Revit Technology Conference - Wow

RTC... WOW!

Wow what a conference, got back from the North America RTC a couple days ago and I'm back in the office trying to digest and sort out all the information that I gathered while attending.

What a very well run conference, congratulations to everyone on the RTC committee... great job.

I'll be posting some of the highlights and information that I gathered from RTC in my upcoming blogs... What an opportunity to connect and network with people who are really passionate about Revit and sharing their knowledge.


Some people of note:

Bruce McCallum's presentation on "Deploying Revit Server 2013". We will be deploying Revit Server pretty soon and this was some valuable information... I'll be blogging on our experience with deploying Revit Server so keep posted....

Harlum Brum's session on "Inside Support" explains how Autodesk support works and gave us insight on how to be effective with our own Revit support.....also a really nice guy.

I (finally) got to meet one of my blogging hero's David Light, but I missed meeting Jeffrey Pinheiro.!.. maybe next year Jeff aka The Revit Kid.

I first attended Brian Anderson's session at AU a couple years ago and found his session on BIM Management to be invaluable, I caught up with him at RTC. He's such a great presenter and loves sharing his knowledge of BIM Management.

Steve Shell is an Architect from Arizona whom I've seen at AU a number of times, he's quite a character and is one of those guys who I find a little intimidating to meet.... he's just has such a large personality.! anyway I made a point to meet him to tell him how much I enjoyed his session... He is such a humble guy!!

Marcello Sgambelluri showed us his Revit Cow and Elephant, amazing stuff! I was amazed at how the Revit tools can be used in such unique ways.... I'll expand more in future postings...

These are just a few of the high level presenters that I had the opportunity to meet at RTC... there were so many more but I don't have enough pages to thank them all! 

One thing that I found in common with all these presenters is that they are all so passionate about Revit and the industry and love to share their knowledge with anyone and everyone from the largest company to the those just learning Revit..

Well done guys, I hope I have the opportunity to attend your sessions again at future RTC's and AU's!

If you ever have a opportunity to see one of these guys present at either AU or RTC go..it's well worth it...you can learn so much from these guys.

Sc

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day!

On July 1st 1867 the enactment of the British North America Act,  (today called the Constitution Act, 1867), which united three colonies into a single country called Canada within the British Empire. Originally called Dominion Day the name was changed in 1982, the year the Canada Act was passed.

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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!

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!

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

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

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.