Ideate Solutions: March 2011

March 31, 2011

eLearning – Upcoming Classes

Join the Ideate Tech Experts for eLearning - live online classes that provide your entire organization with easy access to premium education.

Upcoming classes include:

4.5.11::Revit 301: Revit Architecture Familiy Editor Basics
4.12.11::Ideate 101: Network License Manager

Each class is designed to give you specific, improved results in a particular topic. You can interact with the instructor right from your own office, while eliminating travel time. Because the class schedule rotates, you can easily select your topics of interest and choose the day which best meets your schedule.

Click here for class descriptions, times and registration link. Questions? Contact education@ideateinc.com

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More Options for Analytical Model Adjustments in Revit Structure 2012

A new Edit mode to edit the analytical model has been introduced and this will provide more flexibility to make adjustments to the analytical model

A new tab: ‘Analytical Model Categories’ has been added to the Visibility Graphic Dialog box that will provide users faster access to visibility controls of analytical elements

Floor, Slab and Wall analytical models now have a surface and this makes it easier to identify these structural elements in the Analytical Model view.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for AutoCAD, Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

Shruti Harve,

LEED AP, AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Shruti holds a Master of Science degree in Architectural Computing from University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom and is LEED accredited. 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. At Ideate, Shruti provides training and support for Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, 3ds Max, Ecotect and AutoCAD Architecture.

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Revit MEP 2012 – Placeholder Pipes and Ducts and Parallel Pipes and Conduits

Matthew Nelson, Ideate MEP application specialist shows a few new features in Autodesk Revit MEP 2012 – Specifically Placeholder Pipes and Ducts and Parallel Pipes and Conduits.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for AutoCAD, Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, AutoCAD MEP, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

Matthew Nelson
MEP Solutions Application Specialist
Matthew has a deep understanding of Autodesk products. He studied Mechanical Engineering at SUNY Stony Brook. He has been a BIM manager and CAD manager for a leading international consulting services firm utilizing AutoCAD MEP, Civil 3D and Revit MEP. During that time, he focused his skills on understanding the dynamics of inter-discipline coordination on large scale civil and building engineering projects. At Ideate, Matthew provides training and support for Revit MEP, Navisworks and AutoCAD MEP. @MNelsonIdeate

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New in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012: Corridor Sections Through an Intersection

The Problem
You create a Civil 3D corridor through in intersection. You create sample line at the intersection 7+59.64. The section views for this samples line running through the intersection will not show the complete corridor section.

The Answer
Not any more! Hi, I am Gaurav Bagga, Application Specialist Infrastructure at Ideate in San Francisco. I have been training and implementing Civil 3D since its first release. In Civil 3D 2012 when you cut a section along yellow (east -west) baseline alignment at the intersection at station 7+59.64 the section view will show the full section per the figure.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, AutoCAD, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

Gaurav Bagga
Infrastructure Solutions Application Specialist

Gaurav works as a civil application specialist for Ideate. In addition to having a degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Construction Management, Gaurav has over 13 years of experience in the construction industry including 7 years with Ideate as an Autodesk Certified Instructor and Autodesk Civil 3D Implementation Certified Expert. During his tenure at Ideate, Gaurav has presented and taught at several conferences and CAD Camps. He has also taught and supported hundreds of students in Civil 3D and Land Desktop, has developed Ideate's custom Civil 3D curriculum and has helped over a dozen small, medium and ENR 500 engineering, surveying and planning firms successfully complete Civil 3D pilot projects. Follow Gaurav on Twitter: @BeGeez

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March 30, 2011

New in Navisworks Manage 2012 - Switchback to Revit

The new iteration of Autodesk Navisworks Manage 2012 comes with a variety of new features focusing on workflow and interoperability. Many of these new features will enhance the workflow between Navisworks and base data products such as Revit.

My name is Teresa Martin, a senior AEC Application Specialist at Ideate, Inc. Ideate has spent time reviewing these new features and in this post, I will be covering the best new feature for those of you using the Revit to Navisworks workflow.

This year’s release of Navisworks Manage 2012, in addition to interface improvements, provides a long sought after feature: the ability to switchback to Revit.

One of the most useful features in Navisworks when working with either Autocad based products or Microstation has been the switchback feature. This feature allows the user in Navisworks to select an element and literally, switchback to the native software (typically a natively loaded dwg file) and make corrections as necessary. Navisworks will launch the Autocad file and zoom in the dwg to the element. This saves production staff huge amounts of time when working between Navisworks and Autocad based files.

As of version 2012, Navisworks will now switchback to Revit! This is huge! Users can now select an element and switchback to Revit to make changes. They will still have to re-export the Revit file as an updated NWC file to make changes, but having switchback as an available feature will save quite a bit of time.

The feature is also available from Revit to Navisworks in Revit 2012 under External Tools>Navisworks Switchback.

One last note, users can export from Revit 2011 to Navisworks 2012. However, if you use switchback, Navisworks will launch the Revit files using Revit 2012. This could be an issue for firms that are not ready to upgrade to Revit 2012 or have legacy projects. Be careful here! Once you upgrade in Revit, there is no going back as we all know!

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2012

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 Revit Implementation Expert. As a trainer in Revit, Navisworks, and Ecotect, Teresa brings her real-world experience to the classroom.

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Video: Visualization Enhancements in Revit Architecture 2012

Ideate application specialist Ron Palma details Enhanced Visual Styles in Revit Architecture 2012.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for AutoCAD, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

Ron Palma
AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Ron has 23+ years of experience in the AEC industry as a designer, lead project designer, trainer and CAD manager. His instructional background includes Autodesk Certified Instructor, trainer, support technician, educator at Portland Community College and Clackamas Community College, and a U.S. Army certified instructor. Follow Ron @RonPalmaAEC.

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Multi-planar Reinforcement in Revit Structure 2012

Thank you for visiting Ideate’s blog to check out the new features added to Autodesk Revit Structure 2012, My name is Shruti Harve and I work as a Senior Application Specialist at Ideate, Inc. In my experience with modeling reinforcement in Revit Structure, one of the limitations has been modeling of rebar shapes that are bent in more than one plane, Now with the introduction of the ‘Multi-planar’ tool in the Rebar Shape Editor, Rebar shapes that are bent in more than one plane can be created.

In addition to that, the following enhancements have been made to modeling reinforcement in Revit Structure 2012:

Introduction of two new modes to place rebar: ‘Parallel to Cover’ and ‘Perpendicular to Cover’
Users can now select a layout rule before clicking to place rebar
Generic Model Families as well as Structural Connection families can now host rebar
Improvements to display of self-intersecting reinforcement bars
Rebar stirrup and tie style families can be set to snap to the exterior of a cover reference rather than the interior.

March 29, 2011

Classroom Training - Open Classes

Know It. Ideate Training.

Position yourself to land dream projects. Tap the full potential of your software solutions. Increase your facility, fluidity and capability to maximize the value of your precision software tools.

Here are a few of the training opportunities Ideate has to offer in the coming days:

4.4-6::Portland
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
4.6-8::Seattle
AutoCAD Fundamentals
4.6-8::Seattle
Revit MEP Mechanical and Plumbing Fundamentals
4.7::Portland
Revit MEP Families

Know your software. Sign up now!

Revit MEP 2012 New Features – Buttons!

Buttons, Buttons and More Buttons
Working for Ideate, Inc., as a MEP application specialist, we do a lot of reading and problem solving. I got the opportunity to review Revit MEP 2012, and wanted to jump in with both feet and take a look around. The last thing I wanted to start with would be the help menu. It might be smart to start with the manual if you’re putting together a bookcase from Ikea that came in three boxes, but when it comes to Revit MEP, I wanted to see what was in there. The 2011 release of Revit MEP has some really useful commands and same type of development in Revit MEP 2012 was expected.

When I opened the program and wanted to dig around. At first glance a huge sigh of relief; it still looks like 2011. Then upon closer inspection, there were more buttons, a lot more buttons, many more interesting buttons to explore!

Right off the bat on the HOME Tab you see new features - Parallel Pipes and Conduit, and Placeholders for duct and pipe. For more information about this feature check out our review by Ideate at www.ideateinc.com/2012/

Moving down the Ribbon looking for more things to explore, I found more buttons. The ANNOTATE tab has two new buttons Room Tag and Space Tag. No more ‘space naming’ utility, it has been incorporated into the core functionality of Revit MEP 2012 program.

On to the ANALYZE tab, it doesn’t disappoint. Here we have Show Disconnects (those familiar with AutoCAD MEP know this feature) and a whole new panel called Energy Analysis. Analyze Mass Model is for subscription only but the other two tools activate with the program and internet connection.

Personally, I didn’t find anything new from the MODIFY tab, until I started using other commands. Then the Modify command became extremely intuitive with the options I need while designing. Now, it’s my favorite tab.

Here’s an example, after placing a Water Closet and you proceed to make a system the Create Systems is now only one button that expands into another dialog box. This saves screen real estate, allowing you to name the system immediately and you can affect the Ribbon even more by clicking Open in System Editor.

Another great feature from the MODIFY tab is the ability to edit a system right from the MODIFY tab and not in the systems tab.

If you continue to generate a system, with piping, you can apply a slope, as needed designing from the Ribbon.

After the pipe has been placed the MODIFY tab continues to be adaptive. There are so many new features here to expedite your design work, you’ll love coming to work just to use 2012 Revit MEP.

That was what I found on my look around. Now, take your own arm chair adventure and take a tour of the new Revit MEP 2012.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for AutoCAD, Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

Lana Gochenauer, LEED AP,
MEP Solutions Application Specialist
Lana has a wealth of real world experience, having used Autodesk products on projects from hospitals to universities, restaurants to corporate office headquarters, from strip malls to tenant fit-up. Most recently she focused on coordination drawings/models with MEP contractors, and fabrication from the model. Lana successfully ran her CAD business and worked as the CAD manager for an international MEP engineering firm in Seattle. Lana is a Certified Autodesk Trainer and NECA certified electrical estimator. Currently pursuing her MBA in Sustainability and based in the Ideate ATC in Seattle, Lana provides training and services for AutoCAD MEP, Autodesk Revit MEP and Autodesk Navisworks.

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AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 Help Tab

Matt Miyamoto, P. E. and Ideate Civil 3D expert points to the new HELP tab in the Autodesk Civil 3D 2012 ribbon. Make it easy on yourself… the clear organization and content will streamline a Civil 3D user’s experience.

Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Infrastructure Solutions Application Specialist
Matt is a licensed Civil Engineer in the state of Hawaii. Matt obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and has 7 years of private sector design experience which he applies in his role as an application specialist with Ideate, Inc. His project experience includes residential and commercial site development, private and public sewer, water and drainage systems, harbors improvements, and roadway improvements. While in Hawaii, Matt was involved in multidisciplinary projects for City and County agencies, State Departments, the Army COE and private developers.

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Revit 2012 Tweaks and Enhancements

Revit 2012 includes a number of enhancements that solve some of those day to day annoyances for production users. Some of these features may be missed when test driving the new software. Let’s take a look at a few. My name is Teresa Martin, Senior Application Specialist at Ideate, Inc. Revit 2012 contains a number of new features including point cloud support, parts and assemblies and energy analysis to name a few. However, there are a number not so glamorous tweaks that will be of interest to day to day users.

Worksharing Enhancements

Worksets are now supported as part of view templates. That is to say you can now control workset visibility through view templates. This will be a welcomed feature by BIM Managers and Project Technical Leads everywhere. Also note, that Links, Analytical Model, Lighting, Sun/Shadow as well as Background are now included here as well.

Another change to Worksharing is the ability to disable the feature. In the past, once it was on, it was on for good. Now if you open the project and choose detach from Central you will have this option:

You will then have a ‘new’ project with Worksharing disabled. For some users this will solve some long standing issues.

Another Worksharing feature is Connect to Revit Server option available under the Collaborate Tab>Synchronize panel.

Worksharing Ballon Notification (to let you know that a workset has been updated)
On the Graphics Bar on the bottom of the screen, users will find a Worksharing Display Settings option if Worksharing is enabled. This will allow the user to adjust the display settings by color to show things such as ownership, Checkout Status or Model Updates.

Linking

This version of Revit supports the tagging of Rooms, Spaces, Aeas, Keynotes, Beams, and Beam Systems through linked Revit models. This could save a lot of time and help firm’s workflow when dealing with large datasets.
Exporting of linked Revit models to Navisworks. When exporting to Navisworks, linked files will also read through which will save time on file exports as the project progresses.

Modeling

Last year, Revit 2011 included a new family known as an adaptive component. Essentially this family let the user utilize the massing environment to make content by wrapping the component in a quasi mass wrapper. The only issue was when brining the component into the project, the user had to launch the in place Mass editor and then drag the component into the project from the browser. Now, users can utilize the massing tools by using the Generic Adaptive Component family. This allows users to create content using the conceptual design tools but without having to wrap/unwrap the content. The family will show up in the component pull down menu.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for Navisworks, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2012

March 28, 2011

Revit Structure 2012 Enhancements: Rebar Placement and Reinforcement

Shruti Harve, Ideate Application Specialist highlights Autodesk Revit Structure 2012 new features such as extensive rebar placement options and reinforcement enhancements.

Visual Enhancements in Revit Architecture 2012

The new release of Revit Architecture has seen some changes, improvements, and some new features. Some of the improvements include tools that enhance the Visual Graphics within your projects. Visual Styles has been changed to allow the user the ability to customize the look of your presentations. The Graphic Display Options palette is a Render Palette like environment used to make choices for modifying the visual style. Within this palette is the addition of ambient shadows as a configurable choice to visual styles and will allow you to soften up your shaded views.

In addition to changes made to the Visual Styles, the Materials dialog box gone through a makeover with new functionality added. A new feature known as a Property set can be included in a project and is used to define the appearances of multiple materials. Additionally, Material Libraries can be created and managed within the Materials dialog. Use drag and drop functionality to add materials in the project to you own custom libraries.

Like the Material dialog box improvements, the paint tool has also undergone some changes. Now when painting surfaces a graphical interface is used for material paint selection. Revit Architecture 2012 has also added a Remove Paint tool to remove material from painted surfaces. 3D views have gotten some improvements as well with the ability to lock down a 3D view which locks its orientation and once locked, the ability to add tags in a 3D view can be accomplished.

With these new improvements, visualizations within Revit will never be the same.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for AutoCAD, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

Video – AutoCAD WS for AutoCAD 2012

Derek Wielkopolski, Ideate Support Manager gives a brief overview of the new AutoCAD 2012 WS. AutoCAD WS allows project members to collaborate over the web to their iPad and iPhone devices via the new apps.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

Derek Wielkopolski
Technical Support Manager/Application Specialist
Derek holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Roger Williams University, Rhode Island. He is experienced working within the AEC industry from concept design through construction administration for both small and large scale projects. As Ideate’s Support Manager he ensures a timely and quality response to support requests and questions. Follow Derek on Twitter: @dwielk

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AutoCAD MEP 2012: New Features for Better Usability and Integration

This year, Autodesk has dedicated efforts to refine the AutoCAD platform. The release of AutoCAD MEP 2012 has new features that should allow for better usability and integration with other Autodesk Platforms. My name is Matthew Nelson, MEP Application Specialist for Ideate Inc. Ideate has looked into these features, and I would like to highlight some of the best features that AutoCAD MEP 2012 has introduced.

Performance:
Most of the changes that have occurred in AutoCAD MEP 2012 are platform related. There is a significant increase in performance across the platform, and we are expected to experience the following performance improvements in AutoCAD MEP 2012.

Approximately 40% faster on MvPart in 3D View.
Approximately 30% faster on Open Large MEP Drawing with Xrefs.
Approximately 30% faster on Display Warning Symbol.
Approximately 50% faster on Section (For large cases) on Win7 (Up to ~20% faster on WinXP).
Inherent improvements from ACA.

Source: Autodesk

I’m excited to see that they have focused on the performance of the MEP specific tools like MvPart and load times for larger MEP related drawings. This should help to relieve frustration when short deadlines are rapidly approaching! It’s also interesting to see that Autodesk is seeing such a performance change from Windows XP to Windows 7. It’s a great point to bring up in your next IT related meeting if you are still on Windows XP.

HVAC Engineering Units:
AutoCAD MEP 2012 has now introduced the ability to set the Engineering units for Ducts. I honestly can’t believe this hasn’t existed up until this point. This new unit dialog will allow you to set your unit structure for Air flow, Friction and Velocity using imperial or metric units. The HVAC unit structure is based on the drawing unit set in the Units tab.

This new feature will apply to all the dialogs and palettes in AutoCAD MEP 2012, such as the Duct Properties and the System Size Calculator.

To access the new HVAC units please find it here: Application Button > Drawing Utilities > Drawings Setup > HVAC tab.

Duct System Improvements:
Some significant improvements have been made to the Duct systems in AutoCAD MEP 2012. A significant change has been made in the workflow of creating systems. Autodesk has moved most of the HVAC creation out of separate dialog boxes and into a unified Properties palette. For more on this feature please see Lana’s blog on Ideate Solutions.

They have also introduced the Duct Transition Utility which they have nicknamed the ‘DTU.’ This new utility is built to aid in the building of transitions of different types of ducts. They have provided us with a list of the available transitions that can be built:

Round to Round
Round to Rectangular
Round to Oval
Rectangular to Rectangular
Rectangular to Oval
Rectangular to Round
Oval to Oval
Oval to Rectangular
Oval to Round

The use of this tool is simple, all it requires is the (2) ducts and the execution of the tool. It will create the transition automatically. This marks a significant improvement for the creation of complete duct systems, and should easily save time during production! One thing to keep in mind, the transition that is created is a custom part and cannot be added to the catalog.

Beyond the new workflow, Autodesk has introduced new parts to allow for better transitions of duct work. Reducing Elbows and Offset Bend Method Transitions. These new parts can be loaded from the style manager, and can be automatically placed or manually selected from the duct properties palette.

This year AutoCAD MEP 2012 brings new improvements and features that will change our workflow and increase performance. I look forward to using the new features, and I feel that it will help my productivity for the better!

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for AutoCAD, Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

March 25, 2011

AutoCAD MEP 2012 – "Add Ducts" Updated

Lana Gochenauer showcases another enhancement that streamlines workflow in AutoCAD MEP 2012 – the updated Add Ducts command.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for AutoCAD, Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

Creating Shop Drawings in Revit Architecture 2012…What? It can do that?!

Hi, it’s is Ron Palma, AEC Application Specialist at Ideate, Inc. With the introduction of Revit Architecture and Revit Structure 2012 new tools to enable the creation of assembly or shop drawings has been included. One of the tools in this process is the Create Parts Tool. This tool takes Complex Assemblies such as wall, floor, roof and ceiling elements and breaks the layers within those assemblies into individual parts. Once created, these parts are unique to the view they are created in, and are used to create more accurate Schedules, Quantity Takeoffs, visualizations, and Exported Data.

Another tool used in the creation of shop drawings is the Create Assembly tool. This tool can be used not only on parts created with the Create Parts tool, but on any model element, such as doors, windows, framing and casework. It is similar to the Group command as it groups selected geometry into a single assembly. Once the assembly has been created, views such as plan, section, 3D, and schedule views are created for the selected assembly. These views are then added to assembly sheets to create your shop drawings.

With the addition of these two tools, construction documentation has just entered a whole new realm.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2012 releases for AutoCAD, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2012

New Features to Review in Navisworks Manage 2012: File Link Support for Revit Models

As users will attest, this one feature alone could potentially save 16 hours a week for large projects. Until 2012, large Revit projects needed to be exported file by file. This job proved immense for firms that wished to export the model by floor, rather than the entire kit and kaboodle. This option now appears in the export options dialog box when exporting the model to Navisworks.

Along with the ability to export linked files, the conversion of construction parts (a new feature in Revit 2012) is also supported along with additional room and volume properties.

Other improvements to look at in Navisworks 2012 are improved graphics, additional dwfx support (including sheet views) as well as some welcome changes to the Timeliner interface. In regards to the all important Clash Detection tool, improvements have been made here as well. There is a new assigned to feature (to assign clashes to a particular team member) as well as the ability to output to tabular HTML format.

Import Styles/Settings and Purge Styles Functions in the New Civil 3D 2012

Gaurav Bagga, Ideate Civil 3D expert shows off the new Import Styles and Settings and Purge Styles functions in the new Civil 3D 2012 – this long-awaited piece easily saves time and money with AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012.

March 24, 2011

eLearning – Upcoming Revit Classes