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: 

10.2.12::Navisworks 101:
Introdution to Navisworks Manage
10.9.12::Revit 201:
Getting Started with Presentations
10.30.12::Revit 201:
Making Titleblocks

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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Ideate, Inc. Director of Consulting David Haynes Receives Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification

SAN FRANCISCO, California, 09/27/2012 - Ideate, Inc. (ideateinc.com), an Autodesk Gold Value Added Reseller, today announced that David Haynes, Director of Consulting, has achieved Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification through Project Management Institute (PMI) – (pmi.org).

According to PMI, the globally recognized PMP credential is the most important industry certification for project managers. The PMP demonstrates experience, education and competency in leading and directing project teams. Haynes adds the PMP certification to his Consulting Certification from Autodesk Consulting.

“David Haynes leads a team of Ideate technical experts who share their expertise to ensure customers’ success, and we congratulate him on this exciting designation,” says Bob Palioca, President of Ideate, Inc. “Haynes’ PMP certification exemplifies Ideate’s commitment to providing customers with the highest level of project management skills toward the implementation of design technology.”

David Haynes, PMP, (@dhaynestech), located in the Ideate, Inc. Seattle, Washington office, provides business process analysis and change management solutions for AEC clients across the United States.

About Ideate, Inc.
Ideate, Inc. is a leading Autodesk solutions provider, offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting and 3D printing services to AEC professionals. Established in 1992 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Ideate is recognized as a Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization. Ideate, Inc. operates five Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATC): San Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose, California; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington. Ideate facilities are Autodesk Authorized Certification Centers, providing globally recognized certification courses for professionals who sell, service and support Autodesk products and solutions. For more information visit www.ideateinc.com.

Ideate, Inc. is also an Autodesk Authorized Developer with 25+ year’s experience in software development and specific focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM). Ideate BIMLink lets users pull data from an Autodesk Revit file into user-friendly Microsoft Excel, and push Excel data into Revit with equal ease. www.ideatebimlink.com

The Ideate Explorer for Revit is a simple, powerful Revit add-on to help explore, quantify and manage the 10,000+ building elements in a Revit model. www.ideateexplorer.com

Autodesk and ATC are trademarks or registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Autodesk Product Keys – Understanding the Relationship to Licensing

One of the subjects that we handle a lot in our technical support department at Ideate, Inc. is software licensing. We take these issues seriously and realize that the ins and outs of the process can be confusing. We try and educate our customers to the way that licensing is handled so that they can feel more confident in managing their software. As a result I wanted to clarify a subject that comes up often in technical support, software product keys.

Since their addition with the 2010 version of Autodesk software, the product keys have caused some confusion. The largest problem has been that if the software is installed with a product key that does not match the serial number it will fail to activate. The error message that is generated does not specifically indicate that this is the issue. This usually solicits a call into technical support and the product key is one of the first things that we verify. The second frustrating thing with this issue is that the software has to be completely reinstalled to change the product key that was used to install it. This is a more time-consuming fix than verifying that you are using the correct product key in the first place.

In order to mitigate this issue, Autodesk started having the installation checking the entered product key in 2012. This was done to prevent the user from going through the installation using the wrong product key. Unfortunately this can create its own issue, especially for those who were comfortable with the product key usage in the previous version.

The issue with the 2012 and newer software is that since the media will only allow you to use the product keys that match it you can’t also enter the product key for the serial number you are using. This can be a problem for users that have purchased a Suite and a point product. It means that you may not be able to use the media of one to install the other.

In general we have found that you can use the installation for a point product with the product key of an advanced version like a suite that it is contained in. For example, if you have a serial number for Building Design Suite Ultimate, but you only want to install Navisworks Manage you can use the Navisworks Manage installation media.  This will tie all product licenses for the serial number to the computer it is installed onto, in this case the other products contained in Building Design Suite Ultimate, even though only one product was installed.

The opposite is not true. You can’t use a Building Design Suite Ultimate to install your Navisworks Manage specific serial numbers. This means that you need to have the media for both and use the one that matches your serial number. If you want to try and use the media on hand, you can go ahead and launch the install and try the product key. If it accepted you can go ahead and use the media. If it is not accepted you will need to download the media that does match your product key.

Now, all of this only applies to standalone type licenses. The network installations are much more flexible since they do not have to be activated. If you are using network licenses you can install using any media, using the product key that matches the media. The software will then pull the “cheapest” available licenses no matter what media or product key was used to install it.

There is one exception to this. The “one-box” version of Revit that comes with the Building Design Suites is only sold as a part of the Building Design Suite. As a result it will bypass “cheaper” licenses for Revit Architecture, MEP, or Structure and only pull Building Design Suite licenses. If you want to use the “cheaper” licenses first, you will have to install using that matching media.
 
For your convenience, we have compiled a list of product keys for the currently supported Autodesk software.

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Jesika DiGregorio
Ideate Technical Support Specialist
Jesika received her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon where she worked on construction of a student-designed structure. Her work experience includes Junior Designer at an award-winning firm specializing in architecture and land planning, and Intern Architect at a firm that provides services in planning, design, construction documents and construction administration for projects of all sizes. Jesika provides online and phone technical support to Ideate clients from the Ideate Authorized Training Center in Portland, Oregon.

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Classroom Training – Open Revit 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 weeks:

10.1-3::Sacramento
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
10.2-3::Portland
Revit Architecture Beyond the Basics
10.9-11::Portland
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
10.22-24::Sacramento
Revit MEP Electrical Fundamentals
10.23-25::Seattle
Revit Architecture Fundamentals

Know your software. Sign up now!

Dynamic Viewport Scale Bar

While on technical support at Ideate, we often receive requests from our customers for items or features that aren’t currently part of AutoCAD and Civil 3D. One recent request was for a Viewport Scale Bar that dynamically updates its values when a user changes the Viewport scale in their drawing.

Although this can be done by linking blocks with fields to Sheet Set Views, not all users use sheet sets or take the time to set them up with a linked scale. In this case, we were able to create a custom made viewport scale bar linked to the Viewport itself without the use of Sheet Sets. 

The scale bar we were looking for is fairly standard. It is divided into three 1-inch sections, each linked to a multiple of the viewport scale. To the right of the 0 value, a whole number representing the viewport scale and a double value of the scale are shown. To the left, half and whole value increments are displayed.

*image not to scale

This Scale bar is dynamically linked to the Viewport through the use of Fields.  When a Viewport Scale is specified (1:10 in the example) and the drawing is regenerated, the SCALE: item is updated along with the values for 10, 20, -5 and -10. Although it seems easy enough, these are not standard Field options and require some manipulation of the Field codes. 

In each case, a Field was inserted for the value, with the Field Name and Field Category set to Object. The Viewport was selected as the Object Type and Custom Scale was set as the Property.

In the Format section, the 1:# and 1”=#’ options were the starting points for the modified field codes. 

To get the whole number value, I started with the code for 1:#

%<\AcObjProp Object(%<\_ObjId 8796083731456>%).CustomScale \f “1:%lu2%ct1%qf2816”>%

From that, removing the highlighted 1: item produces just the # value in the field (1:10 becomes 10). 

The revised code looks like this:

%<\AcObjProp Object(%<\_ObjId 8796083731456>%).CustomScale \f “%lu2%ct1%qf2816”>%

For the 0.5x and 2x multiple values, the 1”=#’ code was the starting point

%<\AcObjProp.16.2 Object(%<\_ObjId 8796083731456>%).CustomScale \f “1\” = %lu2%zs12%ct9[0.0833333333333333]’”>%

Since this code was created to apply a multiplier of 0.0833333333333333 to the original scale factor, all I needed to do was change that to 0.5 and 2 respectively. Once that was done, removing the 1/”= portion of the code left me with only the multiplied values. The “-“ was also added to the codes on the left side of the 0 value (-10 is the code from above with a “-“ added to it). 

The resulting code for -0.5x and 2x values are

%<\AcObjProp.16.2 Object(%<\_ObjId 8796083731456>%).CustomScale \f “-%lu2%zs12%ct9[0.5]’”>%

%<\AcObjProp.16.2 Object(%<\_ObjId 8796083731456>%).CustomScale \f “%lu2%zs12%ct9[2]’”>%

The result is a dynamic Viewport Scale bar that updates (after REGENALL) if a user changes the Viewport scale.

That said, it is not without its faults. Here are some tips and items to consider when using this custom scale bar.

1. Because Fields are linked to specific objects in a file, the Dynamic Scale bar cannot be copied and pasted directly into another drawing. BOTH items (Scale bar and Viewport) need to be copied in order for it to work in another file.
2. The modified code used to generate the required values is NOT supported since it is a modification to background coding intended for use with Object Fields. Use of these objects is at your own risk.
3. Updating of the values is not triggered automatically. Users are required to REGENALL for the numbers to update after a viewport scale is changed.  Always remember to verify the scale with the Scale Bar regardless of dynamic functionality.
4. The scale bar in our sample file was set up for engineering scales (i.e. 1:10, 1:20 etc.). It will also convert fractional (Architectural) scales to this format. A ¼”=1’-0” scale would display as 1:48 using this Scale Bar.
5. Viewports and Scale Bars can be saved to your drawing template (.DWT) file so that they automatically appear in new files. The size of the viewport can be adjusted as needed after the drawing is created.
6. Layouts can be created with pre-defined paper sizes (Page Setups) that include these Viewports and Scale Bars. Use the Design Center to copy these into existing drawings or to add them to a template (.DWT) file.
7. Do Not convert the Scale Bar into a Block. The Scale Bar needs to remain un-blocked in order for the Fields to function properly after it is copied.

If you want to check this out for yourself, here's a drawing file (.DWG) that includes a viewport and scale bar. Per item 6 above, you can use the Design Center to copy one of these layouts into your own drawing files and adjust the Viewport as needed once they’re in the file.

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Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Ideate AEC 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. @MattM_PE

Get it. Know it. Use it.

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: 

9.24.12::Revit 201:
Stairs and Railings in Revit
9.25.12::Revit 201:
Roof Framing in Revit Structure
10.2.12::Navisworks 101:
Introdution to Navisworks Manage
10.9.12::Revit 201:
Getting Started with Presentations

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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Little Things Making a Difference… New in Civil 3D 2013

There have been a number of object and feature enhancements made to Civil 3D 2013, but not all of them have gotten as much attention as Pressure Pipe Networks and Railway Alignments.

In today’s blog post, Application Specialist Matt Miyamoto takes a look at some of the less known new features of Civil 3D 2013 related to Assemblies and Corridors.

The first enhancement that has gone relatively unnoticed is the new Automatic Side Detection feature that is now coded into the stock SubAssemblies in the Toolpalettes. This new feature allows users to quickly add components to both right and left sides of their Assemblies without worrying about switching the Side Parameter in the SubAssembly Properties. It also avoids inadvertently adding a right-side component to the left side of your Assembly.

With Automatic Side Detection, once the initial components have been added (right lane and left lane); the corresponding SubAssemblies automatically conform to match the side they are attached to. You can now build the right and left sides of your Assembly simultaneously with relative ease.

Another enhancement made to 2013 is the Simplified Corridor Modeling Workflow. In previous releases of Civil 3D, there were always two options for creating a Corridor object; Create Corridor and Create Simple Corridor.  Regardless of which command was used, the same type of Corridor object was generated. 

In 2013, the process has been reduced to a single Corridor command, and the command dialog has been enhanced to allow users to directly specify the Alignment, Profile, Assembly and target Surface in one place.  This process previously involved a series of Command prompts and selection either from the drawing or from lists.  Having everything in one dialog simplifies the process, makes it more efficient, and helps to reduce errors encountered when target surfaces are not selected in the initial process.

Although these aren’t the biggest features added, they are definitely worth paying some attention to when you’re working in Civil 3D 2013.

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Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Ideate AEC 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. @MattM_PE

Get it. Know it. Use it.

Classroom Training – Open Revit 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 weeks:

9.20::Portland
Revit Architecture Families
9.24-26::San Francisco
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
9.25-27::Seattle
Revit MEP Mechanical and Plumbing Fundamentals
10.1-3::Sacramento
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
10.2-3::Portland
Revit Architecture Beyond the Basics

Know your software. Sign up now!

Ideate Earns Autodesk Simulation Specialization

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, 09/18/2012 - Ideate, Inc. (ideateinc.com), an Autodesk Authorized Developer and a leading Autodesk solutions provider offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) and media & entertainment (M&E) industries,today announced that it has earned the new Autodesk Simulation Specialization designation for value added resellers (VARs) from Autodesk, Inc., a world leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software.

As an Autodesk Specialized Partner, Ideate Inc. has shown that it has made significant investment in its people, has a solid business plan specific to this specialization area, has customer references, and can provide a high level of knowledge, experience and support to customers in the AEC and M&E industries.

The new Autodesk Partner Specializations enable VARs to highlight and brand their expertise in delivering services in key industry areas. By completing the required curriculum and training, as well as meeting required levels of service and standards set by Autodesk, Ideate, Inc. demonstrates, through its strong customer service and support in sales, what it means to be a trusted adviser to Autodesk customers throughout the world.

“Ideate is a strategic partner in solving customer’s business  issues  and  challenges, especially as they relate to successful adoption and implementation of BIM technology. The Autodesk Simulation Specialization underscores our commitment to helping customers perform simulations, optimize design choices and test innovative concepts early in the design process,” said Ideate President Bob Palioca. “We are delighted to add this designation to our Autodesk Consulting Specialization, Autodesk Structural Engineering Specialization, Autodesk Product Support Specialization and Autodesk MEP Systems Specialization designations.”

About Ideate, Inc.
Ideate, Inc. is a leading Autodesk solutions provider, offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to AEC professionals. Established in 1992 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Ideate is recognized as a Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization. Ideate, Inc. operates five Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATC): San Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose, California; Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Ideate facilities are Autodesk Authorized Certification Centers, providing globally recognized certification courses for professionals who sell, service and support Autodesk products and solutions. For more information visit www.ideateinc.com

Ideate, Inc. is also a member of the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) with 25+ years experience in software development and specific focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM). Ideate BIMLink lets users pull data from an Autodesk Revit file into user-friendly Microsoft Excel and push Excel data into Revit with equal ease. www.ideatebimlink.com

Ideate Explorer for Revit is a simple, powerful Autodesk Revit add-on to explore, quantify and manage the 100,000+ building elements in a Revit model. www.ideateexplorer.com

Autodesk, ATC, and Revit, are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
 

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Ideate BIMLink and Revit MEP Space Type Modification

In Revit MEP in order to properly mine the Building Model for Energy information you need to verify the building, space, and zone information, and view graphical representations of the spaces to verify space boundaries and volumes. One of the most time consuming tasks of verifying, assigning and correcting space type information can be quickly done in Ideate BIMLink.

As an example, in Revit MEP the most direct way to verify, assign and/or correct Space information is by manually selecting the space and then making the appropriate changes in the Space Properties Dialog, as shown:

Within the above Properties dialog box, once the Space Type area has been selected, it will open a completely new dialog box titled the Space Type Settings from which you will be able to select the appropriate Space Type:

A more visual way to accomplish the above on more than one space, is to create a Space Type schedule and then make the changes directly in the schedule itself, which will then reflect directly in the building model, but again in selecting the Space Type in the schedule, it will then open up the Space Type Settings dialog box to apply the appropriate Space Type:

In either of the above cases the average time to select and change two (2) spaces from the default <Building> definition to a completely different definition is roughly 20 seconds. So, if we extrapolate that number , the average time for changing 200 spaces is 2000 seconds which works out to be roughly 30 minutes. This value must be changed if correct Energy Analysis information is to be expected from the Spaces and Zones.

The same process in Ideate BIMLink would be roughly 5 minutes and it does not have to be an individual who is accustom to Revit it can be someone who is comfortable with Excel and editing.

I will now demonstrate how easy it is with Ideate BIMLink to export out the Spaces with the appropriate information, edit the values in Excel, then simply re-import the information back into Revit MEP.

The one and only Caveat to using Ideate BIMLink to do this work is that you should take note before hand of what the name of the Space Type is in the Space Type Settings dialog box. The reason for this is that when the value gets exported through Ideate BIMLink, the name of the space type gets translated into numbers. For example the default value in the Space Type selection of <Building> is translated by Ideate BIMLink to be the value of -1, whereas the value of Active Storage is 1. The value of Active Storage - Hospital/Healthcare is 2, and then so on. I found it quite easy to have a spreadsheet with the names and appropriate incremental numbers next to it.

In this video I have already created a Space Type schedule and will then use Ideate BIMLink to export out the values. Then I will open up the exported excel spreadsheet, make my changes then re-import the results back into Revit MEP.

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Bill Johnson
Ideate Senior MEP Application Specialist

Bill has over 20 years experience in applying AEC design solutions for large commercial companies. A graduate of Pasadena Institute of Technology, he has worked for TEECOM Design Group, GTE/GTEL, Greg LeDoux and Associates, and Scottish Power in England. Bill has also had the opportunity to act as Lead AutoCAD Designer for multimillion dollar communication sites which have included structural, electrical, HVAC, conduit, cable plans and equipment layouts. He has a Sustainable Design Certification from the University of California at Berkeley.

Get it. Know it. Use it.

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: 

9.18.12::Civil 3D 201:
Analysis for Master-Planning
9.20.12::Revit 201:
Converting Blocks to Families
9.24.12::Revit 201:
Stairs and Railings in Revit
9.25.12::Revit 201:
Roof Framing in Revit Structure

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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Revit MEP Tip - Single Column Panel Schedules

When Revit MEP introduced the concept of panel schedule templates that enable you to control the appearance of electrical panel schedules. By default, Revit MEP will display the panel schedules in a style that has two columns, with odd numbered circuits on the left and even numbered circuits on the right, to emulate the physical layout of panels:

In order to display the circuits in a single column with each row representing an individual circuit there are a number of changes that need to be made.

Modifying the Panel Family

The panel family controls which style of panel schedule will be used in the report. To change, this, select the panel in the project, right-click and select Edit Family:

Within the Family Editor, change the value of Panel Configuration in the Properties palette from Two Columns, Circuits Across to One Column:

Use the Load into Project tool to push the family definition back into the main project.  

Creating New Panel Schedule Report

Then before you can use the new configuration, you’ll have to delete existing panel schedules based on that panel family – to do this, locate them in the Project Browser, right-click and select Delete:

Then simply create the panel schedule again with the Create Panel Schedules tool:

This time the panel schedule will have a single column, as illustrated in this example:

Editing Panel Schedule Template

In this example, there are a couple more adjustments that need to be made. For example, you may want to replace the phase column headers from “A,” “B” and “C” to “L1,” “L2” and “L3” respectively, and we can increase the number of circuits from 21 to 24, to match the slots/ways on our panel.

These changes need to be made in the panel schedule template. To know which template is being used, select the appropriate schedule in the Project Browser:

Then note the Template setting in the Properties palette (in this example “Branch Panel 1”):

Then from the Panel Schedule Templates tool on the Manage ribbon, select Edit a Template:

From the Edit a Template dialog, select the appropriate Panel Configuration (e.g. “One Column”) and then choose the Template from the list (e.g. “Branch Panel 1”), and choose Open:

This will then take you into the Modify Panel Schedule Template interface:

To change the column headers, simply select them and enter new values:

To change the number of circuit rows, select the Set Template Options tool from the ribbon, and change the value for Number of slots shown (e.g. 24):

The additional rows will be added to the template, then select Finish Template from the ribbon to save the changes. In order to see the changes, it is then necessary to delete the original panel schedule report (via the Project Browser) and then once again use Create Panel Schedule to re-write the panel schedule with the new template.

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Bill Johnson
Ideate Senior MEP Application Specialist

Bill has over 20 years experience in applying AEC design solutions for large commercial companies. A graduate of Pasadena Institute of Technology, he has worked for TEECOM Design Group, GTE/GTEL, Greg LeDoux and Associates, and Scottish Power in England. Bill has also had the opportunity to act as Lead AutoCAD Designer for multimillion dollar communication sites which have included structural, electrical, HVAC, conduit, cable plans and equipment layouts. He has a Sustainable Design Certification from the University of California at Berkeley.

Get it. Know it. Use it.

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 weeks:

9.18::San Francisco
Revit Architecture Families
9.20::Portland
Revit Architecture Families
9.24-26::San Francisco
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
9.24-26::San Jose
Civil 3D Fundamentals

Know your software. Sign up now!

Ideate, Inc. Publishes Jasmax and BVN Use Case Study in Success

SAN FRANCISCO, California – 09/11/2012 - Ideate, Inc., a leading Autodesk® Authorized Developer and Autodesk solutions provider offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the AEC industry, today announced the publication of a Study in Success specific to a use case of Ideate-developed software, Ideate BIMLink for Autodesk Revit.

The study, “BVN with Jasmax Makes 3.5 Million Combinations Workable in Minutes with Ideate BIMLink for Revit,” details how with the assistance of Ideate BIMLink, BVN Architecture of Australia in strategic partnership with Jasmax, New Zealand’s largest architectural practice, were able to manipulate, manage and harness about 3.5 million sunscreen element combinations to create a randomized pattern for a large building façade. The endeavor would have been next to impossible before the advent of Ideate BIMLink.

Specifically designed sun screens were required to maximize the shading efficiency of the façade, minimize the need for mechanical systems, and provide natural light while reducing glare and eye strain for building occupants.

Melanie Tristram, Jasmax Associate–Revit Manager, says of the use case, “The time saving represents more than the hours we did not have to spend. No one, certainly not our Revit users, wants their valuable time caught up in days of data entry. That process is unsatisfying and it is open to error. Ideate BIMLink improved our efficiency and accuracy.”

Jasmax Associate–BIM Specialist Michelle Leonard adds, “On each and every occasion that we wanted to explore a potential set of interactions, without BIMLink, we would have spent a day and a half of tedium. With BIMLink, we achieved each exploration in about half an hour.”

Bob Palioca, President, Ideate Inc. says about the Study in Success, “We take special pride in supporting sustainable design innovators such as Jasmax and BVN with Ideate-developed solutions for BIM, and we take special delight in sharing their successes with the worldwide AEC community.”

Ideate has published “BVN with Jasmax Makes 3.5 Million Combinations Workable in Minutes with Ideate BIMLink for Revit” online. Download the Study in Success at http://www.ideateinc.com/ideas/case.html.

About Ideate, Inc.
Ideate, Inc. is a leading Autodesk solutions provider, offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to AEC professionals. Established in 1992 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Ideate is recognized as a Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization. Ideate, Inc. operates five Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATC): San Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose, California; Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Ideate facilities are Autodesk Authorized Certification Centers, providing globally recognized certification courses for professionals who sell, service and support Autodesk products and solutions. For more information visit www.ideateinc.com

Ideate, Inc. is also a member of the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) with 25+ years experience in software development and specific focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM). Ideate BIMLink lets users pull data from an Autodesk Revit file into user-friendly Microsoft Excel and push Excel data into Revit with equal ease. www.ideatebimlink.com

Ideate Explorer for Revit is a simple, powerful Autodesk Revit add-on to explore, quantify and manage the 100,000+ building elements in a Revit model. www.ideateexplorer.com

Autodesk, ATC, and Revit, are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
 

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Life in the Cloud: Autodesk 360 Cloud Services

Autodesk has enhanced the online capabilities of AutoCAD software in 2013 and introduced a new cloud service called Autodesk 360.

In today’s blog post, Application Specialist Matt Miyamoto lets you know a little about Autodesk 360, and what you may already be getting for free. To get started, the first think you’ll need to do is create an account.

For those of you out there who are Subscription customers, the Autodesk 360 Cloud service includes some added benefits. For those of you who aren’t, these may be some reasons to reconsider.

Free Storage: With each seat of subscription, Autodesk provides 25 GB of free storage (3 GB for accounts without subscription) through the Autodesk 360 service. This can also be used for file sharing and review when you don’t have access to your internal network.

Mobile Apps (All Users): AutoCAD WS and Autodesk Design Review are two mobile apps that allow you to access and review your drawing files or DWF files directly from the cloud. Best of all, these apps are free, and compatible with Iphone, Ipad and Android devices.

Along with these come cloud computing services. Here’s a list of what’s available to you.

Note: Not all products are compatible with all services. See the table below for a list of compatible services and products.

Autodesk 360 Products and Services - Autodesk 360 products and services available to you.

Autodesk 360
(Subscription) 25 GB available (3 GB available without Subscription)

Autodesk 360 Rendering
(Subscription) You have used 0 cloud units of rendering.

Autodesk Green Building Studio Subscription
(Subscription) Take your designs beyond the desktop to perform faster, more accurate energy analysis, optimize energy efficiently, and improve the carbon footprint of multiple design options.

Autodesk 360 Energy Analysis for Autodesk Revit
(Subscription) Gain insight into energy consumption and building lifecycle costs early in the design process with cloud energy analysis tools that help you analyze design concepts and create more sustainable building designs.

AutoCAD WS
(Free) Edit DWG files on your mobile device or on the web using the AutoCAD WS app. Enable multiple users to edit the same file in real-time.

Autodesk Design Review mobile app
(Free) Review 2D and 3D DWF files on a mobile device. Redline and annotate 2D drawings while in the field or out of the office.

Autodesk 360 Structural Analysis for Autodesk Revit
(Subscription) Please note that your access to and use of the Structural Analysis service are subject to the terms and conditions accompanying the service. It is important that users monitor their use of the service and do not exceed any applicable usage limits that may exist from time to time. Autodesk reserves the right to change or limit free access and use rights.


Next time you’re using one of the 2013 products, make sure you check out the Autodesk 360 services that come with it.

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Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Ideate AEC 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. @MattM_PE

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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: 

9.13.12::Revit 201:
Stairs and Railings in Revit
9.18.12::Civil 3D 201:
Analysis for Master-Planning
9.20.12::Revit 201:
Converting Blocks to Families

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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The “Multi” in Multilayer Subassemblies

For users who have been working with the Corridor and Assembly tools in Civil 3D, you may have noticed that there were some changes made to some of the pre-defined SubAssemblies in the past releases. Between the 2009 and 2010 release, the LaneInsideSuper SubAssembly was updated to include more user defined options.

The 2009 version of this Subassembly included two layers of pavement, one layer of base course, and one layer of subbase, a fairly standard section for most road designs. As of the 2010 release, this SubAssembly was replaced with LaneInsideSuperMultilayer. The updated SubAssembly now has three pavement options, three base course options and four subbase options (inner and outer for the third layer of subbase). These added options provide much more flexibility for pavement section design, but also now require a lot more user input. In many cases, many of these added layers will be set to a thickness of 0, creating a section more similar to the 2009 version.

So what can we do about it?

Custom programming aside, there is a relatively easy way to modify and create a more simplified version of the new Multilayer SubAssembly using the Toolpalettes. 

One of the big advantages to using the Toolpalette in AutoCAD products is the fact that you can use the Drag and Drop method to add your own custom commands, blocks, and tools to your Toolpalette file. In the case of SubAssemblies, you can also modify the parameters of an existing SubAssembly (say pre-setting some layer thicknesses to 0) then drag and drop that to the Toolpalette for future use. That way, you’ve got the full functionality of the LaneInsideSuperMultilayer SubAssembly, with the unnecessary layers set to a 0.00 thickness by default. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of the process:

1. Create an Assembly in the drawing, using the LaneInsideSuperMultilayer component, with Pave2, Pave3, Base2, Base3, Subbase2, Subbase3 Inner and Subbase3 Outer set to 0.00
2. Save the drawing
3. Select the modified Multilayer SubAssembly, then drag and drop it back to the Toolpalette
4. Re-name the modified SubAssembly in the Toolpalette to clearly identify it from the original

Since Toolpalettes are user specific, only the system that you complete the process on will show the modified SubAssembly in the Toolpalette. If you want to share this with other users, save the drawing with the Assembly in it to a network location so they can open it and complete the drag and drop process to add it to their Toolpalette file as well. If you’ve been setting a lot of layer thicknesses to 0 when working with the new LaneInsideSuperMultilayer SubAssembly, give this a try and see if that helps streamline your Assembly creation process.

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Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Ideate AEC 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. @MattM_PE

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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 weeks:

9.10-12::Portland
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
9.10-12::San Francisco
Revit MEP Mechanical and Plumbing Fundamentals
9.20::Portland
Revit Architecture Families
9.24-26::San Francisco
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
9.24-26::San Jose
Civil 3D Fundamentals

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