one from AutoDesk Labs just uses the Gyro and buttons to navigate the model in Design Review.

HOK Revit and 3D Studio Images

2008-12-09T16:53:00.003-05:00

A nice HOK/Autodesk Promo video showing some cool Revit and 3D Studio Images.

And a Case Study on HOK's Technology adoption and implementation.

New Revit Library (back) online

2008-12-09T16:40:00.002-05:00

Revit Factory is back online and has a modest library of components to share. They're also offering private corporate libraries, and Revit-oriented videos.

Nice site!

Gesture-based 3D Sketching demo

2008-12-09T05:17:00.001-05:00

Fantastic 3D Sketching interface. Very fluid, natural gesture-based interface.

ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.

Analysis in Revit

2008-12-04T15:37:00.002-05:00

They used to say they weren't interested in this market... but Autodesk's sure turned around since then:

25 simple analysis tools that work within Revit MEP 2009!

del.icio.us bookmarklet for google chrome

2008-12-04T15:10:00.002-05:00

To add one to google chrome, turn on the bookmarks toolbar, then drag this link:

+del.icio.us

onto the bookmark bar.

the code in the hyperlink is as follows;

javascript:(function(){f='http://delicious.com/save?url='+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&v=5&';a=function(){if(!window.open(f+'noui=1&jump=doclose','deliciousuiv5','location=yes,links=no,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,width=550,height=550'))location.href=f+'jump=yes'};if(/Firefox/.test(navigator.userAgent)){setTimeout(a,0)}else{a()}})()

3D Painting Game

2008-12-04T15:09:00.001-05:00

This looks like a visual treat - a game where you experience a monochromatic 3D environment by throwing paint on it.

http://iandallas.com/games/swan/

Bathroom sculptures

2008-12-03T16:31:00.001-05:00

Here's an interesting urinal;

http://www.clarkmade.com/urinals.html

I'd think you could do something a little better with the valve when spending 8k/fixture though.

Product Specs from within Revit

2008-12-02T15:39:00.002-05:00

A free (beta) plugin for Revit and sketchup that can download product specific information into your model from Sweets Catalog online and Google 3D Warehouse.

http://www.cadalytic.com/index.php?dir=products

TopMod

2008-12-02T09:46:00.001-05:00

Free open source modeler for topolgical modeling exercises.. will export geometry into revit (static)

http://www.topmod3d.org/

How 'Revit-Committed' is your company?

2008-12-02T06:17:00.004-05:00

How do you measure how BIM-Oriented a company is? How committed they are to BIM? Are they really taking advantage of/benefiting from using BIM?

What is the ratio of design employees to Revit seats available in your company?
What percentage of your projects are completed in Revit?
What percentage of those projects are 100% Revit? No other CAD drafting involved?
Do you require all projects to be completed in Revit?
What is the average size of a project in square feet?
And the average size of a project team in people/square foot?
What percent of your workforce has received dedicated training in Revit?
Do you see the necessity and/or benefits of IDP (Integrated Design Processes) in your firm?
Do you see the necessity and/or benefits of IPD (Integrated Project Delivery)in your firm?
Do you use or have you used the AIA Contract exhibit AIA E202-2008?
Do you require BIM Deliverables from your consultants?
If so, Do you issue your model as a construction document?
Do you have a library of custom Revit Content?
How many families?
Do you deploy the plugins for Revit?
Do you have any plugins of your own?
Do your CAD standards reflect the use of Revit?
Do you have integrated specifications through Revit via an application like eSpecs?
What about Cost Estimation, like US Cost?
Do you deliver contract documents in DWF format?
How? via the web? Project Portal? Newforma/Buzzsaw/Projectwise/Sharepoint etc?
Have you ever looked at downstream FM solutions that plug into Revit?
Do you charge for renderings?
Do you charge for animations?
What percent of projects has a 3D computer rendering provided in the deliverables?
What percent of projects has a 3D computer animation provided as part of the deliverables?

Goodbye Pownce

2008-12-02T05:39:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry to see Pownce going away. I appreciated it's position in the space between tweet and blog. Since it's going away, i'll be transferring all my old pownce over here. At least then there'll be some posts on this old thing...

2008-05-07T09:31:00.003-04:00

A video about one of the conference/visualization facilities we designed into our offices.

Bridge from Design to Execution

2008-02-01T23:12:00.000-05:00

When we work in an Architecture/Engineering/Design firm, every action we take involves cooperation with another party to execute the work we design, whether they’re a contractor/builder, product prototyper or other product/service provider. As a company, we expend a lot of energy maintaining a connection with the execution half of our design-execute projects in order to transfer sufficient information about the design to the constructor, and keep the design process informed to actual construction conditions. The following are some ideas to help make that connection more transparent, and hopefully allow both parties to expend less energy maintaining the flow of information.

Location Bridging
Physical Location creates the most obvious barrier to close collaboration. Some ways we could reduce the impact of barriers.

Virtual Conference rooms – Extended office

A dedicated shared conference room – Create a collaboration space in 2 or more locations that have mirror layout and are connected via video and audio feed, so that

Remote Site Supervision

Wireless internet on Job site

Camera/Microphone that mounts on someone’s head/hat/shoulder and allows us to broadcast a walk-through (or record it for future review) so that fewer people need to be physically present to receive a tour and see/evaluate issues and solutions first hand.

Remote Pan/zoom camera stations installed onsite to allow for anytime monitoring of predefined areas of interest.

On-Demand / Live drawings

Printer in the Job Trailer

A Printer onsite, allow job trailer to print reissued sheets directly from the web.

Tablet PCs for drawing sets and markups for questions – wirelessly connected to live latest plots on the project server – would allow for direct markup and resubmission from job sites.

Research the use of digital drawings for construction.

GPS and other modern survey equipment tied to a digital model of the building can begin to allow some paperless communication onsite, avoid printing and replacing sheets.
Work directly from the model so more information is available.

How does something like PlanWell facilitate this, if at all? This looks like it's the next step .

Information Integration

BIM Collaboration

Add pricing, lead time and schedule information into the project Database.
Since the Revit model contains simulations of real-world elements, including their structural abilities, etc. we could also add real cost/lead time data and have them calculated in real-time as design options are investigated.
Once this technique is refined, we could reduce the effort to price options and alternatives dramatically.
In-Model pricing would help us during the Schematic & DD stages but would a contractor really use it, or trust our calculations?

Online Document sharing

Online CAD Files
Everyone currently uses some system to interoperate/share CAD files w/ consultants, clients, subcontractors. There are things we could do to enhance this communication channel, however.
Web-based portal that recognizes individual or company logons and displays all current, and all recently updated files.
Automated email/RSS/SMS notifications. (RSS works with outlook, and several other instant-messaging type applications, SMS is a text message on your cell phone.)
Logging of downloads, alerts when critical changes aren’t viewed or downloaded.

Online Drawings

Dedicated website for drawing distribution (PDF or DWF)
Ability to automatically alert plan holders of any updates via RSS or Email, or SMS
Ability to link drawings to the RFIs, Shop Drawings, and Change Orderss related to them.
Online History of changes w/ dates and related documents for each drawing sheet.
Always up-to-date stick set online and available from any location.

Online Project Management

(there are some products on the market for this, but most are too comprehensive and complicated to facilitate a simple information exchange. They require too much training and too much manual management.)
Manage RFIs and Change orders and other drawing-related correspondence on the same channel as online drawings.
Plan-Holders lists, RFI/Change Order logs would be automatic byproducts. Documented online, and visible from anywhere, follow-through and turnaround times could be monitored and tuned.

Collaborative Culture

Same-team approach – The first step
early involvement

by working together more, sooner, we can increase the data available to customers for decision making earlier in the process, affect design changes more quickly to react to a fully informed construction and usage plan.

With a more transparent connection between designer and constructor, this early involvement doesn’t’ necessarily need to reflect more work for both parties; the connection can be made intrinsic to the process, and it can streamline the early development phases of a project to save time and effort and changes later in the process. Combining information and expertise sooner leads to a richer design environment and more informed decision making.

Collaborative projects

a closer tie to a construction company could provide the opportunity to investigate new product types for the team, including pre-packaged construction projects, resale of management tools that are developed, and even turnkey building products that have the advantage of full architectural design and modular customizability.

Work remotely on a shared revit project

2007-11-29T23:01:00.000-05:00

No, there's no support for this, and there are a lot of pitfalls, but here's a method i've found for running Revit reliably in remote, provided you can maintain a fast internet connection. This works well for me using an 802.11g wireless connection, and my bandwidth tests around 600-900k.

Map the same drive letter so that the central file is on the same path as it would be at the office.
Copy the working file to your home computer (often this is best done via sneaker network - take the copy home on CDRW or thumb drive)
Open the file and work, you can now work NOT AT RISK, because revit will see the central file and be able to check items out. I have a broadband connection and this chatter between revit and the central file doesn't seam to be much of a load to the connection.
Save to central when needed - if you do it over the broadband connection, it can get pretty slow... 30 min or more, sometimes... so maybe it's time to copy the file back to the office and STC from there.

ALSO - If you're not taking your computer from the office home, but have another there, You can use RealVNC (free) to remotely work on your computer in the office over a VPN connection (remote desktop works too, if you prefer) This also helps if your home computer doesn't have the 4GB RAM that your work computer has for running Revit.

I find the remote desktop a little laggy, so i combine the two methods, and copy the working file to my home computer, work on it there, save locally, copy it back, VNC into my work computer, open it and STC, and repeat. In my experience copying the file over and back is faster than trying to save to central over the VPN connection, especially if you can leave it to the end of the day.

Using Multiple floors in Revit

2007-10-22T21:21:00.000-04:00

Here's a sample wall section. It's showing nothing but model elements, as you'd find in any section cut around the model.

There are 3 walls above the footing.
- You can have duplicate type marks in walls so that if you tag the brick ledge segment instead of the upper segment, it will still display a consistent wall type.
- use Join Geometry to remove the lines between the 3 wall segments, or create a stacked wall of the three types.
- Don't include footings in stacked walls, they add too much complexity to wall joins. Instead create footings with the structural footing tool.
The perimeter insulation is a wall sweep that's included in the current template. you could also make it part of the concrete footing wall.
The isolation joint is a slab edge sweep that's included in the current template.
There are 2 floors - the concrete slab, for the whole building, and finish floors per room.
- the architectural, concrete slab is a single continuous floor. You can use multiple floors to produce floor joints where they need to be shown.
- The finish floor should be placed with an actual thickness, and an offset above the floor level equal to it's thickness. (VCT that is 1/8" thick should have a level offset of 1/8".) Drawing the finish floor around walls as its actually installed will make scheduled areas more accurate. Using real thicknesses will help with ADA and finish-alignment coordination as well.
the Pad is compacted fill, and is included in the template. Use this to place it under the floor, to show compacted fill in sections, and cut away any topography that may otherwise spill into the building (cuts a hole in the ground for a basement).

Working Files and user names

2007-10-22T21:13:00.000-04:00

Every working file made from a central file is assigned to a specific user.

Your user name is set in Revit options.

Once you've made a working file with your user name, nobody else can use that working file.

If you do not save to central after editing anything (that includes views and sheets, even just the view you panned across)

Using Revit in Live meetings

When you open a working file on a computer other than your own, you’re still linked to your central Revit file. Likely the other computer will have it's own user name set. Using Revit in there is just like using Revit anywhere else; if you open a working file and do not save to central when you’re done, items will remain checked out and non-editable to everyone else.

Solutions:

If someone's already opened a file and left it locked - see Releasing worksets from someone else below.

Make a working file for your meeting

If you’re planning on keeping the changes you make in a meeting, you must make a new working file for the conference room computer, name it something that identifies it as different from your normal working file. When you're done with the meeting you must save to central. If you decide to not save the changes;

Close your working file without saving to central.
Re-open the central file
Re-save the working file
Close with saving to central and relinquishing worksets.

Detach from central

There's a checkbox you can check when opening a file that says detach file from central. Check that box and you've separated your current file from the central file. No changes can be saved back, and you won't lock anyone out. You can save this file as something temporary, or not save it at all.

Releasing worksets from someone else

It goes like this - Joe Smith worked on the model, or opened the central file to view something, and is now on vacation, or unavailable, and they never checked in their worksets, or closed the central file, locking a view.

To fix:

Open Revit (have all other files closed)
Open Settings/Options
Change your username to the one who you see has the elements you need borrowed (jsmith)
Open the central file
Save as a new working file. It'd be a good idea to append the user's initials to working file names to help keep them straight.
Save Joe's working file to central and close it.
Go back into your Settings/Options and change the username back to you.
Open your working file and continue your work. Joes stuff should now be available again.

NOTE: If Joe Smith is working from home, or somewhere else, you will have just invalidated all of his work, so be careful to communicate with your team before taking this step.

Revit Interface Speed Tips

2007-10-22T21:09:00.000-04:00

Visibility and view

To turn of the visibility of a category, simply select the object you want to switch off and type VH on your keyboard. (you may need to edit your keyboard shortcuts.)
While holding the middle scroll wheel button, tap the space bar to switch to Zoom mode, tap it again to enter Spin mode. Tap again to scroll back to Pan mode.
Hold down the key and hit the tab button to cycle between open windows.

Object Selection

Hit TAB to cycle between different objects under your cursor BEFORE you click the button to select.
If you are editing an object or group of objects and get out of the command you can reselect them without having to go back and pick them individually by using the CTRL + back-arrow key.
Select an object, right click and you can "Select All Instances" of the object in the model, or just type SA for the same action (regardless of whether they're visible in the current view.)

Object Creation

When selecting lines you can pre-lock them by checking the "Lock" Check box in the Option bar.
Hitting the space bar flips the orientation of a wall while you're drawing it.
The Join Roofs tool (next to wall joins tool) will join the face of a gable end roof to an adjacent vertical wall. This is great to do the condition where one lower roof eave "tucks under" the eave of a higher gable.
Hold the control button while clicking/dragging something to copy it.
Select an object and type CS to create a similar object. (If selecting a wall it will start the wall command with the same wall type.)
Hold SHIFT down while moving something to constrict it to Vertical or Horizontal, like the AutoCAD ORTHO command.
Hit Space while placing doors to adjust the swing direction.
When placing a component you want to align with an angled wall, hover over the wall and hit space to align the component to the wall.

Object Modification

After selecting an object, you can nudge it around your screen with the arrow keys (provided it's not hosted or attached to something that restricts it in certain directions. Each tap of the arrow key moves it 1/2 your snap distance. Shift+ Arrow key moves it 10 times as far with each tap.
Hit the space bar while placing a component and it will rotate that element by increments of 90 degrees around it's origin.
Simply select a door / wall / component (or select multiple objects all at once), then hit the space bar and watch them flip, rotate etc

Adjust temporary dimension size in Revit

2007-10-22T21:00:00.000-04:00

In the new build 20070810_1700 Web Update Enhancement List, there is a point mentioning: "When temporary dimension text too small to read, user can adjust the size of the font through Revit.ini". Our Autodesk Support team is currently in the process of creating a Knowledge Base solution that explains how to modify the Revit.ini to adjust the size of the temporary dimensions. However, the following are the steps to do so:

Open Revit.ini file in Notepad. The file is typically located in C:\Program Files\Revit Structure 2008\Program.

Add the following line to Revit.ini in [Graphics] section:
- TempDimFontSizeInPoints=16
- Where 16 is a number larger than 8 (default hard-coded value). Good starting point is twice the default size (i.e. 16-17).

Save Revit.ini.

Restart Revit. You should see the change.
- If the size of temporary dimensions is still small, repeat from step 1 with larger number.

Web 3.0

2007-08-02T16:15:00.000-04:00

Well, i guess i should eventually start updating this new blog. I hope i will be able to maintain it more faithfully than my old home page, or my Flickr photos, MySpace and LinkedIn profiles, personal wiki, etc. which leads me to this thought:

I see a lot of speculation lately on what "Web 3.0" will be. While i don't really buy into the whole "Web 2.0" definition to begin with (social networking, in my opinion, is mainly just a prettier face on IRC, NNTP, Usenet, and other web 1.0 or 0.1 technologies or concepts), I've been thinking about the next level of development for all these "Web 2.0" tools:

Myspace
LinkedIn
Spout
Blogs
RSS
NNTP
Pownce
Messengers
Online collaboration and Brainstorming
Information sharing
and on, and on, and on...

and i think the next killer apps will be meta frameworks.

Consolidate all these things into a single usable wad of tools... Maybe that happens in the form of 'widgetizing' these services so that they can be integrated into a user-definable framework, maybe its more of an omea-like meta-aggregation app... maybe something better, I'm really not sure. But I can certainly see the demand. (ya, I'm a tech junkie.)

I can imagine this killer app to be some meta-manager-portal-application monster that handles my family calendar, contact list, shopping list, Vonage phone bill, Netflix cue, blog, family photos, multimedia collection, videos, communications, Chat, email, RSS, even the passwords, login, and editing functionality of the blogs, social network sites, the company collaboration portal, all of it. It would provide a single interface to manage my digital life that is accessible from my phone, hand-held, computer, TV, Refrigerator, and DVR. Of course it would have to be secure as well.

Wouldn't that be a nice tool. Maybe there's one out there i just haven't discovered yet. It looks like Google and Yahoo are actually aiming there, and in that regard... AOL actually seams to have had a good core idea at some point. I suppose iLife from apple is aiming this direction also, as desktop software.