RobiNZ CAD Blog

Revit Technology Conference 2008 - Revit User Group Sydney

The Revit Technology Conference is happening in Sydney, late June. I attended the NZ event last year & it was a great Revit focused “Mini Autodesk University”. It’s a chance to hear about the latest in BIM technology, see how others are applying it (in real projects), learn new techniques and meet fellow Revit users. I know several from the Revit User Group of New Zealand are attending. See the link below for more information on the event & registration:

Revit User Group Sydney :: RTC 2008 - www.rugsyd.com.au/rtc2008
Following the success of our Roadshow in 2007 (Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Melbourne, and Perth), the RTC Committee have pleasure in inviting you and your team to attend the Annual Conference to be held in Brighton Beach, Sydney. The Conference aims to draw attendees from throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as other Asia Pacific regions.
The 2008 Annual Conference is to be held Thursday 26 June – Saturday 28 June at the Novotel Brighton Beach, Sydney.

Tags: rugsyd

Revit and AutoCAD's Visual Styles - A SketchUp alternative?

I heard of Revit users experimenting with Google SketchUp for presentations in an attempt to get a more natural “conceptual look” than Revit allows. Many Revit users also have AutoCAD available so I though it’s conceptual visual styles were worth trying. This sample is just a play Revit model but has a mix of default Revit walls, curtain wall and site elements.

The screenshot below shows that Revit model imported into AutoCAD (Click on the thumbnail for a larger view).

1. Viewport 1 shows the raw import. The rather garish colours are from the default Revit layer settings but the concept styles ignore these colours so there is no need to change them..
2. Viewport 2 has a conceptual style applied with a “Gooch” face style.  The visual styles allow slider adjustment of edge weights, line overhang, “roughness” and outline thickness. These can be combined to get many looks within a style setting.
3. Viewport 3 has a sepia face style with the transparency button enabled. It allows some vision through even solid objects to see the form.
4. Viewport 4 is a plan view with no face style and heavy use of the line effects. It’s a reasonable look to simulate a pen drawing.

AutoCAD Visual styles, like Revit shaded views, are quick and easy to edit. They can be output directly to paper, DWF or image formats using the normal AutoCAD Plot Command. It’s a pity Revit doesn’t have this sort of display effect built in but, until it does, give AutoCAD a go.

Trigonometry, Revit Parameters and Lynn [last name withheld]

Aaron's post on math, trig and Revit reminded me of a recent conversation. I’d been working with Parameter formulas which meant stretching the memory back to fundamental math like trigonometry. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there…

I warned a friend, who’s a math teacher, she may get a phone call one day if things got too complex for my mathematical abilities*. Lynn [last name withheld] read Aaron’s post in preparation for that call. You may have to earn the next load of Butterfingers!**

Malleristic Revitation: Trigonometry, Revit Parameters, and Scheduling...
I couldn't wrap my head around how i multiplied degrees and Length, to come up with a mathematical unit (besides degree-inch, lol). So i called in a favour:

My good friend Brian (last name withheld) is a Math Specialist at a local school district….

* I liked Math but always did far better at Physics, which often required the same math. This frustrated my Math & Physics tutors. I think it was because Math was abstract while Physics just made sense!

** For reasons only Nestlé can explain Butterfingers are not sold in New Zealand. Guess who has to bring them from the US to satisfy Lynn [last name withheld]’s addiction to peanut buttery junk food. Last time I forgot and saying it was for her own good wasn’t appreciated! She’ll thank me for it on the hills of the ‘Round Taupo.***

*** The Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge (Round Taupo) is New Zealand's largest cycle event. It covers a scenic course on 160 km (100 miles) of sealed road around beautiful Lake Taupo. The official website omits mentioning that for a ride around a lake it has lots of hills. This includes a long cruel one towards the end, right where you don’t want it. It’s held at the same time as AU and I have been accused of attending AU just to avoid it. There is some truth to this…

See you at the Auckland Revit Technology Conference 2007?

The Revit Technology Conference is coming to Auckland on Monday (27/08). If any readers are attending say hello to the fellow in the Warehouse (blue store development) shirt!

Revit Technology Conference 2007
The Revit Technology Conference is an annual event designed to cater to the needs of the Revit-based CAD community. Founded and run by users of the software, RTC is the pre-eminent educational and networking event for users throughout the region.

This year the team is coming to you!

We are embarking on a series of one day seminars designed to entice, enrich, and enliven your worklife (FDA approval pending...)

HOK Blog!

HOK have a couple of new(ish) blogs looking at buildingSMART (Building Information Model) and Green design. It’s great to see companies sharing their experience & knowledge!

HOK CAD Solutions - Welcome to this HOK CAD Support blog
“This is the idea: let’s use this blog as a communication track to gather knowledge and share; we hope that you will be willing to author posts and share opinions to make this work. Postings will be by HOK and invited guests, viewing is by anybody inside and outside HOK….”

http://hokcadsolutions.blogspot.com/

HOK GREEN BIM - Welcome to my new Green Blog - Miles Walker
I plan to capture my path into green design in architecture…

http://greenbim.blogspot.com/

Also check out Miles' other website on BIM:

4BIM – A web site exclusively for Building Information Modelling

http://www.4bim.com/

Via autodesk-revit.blogspot.com

Tags: HOK, buildingSMART, BIM

Real world tales of Revit BIM’plementation

These articles share tips from the front line where BIM theory meets production reality: 

BIM Do's and Don'ts – Cadalyst
Beau Turner* & Joe Eichenseer (Avatech Solutions) offer some real-world insights for success implementing BIM…

As I’ve recently been investigating Revit Architecture/MEP collaboration this AECBytes article was brilliantly timed. Thanks Lachmi & Bill!

Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration in Revit - AECbytes "Tips and Tricks"
Bill Knittle’ s (Synergis Design) tutorial on “Collaborating in an all-Revit environment” has recommendations & techniques for sharing Architectural, Structural & MEP models using Revit’s linking, collaboration & monitor tools.

* Just this week I was reminded of Beau zooming around on a Segway at Autodesk University 2004 as I had another “CAD + Segway” close encounter. More on that in a future post…

Building Solutions 2008 Launch - AEC Systems New Zealand

Just got home from the AEC Systems NZ Building Solutions 2008 Launch. I’d not seen any 2008 Revit in action, got the disc not yet installed it(!), so was good to get an overview of what is new this year.

After an introduction from Marcel van Oosterom (AEC Systems Regional Manager), Michael Beer (Autodesk Australia) talked about the shift to BIM – “Experience it Before it is Real" – and how it’s changing the industry. He mentioned that NZ/AU was well ahead of the USA in terms of Revit adoption. I suspect this is because of our generally smaller offices makes adoption easier plus a genuine interest in the technology.

Then it was on to the product specific demos. It’s interesting to see some AutoCAD Architecture (ACA) style functionality appearing in “Revitised” form in addition to new and refined Revit features. Some highlights for me:

• Revit Architecture 2008 – Wesley Benn:
• Updated Groups with object override to hide objects in an instance of a group. Big change is that groups can now be edited in-place within the project with other objects “greying out” while the edit is in progress. You can add/remove objects from the group while in edit mode (similar to ACA Refedit a block).
• Better object visibility and UI feedback. The display viewport gains a coloured outline to warn of hidden/isolated object overrides.
• View Specific Object Display Settings: Override visibility per view. Example might be to make a wall transparent in a 3D view but have it appear solid in another. (Similar to ACA Object Display Override).
• Improved presentation: masking regions, dimensions and colour fill legends refined. New “dependent views” for splitting a large view across several sheets.
• Improved Linked Projects;
• Show in Project Browser
• Nested Linked Projects (ACA nested Xref)
• In-place edit linked projects (ACA Refedit Xref)
• Refined API – More potential for 3rd party developers to extend Revit.
• Revit MEP 2008 – Simon Whitbread:
• Showed system auto-routing and clash detection for ducting & circuit tools for electrical.
• Mentioned IES (Integrated Environmental Solutions) Link
• Revit Structure 2008 – Damien Legrand:
• Export/Import & coordination with external analysis tools (Robobat)
• Curved Splined Elements (beams etc)
• Integrated Parametric Truss Tool
• Better re-bar tools

It was great to meet Aussie “Revit guru” Wesley Benn. I’d seen him at AU several times, speaking about Revit and at the Revit Mixers, but was the first opportunity I’ve had to speak to him. It was also good to meet the Neil Allen, the new Autodesk NZ Territory Manager. I also caught up with a few industry colleagues from closer to home, one I’d only ever previously met in Las Vegas!

That’s a quick overview, because now it’s time for me to pack!

PS: Some of The Warehouse Group team will be at the Autodesk/Salesoft CAD Solutions 2008 Launch tomorrow (24–04–2007), say hello if you see them!

BIM, Bam Beam, Blog!

It’s another Autodesk product team blog. BIM & BEAM is co-authored by Nicolas Mangon & Wai Chu of the Revit Structure team.

Shaan Hurley, who started all this Autodesk blog thing (and indirectly even mine) with Between The Lines ~ AutoCAD Blog, has posted an OPML file to enable easy loading of all 31(!) Autodesk blog feeds.

BIM & BEAM
Hello! Welcome to the inaugural posting of the Revit Structure Blog. “BIM & Beam” is the official blog of the Revit Structure Product Team…

URL: http://bimandbeam.typepad.com/bim_beam/
Feed: http://bimandbeam.typepad.com/bim_beam/index.rdf

Category Management for new 2008 names

Using product names on your blog means re-branding presents some challenges. Do you change to the new name or keep the one most people know. Luckily it doesn’t impact my Blog title or URL but I’ve revised some blog categories (indexes) to reflect recent name changes:

• Architectural Desktop changes to AutoCAD Architecture
• Revit changes to Revit Architecture
• Building Systems changes to AutoCAD MEP
• Auckland AutoCAD User Group now Auckland Autodesk User Group
• I’ve added Revit Structure and Revit MEP but will need to re-index some posts into these categories.

It won’t alter post permalinks and TypePad retains the old category URL. It might say AutoCAD Architecture but TypePad will always know it as ../architectural_desktop/index.html. Seems like some names will never die  

These changes shouldn't break anything but if you have any problems let me know.