Inside the Factory

Announcing Revit 2017.1

It’s been a while since our last post from Inside the Factory, but believe us we’ve been busy.  Today, we’re excited to announce the availability of Revit 2017.1.

You may wonder whether “.1” is the same as the “R2” releases you’ve seen in previous years, and the answer is yes. With no file format change, Revit 2017.1 includes new features and functionality and is available for access by Revit subscribers and current maintenance subscription customers from Autodesk Accounts or via the Autodesk App Manager.

Revit 2017.1 is dedicated to enhancing user efficiency by making it easier to capture and document design intent and better supports high detail, complex modeling. We want to free you to focus on creating better designs and working more productively, relying on Revit to automate tedious workflows. The newest update to Revit also features multiple user-requested enhancements that reflect a continued focus on making better software.  

But because what you really want to know is exactly “what’s new in Revit 2017.1”, here’s the list of everything new that you’ll find in the latest version of Revit.  We think you’ll like it.

 

Multi-Discipline Enhancements

Dynamo Player:  Use the new Player to run Dynamo scripts in Revit with just one click—no programming ability required.  Now even users unfamiliar with Dynamo can use scripts to automate tasks or standardize processes.

 

Updated Dynamo: The Dynamo software that installs with Revit has been updated and now accesses even more Revit functionality with new nodes and improved list management tools.

Import 3D shapes (Rhino/SAT files): Import RHINO and SAT files as high-quality 3D models, assign them to a Revit category, which lets them appear in schedules and be filtered in views. Use dimensions on elements in the import, and even use imported elements to create room boundaries.

Corruption Data Loss Prevention: Use the Repair Central Model tool to fix the corruption in a central model and create a new central model.

High-Resolution monitor support:  Revit fully supports 4K monitors with properly rendered icons, buttons, dialog boxes, and interface elements

Collaboration for Revit Sync Progress Notification: new dialog provides feedback on the progress of synchronization in C4R

Insight 360 Integration: Get easy and intuitive access to powerful Insight 360 tools installed natively directly on the Revit Analysis tab.

 

Architecture

Model in perspective views: Add, move, copy, rotate, or align elements in a live 3D perspective view, and see the impact of your modeling decisions in real time. Reduce the need to switch views for everyday modeling tasks, and work in the view that best supports your workflow.

LED Light Fixtures Content:  LED lighting fixtures content included and ready to use in models and renderings.  Renderings will take advantage of accurate LED IES files to give high quality realistic results from the LED lights in the scene

Sketch on Level: The sketch’s work plane will stay with the work plane of the element giving a more predictable and consistent editing experience – even when you move or copy elements.

Railing Type UI Usability:  Access Top Rail and Handrail properties from directly within the Railing Type Properties dialog.

Stairs Parameters Tooltips:  New detailed tooltips include illustrations and helpful hints for stair elements settings and controls.

 

Structural Engineering

Split Columns & Framing Elements: The Split Element tool includes new features for structural framing and column elements. The Split Element tool respects joins, justifications, and the location of hosted objects. Openings, details, attached elements, and joins maintain their geometry and locations.

AISC Connection Code Checking for Steel Connections: The code check in Steel Connections for Revit has been updated to the 14th edition of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC)

New Steel Shapes Content: Revit comes with Chinese and Japanese steel content, making designs more easily transferrable to Advance Steel without advanced mapping required.  Content includes the 20 most common used sections according to the latest Chinese and Japanese standards.

 

MEP Fabrication Modeling Improvements

Resize Connected Parts: Resize runs of connected fabrication parts using the Properties palette or the Edit Parts dialog.

Change Service: change the service on MEP Fabrication parts in a model using the Properties pallet. 

Exclude FAB Parts from Auto Fill Tools: Model more effectively with ability to exclude fabrications parts when using auto fill tools.

Add or Modify a Damper:  On MEP fabrication ductwork parts that accommodate dampers, you can add, remove, or rotate damper blades using damper specific in-canvas controls.

Split Fabrication Elements; split fabrication straight segments with the Split Element tool and Split with Gap tool.

Hanger Support Rod enhancement:  change the size (diameter) of a hanger support rod while maintaining accurate costing data.

AWWA Valves and Pumps Content:  Revit includes an expanded library of wastewater-system content based on the American Water Works Association (AWWA) standards

Space Naming Tool Integration: space naming tool installs with Revit.

 

Stay tuned here and on Facebook and Twitter for more information about these new features and what the Revit road-map holds.

Want to get involved? We invite you to share your suggestions for Revit features and improvements with us via the Revit Ideas page in the Autodesk Community.  It’s the best way to get your ideas in front of the Revit team and influence the evolution of Revit.

What’s new in Autodesk Revit Sunrise

You might be wondering - what is new in  Autodesk Revit Sunrise?  Well, never fear, we are here to answer that pressing question. 

• Global parameters: Global parameters bring the power of parametric families into the project environment to better capture design intent. You can create global parameters that are specific to a single project file but that are not assigned to categories. Use global parameters to drive the value of a dimension or a constraint, associate to an element instance property to drive its value, or report the value of a dimension, so the value can be used in the equations of other global parameters.
• Cancel print/export: When you print or export multiple views and sheets, click Cancel to cancel the entire operation. In earlier releases, the Cancel button allowed you to cancel only one view or sheet at a time. Now the Cancel button cancels the print jobs or export operations of all selected views and sheets.
• Performance:
  • Occlusion culling: To improve performance and reduce the amount of time required to open views, the Graphics tab of the Options dialog offers a new setting: Draw visible elements only. This setting is enabled by default. Performance improvements are most noticeable for 3D views that contain many obscured elements.
  • Export to DWF/DWFx: To significantly reduce processing time when exporting views/sheets to multiple DWF or DWFx files, the software now uses several RevitWorker processes.  This capability especially benefits users who want to upload their models to Autodesk® A360 for use with Collaboration for Revit or BIM 360 Glue.
  • Color fills: To improve performance, color fills are completed as a background process so you can continue working in the model while the views update.
  • Background processes: To see a list of the Revit processes that are running in the background, use the status bar.
• Family Editor:
  • Family visibility preview: In the Family Editor, you can view improved representations of family geometry with respect to levels of detail, visibility parameter settings, and view type. Create, test and edit the geometry of a family without having to repeatedly load it into a project.
  • Filter voids and solids: You can specifically isolate void and solid geometry when using the Filter tool in the Family Editor.
• Revisions: Additional information is available for revisions to make it easier to see exactly how the revision number will be generated, and to select revisions to include in a revision schedule.
  • Sheet Issues/Revisions dialog: When Numbering is set to Per Project, a new Revision Number column displays the actual revision number that will be generated based on the Sequence, Numbering scheme, and Numbering options. This column does not display if Numbering is set to Per Sheet.
  • Revisions on Sheet dialog: A Revision column now displays the revision sequence information along with the revision description. A new Date column displays the revision date.
• Revit links: These changes improve workflow and productivity when using Revit links in the host model.
  • A new positioning option, Auto - Project Base Point to Project Base Point, is available when inserting Revit links. This option positions the linked file using the model's Project Base Point as the insertion point, and aligns it to the Project Base Point in the host model.
  • Two options are available to reposition a Revit link after it has been inserted: Reposition to Project Base Point, and Reposition to Internal Origin.
  • When you are working in a local copy of a workshared model, the Unload command offers 2 options:
    • Unload For all users: The Revit link is unloaded for all users in the model (existing behavior).
    • Unload For me: The Revit link is unloaded for the current user only. This command works like a permanent override and remains set for the current user for that RVT link until it is cleared. This option allows you to unload and keep Revit links unloaded for portions of the model you aren't working on without affecting other team members. Unloading Revit links may also increase performance and memory usage.  To clear the override, right-click the link name in the Project Browser, and click Unload Clear my override.

• Worksharing: When you are opening a workshared model and you select the Detach from Central option, the default name of the open model is now the original model name with "_detached" appended (instead of a blank file name). When saving the model, you can specify a name or use the default.
• View range: The View Range dialog has been improved to provide visual descriptions of view range terminology, making it easier for you to set the view range.
• Underlay: The Underlay properties have been improved to more clearly define what they do. A new grouping in the Properties palette, Underlay, contains the properties used to set an underlay range. The Underlay parameter is renamed to Range: Base Level. A new read-only parameter Range: Top Level displays the next level above the Range: Base Level. The options for Underlay Orientation are changed from Reflected Ceiling Plan to Look Up, and from Plan to Look Down.
• Filters dialog: The Filters dialog has been improved to make it easier to find specific filters in the list. Filters are listed alphabetically and sorted in a tree structure with headings for rule-based and selection-based filters.
• Perspective views: Additional modeling capabilities are now available in perspective views.
  • Modify panel (Copy)
  • Clipboard panelPaste drop-down (Paste from Clipboard), and any available tool from the drop-down
• Spot slope: You can now place a spot slope annotation in a linked model.
• Wall joins:
  • When placing walls, you can allow or disallow wall joins with the Join Status option.
  • You can select multiple wall joins and change the configuration of all selected joins to Butt, Miter, or Square Off.
• Display of walls: To improve performance so that views open and update faster, Revit regenerates walls only for what is visible on the screen. In addition, if a wall appears very small on the screen, it is displayed as simplified lines, regardless of the detail level assigned to the view.
• Railings: When you edit the Type properties of a railing, you can now use the Preview pane of the dialog to view your changes.
• Autodesk Raytracer rendering: Define a custom render quality to specify light and material accuracy, and render duration options.
• Energy Analysis:
  • Advanced thermal zoning: Revit now offers automatic thermal zoning that uses advanced algorithms, resulting in more accurate energy simulations without additional modeling.
  • On the ribbon, the Enable Energy Model tool has been renamed to Create Energy Model. Use this tool to create the energy analytical model and display it within the context of Revit. (When an energy model exists, the tool changes to Delete Energy Model.)
  • The accuracy and appearance of analytical surfaces has been improved. Edges are less pixilated, and surfaces are more accurate and less faceted. As a result, the energy analytical model is more accurate, looks better, and generates a smaller XML file.
• Electrical settings: You can specify a default rating to use for creating circuits in a model.
• Assigning a distribution system: If there is only one distribution system applicable to an equipment instance, the distribution system is now assigned automatically.
• Display of ducts: To improve performance so that views open and update faster, Revit regenerates ductwork only for what is visible on the screen. In addition, if duct appears very small on the screen, it is displayed as simplified lines, regardless of the detail level assigned to the view.

Enjoy trying these out in Sunrise!

The Factory

Revit Sunrise

Feel like test driving some potential new Revit stuff?  If you’ve been following this blog for a bit, you might remember that last year around this time, we asked you to test drive a hosted preview of Revit that we called Sundial.  If you missed out last time, never fear! It’s my pleasure to invite you to participate in another hosted preview of a version of Revit we’re calling Sunrise (see a pattern?).

Autodesk Revit Sunrise provides enhancements to Revit that are not currently included in the commercial release. We will be highlighting the many improvements in blog posts over the next days and weeks.

For those of you who try the release preview, please drop in here at Inside the Factory and let us know what you think. The hosting technology we’re using for the preview is itself experimental, so if you run into issues accessing the test, we’d like to know about those as well.

Because this is an early in-progress release, there are no guarantees all the features you might see or read about will appear in a future release of Revit. Please keep this in mind when making any future purchasing decisions.

Try Autodesk Revit Sunrise. 

 

-The Factory

Autodesk Exchange Apps Hackathon - Sept 20-21, 2014

 

If you haven't seen the 262 productivity-enhancing Revit apps on Autodesk Exchange, check them out and discover powerful tools developed using the Revit API. Some example workflows are quick section boxes based on selection, export of schedules to Microsoft Excel, and a text case tool. 

See demos of 20 exchange store apps by watching these AU classes from 2012 and 2013.

Interested in developing new apps? 

Join the Autodesk Exchange Apps Hackathon — a virtual web based hackathon that runs from 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) on Saturday, September 20 to 4:00 p.m. September 21. It’s a community event that gives you the opportunity to work closely with other members of the software development community and Autodesk engineers — in real time, developing new apps for Autodesk Exchange. Receive up to US$100 per app published and win one of eight iPad minis!

If you’ve been thinking about publishing apps in the Exchange Apps store but haven’t found the time, this event will give you the help to get them “out the door”. Head over to exchangeapphack.com for details on the event, including an FAQ, the schedule and speaker line up, and the Rules and the Registration link.

- Sasha

What's New in Sundial?

Hi everyone.

Judging from the heat coming off the servers in the last 24 hours, a lot of you have given Revit Sundial a try in the hosted environment. If you'd like to read about what's different in Sundial, click here for What's New.

In What's New, you'll see mention of Dynamo as a feature -- sometimes documentation visits us from one possible future, and we can only marvel at the modern wonders of time travel.

More information later today!

Anthony

REVITalizing Inside the Factory

We’re back!

Two years ago Inside the Factory went… well, inside the factory for a while. Recently we took a walk around the old place, blew off the dust, and did some remodeling, because we wanted to offer some news about what we’ve been working on.

The Building Authoring product team at Autodesk, (which includes Autodesk^® Revit^® and its nifty trademark symbols that Autodesk Legal^TM loves so much) will be using this blog to provide updates on Autodesk’s Building Information Modeling (BIM) product lines. A number of folks on the Revit team will offer insight from the Factory floor into what we're working on and introduce you to some of the people behind the products.

To get things started, we’re providing everyone within reach of this blog the opportunity to test drive a hosted release preview of Revit called Sundial.

Autodesk Revit Sundial provides enhancements to Revit that are not currently included in the commercial release. We will be highlighting the many improvements in blog posts over the next days and weeks.

For those of you who try the release preview, please drop in here at Inside the Factory and let us know what you think. The hosting technology we’re using for the preview is itself experimental, so if you run into issues accessing the test, we’d like to know about those as well.

The quantity of available simultaneous sessions is limited, so you may run into delays if there are many people trying to access the preview at once. We'll keep the preview available for a few weeks, so please try again if you can't initially gain access.

Because this is an early in-progress release, there are no guarantees all the features you might see or read about will appear in a future release of Revit. Please keep this in mind when making any future purchasing decisions.

Try Autodesk Revit Sundial

Anthony A. Hauck

Senior Product Line Manager

Hiatus

All good things must come to an end. Or, at least go on hiatus. After exactly three years, we have decided to take a break from blogging on Inside the Factory. In a lot of ways this has been one big experiment. As much as we would like to, we simply cannot get out to visit all of you in your offices across the world - and vice versa. This blog has been the next best thing. It has been fantastic to connect with many of you through this medium. As user experience professionals, there is nothing better than having a conversation with end users. Unfortunately, Erik has left Autodesk to explore other paths and I do not have the time to fully commit to keeping the content fresh and engaging. So I have decided to put the blog on pause. The blog will stay up and you never know, I (or someone else) may pick it up again in the future. Of course this does not mean the conversation comes to an end. We are constantly experimenting with new ways to connect with our user base. You will find me these days on Twitter @TomVollaro and on ProjectVasari.com.

Get your code on this summer

This came across my inbox today from Jim Quanci,  Director of the Autodesk Developer Network. If you are a coder interested in learning about our various product APIs - or aspire to be one, these dev camps are a great way to dive in head first. I may stop by since I am clearly in the "aspirational" camp!

---

Join us at Camp this Summer!

Announcing Autodesk AEC DevCamp (June 6-7)

Register by April 30^th to get the $100 early bird discount! 

DevCamps are held every other year where software developers like you can learn to get the most from your time and effort working with Autodesk platform technologies.  The two industry specific Developer Camps include several tracks catering to the learning needs of beginner and expert software developers – as well as a business track for start-ups looking to develop and leverage their relationship with Autodesk.  Come to Camp and get two days of face to face learning and help from Autodesk software engineers – the same Autodesk software engineers developing and supporting the Autodesk technology you work with every day. 

You can also join us for a third day at  “DevLab” where you can work on your hardest coding challenges with an Autodesk software engineer looking over your shoulder giving you immediate help and advice.  Bring your laptop and work on your code as you’d normally do in your own office – the difference is that you have a team of DevTech experts (the same people who answer your questions through DevHelp Online) available to review your code if you’d like, answer your questions, and make suggestions. 

Cloud and Mobile Classes

New for this year’s DevCamps are several classes on helping you get started developing apps based on Cloud and Mobile technologies.  Learn how to build your first Cloud app integrated with your favorite Autodesk product – and how you can make it available “everywhere” through browser and mobile user interfaces.  Have you been considering building your first app for the iPhone, iPad or Android device but holding back because of fear of lost hours thrashing while learning the new technology?  DevCamp includes classes that will show you how to quickly and easily create your first “Hello World” app for iOS and Android - with a design and graphics twist.

AEC DevCamp, June 6-7 (outside of Boston)

You can attend beginner and expert classes on developing solutions with Autodesk® Revit® (all flavors including Server), AutoCAD® Civil 3D®, Autodesk® Infrastructure Map Server, Autodesk® Vault, Autodesk BIM 360, Autodesk Project Vasari, Autodesk® Green Building Studio®, Autodesk® Navisworks®, and several more Autodesk AEC technologies.  Hear from Autodesk’s AEC Leadership including Vice President Jim Lynch.  Learn firsthand about developing a new Cloud based business leveraging Autodesk technologies from the Co-Founder of Horizontal Systems (recently acquired by Autodesk) Jordan Brandt. 

Complete list of classes being offered at AEC DevCamp found here.

Register to attend the AEC DevCamp here. 

Optional AEC DevLab, June 8, requires a separate registration here

 

Happy Birthday Revit

April 1 marked the 10 year anniversary of Autodesk's acquisition of Revit. Yesterday we had a little party to celebrate. There were a lot of people in old t-shirts and a lot of great war stories. Here is to another 10 years and beyond...

All current factory staffers that have "survived" since the acquisition

Project Vasari 2.5 - Coming Soon

Our small, yet dedicated Project Vasari team has been working hard on a new Labs release, which will be dropping VERY soon. Keep an eye out on Twitter, Facebook, and/or ProjectVasari.com.  Our focus for this release has been on usabilty which includes new direct face manipulation tools and creating/editing in a perspective view. Yes. You heard that correctly.

see more details on our wiki site.

_tom

Windows Vista Compatibility

Now for a bit of news...

Microsoft Vista support will be discontinued for new 2012 Autodesk products (Revit included)

Windows XP & 7 are still supported.  See the following link for more information: http://autode.sk/xY3PHO

eTransmit update for Revit now on Autodesk Labs

eTransmit for Revit – Technology Preview 1.1

The eTransmit for Revit team is pleased to announce that a new version of the eTransmit for Revit technology preview is now available for free download from Autodesk Labs.  This preview is available worldwide and will expire after June 30, 2012.

What’s new in 1.1?

You might recall that back in July we did a user survey to gather feedback from those of you who had tried eTransmit for Revit.  One of the things that we heard very clearly is that there are a number of people who were experiencing problems using the initial version.  Based on this, our biggest focus for this version was fixing issues.  For a complete list you can review the release notes and known issues, but highlights include:

• eTransmit will no longer crash when you try to create a transmittal on a network drive.
• The progress bar now updates correctly when there are errors and warnings (previously it gave the impression that the transmittal had failed when there were only warnings).

In addition, there is one new feature.  In version 1.1, you can use eTransmit even if you have one or more models open. 

Known issues:  Unfortunately, transmitted models still do not open correctly if you double-click on them from the operating system.  To open a transmitted model correctly, use Revit’s file open command.  This and other known issues are listed in detail in the release notes and known issues.

 What else did we learn in the user survey?

The survey certainly confirmed that eTransmit for Revit is a useful tool that saves time.  Most of the respondents envisioned using it to share models outside your firm a few times per week and many respondents would use it for archiving models as well.

As part of this survey, we asked participants to prioritize twenty-five wishlist items.  Based on the ranking, the top 25% are:

1. Offer an option to automatically run the purge unused command on all of the Revit models when creating the transmission package.
2. Offer an option to delete particular types of views (such as "all detail views" or "all sections") in all of the Revit models when creating the transmission package.
3. Allow me to remember different combinations of eTransmit settings and save them in named profiles for re-use.
4. Allow me to exclude individual files from the transmission package
5. Offer an option to delete all the sheets in all of the Revit models when creating the transmission package.
6. allow me to upgrade a model and all of its links to the current version of Revit.

The orange bars indicate the total points assigned to each request based on the number of users who classified it as “most important”, “very important”, etc.  Our team can’t promise anything about the future of eTransmit for Revit, but we did want to give you some idea of what your feedback has said.  Many thanks go to everyone who participated in the survey or offered suggestions via other avenues.

Thanks for taking the time to try eTransmit for Revit.   Suggestions, problems, and questions are all welcome at Labs.Revit.Etransmit@autodesk.com.

 

Write your first Revit plugin - in VB, at AU and beyond!

We posted back in May about the My First Revit Plug-in Series.  This is a great way for all of you non-programmer types to get your feet wet (and I mean SOAKED) in the Revit API. Now they have added VB.net samples to help lower the bar even further. The explanations in the lessons are still written for C#, but now depending on your language preference you can now follow along in VB.Net.

And if you are so inclined, a little event called Autodesk University is going on right now in a quite corner of Nevada. If you were not able to make it out there this week, starting today is AU Virtual. There are a number of courses related to coding in the Revit API. Check out the archive as well, which includes an Introduction to the Revit API from AU 2010.

Happy Coding!

_tom

Vasari Talk

I know most of the readers of this blog are already Revit black belts. However, if you, or some of your colleagues, are new to the concept of energy modeling, you may want to consider tuning in for our Vasari Talk webinar on Wednesday at 11:30 Eastern (-5 GMT.)  This is the first part of a three part series. We will begin by covering inputs, then analyzing and interpreting outputs and finally creating a simulation strategy for your project.

Apologies for the late notice, but we are recording the sessions. Past sessions are available on our wiki site as well. Hope to see you there!

_tom

2011 Bike to Work Challenge Complete

Another challenge completed.

The participating offices, which when global this year, rode over 58632 miles during  9349 individual one way trips and saved approx. 5 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere!

The top three leader stats:

Miles Commuted By Office:

• Montreal    14895
• Waltham    7832
• Toronto      6146

Number of Round Trips By Office:

• Montreal     936.5
• Toronto      559.5
• Krakow     555.5

 

Thought the challenge is over some will continue to ride - a prospect that gets even more challenging given the climate of the top offices.  We had snow in October this year!

_erik

Remembering the fallen, honoring the builders

Most of us today will be thinking about their personal remembrances of 9/11. For me, I had just left a job in Manhattan to move to Ann Arbor to start grad school. My wife stayed behind to finish up her job at the Federal Reserve before joining me. On that day she was on the last PATH train into the World Trade Center after the first plane hit the North Tower. Thankfully, she was able to escape without injury. Also, she worked right next to possibly the safest spot in downtown Manhattan that day: the Federal Reserve vault. She was lucky that day, and as we all know, many were not.

At that time Revit Technologies was still a small start up. Fast forward just about three years and Revit was the primary tool being used by SOM to design and document the Freedom Tower. I know there was, and still is, a lot of politics surrounding the re-design of Ground Zero. I also know there was a lot pain felt^* by the team using Revit for what remains to this day one of the largest projects ever attempted in Revit. Putting all of this aside, there was a palpable sense of purpose and pride in their contributions to the larger effort. I bring this up because as I reflect on the past 10 years it is easy to focus only on the darkness of the events of 9/11 and the wars and destruction that have ensued. However, it is because of you: the architects, engineers, builders and technologists of the world, and by your acts of building that I have hope. Whether it is with our tools, or others, or a simple pencil on paper - you continue to design and build. Towers. Churches. Synagogues. Mosques. Hospitals. Orphanages. Schools. Deploy-able emergency shelters. It is with this simple gesture and many complex actions that you are literally building the future. For this reason, I wanted to take time to on this day to honor and thank all those involved with the act of building. We are (I think I can speak for my colleagues at Autodesk as well) immensely proud to support you in your efforts to design and build. You are more than customers to us. You are partners; comrades armed with whatever technology you can muster to design and build amazing buildings and structures that allow people to learn, teach, heal, work, create, govern, worship, and live. Every time I speak with you and see the work that you are doing I always leave inspired. So as we honor the memories of those that fell on 9/11/2001 we also look forward and together continue to build. 

_tom

 

^{* I spent time in 2006 with the team as they were finishing up DD. We were researching problems related to performance, particularly related to worksharing. We documented a fair number of 20+ minute saves to central. Side note: this research led directly to the Worksharing Monitor and indirectly to Revit Server and the latest worksharing enhancements.} 

Friday Fun: Tweaking Parameters with Sliders

As many of you may have already noticed, Vasari 2.1 just dropped yesterday. Even though we have been launching a new version of Vasari about four times a year since November, we still wanted a way to get some new cool stuff in front of users even faster. So, as part of this release, we also launched a Works in Progress page on our wiki. The first (of hopefully many) WIP is a small add-in created for Vasari 2.1 by our summer intern that launches a modeless window with sliders that represent all numeric (number, length, angle, etc.) parameters in your model. It works in both the project (by selecting instances) or in the massing family editor. There are a few bugs, including one that will crash the entire application when switching between two open files - but that is what puts the "P" in WIP! So we recommend not using this on any production files. Which BTW, goes for Vasari as a whole anyway, since it is a tech preview.  Have fun! 

 

_tom

Autodesk BIM Workshop

We are excited to announce the launch of the Autodesk BIM Workshop. This online experience was created to help prepare the next generation of architecture, engineering, and construction management students for professional practice. The site has an abundance of learning material, videos, and exercises designed to educate on BIM and sustainable design practices along with Integrated Project Delivery concepts.

STL Export

Our sister blog BIM Apps has new information on a Revit STL exporter.  It comes in both a compiled installable version and open source code.  For the unfamiliar STL is a format used for 3D Printing. Check out the following post for complete details and this post for some creative use this exporter would support.

 

3D print courtesy Zach at buildz

My First Revit Plug-in

Are you a Revit power user with an interest in automating and extending the capabilities of Revit.  Are you also new to computer programming?

“My First Plug-in” is a self-paced tutorial guide for a smooth introduction into the Revit programming world. This is a “one-stop shop” learning path for users who know Autodesk products but are new to programming. In this guide, you will be working with the Autodesk Revit .NET API and the C# programming language.

The supported product version is Revit Architecture 2011 and latter versions. This guide assumes no previous programming knowledge and helps you build your first plug-in quickly. You’ll have a working application within an hour of starting this material, irrespective of your current level of programming expertise. The guide starts by reviewing the benefits of customizing Autodesk software then progresses onto lessons covering the use of the Revit API.

Ready to give it a try?  Here is a link to the guide developed by the ADN Revit team.

_erik

 

2012 Little Things: Shortcuts

Introduced in 2011 keyboard shortcuts got a graphical UI and with it the ability to define shortcuts on the fly. The commands exposed to the feature were also expanded to include contextual commands, application menu and other areas.  In 2012 we came back and picked off a few more items on the punch list.

Single Shortcuts

In 2011 expert shortcut users noticed something they didn't like.  The shortcut feature displayed all matches and allowed the arrow keys and spacebar to make a selection as before yet single letter shortcuts used to always sort first in the order.  When there were multiple matches but in 2011 they appeared last in the sort order.  Clever to the end you discovered that by manually editing the XAML file and write protecting it the issue could be mitigated but I am happy to report in 2012 this workaround is no longer needed.  The pre 2011 sort behavior is restored.  You can now define a single shortcut like "Z" for zoom and it will appear first even if there are other matches like "ZA", or "ZF".  Type "Z" then spacebar and voila.

Duplicate Shortcut Warning

In 2011 if you define a shortcut that creates a duplicate we post a warning.  Duplicates are still allowed  and can be found by sorting the list by the "shortcuts" column header.

Note: For some time we have been making an effort to ensure that warnings are reworked to be more informative.  The dialog below could have said "Warning! Duplicate Shortcut Created".  We now try to provide more information to help you understand what was done, what will happen, and the names of related elements so you can make a better decision - in this case the offending shortcut letter and command it is assigned to.  The more a dialog communicates the less you have to remember - the system is less cognitively demanding. We also try to not to be too verbose, yell at you, or use a condescending tone.

Export all commands (including undefined)

This is one for those of you that want to define everything free of a friendly yet slower graphical interface.

In previous versions we allowed export but only of defined commands.  This allowed commands to be easily transferred but didn't help if the aim was to make the definitions in excel or a XAML editor.

While I don't expect the calls for a command line to completely stop we've come a long way from R2009.

; )

_erik

3DConnexion + Revit 2012 = Fun with Navigation and Macros

This has been a long time in coming. The Revit family of products finally has support for 3D navigation devices from 3DConnexion. I have been anticipating this ever since we integrated the ViewCube component back in release 2009. Besides the obvious advantages to 3D navigation afforded by these devices - there is some hidden goodness as well.  If you are lucky enough to have SpacePilot Pro with all of the fancy buttons, you can assign any Windows key and any Revit keyboard shortcut to any of the buttons. Not only that, you can string together multiple commands into macros! Now, before you get too excited, there is no conditional logic or anything. It is a straight serial sequence. But if carefully configured, this has the potential to be a really powerful feature. This video runs through the set up. So grab a cup of coffee and start thinking of your pitch to management to buy you one of these babies.

_tom

Revit 2012 Wiki Help is Live

The wiki help is now live and can be accessed via the following url: 

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Revit/enu/2012

Overview

Under Browse Help, you have access to all of the Autodesk-provided user assistance, including the User’s Guide, etc.

Under Add Knowledge, you have access to information contributed by Revit customers. (more on this below)

Other areas of the landing page show the Most Popular topics, Recent Updates, and Newest Videos.

 

The topic below applies to all 3 flavors of Revit, but the ribbon path to the Walls command is different for each. Product icons indicate which ribbon path applies to each flavor.

If you press F1 or click a Help button, the appropriate context-sensitive help topic displays in the wiki. Note: if you are working offline, you will automatically access a locally stored version of the help instead of the wiki.

You can use the gray navigate contents panel on the left the blue box indicating the topic that you are currently viewing.

 

 

Video

When a video is available for a particular procedure or concept, we embed the video directly in the relevant topic. Click the + to expand the video, then play.

Note the Comments area. Any user who is logged in using an Autodesk SSO (single sign-on account) can leave a comment on a topic. (Anonymous commenting/editing of the wiki. is not permitted)  This is also true of adding content or rating a topic.

Search

On any WikiHelp page, enter a search term.

The Revit WikiHelp is available to all, so if you do a Google search (or use your favorite search tool), you will get search results here.

In the left pane of the search results, you can filter by version or by type of information (e.g. help vs. videos vs. information from blogs, etc.).

Community

Customers are the experts.   In the community section you can share what you know with your peers, adding your favorite tips & tricks, best practices, videos, etc.

Content will always be seeded by Autodesk but now customers have a means to enhance topic coverage and provide feedback.

In the Community > Videos area, Autodesk videos have been grouped into larger topics, so you can see a series of videos to learn about a particular feature set or workflow.

 

 

New Blog Format

Faithful readers,  in an effort to reduce costs, improve security and take advantage of new mobile technology this blog will start to post exclusively in datamatrix.

What is it?   Data Matrix symbols are made up of modules arranged within a perimeter and can encode up to 3,116 characters from the entire ASCII character set.  The symbol consists of data regions which contain modules set out in a regular array.

How do I read these?  Our surveys show most customers have an iphone or android which can scan these using a simple free app (click for android or  iphone).  If you don't have one of these phones don't worry.. the person sitting next to you does and will love to show it off to you.

In time we have found, with practice, the symbols can be read without a scanner.  Customers that can read Revit journal files have shown to be particularly capable of this.

Enjoy...and with that our first post:

_erik

 

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

 

Project Vasari Tech Preview 1.1 is now available

We are happy to announce that, just after three months since the initial release, we have an update to Project Vasari on Autodesk Labs. We have been working hard to deliver on some features that we were unable to get to back in November, fixing bugs, and more importantly: delivering some new experimental analysis features. So text annotations, metric templates, and STL export are now available. We have also further isolated Vasari from potential Worksharing badness by automatically detaching a work-shared RVT file upon open.

Now on to the fun stuff.  We have had the distinct pleasure of working with Dr. Andrew Marsh of Ecotect fame for this release. He has developed two prototype analysis features based on Ecotect technology. The Wind Rose tool allows you to visualize wind speed and direction data in your models for different seasons and times of day. The Planar Solar Radiation tool lets you perform solar radiation analysis in the external spaces within and around your site. Both of these tools continue the trend of visualizing analysis data directly inside a BIM. We also had the pleasure of working with an excellent team in our Shanghai office that has been porting over the Maya "Nucleus" physics engine to work with native Revit masses. In what I believe is an Autodesk Labs first, we have a coordinated launch of two Labs tech previews with one integrated in another. So now inside Project Vasari you can play around with applying real phsyical forces such as gravity and wind to mass surfaces!

Have you been using Project Vasari since the initial launch? Did you pass it along to some of your colleagues not yet initiated into Club Revit? One of our goals with Vasari is to introduce the concept of BIM and parametric modelling to a new audience that may be intimitated by Revit. I am curious to hear your about your experiences with this. Did this spur a larger conversation about BIM and analysis in your office?

_tom

Revit Polska

Andrzej Samsonowicz, Application Engineer in the Autodesk Warsaw office, has launched a blog about Autodesk Revit in Polish.  You can read an English translation with this link.

Mile widziane Andrzej!

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 Project Vasari

 

Yesterday was the day. We officially launched Project Vasari on Autodesk Labs. I thought I would give everyone a behind the scenes look at how this all came about.

Genesis

As we said in the teaser, it started as a simple question: What if we reduced Revit to its essentials? Followed quickly by: What would it look like? What would we keep? Who would it be for? This evolved into the following goals:

• Create a simplified "on-ramp" to introduce building information modeling concepts to students and young designers
• Focus on the conceptual modeling and cloud-based analysis work flows
• Create a "sandbox" where we can experiment on new features and concepts
• Deliver this as a technology preview on the web

Design Tenets

The following design tenets were our guiding principles as we began conceiving of what to make

• Let users get their hands dirty faster
• Reduce modality
• Focus on teachable moments
• Progressively disclose complexity
• Build a community

Personas and Storyboards

A persona is a one-page narrative that describes a fictional user based on user data we have gathered. After interviewing and surveying many students, we distilled that data into Gabriel .This helps us keep the team user-centered. As we face various decisions, we must ask "what would Gabriel   think of this?"  We also wrote a series of scenarios - stories with Gabriel as the main character. These act as the basis for some early sketching and storyboards (note, not all of these ideas made the final cut.) 

Being Agile

In addition to the previously mentioned goals - we also wanted to see what a small team could do in a short amount of time. By "small", I mean one product manager, five software developers, two designers and one quality assurance analyst/blogger/mad scientist. By "short time" I mean six months from inception to delivery. To do this we adopted a more agile team process called Scrum. I won't go into much detail, but to put it simply Scrum is like IPD for software development: A cross disciplinary team co-locates to increase collaboration, breaks down roles to foster innovation (QA helps with design, designers do some coding, etc.) focuses work on a central information repository (in our case, the source code and a wiki) and shares equally in the risk and reward.

So, isn't this just Revit with a bunch of stuff removed?

Yes and no. Yes, it is Revit at its core. But no, we did make some progress in some areas - primarily related to our design tenets. Ultimately, Vasari has become a platform to experiment and take some risks - something that has become difficult when trying to get the larger Revit out the door each year. So what's different?

• A smaller, less imposing user interface.
• Access to massing tools is more streamlined. Were you asked to switch visibility mode when creating a mass? Were you asked to name your mass when you created it? Did you actually have to create the mass at first?
• You can double click to edit an in-place mass and double click to stop editing it. My personal favorite.
• When you are editing an in-place mass the background changes color and non-edited masses become transparent.  Notice I said reduced modality, not removed. We follow Jef Raskin's definition of modality, that is, an interface is not modal as long as the user is fully aware of its current state.
• Levels and reference planes are now visible in 3D in the project environment. This allowed us to keep the experience primarily in 3D, with little need for 2D views.
• The product is delivered in a nice, compact, single executable. No licensing. No big installer wizard.
• Realistic views have edges turned on by default.
• And our dirty secret? Much of the look and feel was achieved using a plain ol' Revit template.

What's Next?

I can't say. I know, I know - tight lipped as usual. Actually, it is because I really don't know. I do know that we have generated a lot of ideas (stories in our backlog, to use Scrum terminology.) Now that we have some time to breathe we will listen to the feedback that comes back from our target demographic, sift through the backlog and decide on what to tackle next.  Until then, come join us on Facebook and Twitter where we will continue the conversation. 

_tom

A video introducing Project Vasari's features:

 

We've been busy

_tom

Revit 2011 Update 2 and Subscription Advantage Packs

The Revit 2011 Web Update 2 Service Pack is out and described in detail on the Revit Clinic site.

Be sure to grab this update as it's a prerequisite for the 2011 Revit Subscription Advantage Packs which are released right on its tail.

Here are some videos that provide an overview of what is available in these packs:

Subscription Advantage Pack Demo: Revit Server Extension

Subscription Advantage Pack Demo: Revit Conceptual Energy Analysis

Subscription Advantage Pack Demo: Revit Extensions for Revit Structure 2011

_erik

Labs Contest - iPad and 3Ds Max potential

Autodesk Labs just posted the Project Photofly Photo Scene Contest for Buildings.  

The contest details and rules are posted on the site but I'll post the nifty prizes for the readers here:

• One (1) Carl Bass autographed Not-For-Resale copy of Autodesk® 3ds Max® OR Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design software product (MSRP* US$3,495).
• A one-of-a-kind laser engraved Apple iPad, Wi-Fi + 3G, 64GB (estimated retail value $829).

If your an apple aficionado then you probably already got your iPad but if you are like me and have a self imposed waiting period when it comes to purchasing apple designed products this is a loophole.

The 3DMax is a tremendous opportunity as well.  *Last fall an autographed copy of the first Inventor release sold for 15K on eBay!

-erik

* Not a true statement

New Training Videos Available

There are a few new videos posted for Revit Architecture and a redesigned video landing page. These new videos are also incorporated into our existing “Getting Started with Revit in 90 Seconds” and “Getting Started with Revit Architecture in 90 Seconds” series on the Building Solutions YouTube channel.

Before the MEP users gather outside the factory with pitchforks the next batch of videos will include some for that vertical.  The user assistance team plans to continually improve and refine the video offerings.

Here is a list of the new additions that can be found here:

Working in the Revit Environment

• Managing View Windows
• Controlling Visibility and Graphic Display

Design the Preliminary Layout

• Adding Levels
• Adding Grid Lines
• Controlling Visibility of Datums

Add Basic Building Elements

• Placing Columns

View the Model

• Creating Section Views
• Creating Elevation Views

Present the Project

• Rendering a View with Artificial Lighting
• Rendering a View with Sunlight

As a result of usability feedback we received the following videos were redesigned :

• The Adding Levels and Adding Grid Lines videos replace the Adding Project Datums video.
• The Creating Section Views and Creating Elevation Views videos replace the single Creating Section and Elevation Views video.

Also are there other topics/types of videos you are interested in?

_erik

BIM Analytics 2010 Conference

I was fortunate enough to attend the fourth annual BIM Analytics Conference on the USC main campus in LA earlier this week. It was a real pleasure to spend some time with top educators and practitioners who are really pushing the envelope of BIM. Preceding the conference, I also attended one day of the provocatively titled "Kill Bim" session in USC's ExecED series. I am not going to go into detail on each talk (hopefully the organizers will post the content online soon.) Instead, I pulled out a series of themes that kept coming up over the course of two days.This is just a quick summary and I plan to delve into these topics more in future posts. I am also curious to hear your impressions and in-the-field stories related to these topics.

BIM and Analysis - What questions can I ask of my model?

Based on the premise of the conference - and the breadth of speakers - BIM is starting to deliver tangible results as a platform for analysis. Obviously, analysis is a broad term, and the range of speakers reflected this. CO Architects presented a case study in how they were able to deliver a unique copper cladding scheme within budget by carefully tracking material costs within their BIM. Arup shared their technique for creating acoustic "fingerprints" to realistically recreate, simulate and analyze spoken voices within a virtual model of a court house. There were also a variety of examples of architects using tools such as Ecotect and EQuest to perform early and periodic analysis of day lighting and energy performance throughout the design process. The democratization of these tools (in terms of cost and usability) is clearly making an impact on the industry. However, the question of accuracy versus precision came up at various times. These tools present a danger in that they present compelling and precise results - but if the accuracy is off, a designer could be lead astray. It is interesting to observe the larger industry conversation switching from "how do we build BIMs" to "what kind of questions can I ask of a BIM once it is built?"

IPD and "Who owns the model?"

I apparently missed quite a lively discussion related to IPD on the first day of the Kill BIM session. But the topic kept coming up in other talks. It appears that many thorny legal issues are yet to be ironed out before a digital BIM can act as the contractual record of the design intent. The state of art still seems to be printed documents from a BIM acting as legal documentation. This is not my area of expertise and I would be curious to hear from others about their experience with IPD and/or using a BIM as a contract "document."

BIM and Facilities Management

A topic for a longer post. The question boils down to this: "Why has this not been solved yet?" Of course a handful of people will respond "Well, we ARE using BIM in FM" (but digging further you find their workflow is incredibly circuitous and painful)  It still appears that this is one of a few remaining BIM frontiers.

Interoperability

Also a topic for a follow-up post or ten. The discussions and debates this week tended to focus on the pain of file translation between the multitude of platforms and tools. It started to really dawn on me by the end of the two days: BIM is not being served by the whole files and folders paradigm - especially as project complexity balloons and teams disperse across the globe. Cloud-based access to data, real data - as in queries not a bunch of files on a server - is coming, but it is a sticky problem that has not been solved yet. Once again, a potential game changer. As product designers, we love sticky problems. Bring it on. More to come...

_tom

Temporary Factory Shutdown

Following in the great traditions of the Great Recession, Autodesk is shutting down all offices for the following week. See you after a much needed of rest, relaxation, and colorful explosions in the night sky.

Until then, I will leave you with a couple fun links via Yammer from last week:

3D printing with concrete? Why not?

How fun would it be to go back in time to 1977 and "reinvent" the future?

Twitter and earthquakes (who even knew Toronto had an earthquake last week?? I guess I need to read the news more)

Bill Mitchell, influential urban theorist, passes away

Bill Mitchell, the former dean of the MIT School of Architecture, author, and founder of the Smart Cities initiative died this past friday. Unlike some of the people at the Factory, I was not fortunate enough to know Bill or work with him at MIT. However, his passing does bring back memories of reading City of Bits when it was published during my last year of architecture school. That book, among others, played a part in my eventual move from architecture to software and interaction design. At the time, there was much breathless talk of the death of physicality and how we would all just "jack in." All architecture would be experienced purely through the visual cortex (etc. etc.) Mitchell took a slightly different tack in City of Bits. This book focused more on how physical architecture, from the building to urban scale, would be fundamentally altered by this new paradigm, not necessarily replaced by it. Much of what Mitchell wrote about in City of Bits was pretty spot on. Considering that it was written just as the Web as we know it was taking shape, much of the content, ranging from issues of personal privacy to the impact of technology on the nuclear family, does a pretty darn good job of describing our world today - for better or worse. 

I leave you with some memories of Bill Mitchell from Factory veteran David Conant:

The design community has lost a great thinker. One whose ideas provided foundations for the very work we are engaged in on a daily basis. Several of us on the Revit team were touched directly by Bill and his work as we started on the paths that lead us here. In the early day of Revit, we met with him several times to discuss the feasibility of our effort. He was most encouraging. As he moved on, he never lost that clarity that allowed him to be thinking 10 years ahead of the tools and paradigms used in practice. Bill’s passing will be a loss to all who are involved in the community of design.

_tom

2011 Released Into the Wild

The 2011 Revit products are online and available for download.  The workers really pulled out all the stops on this one.  We are excited for you to get it, try it out, and discover all the new features / enhancements first hand. As the weeks roll on I'll share some insight into the design behind some of the features. Enjoy!

Direct Downloads:

Revit Architecture:
http://revit.downloads.autodesk.com/download/2011RAC/RAC2011.exe

Revit MEP:
http://revit.downloads.autodesk.com/download/2011RME/RME2011.exe

Revit Structure:
http://revit.downloads.autodesk.com/download/2011RST/RST2011.exe

Help Documentation:

Revit Architecture:
http://docs.autodesk.com/REVIT/2011/ENU/index.html
 
Revit MEP:
http://docs.autodesk.com/RVTMPJ/2011/ENU/index.html
 
Revit Structure:
http://docs.autodesk.com/REVITST/2011/ENU/index.html

2011 Revit Products Unveiled

so the cat is out of the bag and those who have not been participating in beta can join in and see what is coming.  Here are some of the highlights:

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011:

• Large team workflow
• Enhanced visualization
• Enhanced documentation

Autodesk Revit Structure 2011:

• Framing enhancements (slanted columns, beam systems, trusses and connection symbols)
• Reinforcement and concrete cleanup enhancements
• Analytical model enhancements

Autodesk Revit MEP 2011:

• Cable tray and conduit modeling
• Panel schedules and demand factors
• MEP fixture management
• Oval duct

Other platform changes include conceptual modeling improvements, UI , visualization, performance and the API.

There is a lot in this release.  I and others will post more in the weeks to come but David Light is setting the bar in his coverage.  For me I am very excited for as the "...room somewhere in the factory which is full, from floor to ceiling with user feature requests..." ,as David refers to it, well.... I can open the door to the room now and not get maimed by a request avalanche!

These requested enhancements range from dialog re-sizing, to better defaults when making new parameters, to an editable elevation tag and other fixes to reported issues.

-Erik

The death of boxed software

It is with great pleasure that I am able to help herald a new era in software delivery: Starting this month, software download will replace CDs and DVDs as the default method of delivering software upgrades to most Autodesk Subscription customers worldwide. As a former CAD manager and game-playing kid from the 80's, I can say that the death of boxed software could not have come sooner. Here is the official line:

If a customer would prefer to receive their software upgrade via CD/DVD instead of via download, customers can set their delivery preference to “box” by signing in to Subscription Center and updating their profile prior to March 12, 2010. (Date does not apply to Media and Entertainment customers.) After March 12, 2010 customers in countries affected by this policy change can still request a CD/DVD by submitting a request in Subscription Center and Autodesk will ship a CD/DVD at no additional cost. Software download gives Subscription customers immediate access to the latest Autodesk® software. It’s more convenient than installing upgrades from a CD or DVD. And, it’s a more sustainable choice. Autodesk will continue to ship CDs/DVDs to Subscription customers in some countries as the default delivery method. However, these customers will also have the option to download their Autodesk® software upgrades.

Additional information and a Customer FAQ can be found on the Subscription Software Download page. Or email subscription-team@autodesk.com.

I have no idea what you are saying ... (Google Translator Added)

 

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. 

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

Starting today the Factory will shutdown for a bit.  I'll see if I can queue up a post or two to fire off while we are away but will otherwise I'll join you all again on the fourth of the new year.  Enjoy the holidays!  _erik

 

Ending the quarter on an up-note

Much has been written about how Autodesk ate it's own dogfood (man, I hate that saying, but it works) with the use of BIM and IPD for our new AEC HQ here in Waltham. But I thought it was worth pointing out the recent article in  Metropolis, particularly the breakdown of upgrades that were made possible by savings realized by IPD (such as nicer finishes, custom lighting and exposed mechanicals - which are helpful when scratching our heads over certain MEP workflows!) Also, the BIM(x) blog just posted Tocci's take on the process, which includes a summary of LEED credits and the complete Platinum score card. See if you can spot a certain co-blogger in one of the photos...

And speaking of facilities, all of Autodesk is shutting down for the week of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States. So, blogging may dip in our post-feast stupors. See you in December!  _tom

Photo: Jeff Goldberg/Esto

Factory Lecture Series: Algorithmic Architecture

Lira Nikolovska, a fellow Interaction Designer on BIM Platform Team, has been organizing a sort of informal lecture series here at the factory. Yesterday, we were pleased to host Kostas Terzidis, PhD, Associate Professor of Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Professor Terzidis has a background in computer science (he was one of the original developers of form-Z) and architecture. His focus is on how architecture can be generated and influenced by computation, which he distinguishes from computerization - using the computer to simply facilitate the study formal compositions. He is strongly critical of the decade-plus trend in computer-generated blobitecture (In the introduction to his book Expressive Form, he describes this trend using words like "arbitrary," "vague," and "caricature.") Terzidis instead proposes using rule-based algorithmic computation to generate and evaluate a multitude of options. The key to this approach is the use of rules - which can take the form of pragmatic building codes, geometric patterns, or formal design patterns - to present to the architect combinations they may not have arrived at themselves. These options are then culled and selected based on specific criteria. This generated debate amongst the architects in the room. What about the ideal of the architect as individual genius? Is this simply the computer replacing the architect? My personal take: it all depends on how far you want to take this concept. The key is in the selection criteria. Taken to a logical extreme, one could attempt to boil every single design decision in a building down to rules to be generated and analyzed solely by the machine. This idea is not entirely new. Nicholas Negroponte explored "architecture without architects" in the 1973 Soft Architecture Machines. I do not think this is plausible or preferable. Instead, I see these algorithms as simply another tool, the selection criteria is still dependent on the aesthetic sensibility of the architect. An algorithm may provide all n possible fenestration combinations for a facade - the architect still chooses.

How does this apply to Revit, or BIM in general? I am not sure yet. Revit's strength in the face of many generalized tools has been it's specificity. When you click Wall, you know what you will get. But when you break it down, its all geometry, parameters, and rules. So one could imagine using parameters to drive the creation of a multitude of design "branches" that can be deterministically pruned and combined as designs progress. It is surely a fascinating topic that really cuts to the core of most contemporary design disciplines.

(BTW, I just found the full text of Prof. Terzidis's latest two books on Scribd: Algorithmic Architecture and Algorithms for Visual Design.)

_tom

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

Fall in New England

Brisk air, apple picking, leaf peeping and pumpkin carving!  Co conspirator Zach Kron is hosting a carving contest. You don't have to carve in Revit though there is a category for "Mostest Parametric".

-erik

Stop Pressed

Starting Monday (8/31) the Factory is observing another company shutdown. With the exception of a few staff dedicated to critical systems, all United States employees will take the week off using vacation time.  Posts and responses will cease here during this planned break but we'll be back fully on-line Sept 7.  See you then.

Solar Radiation Technology Preview

Analyze incident solar radiation from within Revit!

"Choose a weather file which contains the raw solar data required for the analysis, then choose a date and time range for the analysis, and finally select the surfaces to be analyzed."

Click here for the full details on the Autodesk LABS page.