Autodesk 360 Structural Analysis for Autodesk Revit 2013

.
Autodesk 360 Structural Analysis for Autodesk Revit formerly known as Autodesk Labs Project Storm was released a few days ago.

Structural Analysis for Revit enables structural engineers to conduct analysis in the cloud as a part of the BIM process. With Structural Analysis, engineers and designers can extend design models from Revit Structure directly to the cloud helping to minimize disruptions to workflow and allowing users to continue to design as analysis is completed. Once the analysis is conducted, results can then be visualized and explored within Revit Structure.

Key features

• Extend models from within Revit Structure to the cloud for static analysis.
• Reduce disruption to workflow by performing analysis in the cloud.
• Visualize and explore analytical results from directly within Revit Structure.
• Streamline workflow by using analysis results to inform decision making early on.

/i

New UK Blog - Revit Sticky Notes

..

There is a new UK Blog that has recently come to my attention, Its called Revit Sticky Notes (I like the idea behind the name) and it has been up since November 2011. In addition the Author has released some plugin's for Revit.

The Authors name is Rahul Shah and he is currently an Associate/Studio Design Technology Manager at Woods Bagot London studio. He also happens to be a fellow member of LRUG (London Revit User Group) http://www.lrug.co.uk/

Current Plugins on his blog include:-

• Calculate Occupancy Load Plugin
• Calculate Rentable Area Plugin

There is also a family for 3D Grid Lines

This Blog is going to be added to my watching list, and I suggest you may want to add it to yours.
.

Updated free technology preview of Structure Generator for Revit Now Available

Over at It's Alive in the Lab Scott Sheppard have just announced that the Updated free technology preview of Structure Generator for Revit is Now Available.

Structure Generator for Revit is a free technology preview that provides a connection between "massing models and objects created during conceptual design" and "structural elements such as beams, column, walls, and plates."
// Learn more abour Structure Generator for Revit on Autodesk Labs
Software Development Manager, Pawel Kociolek, gave Scott Sheppard an updated installer which he has made available for download. Pawel also noted what's in this update of the technology preview:

• Capability to generate trusses
• Capability to generate secondary beams
• Capability to assign default sections for secondary beams and diagrids
• Enhanced capabilities (i.e., different settings for X and Y directions) during grid definition
• Enhanced error reporting
• Corrections of reported problems

Autodesk conduct technology previews to get Revit User feedback. The technology preview is active until April 1, 2012. At that time, Autodesk need to take the feedback they have received and decide what to do next. Your can help them with that decision by sharing your thoughts at labs.revit.generator@autodesk.com or the discussion forum.

Help Autodesk to develop these items and you might just end up with what you want....
.

eTransmit for Revit Update

.

eTransmit for Revit is a free* technology preview of an add-in application for Autodesk^® Revit^® Architecture 2012, Autodesk^® Revit^® Structure 2012, and Autodesk^® Revit^® MEP 2012 software.
For best results, installing Revit 2012 Web Update 1 is recommended. With eTransmit for Revit, you can:

• Copy and detach a Revit model and associated files to a single folder for internet transmission. This removes the typical error messages when you copy central files using the operating system.
• Locate dependent files automatically and include them in the transmittal folder, helping to reduce the possibility of error. All dependent files are automatically converted to use relative paths so the dependent files can be located by the model.
• Choose to include related dependent files such as linked Revit models, CAD files, DWF™ markups, decal images, and external keynote files. You can transmit any Revit (.rvt) model that has been upgraded to be compatible with a 2012 Revit software product.
• Transmit models that are using file-based worksharing or server-based worksharing. eTransmit for Revit will also work with non-workshared Revit models.

Common uses for eTransmit

• Internal archiving
• Sending deliverables to clients
• Model exchange between consultants/partners
• Model cleanup
• Sharing models between disciplines

What's new in 1.1?

In July we conducted a user survey to gather feedback from users who had tried the technology preview. One of the things that we heard very clearly is that there were a number of people who were experiencing problems using the initial version. Based on this, our biggest focus for version 1.1 was fixing issues. For a complete list of what is in 1.1, you can review the release notes and known issues, but highlights include:

• eTransmit will no longer crash when you try to create a transmittal on a network drive.
• The progress bar now updates correctly when there are errors and warnings (previously it gave the impression that the transmittal had failed when there were only warnings).
• You can now use eTransmit even if you have one or more models open.
• Unfortunately, transmitted models still do not open correctly if you double-click on them from the operating system. To open a transmitted model correctly, use Revit's file open command.

Availability

The technology preview will operate until June 30, 2012.

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/revit_etransmit/.

Download

You will need your User ID and Password, pop over the the Labs Page to download

Help Autodesk out

See how well the eTransmit for Revit technology preview works for you, and be sure to tell Autodesk what you think by following the feedback link

You can also post comments on the Between the Lines or It's Alive in the Lab blog.
.

Tekla Releases BIMsight 1.3 for AEC Collaboration

.
LEEDS, UK, Oct 27, 2011 - Becoming a part of the toolkit for construction professionals Tekla BIMsight continues to evolve and now offers improved collaboration tools for construction projects. As before, it is still the easiest BIM tool available for everyone in the construction industry to download and share over the Internet for FREE

Click HERE for more information and a link to download
.

Finally CSC Intergration Tool for Revit Structure 2012

.

It's great to see that after six months from the launch of  2012 CSC have finally released their new BIM integration tool, Revit Integrator. This unique and free tool enables structural engineers and technicians to synchronize models between Autodesk Revit Structure and CSC's steel building design software, Fastrak, and concrete building design software, Orion.

Why has it taken so long and why is the download file size 10x that of previous versions, because CSC software also includes all the families it need to operate without having to rely on the families provided by Autodesk.

As Yoda would say "Worried Am I" yet another source of families to validate or worry about.

The link over at BIM and Beam is broken and gives a 404 error message so use This One to get to press release page about the software and This Link to get you straight to the download page.
.

Autodesk® Design Review for iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.

 

Description

Expedite the design review process by viewing and redlining design files in the field. Autodesk® Design Review mobile app enables you to review Autodesk 2D and 3D design files directly on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. View, mark-up, and annotate drawings on the spot, reduce the need to carry around over-sized paper drawings, and enjoy an all-digital design review workflow.

✓View
• Open and view 2D and 3D DWF files from your Autodesk Cloud account
• Use multi-touch to zoom, pan, and rotate drawings
• View meta data and other details about elements within your drawings

✓Markup & Annotate

• Use simple and intuitive redline and markup tools to communicate changes
• Add text or comments using familiar callouts and drawing tools

Autodesk Inc. Web Site                              Design Review Mobile Support
.

ReVVed - Revit Extensions

.
My Padawan (Rikki) who has now left me and is now in training with a much larger multi-national company pointed me in the direction of this nice little collection of FREE extensions.

ReVVed is a collection of Revit extensions that have been designed with the draftsperson in mind. ReVVed turns repetitive tasks into one click commands. These commands work with architecture, structure and MEP flavors of Revit. Commands like:

Merge Text - merge multiple text notes into a single note.

Change Case - changes the case of selected text notes to a user specified case. (Upper, lower, mixed)

Web Link - opens a web browser to the URL stored in Revit components.

Polyline - adjust the total length of end-to-end lines. (Like travel distances, great for checking out exit routes for Fire Escapes)

Open Folder - opens Windows Explorer to the folder where the project file is located.

Project Commander - store critical information about the currently open project in a handy place.

You can  download ReVVed 2011 or ReVVed 2012 for FREE over at the PKH Lineworks Web Site .
.

File Upgrader for Revit Vs the Content Batch Upgrade Utility

I read the posting over at Autodesk //Labs_ It’s Alive in the Lab about the File Upgrader for Revit June ADN Plugin of the Month and wondered why they had released this when there is already the Content Batch Upgrade Utility and what the actual difference is between the two.
. 

So I emailed Scott Sheppard who passed it on to Saikat Bhattacharya, who is a Senior Developer Consultant in the Autodesk Developer Technical Services team, and happens to be the one who developed the File Upgrader for Revit

Saikat kindly took time out to explain to me in detail about the differences, knowing I can’t be the only one out their asking this question I asked if he would grant me permission to post his email here for other interested parties, you can guess the answer as the email is below:-

"The Content Batch Upgrade Utility is quite similar to the Revit File Upgrader utility since both of them are aimed to help migrate/upgrade existing content from previous versions of Revit to work with Revit 2012. However there are some differences in both the tools in the way they so the upgrade and what they do. Following is a brief list of differences between the two tools  –

1)     The File Upgrader utilty also upgrades the RVT, RTE and RFA files where as the Content Batch Upgrade utility helps mostly in upgrading in RFA (family) files.

2)     The File Upgrader has a user interface which allows you to select the folders from where files are to be upgraded (called source) and a destination folder outside of source folder, where you would have the latest set of Revit files for Revit 2012. The Content Batch Upgrade Utility  differs since it upgrades an existing folder of RFA files there itself (without creating another copy of it).

3)     The File Upgrader works with files that are marked as read-only too whereas the batch content upgrade tool does not.

4)     In case of any errors, the File Upgrader makes a note of it in the log file and the user interface dialog and completes upgrading the entire set of files. At the end, the user is expected to go back to the list of failed files and manually open the files to determine what might have gone wrong. In case of Content Batch Upgrade Utility , it stops the upgrade if any of the files are not upgraded due to any error or if they are marked read-only. So the users in this case might have to check the list of files that have been successfully upgraded and delete them from the list and then start the process again for the remaining files.

5)     The File Upgrader uses Revit .NET API and thus can be used as reference by other developers who want to use Revit API to enhance Revit’s functionality. Or even if they want to include some of the code from this utility in their applications.

6)     The File Upgrader currently cannot close the last open file and this has to be manually closed by the user after the upgrade, whereas the batch upgrade tool has no such limitation.

. . .

The users now have both the options to achieve the end goal  - which is to provide some bit of automation in upgrading old Revit files to work with Revit 2012 faster (without the initial upgrade that Revit does each time it opens an older version file). And so users are free to use any of the tools which they feel best fulfills their requirement or the one that they are most comfortable working with."

So now we all know ;0)

Revit Structure 2011 User Assistance

-

Be sure to check out the Revit Structure 2011 User Assistance (Press F1), some very useful stuff here. David Light has a similar post with a link to Revit Architecture 2011 User Assistance.
.

Contenta-images2pdf ~ Photo Printing

.
Apart from the occasional Victor Meldrew moment, I occasionally like to share information or post about useful software I’ve found to assist me in my day to day non-CAD or BIM activities, so this posting is slightly off BIM and Revit.

The other hats I wear during the day are Structural Engineer, Party Wall Surveyor and CDM-C.

Now when I’m undertaking these roles, I have cause to produce Inspection / Engineers Reports, Site Appraisals and Condition Surveys.

These usually mean taking a large number of photographs and commenting about them within the report. Now depending on the amount of defects found and recorded/photographed the Condition Surveys can consist of a schedule that points to a vast quantity of numbered photographs, or if not too may defects or problems are found then it’s nice to load the photographs on one side of the page and describe the observed defects next to the photograph in Word.

Needles to say this can be prove to be extremely time consuming and ultimately expensive for the client, so I’m always looking for ways to process this information more quickly.

I recently found, Contenta-images2pdf, which is a simple and powerful tool to create PDF photo albums. It is simple to use because of its intuitive interface that gives you control over what you are doing. It is also powerful because you can configure important settings and automate common tasks.

In two sentences, here is how the software works:-

First, select which photos you will add to the album.

Then configure how you want the album to look like. That's all there is to do!

You have very easy control over how many photographs per page are printed