Category: Weekly Roundup

The week that was in the world of BIM and other Techie fun stuff, for the week of Dec. 14th – 20th.

I will start this weeks roundup with a post that some may agree with and some may not, its all about the way you upgrade your Revit Models. This post from IMAGINiT Support Blog favours the slower and more systematic approach of incremental upgrading (year by year no skipping). While the incremental way might be slower I believe that it truly is a way that will end up with less errors in the long run.

Revit: Proper Process for Upgrading Your Models

Here is a need workaround from Steve over at Revit OpEd about getting dimensions to work as you want them when dealing with circles.

Detailing and Circles

Another handy post from IMAGINiT Support Blog is this handy list of all the Revit Updates from 2012 – 2015, very helpful!

All Updates for Revit (2012 – 2015)

Here are a couple of posts from the FormIt Blog that I missed last week, but still worth a post this week. The first one is a recap of all things FormIt from AU2014.

FormIt at Autodesk University 2014 – a recap

The second is much more fun as it involves the Christmas classic “National Lampoons Christmas Vacation” and how to design a pool house in FormIt.

#FormItFriday for the Griswolds

I must admit I had no idea this technology was so close to being real (but when you think about it it makes sense) an iPhone that can do laser scanning……with some help from Trimble Tango? Find out more at the ThinkBIM post below.

It takes two (or three) to Tango. Apple Patent Reveals a Scanning iPhone

If you have ever made a Revit family or 75 while working with Revit then you might have struggled with the proper orientation for the family (I know I have). This post from Revit OpEd tries to lend a helping hand for dealing with just that issue.

Family Orientation

So to switch gears this is a cool post from The Construction App Guru about a 3D/360 Photo tool for Job sites (or really wherever). below is the link to the Blog post, but you also need to click on the sample project link below that to really see what this technology from matterport can do.

ATV App #1 (We Get Around)

 Sample Project (you really should click this link!)

This next post from What Revit Wants is about editing shared parameters for Revit…….in the cloud of all places!

Edit Revit Shared Parameters in the Cloud using Google Sheets Add-On

This next post is one of my favourite posts from Revit OpEd all year! (which is saying something because there are a lot of posts per year over at Revit OpEd). While the content is helpful, and somethign I had not yet discovered in Revit 2015 R2, the story within which Steve weaves the tale about the new features is price less……..you really must read it…….60’s the era of “Free Modeling”

Revit 2015 R2 – Perspective View Changes

Now its time for free stuff. Jeff from The Revit Kid has posted a free ebook for all to download on the design process in BIM. What are you waiting for go download it.

Free eBook! – Design:BIM – A Guide to Utilizing Design in the BIM Process

Its been far to long since I’ve post a link to a Dynamo post, lets fix that right now with a post from Revit beyond BIM.

Dynamo for Revit – Review design with Room Access Requirements

Autodesk put out any update for A360 over the weekend, here is a post from the A360 Blog about what was in the update. I have also included a link to another post form A360 blog about managing your data with the new A360.

Check out what’s New in the latest A360 Update

How to manage your Data in A360

I post a lot of great blogs from What Revit Wants, this next one is a little different as it’s a reader sending a tip to Luke at What Revit Wants about Radial Arrays in Revit.

How to make a Radial Array with a value of 2 in Revit

I have not posted about this since 2015 Revit R2 came out but I have used it many times. Revit OpEd posts about the improved ability to see things that are constrained.

Revit 2015 R2 – Reveal Constrains 

Here is another great wrap up of AU2014 by AECBytes

AU2014 Wrap up

Have you been having issues with crashes since updating to Revit 2015 R2 or Updated 5? If so check out this post from What Revit Wants about a work around that might work for you.

Revit 2015 R2 and Update 5 Crashes

One more post from Steve over at Revit OpEd about creating elevation views and finish floors.

Creating Elevation Views and Finish Floors

I have 2 posts I would like to use to wrap up this weeks blog. The first is about a retirement in the BIM world, sending an old friend out to pasture if you will. The second is about the resurgence of the LP, and how that just might kill it as the talent to create LP’s is vanishing.

A Moment of silence – The Revit Cow is going into Retirement (Simply Complex)

Vinyl Storage stages a comeback (ZDNet)

The BIMsider

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The week(s) that was in the world of BIM and other Techie fun stuff, for the week of Nov. 30th – Dec. 13th.

I missed the roundup last week as I was in Las Vegas for AU 2014, and well there was a lot of shinny things so I just didn’t get around to it. This week I’m getting back into the routine and we have a jam packed Roundup with 2 weeks worth of great BIM content for you all.

I will start off this week(s) with a post by the Construction App Guru about the SafeSite app, if you are the safety person for your company you should check this out.

SafeSite App Review

Are you having an issue upgrading your project, then central file can’t be reached? Check out this post from What Revit Wants, it just might be able to help you out.

Upgrade Revit Files using eTransmit

It was the day before my AU session and I saw this blog post, which was very timley as I was talking about some of the 123D apps in my session. Basically they have ended support for all 123D web apps, but don’t worry you can still use mobile and desktop versions. Find out more in this post from Autodesk 123D blog

123D Web Apps Closing

This next post is from Revit OpEd, and it covers yes/no parameters in formulas in Revit.

Setting Yes No Parameters with Formulas

Here is another post by Steve form Revit OpEd, this time he is shedding some light on Sketch Staris in Revit.

By Stetch Stairs and using Stair Path and Tread Number Annotation Tools

This post is right in my wheel house, The Construction App Guru talks about what options are out there for BIM on Mobile Devices.

BIM Options for Mobile Devices

This next post could be big news for Revit users, in fact in the article they call it a game changer……..time will tell what people think about everything in the cloud all the time, especially when that everything is your projects Revit Central Files. Find out more about Autodesk A360 Collaboration for Revit in this post by In The Fold.

Autodesk Amps Up BIM with Expanded Cloud-based Collaboration Services

Autodesk A360 Collaboration for Revit overview

Like most weeks What Revit Wants have been busy pumping out great posts about all thing BIM, but this last 2 weeks have been crazy, below is a list of the highlights – click links for all the details.

The Difference between A360 Drive and A360 (Project or team)

Turn off or batch delete light sources when exporting from Revit 2015 to NWC and appending to Navisworks 2015

Revit to FBX to Inventor Publisher to 3D PDF

The State of BIM in South Australia in 2014

Revit to Fabrication CADmep

Struggling with Lights in Navisworks?

Now for something completely different…..well sorta. This next post is from AECbytes Blog and its about Bentley’s 2014 in Infrastructure

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2014 Conference

There was a lot of buzz at AU this year about the “New” A360 and what it brings to the table (don’t call it Autodesk 360 any more please). The folks at the A360 Blog take a crack at telling everyone what A360 is now.

Understanding A360

There was also an update to Revit 2015 released last week, R5 you can find out more in posts from What Revit Wants and Revit OpEd

Revit 2015 Update Release 5 (What Revit Wants)

Revit 2015 Release Update 5 ad Terminology (Revit OpEd)

Here is another post on release 5 from the IMAGINiT Support Blog

Revit 2015: Update 5

Another big thing that was talked about at AU 2014 was the new subscription option or process that is coming down the pipes. Here are 2 posts about it from It’s Alive in the Lab and Revit OpEd

What does “moving away from perpetual licenses” mean? (Its Alive in the Labs)

Autodesk Subscription Concepts Changing (Revit OpEd)

and just for good measure another post about this from Studiodaily

Autodesk Plans to Go Subscription-Only Over Next One to Two Years

As you can already see it was a neck and next race these last 2 weeks to see who could put out th emost post about BIM between What Revit Wants and Revit OpEd. Well below are the rest of Revit OpEd’s posts.

Our Revit Username and Signing into A360

Changing Column Types and Copy Monitor

Guide Grid and Pin

Revit 2015 R2 and Shaft Openings

New Canadian CISC Standard 9.2 Structural Shapes Available

This is a nice little post from IMAGINiT BSD about FormIT and Levels.

Autodesk FormIT and Levels

If you are using Clarity and find there is a issue with PDF fonts from your workstation are not matching what comes form the clarity task server than this post form IMAGINiT Support Blog should get you fixed up.

Clarity PDF Task – Fonts Not Printing Properly

Sometimes begin to quick to upgrade or update your software isn’t a good thing. Learn more about this as it regards to Revit 2015 R2 in this post over at the BIM Blog.

Beware upgrading to Revit 2015 R2…….

There are a lot of good Revit blogs out there, and while I try to visits as many as I can to fill this weekly update with all the Revit and BIM goodness I can I don’t always make it. I was just about to publish this weeks post when I took one last look and saw 3 great posts by RevitCat.

Best Tall Building in the World Documented on Revit

View Filter Sort Order in Revit

Revit Stair Treads – Minimum Widths

I will end this weeks Post with this cool time lapse video of a LEGO Christmas Tree Build

The BIMsider

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The week that was in the world of BIM and other Techie fun stuff, for the week of Nov. 23rd – Nov. 29th.

This is kind of interesting, and until I read about it on What Revit Wants I didn’t know it was a thing (of course t is still in Beta so maybe I’m not the only one) but seems there is a Design Academy from Autodesk.

In case you missed it – Design Academy Beta is now Live

Another post from What Revit Wants with a different way to look at LOD, maybe simplify it a little.

A different take on LODs

On last weeks Roundup (Actually 2 weeks ago) I had a post from The Construction App Guru on new Safety Apps, while this week he has posted part 2.

New Safety Apps (Part 2)   (Part 1 if you missed it)

Ever wonder how to do an Angled Arched Beam in Revit, well wonder no more thanks to The Revit Kid

Revit Tutorial – Angled Arched Beams

You can now edit your RPC’s with Entourage Workshop right in Revit, so more in this What Revit Wants post.

 Entourage Workshop

Here is a nice Dynamo Tutorial and data-set for download from BIM Troublemaker. I missed this when it was originally posted, but lucky What Revit Wants had a re-post of it this week to remind me I missed it.

Dynamo Tutorial Presentation

Another good post that I missed a few weeks from HOK BIM Solutions about Underlay Visibility Issues, this time I was reminded by Do U Revit.

Underlay Visibility Issue in Linked Models

I don’t normally get into a lot of ID (Interior Design) Stuff on this blog, but this artificial by The Midnight Lunch is for sure worth a read.

Do Revit and Interior Design go together?

In case you missed my blog post yesterday (Tuesday Nov. 25th) about Revit Survival tips, here are the two blogs a got the tips from.

Between the Lines – Autodesk University 2014 Survive and Thrive Tips

The Revit Jedi – AU Survival Tips

Some of you that use Navisworks may already know abut this “Known Issue” with no suitable geometry when export form Revit to Navisworks in 2015. What Revit Wants has a post this week that talks about a work around that might help you out with this “Know Issue”.

Workarounds

New release of Dynamo, version 0.7.4 is now out. You can find out all about it on the Dynamo Blog.

Dynamo 0.7.4 Release

Problem with the 2015 Navisworks quantification, and the fixes courtesy of the IMAGINiT BSD Blog.

Navisworks Quantification 2015 Unit Problems and Fixes

Another good post from the IMAGINiT BSD Blog about Multi-Category Schedules in Revit

Multi-Category Schedules in Revit

I will end this weeks Roundup with an article from arch daily about the 10 tallest buildings of 2015.

Have a Great Weekend, and see you at AU!

The BIMsider

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The week that was in the world of BIM and other Techie fun stuff, for the week of Nov. 16th – Nov. 22nd.

If you use or are thinking about using the app PlanGrid then you should check out this post by Construction App Guru first to find out about the new features.

PlanGrid App Update #3

There are lots of good reasons to share this next post by talkBIM, but I’m doing it simply because of the awesome pun in the title, check it out for yourself

Steel not convinced? talkBIM featured in AISD news!

If you have ever worked in a support role in an Architectural office, weather it was CAD, BIM, or some mix of both Support then you should spend a few minutes and read this post from BIM Freak. I have personally been in this role a few times, and in fact back in the day I worked with Laura from BIM Freak in the same office doing the same role. Enjoy the post, and your SWAG and have a little smile.

Enjoying the Support Role

Here is a post by What Revit Wants on a new NWC Batch export tool from BIM One. Spoiler alert this might find its way into my AU Presentation as a Bonus Add-in.

NWC Batch Export

Here is another Add-in review from What Revit Wants, this time about an Batch printing and exporting.

Automatic Batch printing and Exporting

Here is another post by What Revit wants about a post he found about BIM, Revit, FM and Health.

BIM, Revit, Fm and Health (What Revit Wants post)

BIM’s Role expands as health Facility managers Take Ownership (AHDC Post)

If you are looking at the post above and you aren’t sure what FM (Facilities Management) really is then his next post form IMAGINiT BSD Blog is for you.

FM 101 for Executives 

intellectual Property (IP) can be (read is) a sticky think when it comes to BIM, everyone wants you to share yours, but you are crazy if you ask for mine…….or something like that. Practical BIM tries to make sense out of the IP question

IP – it is not all ours, get used to it

Who likes free? That’s right everyone, so you better check out this new FREE project management platform Geniebelt. To learn more, and to see if its for you head over to Construction App Guru and see what Rob has to say about it.

New Free Project Management Platform: Geniebelt

This week we have a couple good posts from Revit OpEd, which is pretty normal Steve is always putting out good stuff.

Importing CAD Files and By Shared Coordinates

Username and Local Files

Have you ever really thought about BIM, and said to yourself that BIM really is like a game of hockey (or any other team sport) well if yo have you are not alone. Check out the post over at BIM blog about just that idea, BIM as a team sport.

BIM is a team sport

How do you stop the dreaded “Plague of the Meetings”? You can start by checking out the A360 blog, they have 3 ways to do just that.

Improve Productivity: 3 ways to Stop the Meeting plague

So what’s the deal with Point Clouds? Good question, you can learn more at the AECbytes blog.

Putting Point Clouds to Work: Then, Now, & Later

If you are a Clarity user (or thinking about becoming one) then this post from the IMAGINiT Support Blog may help with some PDF issues

Clarity PDF Task Sheets Out of Order

And I end this weeks post with a picture to remind us how quick things change………..

Have a Great Weekend

The BIMsider

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The week that was in the world of BIM and other Techie fun stuff, for the week of Oct. 12th – Oct. 18th

If you use site photos and are looking for a good way to get them into Revit check out this post from What Revit Wants

Send Site Photos and more to Revit with Mobile app

Over at Revit Beyond BIM they posted a good blog on hidden line with for Concrete beams in Revit

Clean join and hidden lines for concrete beams

Has your company been thinking about making the move to the cloud for plan distribution, if you you need to read this post form the Construction App Guru first.

New Plan App Options

Another interesting post from What Revit Wants with help from Revit Beginners about the possibility of Revit Family Arrays with a count of only 1.

Array in a Revit family

Revit Beginners also has another good post (technically it was from last week, but I missed it) with some schedule tips.

Schedule Basics & Tips

The BIM 360 brand is expanding with the launch of BIM 360 Layout app for iOS, see 2 stories about this listed below from In the Fold and Beyond Design

New BIM 360 Layout iPad App

Construction Layout with BIM 360 has Arrived

This may already be out there, but it’s a good reminder post from Revit OpEd about the new default setting for importing files into Revit 2015 R2.

Revit 2015 R2 – Default Setting for Import Positioning

If you run a BIM 360 Glue project you and you Admin team can now have access to Navisworks Manage for free (with your paid subscription for BIM 360, and only for project or host admins on the project). Find out more about it in this What Revit Wants post (be sure to ready the fine print or in this case the bold underlined print)

Free Navisworks Manage with your Glue Subscription

For those of you still on the fence about going to AU (you should go!), then you should take a read of the reasons why over at the A360 Blog.

Autodesk University 2014 – Why you should be there

If you have been wanting to change your background colour in Revit, now with Revit 2015 R2 you can, check out more form Revit OpEd on this below.

Revit 2015 R2 – Background Color

Check out the Revit Jedi’s blog post about the upcoming CanBIM Certification from CanBIM

CanBIM Certification

I missed this post below from the Revit Geek a few weeks back, but Jeff over a the Revit Kid blogged about it this week, and I’m glad he did as it’s a great tip.

Spot Slope Revit (Revit Geek)

Revit Tip – Showing a Triangle on a spot slope (Revit Kid)

Are you looking for how to find the ROI of BIM? Well here is a good start with a blog post from bimblog

 Are you seeing a Return from your BIM Investment (Part 1)

Here is another good “list” post form What Revit Wants, which he found on the Revit Modeling India site.

Some Mobile app for Construction

I will end this weeks post with a little Star Wars humour. Get it, he will not…

Have a Great Weekend

The BIMsider

The week that was in the world of BIM and other Techie fun stuff, for the week of Oct. 5th – Oct. 11th

This week we start off with a post about another acquisition on the BIM (or BIMish) world. Nemetschek (makers of ArchiCAD and Vectorworks) has bought bluebeam for $100 million!

Bluebeam joins Nemetschek

Jeff from the Revit Kid introduced me to a new blog this week Curtain Wall BIM in one of his posts, check it out (or better yet check them both out).

“New” Blog – Curtainwall BIM

Over at the A360 Blog they teach us about how yo can now search and view within your design on A360’s Larger Model viewer.

View and Search

This week Revit Beyond BIM give us a Turorial on Robot Structural Analysis, RC Plate Design anyone?

Robot Structural Analysis Tutorials: RC Plate Design

Seems never a week goes by that we don’t get at least one great post from What Revit Wants, (usually many great posts). This we we learn about a suite of free addin for Revit from CTC (CAD Technology Center)

Free Explorer Extension that lists Revit version and workshare information for RVT and RFA files

Luke (What Revit Wants) also helps us out with Hidden Lines this week

Don’t forget about the Discipline of the View in Revit, especially when it comes to Hidden Lines

In the Fold lets us know all about the brand new SkecthBook mobile app that just came out this week

Introducing the all-new SketchBook for Mobile

For those in the construction industry this next blog is a must follow, The Construction App Guru. This week he shows us where to find all that saftey information you can never find when you are looking for it on the web.

Safety Resource Blog

Has your company started using Digital Signing yet? We have in my office for the sales transactions and for some customers it’s great………while for others not so much, fear of the unknown mostly. AECbytes Blog takes a deeper look into digital signing and the AEC industry.

The Ins and Outs of Digital Signing in AEC

Over at Autodesk Revit Structure they put up a quick post with a link to a PDF that shows all the 2D details items in out of the box Revit, very handy!

 Revit 2015 2D Detail Components

Have you played with Formit yet? If not the people over at BIM 42 took it for a test drive and can fill you in with their latest post.

Autodesk Formit and Revit

If you dare try you hand in the 6th Annual Parametric Pumpkin Carving contest, learn more over at buildz 

6th Annual Parametric Pumpkin Carving

This week Fear and Loathing In a CAD vs BIM World put up a great post about Modeling for Construction and why Architects don’t want to do it.

Architects Modeling for Construction

Here is a quickly but a goodie from the Revit Geek

Scope Box Quirk

I will end this weeks post with what some might call some “Stair Porn”, check it out over at boredpanda

22 Beautiful Stairs

Have a Great Weekend

The BIMsider