Thursday 28 June 2012

Cutting a counter top with a sink

Found this great Blog by bimtechnologist on how to automatically cut the hole when placing a counter top sink.

http://bimtechnologist.com/2012/06/13/cut-sinks-with-worktop/

Check it out, it's easy!

Tuesday 26 June 2012

The Revit Viewer

You are able to install Revit 2013 to be used as a Revit File “Viewer” without having to purchase a license.

To use Revit as a Viewer install the software and select “Try”, once the software is installed go to your start menu and in the “Autodesk” folder under Revit Architecture 2013 you’ll see Revit Architecture Viewer 2013



Once you start the application you’ll receive the message:

The Revit Viewer allows you all the functionality of a fully licensed version of Revit with the Exception of:

·         Being able to Save or Save as

·         Exporting or Publishing the project

·         Printing the Project after changes have been made

And you know what, that’s not a bad thing!

Allowing people access to your Revit file and limiting them to being able to view the information and the model is great! You don’t have to export the project to a DWFx every time someone asks you a simple question or wants to print a sheet or set.

Also you can run a basic half day session on how to navigate Revit and that’s all the information they need to know to be able to open a project and get the information they need, anything beyond that you’ll want them to seek out someone who knows what they’re doing in your Revit Project anyway right!

Friday 22 June 2012

RTC Conference - Here I come!

So I'm off to the Revit Technology Conference (North America) next  week.

I'm looking forward to this conference for a number of reasons...
This will be the first time for the RTC, I typically attend Autodesk University every year but I'm hoping that this will be more of a condensed higher level of Revit instruction that we typically get at AU.

Autodesk University will typically attract between 14,000 and 16,000 people and cover a huge range of Autodesk products whereas RTC will maybe have 1,000 people attend and the focus is on Revit..

The slate of presenters is pretty impressive, people like David Light, Paul Aubin, Jeffrey Pinheiro, Harlun Brumm to name a few. If you follow any of the popular Revit Blogs you'll recognise these names.

Besides the awesome networking opportunity I'll also be able to catch up with some long time friends which I'm looking forward too.

So, keep posted. I'll be taking lots of notes and passing along some great information in my next series of Blogs.....

SC

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Book Review: Work Happy - What Great Bosses Know

I don't often do a book review... In fact I think this is my first one! And it's not even BIM related!

So here is my attempt to broaden the scope of this blog to encompass more information on BIM Management.
During my career I've had to deal with a variety of people and their personalities. I believe I have developed a number of skills that allow me to work well with people.
These skills I have learned through experience as well as from some great roll models. 

I have developed a interest in how people work together and have read a number of books on the subject, recently I have been listening to a podcast called "What Great Bosses Know" by Jill Geisler. You don't often learn new things from podcast and books on this subject, but when reading and listening on this subject reinforces and remind you of either what you are currently doing right or what you can do better.
This not only applies to "Bosses" but also to Employees... we all have to work with one another in varying degrees. In my roll as BIM Manager I have to guide, teach, inform and sometimes lay down the law, for this to be effective there are some key factors that need to be in place.... I wont go on and on about this (but I could)... so check out the podcast or the book, I found it easy to listen too and it has some great information to share... 

http://whatgreatbossesknow.com/?page_id=793

http://www.amazon.ca/Work-Happy-What-Great-Bosses/dp/1455507431/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339777160&sr=1-1

Monday 18 June 2012

Removing Sheets, Views and Links

Luke Johnson's Blog "What Revit Wants" recently blogged about a new add-in tool which will remove links, sheets and views for when you are sharing a model:

http://apps.case-inc.com/content/delete-sheets-views-and-revit-links

It is a common task to remove as much from a model as possible prior to sharing it with your consultants for the purpose of linking into their model or sometimes you want to lighten up a model that was sent to you for the same purpose. Delete Sheets, Views. and Revit Links does just what it says. You can select which of the three options you chose using the provided check-boxes.

This tool should only be used on models detached from central as it can be quite destructive.

I tried it out and it works quite well.....

This is what the tool looks like on your Ribbon.

Make your selection of what you would like removed.

Are you sure?

The results....shows you what has been removed.

Friday 15 June 2012

Revit Formulas

Here is a great link to a Thread on the Revit Forums on Formulas that can be used in Revit.
The "Revit Kid" put me onto this site...  Thanks Jeffrey.

http://www.revitforum.org/tutorials-tips-tricks/1046-revit-formulas-everyday-usage.html

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Transfering Schedules Between Projects

Here is how you can transfer schedules from one Project to another.

Using the Insert > Insert from File > Insert Views from File menu you can transfer schedule views between Revit projects. Additionally this will transfer shared parameters between the projects as well.

Monday 11 June 2012

Removing Revit Add-On’s

If you need to remove or disable an Add-On tool here are the steps you need to take.
FYI, you’ll need administrator privileges to be able to do this.


To remove the add on:

1.       Go too C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\

2.       Select the version folder, ie: 2012, or 2013 etc..

3.       Delete the selected add on file, or you can simply rename the file extension to prevent it from loading, ie: change  .addin  to  .addin.dontload

Friday 8 June 2012

3D Buildings by Google Earth

I was reading Luke Johnson's blog on Google Earth's new technology which will create 3D building from aerial photos which have been taken at a 45 degree angle by an aircraft.

http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2012/06/google_is_unveiling_the_next_dimens.html

http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/blog/2012/06/heres-why-google-got-rid-of-sketchup.html

I wonder what kind of impact this will have on the AEC industry?

Wednesday 6 June 2012

LOD = Level of Development

This is kind of a repost of an earlier Blog on understanding the Levels of Development.
BIM Level of Development as outlined by the AIA. Even though it's American standards they have done a lot of research on this subject so it's defiantly worth taking a look and modifying it to your specific needs.

The reason I'll discuss this subject is that as we use Revit more and more we at risk of Over Modeling our model. Over modeling will reduce your efficiency of your workflow as well as the efficiency of your model. We work hard to make Revit work for us but we are in danger of getting sucked into the Void of Over Modeling....
Here is a brief explanation of Level of Development (LOD):

Level of Development: Levels of Development (LOD) describe the level of completeness to which a Model Element is developed.
How much we model at each stage is broken down into 5 basic levels.


LOD 100 - Conceptual Design and Master Planning, creating mass models for the concept stage. Volumes, height, location and orientation, basic building analysis etc. This model can be quickly and easily be analyzed for energy consumption to help make design changes and approval for design options.


LOD 200 - Schematic Design/Design Development. Developing the general assemblies, rough sizes and placement of rooms etc. Here you have the general idea on the design but do not have the specific information on exact wall assemblies or component types. This LOD is typically the basis for the working drawings.

LOD 300 - Working Drawings, Shop Drawings, construction documentation, building analysis, shop drawings etc. Not everything needs to be modeled during this level of development, you can place in your model placeholders which can be specified in the Spec documentation outside of the Building model.


LOD 400 – Fabrication and Assembly  typically not achieved by the Designer or Architect as this level of detail is typically required by fabricators, for example manufacturers of RTU's would detail their components at this level for fabrication of their components.


LOD 500 - As Built Model, Maintenance and Operations, the final level of detail that represents the true building. Ideally used for building operations and maintenance. Typically includes extensive information within the model on each component, for example a light fixture may have the wattage, warrantee information, the suppliers contact info, model number etc…


Model Elements: Model Elements represent building component, system or assemblies within a building or building site.


Model Element Author: The party responsible for developing the content of the specific model. To the Level of Detail required by the particular phase of the project.


Model User: this refers to any authorized individual or company who may use the model. For example someone doing a quantity take off, scheduling, analysis?
So... LOD... Level of Development how does this affect the typical Revit User?

In the old 2D drafting days we would draw lines to represent objects such as walls doors, windows roofs etc... remember that? We use to draw two lines representing a complete (and often complex) wall assembly. Often these lines didn't even represent the true dimensions of the assembly either!
Drawings got done and buildings still got built.! Amazing times.....


Now with BIM were adding more information to our drawings by adding more information to our Building Information Model. For the majority of us the end result is a set of documents that someone can build from. Don't lose sight of that, we are in danger of Over Modeling....

We get so wrapped up in creating content and families for everything that sometimes we loose sight of why we are creating this model in the first place. Remember your creating drawings within a specific time limit. If you go over this time limit you are burning up the profit margin, when we first are introduced to Revit we think to ourselves "wow, this is going to save me a bunch of time", "I no longer have to draw elevation, sections" etc... however my experience is that we get seduced by Revit and we want to build a complete model down to the nuts and bolts.

We need to model what is appropriate to the project. If your doing a residential home do you really need to model the gutters and drains? Do you need to model the gas meter on the side of the house? For larger projects do you need to model the tactile strip at the top of the stairs? Would detail lines in the view be sufficient. There is a huge difference in resources between the two. Do you need to use the roof top mechanical unit from the supplier that is detailed down to the nut and bolt? Why not use a generic placeholder.


Try to use families that are smaller in file size this will help your project file size to stay manageable.
So try and stick to a LOD of 300 (Precise Geometry) instead of LOD 400 (Fabrication)......

Monday 4 June 2012

Jumping Revit View aka the Revit Jitterbug!

So I recently got a new Laptop which works great! (thanks John).
In my office I have a lovely 23" monitor which I plug into.
I have loaded Revit 2013 and 2012.

Of course with my laptop my main monitor is the 15" laptop screen and the larger 23" monitor is my secondary screen. I like to have Revit open on the "Big" screen to work on so I drag Revit onto the bigger screen and whenever I open Revit it opens up on the 23".

When I select a component in Revit 2012 my view does a slight "Jitterbug" ... and if the "Press and Drag" icon is checked in Revit whatever you just picked stays where it is while the rest of the screen does this little "Jitterbug" which in affect moves the selected object... quite annoying really!
This doesn't happen in RAC 2013!

So.... after asking around the office to see if anyone has ever came across this issue (as I have never seen this before!) I find out that everyone who has dual monitors here had the same issue.

It was due to the fact that the smaller monitor is set to be the primary monitor and when you set the bigger screen to be primary where Revit will reside it works fine!

I would never have guessed and would have chased my tail thinking it was a graphics issue.!!

Friday 1 June 2012

Autodesk Apps.

There are some awesome apps for your I-phone or your I-pad available from Autodesk.
Their Apps range from Design Review which gives you the ability to review and mark up dwf drawings to Force Effect and Force Effect Motion which is a mobile engineering app for simulating design concepts in the feild.
AutoCAD WS which allows you to share, view and edit CAD files.
Buzzsaw which is a secure file storage/exchange site.

Other apps worth mentioning is a game called Tinkerbox and entertainment apps such as 123D Maker Intro, Fluid FX and Sketchbook just to name a few.