Here’s a fun one for anyone who is using a network license server for their Autodesk products. There is a feature in this network licensing structure that allows you to “Cascade” a license – meaning, if you have (for example) 5 licenses of plain AutoCAD, 5 AutoCAD Architecture, 5 Revit, and 5 Revit Suite, what happens when a 6th person wants to run AutoCAD? Well, it can actually pull a license from AutoCAD Architecture to let 6 people run AutoCAD – but you’re down to 4 people being able to run AutoCAD Architecture. If you need an extra seat of AutoCAD Architecture, it can pull from the Revit Suite to get you that extra buffer.
This is the joy of cascading licenses. It might sound confusing at first, but give it some time and it will start clear up for you. :)
The question then becomes, what order does Autodesk software use when it is cascading these licenses? Generally speaking, it pulls from the “lowest” software, and works to the “highest” or most complete. As an example, Revit will be lower than a Revit Suite.
Next up in our tour of what’s new, we’re going to deviate from Revit and move over to the old guard - to AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture (ACA), and AutoCAD MEP (AMEP). As you probably know, the new features in AutoCAD also exist in ACA and AMEP, and the new features available in ACA exist in AMEP as well. I’m sure there’s a three musketeers reference in here somewhere, I’m just not seeing it right now. :) For the purposes of this post, I’m going to focus on the new features that I think are the most relevant to building design – that being said, I’m sure that there are those who will disagree with me, but you know what? That’s the joy of being in the world we’re in. If you feel I’m missing anything and you’d like to make a gentle correction, post a comment below.
AutoCAD
Path array: take an element and array along a path – the element and the path are linked to each other so that if you change the path, the array changes too. The images below are before and after grip editing the spline path that the circles are arrayed along.
Multi-functional grips: this capability has been extended to lines, arcs, elliptical arcs, dimensions, mleaders, 3D faces, 3D edges, and 3D vertices. Hover your cursor over a grip point and see a list of available editing functions for that object’s grip point.
Enhanced copy tool: the Copy tool now includes a non-associative linear array option.
AutoCAD Architecture
This one’s easy… corner windows. Adds easily to walls, automatically adjusts if the wall angle changes, uses regular window styles (no new object type just for this condition), handles butt join conditions or corner framing… really well implemented!
AutoCAD MEP
User Interface consolidation: drawing duct or pipe no longer brings up a separate dialog box; it uses the properties palette, just like most everything else.
Engineering Units: you can now set your units for flow, friction, and velocity from one unit to another, with the associated values automatically converting for you (found in the Drawing Setup dialog box)
I've been in some discussions recently about different ways that education can be provided or knowledge acquired. With that in mind, here’s a bit that I wrote about training about 5 or so years ago. One thought I'd add to all of this, is that in my opinion, you should engage in learning with the mindset that you will in turn need to teach the subject to someone else. Some of the best knowledge I ever gained (and retained) was when I've had this attitude.
This piece is not intended to consist of absolutely everything that exists or is possible, and there is never one single solution - everyone tends to have a different way they prefer to learn. What do you think, do you agree? Disagree?
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Software is a critical and integral part of the business and workflow of building design. This software is constantly changing and improving, making education critical to the success of implementation or effective utilization – especially if you are changing from one software platform to another. With this in mind, there are many types of education available to consider taking advantage of, including:
Instructor led classroom training (on or off site)
Best for staff education where a lot of information will need to be delivered to the employees or project team
Web based training
Similar to Instructor led classroom training, but it avoids potential expenses and can lack some of the personal feel and accountability of a face-to-face class. These classes can sometimes have a reduced level of focus on the part of the students.
Viewing pre-recorded presentations
Good for archiving common issues or workflow processes
User group meetings
Excellent environment for making and improving industry contacts, and learning about aspects of the software that you may not use on a regular basis
Lunch and learns (brown bag)
Good for delivering information about workflow or CAD/BIM guidelines that is very focused to a small topic.
Just-in-time, task oriented training
Excellent method for teaching an individual about a single object or task, immediately before they start working on it. For example, teaching someone about stairs and railings immediately prior to that person starting work on a building core.
Over-the-shoulder training
Similar to just-in-time task training, but is not focused on a single object or topic. This is often used as a support delivery mechanism to reactively or proactively check with employees.
Reading books or tutorials
This is the most time-consuming educational process and it does not provide a structure for questions and answers for the material covered in the book.
Blogs, social media, and video sites like YouTube
These sources are great for tips and tricks, but it can take a large amount of time to search for potential solutions. You may find a large volume of information that does not apply to you, or find that the information is out of date.
Each of these methods have different hard and soft costs associated to them (in general, hard costs = out-of-pocket expenses, soft costs = time away from billable work) and each has its own place in an overall professional development program. In addition, what works for one person may not work for another, so keep all your options open!
Where possible, training should include development of customized project-oriented education classes to address your specific requirements. In other words, if you can avoid it, don’t go to a class and learn how to design a medical lab if you usually work on houses. :) If it is company-specific education, education should allow for standards and any custom routines to be explained. Time and resources should be provided for an expert to follow-up with on-site or web-based productivity training and support for all users. This instructor should be available while users are working on projects during the learning period after formal education classes have occurred.
Project Managers, Project Architects and Engineers who are not drafting regularly must be encouraged to participate in ongoing education programs. This will allow these non-CAD/BIM users the ability to know what is possible in the software, and what they can expect from their team members. All staff should use a skills assessment to discover gaps in areas of knowledge, and highlight topics required for education. Education for employees should be based on the user’s previous experience and skill level. This education can be achieved by:
Outside classroom training with a trusted partner.
Internal classroom or one-on-one training either by external or internal instructor.
Web-based either live instructor led, or self-paced training. This can be used to combine multiple offices into one web-based training series.
It is essential for the productivity within project teams that new employees are exposed to a structured training course on your workflow and processes. Education delivery can be by internal resources, or by an external partner.
Internal resources are advantageous since the staff is familiar with your workflow and standards. However, if internal resources are used, regular scheduling, time allocation and budgeting is required.
External partnerships are advantageous since there are fewer conflicts for competing resource time and instructors are more experienced with the product and teaching techniques. Through long-term partnership, and by using the same partners to assist with creation of standards and processes, these partners will be familiar with your workflow and be able to incorporate this into their teaching.
IMAGINiT will be hosting an online event that could prove to be pretty interesting… yeah – I’m biased, but you should expect that, right?? :)
If you take a look at what you’re doing with your chosen BIM software, what are you getting out of it? What started out as a desire to use BIM to help complete work of varying complexities has (in places) grown into a desire to have a sustained effort to refine overall business and design processes. Do you know what you’d like to change or even what’s possible in the world of BIM today or tomorrow? What possible solutions exist out there beyond Autodesk and Revit? During this event, we’ll look at BIM from every angle and examine – from design through facilities maintenance.
These sessions will be for software users and managers alike - BIM 360 has sessions that speak to business goals as well as helpful information on software programs. Join us for an hour or the entire day.
Sessions will include topics covering design, analysis, documentation, virtual construction, facilities management, and model sharing.
Sessions for software users will be one hour and include demonstrations of various software platforms. Sessions for managers will be a half-hour and focus on the business issues for each area discussed.
Special thanks to our exhibitors and presenters: ARCHIBUS Offit Kurman SmartBIM Trelligence
Well, this is just annoying - it's based off of a support call we received recently... If you look inside plain ‘ol AutoCAD options, you have a button on the "User Preferences" tab from which you can customize the default annotation scale list in your drawings.
However, if you look for that same button in AutoCAD Architecture or AutoCAD MEP, you won’t find it. :(
Here’s one way to get those scales edited.
WARNING: THIS SOLUTION INVOLVES EDITING YOUR COMPUTER’S SYSTEM REGISTRY. IF YOU ARE NOT CONFORTABLE WITH THIS, PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING EVERYTHING ALONE. UNINTENDED CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM REGISTRY CAN LEAVE YOUR SOFTWARE OR COMPUTER INOPERABLE. CONTINUE ON AT YOUR OWN RISK! Please back up your registry before editing.
From the Windows Start button, run “regedit”
Navigate to the following registry key: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.1\ACAD-9004:409\AEC\6.5\AecBase60\Scales\Inches”
If needed, you could edit Feet or Metric here instead. Your computer may have a different number that “ACAD-9004:409”, depending on the particular software you are looking to modify.
Using the same patterns as what you see in this registry key, add in (or delete) the registry strings on the right as needed. To add a new value, right-click on the right side of the screen (or go to the Edit pull down menu) and choose New | String Value.
In my case, I added in: 15.ScaleName 1:80 15.ScaleNumber 1 15.ScalePerUnits 80
Launch AutoCAD Architecture / AutoCAD MEP. When you go to set the annotation scale, choose the “custom” option, and then reset the scale list to imperial defaults.
The new default scale list with any custom edits should now be there.
It may be old news to many, but have you seen what Autodesk has been cooking up in their labs recently? Autodesk Labs (http://labs.autodesk.com) is a place where they release interesting new technologies with the idea of involving all of us in the progress of refining or validating ideas and concepts… not really beta testing, but not too different either.
Recently there’s been a lot of buzz around a new Labs release of Project Vasari – essentially software that contains the conceptual modeling and analysis tools available in Revit, without any of the other building design tools… purely concepts and conceptual analysis. An interesting idea – I’d like it even more if more of the tools we have available in Ecotect Analysis made their way into this platform… hmmm
PLEASE NOTE: the above wondering is just that – wondering. It has absolutely nothing to do with actual knowledge, privileged insight, flux capacitors, magic tree houses, or anything else dealing with the time-space continuum.
If you take a look at the history of what has transpired at Autodesk Labs, you can see a number of projects that made their way into actual software offerings or new software features. Seeing what is alive in the labs might give you a little insight into future possibilities awaiting us.
Understanding Quantity Takeoff (QTO) Concepts and Tools
The process of measuring quantities of materials from drawings and specifications prepared by architects, engineers, and other designers is known as quantity takeoff. Traditionally, construction cost estimators have used paper-based methods to perform quantity takeoff. QTO gives estimators the tools to perform digital quantity takeoff, which is faster, easier, and more accurate than paper-based methods.
Using QTO, estimators can combine multiple sources of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) design data and generate quantity takeoff to create a cost estimate. Both DWF and non-DWF files (DWGs, PDFs, TIFs, GIFs, and JPGs) can be used as source files. All data associated with a given estimate is stored in a QTO project.
What is DWF?
DWF stands for Design Web Format™, which is an open, secure file format developed by Autodesk. Using DWF, you can combine 2D and 3D design data, as well as other project-related files, into a single, highly compressed file. Using DWF files helps you enhance collaboration and easily exchange information with extended teams.
Each DWF file contains one or more pages called sheets. Usually, the content of each sheet can be viewed, marked up, measured, and printed. However, in some cases, this is limited by the person who originally created, or published, the DWF file. In QTO, the source of the 2D or 3D DWF file determines the level of automatic quantity takeoff functionality that is available.
Much like Adobe® PDF files, the contents of a DWF file cannot be altered. Unlike PDF files, however, DWF files retain design information (scale, measurements, assemblies), which makes them more suitable for architects, engineers, and designers. Also, DWF files are typically much smaller than PDF files.
You can send a published DWF file as an e-mail attachment, share it using a project collaboration site, such as Autodesk® Buzzsaw®, or post it to a company website. You can view and plot DWF files with the free downloadable Autodesk® Design Review, which is included as an installation option on the QTO product DVD.
NoteQTO supports both 2D and 3D workflows.
What is a Project?
In QTO, a project is a collection of files and takeoff items that yield the material quantities needed for a construction or renovation job. Project files can include DWF files (2D sheets and 3D models), DWG files, and image files (TIFs, GIFs, and JPGs). You organize a project by building disciplines, divisions, trades, or other categories.
What Can Be Measured?
QTO can count and measure item quantities associated with these disciplines:
