December 2011 » Page 3 of 6 » What Revit Wants

Multi discipline BIM Collaboration

December 13, 2011 Luke Johnson

I am very interested multi-discipline BIM collaboration techniques, and I enjoy seeing how these techniques are applied in case studies and ‘real world’ situations. Check out the video below:

The workshop aimed to “showcase BIM as a more efficient and effective way for project teams to collaborate, promoting a higher level of understanding and adoption of BIM within the profession and construction industry.” (link)

Toob link via
Revit Professional: BIM Workshop.Conclusion

Great power user tip from All In the Family

December 13, 2011May 8, 2017 Luke Johnson

I recently viewed the class All In the Family: Creating Parametric Components In
Autodesk® Revit® (Matt Dillon) AB4013, on AU Virtual.

It was a class targeted at users with Intermediate expertise.

I learned this:
The Left hand side of a Reference Plane is the ‘positive’ + side. The ‘handedness’ of the plane is derived from start and end points of plane (the start point of the reference plane is the first point you click when drawing a new reference plane).

When you set a particular workplane as active, and use the default positive extrusion depth, the extrusion will be created on the positive side of the plane.

I have attempted to display this effect in the image below:

I’m sure this has been described elsewhere, but it was a eye-opener for me!

If BIM is a process, then BIM Model is an accurate term

December 12, 2011 Luke Johnson

If you truly love kittens, have a look at some of the following definitions.

According to Wikipedia:

“Building information modeling (BIM) is the process of generating and managing building data during its life cycle[1]…. The process produces the Building Information Model (also abbreviated BIM)…”

According to a recent paper, ‘BIM can be defined as

“A process that allows data generated by one party to flow seamlessly to other parties for beneficial reuse.”’

Download Unlocking BIM Data PDF

Also, in reviewing the ‘origins of BIM’ on Wikipedia:

“Architect and Autodesk building industry strategist Phil Bernstein, FAIA, first used the actual term BIM “building information modeling.”[citation needed] Jerry Laiserin then helped popularize and standardize it [3] as a common name for the digital representation of the building process as then offered under differing terminology by Graphisoft as “Virtual Building”, Bentley Systems as “Integrated Project Models”, and Autodesk as “Building Information Modeling” to facilitate exchange and interoperability of information in digital format. According to him[4] and others[5], the first implementation of BIM was under the Virtual Building concept by Graphisoft‘s ArchiCAD, in its debut in 1987.”

In summary – if BIM is actually a Process, and a Model is actually a Noun, then it would not be inaccurate to say BIM Model. The Process leads to the creation of the Thing. James Van acknowledges and dismisses this line of reasoning in this recent post. To quote:

“Some of my friends and colleagues have suggested that saying ‘BIM model’ implies the verb interpretation of BIM so you get ‘building information modeling model,’ but I think that’s a thin argument.”

What do you think?

Above PDF link via

Revit ST: Unlocking BIM Data / BIM Coding Standard

Did you know that your Start menu was over 15 years old?

December 12, 2011 Luke Johnson

Allow Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston to teach you about the wonders of Windows 95…

“No messy DOS buildup!”

“What is nougat…does anybody know that?”

Crowd Sourcing a list of BIM Content for Revit

December 12, 2011 Luke Johnson

James Van posted a list of Revit content the other day that has been re-blogged and re-Tweeted many many times in the past week!

In the interests of creating an Open and Editable list of Links to Revit Content, I have created a page over at the Open Revit Standards.

Let’s crowd source this list and make it current, useful and informative. Head over to the link (register if you haven’t already) and add any other content sites that you are aware of.

I would like to somehow implement a ranking system for these content sites, perhaps we can talk to the Open Revit Standards guys and look into this.

Credit for the original post goes to James Van:
All Things BIM: BIM Content for Revit

Autodesk Revit Structure – White Papers

December 11, 2011May 8, 2017 Luke Johnson

There is a extensive list of whitepapers for Revit Structure over at this link. A few particular items of interest are shown below:

Coordination between Revit Structure and Revit Architecture
Structural engineers who use Revit Structure software can coordinate their work with architects using Revit Architecture software. This paper examines how building information is shared between Revit Structure and Revit Architecture users.

Coordination between Revit Structure and Revit Architecture (pdf – 623Kb)

Maintaining BIM Integrity in the Structural Engineering OfficeA key benefit of building information modeling (BIM) is the ability to share digital model data among members of the design team. This paper examines the role of the structural engineer in the BIM process and explains how the integrity of the building model is maintained during the structural engineering process.

Maintaining BIM Integrity in the Structural Engineering Office (pdf – 674Kb)

via
Autodesk – Autodesk Revit Structure – White Papers