Little Details Count

A recent addition to the growing resources for Revit content, Little Details Count is brought to you by Michael Anonuevo. From the website:

...snip...

LITTLE DETAILS COUNT is your new Autodesk® Revit® Architecture family resource on the internet. This site was established to provide high quality and affordable Revit families to BIM professionals and 3D modelers. Our store addresses the need for families, components and models created in native Revit geometry.
Edit the geometry and parameters of these Revit components to suit your needs. Add flare and realism to your 3d scenes and walkthroughs. Save time and make stunning presentations with our products. Enjoy our first release!

...snip...

Check it out and see if there is anything that helps you keep Reviting?

Dept. of Wishes - Project Browser Enhancement

A designer today made an interesting suggestion for Revit's Project Browser. What? A suggestion for Revit already? 2011 just came out! He hasn't even seen 2011 yet. He's been thinking about it for some time as their project has progressed and the number of listed views has grown significantly.

A nice example of what he suggested is the Materials dialog. At the top is a field to enter search criteria that the materials list will refer to and reduce the list according to what you type. Type W...you get all the materials starting with W. Type "WO" and you start seeing fewer items and it becomes much easier to see "wood" materials. Type the rest and you only get materials with wood in the midst of the name.

Imagine this same concept at the top of the Project Browser? Want a floor plan? Type "Flo". Want to see second floor plans? Type "Sec". The Material Class field allows us to chose a predefined class to restrict results in the list even more. This could be used to define floor, ceiling, detail plans etc. The results would be limited to just floor plans, or elevations by choosing the View Class.

Might even do away with a general listing of views? Considering 2011 has the Properties Palette and the Project Browser stacked it could make the Browser much more practical at a smaller footprint.

Very interesting idea Seena!!

Off Topic - Retro iPhone Accessory

While using my iPhone as a phone, which I don't really do very much, I accidentally engage Mute or Speaker phone. My cheek apparently is a sufficient source of inspiration for either mode unfortunately. To counter this tendency I end up holding the phone at an angle near my ear which is actually uncomfortable after awhile. Maybe this new product is the solution?

It is available to us via Native Union, from their about page:

...snip...

Product designers with a simple goal
To create simple, robust and chic products that are
functional both at home and in the office.

International business people
We travel all the time and we rely on our mobile phones.
We see ourselves as customers.

Great talkers
We believe in the art of conversation - the most powerful form of communication. We look to enhance this art

...snip...

It reminds me (well the color does) of the phone my parents had and STILL have in their kitchen, a red wall mounted dial phone. I found this picture, it's practically the same phone they have, at Vince's Cavalcade of Phones, proving once again you can find just about anything on the internet!

Revit 2011 - Get Your Software There

If you are a subscription customer and have access to download software and updates from the site then you should find Revit Architecture 2011 is now available for download. Good luck though, the subscription site is down at the moment offering a nice message that it is temporarily unavailable. Something about +2gb downloads simultaneously?

Added: You may not be able to authorize the software until you get product serial number and product code in the email from Autodesk. You'll have a 30 day window to get it authorized so hopefully the licensing information will be forthcoming reasonably quickly.

iPad Update

Okay it is out and I don't have one yet. Not in a rush but still pretty sure I want one. I've seen a tweet from Phil Read that said he isn't getting much done with it because it spends more time in other people's hands checking it out than in his own. It is still tied to a source of internet access but the 3G "cell" version is looming. In light of what Phil wrote I've resisted the urge to ask someone to give up theirs to play with it and there is little hope of getting any real time with one at an Apple store.

Now YouTube videos are starting to abound. This one showed up in a link at Facebook from a friend. The sales pitch is now, "iPad - So easy your cat can use it!". Found it funny too!

RAC 2011- Cannon Design and Yazdani Studio

You'll get to see a lot of this project for the next twelve months or so when you fire up Revit.

It is the Ordos Concert Hall in Ordos, Mongolia. It was designed by the Yazdani Studio in Los Angeles. From the Cannon site:

The Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design is a laboratory for exploration and excellence in architecture. Established upon the reputation and leadership of award-winning designer Mehrdad Yazdani, the Yazdani Studio integrates the best attributes of a design studio with the resources and reach of an international practice.

I took the picture above during my visit to the Autodesk office in Waltham last week. It's a 3D print of a cut-away view of the model, if it isn't obvious enough. I couldn't create a link to the description of the project the way the Yazdani Studio has their site configured so here's a screen capture of the information.

I suppose they could take exception to using the image this way but hopefully they won't mind. If they do I'll just end up pulling it. Heres a sneak peak of the new splash screen.

We should see some more images of the concert hall project during the installation, looking forward to it!

Dept. of Echo - Railings

Erik posted two items at Inside the Factory the other day that deserve repeating just on the off chance that anyone who reads this blog isn't already reading it regularly. If it isn't on your reading list it probably ought to be. The first post discusses the various pieces and parts of a railing assembly.

He'd like some insight into what we call the various parts in the image. What one person calls a bracket is another person's wall anchor bracket...and so it goes. Add in manufacturers/fabricators and pinning down a simple/single name can be a real chore!

The second post provides some high level comments/concerns/ideas that have been shared with them over the months/years. If you have some opinions about railings and what they could/should be in Revit please take some time to share them with him. You might enjoy seeing some of your wisdom take flight in a future release.

Off Topic - Pisa

My son just returned from a school trip to Italy, wish I went along! He had a great time and apparently arrived just in time to take his shift holding up the Tower in Pisa.

Welcome home Jake!

BIM Support Survey and Blogger Profile

I posted a notice about a BIM support survey that Jason wanted to do back on February 24, 2010. He has since wrapped up the survey and written it up in a fourteen page report. He really did a nice job putting it together and it is well worth your time to download it and check it out.

Who is Jason Grant?
Jason is the BIM Specialist at Payette in Boston, MA. His experience includes over 14 years in the architecture field, 5 years of Revit use on 62 projects at Colin Smith Architecture and 2 years managing Revit implementation, training, standards, API and content development at Payette. With his Revit experience including Healthcare, Labs, Commercial, Mixed-Use and Residential, he understands the challenges that both small and large projects face while utilizing and implementing Revit. Jason is also Co-Founder and Advisor to the Boston Revit Users Group with 200+ members, Co-Founder and Co-Leader of the BLUR Group (BIM Leaders Utilizing Revit), author for AUGI | AEC EDGE and an avid blogger on BIM and Architecture.

Dept. of Subtle - 2011 Feature

One item that won't get a lot of press time:

• Default view naming when using worksharing has changed so that each user gets their own default 3D view. The username is appended to the 3D view name.

Dept. of Subtle - Air Terminals

Revit calls the device that HVAC systems use to pass air through a ceiling or wall and connect to duct work and plenums - air terminals. They are much more commonly referred to as diffusers. Turns out that an air terminal is the sharp end of the stick in lightning protection systems. One engineer I met recently was a bit annoyed by the inappropriate use of the term.

Language is hard!!

According to Wikipedia:
Individual lightning rods are sometimes called finials, air terminals or strike termination devices.

Also according to Wikipedia:
Air terminals are the supply air outlets and return or exhaust air inlets. For supply, diffusers are most common, but grilles, and for very small HVAC systems such as in residences, registers are also used widely. Return or exhaust grilles are used primarily for appearance reasons, but some also incorporate an air filter and are known as filter returns.

So there you have it, both are correct! Rest easy knowing that if you call your diffusers air terminals or your air terminals diffusers you are good to go! Unless you do lightning protection too? Confused?

Off Topic - Hotel Rooms

I've stayed in a few over the years. Between traveling as a roadie, theater technician, convention services and now consulting I'm not sure I want to know just how many. I'm not an expert on hotel rooms or what most people expect from them but I do know what I like. I'm not after extravagance. My typical choice is Hampton Inn or Hilton Garden Inn or Courtyard Inn by Marriott. They are consistent, have a meal in the morning, free internet and almost always reasonably fresh/new. Two things will ruin a hotel stay faster than anything for me, the shower and the bed. If I can't sleep or have a nice shower in the morning it's hard to get going. Why this post now?

The night before, in the Boston area (Lexington to be exact), I stayed at a hotel called Aloft by Starwood.

It's a new hotel that features interesting design elements giving it an upscale feel at a mid-range price. Overall I liked the hotel but for some reason this one poked at me repeatedly causing me to think harder about it and its design.

To start with, take the front entrance, two automatic sliders that are offset, from one another, so you have to enter at an angle. The first door slides left from the right side and the second door slides right from the left side. The openings are mirrored from each other but their overall width is aligned and the same. Cool if the angle pointed you at the front desk but it points you toward the lounge. I also would hate to be in a hurry out of the hotel in the event of a fire since I'd be inclined to run out the first slider and head straight into the fixed glass of the second, ouch...my nose!

Once I got to my room the door featured a sliderless key system, just touch the key to the "fob" on the door. At least I don't have to figure out which side of the key to slide. Inside I found the room turned ninety degrees compared with most hotel rooms, the bed facing the exterior wall. The appearance was quite modern and nice. Note the window at the left side of this picture. It is frosted glass and looks into the shower stall.

My focus turned to the windows since I was on the ground floor. I wanted to close the shades which were operated by chains and had aluminum guide tracks at each side. It was a bit hard to reach them and unfortunately the fit and finish was pretty bad. The shades didn't stay in the track and one window's shade wouldn't completely close off the window. For exhibitionists it's no problem I suppose? I ended up climbing up on the desks to try to get them in their tracks again.

I wanted to get my phone charged up. It baffles me when I go to hotel after hotel and find they don't put a convenience outlet near the bed. Most are buried behind a bed or just far enough away that you have to put your phone across the room somewhat. In this case I was intrigued to find what was a great spot for me to plug in except it was filled up with the rooms phone charger and clock. The switches for the reading lights over the beds took up the rest of the space. I saw something underneath that kept me optimistic till I realized that it was a RJ-45 jack and empty slot for something "else". No big deal I suppose, no chance I'd use the phone so I unplugged its charger. I use my phone for my alarm clock anyway so the perfect setup for me is the iPhone ready clock/radios that some hotels are starting to use.

The new light fixtures used in hotels are terrible for a guy in his forties who needs to shave. It is as if the designers are chuckling to themselves, "yeah, let's see him try to shave in this room heh heh!" The "green" "sustainable" lamps just don't put out the color temperature I need to see with my aging eyes. The only rooms that really work for me are the ones that have the magnifying mirror with integral light. I don't need the magnification, just the concentrated light source. I muddled through it here.

The arrangement of stuff in a room is always interesting to me. When you stay in a lot of hotel rooms little stuff starts to pop out at you! The trash bin under the sink was at the end by the sink but the tissue container was at the other end. Plus the bin was right where your left toe wants to be while using the sink. The bin ought to go at the other end methinks. The placement of the refrigerator seems like an after thought, "Oh, nuts we need some place for the refrigerator, ah this'll do!"

Speaking of little stuff. I stayed at an older hotel once that had a small mound of what looked like kitty litter next to the dresser. I noticed it the second night and watched it for the rest of my stay just to see if it would get noticed by the cleaning crew. It lasted for all but the last two days of my stay (two weeks!). I also find it interesting to see when I get a bath mat or not, how many days a tissue box goes unfilled, to see how they rearrange my stuff each day in the bathroom etc. Sometimes they replace the shampoo and soap every day or every other day or not at all. It is also fun to see what cleaning stuff will get left in the room from time to time. A bottle of glass cleaner sat on my sink counter for several days one time. What an intriguing life I lead eh?

Another item, the shower. These cool shower heads that are supposed to rain on us, no thanks. Most just feel like I'm getting rained on instead of taking a shower as it is supposed to be, a nice drenching rain instead! That and reaching the shower controls, it would be nice if we could turn on the shower without getting frigid cold water on us at first.

The room included a large flat screen TV and a remote device to allow you to connect your pc or other video source into it. Shame that it doesn't include a set of cables. I don't travel with a VGA cable though I suppose others do. Not like I had any time to really use it though. If you visit the hotel site you can see some pictures of a typical room, like this one.

As a wrote earlier I liked the hotel and their staff was great. I'd stay there again but it is odd that it provoked so much thought about it and hotel rooms in general. As you were!

Autodesk AEC Tech Preview

The morning started out with a light breakfast and a little bit of socializing. We headed into the training facility adjacent to their cafeteria for a welcome message from Paul Sullivan and Jay Bhatt. They both stressed that they believe that this year's product releases represent evidence that they have been listening intently to customer and user feedback. You could tell they were very excited to share information with us. One of the slides that appeared during their welcome message was of this laser scan point cloud of the building, pretty cool.

The next session was dedicated to AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP and presented by Jim Lynch. It was at this point that my visit took a different turn. It also represents the point at which I can't be really specific about what I did either. Well I can be specific about what I did, just not what I heard or saw. Killjoy, sorry!

My first secret session had me, Robert Manna, David Light and David Harrington mixing it up with Chauncey Wilson and Chris Yanchar. They poked our brains for information about the user experience as we know it to be. It was an interesting mix for them because each of the others work for firms while I bounce from firm to firm. It isn't an easy thing, making software easier to learn, more efficient and effective as well as incorporate new concepts and features. I had the opportunity to bring up several of the Dept. of Subtle topics I have posted about during our this discussion.

Time flies when you get into these sessions. It seemed like we only sat down and did introductions and it was time for something else. Robert and David H. went off to chase down different subjects while David L. and I stayed put for a discussion about my favorite wish list item, Stairs and Railings. Some of you have seen Erik Egbertson's post from the other day about railing components and language? If not check it out and offer some insight, it is a complicated subject and they are deep into research. Erik and Jean spent an hour with us and again none of us were eager to move on when lunch time demanded it.

After lunch as I was looking for my next session and I ran into none other than Zach Kron. It was great to meet him face to face finally. I've admired his work via his blog from the first post. I ran into Zach in this lounge.

I got to wave at Kyle Bernhardt who was deeply immersed in a phone call. I also managed to sneak over to David Conant's corner and catch up briefly, too briefly.

David Mills, my most excellent tour guide led me to an office that said it belonged to Jay Bhatt. Sure enough it really was his and David Harrington and I shared fifteen minutes in the sun. Jay stressed that cloud computing is going to be a big part of BIM going forward. If I thought an hour or so went by fast earlier, fifteen minutes was gone in a flash.

David Light and I rejoined Robert Manna in a session where we got to be "flies on a wall" during a feature scope briefing led by Greg Demchak (author of Mastering Revit Architecture 2010, among other things). It had something to do with Revit (big surprise there?) but that's as forthcoming as I can be. We got to add our two cents a few times so it was nice to be a fly that wasn't swatted!

My last session, before rushing off to the airport, was an informal conversation with Zach Kron and Scott Latch (RAC Product Manager). We discussed the new conceptual tools, the adaptive point family and some practical project examples that David and Robert had in mind.

I shared a ride to the airport with none other than Lachmi Khemlani, creator and owner of AECBytes. She's been building it for six years now and it is a well respected source of industry information. I remember clearly when she had the temerity to suggest, in a product review, that AutoCAD didn't need the command line anymore (late 90's). Sure enough with Revit we don't have one, never did and even AutoCAD can operate without one. Imagine that!

It's my opinion that, overall, the 2011 releases do address many of the concerns and needs of the Autodesk customers I meet and those that are still undecided. Revit MEP in particular has a good deal to crow about. Electrical engineers should find the new panel scheduling features far more capable and no longer a point of pain. The same is true of demand factors. While I've been bemused by the complaint about no conduit or cable trays, since we didn't really draw them extensively before Revit, it is good to see the building model getting more real object in its repertoire. On the HVAC side the addition of flat oval duct, a frustration for a fair number of HVAC designers I've met, should be welcome addition.

I'd like to thank David Mills and Jay Bhatt as well as Autodesk as a whole for inviting me to the event (and covering my travel arrangements entirely, full disclosure). They customized my visit to suit me, which ensured that I enjoyed my glimpse of the "factory" from the inside. All further evidence that they are listening and engaging their customers.

Autodesk AEC Technology Day

I received a pleasant surprise invitation to attend this event, taking place on Tuesday, April 6th at Autodesk's Trapelo Road office in Waltham. My flight left the west coast early from LAX. It was filled with greater LA college bound high school students taking a east coast tour of colleges. LAX was a bit nutty today, a lot of people and traffic. There were longs lines every which way I turned. I also happened to pass by and be passed by none other Stevie Wonder. I'm not sure if he has any opinion about Revit and I didn't get a chance to ask. Maybe next time?

I arrived in Boston a little after 4pm and caught my ride to the hotel. I ran into David Harrington in the lobby (AUGI Board member and blogger). We gathered in the lobby to wait for our ride to the office for a reception. It was a very nice surprise to see David Light join us. Ed Goldberg, Lachmi Khemlani and Martyn Day were also present. There were others that I haven't met yet so I don't dare name drop just yet.

Once we arrived at the Autodesk office I was pleasantly surprised to see Robert Manna too. Greg Demchak and Erik Egbertson made a brief appearance though the plan has us spending more time together tomorrow (Hopefully something that can be written about). Anthony Hauck was present (contributed an article to the first issue of AUGI | AEC EDGE). My host David Mills was naturally there to greet us. This is a photo of the atrium looking up toward the skylight.

I was able to take part in a tour of the facility with Phil Bernstein as our guide. It provided excellent insight into their experience with Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) along with Kling Stubbins and Tocci Construction (you may have read Laura's blog posts?) After hearing the tale and seeing the work you have to wonder, "Why not? Why wouldn't everyone want to do projects this way?"

It was a nice reception and we got to examine a variety of examples of customer work as well as see some software in action. As often happens it was over too quickly and didn't get a chance to meet everyone. Looking forward to tomorrows sessions!

Floor Slabs - Deck Profile Setting

Revit Structure has had the ability to show a deck profile as part of a slab definition for quite a while. When Autodesk decided to include more structural tools in the Subscription Advantage Pack, released back in the Fall of 2009, Revit Architecture inherited this feature.

It is added as Function of a floor's layer.

You can choose from profile families that are loaded into your project.

The floor is able to include this because it is also possible to define the span direction of the metal deck. Revit Structure provided a tag to do this and it comes along now too. It is necessary to define the floor slab as "Structural" as shown in the image.

Here's what the decking looks like when the view is assigned to Detail Level: Medium or Fine. When you use Coarse you just get the simpler two line representation.

Too Old to Revit?

Excuses come in all shapes and sizes. Many are derived from our age. He can't learn Revit...he's too old. You can't teach an old dog new tricks or so it goes. Sorry folks it isn't true. I know some old dogs who are using Revit quite comfortably. I've also met some youngsters who just don't get it.

I accept that there are learning issues associated with age in some cases. It certainly can be harder for someone to get used to using a computer AND Revit when they don't have a lifetime of using the technology. Most often it just comes down to attitude. Do you want to? I bet you can do it. Don't want to? I bet you'll find a way to make that come true.

My mother went back to school a few times in her life. After each of us (four kids) were completely immersed in school all day she took a part time job and enrolled at SUNY Binghamton. She studied language among other things. Years later she went back to school to get her MSW (Master of Social Work). Someone pointed out to her that she wouldn't be finished until she was in her 50's. She just replied, "So? I'll be 50 anyway?!?" Love my Mom, not ashamed to say it. She's always learning and age just isn't a reason not to do something.

As a wise old Jedi Knight told us years ago, "Do! or Do not! There is no try!" Even Nike ads pointed us in the right direction..."Just Do IT"! What are you waiting for? Haven't got around to it yet?

My boss at U-Haul, when I was a senior in high school, fixed that problem for me. He asked me if I finished something that I hadn't even started yet, my actual words were, "I didn't get around to it yet." He disappeared and came back a few minutes later and tossed me a little cardboard disc that looked something like this.

Consider this one yours...now go!

Dept. of Deja Vu - Workset Updates

I've revisited a some of my earlier posts about worksets to clean up the language that is now used with Revit 2010 and going forward. This way when someone reads them today or in the future the language will be more consistent.

I still have some more work to do I suspect because as I dig back into them I stumble onto another reference to Save to Central etc. If you read a post that ought to be updated don't hesitate to post a comment or send me an email to let me know. It'll help me catch them up.

Updates so far are:
Workset Quick Reference to Terminology
Central File in "Four Easy Steps"
Local Files - How, How Often and Where?
Which one STC or STC? now - SWC or SWC

It's deja vu all over again!

Dept. of Subtle - MEP Pipe Elevations

Here's a quick one. Ever select a pipe and find different elevation offset values at either end? Odd eh?

The culprit is different Level association at the fittings. Check the fittings at either end or along a connected run of pipe and you'll find a mismatch. Revit is just trying to keep the elevation the same even though the fitting elevation setting varies between them. Not too hard to fix but definitely going to confuse some new users. Want to see what I'm referring to? Watch the Video or the video, or listen and watch below.

Dept. of Workarounds - Revit MEP for Interiors?

I got an email from a past student this morning asking if there was some way to get the Copy/Monitor feature to work for Rooms. As an interiors firm they do most of their work in a separate model and this is a bit inconvenient when it comes to creating equipment schedules and report the location (room) information. Once upon a time Revit MEP had a Copy/Monitor that included Rooms. They replaced that with Spaces and HVAC Zones. These spaces are aware of rooms in a linked project.

See where I'm headed?? I can't copy/monitor rooms but Revit MEP can keep spaces in sync with rooms...soooo...uncomfortable workaround ahead:

What if "your" firm uses Revit MEP instead? You'd be able to link the architecture model in, places spaces where their rooms are.

 Once you've got Spaces where their Rooms are you can use the Space Naming Utility to keep the names and numbers in sync.

This tool is available from Autodesk Subscription though I can't imagine why it isn't just part of the software yet.

Equipment schedules can report Space Name and Number instead of Room Name and Number - though we'd keep them in sync and nobody but "us" would be the wiser?

What's the penalty to do the work in Revit MEP? No site or structural tools and a different interface layout than a user with RAC experience is used to. The lack of beams or columns might be a bummer, maybe not? It does beg the question, "Why isn't there a better way for firms to collaborate between their respective firms?" Well, not yet anyway. The "Xmas" wish list is a lot bigger than "Santa" has time and "elves" to prepare and deliver each year.

I created a short video to describe what I'm suggesting might suffice...mileage may vary...or you can listen and watch here.

Dept. of Subtle - Omni Class Parameters Missing

Looking at the parameters of various families you might notice that some seem to be missing their Omni Class parameters. Taking a closer look you should note that these are probably system families like walls, floors, ceilings, roofs, structure foundation slabs etc. The text from the Revit help documentation:

...snip

OmniClass is a new classification system for the construction industry. The Autodesk Seek website uses codes from OmniClass Table 23 to filter and identify shared content. A code consists of an OmniClass number and title.

If an OmniClass code is not already assigned to a family, you are prompted to assign one during the sharing process. However, you can continue to share with Autodesk Seek without defining one. All Revit families have parameters for assigning an OmniClass code, except for the System and Annotation families. [emphasis added]

You can access the OmniClass Number and OmniClass Title parameters in the Family Category and Parameters dialog under Family Parameters. See Family Category and Parameters.

...snip

The description on the home page of OmniClass is:

...snip

The OmniClass Construction Classification System (known as OmniClass™ or OCCS) is a classification system for the construction industry. OmniClass is useful for many applications, from organizing library materials, product literature, and project information, to providing a classification structure for electronic databases. It incorporates other extant systems currently in use as the basis of many of its Tables – MasterFormat™ for work results, UniFormat for elements, and EPIC (Electronic Product Information Cooperation) for structuring products.

...snip

Revit Technology Conference 2010 - RTC 2010 Sydney

Planning for RTC 2010 Sydney is in full swing and goes live in just a couple short months now. I was fortunate to be able to attend last year and get to go this year too!! Yay me! (I watch Disney Channel with my daughter so I'm hip to all the cool phrases!) The conference will be at the:

Novotel Manly Pacific Hotel
Sydney, Australia
Thursday – Saturday, 20 – 22 May 2010

I must admit that I wasn't going to attend until Wesley showed me the special microphones they were going to provide me with for my sessions. I had to make sure no other speaker would get to use them before I'd agree. What kind of "prima don" would I be if I didn't have unreasonable demands? This is a picture of the microphones that I get to use, I think they are befitting of my style and go with my earrings nicely!

Truth be told I found the picture on the Facebook page for PA of the Day. A page dedicated to sharing pictures of Public Address (PA) systems. The sort of stuff a roadie (ex-roadie in my case) enjoys. The more arcane the better! Naturally I had to join immediately. The caption attributes them to Mariah Carey.

Back to the conference! The schedule and roster of speakers has been posted. If you have the opportunity to attend or send someone from your office instead please plan to do so, won't regret it! See you there!!

P.S. If you are really paying attention did you notice the RTC USA link? Hmmm...what could we be planning there?? Stay tuned!

Off Topic - Contrast and Boredom

I write this as an escape from the pain of reviewing a document for references to figures...figure 1 to image 1 - check...next figure 2 to image 2...check - "help me" I know I have to finish this...deep breath...

I've been growing less and less fond of the blog format here and recently Blogger starting offering some more template features. I experimented a bit with Revit Inside and Revit Jobs tonight. I went with a stark contrast of a change for Revit Inside and a slightly evolutionary change with Revit Jobs. I'm curious if any of my readers care for one or the other or if they even care.

I like the real contrast between the text and the background of Revit Inside. Usually I find a black background to hard to read text on. This template's choices are surprisingly legible, to me that is.

I also like the contrast and clean order to Revit Jobs. Can you sense my indecision here? It is the only reason I didn't just do one or the other tonight. When I'm waffling...I tend to keep waffling for a bit longer.

Any opinions??

Autodesk Blogger Day - Revit 2011

Wow I've got so much to write about! I'm sorry I should have written I COULD have had so much to write about. This morning has been a comedy of errors. First I realized that I deleted my invitation last night when my email provider decided to dump 80 messages on me again along with some I haven't seen. I inadvertently deleted several I shouldn't have and then immediately emptied the the "trash"...gone, poof...see ya...

Today is my daughter's birthday and I took some snacks to school and had some fun. All the while thinking that I had several hours until the meeting took place. I could just send an email and get it all sorted out, no problem. Except when I finally got back to my computer to deal with it I realized that the meeting just ended!! Eastern Standard time is a "bugger" when you live on the "left" coast!!

Suffice it to say I missed the event again. Last year I was working with a client and this year I set aside the date for my daughter's birthday (and sneaking in a Revit Blogger Day). Sigh... I did attend the South Coast Revit User Group meeting last night and got to see Scott Davis present information for all three versions so I can still write something, just not about the blogger day event. A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) reduces me to Sergeant Shultz unfortunately.

Revit MEP 2011

Revit Clinic revealed some new features for Revit MEP 2011. For those of you expressing dismay at no cable tray or conduit features, dismay no more! Also, sssh... "oval duct"!

I'm wondering how long before there is a wishlist item for "flex conduit" (aka Romex?)...?

Revit 2011 - Let the Noise Begin

Since Revit 2011 is nearly upon us I thought I'd echo a post by Guy Robinson at Bolt Out of The Red blog. He wrote this one back in May of 2009 after the scrappy heated stuff was developing with the new Ribbon interface. I found it very insightful and thought provoking. He wasn't claiming to have an inside track on reality or the truth but he has been a programmer using the Revit API for about as long as anyone outside of Autodesk has been. I tend to agree with his post title as I think this year will be a pivotal one for the three kids as they turn eleven, six and five.

Greg Arkin at Revit 3D has begun posting information about the new release. I believe the standard Autodesk embargo (for Sales/Marketing) about discussing the new products ended at Midnight (EST). He started posting minutes afterward. As my title says, let the noise begin as everyone else starts adding to the available information pile on the "internets". It's a win for the users who are eager to find out what they can about the next release.

[Added: 03/25/2010] David Light made a really nice summary of just some of the new features this morning too.

Revit 2011 - Sneak Peak

On Thursday, March 25, 2010 (tomorrow) Autodesk is broadcasting a public webinar to give everyone a quick look at what's new in their software portfolio. Shaan Hurley posted about it on his Between the Lines blog. I read about it there but also saw Robin's post about Shaan's post...echo echo echo. If you are a Twitter user then you may have seen the Autodesk tweet? The presentation is going to cover more than just Revit products, yeah I know there are more products than Revit...I was shocked too! Check it out!?!

Dept. of Subtle - Active Workset is Off

If you have turned off the Active Workset you may have noticed a couple subtle items are missing. First text won't show you leaders as you pick points to create them until you finish the text. Second is the Rotate tool's Origin of Rotation icon, it doesn't show up either. Turn back on the Active Workset and they start feeling better.

If you can't see your sketch lines while creating a sketch based element like a floor, ceiling or roof for example, you just need to check the Visibility/Graphics settings for Lines. When this category has been turned off you lose all the elements that use these various line styles.

I've recorded a short video to explain this stuff visually. You can listen and watch here now.

AUGI | AEC EDGE Winter 2010 Issue is out!

It is posted! You can check it out here!

Authors this issue are:

Paul Aubin, Robert Bell, Chris Fugitt, Bruce Gow, Jason Grant, Mike Hardy Brown, David Harrington, Will Harris, David Kataoka, Robert Manna, Philip (Chico) Membreno, John Morgan, Damon Ranieri, Elizabeth Shulok, Steve Stafford (me), and alphabetically last, but not least, Margaret Wiggins.

Hope you enjoy it!

Off Topic - Revit Founder Donates Sculpture - 2007

Stumbled across this while searching for something related to the history of Revit. This from a Technion press release dated June 24, 2007

"Sculpture “Books and The Written Word” Dedicated at Technion
The 4-ton sculpture by Boris Zaborov was donated by the entrepreneur Leonid Raiz"

A giant sculpture, weighing 4 tons, which depicts a book out of which emerge letters in various languages, was dedicated at the Technion last week, in the presence of the donor, Leonid Raiz, his wife Alexandra, the sculptor Boris Zaborov, architects Shaul Kenner and Michael Seltzer, and the heads of the Technion.

The bronze sculpture is 3.80 meters high, 2.60 meters long and half a meter wide. Platinum has been delicately mixed with the bronze, giving it additional color nuances. The architects created a concrete base that connects the sculpture with the ground. The base is made up of two elements – an elliptic element and one that look like a narrow, long shelf. The concrete shelf is 15 meters long. The elliptic base is 10 meters long. The shelf is solid concrete with white pigment while the ellipse has a gray pigment.

Leonid Raiz immigrated to the US from the former Soviet Union in 1980. He developed highly successful computerized software for architectural design that is now used in most architectural offices around the world. In 1997, Leonid Raiz established another company – Revit Technologies – that also develops software for architectural offices.

Autodesk BIM Deployment Plan

From the Autodesk site:

...snip...

The Autodesk BIM Deployment Plan offers tools and guidance for building industry professionals interested in implementing Building Information Modeling (BIM). Tools offered in this resource provide a practical framework for AEC stakeholders, and can be used by individual organizations on specific projects. The BIM Deployment Plan includes:

* BIM support materials for owners, architects, engineers, and contractors
* Templates to streamline multi-discipline communications
* Recommendations for roles and responsibilities
* Best business process examples
* Software suggestions for an effective BIM environment

...snip...

Download it now?

Dept. of Echo - Tab Key

Echoing my own posts this time. Just a little reminiscing, but first a question...

Tab is?
A) A delightful diet soda
B) Your bar bill
C) Part of the delightful ribbon interface
D) Texas Association of Broadcasters
E) A key on the keyboard and tool in Revit
F) All of the above

The answer is "F", all of the above. The question now is, "Which one is more relevant to this post?" Well... "E" naturally.

I posted this as a reminder on July 10, 2008. Beware the "Disco Tabbing"!
I posted this and a video on October 22, 2009. I've embedded the video again here for some instant gratification.

Product Pitch - Mach Studio Pro by Studio GPU

Check out Mach Studio Pro!

So what is Mach Studio Pro? William mentioned it in his blog recently and Steve Bennett mentioned it in his blog in May 2009 after getting to see it and again in November 2009, so you can read their thoughts too. Here's a description from the Studio GPU site.

"Working at the Speed of Thought"
"Real-time interactive workflow and rendering has always been the holy grail of the CGI industry. But crossing this boundary has proven elusive even to those with the highest-end multi processor environments .... Until now.

Here's an image capture of one of several sample videos you can watch.

If you try out or buy the product and want to use it with a Revit model you can download the exporter which will install and provide the export functions within Revit. You can check out the download page HERE.

If you want to check out the tutorial that is available for it then you can download that HERE.

It was very impressive seeing rendering results as soon as I made any change, immediately, no waiting. Revit models do suffer a bit from performance issues similar to Autodesk's Max environment but some careful model exporting can provide a model you can set a scene for quickly and then test out everything else. When you are ready for a final it still takes a fraction of the time for the final than anything else I'm aware of.

Part of the price is the included high end ATI 8750 Video Graphics card.

I've been quietly waiting for a chance to write about this. Last fall I got a chance to see this product up close and work with them to support Revit more directly. They released the exporter for Revit really quietly, so quiet I missed it too.

Time to check them out!

Schematic Design Toilet Partitions

One approach to "fast" that I've preferred over the last few years for laying out toilet partitions is to use walls and doors. This instead of hunting down specific family assemblies. That's fine later when we pick some "real" stuff but early on I just want to sketch them. Who knows we might decide to move them elsewhere?? I've posted a video that explains what you see in this image here (or at YouTube).

Or listen and watch now, here...

Dept. of Subtle - Window Tagged Twice

A client recently reported a strange tag situation. When they changed the tag value another window's tag would change too. Not strange to me, the tag is displaying the Type Mark parameter, correct? No they replied, "We don't do that, we tag each window with a unique number so our tag displays the Mark parameter."

Now I'm curious...well it was too easy. The tag was tagging the same window as the other tag. Select the tag, add a check in the Leader Option and we could see where the tag thought its window really was. Here's a video to show what I'm writing about.

Off Topic - Fun at #Laboratory

Words don't do this site justice. Greg Demchak shared a link to this tonight and I spent 30 minutes playing with the different experiments there when I was supposed to do something else. The site is called #Laboratory Andre Michelle

Warning, don't go there unless you have a few minutes to spare! This image is from the Unstable Connections experiment.

Dept. of Subtle - Revit MEP - Connectors and Height

It is important to orient connectors correctly. The "height" value or "radius" value for round connectors need to be "vertical". Here's an example of wrong (straight out of the family tutorials provided with RME).

Here's an example of correct: