AutoCAD WS Mobile App - Update 1.3

It's time to take a look at the new features that have been added to the latest release of the AutoCAD WS for mobile app, AutoCAD WS 1.3.
AutoCAD WS for mobile is available now for iOS on the App Store and for Android in the Android Market.

App Store - http://autode.sk/adicd2
Android Market - http://autode.sk/i7iqoa

The new features added to the app for version 1.3 include:

- Layers support
- Accurate input of distances and lengths
- Area measure tool
- File Management

Towards a new Uniclass

In this short article, Construction Project Information (CPI) reports on the current state of play in the development of a new and dynamic Uniclass.
CPI promulgates Uniclass (which includes the Common Arrangement of Work Sections - CAWS) nationally. CPI committee members comprise representatives from RIBA, RICS, UKCG, ICE, CIBSE, CIAT and CIOB.

CPI established its Uniclass Working Group in 2006, to consider proposals for revision of the Tables in Uniclass. This has resulted in the release of a new Table, Z, for CAD, and the development of a Uniclass Online Tool for generating layer classifications from the Uniclass tables and for requesting new classifications.

Tables under review within the Working Group include those for Construction Entities (Table E), Elements (Tables G and H) and Work Sections (Tables J and K). It has been agreed that the Elements Tables should be combined, and that the Work Sections Tables should be combined.

NBS has contributed particularly to the review of the Work Sections Tables, through its reworking of Table J (CAWS) in order to support the new NBS. The NBS proposals have been endorsed in principle by the Working Group, but have yet to be endorsed formally by the CPI committee itself.

The work that NBS has done on Work Sections has also led to proposals from NBS for the unifying of Uniclass, which could affect all the Tables eventually, but would affect just the Facilities (D), Construction Entities (E), Spaces (F), Elements (G and H), Work Sections (J and K) and Products (L) Tables to start with. New Tables might also be developed as a result of this proposal, e.g. for Activities. Again, these proposals have been endorsed in principle by the Working Group, but have yet to be endorsed formally by CPI itself.

AutoCAD for Mac so when will Revit for Mac be released

Autodesk announce Autocad 2012 for Mac at 5pm GMT Today

So when will there be a Revit for Mac?

Could this be the death of the PC as we know it!

AUGIuk Revit Camp - Call for Speakers

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Below is a Cross post from the AUGIuk Web site

 

AUGIuk are hosting a one Day Revit Camp comprising 75min classes covering Revit Core, Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and Revit MEP. The format of classes will be that similar to Autodesk University and also used in the AUGIuk Design Academy.

If you are interested in speaking at the AUGIuk Revit Camp, you're invited to submit a proposal by 30th October 2011. We welcome submissions from experienced presenters or those with industry knowledge in either the Core Revit product or one of the Revit Vertical products.

Please submit a proposal to the Chairman of AUGIuk Paul Oakley via email at:- Paul.Oakley@AUGI.com

 

Class Proposal Guidelines for AUGIuk Revit Camp

Classes should help differentiate AUGIuk Revit Camp from other ATC or similar training that are available. Classes should be focused on specific aspects of the software and classes must not be a product demo. Attendees are seeking classes that will help them overcome practical design and workflow challenges in their day-to-day work.

AUGIuk Revit Camp offers attendees a unique opportunity to learn new ways to streamline processes using Autodesk solutions.
What to Include in Your Proposal:-

• Class Outline
• Speaker biography

What Makes a Proposal Successful?
A good proposal should successful focus on one or all of the following elements:

• State-of-the-art tools, tips, and techniques that represent best Revit practices in the various disciplines.
• Personal and team productivity-boosting solutions for common day-to-day tasks and issues faced by attendees.
• Specific methods to improve concept-to-completion cycles: workflow, collaboration, productivity, and overall efficiency.
• Focus
• Business considerations and strategies for evaluating, adopting, and maintaining new technologies.

Many attendees are requesting more classes that cover advanced topics. We therefore invite proposals with more challenging content that will engage and benefit "power users"; that is, professionals with five or more years of industry experience.

SAMPLE PROPOSAL

A sample AU proposal which shows the type of sessions we are looking for:

 

Real World Problems - Real World Revit® Solutions: Model Management

1.5 hr. Class Skill Level: Intermediate

Target Audience/Who Should Attend: Intermediate-level users of Revit
Using real-world solutions as examples from real-world Revit® problems, this class will introduce core concepts for successful Revit model management. See why the proper setup and use of the correct template is a critical first step to a successful Revit project. Learn how to intelligently manage data between several disciplines and still maintain modelling accuracy. Explore the principles of file linking, exchanging data between linked files, and coordinating building locations, and how to avoid and resolve conflicts between building systems and design teams by strategizing work division between Revit models (or within a single model). See why your production quality is only as good as your IT strategic goals, and how your PC specifications may affect the bottom line on a project.

Class Objectives

After attending this class, you will be able to:
Outline a strategy for maintaining a good template file
Manage template setup for both internal Revit data management and traditional analog production requirements
Develop a workflow strategy for projects with multiple models
Determine appropriate multidisciplinary work environment: linked vs. singular model
Communicate effectively on key IT issues and effective strategies that relate to managing Revit models
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Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie)

For anyone interested in taking BIM into FM

Course 1, Part 1.
Course 1, Part 2.
Course 1, Part 3.
Course 1, Part 4.
Course 1, Part 5.

UK Revit System Wall Families Update...

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There is now a spreadsheet, a kind of starter for 10, on the AUGIuk Revit Architecture Localisation forum

Please add wall configurations that you have been using to this thread at http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=132040

Here is a typical wall construction from a recent scheme I have worked on:-

25 x 125 ThermoWood Cladding

42 x 42 Horizontal battens
21 x 50 Vertical battens

Breather membrane

100mm medium density block
100mm cavity filled with mineral wool
100mm light weight block
20mm Plaster

The more feed back we get from you the better the end result will be.

Revit System Wall Families - UK Localisation

Ralph Pullinger and I are looking at developing a UK Based System Wall Family Template, and we require your help. But in order to do so you will need a little background information and briefing on the kind of information we need to know.

During the composition of a presentation entitled “Family Planning ~ First Encounters” for the ninth meeting of LRUG the London Revit User Group, I contacted Ralph Pullinger Autodesks’ Structural Technical Specialist, Northern Europe about the disappearance of the GRBENU_Walls.rvt system file from the Autodesk Web site and a long discussion about the need for Autodesk Revit localised family content took place.

For those of you that are not aware of what the GRBENU_Walls.rvt was, I blogged about it way back in January 2008. The naming convention for this system had problems in that it was not documented and was not  consistent in the use of upper and lower case, spelling and use. However it was a good first attempt at creating a UK and Europe Wall System Family.

So our mission is to create a new UK Wall System Family and here is the brief and pre-requisites, it:-

·         Must satisfy historical, current and future needs

·         Be flexible

·         Have a naming convention that is clear and easy to understand

·         Be consistent

·         Include material properties (the I in BIM) weight, thermal, strength etc.

·         Be properly documented for the end user.

The manufactures literature from both block and insulation manufacturers have provided many forms of wall make ups that will achieve or exceed the Building Regulations Part L U-values of the day, however we would like you to contribute by providing information about what forms of walls constructions have been and are currently actually being specified and used on real live schemes.

Thus we will be able to construct a UK Wall System family that is true representation of UK building practice.

This ties in quite nicely with the fact that AUGIuk working in conjunction with AUGI have arranged for Revit Localisation (OK they used the “z” instead of the s) UK Forums, which have just been set up under the AUGI Revit Forums.

Localisation Discussions related to localisation or regional issues of Revit Architecture.

Localisation Discussions related to localisation or regional issues of Revit Structure.

Localisation Discussions related to localisation or regional issues of Revit MEP.

Architecture Thread on this subject see http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=132040
Structure Thread on this subject see http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=132039

The Building Coder - Revit API Training Material

Jeremy Tammik over at The Building Coder has just posted that:-

"The Revit 2012 API training material that we use for our ADN trainings is now available online to the general public from the Revit Developer Center. Here is a direct link to it, with no guarantee that it will remain valid in future.
It includes three subfolders:

• Labs
• Presentation
• Sample Drawing

These are the Powerpoint presentations used for the training:

• 0_Revit_Programming_Training_Class.pptx – Overview
• 1_Revit_API_Intro.pptx – Basics
• 2_Revit_UI_API.pptx – User Interface and Events
• 3_Revit_Family_API.pptx – Family API

The labs parallel the three main presentations:

• 1_Revit_API_Intro – Basics
• 2_Revit_UI_API – User Interface and Events
• 3_Revit_Family_API – Family API "

To read more Click Here to get to the original posting.

The London Revit User Group ran an evening about Revit API's a few months ago, so this may be of interest to those members that attended the evening.
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AUGIuk Revit Camp - Call for Speakers

Call for Speakers

Wednesday 1st February 2012 – London Venue
AUGIuk are hosting a one Day Revit Camp comprising 75 min classes covering Revit Core, Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and Revit MEP. The format of classes will be that similar to Autodesk University and also used in the AUGIuk Design Academy.

If you are interested in speaking at the AUGIuk Revit Camp, you're invited to submit a proposal by 30th October 2011. We welcome submissions from experienced presenters or those with industry knowledge in either the Core Revit product or one of the Revit Vertical products.

Please submit a proposal to the Chairman of AUGIuk Paul Oakley via email at:- Paul.Oakley@AUGI.com

Click Here to read the rest of the posting on the AUGIuk web site

I Am Proud to be an IEng-ineer

You may have seen in The Structural Engineer and the IStructE monthly newsletter that the IStructE are supporting the Engineering Council in their campaign to raise the profile of Incorporated Engineer (IEng) registration.

The Engineering Council has now launched a series of IEng logos and an email signature to be used by Incorporated Engineers. The email signature is designed to promote your professional status while also raise awareness of IEng.

While the signature is designed to be used on email the Engineering Council are also happy for you to use it elsewhere such as business cards, letters and online profiles.

Please visit the Engineering Councils news section to find out more information about the Engineering Council campaign.  Engineering Council launches initiative to up IEng registration.

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Autodesk_Revit_Structure_2012Update_1_Content

As has been documented on my blog the UK install did not give you everything it should have. Autodesks’ immediate fix, was to recommend installing the USA metric families. This does not provide everything.

Previously I reviewed what you should get and what’s missing once you have downloaded the USA Metric and created what should have been installed in the first place.

Autodesk have now release Autodesk_Revit_Structure_2012Update_1_Content (zip-33.4MB) which is strangely available from the Autodesk Revit Structure Services & Support Page – Product Download page and not Updates page, where one would logically expect an Update to be?

The structure within this Guide has been based upon :-

What installed in UK RST2012

What installed as a US Metric Library

Cross referenced with what was in RST 2011 UK Install

Material within the Content Update 1 released on the 10^th July 2011 is shown as ü

Content not included in Update 1 released on the 10^th July 2011 is shown as û

Click Here to download this Guide in Adobe pdf format.

Whilst I applaud Autodesk for actually providing a list of content within the RST2012 Update 1 Content  package they still have not explained why this content is included in the Update etc. In the main it appears to be an attempt to provide the missing templates that did not install for the UK and other countries

There is one family that is not template related i.e. the Rebar Shape 33 – that is contained within Update 1, however none of the material removed or missing from the rest of the library that is documented in my library guide to 2012 posted on my blog on the 15^th April is included within Update 1

My constant request to Autodesk over the last five years has been:-

Each folder should have a basic *.txt file that should contain the following:-

Number of files in the folder

Number and Names of Files Deleted ~ (with some explanation of why they have been removed)

Number and Names of New Files Added~ (with some explanation of why they have been added)

Number and Names of Files Modified ~ ( or updated and why?)

Where Manufactures specific content is supplied it would be useful to have a hyperlink to their web site or information within the familiy, that is after all what the I in BIM is all about! 

Revit is about BIM
BIM is about Information
Information is about good communications
Autodesk you are poor communicators
Your User Base expects and deserves better

6/10 Do Better
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Announcement from MRUG - Manchester Revit User Group

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MRUG - Manchester Revit User Group
Subject: Announcement from MRUG - Manchester Revit User Group

We just wanted to make you all aware of the progress Manchester Revit User Group is making;

Dan and Gavin of Cundall have done an excellent job of setting up the group, and have been kind enough to ask Peter Taylor of BDP, Gary Royle of AECOM and Rob Clark of Cadassist onto the committee (or managers as LinkedIn calls it).

So the MRUG committee are currently as follows;

Dan Woodman, Senior Structural Technician at Cundall
Gavin Bonner, Principal Structural Technician / BIM Coordinator at Cundall
Peter Taylor, Technology Support Manager, BDP
Gary Royle, Associate Partner, CAD Manager, AECOM
Rob Clark, Revit / BIM Specialist and Senior Structural Technician, Cadassist

I'm sure you will agree that this is a very strong committee in terms of resource and knowledge which has representation in all the disciplines. We are understandably excited about getting started! If you would like to get involved in a more "hands on" manner, please do let us know!

The committee are trying to get together over the coming weeks to arrange our first MRUG meeting. We will keep you up to date with progress.

In the mean time, please do invite your colleagues, contacts and friends onto the group. Further, please do make any suggestions, this group is all about participation.

All the best

MRUG
Posted By Rob Clark.

Out of the Box UK Templates ~ Guide to What's Missing

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I reported about the problems with Revit Structure not installing and missing content back on the 15th April - What can best be called a work-a-round from Autodesk was to suggest that UK users install the USA Metric Library and harvest what was missing see my post on the 17th may about Loading Missing Content

This process  does not provide everything, below is a review guide of what you should get and what’s missing once you have downloaded the USA Metric and created what should have been installed in the first place.

The structure below has been based upon :-

What installed in UK RST2012

What installed as a US Metric Library

Cross referenced with what was in RST 2011 UK Install

Click Here if you would like this document as an Adobe pdf

I have fed this information back to Autodesk.

Because of the suites becoming available they are now also looking at the way they install and provide the library when you are installing all three Revits side by side. If you are a regular visitor you would have seen my posting on the 4th June about a Short Family Content Survey this was not open and available for very long.

For those that want a glimpse of the possible futures for Revit families below are some screen shots from the survey



Victor Meldrew Moment - Fixing England 's Economy

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Saw this, loved it had to share it:-

Dear Mr. Cameron,

Please find below our suggestion for fixing England 's economy.

Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan..

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 10 million people over 50 in the work force.
Pay them £1 million each severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. ~ Ten million job openings - Unemployment fixed

2) They MUST buy a new British car. ~ Ten million cars ordered - Car Industry fixed

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage. ~ Housing Crisis fixed

4) They MUST send their kids to school/college/university. ~ Crime rate fixed

5) They MUST buy £100 WORTH of alcohol/tobacco a week ~ and there's your money back in duty/tax etc.

6) Instead of stuffing around with the carbon emissions trading scheme that makes us pay for the major polluters, tell the greedy bastards to reduce their pollution emissions by 75% within 5 years or we shut them down.

It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances

ReVVed - Revit Extensions

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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 .
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Time Travel Again - Back to the 80's

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I've just lost 31 years and I'm 22 again.......

A quick trip down to the local supermarket to pick up a new windscreen wiper and as always I look at the Budget CD's and there it was.

A mixture of Solo in Soho and Philip Lynott Album plus some rare tracks ....20 Tracks for £3

As it says on the back cover of this cracking collection Phil Lynott was the leader of Thin Lizzy he was a musical hero, master songwriter and majestic singer, yet as this collection of solo hits, album tracks and rare b-sides proves he was much more.

And yes I am enjoying the magic it's like having my original record collection back
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Government thinks there are Too Many Architects

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"RIBA president Ruth Reed says she has been told the government thinks there are too many architects in the profession."

OK I've always said this myself, we could get all the bad ones, line up 5 against a wall and shoot them daily until the number of good ones increases ;0)

Joking aside this is serious stuff for Architectural students to read more CLICK HERE
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Autodesk University AU2011 - Newsletter

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AU 2011: Hot Topics, Expanded Curriculum, Innovative Technologies, New Business Strategies

I’m very pro Autodesk University (AU) as a powerful resource for information, in a presentation I’m drafting for the next LRUG meeting I point to various classes & labs that can be downloaded in a variety of formats.

Last year there were serious problems with attending virtually, and I’m really hoping that lesson have been learnt and that measures are in place to ensure everything actually works this year. I’ve submitted this as feedback to AU and I hope to get some kind of reply and assurance, as it’s nice to know that as a customer you are being listened too.

For those of you that are new to Autodesk and perhaps Autodesk University, below is repost of the current newsletter details.

Click Here to visit the AU web site and register as a member
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Autodesk University (AU) is where architects, engineers, and designers come together annually with industry and technology leaders to better understand new technologies, exchange best practices, and form new business strategies— and this year is no exception.

Expanded Curriculum

Technical product training remains a key focus, but AU 2011 is moving well beyond tips and tricks to offer more for advanced users, senior designers, business leaders, and workflow and process strategists.

“This year we asked for very specific types of classes, and our speakers responded,” said Joseph Wurcher, AU program manager. "So, for example, we are emphasizing classes that show you how to combine Autodesk products to streamline your workflows and processes, using the right tool for the right job."

The expanded curriculum of more than 800 classes and hands-on labs includes new classes on:

Design leadership Innovation strategies Web, cloud, and mobile technologies Workflows and process

Visualization Sustainability Change management

Whether you are interested in lean manufacturing, automotive design, or building information modeling, you will find a great selection of tightly focused classes this year.

 

Leveraging Film Industry Techniques to Tell a Story

A schematic or drawing just isn’t enough anymore. Your clients want to see and experience a design before they pour an ounce of concrete. AU 2011 features two tracks focused on design visualization and storytelling. Learn how to leverage digital entertainment techniques for use in conventional AEC and manufacturing designs.

"We will be highlighting new supercool game development technology," said Wurcher, "to show how this technology can be used to develop more realistic walkthroughs and product demonstrations. For example, Autodesk® Mudbox™ is an excellent tool for creating human figures to populate visualizations."

 

Processes, People, Workflows, Business Strategies

"This year, we have even more content for senior designers, design technology managers, business leaders, and workflow and process strategists,” Wurcher noted. "It can make it easier to get approval if you bring management along."

AU 2011 will feature classes to help leaders manage change and bring in more business. How do you encourage innovation among your staff? What strategies can help you be successful in today's market? How do you manage a transition to Autodesk® Revit®? How will mobile products and cloud computing affect your company?

We are also expanding the Design Technology Management Conference, which will be held immediately prior to the AU conference in Las Vegas. This year's event includes a Sunday night keynote and networking session, followed Monday by a full day of classes and unconference sessions designed to help you manage technology and the people who use it.

 

AU 2011 Registration Opens in Late August

Early Bird registration opens August 30. You can save you and your boss up to US$500 by registering early. You also get first pick from the AU 2011 class catalog.
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Manchester Revit User Group is Forming

MRUG - Manchester Revit User Group

Are a free Autodesk Revit user group that meets to share tips and tricks, best practices and discuss the Autodesk Revit software and its impact on the AEC community.

Join them on Linked-In
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Revit Users Ireland Group - Meeting No.1

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Revit Users Ireland Group are pleased to announce thier first group meeting (see details below). Please try to attend, and share this with any of your colleagues.

Below is a LinkedIn “event link”, to register your interest:
http://events.linkedin.com/Revit-User-Ireland-Group-Meeting-No-1/pub/698427

Date: 29th June 2011

Time: 6.30-8.30pm (registration, coffee/tea at 6pm)

Venue: The Maxwell Theatre, Hamilton Building, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2
(entrance off Westland Row, opposite Pearse Street Station)

Getting There:

Dart/Rail – Pearse Street Station
1.2km from Green Line Luas (St. Stephens’s Green Stop) - 15 minute walk
1.2km from Red Line Luas (BusAras Stop/Connolly Station) - 15 minute walk

They will gathering in the Gingerman Pub (Fenian Street) afterwards, for some networking/socializing.

Good Luck with your first meeting Guys!
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Government Construction Strategy Report Published

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Building Information Modelling (BIM) is now emerging as a common requirement on both public and private sector projects alike. Only recently, the government has reaffirmed its commitment to make savings of at least 20% across all public sector construction projects and that BIM is to be mandated to help drive more efficient cost benchmarking.

Standards are currently being drawn up with a view to roll out BIM on public projects in 2012.

Please  Click Here to access the full government report dated May 2011, and just released.

STL Exporter for Revit 2012 is Released as Open Source

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I've just found this and need to share....

From the company that spend so much time in court righting for the rights and the ownership to the dwg and dxf format, Autodesk has donated the STL Exporter for Revit to Open Source under the LGPL 2.1 license. The source code, latest builds and user/technical documentation will be available at the following site. You will be able to view and edit the source code to suit your needs.

This is something Autodesk has never done before with an add-in/plug-in/app for Autodesk Revit or any other Autodesk product. (See MapGuide for the first Autodesk contributed open source project.)

The code hackers and tinkerers among you are probably saying “cool! – now I can play with it and make it suit my needs”.

The skeptics among you are probably saying “Autodesk is trying to dump responsibility for this thing on the user so they don’t have to support it”. To the skeptics I would recommend you read on. ...... Click Here to visit the whole posting over at BIM Apps.
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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.
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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)

Short Family Content Survey

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Erik over at Inside the Factory is asking for your involvement in making Revit better fit your needs, so don't delay take the survey and help Autodesk help us, if you don't contribute you can't really complain if you don't end up with the option you would have preferred!

Autodesk is working to improve the organization of Revit family content and looking for Revit customers to participate in a short online survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/revitcontent

The survey has two parts:

In Part I, you will be asked to review three proposed options for organizing Revit family content, select the option you like the most, and tell Autodesk why you chose that option.

Option 1 by Category
Option 2 by Object Type
Option 3 by Discipline

In Part II, you will be asked to try a few tasks using the best option you chose.
The two-part survey will take about 20 minutes to complete and will only be used by the Revit product team. 
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Typical Engineering Question or Bridge Bashing!

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A JCB weighing 22 tons is on top of a lowboy trailer and heading east on Interstate 70 near Hays, Kansas ..

The extended shovel arm is made of hardened refined steel and the approaching overpass is made of commercial-grade concrete, re-inforced with 1 1/2 inch steel rebar spaced at 6 inch intervals in a criss-cross pattern layered at 1 foot vertical spacing.

Question:

When the shovel arm hits the overpass, how fast do you have to be going to slice the bridge in half ?

(Assume no effect for headwind and no braking by the driver...)

Extra Credit:

What is the time and distance required for the entire rig to come to a complete stop after hitting the overpass at the speed calculated above.

Yes, you can neglect friction.

No, I couldn't solve it either......but who cares;

The pictures are great! 

Apparently the driver was on his cell phone..................

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