Navis Subscription Package

Rather than actually detail them myself, I'll defer to David.

So excited about batch processing..

Platinum

The final review for Autodesk HQ is complete and we earned LEED-CI Platinum certification with 46 points! Our final IPD goal achieved!

Revit 2010 Enhancement

I just got off the webinar Autodesk put together for a few bloggers on the Revit Platform 2010 Subscription Advantage release of Revit (coming...soon). Others have already posted some information (like the new interface for keyboard shortcut management), but there are a few things I'd like to highlight:

Revit Architectural will now have a wood framing extension tool, for walls only. My team is really excited about that, but after trying out MWF and others and finding that it was hard to manipulate, we are trying to temper our expectations.















As someone pointed out during the demo, the extension missed a few studs when framing (hard to see in screenshot):











This feature seems like it is the largest major upgrade. There are a lot of other small upgrades and additions that we're mentioned like conditional formatting in schedules, conversion of models lines to and from detail lines (this may be major for A/Es, but isn't for us), more structural capabilities in architecture (trusses, curved beams, beam coping tool - see image below - and decking improvements). The major MEP improvement seems like performance; although, they aren't allowing us to "turn off" calculations while doing layout.
















Another nice thing is that subscription users will recieved Image Modeler, which enables conersion of images to DWG models. It is a nice existing condition modeling tool, which we are in the process of testing, but isn't really a replacement for laser scanning, with regard to accuracy. We are also looking at a similar competing product, PhotoModeler.

Another extension that we will have access to is Revit Model Review, the product acquired from Avatech. We played with that for a while, but never found a practical way to use it on projects. Maybe now that we have it with Revit, we will...

Overall, I'm looking forward to the upgrades and definiately enjoyed the preview. Thanks David and others for coordinating and presenting...

"Field BIM"

Although I don't always agree with the Vela-specific branding of the term "Field BIM", there are some pretty amazing things being done with linking Vela to Navis or Tekla for material tracking, punchlist, etc. Here is an update on a doors/frames/hardware workflow from Vela and DPR. (You will need to click on each JPG to read/print because I was too lazy to deal with PDF upload...or is there an easy way to do this in Blogger?)

IPD Without BIM...

At a meeting on Friday, we (meaning KlingStubbins, Tocci & Autodesk) were discussing concepts of IPD and BIM. In his definitions of BIM and IPD, Phil Bernstein seperated the two concepts: BIM is a technology-enabled process; IPD is a contract. He acknowledged that it is very difficult to disentangle the concepts, as it is hard to imagine doing IPD without BIM:

As he said, "I guess you can do heart surgery with an exacto knife, but I think there are better tools available."

Manufacturer Content - Part 2

The family is beautiful. Accurate geometry that flexes. Not too much detail, but enough.













One family for entire line of products, with types set up for various sizes.













One small issue that prevents us from implementing the family as is...it's ceiling hosted. And ceiling hosted families are constrained to the finish face of the ceiling, so we can't even find a workaround.













Is there a way to change this family to a unhosted family? Easily? I tried copying the geometry over, but obviously lost a lot of the data and constraints. And then I couldn't even load it into a project - I got a very generic error. Help...

Manufacturer Content

So we have a submittal deadline Friday for New Street. And we (Tocci's VDC department) are responsible for some of the drawings that will be included in the submittal set - specifically HVAC and plumbing. (As described here, modular has a different submittal and approval process).

Four days away from the deadline (so yesterday), the team decided to change the heat pump to a Mitsubishi instead of a Daikin. So we are in the middle of a "quick" update and remodel.

We have a cut sheet for the unit, but before I started modifying a family to reflect the Mitsubishi characteristics and dimensions, I called them to ask about any additional product data. In the conversation, he asked what I was doing with the information, what project, etc. - and it came out that I needed to model it in Revit.

As it turns out, he sits next to the guy who models all of the Mitsubishi units in Revit, so he's going to email it to me. This was all about 10 minutes ago, so I'm still waiting for the email. Fingers crossed for a good family..

Modular Construction & BIM

This month, Tocci Today featured modular construction and a recently awarded modular project. In one of the articles (the KBS Building Systems one), we outlined the process we are using to coordinate, document and fabricate the modules. As we move forward in that, I'll share more details..!