Month: March 2012

In-place and Component families of Stair and Railing Category

Luke Johnson

Here is a little gift to all my readers.  The link below allows you to download a 2012 version RVT project that contains In-place and Component versions of families that are of the Category ‘Stairs’ and ‘Railings’.
Download link

Revit does not allow this to happen out-of-the-box, so you can be sure that this hack is not best practice, and it won’t be supported by Autodesk.  Use at your own risk!

Having said that, if you know what you are doing, these families could be quite useful to you.

Revit Family Stair Category

RFA Railing Category

Python for Energy Modelers – Post-processing

Luke Johnson

This post looks at the post-processing side of the energy modeling workflow. Often, a spreadsheet tool like Excel is a first choice for many analysis tasks. This is great for simple cases, but if the number of files or the amount of data is large or complex, Excel will cost you time and lead to errors. This is where you should turn to Python! 

Read more at:
Python for Energy Modelers – Part 3 – Simple Post-processing | openRevit

Free platform neutral BIM object library to be launched today

Luke Johnson

If you aren’t excited about a community sourced list of links to Revit content, then maybe you are interested in a platform-neutral library of … BIM objects?

We are delighted to confirm that following six months of investigation, development, consultation and investment; the National BIM Library will be launched at Ecobuild, 20-22 March 2012.
The National BIM Library, from NBS, is a platform-neutral free to use library of high quality generic and proprietary BIM objects, designed for use in the UK. The library will be revealed on the joint RIBA / NBS stand at Ecobuild (Stands S1630 and S1640) with the first batch of generic BIM objects in IFC, plus native formats from some of the leading CAD software vendors.
The library will build up to become the leading source of free-to-use BIM objects, and over time will also incorporate proprietary manufacturer objects.

via
The National BIM Library – Building Information Modelling (BIM) article from NBS

EDIT – here is a link to the site.  Just click on the arrow and choose Revit or IFC from the download options

Sketchup Import app for AutoCAD

Luke Johnson

Revit users have been able to import SKP directly for many years … now AutoCAD gets an app for exactly that purpose:

The SketchUp Import plug-in allows you to import a SketchUp file (*.skp) into an open drawing as a block reference. The SketchUp model will be imported as a block containing mesh and other objects. This plugin works with SKP files created in Google SketchUp version 5 or later. 

Download at:
Autodesk Exchange Apps

Autodesk 2D DWF Writer download links – make DWFs from Word and Excel

Luke Johnson
Direct Links:
64 bit: http://download.autodesk.com/esd/dwfwriter/2009/DWFWriter4Setup_x64.exe

32 bit: http://download.autodesk.com/esd/dwfwriter/2009/DWFWriter4Setup.exe
Free DWF Publishing

DWF publishing helps you enhance collaboration and easily exchange project information with extended teams. Download the free* Autodesk® DWF™ Writer to securely share 2D and 3D data as DWF files—no matter what design application you’re using. Now available for 32- and 64-bit versions of Microsoft® Windows®.

  • Built-In 2D and 3D publishing—Publish 2D or 3D designs automatically with built-in DWF publishing from many of the Autodesk design applications.
  • Publish rich design information—Select the preferred 32-bit Autodesk® DWF™ Writer plug-in—SolidWorks® 2006, CATIA® (V5), or Pro/ENGINEER® Wildfire™ 2.0—to publish 3D models including intelligent design information.
  • Publish from Microsoft applications—A Microsoft® Windows® system printer driver, DWF Writer allows you to publish easily and directly from Microsoft applications, including PowerPoint®, Word, Excel®, Visio® and Project applications.

FAQ (pdf – 53Kb)

via
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=10798343&siteID=123112 

via
Applied Software Blog: 2d DWF Writer

" I don't care which software you choose … just choose " – Revit OpEd

Luke Johnson

A very reasonable, interesting and intelligent post from Steve Stafford … here is a quote of my favourite part:

Consider that Archicad would love it if we all woke up tomorrow and gave them credit for doing it all years earlier. Ahead of their time, poorly marketed, not really the “right” solution?

I don’t even care. If you do, keep in mind it’s an endless debate with no practical outcome. The fact remains that until Revit and Autodesk’s ability to focus resources on creating an obvious difference between what “we” are doing and what “we” ought to be doing…there had been little or no serious progress by any product attempting to solve problems in similar ways, not even their own other product.

If you’ve made the decision. Congratulations! You are moving forward.

Read the rest at:
Revit OpEd: Yeah But

" IFC is too complex, too large, and too fragile to survive" – Ray Crotty

Luke Johnson

Do you agree? 

Here is a more complete quote:
One of the biggest practical obstacles to effective diffusion of BIM in the industry is the lack of data exchange standards and associated protocols. The Industry Foundation Class (IFC) definitions being developed by BuildingSMART will be useful, but will probably be used mainly as an archive format. IFC is too complex, too large, and too fragile to survive in the real world of live projects. Commercial IT companies are much more likely to produce a robust solution in this situation than committees of experts.
So why not accept the facts as they are and recognise Revit (for now) as a de facto industry standard? We can allow or incentivise Autodesk to licence the Revit file format—perhaps one or two versions late—on a FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) basis to its competitors, and use competition law to regulate the situation. (It’s important in this to separate out the idea of data interoperability from application interoperability—how different systems store data from how they represent the behaviours of data objects. The first can probably reasonably be made public, the second probably not.)

Read the entire article at:
Beyond BIM – Building With Perfect Information: AECbytes Viewpoint #64

Image from aecbytes.com