Revit Server

I've been patiently waiting for some real information on this concept since I first heard a little birdie mention it at the end of last year. In my previous post I listed the bullet points I saw during our presentation but I didn't really explain the problem that this feature is intended to solve.

Fundamentally a firm with more than one office is at the mercy of their internet connection between offices when attempting to collaborate on a single project file. The existing methodology for Central and Local files passes too much data back and forth to be practical. As a result many firms have invested in server computer and hardware based WAN acceleration like offered by Riverbed. This technology does improve the situation and in many cases turning an unacceptable situation into a viable one. Revit Server is both a server computer based application and optimization within Revit itself to improve the project file relationship further.

Do you need Riverbed? Maybe. If you already have it you are primed for further improvement. If you don't you could evaluate it (Revit Server) and then decide whether investing in Riverbed is warranted, it may still be beneficial. The bandwidth available between offices is the critical variable.

• The first hurdle, if your firm doesn't have a server this solution won't help you. Hopefully a firm with more than one office isn't in this situation?
• The second hurdle, the imminent release is limited to your intranet/domain which rules out collaboration with external project teams that can't be permitted access to your domain. EyeTee talk for allowing other people in other firms to access your project folder(s) from outside your computer network. This rules out multi-firm collaboration unless you can work with EyeTee to provide a common domain for the whole team. Remember this is the first release and they clearly understand the desire to accomplish the broader collaboration between external firms

The user interaction is described well on David Light's blog because he captured images of various dialog boxes. From the user's point of view there isn't much difference. They create a local file just like before but they choose a project from the Revit Server instead. This is exposed via a drop down option on the Collaborate ribbon's Synchronize panel.

On the management side the firm must choose a dedicated server (choose an office location) for Central Files and the Revit Server software is installed on this server. The Revit Server Administrator application provides access to the Central files for each project as well as other maintenance items. If you browse the network using Windows Explorer it won't see the Central Files on Revit Server. They will only be accessible via the Revit Server Administrator application.

I wrote earlier about Globalscape's WAFS application and to me they seem quite similar. The most notable difference is that a company with active Autodesk subscription for Revit gets Revit Server for the subscription fee (or if you prefer to think of it as "free"...no additional money). Globalscape's solution will cost about 3K for each agent software initially with a yearly subscription fee thereafter. You'd need two agents to accomplish sharing between two offices, more agents for more offices naturally.

Robert Manna and David Light both shared network charts that explain the relationship between computers. They both have had the benefit of using the technology during early testing. I mentioned earlier that Robert is conducting an AU Virtual session about their implementation on an ongoing project.

Part of the technology includes a reworking of the user permissions that used to be collected into individual files (eperms). A new database is now used to manage user borrowing to provide a more robust monitoring and control system.

Back to workflow, all changes made to your local file are saved to a central file that is on a server located in the same office as your local. The changes to this central file are passed to the central file that exists on Revit Server. Changes made by others are also passed to Revit Server and these changes are passed to each other's local files via the Central files that are on their own office's servers. During the presentation yesterday it was stated that 100 milliseconds seems to be the threshold at which synchronization delays are perceived by a user so that is the threshold they are seeking to avoid, faster not slower than 100ms.

Some observations:

• Language is going to be a difficult transition, the word server, central and local all get used in an overlapping manner. For example, I'm saving my local file, it synchronizes with the "local" server which synchronizes with changes at the Revit Server installed on the master project server.
• If your firm has servers but doesn't have dedicated EyeTee staff this may seem "hard".
• The minimum requirements (see previous post) may deter your EyeTee staff if they are not ready to deal with the implications of deploying a server operating system that is newer than your current domain is using.
• It has always been a good idea to use a dedicated Revit server but getting that budget approved if it isn't already set up this way may be another hurdle.
• Spontaneously deciding to put a project at a specific office because the majority of the staff is in that office might contradict the single Revit Server location chosen. For example a project using teams in Phoenix and Tuscon might not enjoy the best results if the Revit Server is located in the Dallas office. It is technically possible to provide a Revit Server in multiple locations but each is blind to the other and teams can only access one at a time. The simplest implementation at this time is to focus on a single location to use Revit Server and this location provides access for all other offices.
• Worksharing monitor will be replaced with a Autodesk Bluestreak based solution that requires users to join this additional Autodesk technology and that might be a deterrent.

I encourage you to read both David's post and Robert's post as they have been using this tool for awhile now. They both offer worthy insight that should help you decide how well it will meet your needs. Keep in mind that this, like many other developments, are a stepping stone toward further developments in worksharing.

Added: Lachmi Khemlani's AECBytes has a new article based on an interview with Autodesk and Robert Manna. You can read it HERE. The article also discusses the new Conceptual Energy Analysis tool.

[Added March 30, 2011] Jame Wong has a couple videos on his blog to guide you along with installing and setting up Revit Server.

Blogger Day - When??

So when will this stuff become available? The Autodesk folks here advise us to visit our subscription site frequently as it will become available quite soon. Marketing will begin in earnest Wednesday-ish.

Blogger Day - Feature Focus 3 - Structural Enhancements

Here's a slide of the three items getting presented.

Blogger Day - Feature Focus 2 - Conceptual Energy Analysis

This feature set allows us to study different designs with energy analysis in mind. Which form provides better results than another? Quickly! This post is a bit sparse on this one but more info to follow, here's the slide of the workflow (linked from Robert Manna's blog).

Blogger Day - Feature Focus 1 - Revit Server

Quick Overview of Revit Server:

It is a software solution that takes advantage of server technology (hopefully existing in your firm)

• Uses a Central Project server and Local Project Servers
• User experience is simple - select a project file from a Revit Server list of projects
• Performance - data borrowing speed goal is 100ms or less
• SWC Process
• #1 Reload latest is from Local Server if data has been prefetched from thetrnal server
• # Model Update - This is a function of Revit on the local machine. Revit Server project will not affect this.
• #3 Save - Data needs to migrate to the central project server

There can only be ONE central server (technically possible to create multiple but teams are limited to one at a time) This means it is WAN/Domain exclusive or in other words, limited to inside the firewall, all teams must share the same domain. Daily users provide the Central server name or IP address to connect

Technical Requirements:

• One Server per location (exception as mentioned earlier about one server)
• Windows Server 2008 (64 bit OS)
• Internet Information Server 7.0
• Web Services
• Silverlight plug-in for revit Server Administrator
• Minor configuration changes (~ 5 IIS settings)
• Prefer a project server that doesn't have office email exchange server and other web heavy applications

Limitations:

• End users cannot delete, rename or move central and folders on Revit central servers using revit client, but they can do that using Revit Server Administrator
• Disabled features: Editing requests and Rollback
• No longer possible to work at risk
• Worksharing monitor does not function with Revit server but will be replaced by a Bluestreak add-in monitoring worksharing activity

Revit Server Administrator: (highlights)

• Any user can type the server name in browser window (access controlled by IT permissions)
• Based on Microsoft Silverlight tech. Must install plug-in
• Create, delete, rename and move folders and cntral models on central server
• lock/unlock central models for backup and restoration
• View submission history for any model

Robert Manna with Burt Hill has been working with this technology quietly behind the scenes. He shared a nice graphic relationship diagram on his post a few minutes ago.

He disclosed that he's doing a AU Virtual class on this subject, you'll want to check it out!
...snip
I can also finally admit that my AUv course "Virtually" There: Using Revit with Geographically Dispersed Teams: AB22-1R" is intended to primarily focus on Revit Server, implementing it, and our experience using it on a real project team involving multiple offices and an external consultant.
...snip

Opening Slide at Blogger Day

Let the webcast and blogging of blogger day begin! We are going to discuss the new Conceptual Energy Analysis tools and Revit Server technology.

Dept. of Subtle - Flipping a Fitting Replaces Other Fitting

This is a follow up to last Friday's post about sloping pipe. After using the Slope tool you might have noticed that a couple fittings were reversed. When I used the "flip arrow" to fix them I realized that another fitting nearby was affected too. A fitting getting flipped is effectively changing the slope of the pipe slightly because the origin of the fitting is altered slightly. The larger the fitting and the more eccentric the shape the more it can affect the piping. I created a second VIDEO to explain it further.

Revit Blogger Day at Trapelo Road

I alluded to this in my post yesterday. I'm outside Boston at Autodesk's Trapelo Road office attending a Blogger Day event. We've started out our morning together when David Mills welcomed us and introduced us to fellow Autodeskers, Angela Chan and Lilli Smith. Matt Jezyk tuned in from afar via conference call. Bloggers attending are David Harrington, Jeffrey Pinheiro, David Light, David Baldacchino, Laura Handler, Krista Manna, Robert Manna and me. Buildz blogger Zach Kron and Autodesker crashed our meeting too.

A formal blogger webcast begins at 12:30 PM (EST) so we can't reveal what is discussed just yet. Keep an eye on the bloggersphere and Twitter.

In the picture: (clockwise starting at left lower corner) David Light, David Baldacchino, Laura Handler, David Mills, Angela Chan, Lilli Smith, David Harrington, and Jeffery Pinheiro. Missing...me, Robert and Krista Manna.

Dept. of Off Topic - Hotel Thoughts

I caught a red eye flight from LAX on United courtesy of Autodesk Saturday night so that I can attend "Blogger Day" at the Trapelo Road office, near Boston. A webcast for bloggers starts up at 12:30 PM EST Monday, September 27th so hopefully you'll be hearing quite a bit about the substance of the event from bloggers during and shortly thereafter.

I've been joined here (so far) at Aloft (A Vision of W Hotels) in Lexington by Robert and Krista Manna, David Light, David Baldacchino and David Harrington. What is it about the name David and blogging about Revit?? I also learned too late that Jeffery Pinheiro (The Revit Kid) is also attending and we didn't know to look for him while hanging out at the WXYZ Lounge tonight.

There is evidence in the picture above that HVAC engineers do use flat oval duct! Nice that 2011 provides for such ducts!

I wrote about my visit to Aloft the last time I was here. This time I was pleased to see that a couple of the things that I found curious were not still curious. For example I found that there was an outlet available for my phone charger this time. The roller shades both fit in their tracks properly and extend to the base of the window sill.

The entrance slider doors haven't changed (not too surprised though) and I took a picture of David Baldacchino rushing out of the building in an emergency and running into the fixed panel of the second slider.

Well, off to bed to dream about new features for Revit! Be sure to check your news reader at lunch and after, Twitter too!

Dept. of Subtle - Sloping Pipe Creates New Pipe

I guess I've never paid close enough attention. When you use the Slope tool in Revit MEP the resulting sloped pipe is really new pipe. Revit recalculates what is necessary to create the slope and reassembles new pipe into the configuration.

I realized this when I was discussing a few options for displaying vent piping differently from the sanitary piping. One technique is to just use the Comment parameter (or some other custom one) to add a "vent" comment. A filter is used to isolate pipes, fittings and accessories that contain the criteria "vent". Pretty straight forward unless you decide to slope the pipe afterward. The sloped pipe loses the comment because it is new pipe and the code that rebuilds the pipe doesn't capture the Comment parameter value. I've posted a VIDEO to help explain this.

Dept. of Subtle - Single Duct VAV and Linked Connectors

The stock Single Duct VAV family has its supply in and out connectors linked. It turns out that this link is causing an error message when you use the Check Ducts tool.

Air terminals use connectors that have their Flow Configuration parameter assigned to "Preset". This means that the user assigns a specific flow value, such as 150 cfm.

The VAV needs to have the connector that supplies air to the air terminals (diffuser) set to a Flow Configuration value of "Calculated". This allows all connected air terminals flow settings to accrue to the VAV. The Single Duct VAV family has the correct Flow Configuration settings but the connectors are linked.

If the link is removed, no more warning! Here's a VIDEO to help see it.

Dept. of Duh - Deleting a System the Easy Way

Okay I'm not the sharpest tack at times. Using Revit MEP, I was asked how best to delete a system, like a circuit or supply air system. I started to suggest it was easy using the System Browser. One of the students then said, "Why don't you just use the delete key?". Uh...well that works too! It isn't obvious, at least it wasn't to me, but you can select your system and hit the DELETE key, gone it is! You can also activate the Modify Ribbon to click on the Delete button (Red X). It's pretty effective eh?? Here's a VIDEO just in case this text is mumbo jumbo.

Dept. of Quirky - Copy Monitor Fixtures

I observed that rotating a fixture using the Space Bar doesn't cause Revit to consider the fixture moved when using the Copy Monitor feature. If the fixture is moved then it generates a coordination warning. This means you can't just rely on the software to let you know a change occurred that needs to be dealt with. It can't do everything for us but I'd have thought this sort of change would get trapped at least. Here's a VIDEO that explains it visually.

Dept. of Woe - Delete Checked

A short post while hoping power is restored in my hotel. A sad yet amusing tale with sympathy... Our intrepid "victim" was dutifully reviewing warnings and was thoughtfully deleting said warnings once read. His thinking was, "I'm deleting the warning not actual elements, why would Revit do that?" I admit I laughed when he said this and then realized he was sharing a painful experience. How kind of me! He finished by saying he found out a little later how wrong his thinking was.

I often wonder why the brute force response to all offenses, DELETE the offender!, "off with its head! Revit could use a kinder gentler approach. How about, "Hi Steve, you've made a fine mess of your project, would you like me to renumber all these elements that share the same irrelevant mark value?" "Shall I turn on leaders for all these poor room/space/area tags that have wandered outside their yard?" "Shall I open the Pod Bay door Steve?" "Yes Hal (Revit), open the Pod Bay door please.

Be careful! It's dangerous out there!

RTC USA 2011 - Web Page Now Ready

We just turned on the initial page ready for RTC USA site. We were just working out a couple kinks. I'm writing because the page will has a button to indicate how interested you are in the event.

Naturally we hope that everyone will want to attend, but we probably won't have room for everyone. Keep an eye on the RTC site, it is live now. Clicking the "buttons" now will just take you to the site.

Amended: It's up now!

Dept. of Off Topic - Are You a Target?

Ever feel like you are this guy? I hope not! Thanks to my friend Bruce for making me aware of the image. I found it on Scrape TV, don't know if credit belongs elsewhere.

Dept. of Subtle - Face Based Families and Schedule Level

Face based families are a bit awkward when you place them because they infer a relationship with a level that often doesn't match your intentions. The correct level assignment is created when you place them in a plan view because the associated level is explicit and unchangeable. It is a different story in elevation and section views though. As you'll see in the VIDEO the Schedule Level parameter appears in the properties palette for these families. The parameter name is a bit ironic since the parameter does not appear in schedules!! Schedules have a nice Level parameter but we can't change it within the schedule view.

When you place face based families just remember to check the Schedule Level parameter so that it will have the correct Level assignment in your schedules.

Dept. of Echo - Revit MEP - Invalid Duct Fitting K-Factor Database

I've written about this issue a couple times in the past. A post appeared today on The Revit Clinic and Inside The System that deals with it occurring in Revit MEP 2011 now too. Here's the text of the "fix":
...snip
Recently, we have had several reports of this error happening in 2011, and in most cases, neither of these recommendations have fixed the problem. Generally, this error is a result of a 3rd-party DLL not being registered properly when installing Revit MEP 2011.

These are the steps to manually register the DLL, which should clear the above error:

1. Click on Start…Run
2. Type regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit MEP 2011\Program\ASHRAEDUCTDLL.dll" in the window
3. Click OK

A dialog box indicating that the DLL was registered successfully should appear. If not, please proceed to the steps below.

1. Click on Start…Programs..Accessories
2. Right-click on Command Prompt
3. Select Run as…
4. Select Administrator
5. In the command prompt, type CD \ to get back to the root of C:
6. Type cd Program Files\Autodesk\Revit MEP 2011\Program
7. Type regsvr32 “ASHRAEDUCTDLL.dll"

After confirming that the DLL registered successfully, launch Revit MEP to confirm that the error no longer appears.
...snip

Call for Abstracts - RTC Gold Coast Australia

The Australian Revit Technology Conference will be held at Jupiters Gold Coast, Queensland, between the 26th and 28th of May, 2011.The online abstract submission site is now open, and will close on Friday October 22nd, 2010.

We are now seeking abstracts from individuals interested in speaking at the event. Increase your profile in the industry - speak at RTC 2011. This is your opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise with other Revit Users.

Submitted abstracts will be double-blind refereed by the RTC Committee. Abstracts will be approved on their merit, within the conference’s time and resource constraints. Successful applicants will present in either a 55 minute or 80 minute session or a 90 minute lab. Applicants should indicate the preferred length of their planned session. Sessions can take the form of labs, technical presentations, or facilitated forums. Case studies demonstrating innovative or well-developed practice are welcomed. Abstracts should be classified as Intermediate, Advanced or All Levels in the following streams:

• Architecture
• Structure
• MEP
• BIM Management & Collaboration
• Sustainability
• Owners / Facility Managers
• Visualisation and Presentation
• General
• Principals

Please note that this current call for abstracts is for the Australian event only, and a second call for abstracts will be made in relation to RTC USA, to be held in Orange County, California 6 weeks later. You are free to submit abstracts for either event, or for both, once the US abstract site has opened.

SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT NOW

Tweet

You can follow the events on Twitter now.

Dept. of Subtle - Moving Fields in a Schedule

As you probably already know, moving schedule fields around is limited to a Move Up and Move Down button in the Schedule properties dialog. A schedule with many fields has a list longer than the space in the dialog allows for. Revit introduces a vertical scroll bar to help us out. The list doesn't follow the movement of a field as you move it up and down though which means you lose track of where it is as soon as you raise it above the top of the displayed list or drop it below the bottom of the displayed list. We get to play a little game of "click, click, click, scroll, click, click, click, scroll" until we find it in the correct location.

It is this annoying issue that caused me to realize that I could just select everything else I want to move under or above a given field instead. One click of the Move Down or Up would put it exactly where I wanted it to be. It is a bit of reverse thinking, do the opposite of what you want, to get what you want. I figured a VIDEO would help this post so I made MADE ONE. Hope it helps!

AUGI | AEC EDGE - Seeking Department Editors

There are two departments in AUGI's eZine AUGI | AEC EDGE called; Inside Track and Heads UP. We'd like to find two people that are interested in taking these departments over, one person for each or one person to take over both depending on your interest.

Your task is to compile information that will be useful and interesting to our members and readers as time passes between issues and compile this information into each department's space for each issue. Ideally with some passion and effort you could make it a lot better than I've been doing. This means you need to stay plugged in to what's going on around us to help us stay informed (and not just in the Revit "sphere").

• Inside Track is intended for recent developments, interesting products, Autodesk Lab items etc.
• Heads UP - bugs, recent known issues other red flag items for Autodesk software that might get missed and worth echoing. It can also be culled from recent member posts advising of an issue that has yet to be acknowledged.

If you are interested please send me an EMAIL

Revit MEP and CADworks - Online Presentation

I received an invitation to a presentation of the new piping productivity pack that CADworks has released. Here's a little bit of what the email said:

...snip
Today, CADworks® Content Management Service for Revit® MEP allows engineers to effectively achieve full participation in existing BIM promises by providing not only appropriate and quality Content, but the tools needed to sort out the new complexities of BIM. This solution offers a purpose-built Content Management Service for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems engineering.

CADworks Revit Piping Productivity Pack
This collection developed by CADworks of Pipe Types and Fittings, including Conduit Types, is now available for the extended MEP community for Revit MEP 2010 and 2011. These additions to our Comprehensive Content Suite greatly expand the power and capability of Revit MEP users.
...snip

They've got three dates listed and if none of them work for you then contact Bernie Duncan to see if they can set something else up for you. The three dates and times are:

• Tuesday, September 7, 2010 9:00 AM Central at: Register Now
• Thursday, September 9, 2010 Noon Central at: Register Now
• Friday, September 24, 2010 8:00 AM Central at: Register Now

If you are using Revit MEP you might want to check it out too? The first line says:

I am especially eager to introduce you to CADworks Revit MEP solutions that will make managing content and modeling Revit MEP piping systems much more enjoyable.

I know a couple people that wouldn't necessarily use the word enjoyable and piping at the same time, at times. It would be enjoyable to be able to use that word together with piping all the time. See what you think?

File Size - A Red Herring?

Every now and then I read a post on a blog or user forum advocating various techniques to reduce a Revit project's file size. Is file size alone a serious concern or measure of a successful project? I've heard of people insisting on a maximum file size allowable for a model.

I think File Size is a red herring.

Sure a large file will require more memory to open and this will affect performance. The biggest annoyance will be the time it takes to open the file. Linking a large file will affect the host too. File size is a worthy consideration but there are many others that often get ignored.

• Warnings - These get ignored for ages and pile up. Some of these are more offensive than others. For my money anything that involves calculations is a worry. Room, space and area errors caused by boundary issues or redundancy is wasting your cpu's time (and yours), even though it is really fast. The truth is that any warning is a waste of "space" and "resources" to some degree.
• View Detail - Do you have a lot of views that are using fine or medium detail level but have scales like 1/16", 1/8"=1'-0" (1:200, 1:100, 1:50)? These views won't really show this level of detail for all elements effectively and you are asking the computer to show it anyway.
• Huge Sketch based elements - A toposurface with huge numbers of points or floor sketches or filled regions with very large numbers of segments will hurt performance. Same for area plans and their boundaries. These features are meant to be used with the fewest number of segments to create a representation of information. I've seen filled regions used to completely document a color scheme or floor pattern concept that account for thousands of line segments instead of a simpler actual color scheme applied based on information...instead of drafting because it is familiar.
• Unused Content - Families that are not going to be used at all can contribute to some bloat. Especially if they are complex families that are quite large to begin with. Check the stock content, rarely if ever are they over 200 kb. If they are they probably have an array or some other complexity.
• Content Complexity - Families that are over-modeled or at the very least are not using Detail Level and Visibility options effectively. Families that have a large number of formulas or using arrays are another.
• Hosts overloaded - Autodesk has indicated in the past that they've determined that large walls with many many hosted elements can hurt performance. They recommend using multiple walls by floor(s) or stacked walls to minimize this.

That's just a few items, this post would get a bit too long to dig more, perhaps another post. What about the file sized focused techniques to reduce the file size itself?

• Save As - It's often mentioned to use Save As to make a new central file. Sure, the result is a smaller file, but why? We just started over, no save history, no user log files and no backups. Yes we've stripped out elderly data that may not be necessary now but guess what? As soon as the crew gets back to work watch how quickly the file becomes roughly the original size.
• Compact Central - An oversimplification, it is akin to the operating system performing defragmentation of your computer's hard drive. I prefer to think of it as asking Revit to clean up after a busy day. It allows Revit to reduce file size but I think you'll find that it isn't as shocking as using Save As. Shouldn't be too surprising though since we aren't getting getting rid of save and user history.

In my opinion we shouldn't just focus on file size. It's one of many things to consider, a symptom perhaps, not a disease itself. One piece of wisdom I can share that Scott Brown (a friend in Orlando working with The Beck Group) has offered in the past is this:

File Size @ SD x 3 = File size @ CD
SD= End of Schematic Design
CD= End of Construction Documentation

I can confirm his general observation based on my experience. Something to consider.

Dept. of Echo - Ceiling Tool Gets a Bit Smarter

In all previous releases Revit was a bit too accommodating because it would let users put multiple ceilings within the same boundary without complaining about the redundancy. Obviously some parts of a building use multiple ceilings so they need to be able to exist in the same room or space. However the Auto Ceiling function also made it too easy to put multiple ceilings in the same room or space because it didn't complain or mention the redundancy. I complained about this in an earlier post.

A quiet change in Revit 2011 exists now (documented thanks to Inside the Factory), a warning will occur if we use the Auto Ceiling function within the same boundary room or space.

It's nice to see issues like these get resolution even if they forget to take credit for them in the "What's New in XX" documentation. Little stuff can add up to annoying.

Third Party Applications - Revit App

I've been following Bruce's Revit App Blog for awhile now but failed to notice that they are offering some free applications. They just posted one that helps deal with getting rid of materials more efficiently. Regardless you might want to check them out.

The apps they offer right now are:

Materials Tool
Family Loader
Auto-Dimension

Revit Technology Conference 2011 - USA

I've mentioned the Revit Technology Conference before but now that a little bit more has been sorted out I'm writing again. The location will be the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach (Orange County California) and the dates are set for Thursday through Saturday, June 23-25, 2011. So keep those dates open if you'd like to attend. Next up is a committee meeting in early September to sort through many other matters.

Since I mention the committee, the USA contingent is currently made up of:

• Wesley Benn (Benn Design) founder of RTC
• Heidi Earl (Secretariat) RTC Events Management
• Steve Stafford (me)
• Jim Balding (seeking a new opportunity)
• Phil Read (HNTB)
• David Harrington (Walter P. Moore)
• Robert Bell (Sparling)

This committee will also probably rely heavily on the existing Australian committee made up of:

• Rodd Perey (Architectus)
• Clay Hickling (GHD)
• Chris Needham (C3 Consulting Solutions)
• Marina Radosevic (Benn Design)
• Simon Whitbread (Beca)
• and Wesley Benn and Heidi Earl again naturally.

As more gets nailed down the web site will get updated so keep an eye on that site for more information. You can also read the most recent Newsletter (August 2010) to find out more about the last conference as well as a little bit about the next two; Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and Huntington Beach, CA USA.

32 Apps for iPhone and iPad

Houston Neal, the Director of Marketing for Software Advice (Free Advice for Software Buyers) recently wrote an article after sifting through roughly 500 offerings for the AEC industry.

There are some interesting items in his list. I grabbed four pretty tool image captures below: (left to right)

• E-Calc (electrical engineering calculations)
• BuildCalc (construction calculations)
• Concrete Calculator (concrete slab calculations)
• InchCALC (feet inch calculations)

If you use these devices you might want to check the list to see if there are any you didn't already know about.

Troubleshooting - Downloading Content

When I downloaded the new versions of Revit 2011, MEP would not let me download the content, at least not all 16 bundles. I thought maybe it was my ISP cutting me off with a large bandwidth download. I thought all sorts of things. I ended up getting my content from the media when it arrived, yes I asked for the DVD, how can you collect them if you don't get them?

Long story short - I thought I disabled my anti-virus software adequately. Turns out that I did not. When I carefully shut down each of the services that were running (leaving me temporarily vulnerable to internet evil) the content downloaded successfully!

Next time you are having issues, remember the often stated and repeated mantra of disabling the software you use to protect you from internet evil. I happen to be using AVG's products so your mileage may vary.

Dept. of Questions - Can Revit?

I've been encountering questions, over the years, where someone asks if "something" is possible. That something is usually quite specific that they do or their firm does. Often it is something we all do or reasonably close. Occasionally it is really specific and perhaps even peculiar to a firm, a person, an off-hand idea...something.

I provide a tongue-in-cheek reply that attempts to get the idea across that Revit is pretty capable and many of the typical things we do have been accounted for. I thought that I should scientifically provide evidence that what I've claimed over the years is true. Here are three pie charts that clearly show what I have claimed all along is true.

Scientifically true? Okay, busted! I didn't do this scientifically. I did use a pie chart in Excel though, does that count for something? Notice how I carefully put Revit MEP at a slightly less percentage of YES? That's because it is younger.

How well does Revit live up to this? Pretty well overall in my opinion. The more specific your focus, the more peculiar or unique your desire the greater the chances you get a small piece of pie. It isn't likely they'll satisfy every last one of us so I don't think they'll ever hit 100% Yes. Regardless, I like pie...Lemon Meringue and Boston Cream Pie (which is a cake, I know). Want some milk with your pie?

Autodesk University Registration is nearly Upon Us

Per email this morning. If you are not a member of AU Online yet then you might want to reconsider.

Dear AU Member,

Autodesk University 2010 registration dates have changed:
AU 2010 (Las Vegas)

• Advance registration for AU members only opens September 7.
• General registration opens September 14.
• AU Virtual – Registration opens September 14.
• AU Extension – Registration opens September 28

Please update your calendar and plan to register on these dates. We look forward to your participation in AU this year.

With regards,

AU 2010 Team

Re-Numbering Elements

I've written about this in the past:

Avatech Utilities Update
Duplicate Mark Values
API Tools Part One - Avatech
Numbering Stuff
First Number Value Template Setup

I also mentioned in one of those earlier posts it is possible to re-number elements using the Element Positioning tool that is available via subscription. Unfortunately it is brutally slow!! On a recent project file it took well over an hour to crank its way through the project database. Frankly it needs a rewrite or fresh approach. It is grossly inefficient to crawl the entire database, generating view by view to establish a selection set. My claims are written like only a "non-programmer" could marginalize the effort to create good code.

How else can we renumber elements, apart from scheduling ingenuity?

Well Avatech's Utilities for Revit are, in my view, unfortunately and arbitrarily limited to Doors, Grids, Levels, Windows, Spaces & Rooms.

Kiwi Codes offers the most elegant solution I've encountered so far. They have two tools; Element Renumber or Category Renumber. Category Renumber is a simple tool that let's you select a single element to define a category to renumber "arbitrarily" and it just reassigns a new number to every element. Keep in mind you'd need to be able to edit every element (potential workset conflict perhaps). Element Renumber lets you set a starting number and pick elements in the order you'd like to renumber them. It also lets you assign an increment value as well as apply a prefix or suffix to the number. For Revit MEP users this tool is a real value, I think. They have a 2011 version, it just isn't on the site at the moment. Write to them.

It strikes me as a bit silly that this sort of tool isn't just part of the software already. I know they've got big list and they are checking it twice even thrice but typically it's the littlest stuff that gets people giggly.

As for pricing of 3rd party applications - I prefer the "a lot for a little" approach. If I were to provide a productive tool for sale I'd be inclined to price it very lightly with the hope that the price is inviting enough to generate significant volume (recognizing the market of Revit users versus the market for selling candy bars...not the same league obviously).

The following statements will rule out my ever being invited to work in sales for these products but here goes. If I were to sell the Avatech tools they'd be about $50. The Kiwi Code tool about $10. The Ideate Explorer for about $35. There are others too but I'll not offend them right now. My rationale is that for these tools to proliferate they need to be a commodity and set at a price that an individual or corporation wouldn't blink at. Especially when they are looking at the capital cost associated with Revit itself. I'm not saying the work of the developers isn't worth more, they deserve compensation for their work.

I'm inclined to think that volume would increase if the price is "right". They'd get a generous return by selling more. The prices I see now are putting up a barrier that makes someone think twice about buying. Maybe I'm full of beans and they are selling like hotcakes but I don't see many of them in use. Then again awareness may account for that more than anything.

[Disclaimer: No product vendors enticed me to write in favor of one or another. This post was born of frustration the other day.]

Dept. of Wishes - AUGI Wish Lists for Revit Structure and MEP

While I served on the board for AUGI we saw the start of the Revit Architecture wish list at AUGI. Getting them started for Structure and MEP just wasn't in the cards then. Time passes and AUGI has just announced new wish lists for both!!

The following text was clipped from BLAUGI:

TIME TO VOTE!

Revit MEP and Revit Structure Wish List ballot closes on Aug 31st at 12:00 am GMT.

AUGI Members, it is time once again to let Autodesk know what you would like to see in future releases of Revit MEP and Revit Structure. The next Wish List ballot is open. Autodesk uses the results of AUGI Wish List ballots to help plan out improvements in the software. Take advantage of this opportunity. The only thing you need is a membership in AUGI, and a little bit of your time.

You've submitted your wishes, now come vote on the ones you'd most like to see become a part of the product you use on a daily basis. On behalf of all of the wish list team members - reviewers and administrators - thank you for your time and your vote!

Vote now for Revit MEP and Revit Structure!

You must be an AUGI member and you must log in to vote.

Revit Families - New Guide at Club Revit

Michael Anonuevo let me know that he recently posted an in-depth article about creating complex shapes with the Revit Family Editor. Michael runs the site Little Details Count and is a contributor at Club Revit, a site started by Lonnie Cumpton. He discusses how he created the following family as well as useful interface and rendering subtleties between Revit 2010 and 2011.

Michael also has an interesting post about the little teapot that Revit uses as its icon for Rendering button. It is a common question that I get during training. He did some digging to provide more background. Scroll to the March 8, 2010 post titled, "Autodesk Revit Teapot Render Button".

SoCal Training Opportunity

The RUGIE (Revit User Group Inland Empire) recently re-branded themselves as BUGIE (BIM User Group Inland Empire). They are offering a training session for Revit's Family Editor.

Here are the details:
Presenter: Brian Andresen
Topic: Creating the Perfect Family (Component)

Location:
Santiago High School
1395 Foothill Pkwy
Corona, CA

Date: Saturday, 25th of September 2010
Time: 9:00am – 4:30pm
Cost: BUGIE/ RUGIE Members: Free General Public: $10

Click To RSVP

Dept. of Off Topic - Introducing Revit "the frog"

Dave Edwards shared this with me the other day after I posted the picture of the Jeep with Rev*IT.

He writes:
Don't know if you ever saw this. There was a Harley Davidson licensed Beenie Baby frog called "Revit." When I first started with the software, every Google search on "Revit" came up with all these Beenie Baby sites. Well, because I had dreams of working for them at the time, I bought three of them and sent two to the Execs of Revit Tech. One is still on my desk.

The tag says: "Revit's no toad, and he's not just a frog. He's King of the Road, when he's up on his Hog!" On the back of his jacket it says: "Harley Davidson, Kiss Normal Good. "Fitting for a frog". For years we called Revit, FrogCAD.

Thanks Dave!

Dept. of Off Topic - Revit Ride

Saw this in Orlando on a recent trip to a client's office. Clearly a Revit user? Of course...what else??

Dept. of Cool Stairs - Australia Style

Took these while in Sydney...nice stair!

Video Training Option - Paul Aubin on Lynda.Com

I'm a bit late mentioning this, sorry! Paul wrote to let me know that he recently finished a Revit Essentials training class in a video format that is offered at Lynda.com.

They specialize in video training for all sorts of things. Paul wants to get the word out so here's my little contribution.

Hope it sells well!

Level Annotation - Elevation Units

Here's a quick video showing how to change the units of a Level annotation for elevation.

No time for a video, want to dash in and try to do it? Take these steps (added per Rusty's comment):

1. Select the Level
2. Examine it's Type Properties
3. Find the Symbol Family it is assigned to
4. Close the Type Dialog(s)
5. Scroll to the Families category in the Project Browser
6. Select the family the Level is using under the Annotation Symbols category
7. Right Click > Edit
8. Select the Elevation label, click Edit Label
9. Select the Elevation parameter in the list
10. Click the Format button, Un-Check Project Units
11. Choose another setting
12. Save the family and load it into your project

You should save this family as a new type in your office standards folder.

Dept. of Off Topic - Calatrava's Dallas Bridge

Drove by Santiago Calatrava's bridge design in Dallas tonight.

The "hoop" is up.

I didn't try to get closer to see more though. I used Auto Stitch (iPhone app) to build this panorama.

Dept. of Quirky - Duct Duct Weird

Observed this odd behavior when attempting to add a riser to an existing lateral duct run. If you create the riser during the initial sketch of the lateral run it works fine. It just gets weird if you try to introduce a riser later. It works fine if you just create a riser separately. Also curious is that sketching a duct will cease the duct run when you click on a reference plane. If you expect to continue sketching duct you need to be careful not to click on a reference plane because the current duct sketching mode with stop and you'll have to select the first point again to continue. Both conditions are quirky in my book. Video embedded below and posted at OpEd Videos and YouTube.

Stair with Landings at Both Ends

I made the Video posted below after receiving an email asking about an earlier post.

AUGI | AEC EDGE Spring 2010 issue is posted

The next issue of AUGI | AEC EDGE is finally out. Each issue is intended to arrive at the end of the season. Unfortunately my workload made it harder than usual to meet our intended deadlines. All that is behind me now...it's posted!

Thanks again to the authors who make each article possible and this issue's authors are:

Lee Ambrosius, Christian Barrett, Elizabeth Chodosh, Lonnie Cumpton, Doug Eberhard, Jon Allen Gardzelewski, David Harrington, Trey Klein, Glenn Jowett, David Light, Jay Polding, Philip (Chico) Membreno, Keith Rice, and Daniel Stine

Now on to prepare for the next issue.

[Amended 9:00 PM] The magazine cover image at the magazine web site is still pointing to the Winter issue. The link on the left frame that says Online Version works. That and you can download the pdf versions.

Dept. of Wishes - Revit MEP - Selection Priority

I made a brief video that describes a frustrating selection situation when linked models are involved. Revit places the link at a higher priority than local MEP elements. Wireframe visual style will change this but wireframe in some views (3D) isn't always a better option. It would be really nice if a linked model had a lower selection priority when compared with other native elements. I've embedded the video here but you can also watch it at YouTube.

Revit MEP - Hiding Elements in Linked Models

Revit MEP 2011 introduces a way to copy/monitor additional elements from linked architectural models. A client asked me how to hide the originals in their views once they've used this new feature. I was attending the BIM Analytics event at USC and couldn't respond effectively during the day so I did a short video tonight in an attempt to make up for it. I've embedded it here too.

Two techniques are mentioned in the video; using an override of the Model Categories for the linked file or an override of a specific Workset assuming one is created for such a use in the linked file.