Ideate, Inc. Tech Team Member Earns Autodesk Revit 2014 Certified Instructor (ACI) Designation

SAN FRANCISCO, California, 7/1/2014 - Ideate, Inc., an Autodesk Gold Value Added Reseller, today announced that Ideate AEC Application Specialist Sash Kazeminejad, LEED AP, was awarded Autodesk Revit 2014 Autodesk Instructor Certification (ACI) as of June 9, 2014. Kazeminejad joins other Ideate AEC Application Specialists who have received the ACI designation: Gaurav Bagga, James Cowan and Ron Palma. 

As the cornerstone of the Autodesk Professional Excellence Program, the ACI program gives professional instructors globally recognized accreditation and provides these experts with the highest level of training on the use of Autodesk software. Each candidate for certification is required to have at least two years’ teaching experience prior to application and admission. It is designed to ensure that students leave the classroom competent and confident.

In order to teach Autodesk solutions, ACI certified instructors must meet standardized requirements. The program an instructor’s proficiency with Autodesk solutions and the instructor’s ability to train others.

Bob Palioca, President of Ideate, Inc. says of the new designation, “We are delighted Sash has made the outstanding achievement of attaining ACI status. Our customers are already familiar with his excellent listening, presentation, and teaching skills, as well as his energy, enthusiasm and in-depth knowledge of Autodesk solutions. The rigorous and focused ACI training can only enhance his knowledge and skill as an instructor. We congratulate him on his ongoing refinement of skills and mastery of fast-evolving technologies.”

About Ideate, Inc.
Ideate, Inc. is a leading Autodesk Authorized Developer with 25+ years’ experience in software development and specific focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM). As an Autodesk solutions provider, Ideate has offered quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industries since 1992. Headquartered in San Francisco, California and operating Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATCs) in California, Oregon and Washington, Ideate is recognized as an Autodesk Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization.

Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, 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.

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Your Ideas, Writ in Code – Annual Ideate BIMLink Survey

A big thanks to everyone who graciously gave us their input last month for the third annual Ideate BIMLink survey. Our winner from this year’s Ideate BIMLink survey is Trent Best of Rosendin Electric. Enjoy that iPad mini Trent! 

When you purchase Ideate BIMLink you’re buying not only a piece of software, but also the email support, online classes, and development efforts that are on-going. For example, your past input has resulted in the following “point” releases:

2013.0 :: March 2012, Revit 2013 ships, and so do we, with new and improved workflows!

2013.1 :: August 2012 – improvements for ease of network deployments

2013.2 :: December 2012 – Top 3 user requests added plus many improvements.

2014.0 :: March 2013 – Revit 2014 ships and so does Ideate BIMLink 2014.0

2013.4/2014.1 :: July 2013 – We provide improvements for both 2014 and 2013 users. What’s New Video

2013.5/2014.1 :: Give us a bit of time, we just got your feedback!

In addition to some great ideas about how to make Ideate BIMLink even more useful, users are reporting an average of ***23.7 hours saved per project***, meaning that for most customers they re-coup their initial investment within the first project. Sign-up for online training to learn how you can make the most of Ideate BIMLink.

Missed the survey? You can always provide your input from within the Help menu.

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Glynnis Patterson is a registered architect and the Director of Software Development at Ideate, Inc.

Revit Best Practices, from the Factory

Autodesk recently updated their Revit Model Performance Technical Note for version 2014. This document contains a wealth of information related to optimizing Revit files and is highly recommended for all BIM Managers who are using Revit.

Here’s just one example, that can be found under the “Revit Model Optimization and Best Practices” section.

Ideate Explorer for Revit can be used to find Arrays and other problem areas, as shown.

Use Ideate Explorer to select all your Arrays at once and then use the ungroup option as recommended by Autodesk for improved performance. You can find “Revit 2014 Model Performance Technical Note” and other Revit-related white papers on our website.

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Glynnis Patterson is a registered architect and the Director of Software Development at Ideate, Inc.

Improved Stair Functionality in Revit 2014

Throughout the Ideate series of Revit 2014 Blogs and Videos Ideate has introduced a number new functionalities within the Revit product. In continuation of this series Ideate brings you an improvement to the component stairs introduced in Revit 2013. Stairs and railings are a continuing multi-year project with this year's improvements being made to seven areas within the component stairs.

Additional Location Line options: Revit 2013 introduced the ability of sketching component stairs by selecting a location line other than the center of the run. Specifying the left or right side of the stair run allowed designers to sketch a run of stair along a wall. New to Revit 2014, two additional location line options are available and the three existing location lines readjusted. Location lines now include Exterior Support: Left, Run: Left, Run: Center, Run: Right, and Exterior Support: Right. Now designers are able to sketch on the exterior sides of stair support elements, on either side of a run, or down the center of the run, opening up a number of options for sketching stair runs. Figure 1.

Figure 1

 

Modify the run width before or after stair creation: Prior to Revit 2013, the width of a stair run could be set in the Properties Palette. In Revit 2013, the minimum run width was set in the stair's Type Properties. In Revit 2014, the width of the stair can be set in the Actual Run Width option in the Options bar. Additionally after a run is created, it can be selected in it's sketch mode and the width of the run modified with grips or by using a width temporary dimension. Figure 2.

Figure 2

Modify the Landing Shape: Automatic Landings include new control grips to modify the landing leg length. This is the point where the landing connects to the run. Figure 3.

Automatic Landing Reshaping Behavior: Initially when an automatic landing is created, the edge of the automatic landing remains flush with the edge of a stair run. In Revit 2014, control grips are available along the edges of the landing to change the shape of the landing. Additionally modifying a run will also modify the landing shape . Figure 3.

Figure 3

Automatic Landing Creation: When creating a U-shaped/switchback stair that includes varying run widths, the automatic landing is initially created with a depth equal to the width of the narrowest run. The landing depth can be modified after the stair runs and landing are created through the control grips along the edges of the landing.

Accurate Modifications: Temporary dimensions are now available when modifying a run's width, the landing depth on a U-shaped/switchback stair, the radius of a spiral stair, and the distance between stair components. At the time of run creation, listening dimensions are available for both straight runs and arc runs. Figure 4.

Figure 4

Snapping reference Improvement: More snapping capabilities are available during the creation and modification of stair components. For example, run to run vertical, horizontal, parallel, and perpendicular snapping is available when dragging the stair path end point. Figure 5.

Figure 5

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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.

Ideate, Inc. Announces 2014 Release of Ideate-Developed Software Concurrent with Autodesk Launch

SAN FRANCISCO, California – 04/23/2013 – Ideate, Inc. announced today the delivery of Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Explorer for Revit 2014. The release of both Ideate-developed solutions takes place as it traditionally does within 30 days of the Autodesk Revit product launch. Ideate BIMLink 2014.0 and Ideate Explorer for Revit 2014.0 have been ported to the 2014 Revit platform so that Ideate customers can begin their own software migration and testing processes for the Autodesk Revit 2014 platforms. 

This year Revit 2014 has several improvements that relate to the information, the “I,” in Building Information Modeling (BIM). See Ideate’s blog post on this topic: Revit 2014 Feature Review: More Data Liberated! Ideate has ensured that both Ideate Explorer for Revit and Ideate BIMLink support any changes to the data structures within the Revit file format. Further support of new workflows for Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (A/E/C/O) customers is currently in development for Ideate 2014.1 releases. Both Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Explorer for Revit have five star ratings on the Autodesk Exchange Apps Store. 

Ideate BIMLink is being released with new improvements including multi-category Area, Length, and Volume data for all Revit model categories, including system families. This improvement, along with other customer requests, is available for both the Revit 2013 and Revit 2014 version of Ideate BIMLink. A 30 day non-commercial trial is available: http://www.ideatebimlink.com/index.php/free-trial/

Ideate Explorer for Revit enables users to catalog or “index” all the elements within a project, including elements not found within the Project Browser and elements that are invisible. A 30 day non-commercial trial is available: http://ideateexplorer.com/free-trial/

Bob Palioca, President, Ideate Inc. says of Ideate BIMLink and Ideate Explorer for Revit 2014, “We are seeing our Ideate-developed software become integral to the standards of firms large and small. Changed workflows are an indicator of the value of our solutions to our customers. Being concurrent each and every year with the Autodesk launch is an important commitment. It is one of the ways we make sure our customers get maximum productivity from their software solutions.” 

About Ideate, Inc.
Ideate, Inc. is a leading Autodesk Authorized Developer with 25+ years’ experience in software development and specific focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM) and is an Autodesk solutions provider offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the AEC industry since 1992. Headquartered in San Francisco, California and operating five Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATCs) in the northwestern U.S., Ideate is recognized as an Autodesk Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization.

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. 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. 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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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.
 

Get it. Know it. Use it.