IMAGINiT Building Solutions Blog

Revit Round Trip

By Brian Tuffin

Wondering if you can get specialized products or designs from manufacturers into your model?

Currently, many building product manufacturers that have standardized or stock products have been providing building information models for a few years now. As clients start to request a higher level of detail from BIM, the need for more content, including custom content, is growing.

Autodesk Inventor can open a Revit file, which allows manufacturers to work within the envelope provided by the designers. It also allows the designers to share their design intent in a format that the manufacturers can see and use. As changes are made the models can be updated, allowing the manufacturer the ability to provide better coordination within the building. The level of coordination ensures connections for Data, Power, Piping, Plumbing and even Structural connections are accurately coordinated. This level of coordination and collaboration is at the core of what BIM is.

Now that the Revit file is in the manufactures hands and designed we need to get it back to the designers. Jason Swiercz an Applications Expert with IMAGINiT wrote a paper on this process, check it out.

Revit 2018: Structural Connections

LikeIf yBy Brian Tuffin

Revit 2018 increased its available structural connections. To use these connections, open Structural Connections Settings from Manage > Settings > Structural Settings and load the needed connections. You can also add custom Parameters to these connections.

Then, you select the Structural elements that are part of the connections. Once selected, a Generic Symbol is added tothe members until you select the desired type from its properties. A Genericl Symbol will show instead of the detailed connect graphics until you change the view detail level to Fine.

Fine Detail level                                                                                                                               Generic Connection

   

 

 

 

 

 

Once the connection is placed, you can modify your parameters to adjust the following Connection information.

Properites

Base Plate

Stiffeners & Plates

Holes

If you think you'll be re-using the connection design, Edit Type Duplicate and rename for re-use in other locations. 

 

Revit Tip: Now You See Me....

By Brian Tuffin

There are many cases where you want to place content in your model for enlarged plans, but don't need that content visible in your overall plan. Instead of turning each item on or off look at using filters, add a shared parameter to your Family categories needed to control visible or not. I typically use detailed view.

Project Parameters:

 

Filters:

Now, in your Visibility Graphics, you can assign the filter and control how you want the content to appear.

This method allows you to create a View Template of the filter, so you may apply it to multiple views.

Industry Trends: Making Your Jobsite Safe with Augmented Reality

Headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC’s Vive are appearing and creating buzz in AE offices; where virtual reality (VR) is becoming the new normal in communicating design intent with both customers and consultants. VR might even become an asset in training programs, such as apprenticeships. However, there is another, potentially more effective tool appearing in safety training programs across the country. It’s called augmented reality. And it’s going to completely change the way workers interact with the chaotic environments of the typical construction jobsite.

What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality (AR) is a digital overlay of the real, analog world. It is different than its VR counterpart, in that with VR the user is completely immersed in the digital world. Great for marketing and maybe simulated training offsite, but a poor choice for an actual jobsite where situational awareness can mean life and death.

 Image courtesy of Daqri

AR, on the other hand, masks digital computer-generated objects on top of a screen, such as a smartphone. This application was recently made popular via the mobile game Pokemon Go. An AR app can recognize real world objects and then generate a digital image or animation that maps over them through a laptop, tablet, your smartphone, or even a wearable such as Daqri’s Smart Helmet that is currently in use by Mortenson Construction.

And if the strange visage of a connected hardhat isn’t your thing, Microsoft Hololens is currently being used to locate pipes for a New Jersey water utility.

However, augmented reality also can help construction companies avoid potential safety hazards with more customized on-site training, using the jobsite conditions before physical equipment and materials are in place. A contractor can also superimpose helpful training media in the corner of the laborer’s visor screen, providing something of a YouTube tutorial for a given detail, allowing for a better adherence to design specifications. Such training might even help prevent some of OSHA’s top 25 construction violations, further assisting construction companies in reducing risk and becoming more profitable!

In 2018 and beyond, we will be keeping a close eye on how mixed realities such as AR and VR are causing major disruptions to an industry that has historically been slow to adapt.