RobiNZ CAD Blog

May, a month full of Revit & BIM events!

It’s a busy time for Revit related events. Just a reminder of those coming up this month in addition to the usual RUGAKL Meetup on Wed 15th May.

Revit Technology Conference on-line registration deadlines looming & AUGI offer:

There is only about a week left for On-line Revit Technology Conference Australasia 2013 registration (available until May 10th). You can register on-site from 11th until the start date but at a slightly higher price. I have also been told there are “only a handful” of conference/accommodation package deals available if you want to stay at the venue at conference rates.

Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) is a Gold Sponsor of RTC Australasia 2013 and is giving AUGI members the chance to win a conference pass and 4 nights' accommodation! If you are an AUGI member all you need to do is register by end of day Wednesday 8 May. If you are the lucky winner you will then receive the registration package complimentary (and be refunded as applicable).

Event: Thursday, 16 May, 2013 - Saturday, 18 May, 2013, The Langham, Auckland

Details and register at RTC Australasia 2013 – www.rtcevents.com/rtc2013au/

Info about AUGI at www.AUGI.com

CADPRO Discover the Autodesk 2014 Software Portfolio (Auckland)

Includes Manufacturing and AEC Presentations

Tuesday 7 May, Aotea Centre, Auckland, 3:30 - 7:45pm

Details and register at www.cadpro.co.nz

A2K BIM and Legal Responsibilities Breakfast Presentation

Wednesday 15th May, Rendezvous Grand Hotel, Auckland, 7:30am - 9:30am

Details and register at www.a2ktechnologies.co.nz/

Nerd Nite Auckland May — 3D printing & more!

UPDATE 05/3/2013: Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend due to another event the same evening. Damn!

Worlds of interest collide for the next Auckland Nerd Nite. Meet, greet, listen, talk,  have a drink or two as Nerd Nite talks nanotechnology, 3D printing and analog computing. I will be both there and square!

Auckland.Nerdnite.com

Back to it. nerdnite returns, same bat-time, same bat-channel, with a technologically orientated evening. Materials science, 3d printing and differential analysers (google them, they're awesome machines).

• First up, we have Shaun Hendy, visiting us all the way from Wellington. Shaun is a physicist by trade, specialising in nanotech and materials science, and will be speaking about economics, science and innovation in his talk entitled "Get Off the Grass".
• Our second speaker Danny Dillen is a product designer currently running his own small 3D printing, prototyping and product development company in auckland. He will be introducing us to 3D printing methods, particularly the newer filament extruder printers which have begun to dominate the consumer market, as opposed to the half million dollar+ machines used in industry.
• We also have William Irwin, a volunteer from MOTAT, who will be taking us through the history and restoration of the Meccano Differential Analyser No. 2, an analog computer that solves differential equations. This particular one was used to help build Benmore Hydro Dam, and design the bouncing bombs used to destroy hydro damns in the Ruhr Valley during WWII.

When: Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 18:30

Where: Nectar, 472 New North Road Kingsland, Auckland

Details and RSVP: facebook.com/groups/nerdniteAklnd/ (but you can just turn up!)

Revit Technology Conference Australasia 2013 — See you there?

RTC is coming to Auckland, New Zealand. I’ll be there and the organisers just announced another incentive to attend. In addition to the best of Revit training, networking, fun and frolics there is a chance to win a mobile workstation:

Register before 12noon on Wednesday May1 to WIN!!!!

With only two weeks to go, we are offering delegates registered by 12noon (AEST) on Wednesday 1 May, the chance to win a 'Dell M6700 17" Mobile Workstation'  thanks to AECOM, simply by registering as a Full Conference Delegate or Principal. This is your chance to take home more from RTC Australasia…don’t worry all of you who have already registered as a Full Conference Delegate/Principal, as you have an entry into the competition too. With presentations, labs and accommodation filling up fast, it’s time to secure your place at RTC Australasia! Register today.

Details on RTC AU:

RTC Australasia 2013 – www.rtcevents.com/rtc2013au/

The ninth Australasian Revit Technology Conference will be held at the Langham Hotel Auckland on 16 – 18 May 2013.

• Learn from some of the world's top instructors and industry experts.
• Share ideas and insights with an international community of your peers.
• Explore the latest trends and technologies
• Network with your peers
• Cultivate important business and professional contacts that can benefit your company and your career.
• Come to learn from the experts and leave with a wealth of knowledge, practical methods, and new ideas.
• See how Revit and related applications drive ESD analysis and simulation.
• Unlock the potential of BIM to streamline the building procurement and construction process.
• Overview of new features
• Best Practice methods
• Tips and tricks from experts
• CPD formal and informal points

Getting Autodesk 2014 apps; a few tips

The good news is a bunch of Autodesk 2014 applications and suites are now available for download. The bad news, based on my experience, is getting them may not be so easy. It must be said I do live in a country at the end of the world not famed for its Internet connectivity but still…

Subscription not quite ready for Windows 8

The 2014 applications have been built for Windows 8 but the site where you get them isn’t. With the IE10 browser in Windows 8 the instant you start typing in the User ID or Password sign in fields the entire panel, outlined in red below, disappears.

I found this is just a graphic problem and if you keep typing (use tab between fields) then hit enter the subscription site opens correctly. If you get your details wrong a new page loads with just the sign in panel and it works normally too! Once inside there everything appears to work normally.

The download manager which doesn’t manage

There is an option to install a download manager. I found this to be less reliable, if maybe quicker than the browser, and lacked the one feature I expect a download manager to have. You can pause/restart downloads but if it fails, and I learnt this by experience several times, there is no recovery or resume to save downloading the entire file again.

Another thing I found confusing is the website shows the compressed file size, 15.4GB for my suite, but the download manager reports the uncompressed 58GB size as it receives the file.

Browser download not a pop-up free zone

Browser download was more reliable (for me) but comes with a potential snag. The suite I was downloading is packaged as a multi-part zip file and for the first attempt I only got part 1, just 4GB of the 15GB I was expecting.

It seems hard to believe given the ubiquity of pop-up blockers that the browser download relies on pop-ups but it does (thank you @ScottMoyse!). I wondered if it was another Windows 8 thing but after disabling the pop-up blocker IE10 downloaded the components with none of the failures I experienced from the download manager.

So after a couple of hours I finally got the package I needed and it was time to install. That is another saga I’ll save for a future post as I have a GP2 race to watch!

Revit that isn't BIM? – Revit User Group Auckland April Meeting Announcement #RUGAKL

I’m interested in your views regarding next weeks Revit User Group Auckland Meeting topic:

Revit that isn't BIM? : You know, when people draft stuff that should be modelled. It's often done for a reason: ignorance, no access to the right tools (like rooms in structure), deadline pressure, Revit output not matching legacy drafting expectations.

Is there a way to avoid or handle the non-BIM'ness that Revit allows?

We are looking for good and bad examples, reasons to un-BIM Revit or ways to prevent it. If you’re in Auckland next week come along but if that’s not possible feel free to share your thoughts via a comment on this post or Email Me. Would love to have more real world examples to quote, anonymously if you wish.

Meeting Details and RSVP at Meetup:

April Meeting - Revit that isn't BIM, the good & bad

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 5:30 PM @ Jasmax