Inside the Factory

ProjectVasari.com is live!

Like everything with Project Vasari, our new community site ProjectVasari.com is a bit of an experiment. Our goal is to create a "sticky" community where people can gather, ask and answer questions as well as share their experiences using Project Vasari and it's base technology (Revit conceptual massing and energy analysis tools.)  So why a dedicated site? We were not happy with Facebook (no threaded discussions) and Autodesk.com is too generic. We wanted to create a site that has a singular focus - which Ning.com delivered. We were able to get the site set up in a matter of a couple hours. So come on in and join the discussion. You can use an existing Google, Facebook or Yahoo account to login (no need to create a dedicated login.)  And I almost forgot, we have a new bug-fix release on Labs. So if you have downloaded the Vasari Tech Preview 1.1 before March 1, you should go to the Labs site and grab a new download.

_tom

Happy 2nd Birthday ITF!

I almost let the 2nd birthday of this blog slip by unnoticed! The last two years have gone by very fast. It has been a truly rewarding experience to co-write this blog. We started out with a simple goal: connect with you, our passionate users, and give you a peek behind the curtain and foster a thoughtful dialogue. As a user experience designer, there is nothing better than talking to users, and this blog has allowed us to reach farther than we ever could previously. It has not always been smooth sailing (should I even mention the atmosphere when we launched?) But above all we have appreciated your passion and your honesty - and I hope you have appreciated ours. On to the stats. We have had almost 120,000 visits from 181 countries (OK, many of them are a single visit, problaby from a bot.) US is our number one followed by UK and Australia (gotta love those Aussies! and the Kiwis are at #9.) Our top five posts in the past two years (besides the homepage itself) were:

Revit as a Database
Quick Access Toolbar
Revisiting the UI
Structure - Metal Deck
Exploded Axons

Based on the these and the rest of the top ten, it seems like the preference is for a combination of in-depth how-tos with our own "insider" take on things and posts that ask for your feedback on an evolving design. Does this match your expectations?  What would you like to see more of from Inside the Factory? As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.

_tom

 

Introducing the new BIM Apps blog

I am happy to introduce a new blog in the Revit-focused blogosphere. BIM Apps has just been started by Emile Kfouri, the BIM Application Development Manager here at the Factory. This is an excellent topic that I think is very relevant to the readers of this blog. He is going to focus exclusively on the variety of add-ins that are being created to suppliment the Revit experience. (An important correction: BIM Apps will focus on add-ins for the entire Autodesk BIM ecosystem: Revit, Navisworks, Vasari, etc.) For example, his first post is on Eagle Point's Siteworks. The timing is perfect. The API is one of Revit's killer apps and it is a great time to shed some sunlight on the topic. So take a look, fill out the survey and leave some comments about the types of add-ins you would like him to write about.

Lego fun with Inventor Publisher

Some fun for a Friday afternoon. Check out what the the Autodesk Inventor team is doing with the Inventor Publisher product and its accompanying mobile viewer. Once the cool factor of "wow, Lego instructions on the iPad" wore off (I mean, c'mon, I survived my youth with paper instructions - or no instructions at all!) I started thinking of other applications of this technology. I posted last year about some early work in the "mobile Revit" arena from third party developers. The comments back then seemed to indicate an interest (if not a full-fledged need) for mobile access to views from a Revit model. Instead of trying to view an entire BIM in a mobile device, could you see using a tool like this to view, communicate, and verify shop drawings (shop models?) for on-site installation?

Making Design Patterns Work in Practice

I just posted on our corporate design blog about  <shameless plug> Making Design Patterns Work in Practice. </shameless plug>  We don't normally like to re-post, but I thought it was relevant to demonstrate some of the thinking that goes into our design practices inside the Factory and how it dovetails somewhat with architectural design. This is also closely related to Erik's recent post on consistency. Please note, we realize that we have a ways to go before we follow our own interaction design patterns fully - but this illustrates the direction we are headed.

_tom

What we're reading

Visualize your Revit project with the Unity3D game engine  - with dynamic updates. Cool.

Straight out of my adolescent day dreams: Bastards doing architecture. Just look at that cross section.

An excellent summary on empowering users to create their own software

And, while on the topic, Zach get's his robotic butt kicked by his kid

Bluestreak? that was so 2009 :) CASE launches WHObyYOU.

Help with Future Launches of Revit Architecture

A message from our marketing group:

The marketing group is busy preparing for future launches of Revit Architecture. There’s always a web component to our launch plans. In the future, we’re looking to expand our activity in the blogosphere, on YouTube, discussion groups, and several other areas of the social media. To help inform that process, we’ve built a survey and would appreciate your input. For this go ‘round, we’re specifically looking for input from Revit Architecture users and buyers in the US. If you’ve got 15 minutes to spare, please take the survey so that we can better spend this portion of our marketing resources. The survey link and instructions for entering a mini-contest can be found at here. Don’t let too much time go by before completing the survey – the mini-contest will close in a few days and winners will be announced. 

Uncovering the Revit Subscription Advantage Pack

Harlan Brumm (from over at the Revit Clinic) has posted a couple of videos on the Autodesk YouTube channel "uncovering" the many features in the recently released Subscription Advantage Pack. We are curious to hear feedback about your experience with the new features.

The Revit Update

The Revit Extensions

Mobile Revit

A colleague here at the Factory just returned from the ACADIA conference in Chicago where she witnessed a demo of a Revit model on an iPhone. The demo of GoBim was from Ian Keough, Senior Technical Designer at Buro Happold in New York. There is a nascent blog documenting the project (an early version was posted on Design Reform back in February). This idea is not new - there have been many visions of the mobile architect - replete with images of architects in suits holding a tablet PC and gazing and pointing at the construction site. Recently, the convergence of the maturation of BIM and the meteoric rise of the iPhone is getting us thinking about mobility. Now, Fingerpainting is fun, but after the initial cool factor wears off, the same question always arises: isn't the screen too small for to browse a BIM model? Having personally tried the ICEVision Revit iPhone viewer, I have to say I was underwhelmed by the experience of navigating even a moderately sized model. Many of the examples of mobile BIM in use today seem to lean more towards utilizing the non-graphic information in the model such as construction scheduling, quantity takeoffs, and  tracking the status of furniture installations (this latter one runs on the larger form factor of a tablet PC.)

The question for everyone is: useful or not? Are you currently using mobile devices in your BIM workflows? What are some scenarios where using mobile devices will enhance various BIM workflows in the near and distant future?

_tom

Buildz!

Time for another Revit blog announcement. I know, I know, "another Revit blog?" but this one is worth it. Zach Kron, an Architectural Designer and Software Analyst on the Revit QA team has launched Buildz: Practical Notes on Making Impractical Things. I was going to post about the Conceptual Modeling tools, but I am glad to have Zach handle this topic, since he is much more qualified in this area!

Designing the User Experience at Autodesk

I want to quickly mention another Autodesk blog that launched at almost the same exact time as ours: Designing the User Experience at Autodesk. The contributors and topics will span the entire portfolio of Autodesk products and solutions. A few recent posts include a definition of what makes a great user experience by Chauncey Wilson (my manager here at Autodesk) and an introduction to Windows Presentation Foundation, the framework used to implement the ribbon in Revit as well as AutoCAD, Inventor and 3ds Max.

_tom

Frequently Asked Questions (about this blog)

The following are some questions I have received about the nature and purpose of this blog.

• What is the User Experience Team? See the About AEC User Experience page and the post about Software Designers.
• Can I comment on your posts? Absolutely. This blog is intended as a two-way communication with our users.
• OK, but are their ground rules? The main thing is to keep the discourse professional and follow the Golden Rule. I won't go into detail, but this blogging etiquette resource covers the topic well.
• Will you be telling us what will be in the next release? NO. We will be discussing existing functionality and usability at length. We will even talk a bit about current research we are conducting. But we will NOT be divulging anything about future releases because of legal restrictions.
• Will you be telling us why a specific feature is not in this release? NO. It is our job to research how you work and design better user experiences for you to accomplish this work in an efficient and delightful manner. Although we do not ultimately decide what features go in the products, our research influences these decisions, so discussions about trouble you are having with specific features (or lack thereof) are welcomed.
• Is this a marketing blog?  NO. This blog will focus on the nuts and bolts behind the research and design that goes into the Revit user experience. While we obviously believe strongly in our products (we wouldn't be here otherwise), we will leave the marketing to the professionals.

Am I missing anything? I will post this FAQ to the side bar on the left and add to it as other questions come in.

_tom