Autodesk 360 Rendering Competition

Nisha with Autodesk wrote to let me know that they've opened a rendering competition, beginning today, to help demonstrate the usefulness of rendering via Autodesk 360. What can you win? They will select three winners and those three will feature exclusively in their Autodesk® 360 newsletter, worldwide distribution, as well as receive prizes like an iPad, a $500 gift card and more!

• When: Oct 21 – Nov 15 2013
• Where: Autodesk 360 Rendering Competition Site
• Who: Anyone, student, rendering artist, designer or small business professional

Here’s your chance to show Autodesk your talent and do what you love doing from now until November 15th, 2013.

Interested? Follow these instructions:

• Create a still image rendering of anything you like: a building model, residential interior or object design.
• Visit Rendering in Autodesk® 360 and sign in to your Autodesk® 360 account.
• Upload your design from Autodesk® AutoCAD®, Autodesk® Revit® or Autodesk® Fusion 360.
• The final render must be done in Autodesk® 360 to qualify.
• Upload up to 5 images at once to enter here: Autodesk 360 Rendering Competition Site

Revit 2013 Information

Autodesk is hosting a media day in San Francisco today. They've invited over 100 media people to see what's new and in store for us. Sadly I'm not one of those people this time around. David Light is however and I've been following his tweets and watching the morning presentation online via their Facebook Facecast. I'm not certain if the Facecast will resume after lunch or not.

David published the "What's New in 2013" blog post that he's been working on for a few days this morning during the Facecast. Be sure to check it out, he's provided some initial thoughts on the release as well as some insight into most of the major features.

There is a blogger media event tomorrow so look for various bloggers to add to the available information overload. I won't be attending it as I have a prior commitment with a client for the next few days.

Brian Mackey has invited people to attend a free webcast where he discusses his favorite 2013 features. The calendar link he provided doesn't seem to provide any details yet...so keep checking back to see if it's updated.

Lastly, there have been a few posts and tweets that it is possible to download the stand-alone versions of Revit 2013 (discipline specific). I don't see 2013 products listed for my account yet (via subscription). Well I do see the RST 2013 as available but not the others yet. I guess that will all get sorted out as wrinkles get ironed out.

Vasari Update

Vasari 2.1 update has been posted at Autodesk Labs. They stated that it is a minor update, "just some bug fixes like correcting problems with SketchUp import and custom glazing."

In another post they announced Vasari Talk. This post is a day late and a dollar short though since the one they were alerting us to was yesterday, sorry about that! Here's what was posted:

The Project Vasari team has just kicked off a periodic series of webinars where you can have some "face time" with the Project Vasari development team. There will be demos, tutorials, and answers to your questions. The next session will be this Wednesday, October 26 at 11:30 AM Eastern (-4 GMT.) You can register for upcoming sessiosn and view past session videos on the wiki page.

Register for Project Vasari Talk (This is part of WikiHelp so you can review the information they've posted)

Future Sessions:

Points and Lines

Click here to register for Wednesday November 9, 11:30 - 12:30 Eastern Time (GMT -5)

Introducing Parameters

Click here to register for Wednesday November 16, 11:30 - 12:30 Eastern Time (GMT -5)

Keeping your (design) options open

Click here to register for Wednesday November 30, 11:30 - 12:30 Eastern Time (GMT -5)

Past Sessions:

Session 1: The Basics

Session 2: The Mysteries of Creating Form

Wacom Inkling - Cool!

Interesting morning...echoing a couple other blogs, I already enjoy Wacom products but this one is cooler still! Video is better than my words!

I like how they picked a color for the video that compliments my blog color scheme? Yeah, I'm sure they did it for that reason...

Autodesk Labs Preview - Project Spark

Project Spark is a brand new technology preview. Okay I'll get it over with a Revit Lite, sort of.

From the site:

Project Spark is a technology preview of a simplified 3D building information modeling (BIM) solution. Using Project Spark, building professionals can create designs efficiently with real-world building objects, produce more reliable documentation faster, and share files with consultants using Revit or AutoCAD-based products.

Project Spark is not intended to support conceptual design, analysis, rendering, advanced collaboration, and API.

You can DOWNLOAD it now to check it out!

How about some screen captures?? Sure? This one is the most visually "obvious" or different from regular Revit.

Massing and the sample model in view:

Exporting and the sample model in view:

Autodesk University - Early Registration Open Now

Just got an email announcement. If you are planning to attend the "tickets" are on sale now!

From the email: AU members are invited to register now, one week ahead of general registration. Take advantage of early registration to secure your spot today in the classes you want.

Register - Classes - Schedule - Explore - Exhibit

Marcello's New Blog - Simply Complex

Marcello recently presented classes at the Revit Technology Conference in Huntington Beach, CA. In his spare time he's done some pretty amazing modelling with Revit, such as an elephant, a cow, a telehandler and others. He posted his elephant on You Tube awhile ago.



He's decided to start blogging and calls his blog: Simply Complex. I encourage you to check it out and to encourage him to keep posting!

Rumor is True! - Upgrade Path to Suites

For a limited time, customers who have a current Subscription for select Autodesk products may upgrade to a new 2012 Suite at no upfront cost. To take advantage of this special opportunity, the Contract Manager on your Autodesk Subscription agreement will have to fill out a REQUEST.

Please note: When you renew your Subscription, you will be offered the renewal rate for the suite you select. The Subscription renewal rate for the suite will likely be higher than the renewal rate for your standalone product. Please contact your Autodesk reseller or sales representative for pricing information.

Thanks to Sean at USCAD for letting me know as soon as he knew he could tell me.

Dept. of Subtle - V/Gs or V/G?

Maybe this is something that only freaks out someone trying to write about something. Is it Visibility/Graphics or Visibility/Graphic?

I'm used to seeing and writing Visibility/Graphics but the dialog actually says Visibility/Graphic, no "s". The Properties palette uses the "s" however.

The review of one of my chapters for the 2012 version of Introducing Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012 flagged it as a question about consistency. I opted to go with the dialog "s-less" version. I hope it doesn't make anyone mad! :)

Stay tuned, we'll let you know when the book is finished and ready to ship! Here's the new cover, recently shared by Pat Davis on the Tampa Bay Revit User's Group blog.

RevitCity Issue

Recently received an email from RevitCity.

Here's a partial clip from the text:

...snip
Recently RevitCity.com was the victim of a hacker who was able to successfully bypass the security measures we had in place. After discovering this security breach, we moved as quickly as possible to isolate and contain the problem. In order to best protect the server from additional harm and perform a full security examination, it was necessary to temporarily take RevitCity offline.

In order to protect your own privacy, it is always a good idea to change your password as frequently as possible.
...snip

The emphasis on change your password is mine. Hopefully they'll get it all sorted out for the long run. I guess it is a sign of the times, that Revit is getting popular enough for a hacker(s) to even notice a Revit site?

Revit User Group - Shout Out

I attended three Revit user group meetings this week, BUGIE (aka RUGIE), LARUG and SCRUG. Each was well attended in light of the new release information and Scott Davis, Autodesk Technical Specialist, doing the presentation. Each evening went longer than usual but Scott could run longer than usual talking about one feature! What can he do? He's passionate! So thanks to Scott for bring the "What's new in 2012" information to a local projection screen!

James Vandezande, part of the author team who brought you Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011, and 2012 next as well as another book called Revit Essentials, visited both BUGIE and LARUG too. Check the books out at the Wiley site for more details and the author team blog ARCH + TECH. Have a look at the pictures see if you can find "Waldo"??

Here's a shot of the group at BUGIE (BIM User Group Inland Empire)
Thanks to host office: HMC Architects

Here's a shot at LARUG (Los Angeles Revit User Group)
Thanks to host office: Lee, Burkhart, Liu, Inc.

Here's a shot at SCRUG (South Coast Revit User Group)
Thanks to host office: LPA, Inc.

Last item is a quick "Thank You" to 3D Connexion, AEC Factory and Microdesk for donating a cool navigation device to one lucky winner at each group.

At RUGIE Scott had one with him that 3D Connexion had authorized him to give away. In LA Roger with AEC Factory offered one for the give away. At SCRUG Roger with AEC Factory and Andrew with Microdesk both offered one each to give away. The winners at each group are about to create some serious "glorious gadget" envy at their workplace, as soon as they can get their hands on Revit 2012 that is!

Each user group would not have beverages and food if it were not for the ongoing support of Autodesk, USCAD, Kelar Pacific, Microdesk, and AEC Factory. So thanks to each of them for their continued support!!

Thanks again to the vendors and thanks to all who attended!!

Autodesk 2012 Product Suites

Per the ongoing web preview:

The new Autodesk Building Design Suite is available in three editions:

Standard, Premium and Ultimate

Standard (includes)

• AutoCAD 2012
• AutoCAD Architecture 2012
• AutoCAD MEP 2012
• AutoCAD Structural Detailing 2012
• Autodesk Showcase 2012
• Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2012

Premium (adds to Standard)

• Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012
• Autodesk Revit MEP 2012
• Autodesk Revit Structure 2012
• Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012

Ultimate (adds to Premium and Standard)

• Autodesk Navisworks Manage 2012
• Autodesk Quantity Takeoff 2012
• Autodesk Inventor 2012

Now I'm curious about delivery...will packages still be separate installations? Still hoping for single installation for a Revit "Sweet" Suite or Complete!

It IS still possible to buy individual versions without the "Suite" options.

Room Renumbering - Autodesk Labs Plug-in of the Month

Autodesk Labs blog announced this yesterday: Room Renumbering Plug-in for Revit

This is one of those that may make you want to write, "It took ten years to get this?", or "It's about time!". Whichever emotion it evokes it is available and you don't have to learn how to write code yourself to make it. You can however use it to help you learn since the source code is made available for the each Plug-in of the Month. Here's what was written on the Labs blog:

...snip
Historically the ADN (Autodesk Developer Network) plugins of the month have been dominated by AutoCAD. This year we are keen on featuring plugins from ADN members who write them for some of our other applications like Inventor and Revit. So it should come as no surprise that this month's plugin is related to Revit.

Download RoomRenumbering for Revit 2011 via Autodesk Labs

Recall that each plugin includes the source code so prospective developers can see just how easy extending the functionality of our design applications actually is. Provding the source code also allows users to modify or extend the functionality to suit their particular needs. Each plugin includes a read me with all of the skinny related to the plugin. This month's read me mentions:

This plugin can be used to renumber or re-assign the "Number" properties of rooms in the order that the user selects while avoiding duplicated assignments. The command allows the user to specify the starting number with the option of the pre and suffix added.

This plugin has been tested with Revit Architecture 2011 and requires the .NET Framework 3.5. A pre-built version of the plugin has been provided which should work on 32- and 64-bit Windows systems. The plugin has not been tested with all Revit verticals, but should work. The source code has been provided as a Visual Studio 2008 project containing C# code (not required to run the plugin).

The Read Me also covers how to install and uninstall, how to use the plugin, known issues, and even includes a reference for further reading.

Let's make a deal. Please renumber some rooms and let us know what you think via EMAIL. In return, we'll keep the plugins coming. Thanks to Senior Developer Consultant, Adam Nagy, who developed this plugin.
...snip

I downloaded, installed and played with it for a bit. It's very simple assuming you follow the readme and get it installed correctly. Once installed you start the tool, enter a few values at the most, and click on rooms. Here's a video I posted if you'd like to see it work first?

Autodesk and Computational Fluid Dynamics

Read today that Autodesk intends to purchase Blue Ridge Numerics. Then BIM Apps posted some more information about it with a link to their site that offers some videos that describe a Revit plug-in.

One of the topics that came up during presentations at the BIMForum last week was, "When will BIM move/transition to simulation, not just modeling/building virtually but testing/validating a design by simulating conditions. So this is interesting timing. I've also traded emails with a couple people with Blue Ridge Numerics in conjunction with the upcoming Revit Technology Conference in Australia and the USA this year. Looks like our future conversations might change a little?

The Autodesk press release includes this
...snip
“Simulation represents a significant growth area for Autodesk, and we are focused on strengthening our portfolio in this area both organically and through acquisitions,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president of the Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “The acquisition of Blue Ridge Numerics will add important new simulation capabilities to virtually test and predict how a product or building design will work, allowing our customers to compete more effectively at every step of the design process.”

“Since 1992, Blue Ridge Numerics’ comprehensive CFD tools have helped engineers improve quality, accelerate time-to-market and drive profitability,” said Ed Williams, president and co-founder of Blue Ridge Numerics. “Autodesk is a valued business partner, and the combination of both companies’ proven Digital Prototyping technologies will help customers worldwide tackle complex engineering challenges and ultimately be more successful with their designs.”
...snip

You can watch some videos at the Blue Ridge Numerics site.

Advance2000 Webinar - Cloud Computing 2.0

I received an invitation to a webinar that this company is hosting on January 25th. I spoke to them at AU and talked to Chris France for a little while. You may be familiar with him as the author of BIM in the Cloud which he wrote for AECbytes while he was the CIO for Little Diversified.

Here are the details:
(note the space limited part, apparently the internet doesn't have a big enough room? I know...webinar's hosting charges by attendance range... If you can't get in I'm sorry to have teased you!)

Advance2000’s BIM Cloud 2.0

Please join us for a Webinar on January 25
Space is limited - Reserve your Webinar seat now at:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/234093062

Our BIM Cloud expert, Chris France, will conduct the presentation and from this seminar you will:

• Learn the basics of the BIM Cloud
• Understand how your firm will benefit from utilizing this next generation type of environment
• Have ample opportunity to ask questions and discuss with our expert your organizations challenges

About our speaker
Chris France is the president of our North Carolina office and most recently a CIO for a large architectural firm so he sees technology from the owners perspective. He has experience in both developing and implementing Cloud solutions. Additionally, he is an accomplished speaker and most recently presented at the 2010 Autodesk University Conference.

All participants will be entered to win a complimentary 4 hour BIM Cloud Assessment.

Webinar Title: Advance2000’s BIM Cloud 2.0
Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

To particpate, your Computer's System Requirements are:
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Contact Information:
Toll free: 1-800-238-2621
Email: info@advance2000.com
www.advance2000.com

AUGI | AEC EDGE Fall 2010 Available

The newest issue of AUGI | AEC EDGE, Fall 2010, is now available. There are high and low resolution pdf copies available now.

I'm not sure what the status of the online reader version is right now. I'll post again when I know more.

Fwiw, the naming of the issues has been a little confusing even for me at times. The intention was to publish each issue at the "end" of the season it is named for. The timing has been a bit later than the literal end of some seasons. This issue is the last one that will use this approach.

This year AUGI intends to have six issues instead of four. The naming for each will be based on months. That means the next issue will be for Jan/Feb 2011 (accepting proposals now!) and be release at the end of February, if I have my facts straight. AUGI also has been discussing taking the production internal and using the same graphics and publishing team that has been handling AUGI World. Change is the only constant!

Download the High Resolution PDF (33.1 MB)
Download the Low Resolution PDF (6.9 MB)

AUGI Reaches Agreement Regarding Forum Data

Posted at BLAUGI today by Mark Kiker

AUGI and Illiac have reached agreement for the transference of AUGI data. The agreement was signed by all parties late Monday and includes a mutually agreed timeline for exchange of the data. Once the data exchange is completed, AUGI can work to incorporate the data in the new AUGI website.

The AUGI Forums will be the first data restored. We will be moving back to vBulletin as a Forum platform. Old data will be restored in its original state. Forum posts that were created on our new site will be incorporated from the Expression Engine forums as we are able. Once the Forum data is in place and fully tested the existing logins should allow access to all posts as before.

It is expected that all prior Forum posts, avatars, signatures, access levels will be the same as they were. This may take some verification as we are moving over one million posts and attachments.

We expect the restoration of the Forums to be completed by January 7th or sooner.

We thank all those that have worked toward a positive outcome within AUGI and Illiac.

Mark Kiker
AUGI President

Since it may not be clear just who Illiac is. It is the company that has hosted the forum and web site as well as developed the web site and maintained the forum database structure.

New Sites: designbymany and Revit Forum.org

First Item:

David Fano of Case Design, Inc and the website/blog "designreform" has started up a new site called designbymany which is now open to a public beta.

David doesn't seem to like upper case letters or spaces between words (insert smiley). Both designreform and designbymany lack both...but I digress. Here's a bit about their mission from their site:
...snip
Welcome to the public Beta of DesignByMany!!DesignByMany is a challenge based design technology community. Users post challenges to the community along with their design source files. The community can then post responses with their own source files to solve the challenge. They can also comment on the challenge and interact with other designers throughout the process.

DesignByMany is an extension of DesignReform and is hosted and maintained by CASE. DesignByMany has partnered with Hewlett Packard as an exclusive sponsor for the first year.
HP will be sponsoring monthly challenges and providing prizes such as plotters and printers. Sponsored challenges will be judged by designers, architects, engineers, contractors and others involved in the process of making buildings.

DesignByMany is itself a work in progress and we’re trying our best to get all the features you need to create challenges and share projects. If you have any ideas or feedback PLEASE let us know by sending an email to info@case-inc.com.
...snip

The current challenge is to model a parametric version of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House. Are you interested? Check out their site!

Second Item:

In light of the recent forum issues at AUGI, Klaus Munkholm decided to fire up a new forum site using the name RevitForum.org. He's a Danish Revit guy and has a blog called Revit Nightmares.

The atmosphere there feels a bit like when Chris Zoog started Zoogdesign in 2003. But then a lot of the site is reminiscent of that site, and so is what everyone came to know as the AUGI forums too, since Zoog's site was merged there in 2004. While I'm not eager to have yet another place to keep up on Revit information I do recognize the frustration and trust issues that Klaus and his new members have with AUGI. As I mentioned in a post there, I think there is room enough for another place to hang out and talk about Revit. I just hope they don't remain strangers to AUGI too. If you are a Revit person you'll want to check it out.

Filling in BIM Gaps - EastCoast Design to Fabrication

EastCoast CAD/CAM announced on November 30th that they are now supporting a workflow from AutoCAD MEP and Revit MEP models to their fabrication software.

Here's a snippet of what they wrote:
...snip
Sheet metal contractors and engineers can take advantage of this elegant, yet simple, workflow that enables them to take a fully engineered HVAC design from Autodesk Revit MEP and automatically convert the system layouts with real manufacturer geometry and specifications to the industry-standard AutoCAD environment for preparation to drive to fabrication. The workflow eliminates redrawing, and delivers fabrication-ready models inside AutoCAD MEP for final detailed coordination and downloading to highly efficient sheet metal plasma cutting machines. Contractors and engineers have been waiting for and anticipating this release, the impact of which will play a significant role in furthering the adoption of EastCoast CAD/CAM Design to Fabrication solutions.
...snip

The rest of their site hasn't been updated to reflect this recent development though so I wasn't able to learn much more about it there. I either completely missed them at AU or they weren't there. So much to do, so little time. Looking forward to hearing about how it works for people!

Roombook Ready for "US"

As I mentioned yesterday, Roombook is a new extension for Revit that was initially highly specific to the German market. It expanded to Europe "internationally" and as of now has crossed the ocean to be available for all German and English speaking customers worldwide. Downloading it now!

Thanks to my contact on the inside, codename "The Voice of the People" for the information.