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: 

4.2.13::Navisworks 201:
Worksharing Best Practices
4.9.13::Revit 201:
Revit for Interior Designers
4.15.13::Civil 101:
Civil 3D for Beginners

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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Autodesk 2014 Portfolio – Expand Opportunity…

Win Business With Enhanced Solutions 

For 2014, Autodesk solutions for Building Information Modeling (BIM), Digital Prototyping, and Digital Entertainment Creation provide strong business value with powerful toolsets that facilitate your company’s growth. The 2014 Autodesk portfolio incorporates products, suites and cloud-based services to help you achieve greater time efficiencies, enhanced workflows, and improved multidisciplinary collaboration. 

Get The Info You Need From Ideate, Inc. 

• Events: Workflow Enhancements
  with 2014 Autodesk Products 
• Ideate Experts – Our Take on Key
  Features and Workflows 
• Autodesk Subscription + 360 
• Technical Support – Transitioning to 2014 
• Ideate Software – Ideate BIMLink and
  Ideate Explorer for Revit 2014 

Start Exploring The Autodesk 2014 Portfolio 

ideateinc.com/2014

And Stay Informed 

Ideate will be bringing you the latest-breaking 2014 portfolio news and updates, so follow us and check in frequently.
 

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Autodesk and Windows 8

UPDATE: In Ideate’s blog post Windows 8 and Autodesk Products posted on 10.24.12, Ideate said that Autodesk products were not supported on Windows 8 operating system. 

GOOD NEWS – Autodesk 2014 Products are Supported on Windows 8

Please note that if you are using 2014 products and 2013 products on the same machine, you may run into a .NET 4.5 issue. For 2013 products, make sure you have all the Autodesk software updates installed. For 2012 Revit products, please refer to the following hotfix: 

Hotfix – Autodesk Revit 2012 – Ribbon Behavior Due to .Net 4.5 Installation

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David Haynes, NCARB, PMP, LEED AP
Ideate Director of Consulting

David is a Registered Architect, Project Management Certified Professional, who previously had his own architectural practice and was President of a commercial design-build construction company for 15 years. A graduate of University of Arizona, he has worked as an Architect, contractor, developer and as a national construction manager for a national retailer. David currently provides business process analysis, virtualization and change management solutions for AEC clients across the United States involved in the design and building industry. Follow David on Twitter: @dhaynestech

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Renaming and Renumbering in Revit, Simplified with Ideate BIMLink

One of the more tedious and labor-intensive BIM tasks confronting architects and engineers is the act of renumbering or renaming elements. We’ve had customers who require that all of the system families, for example, are prefixed with their company name. So instead of “Wall: 1-HR” we need “Wall: ABC_1-HR.” Likewise, even simple design changes can set off a chain reaction that requires significant renumbering of details, views, or equipment. Many times furnishings, fixtures, and equipment need to be renumbered in the middle of a project because new rooms or floors have been added, and the equipment numbering needs to align with the room and floor numbering schemas. 

Naming and numbering tasks can also be driven by an owner requirement for external database compatibility. The COBie specification, which is now mandated for federal government projects in the US, is a prime example of this. For those of you not familiar with COBie you can learn more at the Whole Building Design Guide website. The COBie Guide* makes it clear that “During design, the Architect shall be responsible to resolve all conflicts in duplicative naming by their own staff and all consulting engineers.” This sounds like a very daunting task but with Ideate BIMLink you can turn a day-long project into a (5) minute task.

This video demonstrates how Ideate BIMLink can be used to create and manage the unique type, component, and space naming requirements mandated by this COBie specification.



(View video on YouTube)

For information on other kinds of renumber tasks, refer also to our Door Numbering blog post.

A typical COBie project will require at least (4) iterations: 

• one for 35% Design Development, 
• another at 100% Construction Documentation, 
• another at the Beneficial Occupancy stage, 
• and lastly within the As-Built documents

That’s a lot of data entry! 

Whether your renaming/renumbering task is driven by COBie or any other reason let Ideate BIMLink + Excel do the heavy lifting and put your architects and engineers onto higher order tasks.

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Glynnis Patterson is a registered architect and the Director of Software Development at Ideate, Inc. In a previous life Glynnis spent many hours looking at blueprints with a scale, highlighters, and a scratch pad to develop detailed cost estimates.

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: 

3.26.13::Revit 201:
Worksharing Best Practices
4.15.13::Civil 101:
Civil 3D for Beginners

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

Get It. Know It. Use It.

COBie + Revit – The Skinny from Ideate

I enjoyed making the rounds to the COBie + Revit community in the Bay Area this week; taking the opportunity to share my recent research into this topic with design and construction professionals at the Sacramento, East Bay, and San Francisco Revit user groups. My presentation focused on where COBie requirements intersect with BIM and then specifically how the Autodesk Revit Toolkit and Ideate BIMLink support managing this information.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, here are some the links I shared during my presentation.

What is COBie?

Sample Revit Files and COBie Output

COBie Toolkit for Revit
 
Renaming and Renumbering, Simplified –
an Ideate BIMLink+COBie Example

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Glynnis Patterson is a registered architect and the Director of Software Development at Ideate, Inc. In a previous life Glynnis spent many hours looking at blueprints with a scale, highlighters, and a scratch pad to develop detailed cost estimates.

Top Ten Autodesk Software Support Queries: Requests 6-10

On Monday we published the first five of the top ten support requests that come into Ideate Technical support. Today, the long-awaited, highly-anticipated 6-10 requests present themselves for your reading pleasure (and bookmarking reference convenience):

As Support manager here at Ideate we see a lot of general Autodesk cases come in, some of which are repeat questions or issues. Bradley, Ideate’s Technical Support Dispatcher, and I have come up with a list of our top ten.  The first line of support often deals with new Features, Network Licensing setup as well as troubleshooting Installations. Please take a look at the most common issues we see:

6. Cross Platform Licensing Designating Mac/PC for AutoCAD Autodesk supports a mixture of Operating Systems to run the software as standalone or network on workstations including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Complete the Cross-Platform Licensing form to designate the mixture you would like to run. This will allow a download of the preferred version of the software.
7. Network License of Software Requires a Server Setup The most versatile license type by Autodesk is the Network license. This allows unlimited workstation installations to pull a license when needed from the pool of available seats. This requires the install of a License Manager on a designated Server hosting the license file. The License Manager must be setup before the software on the workstations so it can point to the Server during a Network installation. Use Ideate’s Step by Step Autodesk Network Licensing Guide for help on setting everything up properly.
8. Installing the Software as Standalone, Network or Trial During installation there are three specific choices to make – either Standalone, Network or Trial. After downloading the software or using media to run the .exe and click Install you are asked to designate the License Type. Standalone only requires the Serial Number and Product Key. Network needs to be able to see the Server that is hosting the license and Trial is a fully functioning version of the software for 30 days that reverts to a viewer after this time. It’s helpful to reference the Autodesk software installation steps with screenshots.
9. Invalid Serial Number or Product Key During Installation The first issue many of our customers run into is a red X indicating the Serial Number or Product Key is incorrect. The most common mistake is caused by the wrong software or version being installed. Serial Number and Product Key for 2012 is different than the one for 2013 and AutoCAD is a different installation than AutoCAD MEP. Always be sure to download the correct software from Subscription Center or use the correct physical product box. Also, have a look at the Autodesk licensing issues knowledge base.
10. Downloading the Trial Revit as the All-in-One Version Customers occasionally need access to software immediately and are unable to download software from Subscription Center or the media has not arrived yet. Downloading the trial is a quick and easy way to get the software going and can easily be converted into a full version. The trial download uses the same prompts and can be activated using a valid Serial Number and Product Key for Standalone or Network. The issue with Revit products is that only the Building Design Suite version with the all-in-one features is available. This means you cannot download a trial of Revit MEP or Revit Architecture to activate, it must be from the media or download. Here is a link for the free Autodesk Revit trial.

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Derek Wielkopolski
Ideate 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

Bradley Cooley
Technical Support Dispatcher
Bradley earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon, the Portland, Oregon campus, where his special research and design emphasis was on production facilities including wineries, breweries and distilling. Bradley’s professional experience has a design build services for residential construction and environmental graphics focus. Within his community, he volunteers as a youth athletics coach. As an Ideate tech team member, Bradley provides customer service by phone and online assistance for software installation and functionality. He is based in the Ideate Portland, Oregon office.

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:

3.20-22::Sacramento
Revit MEP Electrical Fundamentals
3.26-28::Seattle
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
4.2-4::Portland
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
4.3-5::San Francisco
AutoCAD Fundamentals

Know your software. Sign up now!

Top Ten Autodesk Software Support Queries: Requests 1-5

As Support manager here at Ideate we see a lot of general Autodesk cases come in, some of which are repeat questions or issues. Bradley, Ideate’s Technical Support Dispatcher, and I have come up with a list of our top ten.  The first line of support often deals with new Features, Network Licensing setup as well as troubleshooting Installations. Please take a look at the most common issues we see:

1. License Cascading What’s license cascading? License cascading is the ability for network licenses to float from one product to the other. For example, my license file has seats of AutoCAD and seats of the Building Design Suite Premium. My install of AutoCAD is from the BDSP; and because of license cascading it will pull from the pool of AutoCAD licenses first until all seats of AutoCAD are taken. Once all of those seats are in use it will then cascade up to the BDSP licenses. In general, cheaper products’ licenses are pulled first then cascade up to the more expensive ones. Be sure to bookmark Autodesk’s official license cascading order list.
2. Autodesk 360 Setup and Configuration Autodesk 360 is a cloud-computing platform with various features such as storage, collaboration, visualization, and simulation tools. It’s available for Subscription and non-Subscription customers and its features vary by different products. More information can be found by reading the Autodesk 360 FAQs.
3. License Switching Between Standalone and Network Occasionally users will need to switch their current installation from standalone/trial to network or vice versa. The best practice is to do a complete uninstall/reinstall. But there are some instances where this isn’t an option. There is a workaround that involves going into the registry and can be used in a pinch if need be. Keep in mind – Ideate does NOT support this method and advises only users who are comfortable and knowledgeable about the registry to perform the Standalone to Network workaround.
4. System Requirements Technology is a fast paced industry and computer hardware is changing constantly. As a result software requirements are changing just as quickly to take advantage of all that new computing power. Make sure your machine is up-to-snuff. And keep in mind; minimum system requirements are just that – minimum. Future-proof your purchase by going above and beyond, make sure there’s room for expansion – i.e. extra slots available for more RAM. It’s also helpful to get familiar with the System requirements for Autodesk products.
5. Supported Graphics Hardware We’re discovering more and more often the importance of a properly matching OS, video card and video card driver. Issues you wouldn’t even think would be related to graphics hardware like crashing are often resolved by checking the driver version. See if your card is certified and where to find the accompanying certified driver.

Be sure to tune in on March 20th for Ideate’s Top Technical Support Requests 6-10!

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Derek Wielkopolski
Ideate 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

Bradley Cooley
Technical Support Dispatcher
Bradley earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon, the Portland, Oregon campus, where his special research and design emphasis was on production facilities including wineries, breweries and distilling. Bradley’s professional experience has a design build services for residential construction and environmental graphics focus. Within his community, he volunteers as a youth athletics coach. As an Ideate tech team member, Bradley provides customer service by phone and online assistance for software installation and functionality. He is based in the Ideate Portland, Oregon office.

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: 

3.18.13::Ideate Software 101:
Revit Project Management with Ideate BIMLink
3.26.13::Revit 201:
Worksharing Best Practices
4.15.13::Civil 101:
Civil 3D for Beginners

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

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:

3.20-22::Sacramento
Revit MEP Electrical Fundamentals
3.26-28::Seattle
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
4.3-5::San Francisco
AutoCAD Fundamentals

Know your software. Sign up now!

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: 

3.12.13::Revit 201:
Revit Import Into 3ds Max
3.18.13::Ideate Software 101:
Revit Project Management with Ideate BIMLink

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

Get It. Know It. Use It.

Trouble Shooting Difficult Drawing Files

Insert your own comments here:

“I have a corrupt file what do I do?”
“My file keeps crashing how can I fix it?”
“AutoCAD keep crashing my file, what do I do?”
“!@#$%^& CAD file!”

…and the list goes on. Here are some troubleshooting tips that we at Ideate Technical Support go through to help you get your file working.

STEP 1. If you are able to open the drawing, use -PURGE to purge out Regapps, Zero length geometry, and Empty Text Objects.
 
Regapps are basically residual connections made between AutoCAD and some external applications such as AutoLISP, ObjectARX, .NET etc. When a connection is no longer needed, the regapp remains in the drawing database.
 
Zero-length objects are essentially lines, arcs, and polylines that have been modified such that the endpoint of one end is grip stretched on top of the opposite endpoint to “erase/remove” the line, arc, or polyline from the drawing. The residual object is still in the drawing database.
 
Empty Text Objects are text elements that have been edited such that the [Backspace] key was used to remove the text characters.
 
STEP 2. Use PURGE next. In the dialog box select the View items you cannot purge radio button. Under the Blocks and Layers sections look for items that may have the word “$AUDIT-BAD” in them such as $AUDIT-BAD-Layer, or $AUDIT-BAD-Block.
 
$AUDIT-BAD-Layer items are often objects drawn on the DEFPOINTS Layer. Use QSELECT to locate these objects, delete them and PURGE them out.
 
$AUDIT-BAD-Block are similar to BAD Layers. It may be geometry within a block created on the DEFPOINTS layer to remove use the -PURGE command to purge Blocks. This should remove them.
 
STEP 3. If you are able to open the drawing after using the -PURGE and PURGE commands use AUDIT to audit and fix the drawing.
 
STEP 4. If AUDIT did not work OR the file was not able to be opened, use the RECOVER command to open and attempt to recover the problem drawing.
 
STEP 5. If Recover does not work then try starting a new drawing using the ACAD.dwt file as this is a clean empty stock file. Use INSERT to insert the bad drawing and explode it. Next use the AUDIT command to verify it is “clean.”
 
STEP 6. If this still doesn’t work there is one last thing that I have had success with on occasion. If you have AutoCAD Map 3D, try the above steps with this product as it has some advanced cleanup features. Unfortunately in the event AutoCAD Map 3D cannot recover the file there is a high probability that the file cannot be recovered. In the event you do not have AutoCAD Map 3D, ask the Ideate support team to look the file over with AutoCAD Map 3D and try to recover the file. There are no guarantees that we can recover it but it may be worth a shot.
 

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Ron Palma
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Ron has over 24 years of experience in the architectural industry as a drafter, designer, lead project designer, trainer, and a CAD manager implementing Autodesk Architectural Solutions for a residential design firm. His instructional background includes being an Autodesk Certified Instructor, trainer, support technician, educator at Portland and Clackamas Community Colleges, as well as a U.S. Army certified instructor where he was a senior instructor at Ft Lewis Washington. Ron is a member of the Oregon Army National Guard and platoon sergeant, training and mentoring soldiers in their careers. Ron is a published writer and continues to author professional technical training manuals and shorts for AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit. As an Autodesk Certified Instructor, Ron provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. Follow Ron @RonPalmaAEC.

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:

3.6-8::Portland
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
3.6-8::San Francisco
Civil 3D Fundamentals
3.11-12::Sacramento
Revit Beyond the Basics
3.13-15::San Francisco
AutoCAD Fundamentals

Know your software. Sign up now!

Are You Using the Mosaic Community?

If you are a Revit, Civil 3D or Inventor user, Autodesk has a community where training videos and blog posts for your product can be found. This is known as the Mosaic Community. In your software application select the drop-down arrow beside the Help button in the upper right, then click the Mosaic Community option. This will open the Mosaic web page where you can configure it to filter for the kind of information that applies to your product and industry. There are many helpful items to be found – have a look around and check them all out!

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Ron Palma
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Ron has over 24 years of experience in the architectural industry as a drafter, designer, lead project designer, trainer, and a CAD manager implementing Autodesk Architectural Solutions for a residential design firm. His instructional background includes being an Autodesk Certified Instructor, trainer, support technician, educator at Portland and Clackamas Community Colleges, as well as a U.S. Army certified instructor where he was a senior instructor at Ft Lewis Washington. Ron is a member of the Oregon Army National Guard and platoon sergeant, training and mentoring soldiers in their careers. Ron is a published writer and continues to author professional technical training manuals and shorts for AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit. As an Autodesk Certified Instructor, Ron provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. Follow Ron @RonPalmaAEC.

Get it. Know it. Use it.