December 22, 2016

What’s New with Revit Architecture Beyond the Basics

Hi folks, IX here, AEC Team Lead at Ideate, Inc.

As you read in my last post, Announcing Revit Architecture Families - Online, the team has been heavily focused on building new curriculum and bringing you best-in-class training. During one of our in-house service days, we reviewed our Revit Architecture course offerings, taking a hard look at our material to ensure all courses feature relevant workflows and best practices in order to maximize our students' time out of the office.

In this post, I would like to introduce to you to our new Revit Architecture Beyond the Basic Series. We have taken our very successful two-day class, and broken it up into a series of one-day classes that can be taken together or individually - at your convenience.

One of the reasons we decided to move to a series format is the fact that a high number of students taking our previous, two-day class had an immediate need for the content covered in either the first or the second day, but not necessarily both.  Additionally, as new versions of the software are released, there is more and more ground to cover in the limited time we have with our students.

The series will include three separate one-day classes: “Enhanced Modeling & Techniques,” “Collaboration & Coordination,” and “Model Management & Presentations”. This new format will give students the flexibility to engage with only the material relevant to them and more control over the amount of time they spend in training.

Let's take a closer look at the Revit Architecture Beyond the Basic Series.

Enhanced Modeling & Techniques
This class will be geared toward those about to embark on, or are already working on, Revit projects requiring more advanced modeling and workflow techniques. We will cover many topics essential to various phases of the design and documentation process.

Collaboration & Coordination
This class will focus on topics related to collaborating and coordinating Revit models, not just internally within your office, but with your consultants, as well. We will cover techniques and workflows necessary to collaborating effectively across entire project teams and disciplines.

Model Management & Presentations
This class will concentrate on topics related to establishing Revit model standards, whether project-specific or firm-wide. We will cover how to effectively manage visibility of elements, views, and materials in your Revit models. We will also cover advanced tools for the renderings and walkthroughs necessary for producing quality presentations.

In summary, depending on your project’s or your firm’s Revit requirements, you will now have the option to register for one, two, or all three days of this specialized Revit Architecture training series.

This series will be offered out of our Portland and San Francisco authorized training centers beginning in January. This is a very exciting time for our training department, and we look forward to the new opportunities we know 2017 will bring.

For a more in-depth look at our Revit Architecture Beyond the Basic Series be sure to take a look at our series outline.  To see all our other new Ideate training offerings, visit our classroom training page.

Until next time, Cheers,
IX

December 9, 2016

Announcing Revit Architecture Families - Online Training

Hi Folks, IX here, 

A lot has been happening in the Ideate world. Since my last post, I’ve been promoted to AEC Team Lead, but more importantly we’ve successfully launched a new virtual training platform. By extending our quality educational offerings online, we are able to keep up with the evolving demands of our industry. The Ideate team has worked hard to create a best-in-class virtual training experience for our students, including the completion of our recording room (lovingly known as the BOX).

Today, I’m proud to announce our next online open enrollment class offering: Revit Architecture Families. 

I can just hear you saying…. WHAT? An online Revit Architecture Families class?

How did Ideate come up with that?

Well, let me tell you the story. I kid you not, there I was one Friday night going home on MAX after a long week of working with the team and transitioning into my new position. I was winding down listening to Journey (Steve Perry NOT the other guy) when my cell rang. I looked down to find it was Bob Palioca calling. Well he’s the boss, so I can’t just let it go to voicemail, right? 

Here’s how the conversation went:

Eugene:
Hi, Bob, What’s up?

Bob:
Eugene! I’m out taking a walk around the neighborhood and a thought just came to me. What do you think about taking our very successful Revit Architecture Families classroom training and offering it as an online class? You know, Eugene, families are an integral part of making a successful transition to Revit and BIM!

Eugene:
You’re right Bob one of the many keys to a Revit model is the ability to create intelligent, parametric families. Creating usable/workable families in Revit could be considered the backbone of a successful model. I’ll look at the team’s schedule and see who would be the best fit to take on this project.

Bob:
No, No. I want you to take this on and run with it start-to-finish.

Eugene:
Okay I can do that. This will be a fun project to take on.

Well, okay, it didn’t happen exactly like that, but you can’t deny that creating usable/workable families in Revit is a must for a successful Revit Model and project deliverables. Plus, offering this class in an online format just makes good sense. Building on the success of our virtual Revit Fundamentals courses, the online Revit Architecture Families course focuses on the fundamentals and best practices of building usable/workable families for Revit Modeling.

Before I get into the actual Revit Architecture Families – Online class, though, let me tell you a little about how our online training works. 

Our training is broken down into four distinct sections:

• Topic Description/Lecture
• Topic Demonstration
• Topic Exercise
• Topic Assessment

Each section will be covered roughly 25 minutes, allowing the student to focus on the material in bite-sized chunks.

The Revit Architecture Families – Online class will be taught over two, four-hour, days. This will allow users to spend a half-day in training, with time left to focus on day-to-day tasks. 

Topics covered will include:

• Working with Solid and Void Forms
• Working with Reference Planes
• Tackling Project and Shared Parameters
• Guidelines for Family Organization

Now, looking to the Future. Our first Revit Architecture Families – Online class is scheduled for next week, December 15th & 16th. 

Additional online training opportunities include Revit for Interior Architecture, Revit MEP Families, Revit MEP Beyond the Basics (Project Set Up & Workflows), and AutoCAD Advanced. Needless to say, this is a very exciting time for our training department. 

I’m looking forward to teaching our inaugural Revit Architecture Families- Online class and I hope to see you there!

Cheers,
IX

Thank you for reading. For more information on the software solutions, training and consulting Ideate provides, please visit the Ideate Inc. website.

Eugene O'Day, IX
AEC Senior Application Specialist
Eugene A. O’Day, IX, with more than 25 years of architectural and mechanical experience, offers a trained focus on all things Revit and BIM. Teaching is a passion of his. Eugene has been an instructor in undergraduate degree programs, has traveled worldwide teaching Autodesk solutions to major corporations, has taught at accredited ATCs throughout the Northwestern region, and is a frequent and popular instructor, speaker, and presenter for AUGI® CAD Camps, Revit – and related product user groups. He has also been a trusted public school district advisor on new drafting instructor hires. At Ideate, Eugene provides training and support for Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and AutoCAD. Eugene is also a Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Professional.

December 7, 2016

Celebrating Bay Area Customers

We wouldn’t be here without our customers. The message may sound cliché, but only because it’s so true, and we at Ideate know it. Our work is interesting and rewarding because of our customers. We thank our customers throughout the year, and we look forward to each December when we bring them together with our team to express our gratitude, celebrate our accomplishments, and have a little fun.

On December 8, 2016, at 11:30 AM at Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, we are hosting our 6th annual Bay Area Customer Appreciation Party. We will honor our customers and celebrate in the spirit of the word “ideate,” which means to have or form an idea. From the spark of an idea through fruition, we work with customers to strengthen their businesses with building information modeling (BIM). Those ideas—the new, innovative ways of designing, building, and managing structures—create an energetic atmosphere at Ideate in which we all continue to learn, develop strong relationships, and make a positive difference to our teams, customers, and communities.

In addition to using BIM software at their own companies, several of our customers have worked to advance the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Owner industries by leading discussions at our user group meetings. At the party, Bob Palioca, Ideate president and CEO, will take the opportunity to formally thank them all and present them each with a gift. And of course, we will have food and fun … Bring your smile, because there will be a photo booth!

For more information about our Bay Area Customer Appreciation Party, contact Qatanna Palioca.