In-Revit Solar Radiation

Use the Solar Radiation Technology Preview to analyze the effects of solar radiation on various surfaces of your conceptual building model...

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

Revit Arch 2010 Update 1

The first Update for Revit Arch 2010 is now available...

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=12828862

ORUG Members in Azure...

Congatulations Solares!

We are pleased to announce that one of our members newest (Revit) projects, The County Trail House, has been featured in this month’s Azure magazine!


For more information on the County Trail House, please visit their website: http://www.solares.ca/

ORUG June 24th Meeting Notes

Thanks to the 35 people who came and participated in our meeting. Here are the notes from the evening...

News and other misc topics:

ORUG member 'Solares' featured in Azure magazine.
http://ontariorevit.blogspot.com/2009/06/orug-members-in-azure.html

Yankee Stadium Completed using Revit and Navisworks
http://blog.jtbworld.com/2009/06/yankee-stadium-within-navisworks.html

New Revit content site:

http://revitcomponents.blogspot.com/

New Revit Specific Magazine, featuring Steve Stafford

AEC Edge http://www.augiaecedge.com/home/default.htm

2010 Interface, 'where's my tool' flash page...

http://www.nichitecture.com/downloads/Where%20is%20my%20command%20in%20Revit%20Architecture%202010.html

Jay started out with an Interface tour. One feature to remember is the ability to use dual screens, without workarounds.

Yogi wowed us with the blindingly new conceptual mass tools. He massed up the local Roy Thompson Hall including curtain panels.

Some topics were discussed for our next meeting:

Navisworks

Struct Soft-Panelizer and Robot Strucural Analysis

KPMB update

Revit 2010 - Meeting June 24

Please join us for our next ORUG meeting. Details are below.

Date:

Wednesday June 24, 2009Time: 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Location:

Alice Fazooli's, 294 Adelaide St W, Toronto ON, M5V 1P6.

Click here for map. For those taking the TTC, it is conveniently located near both Osgoode and St. Andrew stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina line.

CONTENT
Introductions, Welcome and News
New features in Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure 2010

Revit 2010 Interface Tour

Tour through the hotly debated new "ribbon" interface in Revit 2010
Revit 2010 Massing Tour

RSVP
If you would like to become an ORUG member or attend this meeting as a guest, please contact Jay Polding at jpolding@cadmicro.com. There is no charge to attend.

June 24th ORUG Meeting

Greetings,

How does this sound for the next meeting?...

Wed. June 24
Alice Fazooli’s

Topics...
Revit 2010 What’s New
Revit 2010 Interface Tour
Revit 2010 Massing Tour

If we don't hear anything back we'll book the room and send out invitations by Friday, June 5th.

Revit API Meeting of the Minds

Greetings ORUG members,

Hope all is well. We are currently planning our next meeting for June 2009. If you have any suggestions for topics please let me know.

In the meantime...

Are you a programmer at heart or in practice? Are you struggling to crack open and work with the Revit API? If so, you are invited to a lunch-meeting sponsored by CAD Microsolutions. We will be discussing how best to get started on the Revit Application Programming Interface and how we can best support each other while we learn.

Date: Friday, May 8th
Time: 12:00-2:00pm
Location: CAD Microsolutions, 65 International Boulevard Toronto ON M9W 6L9
Lunch will be provided

RSVP

Autodesk Software Assistance

This is nice news. If you are out of a job in the design industry there is an opportunity for you to get free software and maybe even training within the next few months. Please read the full press release here...
http://pressreleases.autodesk.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=553%3C%2Ftd%3E

A little extra,
If you are in Ontario, Canada and need a business loan or grant check out this site...

http://www.grants-loans.org/ontario-grants.php

Revit 2010 When and How

The Revit Architecture 2010 release is fast approaching.

The when is the middle of April.

The how is a little more difficult...
Subscription customers must choose how they would like their software upgrades to be delivered this year (in Canada).

The delivery options are:
1. Do nothing. Your 2010 Autodesk software DVD / CD will automatically be shipped to you in 30 days. (add on top of this the delivery time which can take anywhere from a few days to weeks)
2. Download your 2010 Autodesk software using the Autodesk Subscription Center.
3. Login to the Autodesk Subscription Center to request a DVD / CD copy of your 2010 software and Autodesk will ship your DVD / CD after you submit your request.

If you need full instructions to get into subscription center call your reseller.

Get Paid to Play with Newport!

Greetings all Ontario Revit users! Having a say in Autodesk product development is a unique opportunity that we enjoy in this city. Having done some testing myself I can assure you that Newport is going in the right direction. It's also nice to see how seriously the developers take our opinions...

If you are interested in participating contact Ian Hooper at ux.tester@autodesk.com .

March 4th Meeting Photos

Thanks to the 40 people who attended and participated last week! Our three main topic tables were busy with conversations. The ideas were flowing like wine. Jay opened the

meeting with a little preview of Autodesk's 2010 offerings. Then Caesar Ruest from Autodesk let us in on a few RFPs and current Revit projects.

The AIA Document E202 - 2008 (shown above) provides a concise outline for a BIM based contract.

Project managers discussing contract, legal and other issues.


BIM managers talking API and more API...

More notes to follow...

Special guest...Darth Caesar (pictured below)

Revit Wishlist and Meeting Notes Update

Hello All,

Thanks coming and participating last week. There were many good ideas which came out of it. We are working on compiling your notes, photos and presentations and will post them this week.

In the meantime, maybe you would like to vote on the Revit Architecture Wishlist...

Autodesk does pay attention to the results of this.

Game Engine for Architects

This may be of interest....




Autodesk® Project Newport - real-time 3D story building technology for architectural visualization and presentation. With game-engine technology and breakthrough ease-of-use, Project Newport enables architects to show their design in context, rapidly explore design options, and create vivid and immersive 3D presentations. Newport brings architectural designs to life by expressing design intent at every stage of a project.






If you want to join the beta testing...




http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/newport/

ORUG Summit March 4,2009

ORUG Summit - Wednesday March 4th 6:30 - 9:00 PM

Please join us for our first ORUG Summit. We will have three topic discussion tables: CAD Manager Issues, Project Manager Issues, and Miscellaneous Topics.

Date: Wednesday March 4, 2009Time: 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM.

Location: Alice Fazooli's, 294 Adelaide St W, Toronto ON, M5V 1P6. Click here for map.

For those taking the TTC, it is conveniently located near both Osgoode and St. Andrew stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina line.

Guest: Charles Simco is a Toronto Litigation lawyer at Shibley Righton LLP who will be available to offer his opinion at the Legal Contract issues discussion table.
CONTENT
RSVP

Introductions, Welcome and News

Jay Polding will update us about Revit 2010 and what's been going on for the past four months.
If you would like to become an ORUG member or attend this meeting as a guest, please contact Jay Polding at jpolding@cadmicro.com. There is no charge to attend.

Topic Discussion Tables

CAD Manager Issues

*API*

Office Standards and Templates

Project Manager Issues

*Integrated Project Delivery

*Legal Contract Issues
Miscellaneous Topics

*Revit 2010*Tips and Tricks

*There will be 1 moderator at each table and 2 note takers. Notes will be posted to the ORUG Blog at http://www.orug.ca/.


CAD MicroSolutions Inc.65 International Blvd Toronto ON M9W 6L9P: 416-213-0533 or 1-888-401-5885 F: 416-213-0538http://www.cadmicro.com/ solutions@cadmicro.com

Revit 2010 Build Checker

Looks like this might be useful...

The Beside The Cursor Revit Build Checker has been updated to support Revit 2010 products when they are available. No need to launch Revit and search for the build number...just launch my script to get a report on installed versions of Revit from Release 9.1 through 2010.Also works with 64 bit Windows XP and Vista. Also works with Revit MEP and Revit Structures.

http://www.integr-8.com/besidethecursor/

Useful links on various forms of the IPD Contracts docs

Pierre Hoppener from Autodesk sent me this very interesting email and wanted to share it with the group...

The following are websites where customers can find examples that illustrate the current American Institute of Architecture thinking and suggested implementation of an IPD leveraging BIM.

AIA California Council Docs

IPD Working Definition:
http://www.ipd-ca.net/images/Integrated%20Project%20Delivery%20Definition.pdf

IPD Guide:
http://www.ipd-ca.net/IPD%20Definition.htm

Level of Detail Matrix:
http://www.ipd-ca.net/LevelOfDetailMatrix06.xls

March 4th Meeting Topics

Here is some great input from our members on topics for the next meeting. There is a poll on the sidebar of this blog in order to vote for topics which interest you. Please send Jay Polding an email if you have other topics or would like to present something yourself.

'Today I was working on the site plan and realized that it takes a long time to develop the skills to to a good site plan in revit, from importing contours from cad to taking cut/fill values, even how to draw curbs. You could do one meeting on site plan and another on stairs. Get some people to present samples of work and step-by step tips on development. You should followup with a blog summary for all to share the notes...'

'I think we should attract New comers to Revit meetings by spending half an hour or around that telling everybody new tips and tricks in Revit. Even sometimes the Basics of Revit so the novice would also think of coming to the meetings.'

'Revit & Integrated Project Delivery
Solid Modelling & best practices for custom family creation.
Revit - Material and Cost Estimating
Templates and Office Standards'

'Well, it could be anything that supplements the building design but I'm thinking specifically about structural and mechanical.
There is a promise there that I don't think is being lived up to, at least in my limited experience. It would be interesting to hear from people who have had some (hopefully better) experience trying to make it work.'

'I’d like to see some examples of how people are using the Revit API and .Net to automate processes.'

Try Ecotect for Free

Autodesk has recently purchased Ecotect and is making the software available for free (trial basis) on this site...

http://ecotect.com/downloads

Ecotect is an environmental simulation software.

Revit 32 and 64 Hardware Benchmarking

Towards our ongoing conversation regarding hardware I found this blog which is benchmarking with Revit(32 and 64).

http://archin3d.blogspot.com/2008/10/revit-64-bit-benchmark-results.html

ORUG at Autodesk University 2008

This year we were happy to send one of our own members to Autodesk University, Andrew Murphy of Robert Murphy Architects. We hope to make this a yearly tradition! Andrew's photos were lost on his memory stick so if any of you who attended have some photos, please send them our way. (jpolding at cadmicro.com) Also, if you would like to share your experiences on this blog please send me the text and photos which I will post for you.

Andrew wrote down a few thoughts from his first experience at AU...

I have often heard it said that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. This need not be the case with Autodesk University 2008, which I recently had the good fortune to attend. Imagine five solid days immersed in the puzzling minutiae of your favorite AEC software…did I mention the AUGI Beer Bust?

I suppose I had always imagined that my first visit to Vegas would take the form of a bachelor party, riverboat gambling trip, title bout etc., however, an opportunity to attend Autodesk University seemed to be at once both exciting AND practical (in a way that a riverboat gambling trip did not).

Weeks before my departure date it was clear to me that I was not merely to attend AU, but rather to experience it. Emails filled my mailbox alerting me to an incredible range of events, keynotes, mixers, unplugged sessions, networking opportunities, and so on. Autodesk’s organization and attention to detail from start to finish were impressive.

As I learned that I would be making the trip rather close to the date, it was tricky to find space in the classes and labs that most interested me. The demand for REVIT and LEED-oriented classes seemed to far outweigh the proposed supply. Two sessions in particular, “Revit® Architecture: LEEDing the Way” and “Sustainability Tools for Revit® Architecture: The IES Sustainability Toolkit Plug-in”, appeared to have equal numbers registered and waitlisted. Despite being ‘waitlisted’ for many classes, I never had any trouble finding space on a first-come first-served basis, the above sessions included.

On the whole, the classes and labs were very well designed and equally well run, while the venue(The Venetian)was as ambitious as the itinerary of AU itself. To suggest that the classes were necessarily the highlight however would be untrue. The Opening Keynotes, General Session, and Design Slam, in my opinion, captured the heart of AU 2008.

On one hand, AU is definitely about improving one’s chops. For me, that meant classes in model management, Green Building, parametric families, custom stairs and railings among others. Simply put, attending classes, labs, and unplugged sessions to improve my technical skills was the goal of the trip. On the other hand there is something greater than the acquisition of a set of skills to be taken from AU. I think that the success of AU lay in the excitement and buzz which defined the event from start to finish. Leaving Las Vegas on Friday morning I was excited to get back to work, not because of anything the city had done, but because I was leaving with a new appreciation for what can be done with my software and also an appreciation for the ability of the Autodesk community to come together for collective gains.

For anyone interested in AU 2009 I would encourage you to make it out to the keynotes and evening events. The class materials and podcasts will be made available once you return, but the real excitement, the heart of the event, is to be found in the event halls beyond the classrooms.