Autodesk

Autodesk YouTube Channel -  An important website for Autodesk users is the Autodesk YouTube channel. With over 73,000 subscribers and approx. 25 million video views, it has a tremendous amount of information and value.

Read Full Post »

Point Cloud to Model

Leveraging point cloud data can be an effective tool in creating an accurate model of a difficult space.  Take this room for instance:

This space has crumbing walls, no ceiling, collapsing duct, and creates a condition where individuals can’t visualize what the space could look like.  How do we communicate what this space COULD look like?

For us we started with a quick point cloud scan then brought it into Revit:

From this scan we were able to model the room’s current dimensions accurately (as well as the falling duct) in order to produce a conceptual illustration of what this room could look like as a blank slate.

From there we could have modeled it more, but it worked for our purposes. I did this rendering with the duct “falling down” as a visual que that yes, this is the same space, but that we could replace the duct and easily “clean it up”.

The entire time to complete:  For two people, one working on the scan and one working in Revit, we could have started the scan at 9:00 AM and been to a point where the “white” model was done by 3:30 in the afternoon… including lunch and the 30 minute drive back to the office from the site.

If you would like to know more, let us know ( you can email me, Brian Myers, at bmyers@seilerinst.com ) and we’ll be happy to discuss.

Read Full Post »

BIM 360 Glue

Viewing the Space in 360 Glue

One of the more interesting technologies Autodesk has acquired in the past two years is called BIM 360 Glue.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=19729180&siteID=123112

Beyond clash detection and easy visualization, one of my favorite tools is “Immersive View”.  Imagine holding an iPad in your hands that is displaying the structure you are currently in.  Hold the pad out, around eye level, and look up…down, spin around…. and the model displays according to the direction you are looking.  It’s like a “virtual reality” experience using an iPad.

Feel free to read this Autodesk blog posting to learn more about the technology and also download it from the iTunes AppStore.

http://beyonddesign.typepad.com/posts/2012/10/bim-360-glue-on-the-go.html

 

 

Read Full Post »

Autodesk Mobile Products

If you’ve not seen it, Autodesk has a page dedicated to their mobile applications:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=16953811

There are some great Apps there. Some I’d recommend exploring include  Autodesk BIM 360 Glue Mobile App,  Autodesk FormIt,  Autodesk SketchBook Mobile, and AutoCAD WS.

Read Full Post »

Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2013 Product Update 12 Now Available for Download

An Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2013 and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2013 software product update (PU12) is now available on the Autodesk 3ds Max Services & Support and Autodesk 3ds Max Design Services & Support web pages.  PU12 includes fixes for stability and performance issues based on customer feedback. For more information and the complete list of fixes included in these product updates, please refer to the release notes on the Services & Support pages.

Read Full Post »

Get Blown Away by Autodesk Vasari

More appropriately stated, your designs can be blown away by Vasari!

Autodesk Vasari, once known as Project Vasari before it graduated Autodesk Labs, has often been mistaken as a reduced functionality version of Revit… or perhaps the birth of Revit LT.  But tell me, can Revit do this?

Yes, that’s the default Revit building inside a wind tunnel simulation. By the way, those red vectors are not static… they are MOVING on the screen (but caught in this image in a suspended state).  Lets look at it in another view and different wind direction:

You can see the airflow patterns get disrupted then begin to swirl in the courtyard in this image.  When the settings are adjusted it can resemble pools of colorful water flowing on the screen… when in reality we are observing different air speeds/currents flowing past the structure.

Another feature of Vasari is that it provides feedback related to energy modeling and display the levels of solar radiation on the face of a structure. While those two functions are mostly limited to mass models and conceptual design (which Vasari excels at) that doesn’t mean you can’t bring in your Revit designs and send them through the built in wind tunnel, like I did in the example above.  This works great, particularly if you “mass in” surrounding buildings as cubes/shapes. Once you’ve done that, you can animate the air flow (wind) created by your design or shadows that fall on surrounding buildings, landscaping and paths to gain a better understanding of the environmental impact on the site and surrounding area.

The best thing about this software is that Autodesk is still not charging for it, even after Labs graduation.  So download it today at

http://autodeskvasari.com/

In December I’ll be holding a class on the use of Vasari for conceptual design and how to incorporate it into your Revit workflow, I’ll update you as details are announced.

 

Read Full Post »

Major CAD/BIM Event coming to St Louis on October 4th.

On October 4th, Paul Aubin, Rick Ellis, Robert Green, Jeff Bartels, Steve Schain and I (Brian Myers) will be teaching courses on a variety of software topics in St Louis, Missouri. The event is called CAD Americas.  Topics will range from AutoCAD to Civil 3D and from Revit to BIM Link with a bit of general CAD management thrown in for good measure.  The best part, you get to pick the courses you wish to attend with nationally recognized trainers and authors.

I look forward to meeting you at the event!

To register you can follow this link:  http://bit.ly/NDs9cd

Read Full Post »

Autodesk is Releasing Revit LT!

 Update:  Since my original posting I’ve been informed that Design Options ARE available, but it wasn’t listed properly originally on the Autodesk website. Also, Rendering can be done, but not natively inside Revit LT. Renderings can be done online via the Autodesk 360 Cloud Rendering Service. 

If you are a sole practitioner or the only individual that works on a specific project inside your firm, Revit LT should be worth investigating.  Let’s start to understand  which features that are NOT in Revit LT:

• Worksharing  (This eliminates people working simultaneously in a Revit project, so this is not a release for most project teams).
• Parts & Assemblies (It’s rarely used today, but it might be looked as a drawback for those using Revit as a construction sequencing tool with software such as Navisworks).
• Stair by Sketch (This means you will only be able to use the new stair tools, which is just fine for most firms).
• Truss & Reinforcement (reinforcement is usually considered such items such as 3D rebar). Also, while a “truss” tool is not available, that doesn’t mean you can’t use traditional Revit families for such structures.
• Conceptual massing & Adaptive components (which most people rarely use today).
• In-place modeling (this is a feature we can also live without, but it will be missed for those in project, one time families).
• Rendering and the Raytrace and Realistic View Styles.  (Yes, this means creating dynamic, rendered visualizations within Revit is not going to happen, unless you export the model into other software).
• Interference Checking and Copy/Monitor.
• Copy/Paste Elements from Links (Did you know you could do that in normal Revit?).
• Customizing the Visibility of Linked Models (this makes it more difficult to adjust the lineweights, etc of linked models).
• Point Cloud Imports.
• No Decals (Not an issue since you don’t have the ability to render them for them to be displayed).
• No export of SAT, ADSK, gbXML, IFC, ODBC, or Family Types.
• Autodesk 360 Energy Analysis for Autodesk Revit.
• No Third party Applications.

Let me recap:  There’s no rendering internally within the software (but it can be exported to Autodesk 360 Rendering, Max Design, etc. if you have access to those options), no third party apps, it lacks IFC export, worksharing, interference checking or conceptual tools.

So the ideal individual for this would be anyone that works on projects themselves, mainly uses Revit for CD’s and sharing their model to outside sources and needs the rest of Revit’s tools (scheduling, 3D non-rendered visualization, drafting tools, CD production, etc) to make them more productive/profitable in their job. It won’t be for everyone, but if you meet those qualifications it should certainly be worth investigating.  It also might be a nice “transition” tool for those moving from AutoCAD Architecture walls/doors/windows drawing environment into a Revit environment where the functionality will be similar but greatly enhanced (at what will be a much lower initial price for the software).

You can learn more about its new features from the Autodesk website:

http://usa.autodesk.com/revitlt/features/

Read Full Post »

Finding Treasure in the Vault.

An existing program which has been given new life is Autodesk Vault. Vault is a file management tool that has been given improved integration in the 2013 products. Here is an image of how Vault has been integrated into AutoCAD, but it has been integrated into the majority of Autodesk products (including Revit).

The purpose of Vault is file & version management, and to a certain degree, quality control. By using Vault you can:

1. Control your project revision history as Vault can store previous (older) documents in the organizational structure of your choosing.

2. Allows an individual to “Check Out” documents, but perhaps more valuable, you can restrict who has the ability to check out documents. To put this in plain English: you can restrict who can view files as well as who can modify files (read only mode), ranging from DWG files to Excel spreadsheets.

3. It integrates with MS Word and Excel so that project files/documents can be stored and organized without other file management solutions.

4. Items such as AutoCAD blocks and Revit families can be arranged in “quality controlled” product libraries and released to the user base when approved by the administrator.

5. Can work in conjunction with Buzzsaw to share files with team members in other offices/job sites. This means your “Vault” of drawings and documents can then be read (and sometimes revised, based on your security settings) on handheld devices such as iPads and Smartphones.

Here is a link with more information on Vault and some of its applications: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=18697727

So may it be capturing project milestones or used as an integrated quality control & file management system for Office and CAD/BIM files, Vault is making headway into our AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) workflow.

Read Full Post »

BIM Coordinator for AutoCAD Civil 3D and Autodesk Revit

An interesting new product Autodesk would like you to test is called BIM Coordinator, it allows for an easy workflow of sharing coordinates between Civil 3D and Revit.  It is currently available at Autodesk Labs.

An introduction for those not familiar Labs:  

Autodesk labs is the traditional testing grounds for new technologies from Autodesk.  The technologies regularly become new products or are incorporated into existing products as new features.

Link to software:  http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/bim_coordinator/

A video overview of the technology produced by Autodesk can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSxbv7QPero

So, if you work on projects where data needs to be shared between Civil 3D and Revit, this technology is definitely worth a look!

Read Full Post »