All Things BIM / DC

Help Shape the Future of Digital Fabrication This year, Autodesk University attendees will have the opportunity to participate in an important new initiative dedicated to helping define the trends that are shaping some of the latest advancements in the building product and fabrication industry. The building product and fabrication industry is accelerating its use of BIM (Building Information Modeling) and Digital Prototyping processes to deliver better predictability and control, from design though fabrication. Advancements in technology are allowing companies to greatly improve productivity, better manage change throughout a project’s lifecycle, and create truly innovative buildings. With this change, a new industry trend is emerging – Digital Fabrication. As BIM and Digital Prototyping increasingly drive the development of Digital Fabrication, the roles of both designers and fabricators will change dramatically. Autodesk is kicking off a long-term customer research program at this ye

Want to help improve the Autodesk AEC products you use every day and get an early opportunity to try out future releases? This is your chance to participate in user research sessions at AU (or in the future) that will give us a deeper understanding of how you use our products and what we can do to improve them. We conduct user research throughout the year, so we’re interested in hearing from you even if you can’t participate at AU. To learn more, you can either: Visit us Online: http://www.autodesk.com/aecusability Visit us in person: AEC Usability Center (Zeno room 4601 in the AEC Campus on the 4th floor) for AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD MEP, Civil 3D, Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure Exhibit Hall Collaborative Project Management Usability Booth (#354) for Autodesk Buzzsaw and Autodesk Constructware. Thanks for your support. We look forward to seeing you there! James McElroy, on behalf of the AEC User Experience Team

For those attending AU 2008 and are interested in Buzzsaw, I thought you might find this interesting. Tuesday, December 2 10:15-11:45 AM: Effective Communication with Autodesk® Buzzsaw® Business Processes Wednesday, December 3 1:00-2:45 PM: Autodesk Buzzsaw User Forum - meet with Product Management to learn about recent and upcoming product advancements (NDA required). Please RSVP here (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tGBoWmND09u9BozSTwO_2bBg_3d_3d), as seating is limited. This meeting is for Buzzsaw customers only, and will be held 1-5 PM in Galileo 906 in the Venetian. Thursday, December 4 8:00-9:30 AM: Reduce your Carbon Footprint using Autodesk® Buzzsaw® 3:00-4:30 PM: Using Autodesk® Collaborative Project Management Products—Buzzsaw® and Constructware® as Virtual Glue for your BIM Teams Help make our products even better - participate in usability research at AU Get involved and help improve Autodesk Collaborative Project Management products. To participate in usability

For those attending AU, you might want to check out the link to the AU 2008 Show Guide that details the entire event

From Shaan Hurley 14 November 2008 New Feature Releases for Autodesk Subscription Customers On November 14th 2008, Autodesk Subscription members, as part of their benefits, can download the following new feature releases: Listed in alphabetical order by product Autodesk NavisWorks 2009 2004 DWG Object Enabler Extension for Autodesk NavisWorks 2009.1 software – English Autodesk NavisWorks 2009 Review: Project Review e-learning – English Autodesk NavisWorks 2009 Simulate: Animate, 4D Simulations and Project Presentations e-Learning - English Autodesk NavisWorks 2009 Manage: Effective Project 3D Coordination and Analysis e-Learning - English Autodesk® Robot™ Structural Analysis 2009 Robot Extensions for Autodesk® Robot™ Structural Analysis 2009 software – French, Spanish, Russian, Polish Revit 2009 Revit Extensions for Revit Architecture 2009 64-bit – French, Italian, German, Simplified Chinese, Polish Revit Extensions for Revit MEP 2009 – Simplified Chinese Revit Extensions for Revit S

Greetings from AutoCAD MEP Product Team, Please click on the link below to take a new survey on AutoCAD MEP Satisfaction. This survey should take approximately 10 minutes of your time. Please note if you are unable to complete the survey in one sitting, please close your browser. You may return at a later time and start the survey where you left off. The survey will be open for approximately 2 weeks. http://adskmepcc.com/7CYUFJCYP-HAXVI9JVS6 If you are having any challenges accessing this survey, please forward this email to councilmanager@adskmepcc.com . Thank you! AutoCAD MEP Team Autodesk, Inc. 111 McInnis Parkway San Rafael, CA 94903 www.adskmepcc.com

Another class that HNTB Architecture was asked to present (two weeks ago I believe) is: AB314-3 Custom Stairs and Railings in Revit Architecture In this session, students will learn how to create families for posts, balusters, panels, railings, and stair nosing. Focusing on design for high-end commercial and residential projects, this class will dive directly into the use of the Family Editor to physically build the components needed. Once the families are established, the class will move to Assembly in the project to expose the difficulties designers face. The commercial portion of the class will cover extruded steel with glass panels; the residential portion will cover custom handrails and raised panels. You’ll also learn how to design winding and spiral staircases, as well as how to create custom materials with wood hatching that you can apply to the stair components to give the stairs and railings your personal touch. Since we did not originally propose this class, Phil Read, Todd

For those attending AU 2008, I thought I would post some classes that I think are interesting. Horrible Hacks is going to be a very interesting classes with Steve Mintz, Sean Burke and Bob DeFeo. I have promised not to release any advanced information or tips from the class, but I will throw this out (sorry Steve). If you are working on projects that routinely require you to create multi-segmented grids, you want to attend this class. Steve is going to demonstrate a very elegant solution to a problem that Autodesk should have fixed many releases ago. “Horrible Hacks™”  (and Other Tips & Tricks for Revit® Power Users)  Steve Mintz, P.E.   – Revit Structure Technical Consultant  Sean Burke, Assoc. AIA   – Revit Architecture Technical Consultant  Bob DeFeo  – Revit MEP Technical Consultant     SE404-1P Have you ever seen a stunt demonstration with the tagline:  "Warning! Do not  attempt at home!”? This class presents the latest tips, tricks, and hacks developed by the Revi

I am not sure what it is at HNTB Architecture and Autodesk University, but we seem to get asked to do classes at the last minute. One of the classes will be on "Autodesk and Virtualization: A Discussion of Best Practices and First Hand User Experiences". If you are interested, here is some additional information. 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM December 4, 2008 Location: Casanova 604 Hi All - FYI - this was posted in the AUGI forums as well in order to raise awareness and generate interest at AU2008. Hope to see you there. - Phil --------------------- If you're experienced (or just really interested) in virtualized solutions for Autodesk's suite of design tools: AU Unplugged - The AU Unconference: Topic: "Autodesk and Virtualization: A Discussion of Best Practices and First Hand User Experiences" Hosted by: Phil Read, Vice President | Director of Technology HNTB Architecture When:2pm-2.50pm, Thursday December, 4th Where: Casanova 604 Details: Recent advances in virtualiza

Because of my post on Large Project Management, I received some emails about creating a Central file, what is the difference between the Save to Central options and how to determine if you are in the Central file. Rather than recreating the wheel, I thought I would point you to some good blogs on the subject. Save to Central : In Steve Stafford's RevitOpEd he has a brief but easy to follow explanation of what need to be done to create a Central File. The article is called Central File in "Four Easy Steps" . Save to Central options : Nicholas lyadurai has a blog called Revitize - Another Revit Blog and one of his posts entitled " Save to Central differences "  Working in the Central file : As we have all come to expect, Steve Stafford's RevitOpEd has an excellent article on when it is ok to work in the Central file. It's called, Working in the Central File - Breaking the Rule . Central or Local File : The last topic that I want to cover is a very good

The AIA recently published a document on Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). It's an interesting document worth reading. Integrated Project Delivery leverages early contributions of knowledge and expertise through the utilization of new technologies, allowing all team members to better realize their highest potentials while expanding the value they provide throughout the project lifecycle. This Integrated Project Delivery Guide (jointly developed by AIA’s Contract Documents Committee and the AIA California Council) is offered as a tool to assist owners, designers and builders to move toward integrated models and improved design, construction and operations processes. The goal of the Guide is to identify the characteristics of IPD and to provide specific information and guidance on how to utilize IPD methods to achieve enhanced design, construction and operations processes. The Guide begins with introductory material about the principles of IPD and points of consideration in a gener

I am a big advocate of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and as I was going thru my desktop and My Documents folder and I ran across this graphic from Autodesk on IPD. I think it does a great job providing a very general overview of the IPD process. Just wish implementing IPD was as simple as the graphic makes it look.