SpacePilot Pro – Walk and Fly in 3D orthographic views!

Luke Johnson

Just had a great meeting with Andy Parnell-Hopkinson of 3Dconnexion GmbH.

In the course of our discussion, Andy solved a problem that had bothered me with the SPP – how to use Fly mode in a 3D orthographic view (the option is greyed out).  The solution is so easy, just reverse a few axis:

By reversing these axis, the Fly mode is basically simulated – instead of moving the objects toward you when pulling back on the SPP, it pushes them away etc.

As you know, 3D orthographic views are probably the most useful view for modelling in Revit, so this tip should make some of you very happy 🙂

Do you ever need to view and print Inventor files? Parts, Assemblies or Drawings…

Luke Johnson

Then you can download Autodesk Inventor View 2014.

Share native Autodesk® Inventor® software data with non-Autodesk Inventor users with this freely distributable viewer that delivers high-fidelity viewing and printing of parts, assemblies and drawings.

Important: Ensure you download and install the version of Inventor View 2014 appropriate for your operating system. Additionally, you should not install this software on a computer that already has Autodesk Inventor 2014 software installed.

Autodesk Inventor View 2014 (32bit) (exe – 672610Kb)

Autodesk Inventor View 2014 (64bit) (exe – 774802Kb)

Readme (htm – 24Kb) 

via Autodesk – Autodesk Inventor View 2014

Using the Roads Category in Revit

Luke Johnson

Following this tweet from Sean:

(which was in response to my post about the Revit Category Guide.)

I was tempted to use the IFC roundtrip method to make some Road families in Revit.  So, here they are for download:

You can’t Schedule or Tag them normally, but you can use Material Tags, modify the Category and Subcategories using Object Styles, and view them in the Project Browser.

As always, use these “unsupported” methods with care…

Here are some similar posts:
Convert All Masses (including in-place Mass) to Generic Models via IFC

You can break Revit by making Room families

In-place and Component families of Stair and Railing Category

Autodesk Process Analysis

Luke Johnson

Interesting new addition to the Labs site.  I think it is intended for Factory workflows, but theoretically could be adapted for BIM productivity analysis.  You basically define Sources, Processors and Buffers to visually analyse the flow of “stuff” through the Process.

In BIM terms, I’m thinking you could visualise “Sources” of content creators into a BIM buffer, which then has outputs in terms of project milestones or deliverables.  Just an idea…

Download and try it out over at Autodesk Labs

Wall Opening Area Add-in (by Autodesk Labs)

Luke Johnson

What does it do?
Gives you more granular control over the calculation of wall and opening area

The results you get are divided according to an area value you can set. All the openings below that Maximum value are stored as Opening Area Smaller Max, and the total openings area are added to the Opening Area Parameter. Now, you can schedule this parameters and get the Gross area of the wall by playing with calculated parameters.
Heads-up and more info from here

Where can you get it?
From here

Why should you use the Workplane Viewer?

Luke Johnson
Have you ever used the Workplane Viewer?  It looks like this:

When you open it, a new window opens and orients itself to the current workplane.  This window is the Workplane Viewer.

Revit Wants you to be understand workplanes, and to host things on correct workplanes in the model.  Virtually the entire model in Revit is built up on a series of 2D planes.  Additionally, being comfortable working in 3D views is an important Revit and BIM skill.  This is why you should use the Workplane Viewer…

A few impressive things about the Workplane Viewer:

  • Can be put on a secondary monitor and it remains open
  • It respects the Section Box of the currently active 3D view
  • Auto zooms to the extent of proper sketch elements when in a Sketch Mode
  • Keeps itself oriented to the current and correct workplane
  • It reports the currently set workplane in text form in the bar at the top of the window
  • Triggering Zoom Extents will affect both the current view and the Workplane Viewer
Interestingly, if a horizontal workplane is set (which is typically the case) and you are working in 3D, the Workplane Viewer will be giving you a Top View of the current 3D view – quite useful really.
The extent to which you can edit elements in the Workplane Viewer is dependant on the mode you are currently in.  Sketch modes allow you to edit sketch lines in the Viewer.  Editing a Family In-place allows you to select and modify extrusions.
It is a bit strange that the Workplane Viewer itself actually allows you to Orbit and use the Viewcube (meaning that you are no longer perpendicular to the current workplane.)  To fix this, go to a normal view and use the Set Workplane tool – the Workplane Viewer should now be back in sync with the current workplane.
In some respects, it is like the Replicate Window command, but the Workplane Viewer has a bit more intelligence when it comes to planes, and it is allowed to live on a secondary monitor.
Link to help:
Editing with the Workplane Viewer – WikiHelp

Woodhead – from Hotels to Hospitals to Airport Terminals (and yep, they use Revit :-)

Luke Johnson

Many of you will know that I made a significant move about 3 months ago – I moved my young family over 2000 kms and took a new position working for Woodhead in Adelaide.

It has been an exciting and eye-opening experience for me so far.  The project range and depth of experience at Woodhead is truly impressive, and it is great to see important technologies like point clouds, laser scanning, BIM for FM and clash detection being used and implemented on a day-to-day basis.

Further, it is exciting to observe the consistent award wins and media exposure for key projects that were designed and delivered by Woodhead.  Some of these, like the new terminal at Jakarta–Soekarno Hatta International Airport, are currently undergoing design refinement – and believe me, the guys here at Woodhead are pushing the limits of Revit in terms of conceptual modelling and the sheer scale of this project.

Please check out the portfolio links at the end of the article if you wish to learn more about the design capability at Woodhead.

August 2013 news

Featured in Airport World at:
Project watch extra – The big build

Woodhead Wins Francis Greenway Award for 

Heritage Architecture – Creative Adaptation at the 2013 NSW Architecture Awards
PropertyObserver (ONLINE) – Gowings and State Theatre NSW UDIA award win

Read more:
http://www.woodhead.com.au/news/nswaia2013/

June 2013 award wins

Australian Institute of Architecture Awards NT Chapter
· Enduring Architecture Award – for the Vestey’s Darwin High School Gymnasium

· Commendation for Public Architecture;
o The Australian Centre of Indigenous Knowledge and Education (ACIKE) by both DKJ projects.architecture and Woodhead
o Katherine Regional Cultural Precinct, by both DKJ projects.architecture and Woodhead

Australian Institute of Architecture Awards SA Chapter
· Public Architecture – Architecture Award, Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer

· Peoples Choice Award – Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer

Australian Institute of Architecture Awards NSW Chapter
· Greenway Award for Heritage Architecture (Creative Adaptation) – Gowings and State Theatre Buildings Restoration and Hotel Conversion (QT Hotel) – Woodhead, and Graham Brooks and Associates

July 2013

Adelaide Desalination Plant and Kauwi Interpretive Centre – Shortlisted in 2013 World Architecture Awards

Portfolio links:

New crowdsourced and open source project – a complete Revit Category Guide

Luke Johnson

Having repeatedly asked and searched for a detailed, up-to-date and accurate Category Guide for Revit to no avail, I have decided to start one as a simple shared Google spreadsheet.

The purpose of this is to capture all of the unique properties of each Category, so they can be quickly viewed and understood by Revit users at all levels.

The document can be viewed at:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AldGdRkpk2bedElRNDZGTFdHLUZPQktqbXktY0pWU0E&usp=sharing

I have selectively invited a few top Revit users to contribute.  Please let me know if you want to help out with editing the document.

Recap for Windows XP – get it while it lasts

Luke Johnson

The current version of Recap Pro runs on Windows 7 and 8 (download link).

However, for the time being you can still download Recap version 1.0 from this link:
http://labs-download.autodesk.com/us/labs/trials/worldwide/ReCap1.0.exe
and the service pack for x64 at:
http://updatesdl.autodesk.com/updates/files/autodeskrecap_sp1_for1.0.43.27_x64.msp

If you ever need to run Recap on XP, it might be handy to have this installer in your toolkit…

Adaptive Components and Profiles

Luke Johnson

You can host profiles onto the nodes of a divided path (line), however they can’t be conventional Revit profiles, they must be adaptive components – they can be quite simple drawn in 2d (XY axis) without even placing an adaptive point. When hosted on the nodes they will be automatically oriented perpendicular to the divided path. You can then “Repeat” them along the path – the number is then easy to control. The challenge is how to create and manage variations in the Repeater – it can be done but is not so easy.
via Tim Waldock’s comment at
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Revit/enu/2014/Help/0000-New_in_R0