Showing posts with label Learning_Aids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Learning_Aids. Show all posts

Monday, 9 May 2011

It’s Revit Upgrade Season ~ A Short Review

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So the work on our company new and Improved Revit 2012 Template is complete. As recommended by Autodesk we take the time to re-build the template with each new version.

This year it has been easier for my Padawan or Revit Apprentice “Rikki” to complete his task because he finally has twin screens and was able to have 2011 on one screen with 2012 on the other.  

OK before he reads this and gives me any of his lip, the Pupil is fast becoming or has become the Master, he so reminds me or me at that age, when I was the company AutoCAD power user and became the CAD Manager on the basis that all the users came to me for help, now it’s Rikkis turn, scary.I must be getting old.

The reality is that I would love to spend all my time playing and producing with Revit but these days I have too many other duties to perform during the day.

In my soul, I’m still a draughtsman and computer nerd, which is why I love to play with Revit and Beta it and other software in my spare time, having long since given up writing CADesign software and bolt-ons for CADrafting packages.

During development of the template Rikki is occasionally bouncing up and down saying, have you seen this in 2012 it does xyz which is better than 2011 and demonstrates too me, each time he finds a new feature or improvement he likes.

We are still awaiting the release of the new compatible KIP printer driver which after some investigation we were informed on the 28th April that a Revit 2012 compatible driver is to be released “imminently” so keep on checking the KIP website for updates. We do nothing appears and no one seems to be able to inform me how imminent "imminently" is?

A quick telephone call to CSC our Analytical software provider and I’m informed that their conversion program to and from Revit 2012 will not be available for one or two months! And that they are releasing a newer version for 2011 before they get around to 2012!

Great Stuff…… more reasons not to roll out the new version yet..

Then I come across a posting from Eagle Point that their add-on software is already compatible with 2012 (shame they don’t write Structural Analytical packages)

I’m keeping an eye on the AUGI Forums for reports of problems with 2012 as its’ the annual dilemma of how stable is this and do I wait for the first Service Pack before rolling out to all the guys in the three offices is in the mix.

The other two companies to keep an eye on at this time of the year are Wiley and ASCENT who release lists of new books and training materials for Autodesk products.



A link to the ASCENT Courseware Release Roadmap can be found on the left hand panel of this blog and has been there about a week now…. Or click here to download.

The good news is that ASCENT have increased their portfolio of Revit Architecture courses this year, the Fundamental Course in Imperial and Metric is already available, and the rest will be sometime in July 2011. The bad news is that the Structure and MEP Fundamentals are only available in Imperial and currently there are no plans to release Metric versions!.
It is also sad to see that currently there are no plans for additional publications or courses for either Revit Structure or MEP. I have requested some review copies of their training material from ASCENT so that I can blog about them here, for those of you just starting on the learning curve, who may consider purchasing them.

Following my discussions with my contact at Wiley I’m also sad to report that once again they have decided not to publish Mastering Revit Structure this year, but are keeping an eye on the growth of BIM and Revit and may well re-introduce it for 2013 

Mastering Revit Structure 2009 and 2010 were a fantastic resource,  I personally purchased a copy of both books before it was dropped for the 2011 release.

What I don’t understand is that whilst not publishing a Mastering Autodesk Revit Structure 2012 they have published Mastering Revit MEP 2012! 

In terms of units sold and being used, there are more seats of Structures out there than MEP?

Source of Poll Graph RevitGuru.com 

My contact of Wiley is sending me over a selection of books to read and review so there will be some blogging about my findings in the near future.  It will be good to see how much of Mastering Autodesk Revit can be used and will be of use to Revit Structure Users. There is after all the core which is applicable to all versions of Revit and then those additional features that apply to the particular flavour of Revit you are using.

Let’s also hope that the Free Upgrades and introduction of the Design and Creation Suites will encourage more equality of support across the three flavours of Revit..
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Thursday, 27 May 2010

No Mastering Revit Structure for 2011 but perhaps in 2012?

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Following on from my posting on the 14th May. I have now spoken to one of the Authors of Mastering Revit Structure, and also to Wiley and it has been confirmed that there will not be a Mastering Revit Structure 2011.

A spokesperson from Willey said "Yes, it really is a shame. It’s such a great book by a top-notch authoring team. You can imagine how much it pained me to explain we couldn’t revise it this year. The reason is due to lackluster sales – it was doubtlessly impacted by recession market conditions that as you know hit that portion of the industry incredibly hard."

However Wiley are hoping the AOTG (Autodesk Official Training Guides) arrangement and the recovering economy mean that they can revive this excellent book for 2012.

Until then 2010 versions are still available and the changes in Revit Structure from 2010 - 2011 are relatively minor.

UPDATE 8th May 2011 - Another year, and RST2012 is here - I've spoken to Wiley and there is not going to be a Mastering Revit Structure 2012- they are still keeping an eye on the economic climate and the growth of BIM and the take up of Revit Structure, so parhaps 2013?
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Thursday, 8 April 2010

CAD Notes Revit Architecture Tutorial: Create residential building from scratch


Whilst surfing for new revit sites I happened upon CAD Notes by Edwin Prakoso. he has produced Revit Architecture Tutorial: Create residential building from scratch, see list below

1.Introduction to Revit Architecture
2.Revit Architecture User Interface
3.Understanding Views and View Navigation
4.Defining Levels
5.Placing Exterior Walls
6.Finishing Your Walls
7.Placing Doors and Windows
8.Understanding Wall Structure
9.Creating Your Own Wall Type
10.Creating Floors
11.Creating Roof
12.Creating Roof Edges Profile
13.Creating Staircase
14.Creating Railings
15.Creating Ceiling in Revit Model
16.Creating Floor Edge Slab and Custom Component
17.Introduction to Revit Components
18.Revit Annotations: Dimension
19.Door and Window Tags
20.Defining Room and Room Legend
21.Creating Schedule from Revit Model
22.Placing Views to Sheet
23.Vertical Compound Wall
24.E-book: Revit Architecture 2010: Your First Residential Design
25.Placing Curtain Wall
26.Placing Wall and Material Tag



Edwin has compiled the Tutorials on his blog into an e-book that you can read comfortably without having to visit the blog pages. It’s not exactly the same with the existing tutorials, but, it’s very similar. he has fixed some editorial errors, add some more screenshots to describe the steps better, and provide some tutorial files. With the tutorial files, you can compare what he did to his model, or simply start a chapter using files provided. If you want to see what’s inside the book, you can download the table of contents


The e-book price is US$ 12.5  Click here to view more details 
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Monday, 15 March 2010

The Contractors Guide to BIM Edition 1

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The future of the design and construction industry is going to be driven by the use of technology. The best example emerging today is the use of three-dimensional, intelligent design information, commonly referred to as Building Information Modeling (BIM).

BIM is expected to drive the construction industry towards a “Model Based” process and gradually move the industry away from a “2D Based” process. This “Model Based” process where buildings will be built virtually before they get built out in the field is also referred to as Virtual Design and Construction (VDC).

This guide is for contractors who recognize this future is coming and are looking for a way to start preparing themselves so that when the future arrives, they will be ready.

This guide is intended to help contractors understand how to get started. download it here http://www.agcnebuilders.com/documents/BIMGuide.pdf

Monday, 22 February 2010

RST2010 - Metric Library Reference Guide


Revit Structural Suite 2010 Out of the Box Metric Library Reference Guide as installed in the UK. I originally created this document back in 2007 for version 2008 and catalogued all the typos and spelling errors in the Metric Library and sent it to Autodesk so that they could make the corrections for version 2009.

Download the Document

I’ve also used it in the past to catalogue and ask questions about UK Specific Content when released.

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Autodesk have traditionally been very poor at documenting what exactly should be in the (metric) library. I’m hoping they are going to improve in the future (OK I’m an eternal optimist! ;0)
Recently in the service packs you get a ~Newfilelist~.ini that gives you some information about what has been added and a backup of what has been removed. However I firmly believe that each folder should have a readme,txt file that gives:-
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Name of the folder
# Files Deleted ~ (with a full listing with some explanation of why they have been removed)# New files added ~ (complete listing)# Files Modified ~ ( with a full listing with some explination as to what has been modified and why?)# Files updated ~ (Those that are exactly as in the previous release but have just been upgraded to the current format)
Where Manufactures specific content is supplied it would be useful to have the manufacturers name and or product or trade name as part of the family file name

Hyperlinks to Manufacturers web sites would also be extremely useful. This information should be embedded with the family.
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Sunday, 14 February 2010

Export Revit to EnergyPlus via Ecotect ~ Video Tutorials

New and on YouTube openRevits’ YouTube Channel

I have no idea who openRevit is, but when I find out I will update this posting

Uploaded on YouTube on the 12th February 2010 ~ Enjoy!

Export Revit to EnergyPlus via Ecotect - Part I
Introduction

Export Revit to EnergyPlus via Ecotect - Part II
Room Bounding Objects and Material Construction

Export Revit to EnergyPlus via Ecotect - Part III
Zones, Model Review and GBXML Export

Export Revit to EnergyPlus via Ecotect - Part IV
Ecotect Import, Model Review and Prep for IDF Export

Export Revit to EnergyPlus via Ecotect - Part V
Exporting IDF for EnergyPlus

Export Revit to EnergyPlus via Ecotect - Part VI
Construction Verification and Review in IDF Editor

Export Revit to EnergyPlus via Ecotect - Part VII
Construction Verification and Review in IDF Editor
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Saturday, 23 January 2010

Revit Structure 2010 Quick Reference Guide

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Being an old AutoCAD User and recalling the old six page cardboard Quick Reference Guides that use to be provided with the software. I decided to try and create a Quick Reference Guide for Revit Structure 2010 to assist new users at our offices in Bedford, London and Winchester.

Unfortunately because I’ve used a font size for the visually impaired (also known as the over 40’s) it’s grown to 11 pages long.

As you know when I’ve posted this kind of material on the blog in the past, I’ve had to do it as a series of jpg's which can be a real pain for me to upload and for those interested in obtaining to harvest from the blog. The quality is also not as good as an Adobe file.


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Therefore I would like to thank the Partners of Scott White and Hookins, for donating some web space to make uploading and downloading this Quick Reference Guide and future material easier.

Click Here to download the RST2010 QRG

Can you Guess the Services provided by SWH from the icons on their website?

See animated flood drawings produced using revit on the SWH Website ~ Click Here
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Since posting this the webspace donated is being re-configured as a resource for LRUG London Revit Users Group ..... More to come soon