LRUG London Revit User Group Meeting - January 2011

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David Light has posted a review of the evening over on his Revit Blog, and I have to agree with his synopsis of the event, I’m sure that Laura Handler Q5/Tocci and John Tocci Jnr Gilbane went away, knowing that the UK is not that far behind them in the use of Revit and BIM as they thought we were. It was interesting to see the shock on their faces as they began the realise this.

As for Integrated Project Design or IPD, I have been very fortunate to have worked on some Partnering schemes (that’s IPD before the Yanks took it re-branded it and are now trying to sell it back to us).

The UK Revit Register, Linked-In Group and LRUG London Revit User Group have started the ball rolling in the UK with the similar groups forming in Bristol, Leeds and Glasgow, but David forgot to mention Edinburgh.

A full list of UK Revit Groups may be found on the UK Revit Register.

As you only get to see the back of the heads of the attendees on Davids’ Blog I thought I’d give you a quick view of the front of some of their heads!

A motley crew aren’t we……

Photograph taken before everyone arrived, about ten minutes before the start of the evenings events.

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Revit User Group forming in Leeds (RUGL)

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Here is an email I recieved from Chris Senior of Revit Elemental, So if your in or around the Leed area, don't be shy, contact RUGLeeds  

"Dear All

We are currently forming an independent Revit User Group based in the Leeds area. Initially we are contacting the core UK users who operate in the region to develop a group formed from experienced Revit users. We will be affiliated with the London Revit User Group (LRUG), Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol to form a network throughout the UK and help bridge the gap in the Midlands and North of England.

We aim to hold the first meeting in Feb/March in the Brewery Wharf area of Leeds. The group would meet bi-monthly on a weekday evening for a few hours followed by drinks. Content will vary and will be provided by the users as well as guest speakers and Autodesk representatives.

Initially we are interested in finding out your interest in this group. If you or your colleagues are interested please sign-up to the Linked-in Group or Facebook Group below. Alternatively you can drop me an email to confirm your interest.

If it is more appropriate, please forward this email to your colleagues.

We have a Revit User Group established on Linked-in and Facebook.

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=3696890&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/RUGLeeds/163238643719387

Kind regards

Chris Senior".
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UK Being Human Series 3 - BBC3 Sunday at 9pm!

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OFF SUBJECT..... I just love this series; I was hooked from the pilot!

If you have not seen it the series is about a vampire, werewolf’s, and a ghost sharing a house and as the title suggests they are trying at “Being Human” it’s a mixture of drama, humour, tragedy and horror in every episode.

Why Canada have to remake it for the USA audience god only knows, The UK cast are ab-fab darling!



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Latest issue of AUGIWorld is now available for download.

AUGI is pleased to announce that the latest issue of AUGIWorld is now available for download.
What is Autodesk QTO? Judah Jackson describes the best little program you aren't using!

Click Here to download the AUGIWorld January/February issue

Also in this issue of AUGIWorld:

• Find out what is in store with an AUGIWorld Q&A with the new AUGI President.
  
• Big Room Drawing Health, a CAD management topic by Darren Young on proper AutoCAD DWG maintenance.
  
• Bootstrap Your AutoCAD Deployments by R. Robert Bell goes into detail for custom AutoCAD deployments.
  
• A BIM-less World by Christopher Fugitt dives right into visualization in Civil 3D and Navisworks.
  
• The Art of Sharing with eTransmit by Jeff Bartels shows how easy it is to share your DWGs in AutoCAD.
  
• One Man Shop: Consulting vs. Freelancing, Part Two, by Tom Cipolla takes a fresh look at consulting work.
  
• Planned Plotting by Beth Powell returns to cover the main purpose of using AutoCAD - plotting!
  
• AutoCAD’s Annotative by Ron Lohan encourages you to try something new, for a change!
  
• What’s the Point of this Roof? by Felix Gonzalez puts a cap on it using Revit Architecture.
  
• Wood Framing Walls by Phil Russo breaks down doing wood in Revit Structure.
  
• Own the Interface by Todd Shackelford puts in you in control of your own AutoCAD ribbon.
  
• Spaces in AutoCAD Architecture by Melinda Heavrin divides and conquers spaces in ACA!

Autodesk Revit Video Tutorials from Michael Johnson

Between the 12th August 2010 and the 9^th January 2011 Michael Johnston, has produced 16 video tutorials on producing a model of a house in Autodesk Revit 2011. There appears to be more planned to come from Michael so keep an eye on his Youtube Channel

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 01 Creating the Project [2:43]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 02 Making Walls [2:05]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 03 Adding Topographic Surface [3:50]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 04 Adding Exterior Walls [2:21]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 05 Adding the Roof  [3:52]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 06 Creating Floors [2:38]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 07 Adding internal Walls [4:08]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 08 Adding Doors [4:43]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 09 Adding Windows [7:52]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 10 Adding a Curtain wall [2:03]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 11 Attaching Walls to the Roof [2:05}

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 12 Fixing a few errors [6:48]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 13 Adding an Entry Deck {6:07]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 14 Adding a sloped floor [5:07]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 15 Adding Stairs and Railings [10:09]

Autodesk Revit Tutorials: 16 Modifying the roof to cover the entry deck [3:14]
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3 men in a boat ummm I mean a pub in Bristol

 

Announcement from BRUG - Bristol Revit User Group on linked-In

"Thought I'd let you all know we have our first informal BRUG get together at the Horts public house in Bristol on Wednesday 26th January. I will be there from 5pm onwards, some are joining a little later 6 - 6:30. Let me know if you can make it.

I'll buy you a packet of crisps, flavour to suit your preference, if you make the effort to come along! (How can you turn an offer like that down???... if I'm feeling extra flash I may stretch to pork scratchings or scampi bites.) "  Mark Fox

      Mark Fox         !        Rob Clark         !  Craig Howell Jones

So support your forming Bristol Revit User Group and meet up with these three Likley Lads.

( Photographs so that you know who you are looking for, not to scare you away! ) 

This is similar to how the LRUG ~ London Revit User Group got started.  There were three of us, Dave Light, Carl Collins and I that wanted to make it happen.

We planned an informal meet up with a few more interested parties. Next thing we knew we were having our first formal meeting and there were thirty of us, and now a year later we number 80 Registered Members of the web site and 58 on the invite list.

Good luck chaps….

If you want to find out more about BRUG visit their Linked-in Group, or email Mark Fox
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Simple Component Family Creaton Video Tutorials

Roger Cusson of Random Knowledge Studios has created a series of video tutorials and uploaded them to his Youtube Channel,  (unfortunately they don’t have sound but they are scripted with comments, so may be more suitable for deaf users, rather than those of us that can hear)

In this series Roger created a Simple Component Family, the family used is the humble coffee table, which is often used when training about family creation

The family has a flexible geometry, so that it can be resized dimensionally and the materials used can be altered by the user.  

00 Introduction

01-Open and Save.wmv

02-Basic Reference Planes.wmv

03-Adding Parameters.wmv   

04-Adding a Reference Plane for the Table Thickness.wmv

05-Create the Table Top.wmv 

06-Starting the Table Frame.wmv  

07-Extruding the Table Frame.wmv

08-Flexing the Table.wmv   

09-Creating the Table Legs.wmv

10-Flexing the Table.wmv

11-Creating a Lower Shelve.wmv  

12-Sub Category Creation.wmv

13-Material Creation and Assignment.wmv

14-Creating Material Parameters.wmv   

15-Incorporating into a Project.wmv  

16-Adding Symbolic Lines.wmv

17-Adding a Masking Area.wmv   

18-Adding Author and Version.wmv  

19-Creating Family Types.wmv    

20-Testing Types in the Project.wmv

Revit MEP Essential Skills Video Tutorials

Here are a bunch of Revit MEP Essential Skills Video Tutorials From: AutodeskBuilding  that were uploaded to Youtube on the 6^th January 2011 and the 13 December 2010.

Revit MEP and IES for Part L

See how to use Autodesk Revit MEP for heating and cooling load calculations to meet local UK standards. In this short video Autodesk Customer Success Engineer, Gary Ross introduces how to perform heating and cooling Part L load calculations to meet UK standards from within Revit MEP as well as within IES software by exporting the model via gbXML 

Revit MEP 2011: Placing Pipe [1:32]

Provides an overview of the procedure and introduces the tools used to place pipe and generate a layout

Revit MEP 2011: Placing Duct [2:10]

Provides an overview of the procedure and introduces the tools used to place pipe and generate a layout.

Revit MEP 2011: Placing Conduit [ 1:20 ]

Provides an overview of the procedure and introduces the tools used to create a conduit layout.

Revit MEP 2011: Placing Cable Tray [1:07]
Provides an overview of the procedure and introduces the tools used to create a cable tray layout

Revit MEP 2011: Displaying Systems with the System Browser  [1:53]

Demonstrates how to use the System Browser to display systems and find elements not assigned to a system

Links to the re-established AUGI Revit Forums

                                                         What it says on the tin!

On the lef hand panel half way down you will find the AUGI Forum Links. These have been re-set to the original list.
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More Toposurface Video Tutorials

Here are a bunch of Toposurface Video Tutorials From: AutodeskBuilding  that were uploaded to Youtube on the 17 December 2010, In typical Autodesk format they have said these are for Autodesk Revit Architecture, but they equally apply to Revit Structure. Enjoy if your still learning about Toposurfaces  

Autodesk Revit Architecture: Creating a Toposurface  [ 2:06 ]

Demonstrates how to create a toposurface in Revit Architecture by importing contour data from a DWG file

Autodesk Revit Architecture: Site Settings [ 2:00 ]

Demonstrates how to access the Site Settings dialog in Revit Architecture in order to label and control the display of contours and the sectional qualities of the toposurface.

Autodesk Revit Architecture: Creating a Toposurface by Defining Points [ 1:59 ]

Demonstrates how to create a toposurface in Revit Architecture by placing multiple points and illustrates that contours are generated based on triangulation.

Autodesk Revit Architecture: Adding Site Components [ 2:04 ]

Demonstrates how to load site component families in Revit Architecture, such as a parking space and a planting object from the library, and how to change the component type while placing the object

Autodesk Revit Architecture: Creating a Building Pad [ 1:46 ]

Demonstrates how to use a DWG underlay file and sketching tools to add a building pad to the site in Revit Architecture, and shows how the toposurface adjusts to the pad

Autodesk Revit Architecture: Creating Topographic Subregions [ 1.37 ]

Demonstrates how to use sketching tools to create a subregion in Revit Architecture and how to assign alternate materials to the subregion

Scott Grant is running the Edinburgh Marathon for Parkinson's UK

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Scott Grant of Excitech, LRUG, GRUG, ERUG, and anywhere else where there is a pub or beer is getting fit-ish and fundraising. He says... 

"After too many years of living the life of a couch potato, I have gotten myself fit (well fit-er) and decided to participate in the 2011 Edinburgh Marathon as part of the Parkinson’s UK team.

Aside from a long held desire to compete in a marathon, I wanted to do something worthwhile for a cause that was close to my heart.

The only choice I could make here was to support Parkinson’s UK, as this was the debilitating illness that robbed my Grandfather of any quality of life in the last 5 years he had with us before he passed away.  He was an inspiration to me and to this day, still one of the best natured people I have ever met.  His warmth was palpable, his wisdom extensive and I owe him an eternal debt for teaching me good manners and what it really means to be a gentleman.  He contributed so much to making me what I became, and it still pains me that he never really got to comprehend my success because of this condition; as I know it would have made him so proud."

Pop over to his Just Giving fund raising page, and see video of him him training. It's a great cause, my father ended up in a nursing home with Parkinsons because he needed 24/7 care that could not be provided at home, so I can understand why the cause is close to Scotts heart.

Scott, Last time I saw legs like that was Rod Hulls Emu! 

Politically Correct Christmas Wish II

Last year I wanted to send a seasonal greeting but with it being so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone, I came up with the Politically Correct Christmas Wish MkI.

Greeting Mk II is known to Alpha and Beta testers as Miserable Old Git or MOG for short.

Seasonal Greeting II also ticks another governmental objective as I have now recycled 95% of it from last year making minor modification and improvement to the design.

So without further ado here is Seasonal Greeting or Wish Mk II

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great, not to imply that the United Kingdom (apologies to those of a republican persuasion) is necessarily greater than any other country, and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher. Disclaimer:

No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.

I am considering opening up the product Seasonal Wish on subscription which means that you will receive fixes to typing errors as they are found and a Subscription Advantage Pack half way through the term of your subscription that will create more bugs than it fixes and provide you with nothing of real advantage at all. Thus I apologise in advance for the term advantage being used at all in the service description.

Due to the current economic climate, next years Seasonal Wish III is likely to be a refurbishment project, as governmental expenditure is currently being geared more towards refurbishment and not new build. Unfortunately BIM and Revit is not really suitable for this task regardless of how many videos and seminars by Autodesk may be produced or held, and Microsoft Word will be used for the task.
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It looks like AUGI are getting their data and old forums back!

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GOOD NEWS - Normal service will be resumed shortly.

It's looking like AUGI is getting its data and the original Forums back....here is a post from David Harrington

1. AUGI’s previous web service provider (Illiac) has assured us that the historical forum data is not lost nor are its backups. The data exists in full and will be restored.

2. Illiac has prepared a temporary forum system with the “old” forum data to go online.

3. AUGI and Illiac are working to finalize an agreement to transfer the forum data to AUGI.

4. Illiac has the temporary site ready to go live and AUGI is prepared to go live once the agreement is in place.

5. Both parties expect an agreement to be reached within 24 hours.

6. Within a few days after the agreement is in place, the temporary forum system is expected to be online and AUGI will begin developing the permanent forum site.

7. Because of the functional limits within the EE forum software, coupled with having access to the old forum data and input from members, AUGI will be reverting back to vBulletin forum software which should be operational within one month after the agreement is in place.

8. Based on input from members and functional limits of EE forum setup, AUGI will be reverting back to the “familiar” forum topic structure.

9. Once the vBulletin software is configured and populated with the required forum structure, all old forum posts will be imported and merged with EE forum posts. Then the temporary site will be deactivated.
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Time to Harvest All Those AU2010 Classes!

. Click the Squirrel to go to AU Online

It’s time once again to go into squirrel mode, and harvest all those very useful Revit classes that are to be found on Autodesk University Online! Last year I reported that the main problem was with the actual screencasts and the extremely poor quality of the sound recordings. The later Virtual sessions and repeats were a much better quality (after they fixed the poor sound quality on a few of the early sessions) but you could get into classes and it did work.

I mused that if Autodesk learn anything from AU2009, I hope it’s was to find better sound engineers and to create far more virtual sessions, for later downloading by users who want save the planet, or just can’t afford to travel to Las Vegas.

This year for many AU2010 Virtual was just awful, but at last one can log in and harvest all that good stuff that should have been available during AU2010.

Never mind all the bells and whistles, come on Autodesk just give use during AU2010 what you supply us with weeks after it, full access to the material on demand too download. 

So go too it my little Revit-Heads, and grab those:-

Handouts & Presentation material in Word, PowerPoint and adobe pdf format
Example files and Datasets
Screencasts and Podcasts and
AU Virtual sessions

If the AUGI forum experience has taught us users anything, it is don't bank on the material being there when you want it later. Harvest them now! 

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Survey reveals industry split over BIM

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Extract from bdonline article  Article by Anna Winston

A new survey launched by standards and specifications expert NBS has revealed an ‘alarming lack of awareness’ of BIM across the construction industry.

The survey of 386 construction professionals, including 155 architects,showed that 43% were either unaware of or hadn’t used Building Information Modelling (BIM).

The results come just a month after chief government construction advisor Paul Morrell revealed plans to introduce BIM into the public procurement process.

Of the respondents to the NBS survey who were aware of BIM, only 10% were currently using it for the majority of projects. However, more than 70% believed that BIM was the future of project information management and two thirds expected to use it for the majority of projects within the next five years. 

More than half of those already using BIM said it had improved profitability and 81% said it had improved productivity.

NBS said that the largest barrier to widespread adoption of BIM was the perception that introducing the process would mean expensive and drastic changes to their existing systems. Only 18% of respondents believed that BIM was a synonym for Cad drawing - a misconception often cited as a barrier to widespread adoption.

“The main risk is that the industry splits in two,” said Stephen Hamil, head of BIM at NBS. “Half the industry is clearly making steps to adopt BIM and these practices will win competitions and will have better people wanting to work for them. You’ll end up potentially with a two tier system.”

Hamil said that the survey had also revealed a surprising variety of software packages being used across the industry.
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How Cold Was It In The UK Last Week?

I was asked how cold it was here in the UK last week



That's How Cold it Was!

AUGI Phoenix Rising from the Ashes?

For those that don’t know who or what AUGI is, it stands for the Autodesk User Group International, and is officially recognized by Autodesk as representing the Autodesk user community.

AUGI assists its members by presenting programs and information that will enhance their use of Autodesk products.

AUGI delivers the voice of the user community to Autodesk, thus assisting Autodesk in product development and giving users a say in the process.

AUGI is primarily run by dedicated volunteers and funded by sponsorship investments from corporate supporters, and has recently celebrated it’s 20^th Birthday.

AUGI provides an environment for users to help users. This environment has been a well established and thought out structure of Forums that have existed for many years, where users of specific software can gain peer to peer support.




UPDATE 9:09 GMT~ Part of the original posting has been removed because I've just visited AUGI and a forum structure has been added to the Built to Last area on the new web site.

A BIG Thank You to whom ever has listened and finally provided the new forums in a similar fashion to the original.
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David Baldacchino who is the AUGI Revit Community Chair gives his views over on his blog Do you Revit …. I do and links to the history behind whats happened.

There is a lot of internal political history that I really don’t want to get into here, and quite frankly it is that, its History.

Let’s not wait to see if or when we might get the historical data and posts back. Stuff the guy holding onto the data, for gods sake don’t pay him anymore money, just arrange to have his knee caps broken.( joking! ;0)

Lots of the problems solved historically and posted about have been fixed in later versions of the software. Now AUGI have re-create the original forum structures for the products, we (AUGI Members) can re-populate it with good information as new users post their problems.

Think of the loss of post as a spring clean, or extreme computer housekeeping and let’s move forward and let the AUGI Phoenix arise from the ashes and rebuild what is after all a fantastic peer to peer resource.  

Here is to another 20 Years!

Autodesk University On-Demand is Demanding!

  >>>>>  So why do I give Autodesk a hard time?   <<<<<

I Wonder Why?

 1) I log in

 2) I find the On Demand

3) I try and download the material

 4) It tells me to log in

I log in Again back to step 1)

After a number or tries, re-tries, shutting down my computer

starting again, etc etc etc......

ARHHHHHHHHHH just make the bloody thing work Autodesk will you!.

Autodesk Unviversity 2010 ~ Virtual Washout Day 2

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OK it’s been snowing here in the UK, we have about four inches out on the footpath and I’m up bright and early 6:00, so I think I will have a look at AU 2010 Virtual to see if I can try a few On-Demand classes that I could not get into yesterday.

They all say “This session is currently not available”

What is the Autodesk definition of ON-DEMAND?

In my book it’s when you want it! And Wikipedia agrees saying “ On Demand - a telecommunication service made available when the customer requests it

Looks like another crap day in the Autodesk University Virtual world, and why are all the delegates you can see all from the far east?

Have they not heard of equal opportunities and racial equality, where are the token White, Asian and Black person in the environment?

Let’s have a politically correct virtual world !

Currently attending AU Virtual is like being in a 3^rd rate Kung Fu movie, I keep waiting them to start knocking ten bells of something (four letter starting with S and ending in T and kind of sums up the AU Virtual Experience so far) out of each other.

OK I give up, I will wait a couple of weeks then harvest all the good stuff
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Autodesk University 2010 ~ Virtual Washout

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Nice graphics when they finally arrive on your screen, but the whole Virtual Experience is a washout so far.

There are a lot of unhappy people talking to one another on Autodesk Virtual about the fact that the lesson descriptions are in Spanish and that the whole thing is buggy, and people have not been able to attend classes virtually.

Server Problems seems to be the answer!

I’m really glad I did not pay the $139 fee to upgrade, but hang on a minute, it’s part of my annual subscription, so indirectly I have paid for yet another Autodesk product that’s full of bugs!

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It's now 18:05 GMT, over 3 hours from my posting, and the classes are still not in English Then it crossed my mind, As English is the most popular language they would not make the default Spanish or Portuguse would they:-

They would!

Then 18:24 GMT this nice little notice has appeared

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Here is my answer!

21:06 GMT No On-Demand Videos, No Group Chat, I've sent a request for help and recieved an automatic Reply



Once again I'm being thanked for my patience, by the time they have fixed the the whole darn thing will be over and we will have to wait for the material to be uploaded which normally takes at least two weeks.

Obviously I'm not the only one asking for help, as my ticket number is number 2207!

I'm guessing the Public Chat has been scrapped or turned off because they were recieving so much flack lunch time here in the UK.

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Calling All UK Revit Users In and around Leeds and Bristol

I have been speaking to Chris Senior author of Revit Elemental and Glenn Jowett of Revit ST blog. They are both interested in setting up a Revit User Group in the Leeds area.

If this would interest anyone in or around the Leeds area, either comment on Glenn Jowetts RT Structure Post or send me your details to add to the UK Revit Register.

I also believe that Chris and Glenn will be setting up a Linked-In group for people to join. If enough interest can be generated, something will hopefully take shape early in the new year!

Chris and Glenn are not alone Mark Fox of Revit Fox is still tying to find enough Revit Users in and around Bristol with the aim of arranging a meeting early next year.

With LRUG, BRUG, ERUG, GRUG and now I’m guessing Leeds-RUG (having already nicked the L for London) It's looking like more and more users want to have that peer to peer support experiance.

Current UK Revit User Groups

UK Revit Register http://cadalot-uk-revit-register.blogspot.com/

UK Revit Register Linked-In Group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1968019

The idea of the UK Revit Register to enable users and companies using Autodesk Revit Architecture, Structure and MEP to find other users and companies also using Revit based products in their region so that they can collaborate with them on schemes using a common program.

It’s hoped that the register might promote some regional banding of individuals that may want to meet down the local public house or visit each others offices when they found out that they are not the only Revit user in the village.You never know, if enough people respond, perhaps Regional User Groups may form around the UK. Those that already have or about too are listed below:-

BRUG ~ Bristol Revit User Group

Looking for members in and around the Bristol Area hoping for its first meeting in 2011

Linked-In Group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3469194

ERUG ~ Edinburgh Revit User Group

Sister Revit User group to the Glasgow Revit User Group. Hoping to hold its first meeting in January 2011

Linked-In Group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3567506

GRUG ~ Glasgow Revit User Group

Held three meeting in 2010, next meeting due early 2011

Linked-In Group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2522770

LRUG ~ London Revit User Group ~ formed 2010

Meeting held on or about the 3^rd Wednesday, bi-monthly in Jan, Mar, May, July, Sept & Nov

Web Site http://www.lrug.org.uk

So what is Project Vasari and why waste time on it?

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There are many bloggers out there getting very excited because Autodesk have released a technology preview called Project Vasari, I'm not one of them!

What is Project Vasari?

Take a look at David Lights Revit Blog, Steve Staffords Revit OpEd, and The Revit Kid

David Light “ Absolutely loves it! I had heard through the grapevine that Autodesk where working on something special, a kind or LT version of Revit.” David also says “There are some which will not get that excited, because if you use full Revit then you already have access to this functionality so Vasari may not offer anything new.”

David has it right there, for Structural and MEP Engineers that already have Revit, the fact that Autodesk are spending valuable time money and resources cutting back the code from Revit to create a kind of Lite version that will be superior to Sketch up seem to us to be complete and utter waste.

Autodesk still has so much that does not work properly in the full version of Revit, that we pay big bucks for, and that we keep on subscription in the constant hope that they will provide or fix the basic tools that have been moaned about by users over the last few years.

Will Autodesk be giving a version of Vasari or Revit LT when finally released away free like Sketch up?

Will there then be a Vasari or Revit LT professional version, that you will have to pay for like Sketchup Professional?

Normally Autodesk buys off the competition, buying the user base then if the product is any good it replaces what they are currently selling. Cast your mind back to Generic CADD which was bought and sold as an AutoCAD Lite before they killed and then replaced it with a true cut down version of AutoCAD LiTe within a month of an upgrade.

ADT got dropped in favour of Revit, It seem to me that if they can’t buy Sketchup to get its user base and then kill it, then they are going to try and compete with it.

Why call it Vasari?

David Light has his own ideas about why the name Vasari has been used, however according to the historian Richard Goldthwaite, Vasari was one of the earliest authors to use the word "competition" (or "concorrenza") in Italian in its economic sense. He used it repeatedly, but perhaps most notably while explaining the reasons for Florentine preeminence, in the introduction to his life of Pietro Perugino.

Autodesk spend some of our money and fix the darn Basics in Revit like the Text Editor, so that it give at least the functionality that AutoCAD has enjoyed for many years .i.e. Subscript, Superscript fractions etc etc.

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As I've not been invited to Beta Test RST2012 and thus not bound by any NDA, I'm speculating that there is very little in the way of advancement on the Structures front for Revit2012 and I'm likely to be disappointed next year like I was with the SAP for RST2011 this year.

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