IMAGINiT Building Solutions Blog

New Updates to Autodesk Vasari

Somewhere, somehow, I really want to learn Dynamo.

Vasari has been updated (as per the Autodesk "It's Alive in the Labs" blog:

Automatically Update Export for Solar Radiation

This WIP adds a check box to the Ecotect Solar Radiation tool to allow automatic update of an exported .csv file when analysis results are updated.

Dynamo for Vasari

Build parametric functionality on top of Vasari with a graphical user interface. Autodesk has extended the open source effort of Ian Keough by adding some additional nodes and packaging it in an installer for Vasari to make it easier to get up and running. The download also includes some sample workflows.

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/vasari/

Enjoy!

joe

Exporting to 32 bit Microsoft Access from 64 bit Software

by Joe Eichenseer

How many of you have run into this and found a dead end? You are using a 64-bit workstation (Windows 7, probably) with 64-bit version of some Autodesk software (Revit or Navisworks, perhaps) and want to try out this supposedly nifty neato cool wow export/link to Microsoft Access. You might have run into a problem in that as you work through any export/link wizard, you don't see any way to export to MS Access.

This is probably because:

1. Your Autodesk software is 64-bit, so it needs a 64-bit ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) driver.
2. Your Microsoft Office is 32-bit and has 32-bit drivers available (although tricky to find), but as mentioned above, these won’t work with 64-bit applications.
3. If you have 32-bit MS Office, it will not let you install a 64-bit ODBC driver.

Translation: you’re in a sticky situation. But fortunately, there is a resolution to this one.

It all boils down to just a few steps, but you’ll need to make sure that you have all of the resources you’ll need prior to starting the process. For starters, you’ll need to download the 64-bit MS Access ODBC drivers from Microsoft here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=13255

Be sure to grab the 64-bit (AccessDatabaseEngine_x64.exe) version! :)

You will also need to have your MS Office media available – or have some way available for you to reinstall MS Office. Once you have these pieces in place, you have a 3 or 4 step process in front of you:

1. Uninstall Microsoft Office and any other versions of 32-bit Office products that are installed.
2. Uninstall "Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable 32-bit" if you installed it at some point in the past.
3. Install the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable 64-bit that you downloaded from the link above. Because all of your 32-bit office products were uninstalled, you should not receive any error messages during the install of the 64-bit drivers.
4. Reinstall Microsoft Office (and any other 32-bit Office products).

After this, you should be able to export from your 64-bit Autodesk application to MS Access and get rolling with figuring out what you might want to do with SQL strings or whatever destination your journey into databases takes you!

Enjoy.

Project Storm - Structural Analysis

by Joe Eichenseer

Autodesk has released an update to Project Storm on their labs site - with all the interest that "The Cloud" has been receiving, I think we can expect things like this to continue to proliferate. Take a look and see for yourself:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/revit_storm/

...the latest version of Project Storm for Revit Structure includes the following enhancements:

Define "Analysis Profile" before conducting analysis:
Users can now select "Analysis profile" before running structural analysis, and it can be defined as Draft, Normal or Fine. Selecting "Analysis Profile" has a direct impact on the analysis rate and results accuracy on walls and floors.

Performance improvements:
With adjustments to the system infrastructure, performance improvements can be realized.

UI is optimized:
To help guide the analysis process and to give progress integrations throughout, "current steps" indicators have been added to Project Storm to allow for information to be provided at each step of the analysis and results gathering process.

Leica Announces CloudWorx plugin for Revit!

With this new plugin it is possible to directly connect to a Leica database to bring points into a Revit model and includes a number of Cloudworx-type features. This complimentary functionality for point cloud data extends the native Revit support.

See their news release - http://www.leica-geosystems.com/en/Product-News_934.htm?id=3469

Keyboard Shortcuts and Revit

By Joe Eichenseer

We had a question come through Twitter recently, asking for information on keyboard shortcuts. I’m taking the answer that Rob Goetze in our Edmonton office provided and am adding some excel spreadsheets that list the default keyboard shortcuts for Revit Structure, Revit Architecture, and Revit MEP. These were generated by going into the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box in Revit and clicking on the “Export” button. The resulting XML file can be opened in Microsoft Excel to get similar results to what you’ll see in the files below.

(Note: many times, .xlsx files will not download correctly and Microsoft Windows sees the file as a .zip file. If the download does not seem to work correctly, rename the file to have an extension of .xlsx and it should open correctly in Excel)

Revit Architecture Default Keyboard Shortcuts

Revit Structure Default Keyboard Shortcuts

Revit MEP Default Keyboard Shortcuts

Here are the other details that Rob put together - we had to reduce it to get into a tweet :)

-------

Keyboard shortcuts in Revit are accessed from the Ribbon:

View > Windows > User Interface drop-down > Keyboard Shortcuts

The Keyboard Shortcuts dialogue box lists all commands, showing any shortcuts which currently exist, and allow the user to modify or add additional keyboard shortcuts. You can also export the existing settings to an XML file for import into Revit on another computer.

 

Enjoy!

Hotfix for Revit Server

The following hotfix for Revit Server just came out and I thought I'd give it a little extra publicity. :) From the hotfix page itself:

"This hotfix addresses a crash that may occur when Revit is uploading data to Revit Server during a Synchronize with Central operation. It must be applied to both Revit Server and Revit product to be effective.

Make sure that Update Release 2 has been applied prior to adding the hotfix to the Revit product. Verify that the build number of Revit 2012 is 20110916_2132."

If you've been running into any issues with Revit Server stability - give it a go!

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=18095970&linkID=9273944

joe

Echo:

I noticed this update from an Autodesk blog (originally posted on 10/31/11), and thought I'd echo it here - it's a pretty decent list of sustainability tools and general productivity tools available for Revit... and it doesn't hurt that our IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit are in the list. :)

http://bimapps.typepad.com/bim-apps/2011/10/revit-sustainability-design-and-general-productivity-tools.html

Enjoy!

Design Review for iOS

So I’ve had this post hanging around in draft form for a while and for some reason never clicked the “post it” button. While I’m going to go ahead and blame it on a life that was all sorts of crazy lately, the information below is still pretty relevant. Essentially, in late September Autodesk came out with a lightweight version of Design Review for iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), and while I’m sure there are a lot of people out there waiting for the Android version, for those with a foot in the Apple World, it’s still pretty cool! :)

If you or a friend has an iOS device, I highly recommend downloading and trying out this free app here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/design-review-mobile/id459112753?ls=1&mt=8

When you open the app, you’ll be welcomed by a screen that looks like this (all screen caps from an iPad):


Do you remember all of the press recently about the Autodesk Cloud services? Well, those same cloud services are the only real way to get a file into Design Review. Try as I might, there was no integration with DropBox and Design Review was not listed in the “File Sharing” apps in iTunes when I connected the iPad to my computer. To get a DWFx to the iPad, I uploaded a DWFx file to my Autodesk cloud storage account and then browsed to that same account from within Design Review on the iPad. Once the file was open, navigating through the DWF was very nimble, and changing from one sheet to another in the multi-page DWF went very smoothly. Design Review can open both 2D and 3D DWF files.
If you published your DWF with object data – in this case, a Revit sample project file, that object data can be seen in a property page on the side:


But I have to put in a plug here – if you have IMAGINiT’s Utilites for Revit (http://imaginit.com/software-solutions/imaginit-products/imaginit-utilities-for-revit), there is a tool that we added in our 2012 release called “DWF Plus” that adds in all sorts of additional data to a DWF file that regular out-of-the-box Revit exporting just doesn’t pass through. (If you renew your Autodesk subscription contracts through IMAGINiT, you can download the utilities for free, if not… well… they are available for purchase…) Below is a screen shot of the properties of the same bed, but exported with DWF Plus. Each of the property headings with a + to the side can be expanded to show additional details about the selected entity - quite a difference in availabie data!


If you are opening a 2D file that has layers embedded in it (files from AutoCAD), you have access to turning layers on and off, but no color control.  If you are opening a 3D DWF, you cannot currently turn off any geometry – you are just going to be viewing the model as it was exported. Navigating is through typical iOS multi-touch: drag with one finger to pan in 2D files or orbit in 3D files, pinch to zoom in, drag with 2 fingers to pan in a 3D file, and leave one finder in place and drag with a second finger to orbit around a fixed point.

There is room to improve the markup capabilities of Design Review for iOS - right now it’s really limited to text notes and callouts (text inside a box). No measurement tools, cloud outlines, stamps, or other utilities you find in the desktop version of Design Review.


Even with these limitations, Design Review for a mobile device is a welcome addition to the Autodesk apps that exist for iOS devices. (Other apps include AutoCAD WS, IPM Viewer, Buzzsaw, Sketchbook, and Tinkerbox.) Take it for a spin – and let’s look forward to what the future releases will provide!

joe

Top 5 Features in Autodesk Vasari

I don’t know if you’ve looked at Autodesk’s Project Vasari - either in its original release or since it was recently updated, but there are some really nice things that they are doing in the Labs for conceptual building analysis. If you haven’t looked into Vasari lately, I’d recommend that you do – and courtesy of Ken Flannigan from our Dallas office, here are our top 5 reasons why you should care (not to mention that it's free while in the Labs!):

Ecotect Wind Tunnel Analysis – Simulate the impact of wind speed and direction on your model’s mass form. This Includes integration of the Ecotect Wind Rose derived from the weather data file.

   


Improved Energy Modeling Zoning – Better, more reliable results by dividing perimeter zones following the ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G thermal block requirements.

Ecotect Solar Radiation Tool – Map Solar Radiation on the Faces of a mass top help drive form and analyze the effectiveness of shading devices

Export Capabilities – Export FBX file for advanced  visualization in 3D Studio Max Design. Plus, STL Export for 3D printing.

It Looks, Feels, and Works like Revit – Bring in RVT files to analyze mass models inside that file. Save our projects as RVT file, bring into Revit , and create your building model from the Vasari Mass. Common user interface makes learning Vasari extremely easy for current Revit users

 

Hopefully this has given you something to think about...

joe

Making Wall Parts Behave with Overlapping Volumes

I recently hosted an online user group where we focused on Revit modeling techniques to leverage the model in Navisworks. One of the topics we reviewed that is new in Revit 2012 is the Parts tool. In case your not already familiar with this tool, you can divide layered Revit structures such as walls, Floors and Roofs into component layer parts.   

Standard Revit wall joins create wall parts that overlap each other and do not intersect the horizontal roof volume symmetrically. The resulting wall part shown above is considered one part and cannot be divided further in this view.

Navisworks users familiar with the Timeliner will immediately recognize the benefit of being able to animate the construction sequence of a wall type where the internal structural core is built first and the finish layers are completed later in the construction schedule.   

Remember Physics class? For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction!   

In this example we see an elevation view of the interior wall core layer displayed in an isolated elevation view. Prior to dividing the wall into component parts the roof was modeled and as it extended into the wall core Revit obligingly removed that overlapping boundary for us.   

It is however possible to create conditions in the model that will support both of these functionalities. I often speak of the importance of the order of operations in Revit and this is one of those instances where it is necessary to change our modeling workflow to take advantage of the Autodesk tools instead of struggling to make them work the way we think they should. :-)   

Before dividing the walls into their component parts we need to modify Revit's default wall joins.

Use the Wall Joins tool to override the default wall joins replacing the overlapping condition with a mitered corner.

We all know that this is not truly how the materials will meet at the wall corners, but for the sake of modeling and documentation there is little negative impact...and much to gain.   

As a result the mitered wall joins will create wall parts that are also mitered. As you can see in the elevation below this allows the user to continue to divide the wall component parts to simulate concrete lifts, etc….   

We must first understand the tool and its capabilities before we can explore how to apply it in a unique way!