ORUG Meeting, Feb 6

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Proving your designs are sustainable.

Verifying radical sustainable design strategies using Revit, CFD and other tools.

The purpose of this event is to connect and discuss the issues and topics that affect us.  On February 6, 2014 we will look at how to prove your design is sustainable.  The industry is going ‘Green’ yet the majority of what is being constructed seems to be performing in the opposite way.  We will discuss radical sustainable design strategies using Revit, CFD and other tools.

Agenda

Welcome and Update
Guest Speaker Mark Drieger of ATA Architects
Addressing the SB10 Building Code Energy Requirements
Appetizers will be served throughout event

This event is proudly sponsored by:

Dates

February 6, 2014

Times

6:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Prices

Free Admission

LocationThe Brazen Head Irish Pub (map) 
165 East Liberty St.
Toronto, ON M6K3K4

Register

Register

Creating Contract Admin Sketches-Revitdialog

I've yet to find a good alternative to the following workflow for Contract Admin. Little tip, use a Solid Fill instead of a Masking Region for desired effect on titleblock. Please comment on this...

Thanks to Chris from Revitdialog for this blog post...

Managing the Contract Administration Phase

....Two situations can happen during the Contract Admin phase, 1. A view that is already part of the bid documents needs to be modified in some way.  Think, more information – not a change in design – which is similar but different.  2. The contractor is hinting that a view that doesn’t exist in the bid set should be provided.

Regardless of the situation the work flow is the same.  Modify or create your view.  Put on a sketch titleblock that has a mask in it.  PDF / DWF the view.  Send to contractor.  There is this notion that you have to save each and every sketch that goes out of the office in the Revit environment.  I don’t see the need and it just complicates things.  You’ve already archived the bid set.  You already have a PDF / DWF snapshot of your changes.  Are you afraid that, the less than 1% of the time, you’ll have to go back and modify a view that was already issued?  It’s not that difficult to add the titleblock again.  I’ve automated mine so it requires very little effort.

Another question came up that had no resolution within the session.  How do you number the sketches?

You really have two ways of doing it.  The traditional way of naming them ASK-001, 002  ect.  Most are familiar with that naming method.  I would add an additional parameter field in the titleblock cross referencing what it was issued for (Site Instruction, Change Order, etc).  Makes things a little bit easier.

Another method I found to be beneficial is to document how it was issued, as my starting point.  So if I was at the 100th Site Instruction, I’d name my sketch sheet SI100-A01.  If I was issuing out a change order, it would be CO005-A01.  If you ever picked up that document off a desk, you knew immediately how it was issued.  Warning – those with severe OCD might not like that method.  In that case, you might be stuck with the previous method.

Modify what you got.  If you don’t have it, create it and put it on a sheet.  Add your titleblock and then PDF / DWF your sketch.  Send it to the contractor.  Go have a beer because your model is up to date and you did the least amount of work possible to keep the construction beast fed and moving.  Repeat. Read the full blog post here.

Multi-Storey Stair Not Displaying Cut by Section Box

Revit 2014. As shown in the images below, Multi-Storey stairs are not cut by a Section Box if the bottom of the Section Box is above the original stair.

Copy Stuff Level to Level in Revit

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: ORUG Members: Get PAID to Test Autodesk Software

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: ORUG Members: Get PAID to Test Autodesk Software: Want to help make Autodesk tools better? Hello from Autodesk's User Experience Team,  Are you interested in helping Autodesk he...

Grumpy Muppet: Revit Terminology and Other Rants

First off, thank you to all you smart people at Autodesk for the great work you are doing advancing design technology. Now, please listen...

Rant 1: Terminology

Friends at Autodesk, please review the terminology used in Revit. The inconsistency of terminology has been causing problems to new users for years. Here are some examples:

The tool to make a foundation wall is under the 'Structure' heading as Wall:Structure. This would be fine but the tool to make a strip footing is under the tab called 'Foundation' as 'Wall'.

To make a column footing you pick a tool called 'Isolated'. It's not isolated, it's under a column. A slab is more isolated than a Column Footing.

You can place a beam using the 'beam' tool, very logical. Now, where does one load more 'beams'? From the 'Structural Framing' folder. Are columns not also part of the frame?

And don't get me started on 'Families'. I devoted an entire post to translating 11 variables for family names...
http://revit.blogspot.ca/2010/09/revit-translation-naming-families.html

Rant 2: Seeing Levels and Grids in 3D

Okay, Autodesk has no excuse on this one. For over three years we have been able to see Datums in 3D in the Conceptual Mass template. Why can't we at least have the option to show this in the project template?! (I'm not even going to mention perspective mode in Vasari)

Rant 3: Revit Structure Sections

Last rant, is for Revit Structure. Actually, this is more of a wishlist item. Why can't we just load one section (W10x49 for example) and use it for all beams, columns and detail components?

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: Follow and Tweet @ORUGca to Win!

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: Follow and Tweet @ORUGca to Win!

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: ORUG BIM Process Prezipaper

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: ORUG BIM Process Prezipaper: Instead of the old 'whitepaper' format, we thought that a 'Prezipaper' might be more suitable to present a topic as dynamic ...

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: Behind the Revit Curtain with Greg Demchak

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: Behind the Revit Curtain with Greg Demchak: Here's Greg Demchak's presentation from our September 19th meeting. Look 'Behind the Revit Curtain' with Greg Demchak... ...

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: ORUG Meeting Sept.19 Behind the Revit Curtain

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: ORUG Meeting Sept.19 Behind the Revit Curtain: Subject: ORUG - Behind the Revit Curtain ...

Revit 2013 Transparency Bug

Yes, I said 'bug'. I also say 'problem'. So, for this bug problem, there is a patch.

Read this blog posting from the Autodesk team, it contains the link to the 'hotfix'.
http://revitclinic.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/01/revit-2013-hotfix-available.html

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: ORUG at RTC North America 2013

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: ORUG at RTC North America 2013: ORUG was well represented at RTC North America, in Vancouver. The quality of sessions was excellent as were the conversations and networkin...

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: InfraWorks Video

Ontario Revit Users Group Blog: InfraWorks Video: Last ORUG meeting we dabbled with InfraWorks.  I made the video above inside of InfraWorks and it was really fun and easy. Next meeting ...

InfraWorks for Building Design Suite Ultimate 2014

I've been learning InfraWorks and have to say that it's amazing. I should say that it has amazing potential. Creating your design in the context of a real-world environment is so powerful. All that is left is for Autodesk to integrate Oculus Rift support and we have a true virtual experience. It's so easy to use, like a video game (SimCity). When I say 'easy' I mean compared to getting a similar result in another software. You need to know (or learn) something about coordinate systems, raster images, terrain models etc.

Autodesk has broken up the product into various versions...

For some reason the Building Design Suite Ultimate, which has Revit, doesn't have the Revit import in InfraWorks. Whereas the InfraWorks in the Infrastructure Design Suite does import Revit directly. While you can use FBX for the Building Design Suite Ultimate version it won't be a 'live' database link. Then again, maybe you don't want that to clog your InfraWorks model.
There are other differences and we are still discovering those, I will post as I learn.

Here's a video on how InfraWorks might be used.

Revit Wall Area 'Misunderstanding'

Revit (and by extension Navisworks) wall areas and volumes are calculated based upon the centre of the wall. Because of this, there is no automatic way to get an 'actual' wall face area or volume. There is no way around this that I know of. For instance, I have tried  material schedules, wall wraps and paint tool. The good news is if you know this, you can compensate for it. Also, the bigger your building the less you will be 'off' by percentage.

Questions:

1. Does anyone have a reliable workaround that I have missed?

2. Is anyone using 'Parts' for this?

2. Why does Autodesk insist on leaving it this way? Is there a good reason it is the way it is?

Revit Technology Conference North America 2014

You might notice a little image on the top right of my blog for Revit Technology Conference North America 2014. My advice to you is, just go to this top BIM conference. Happily SolidCAD, the company I work for, agrees with this and will be sending me this year. I will also be joined by other members of the Ontario Revit Users Group who hope to bring back some BIM wisdom to Ontario. Keep an eye on this blog for updates on my journey to RTC NA...

Building Design Suite 2014 Unistaller

Righting a wrong is always good. In this case, for the Autodesk 2014 suites, Autodesk has provided an uninstall tool. I'm running it right now after mistakenly installing standalone versions when I should have installed network versions. As opposed to spending an entire day hunting down files in various and sundry locations. But we will still have to do that for previous versions. Thank you Autodesk for righting a wrong, now please provide us an uninstall tool for previous suites versions. This tool will uninstall AutoCAD(not Revit) 2013 based suites.

What Revit Wants: Extents of Revit 2013 Railings bug - when no balus...

What Revit Wants: Extents of Revit 2013 Railings bug - when no balus...: Basically, when all the balusters are removed from a Railing definition in Revit 2013, I have observed that the 'flip control' moves...

Bring Plant 3D into Revit

If you are trying to integrate 3D information from Autodesk Plant 3D into Revit use the following method.

1. Open Plant 3D file (in Plant 3D, of course)
2. In the command line type: exporttoautocad

You should get a clean result like this when the file is imported into Revit.

 As opposed to something like the image below which was 'saved as' (not exported).

Revit OpEd: What is Revit and BIM Resource

Revit OpEd: What is Revit and BIM Resource: Alex Gore and his firm F9 Productions have created, as part of their company website, a resource for people that are just getting started ...