RevitTricks

Heads up screen - some with VR attachment for display and head tracking. Wrap 1200VR

Catching up on 3d interfaces - this from 2009- bidirectional concept for LCD screens. BiDi Screen from MIT Media Lab (Bidirectional Screen) - YouTube#at=272#!

Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2011 - Weather Files - YouTube Importing Department of energy files in Autodesk Ecotect

BIM says bam to blueprints - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal BIM says bam to blueprints Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal by David Goll, Reporter Date: Thursday, November 3, 2011, 10:52pm PDT - Last Modified: Friday, November 4, 2011, 10:59am PDT BIM, building information modeling, is nudging aside blueprints in the industry. David Goll Reporter - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal BIM is brimming with potential. Computer software that allows architectural firms and construction companies to engage in virtual design and construction activities yields big reductions in costs and building schedules. After spending $450,000 to jump into the BIM revolution several years ago, officials of Blach Construction Co. in Santa Clara realized there was a distinct shortage of prospective employees being trained in this specialty. Purdue University in Indiana and California State University, Chico were among a small handful of schools with BIM courses. So they approached f...

TODAYonline Business S$6m BIM fund benefits more than 100 local firms S$6m BIM fund benefits more than 100 local firms 04:45 AM Nov 10, 2011 SINGAPORE - More than 100 local firms, including about 30 engineering consultants, have received support through a S$6 million fund set up to promote building information modelling (BIM) in the construction industry. Speaking at the Professionals Engineers Board Day of Dedication yesterday, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development Lee Yi Shyan revealed that S$4.2 million, or about 70 per cent, of the fund has been committed.The BIM fund is part of a larger S$250 million Construction Productivity and Capability Fund and was set up by the Government to ease the transition from two-dimensional computer-aided design to three-dimensional modelling technology. The BIM fund covers costs on training, consultancy, software and hardware.Referring to the Addendum to the President's Address last month in Parliament, Mr Lee reitera...

BIMtionary: Wall Function Trickery : ...Apparently within the wall's type properties, if your wall is set to a "Foundation" function you can't use a level above as the "Top Constraint." ... Same issue in 2012- THNX for the tip! it was driving me nuts!

BIMtionary: Wall Function Trickery : ...Apparently within the wall's type properties, if your wall is set to a "Foundation" function you can't use a level above as the "Top Constraint." ... Same issue in 2012- THNX for the tip! it was driving me nuts!

Bluebeam has a really nice feature to compare 2 pdf documents. Under the menu Document > Compare document, then select the PDFs to compare. Bluebeam will highlight areas that have changed. It also scroll locks the view so as you pan and zoom – both views remain synchronized.

Pretty good site for buzzwords- here are the ones I have run across the most: http://www.cdi-grp.net/BIM_Terminology.html IFC – Industry Foundation Classes, is a data exchange method that specifies elements that are used in building construction in an agreed manner that define a common language for construction.  IFCs provide a foundation for the exchange and sharing of information directly between software applications of a shared building project model. The IFC data model is a neutral and open specification that is not controlled by a single vendor or group of vendors. It is an object oriented file format to facilitate interoperability in the building industry, and is a commonly used format for BIM.  The format is known as ifcXML. ifcXML2x3 (current version) is currently supported by Autodesk, Graphisoft, Nemestchek and Bentley. http://www.iai-international.org/ **IFC USUALLY DOESN'T COOPERATE VERY WALL AND OBJECTS LOOS THEIR INTELLIGENCE- not very useful right now** ...

To create the coping that sweeps in 3 dimensions we can use an in place family. (One of the few instances in place is useful) Create a coping profile – load it into your project. You can use the same in place family to create the coping for the entire building. To start: Create an in place family Create a sweep Set the work plane- use "pick work plane" Sketch the path - Use the pick tool for the ridge Add "tails" horizontally so we can join them up later (in image 3) Finish the sketch Select the coping profile for the profile. Finish the first sweep. The second sweep will be hosted to the "top" of the wall- reference planes to "host" the base sketch could be used as well… Once the pieces have been created- Then the multiple planes can be "joined" under the modify tab- this will get rid of the seams- final product shown below: I am still looking for a 3d sweep/sketch…

(Knock on wood… ) Revit really hasn't had significant issues with upgrading large projects in the past 3 releases(2009, 2010, 2011). I hope 2012 will be as painless. For anyone planning to maintain a stake in the industry- Autodesk's subscription option is a no-brainer. And- If everyone is on subscription - then it is a limited issue to keep every project current to the latest release. Some adopt 'wait till the first patch is released' – which seems be about half way through the release cycle these days; but personally- I would rather test and upgrade ASAP so the new features in the new releases can be leveraged. Autodesk seems to have done a great deal more R&D as well as substantial beta development for Revit... So where this was an issue with stuff being broken before, they have been pretty good about not releasing junk that is broken or prone to blow up. In 2009 and converting between previous versions I have seen sheets get mangled, some content in vie...

This looks promising... http://bradleybim.com/2011/06/17/usace-isc-3d-bim-visualization-autodesk-revit-for-cos-projects/ If this is the case The USACE who currently requires Bentley BIM (a competitor of Autodesk) on Center Of Standardization projects - will include Revit as a platform in their 2012 BIM roadmap.

04.AI-IN-PLANS (1/8"/FT) 04.AI-IN-PLANS (1/4"/FT) Added- for interior floor plans (Intended for AE451 series – needs some coordination with interiors- Steph & Michelle can we meet tomorrow morning?)                to show casework and interior elevations (& Details?) Project browser settings: Browser- (Default) Browser *UNUSED VIEWS filters out showing all unplaced views in the set- except dependant/primary views *USED VIEWS isolates views placed on sheets. *NOTE: for USED / UNUSED - With the exception of PRIMARY/DEPENDANT Views… Primary views are never placed on sheets… so they show as unused even though the dependant views ARE on sheets. Unused dependant views show under the primary view status. View templating nomenclature: 00.01-DETAILS-GENERAL(1-1/2"/FT) |  |  |       |      | |  |  |     ...

For elevations on the plans that exist within a callout- 1. Go to the callout (Or verify the scale of the callout) 2. Select the point of the elevation 3. Match the HIDE AT SCALES COARSER THAN properties of the elevation to the callouts scale. If the callout is 1/2"/ft then the Elevation marks within that should be hidden at scales coarser than 1/2"/ft. IMPORTANT: If for some reasons callouts are being deleted - YOU MUST OPEN THE CALLOUT TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY ELEVATIONS IN THE CALLOUT and change them back to 1/8"/ft. If this step is not followed the elevations will be invisible in every view. NOTE: SIM views are view-specific and do not have a hide at scales coarser than. This could be handled programmatically- search through every view defaulting the hide at scales coarser than for the finest scale visible. Filters for tags and limit for hide at scales coarser than and [ ]only views on sheets (REGEX filter) should be considered.

There are a lot of reasons for including interior finishes included with wall types including accounting  for material thicknesses and elevational information, fire & Smoke ratings, etc . Ways of managing the wall partition schedule that meets the BIM nature of projects (Including finishes) are being devised. Some of the wall types should be inseparable like heavy stone finishes on a load bearing partition while others can be additive- like the wood finish panel   systems in corridors. Having placeholders for elements like these in critical wall types or UL Specific wall types should be the basis for categorization . The VA Is heading to a process similar to this (< >). I disagree with the approach of creating 'general' partitions with generalized notes (I.e. Cementitious board at all wet areas, Impact resistant board at all corridors and only one A1 wall type) and I disagree with reverting to a generalist approach to the Revit BIM ...

For the wall legends t he underpinning data needs to be the basis for tagging- and from best accounts in my research and discussions with other BIM Managers- modular systems seem the best way to go. One possible combination a wall class ( E xisting, C oncrete, M asonry, H =Shaft, S =Steel Stud, W =wood) + (Nominal size of the wall assembly rounded to the nearest quarter i.e. 4 for four inches, More definitive would be eights expressed as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 so 4-1/2" would be 42, 7-5/8" would be 75. This could be brought back to 1/4" increments- and should be noted in the schedule general notes. Additionally for more interior-intense finish jobs I have seen systems similar to above over a list of modifiers for interior-exterior in a compound tag. The finishes won't be of particular note to the wall tags- Unless there is a specific UL that calls it out or requires it... Or if a specific assembly is required for structural support as in the stone. A schedule of wall ty...

The 'seed' process requires Architecture to create a base minimum shell model of slab, grids & floor levels for each building. These seeds are distributed to the consultants to ensure each trade within a building links to the same coordinate system. Sample seeding process: ·          Architectural creates a shell model of slab, grids & floor levels for the buildings- establishing the XYZ 0,0,0 point- typically at a grid intersection (A1) o     If a good CAD File has been created and can be used they should be brought in at 0,0,0 and followed as a basis of organization so CAD and Revit will overlay properly o     If no reliable CAD files exist origins can be located by turning on the "Reveal Hidden Elements" light bulb located at the bottom-left of the modeling view ·          Enables work sharing ·          Saves the file with corr...

Focusing on one typical detail the following process evolved - the results match the Revit detail very closely... We will have to see if successive exports have any glitches in them. Since Revit is exporting in a CAD layer format much like the NCS- the following was translated down to Dustin's template (Fewer layers....) for this project. #1 Export from Revit (Using the NCS3.0 APPX template and Override objects: #2 Open in AutoCAD and cleanup using DWG_CLEANUP VBA (I have here locally - we can set to redistribute if needed) #3 LayerTrans using the attached template: NOTE_ Not all line weights are there- BUT most are... We can adapt further and re-examine if later exports vary too much:

More of a what we can use Revit for… Revit can be used in a very limited fashion to leverage CAD drawings. ·          Link the CAD file in (Verifying the origins line up) to the current view only, and origin to origin. ·          Use Room separation lines (at the centerline of the CAD walls) to set the limits of the room. ·          Furniture will then schedule according to the rooms. ·          Color keyed schedules can be quickly created and labeled. ·          For more accurate square footages, use generic wall types to approximate wall thicknesses. Visibility and graphics 101 checklist for missing objects- Start with the light bulb tool in the lower-left hand corner of the 'Drawing area' in the rightmost side of the 'View Control Bar'- click it and it will show all hidden objects lo...