San Francisco Revit User Group - Curtain Wall Forum

Back by Popular Demand! Curtain Wall Forum
Curtain Walls has proven to be one of the most dynamic User Group topics, so we’re pleased to invite all Curtain Wall aficionados and detractors to join us for a moderated discussion regarding this powerful tool and how it meets (or doesn’t meet) reality. Shruti Harve, AEC Application Specialist from Ideate will start the meeting off with a few intriguing uses of the curtain wall tool and then moderate an open discussion with the audience.

Who Should Attend
This moderated discussion requires input from Revit users that have some experience with using curtain wall objects (aka storefront). Come prepared to present your best curtain wall tip, trick or dilemma.

About the Presenter
Shruti holds a Master of Science degree in Architectural Computing from University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom and is a LEED accredited professional. Her experience includes working in architecture and construction firms in India and the United Kingdom as well as structural engineering firms in the Bay Area providing design, 3D modeling and drafting services.

DATE/LOCATION
3.10.10
AIA SAN FRANCISCO
130 Sutter Street
Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94104

TIME
11:30am to noon: networking + lunch
Lunch provided by Ideate, Inc.
Noon to 1:30pm: presentation

REGISTER ONLINE
**Please note: Shruti's presentations are always popular. Seating is limited; be sure to register in advance. **

INFORMATION
Email Vince Dattoli or call 415.946.1020.

REVIT TIPS
Can't make it to an Ideate event to learn from Shruti Harve about using Curtain Walls in Revit? Check The Revit Clinic blog for 5 Curtain Wall Tips.

Congratulations to David Guisande of WJE

David Guisande of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., is the lucky winner of a $1,095 gift certificate for training at an Ideate Authorized Training Center.

David attended the February 11 AUGI CAD Camp in San Francisco and not only had a chance to learn from Ideate and other design experts, but also won the raffle for free training.

Congratulations, David! Look forward to seeing you at Ideate soon.

Click here for Ideate locations and complete training catalog.

Free download: Autodesk Design Review

Accelerate architecture, engineering, or construction design workflows with Autodesk® Design Review software. The free, integrated 3D model viewer provides team members who don’t use CAD software easy access to rich designs. It also reinforces the use of complete design data for building information modeling (BIM).

Accelerate Project Review Cycles
Significantly reduce time from building review and approval cycles and reduce printing and shipping costs by using Autodesk Design Review to mark up and review designs created with Revit® and AutoCAD® software products.

Enable Digital Back Checks
Reduce costly errors that can affect your reputation by automatically performing back checks. Track and review changes without waiting for printouts.

Effectively Show Designs in Client Presentations
Fully visualize drawings and walk through building models to create presentations that enable clients to experience a project before it is built.

Document Construction Change Orders
Use the markup and status-tracking tools in Autodesk Design Review to track the changes required throughout the construction process.

Publish, Share, and View
Conduct virtual walk-throughs of architectural models using the navigation wheel.

Contact the pros at sales@ideateinc.com for information on the complete line of Autodesk solutions.

Free Webcast: Design Options and Updates in Revit Architecture and 3ds Max Design

Autodesk invites you to attend a special webcast titled "The Magic Revealed: Design Options and Updates in Revit Architecture and 3ds Max Design".

Join this one hour session to learn how Revit® Architecture and 3ds Max® Design work together so that design options can be created and managed without creating separate models.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time

Register Now

Webcast Details: In this session, Amy Fietkau and Eddie Perlberg, AEC Technical Specialists for Architecture and Design Visualization, will show a Tenant Improvement project where they are renovating the interior and need to evaluate some design iterations. They will show how the design options are developed and refined in Revit. When high end renderings are needed to sell the client on the designs, they show how 3ds Max Design is used to manage the design options within the same Revit model.

See the magic of Design Options and Updates revealed, and learn:

• How design iterations are developed and managed in Revit Architecture using a single model
• How to manage these same design options in 3ds Max Design using a single file
• Experience a new way of developing designs for sharing and selling to clients

Learn more about Revit and 3ds Max Design by contacting the professionals at sales@ideateinc.com

Ideate Congratulates Rutherford & Chekene Executives

Ideate sends our congratulations to client Rutherford & Chekene executives C. Mark Saunders and David Bleiman.

Mark Saunders has been elected to the position of chairman by the board of directors. He will serve as executive principal on continuing projects and on selected new projects.

David Bleiman will transition to the role of CEO in March, serving as an advocate for sustainability and design excellence. Under his leadership, R&C has designed over $4B in projects using BIM.

Ideate is pleased to work with R&C, a firm recognized for their innovative use of BIM to promote integration and collaboration across the building team.

Click here to learn more about David Bleiman and the experts at Rutherford & Chekene.

Click here to learn more about Ideate and BIM.

Rev It Up for Green Renovation

Harness the power of Autodesk Building Information Modeling (BIM) solutions to enhance design speed, predictability, and cost savings. BIM helps you:

• Visualize the impact of changes before construction
• Evaluate new construction and renovation design options
• Identify improvements earlier in the process
• Accurately predict building performance
• Minimize costly errors

Autodesk BIM solutions provide the tools you need to do more with less. View the free screencast "Renovation for Architects: Increase Energy Efficiency with BIM" and learn more about Autodesk BIM solutions for architects.



Rev It Up for Green Renovation
Speed your energy retrofit objectives and achieve your green building designs with an Autodesk Energy Performance solution. For a limited time purchase an Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2010 license on subscription for $995 with a qualifying AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite or AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite new license, cross-grade, or subscription renewal.

For complete details, click here.

To begin creating innovative, energy efficient, sustainable designs today, contact sales@ideateinc.com

AutoCAD Civil 3D for Road Design

Are you ready to take advantage of the provisions for transportation projects in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009?



With over 30% of the major roads and bridges in the USA in "poor or mediocre" condition, it’s critical that civil engineers have the tools they need to increase their productivity through each phase of a transportation design project.

Find out what differentiates AutoCAD Civil 3D from traditional road design software tools in this informational video. This tool shows you how you can boost productivity and improve quality through all phases of a road design project. Topics include:

• Integrating Geospatial Data
  
• Design Changes
  
• Data Sharing
  
• Corridor
  
• Modeling
  
• Plans Production and Interference Checking

Autodesk’s powerful Building Information Modeling solutions are a better choice for today’s transportation design challenges. Learn how AutoCAD Civil 3D enables you to complete road design projects faster and more efficiently with higher-quality designs and construction documentation. Watch the Video

Ideate Promotion - Buy a new seat of Civil 3D or Navisworks, get Training for free - a savings of up to $1,000.

Already have Civil 3D or Navisworks? Join us today for professional training. Any open enrollment training course priced over $500 can be attended by any government employee for $500. This includes all one, two or three day courses in any of our five locations.

Contact sales@ideateinc.com today for more details.

Hilliard Architects Appoints Karen Thomas Partner

Ideate is proud to work with Hilliard Architects, a San Francisco women-owned architectural firm specializing in sustainable design. And we're very pleased to extend our congratulations to Karen Thomas, AIA, who has been named a partner by Hilliard Architects.

Karen has been with Hilliard Architects since 2005 and has served as a lead on projects for the Department of Veterans Affairs, California Department of Forestry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and a wide variety of affordable housing construction and substantial rehabilitation efforts.

Click through to learn more about Karen Thomas, AIA and Hilliard Architects.

Congratulations Karen!

Autodesk License Compliance Tip - Asset Locator

If you need to confirm which Autodesk software products you have and where each is installed, check out the Autodesk Asset Locator which will find:

• Product, version, and serial number
• Product language
• Network or stand-alone installation type
• Service pack level
• Installation location

For free download, Tool Guide .pdf and other useful tips, click here.

Ideate Training - Revit Structure Fundamentals

Shruti Harve, MS, LEED AP – AEC Solutions Application Specialist, continues to get rave reviews from Ideate clients. Shruti recently taught Ideate's three-day Revit Structure Fundamentals course at our Authorized Training Center in San Francisco.

“Was very much impressed by trainer's competence; she was very efficient and direct in communicating information and very direct and concise in answering questions.”
P.K./Lionakis

Revit Structure Fundamentals The three-day course covers the basics of Autodesk Revit Structure, from schematic design through construction documentation. Students are introduced to the concepts of Building Information Modeling and the tools for parametric design, analysis and documentation. This course offers both imperial and metric hands-on exercises representing real-world design scenarios.

Prerequisites: No previous CAD experience is necessary. However, structural design, drafting or engineering experience is highly recommended. It is also recommended that the student have a working knowledge of Microsoft® Windows® XP, Microsoft® Windows® 2000, or Microsoft® Windows® NTNT 4.0.

To register online click here.

For information on Ideate's other training courses, click here.

Revit Tip - Using the URL Parameters to Document Families

Thanks to Kevin Janik, Associate, AIA, LEED AP of Otak and President of the Portland Revit User Group who shared the following tip from Scott Womack of WTW Architects:

One of the most under used types of parameters is the URL type of parameter. Recently, in the development of some extremely complicated families, it became obvious, that the average user was going to need some instruction or "direction" on how to use the family. It started as a simply listing of some of the instance parameters the user needed to set to get the family to display the proper parametric behavior.

It ended up being a way to document the family, what the various parameters were to be used for, and general information on the background of the family. In fact it documented the family so either myself in a couple of years, or someone else could gain insight into how the family was originally created, and how it is supposed to function.

The use of a URL parameter is actually simple. Create a parameter, define it as a URL, place it in your family (or in your Project as a Project Information category) and provide the complete path to what you want to open. During this experimentation, several insights to the URL type of parameter were gained. First, the Autodesk documentation speaks to this "website" information, leading the majority of us to believe that it is only for linking to the internet, or HTML content. The documentation states: "Provides a web link to a user-defined URL."

Bunk!! This parameter is far more flexible that this definition. You can link it to ANY file type, or directory that is defined in your computer systems defaults. That means it can open:

• Directories
• Word Files
• TXT files
• PDF files
• Excel files
• Manufacturer's websites,
• Office Standards

Another potential use is that of "documenting a project while the construction documents are being created. There have been posts about this using a drafting view for information storage, etc. Now you can use a word doc, or excel file, or even more than one type of file format by using multiple URL parameters, or hyperlinks within the file in the URL.

WTW has a directory on our server that houses a host of PDF files that have been created during the course of in-house training sessions. We then added a URL project parameter to the project information category in our template, pointed to this directory. The users now have this information available, without trying to remember a convoluted long path to something only used once in a while.

No more User excuses for not knowing the standards, or at least where they are located!

- by Scott Womack AIA, WTW Architects, Steel City Revit User's Group

Autodesk Tip - Windows 7

The Autodesk products listed below have been tested and are confirmed as working correctly on Microsoft Windows 7. Autodesk Product Support will provide its best effort to assist customers with issues with products that have not been tested.

• AutoCAD 2010
• AutoCAD LT 2010
• AutoCAD Architecture 2010
• AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010
• Autodesk Inventor 2010
• Autodesk Inventor LT 2010
• AutoCAD Electrical 2010
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2010
• AutoCAD MEP 2010
• Autodesk Algor Simulation 2010
• Autodesk Vault 2010 (Client Only)*
• Autodesk Vault Workgroup 2010 (Client Only)*
• Autodesk Vault Collaboration 2010 (Client Only)*
• Autodesk Vault Manufacturing 2010 (Client Only)*
• Autodesk Productstream Professional 2010 (Client Only)*

For complete details click here for Autodesk product information.

Submitted by: Teresa Martin – AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Teresa is a graduate of Cornell University and has over 20 years experience in the architectural and construction industry. She has spent her career pursuing her interest in 3D modeling and computer-aided-design having worked alternately as a designer, project manager, CAD manager, 3D modeler and educator. Teresa currently develops curriculum and customized content as an Autodesk Architectural Desktop Certified Expert and Revit Implementation Expert. As a leading Revit trainer for over 5 years, Teresa brings her real-world experience to the classroom.

Revit Tip - Troubleshooting Revit Licensing Error 17

After hearing a lively discussion of "Error 17" at last week's Portland Revit User Group, thought we'd post a couple of helpful links for this issue.

Check Autodesk Revit Architecture Services & Support for a December troubleshooting tip.

And today's entry Troubleshooting Revit Licensing Error 17 on The Revit Clinic has four additional steps that can be useful for solving the problem.