Check it out at:
Vasari Beta 3 Download

New Features page
(text copied below the line)

Heads-up from Village BIM

  • Windows 8 support. Now, in addition to the other platforms that Vasariis supported on, Vasari is also supported on Windows 8.
  • Arc by point sketching. You can now select the Start-End-Radius Arc tool to sketch an arc by point curve in your massing project. See Drawing Overview.
  • UV grid alignment. You can use the Align tool to align the UV grid on a planar divided surface by using a straight edge of the surface as a reference, or an external reference. See Aligning UV Grids to a Reference.
  • Non-rectangular crop regions and callouts. Now you can change a rectangular crop region or callout view to a non-rectangular shape. See Editing a Crop Region. You can also create non-rectangular callout views.
  • Materials: Enhancements to the Material Browser dialog include the following. See Materials.
    • The Material Editor functionality has been integrated into the Material Browser dialog. To edit a material, select it in the Material Browser, and edit information in the tabs in the right pane, now referred to as the Material Editor panel.
    • You can now assign, sort, and organize materials by class.
    • When displaying a project material in the Material Browser, the hand icon  displays in the right pane of the Appearance, Physical, and Thermal tabs indicating how many materials in the current project share the same asset. If the hand displays a zero, the asset is not shared (used) by any other materials in the current project. The asset is only used by the currently selected material.
    • The ShowHide Library button has been added to the project material pane. This lets you collapse the library panel if you need to display more items in the project materials list. See About Material Libraries.
    • The Material Parameters dialog is now modeless, so you can view and change custom material parameters more quickly. Specifying Custom Parameters.
  • Schedules:The following enhancements improve the look and function of schedules:
  • Schedule formatting and layout: The following formatting tools are now available for schedules. See Modifying Schedules.
    • Grid view formatting: You can now apply column shading, borders, and font overrides. Insert and delete rows or swap parameters from the ribbon. Precision sizing of rows and columns is also available.
    • Format Units tool: You can now open the Format Units dialog from the ribbon.
    • Calculated Values tool: You can now open the Calculated Values dialog from the ribbon.
    • Clear Cell tool: You can select and clear the contents of multiple title cells from the ribbon.
    • Formatting visibility: Formatting now displays on sheets and is available to print from a sheet view.
    • Column indexes: You can now quickly select entire columns using the indexes at the top of each column.
    • Schedule title formatting: You can now insert rows to the title area and apply the new grid view enhancements. You can also merge cells. Additional formatting includes adding images, project parameters, and plain text.
    • Text types: You now specify title, header, and body text styles by selecting a system text type. See Formatting a Schedule.
  • Displace elements: Available in any 3D view, including perspective, this tool helps you create displaced views. The new Highlight Displacement Sets tool on the View Control Bar highlights the elements that have been displaced. SeeCreating a Displaced View.
  • Alternate dimension units: You can display alternate dimension units along with the primary units for all permanent and spot dimension types. This feature allows you to simultaneously display both imperial and metric values in drawings. To use alternate dimension units for a specific dimension type, such as Aligned, modify the type properties for the Aligned dimension type. See Defining Alternate Dimension Units.
  • Segmented elevation view: You can now split elevations into segments that are orthogonal to the view direction just as you can for sections. See Segmented Views.
  • Change sort order of multiple detail items: You can now select multiple detail items or imported raster images, and use the Send to Back, Send Backward, Bring to Front, or Bring Forward tools to move them all in one operation. See.
  • Print option for masking regions: A new print option allows you to determine whether the edges of masking regions and filled regions cover other lines. See Print Setup.
  • Double-click editing options: Double-clicking a parameter, such as a parameter value displayed in a room tag, now consistently allows you to edit the parameter. Also, new user interface options allow you to configure the double-click behavior to edit the following elements (see User Interface Options):
    • families
    • sketch-based elements
    • views and schedules on sheets (activate view)
    • groups
    • component stairs
  • Dockable windows: The following windows can be moved and resized, and either floated or docked:
    • Project Browser
    • Properties palette
    • Reconcile Hosting window
    They can also be grouped so that several windows (represented by tabs) occupy the same space on the screen. See Dockable Windows.
  • Selection enhancements: New options allow you to determine whether you can select link elements, underlay elements, pinned elements, and elements by face in a model. You can set the Drag Elements on Selection option so you can move an element without selecting it first. You may want to disable these options when having trouble selecting a particular element in the model, or to avoid inadvertently selecting or moving elements. See Controlling the Selection of Elements.
  • Data from lookup tables is now stored within the family, eliminating the need for external CSV files: Use the Manage Lookup Tables tool while editing a family to import, export, or delete lookup table data. See Managing Lookup Tables.
  • Temporary View Properties: You can now temporarily apply a view template from the View Control Bar. See Selecting a Temporary View Template.
  • Textures, line patterns, line weights, and text are now included in 3D DWF exports.
  • DWG/DXF export: The following layer standards for exporting DWG and DXF files have been updated to reflect the latest changes. See About Exporting to CAD Formats.
    • American Institute of Architects (AIA)
    • ISO standard 13567
    • Singapore standard 83
    • British standard 1192
  • Imported forms: When an imported instance containing 3D solid geometry is exploded in the Family Editor environment, the 3D solids are now preserved. Each 3D solid becomes a free form element, which can be used for cutting, joining, and other form operations. These free form elements can be edited by dragging the shape handles on planar faces. See Exploding Imported Geometry.
  • Optimized view navigation: A new feature on the Options dialog boosts performance by disabling some graphic effects when you are navigating a view. To learn more, see Optimized View Navigation.
  • Online Help: Vasari online Help is no longer hosted on the Autodesk WikiHelp platform. Now Vasari online Help is hosted on the new Autodesk Help platform which has a new look and feel.

Do you want to join the Revit User Experience team and you have very specific experience in construction modeling?  Autodesk asked me to post the message below the bar:
You are an expert in modeling for construction. You pursued this career path because you are energized by complex problems, passionate about getting the details right, and convinced that technology can shape our environment. You are a designer at heart. You are able to lead and also follow. You want to work collaboratively with a team of equally committed, talented, and driven professionals.

If this is you, we’d like you to consider joining our team as a user experience designer for Revit, focused on modeling for construction. Don’t worry if you’ve never written a line of code or designed a software application, if you are the right candidate, we can teach you what you need to know user experience design.

Are you excited by this opportunity? If so, you can review the full position posting here. Please send a statement of interest and resume to chris.yanchar@autodesk.com. Want to wow us? Send us a link to some work of which you are really proud and tell us about your role in making it real.

Problem

The Autodesk Sync component does not upgrade properly under the following conditions:

  • You installed AutoCAD Beta 2013 (or Showcase Beta 2013) and subsequently install Inventor 2013.
  • You installed Inventor Beta 2013 and subsequently install AutoCAD 2013 (or Showcase 2013 )

A couple of problems arise with this combination of products.
Problem 1: Autodesk Sync from the Beta Product cannot be uninstalled
Problem 2: You will receive a warning message that the Autodesk Sync component cannot be uninstalled during the installation process of the officially released product. You will need to dismiss this dialog and proceed with the installation.
Problem 3: After the installation of the release product is completed, you will find two entries of the Autodesk Sync component listed in Add/Remove Programs.  If you decide to do nothing about this problem, the Beta Product and the release product will continue to work as expected. However, if you decide to remove the two entries of the Autodesk Sync component, you will need to follow the instructions described in the Solution section.  It is not recommended that you uninstall either of the duplicate entries of the Autodesk Sync component, as this action may break the sync functionality.

Solution

To replace the two entries of Autodesk Sync by the appropriate single entry of the Autodesk Sync component, follow these instructions:

  1. Download and run preInstall.exe
  2. Uninstall the two Autodesk Sync entries in Add/Remove Programs
  3. Install Autodesk Sync using the standalone installer that comes with the software
  4. Download and run postInstall.exe
preinstall.exe (exe – 23Kb)
postinstall.exe (exe – 23Kb)

via
Autodesk – AutoCAD Services & Support – Autodesk Sync issues when installing a 2013 release product after installing a 2013 beta product

I recommend you use a download manager like Firefox with Downthemall…

Windows Developer Preview English, 64-bit (x64)

DOWNLOAD (3.6 GB)
Sha 1 hash – 79DBF235FD49F5C1C8F8C04E24BDE6E1D04DA1E9
Includes a disk image file (.iso) to install the Windows Developer Preview and Metro style apps on a 64-bit PC.

Windows Developer Preview English, 32-bit (x86)

DOWNLOAD (2.8 GB)
Sha 1 hash – 4E0698BBABE01ED27582C9FC16AD21C4422913CC
Includes a disk image file (.iso) to install the Windows Developer Preview and Metro style apps on a 32-bit PC.

via
Windows Metro Style Apps Developer Downloads

Some of the principles employed by the Windows development team are no doubt similar to those faced by Autodesk, as they develop Revit.  Check out some of the quotes I found most interesting (and my thoughts in red):

We chose the ribbon mechanism, and to those that find that a flawed choice, there isn’t much we can do other than disagree. (Autodesk has also gone ‘All-In’ with the Ribbon)



While there are a lot of opinions, the one thing we know is that the satisfaction with our products that use the ribbon is much higher and the usage much broader and deeper. We also know a very small set of people remain unhappy. That was true in versions before the introduction of the Ribbon mechanism, though obviously for different reasons. It might be the case that no matter what we do, there will be a small set of people that are not satisfied? (I’m sure both Microsoft and Autodesk hope that it is a ‘small set’ that are dissatisfied with ‘most’ users satisfied, and not the opposite.)

above from
Reflecting on our first conversations (part 2) – Building Windows 8 – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

When we kicked off this blog, the premise was a dialogue – a two-way conversation about building Windows 8.  (I like the concept of using a blog or blogs to drive discussion and development of Revit.  I recommend ramping up the Mosaic Project, adding User ratings for blogs, Wish List submissions and polling.)

Windows 8 is about maintaining those roots while moving forward in a big and new way.

First, we’re talking about a product used by a billion people. No matter how you slice it, that is going to create a very, very large number of perspectives and customers to serve.

this blog is the “talk of the town” here in Redmond. 🙂

above from
Reflecting on our first conversations (part 1) – Building Windows 8 – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

I have previously posted about the ElumTools add-in but now it looks like they are going to release the add-in for public beta.

Please join us in the FREE public beta period and try ElumTools for yourself! This is our Beta Sign Up page where you can tell us you are interested in participating in our public beta for ElumTools…
Lighting Analysts, Inc.

via
Revit3D.com / IamBIM.com – BIMBoom Revitlution – BIM Unfiltered: New Revit Tool: ElumTools is the first fully integrated add-in for Autodesk� Revit� designed to calculate point by point illuminance on any workplane