Revit Road Map

I did not expect to see the first ever public road map of where Revit is going to be published on the Autodesk Community porthole. They say it better than I can summarize so go check it out and see if they plan to give want you want.

Find the road map here....

Revit Road Map

Steven Shell's New Blog Rocks

I had the pleasure to meet Steven Shell in person for the first time at the Central States Revit Workshop. He is a dynamic architect, performer, and instructor. Dog gone it, he is fascinating to watch and listen to. 

All that being said, please check out his new blog BIM: Integrating Art & Technology.

Just 4 days ago, he coined "BIM - Business Improvement Model". Check out more of his insightful thoughts and impressive designs right away, and then please eat a donut.

The New Nightmare 20 Years later

I was looking for something completely different, when in the company archives, I found a hard copy of a presentation by John F. Hill from HNTB given on August 6th 1992 titled "CADD Risk Management: The New Nightmare".

I laughed, I cried, I realized some of the things we were scared of back then turned out to be ridiculous and others are the same things we are scared of today. 

Below are some selected screen shots from the presentation. Here's to the New Nightmare 20 years later.

Revit - Rooms vs. Spaces

The more I use Revit, the more I want to leverage the information in it. Lately, that has been in the form of calculations for my firm. Today, room area calcs. The architect set up the rooms to calculate the room area from the face of wall. We need a little bigger number electrically to maximize light per square foot, so we want to run these calcs form the center of wall instead. This is easy to change for rooms by changing a setting in the Area and Room Computations dialog.

No matter what we did, we could not get the spaces to also jump out to the wall center as well. A quick look in the Help file exposed the reason why, andwe also picked up a few facts worth knowing and passing along.

So straight out of the Help file, here are things to consider about how Revit Architecture and Revit MEP Share Information when you link a Revit Architecture project to a Revit MEP project.

• Spaces (created in Revit MEP) can be bounded by elements in linked models, in the host model, or in both.
• Spaces are affected by room separation lines. Rooms are not affected by space separation lines.
• Spaces are measured from the wall finish face.
• In Revit MEP, spaces use the computation height that is defined in the architectural model. See Computation Height.
• A space understands in which room of a linked model it resides, and it can report the identity of that room. This information is based on relative locations, not on a link to a specific room ID.
• Multiple spaces can access the identity of a single room in a linked model.
• Rooms can exist in design options. (See Design Options and Rooms.) Spaces cannot exist in design options.
• If the architectural model changes, spaces are not deleted in the host MEP model. Spaces can become unenclosed, redundant, or ambiguous, as they would if the same changes were made in the host model.
• Modification of one model does not propagate to linked models. If the architectural model and the MEP model link to each other, changes to the architectural model may not be matched by changes in the MEP model until the MEP model is opened, resaved, and reloaded.

Project BIMbo

As the Founder and President of the BIM Board of Omaha (commonly known as BIMbo), Imagine my surprise this morning when reading Zach Kron's blog Buildz and seeing the image below.

I shouldn't blame anyone but myself for naming a progressive group of BIM enthusiasts looking to push the envelope such a clever and humorous name. The sad truth is, I am not so clever, or the first person to want to brand something with the BIMbo name.

There are fountain drinks...

Breads....

and ice cream treats...

And from my Friend Robin Z

Clearly, BIM has perminated our society far deeper than I have realized. Go BIM!

BIM Lawsuit goes after MEP Firm

I came across this article recently in Architectural Record regarding a lawsuit in which the contractor used BIM against the design team and won. Well worth the read, although I don't think anyone should live in fear of law suits, firms need to be informed and communicate at all times.

How to Know Everything Revit MEP

Mastering Revit MEP can take years. The software accurately models in three dimensions, runs analysis, performs interference checks, and creates construction documents for HVAC, plumbing, lighting and power designs. When trying to learn everything there is to know about Revit MEP, it is not hard to miss the ever increasing number of developments, add-ins, and third party packages that can take your designs to the next level. Three to five years ago, simply using Revit MEP could have won a job. These days’ MEP firms are having to one up the next guy. Simply having a three dimensional model isn’t enough. It’s no place for the technology challenged, but it is also an opportunity for the technology savvy with their eye on the latest developments. This article will explore how to stay on top of the latest developments and fill you in what’s already out there to be leveraged for Revit MEP users.

Knowing What You Don’t Know

How does one stay informed on the latest and greatest developments in the CAD world? Reading AUGIWorld is a great start, but it will take the power of the internet to keep up these days. There are so many great sites and so much data out there, it can be hard to sift thought it all to actually find relevant information. Here are some suggestions.

Take a half hour every work day just to research. It is so easy to be in fire fighting mode all the time. There never seems to be a shortage of things going wrong. If it means coming in early or staying a little late, turn off your phone and email, set a timer and explore the internet for something new.

Join AUGI and follow the Revit MEP Forums. Ask questions or just mine the valuable information, tips and tricks, family specific help, and the official Revit MEP Wish list found there.

Whenever you find a blog or website that has good information, follow it. Some will send email alerts when there are new posts, most have RSS feeds.

Use a RSS reader to bring your data together. I use Google Reader, but there are others. A good reader will allow you one stop shopping for the blogs and websites you visit most.

Follow the authors and rock stars of the Revit MEP world. Do they tweet? If they do, I bet the information is timely.

Use Google Alerts to receive an email when ever there is something of interest posted on the internet. Create alerts for things like; BIM, IFC, Revit MEP Add-in, Kyle Bernhardt, Shawn Zirbes, Revit connectors, anything or one at all that interests you. These alerts can be sent to your email or straight to Google Reader.

Add the Autodesk Press Room to your RSS reader or receive emails. Go to http://pressreleases.autodesk.com/ to find out what Autodesk is up to the second they release it.

Autodesk Labs is constantly thinking of the unbelievable. Check out there web page at http://labs.autodesk.com. Just last month they released an ASHRAE viewer plug-in for Revit MEP that allows users to access the ASHRAE Duct Fitting database for viewing data and illustrations to determine pressure loss coefficients through standard duct fittings.

Talk to other people. Other people think differently than you, which means they solve problems in a way you may not have thought of. It also means they may know something that you do not. These people are in your office, and they are outside of your office. Go to the user group meetings (start one if you have to). These people are facing the same issues as you, looking for the same types of information as you, and they have these meeting just to share the solutions you need. You can also make contacts with CAD/BIM smarty-pants at ASHRAE, CSI, IEEE or any other MEP oriented group meeting. The point is go out there and meet people.

Get training. Your reseller likely offers great training and is in touch with the latest trends. CAD Camp is rolling out this month. Autodesk University has the greatest collection of Revit MEP geeks in the world.

You Tube. Can’t beat it for just in time training. Autodesk has its own channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Autodesk, and users all over the globe are posting incredibly helpful videos of just about everything.

What You Might have Missed

What kinds of information can you expect to find for all this poking around? Here are some tidbits I have been following.

Eastcoast has put out an add-in to Revit MEP to export Revit duct, fittings, and accessories into AutoCAD MEP. This workflow allows for tweaking in AutoCAD MEP, exporting to Eascoast’s Ductmaker software then out to a plasma cutter. This is a real exciting development for sheet metal subs, who have been getting more Revit MEP files and less AutoCAD MEP. Now they can continue to use the time tested technology Eastcoast CAD/CAM first put out nearly six years ago. Find out more about Eastcoast’s workflow for Revit MEP by going to http://www.eccadcam.com/software_solutions/autocad_mep_fabrication_workflow.shtml.

FAB mep+ from Map has a similar add-in that allows for the export of Revit duct, fittings, and accessories into the MAP software suite of products which can convert those entities’ to fabrication standards for accurate estimating, procurement and manufacture. This software maps a Revit elements to a standard duct entity. This system can go a long way towards quantifying the sheet metal, but falls short on exact clash detection and the post design tweaking that Eastcoast’s software allows in AutoCAD MEP. Find out more about FAB mep+ by visiting http://www.map-software.com/solutions/fabmep-autodesk-revit-to-map-software-conversion-application.

CADworks has a product called BIMXchange which is a web based content browser that runs inside of Revit MEP. It acts as a gateway to CADworks Revit  library of over 20,000  generic, and manufacturer specific families. Some of these families, like Bell and Gossett pumps are only available through the BIMXchange interface. Their solution keeps the content in the CADworks cloud and can include the content already created by a firm by loading it up to the CADworks cloud. That content is downloaded by individually licensed users as the content is required for each project. CADworks takes a service approach by licensing the use of the browser and not charging for the individual content. This may help CADworks in securing deals with content manufactures. CADworks does make high quality families, but some users may find that generic content is preferable in design. Find out more about CADworks BIMXchange by going to http://www.cadworks.net/products/bimxchange.

Can We Talk?

Change is inevitable and it is accelerating. Keeping in tune with change will not only keep you prepared for the future and help your firm make smarter decisions; it can also be the difference between survival and surrender in a world that is increasingly information driven. Over the last few years Revit’s API has become more and more open, allowing for third party applications of all kinds to add value to the base program. Whether it is better integration with specifications, faster content selection and management, or even other Autodesk programs and services like Green Building Studio, Vasari, and Ecotect, the days of information trapped in a single program really can’t existing anymore. The “I” in BIM is where the value really lies, and what better way to truly share information than to allow other applications to plug directly into Revit MEP and vice versa. At this point, It doesn’t matter if it is IFC, gbxml, AUGI, a Google search, or a RSS reader, the information is flowing and we all need to tap to go forward.

Revit MEP How to Create a Lighting Fixture Schedule

This just came out in the March issue of AUGIWorld or read it directly below.


Revit MEP offers many advantages compared to two dimensional CAD programs. A big advantage is the ability to quantify Revit objects in schedules. Knowing exactly what you have in a model at all times and knowing that number is correct, brings a level of confidence that enhances the design. Out of the box, a user need only understand the scheduling function in Revit to start leveraging that data inherent in the model. As firms get savvier with the software, the out of the box families may not provide all the required information for a complete schedule. This article will demonstrate all the components required to create a functioning lighting fixture schedule with custom data. The instruction shown here can be equally applied to any schedulable family in Revit.

Revit schedules report data that is contained in families. The first step to creating a good schedule is knowing what information is required in the schedule. In this case lighting fixtures are scheduled and the data required is fixture number, manufacturer, catalog number, lamp quantity, lamp type, volts, mounting, description, and remarks.

Now that the required information is quantified, for each parameter a decision has to be made between making it a “Type” parameter or an “Instance” parameter. Type parameters will be common to every fixture of that type. Instance parameters can be different for every instance placed in the model. Consider process when making decisions here. It may be common practice to use one family to represent to very similar yet different fixtures. If this is the case the fixture number must be an instance parameter because it has to represent to different fixtures. What will work best for different firms will take careful consideration. For this example the parameters have been broken down as indicated below. 

Instance parameters

            Fixture Number

Manufacturer

            Catalog Number

Lamp Quantity

Comments

Type parameters

            Mounting

            Lamp Type   

Volts

If the out of the box family “Troffer Light – 2x4 Parabolic” is placed in an empty project without using a template the only parameters available when creating a new schedule are the manufacturer and lamp type. That leaves quite a few blanks from the list above. This is because Revit schedules are looking for Project parameters and Shared parameters only.

Shared Parameters

For a shared parameter to function it must first be associated with shared parameters file associated with the project. It must also be added to each family of the category Lighting Fixture in this case. Create a new shared parameter by clicking the Shared Parameters tool on the Manage tab of the ribbon and add it to the list.

Project Parameters

Shared parameters can be made into project parameters, by going to the Manage tab of the ribbon and selecting the Project Parameters tool. The advantage of project parameters is that they are automatically attached to categories of Revit families. If a project parameter of Mounting is created and assigned to the category of lighting fixtures, every light fixture inserted into the project will contain the parameter of Mounting. This is helpful when a combination of company families is being used with out of the box content and families found from other sources. They can all be scheduled the same. If project parameters are placed in the company standard template, the user need only place fixtures to start making the lighting fixture schedule. The down side may be a normal MEP firm may have 100-200 different standard schedules; the parameters required for the schedules may number in the thousands, making the shared parameters file quite large and difficult to navigate. A good naming convention can help elevate this problem.

For this example, project parameters will be used. Here comes a long succession of dialogs, but hang in there, it will all work out in the end. Start by selecting Project Parameters from the Manage tab of the ribbon. This will bring up the Project Parameters dialog; click the Add… button to open the Parameter Properties dialog. In this dialog check the Shared parameter radio button and then click the Select... button. This takes us to the Shared Parameters dialog. Click the Edit… button to finally arrive at the Edit Shared Parameters dialog.

To either clarify or further confuse, what just happened here is we started with the Project Parameters dialog and went around the block to add a shared parameter. It may make more sense to simply go to the Manage tab and select the Shared Parameters tool, and add all of the shared parameters first then simply make them into project parameters. The more experienced user, however, may find that going through these “wormholes” is more direct.

Use the New… button under the Groups heading to create a group for the shared lighting parameters. Grouping the parameter really helps the user navigate to the required parameter. The example below uses E-Lighting as a group name. Starting each group with a discipline letter like M for mechanical or G for general also helps speed the search time when looking for parameters.

Use the New… button under the Parameters heading to add a new shared parameter. Naming convention again plays an important role. Prefixing all schedulable parameters with the letters Schd not only makes sense behind the scenes, but also helps the user attach data to the correct parameter while in projects. The screen shot below shows a group of created parameters for the Lighting Fixture schedule. Besides a name each of these parameters has a discipline and type. The Schd-Remarks parameter, for instance, uses the type Text found under the Common discipline.

With the shared parameter added, now select it in the Shared Parameters dialog to make it a project parameter and click OK. In the Shared Parameters dialog check the Lighting Fixtures check box under Categories. Next pick either Type or Instance, and then group the parameter under the desired group. For scheduled parameters, I prefer grouping under Identity Data.

With all of the parameters in place, a schedule can be created. Go to the View tab of the ribbon and select the Schedules then Schedule/Quantities tool.

In the New Schedule dialog select Lighting Fixtures as the category. It is also a good time to type over the given name with all caps or change the name as needed. Then click OK.

In the fields tab of the Schedule Properties dialog add all of the required parameters then use the Move Up and Move Down button to arrange the fields as required.

The Filters tab can be used to filter out certain fixtures. For this example, set Filter by: to (none).

The Sorting/Grouping tab is used to sort the data. Since The fixture number is the first column, sort ascending by fixture Number. Also uncheck the Itemize every instance check box at the bottom of the Sorting/Grouping tab.

The Formatting tab can be used to give the schedule headings different names than the parameters they report. In the example below the parameters of Schd-Fixture Number will fall under a column named FIXTURE No#.

The Appearance tab controls the fonts and grids of the schedule. Adjust as needed for the best appearance.

Add this schedule to the company template along with the project parameters just created and the user need only add fixture to start the lighting fixture schedule.

National BIM Standard Needs Help

The building SMART  alliance is asking for help from its members to form what I hope will be the meat of the National BIM Standard.

Check out the call for help on their website here. Anyone can participate, that is if you belong to the building SMART alliance or the National Institute of Building Sciences. Well, I guess you could join if it were real important to you, but it feels more like a membership drive than a true call for help.

East Coast CAD Kicks it up a Notch

East Coast CAD has had Fabrication for AutoCAD MEP software for years, but it added  MEP Fabrication Version 1.0 for AutoCAD Revit MEP 2011 on November 30th. The heat is on and the excuses should be over for prefabrication of duct on jobs that are being completed in Revit MEP products. See East Coast CAD announcement here.

What's up with IFC 2x4

I was surprised to see that the development of IFC is really still continuing. I had started to feel like the whole thing was dying a slow painful death. I checked the IAI's Building Smart web site and found an IFC Map Roadmap. Looks like things are progressing and we may see the new version as early as this year (which there isn't a lot left of). My hope is that it is incorporated into the 2012 releases of Autodesk products and we see a significant gains.

Beau Turner adds some details on Will Render for Food.

Revit MEP Content

I have put a list of links for on my sidebar of Revit MEP content that you may or may not want to down load and use. If nothing else, it's a great place to start reverse engineering some families of your own.

If you have some more, please let me know and I will add them. For now I have;

• Acuity Brands Lighting
• Autodesk Seek
• Greenheck
• Kohler
• Lightolier
• Loren Cook
• McQuay
• Price
• Taco Titus
• Trane
• York

BIMBO

Some weeks back I was planning on having lunch with a CAD/BIM manager from a competing firm HDR. We had become friends when I worked for Avatech Solutions. I spent quite a bit of time at his firm consulting, and we still like to get together to discuss CAD and BIM issues. Out of the blue another CAD/BIM from manager from Schemmer who was a student of mine called to say that some old Avatech buddies were going to take him out to lunch that same day and maybe I would like to join in. I thought yes, but I can't blow off my HDR friend so I invite him. Then I think I have a friends at Leo A Daly, Merrick, Commonwealth Electric, Lamp Rynearson, E and A Consulting, and ASD Stanley J. How Architects, why not invite them all? Why not let them invite any one they know?

The result has become BIMBO. The BIM Board of Omaha. We are a sort of a Revit super users group. The issues we discuss are common to any firm adopting BIM and IPD, but instead of working in a vacuum or with contacts on the web that we may have never met, we meet with each other in person once a month. Because we are comprised of people from engineering, architectural, civil, and contractor firms we are in the unique position to not only help each other on internal problems, but also address the issues that arise when Revit models are shared. We work better and we work better together. Oh, that's catchy.

The group has just started but already we are thinking of big things and have improved the conditions in our firms. I write this post because it is really working for us and it might prove to be a great thing for you as well. It felt awkward to think about at first because there were people in the meetings that I directly compete with, but in the context of what BIM and IPD are about, we are just doing what are clients want.

I wrote more on sharing in an article for AUGIs AEC Edge. Check it out on page 26.

AU Tech Talk Articles

The AU Web Site is a great site for information not only on classes but technical information as well. My new favorite article is this one on Revit MEP Calculations. The guy who wrote looks like a sea cucumber or a cartoon character... or something.

IES Adds Integration to Sketch Up and Revit through GBXML

IES has adding a new suite of tools meant mostly for architects for early-stage environmental design analysis. They are accessing Revit and Sketch Up through GBXML. These guys are looking to corner the market in my opion, and good for them I guess. Read about it here.

Minmum BIM

I was browsing through the ample pages of the National BIM Standard produced by NIBS and came across a thing called the Capability Maturity Model. It's a spread sheet for determining how much you are, ah... BIMing and what is minimum BIM. You can download the Minimum BIM spreadsheet here.

It is complex, but all the information you need to start is in the spread sheet itself. I wish I scored a tad bit higher, but we all have to start somewhere I guess. I found a much longer article with Way More information. It's worth reading if you found this at all interesting.

AIA BIM Documents Announced

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the upcoming release of six new AIA Contract Documents on October 17, 2008, including a new Building Information Modeling (BIM) exhibit, as well as two new Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) agreements, two new Design-Build agreements and a Scope of Services document. 

These new documents, collectively called the 3.5 Release, begin to address the working relationships between parties when incorporating BIM technologies moving toward Integrated Practice. See the official announcement here.

Iowa Caucus... Check out my poll

It's the end of 2008, so my poll on what software you are using is closed. Here are the final results.

Now let's turn our attention to something everyone seems to be talking about, yet I honestly don't see any in action. If you are using BIM, let us know. Just to Clarify, BIM is not Revit. BIM is a process by which Building information is modeled and shared. Easily done with AutoCAD MEP (ABS and ADT) and other software. I like to keep the polls open for a while, but I also like to see some numbers up there, so vote early and often.

See the side bar to Rock the Vote!

IFC-BIM Exchange Forum

Looks like the IAI has created a forum dedicated to helping people getting questions about IFC exchange answered. Check the forum out here. Here is the low down from the site.

The purpose of this Forum is to bring together project team members to share their experiences exchanging Industry Foundation Class (IFC) formatted files between different software packages. Discussions of BIM-related exchanges, such as CIS/2, are also welcome.

Membership is open to the international capital facilities communities including owners, architects, engineers, designers, analysts, detailers, fabricators, and anyone involved in the construction supply chain.

Those joining from the United States are encouraged to participate in the definition of the U.S. implementation of IFC through the National Building Information Model Standards (NBIMS) effort. Information about NBIMS may be found at the website: www.nbims.org.

Cost Membership in this Forum is currently free. Once this Forum is operational it is expected that active users will assist in moderating the posts.

Convert to 3D Solids is so ABS 2007

First things first, I had this great idea, I wanted to write up a procedure for creating parametric parts in AutoCAD MEP, but I never seem to get around to it. So What do I do? I decided to write a teaser in this Blog, forcing the next thing I write on to be parametric parts. The down side is it didn't work. I still haven't been able to settle down long enough to get it done. But, don't lose heart, I haven't given up yet. It's on my to do list if that means anything.



That being said, here is something completely different.



I had the good fortune to have Chuck Mies and Ed Deal from Autodesk in my office the other day and we were talking about sharing AutoCAD MEP data with a Revit Architecture model. I have always converted my duct and other ABS objects to 3d solids, saved as a SAT file and finally imported them into a giant Revit family for my architects using Revit. Ed had a take on things that I had not tried. Ed suggests individually exporting duct, pipe, cabletray, whatever to IFC, then importing those IFC into your Revit model. My favorite benefits from using Ed's method is that Revit will recognize the individual components for interference detection and at least for me, the file sizes are smaller and the files faster. Give it a shot and comment back your results. I would love to hear how it works for others.