Autodesk Project Varsari Technology Preview

Autodesk Project Vasari – Importing Site Images.

Want to see something really easy? Take a look at Project Vasari. Besides looking just like a Revit toolset, it works as a conceptual site studies tool too. In addition, it imports results into Revit.

First off, as anything else related to BIM, you need to set the location. Since we will depend on linking that information in, look at the location showing as Boston MA under the Viewcube. Clicking on this and setting the location will get us started. 

When we click on the location we are presented with a Map of Boston, just type in the Project address or at least the city and state.

In my case I am using CADsoft Tempe office address at 1295 W. Washington St Tempe AZ after which we will then click import site image into another dialog box.

Then import the image again into Project Varsari. If you have been using Revit’s location tools to set the buildings to sites this will be pretty straightforward

After which the active level will then receive the image and you are all set to start using the image as a tracing of existing forms of the site for contextual studies, sun/shadow analysis, etc.

Set the viewcube to top and then trace the outline of the existing building. Nothing to it.

Using Revit like massing tools and gizmos enables rapid learning and adoption across differnt or not so different platforms.

I can’t believe how easy our work is getting with BIM. Sign up for this technology preview and try it out it’s free and easy!

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

Getting informed and up to date on Revit 2012 Extensions

Don’t forget your extensions!

I am not talking about tax extensions here, I am referring to additional tools under your subscription benefits that leverage the functionality of the Revit platform beyond what is shipped.

I want to point out 6 extensions for the Revit 2012 Platform.

First off, if you have never done this before download and install the platform specific Revit Extensions for Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012 from this link. Revit Architecture 2012 Extensions. Revit EMP 2012 from this link. Revit MEP 2012 Extensions or Revit Structural 2012 from this link: Revit Structural 2012 Extensions. Each Revit product has its own discipline specific extensions and the following 7 are covered below.

1. Autodesk Revit DB Link 2012
Import and export data between all Autodesk Revit 2012 products any external database, to maintain relationships of linked data with Autodesk® Revit® DB Link. There are 4 ways this tool aids in changes bi-directionally.

• In Revit users will have a grid view of the data to let users make changes to the data prior to importing and exporting.
• The results in databases begin modified after changes internally or externally .
• The grid control enables you to create Revit shared parameters to add new fields to related tables in the database.
• Changes to new fields within the database automatically update Revit shared parameters upon future imports.

More topics on this tool are found here: Revit DB Link on Autodesk WiKiHelp and download it here: Revit 2012 DB Link

2. Autodesk Revit Model Review 2012

Automate the process of reviewing and auditing building information modeling (BIM) projects in all Autodesk Revit 2012 products software with the Autodesk® Revit® Model Review plug-in:

• Check the accuracy and consistency of a Project or Family against standards set by your firm, your clients, or industry best practices.
• Correct inconsistencies with a single click or with instructions provided when manual fixes are required.

More topics on this tool are found here: Revit Model Review on Autodesk WiKiHelp and  download it here: Revit Model Review 2012

3. Worksharing Monitor for Autodesk Revit 2012

Worksharing Monitor facilitates the use of all Autodesk Revit 2012 products in a worksharing environment, in which multiple people work on one project from a workshared central file. For workshared projects, Worksharing Monitor answers questions such as:

• Who is currently working on this project?
• Is my local copy of the project up-to-date?
• When will my Save to Central operation finish?
• Has my request to borrow elements been granted?
• Are any issues interfering with my work on a Revit software project?

More topics on this tool are found here: Revit Worksharing Monitor on Autodesk WiKiHelp download it here: Work Sharing Monitor for Revit 2012

4. Space Naming Utility for Autodesk Revit MEP 2012
The Space Naming Utility for Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2012 software is an intuitive tool that automatically assigns the names and numbers from architectural rooms to Revit MEP spaces. By downloading the Space Naming Utility for Revit MEP 2012 software, you can eliminate the need to manually assign names to the spaces, helping save time and simplifying your workflow.

Download it here: Space Naming Utility for Revit MEP 2012

5. Globe Link for Autodesk Revit 2012

With Globe Link, users can publish 3D building information models directly from Autodesk Revit 2012 products into Google Earth™ mapping service. Users can also acquire site information from Google Earth mapping service and import it into Revit 2012 software applications for building and site layout purposes.

More topics on this tool are found here: Revit Globe Link on Autodesk WiKiHelp download it here: Globe Link for Revit 2012

6. Batch Print for Autodesk Revit 2012

Batch Print provides an easy way to print a large number of drawings (views and sheets) from any Autodesk Revit 2012 product based project. After preparing the default printer and the Revit software project, use Batch Print to:

• Send any number of drawings to the printer
• Control the order in which they print.
• When you start the print job, Batch Print manages the printing of the drawings, requiring no further interaction from you. If desired, you can monitor the progress of the print job using a status dialog.

More topics on this tool are found here: Revit Batch Print on Autodesk WiKiHelp and download it here: Revit 2012 Batch Print

7.  Roombook Extension for Revit Architecture 2012

The Roombook Extension for Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2012 software helps calculate the surface area of walls, floors and ceiling elements, room circumferences and the total number of furnishing elements within a project. In addition to the automated detection of room areas and surfaces, this extension helps users configure these elements manually to local requirements, as well as achieve more accurate model take-offs. Quantified results can be exported to Microsoft® Excel® software and Autodesk® Quantity Takeoff (QTO) software.

Updates to 2012 are:

• Each calculated element is listed with all its single faces.
• Enhancements to prepare Roombook data for further editing in Autodesk Quantity Takeoff 2012.
• Export to DWF/DWFx via native Revit command.
• Roombook data in Revit schedule views.
• Consider material when “by element” is used.

More topics on this tool are found here: RoomBook Extension on YouTube and download it here: Roombook Extension download

Now head off to your subscription login, get them all and install them to your current installation. No extra cost when signed up a a subscription seat.

Tales from the Helpdesk Crypt – Why are my materials on walls rotating?

What the heck? How's that rotated?

There was a recent case of materials of a stacked wall rotating, it looked like this.

After taking a closer look, I found that the brick material was rotated only on the walls with edited profiles. The stacked wall at the bottom had no surface pattern when the edited profiles were applied. To solve the issue, I added a surface pattern to the stacked wall family for the material to the proper orientation when the wall profile was edited. The mystery of the rotating materials is now solved.

Renumbering Rooms in Revit – Coming soon from the Autodesk Labs

I should be keeping an eye on Autodesk Labs more often.

This site has several great plug-in or add-ons. Many of these features have been improved on due to user feedback and become part of subsequent versions of Autodesk products. In addition to plug-ins and add-ons, the Labs offer technology previews of standalone products such as Project Galileo, a standalone conceptual design tool for infrastructure planning on urban planning project.

We have run into workflow issues where in the normal course of iterative design changes we need to easily renumber rooms in the manner that remains consistent with the flow of the floor design. Many instances where users need to add and remove rooms create instances where we need to renumber rooms either systematically from a schedule or by selecting in the plan view and changing the room number dynamically without the constant warnings that room a number matches another room(s). So, I wanted to point out a forthcoming plugin for Revit from Autodesk Labs.  This site at Autodesk Labs – Plugin of the Month is showing as teaser Room Renumbering for Revit that is coming in March. Apparently we have been waiting for this functionality to be part of the Revit product. Like most of us, I don’t have the full details of the forthcoming plug-in, but keep watching this site and when it arrives in March grab it by creating a user account and reading the fine print. I will be watching and participating in the review of the plug-in myself.

These offering are not intended for production use, and if you do so, please keep in mind it is at your own risk. Additionally, be sure to understand many of these technology review offerings might have a limited time frame that they will operate and user feedback is solicited in order to improve on the products and plug-ins.

Network, Multiseat or Standalone – How to utilize downloadable software for repair, reinstall, clean installs or updates.

We have been getting a few cases on helpdesk regarding downloaded software and what it means to keep the downloads on hard drive and why. This article attempts to strategize ways by how to utilize the downloads for the future.

In with the new – Using software downloaded from Autodesk Subscription website entails a little forethought where repair, reinstall, clean installs and updates are concerned. If many users are like me I will download and extract from an executable file, this is an example of one that is downloaded Autodesk’s subscription site:

Autodesk_Revit_MEP-B_2011_English_Win_32-64bit.exe

After downloading the executable file and extracting the contents of the executable file, the default folder is usually along the lines of the example below:

C:\Autodesk\Autodesk_Revit_MEP-B_2011_English_Win_32-64bit\RevitSetup\RevitMEP\

Users have the option to select the browse button to point to a folder on the external drive or the server that will extract the contents of the executable file. This will then create the contents of a DVD to the hard drive.

Out with the old – Now if DVD media was the deliverable source, for the purpose of repair, reinstall, clean install or update, the installer program would call for the location of the contents of the DVD in seeking an .msi file. Hence, I would have specified the alternate in the Use Source to be the contents on the Autodesk Revit MEP 2011 DVD. Contents remain on the DVD media to be utilized by popping the DVD back into the drive when Repair/reinstalls or clean reinstalls and updates are needed.

With deliverable DVD media replaced with subscription downloads; installations, repair, reinstall, clean install or update processes will instead call for the .msi file in the extracted contents folder. While it looks and behaves the same as the DVD installation, it will instead require the contents to be in a path on the hard drive, external drive or server. This will be specified in the use source field. (see image below)

This means if the executable and the folders are deleted after install, they have to be downloaded and re-extracted for the purpose of having to perform that subsequent repair, reinstall, clean install or update processes.

For Network or Multi-seat deployments; this is not necessarily a problem because, the software will be bundled as an “image” on a server location by which a initial deployment process will use the location of the image to install the networked or multi-seat program on the client PC. The image has to remain on the server so that subsequent repair, reinstall, clean install or update processes will transparently utilize the image for these operations. If you use a path of your choosing, it should be on a shared folder on the network server.

Single seat users, after installing products, are inclined to delete the extracted files on the local drive to save space. This fine with the exception that when repair, reinstall, clean install and applying updates are needed, the contents extracted to a folder are no longer available to utilize during these tasks when called for by the installer script. In addition to the msi file there may be a need for some of content of the extractions to be available when performing repair, reinstall, clean install and applying updates. So once again, the executable file needs to be extracted to a folder either default or user specified to utilize the Autodesk Revit x64.msi or Autodesk Revit x86.msi file.

Just for fun, I have attempted to use a Revit Architecture Autodesk Revit x64.msi file with my Revit MEP update to see if I could get around the need to keep or extract both of the program files on the server or my local drive. This was unsuccessful as it seems even similar named files are structurally different in some way in the code and the Revit Architecture and Revit MEP msi does not work across one another.

Being on subscription allows the benefit of using downloads of older versions, extensions and getting updates. When on subscription; regardless if a network, multi-seat deployment or single user, product downloads and extensions are available online and contract management is available online for the company’s contract administrator.  Where ever possible try and use a multi-seat standalone if network license is not an option in the firm. Because a multi-seat standalone allows the use of a single license serial number with deployment image configured at one time. It allows applying service packs to deployment image once and using the deployment on the server for repairs, reinstalls, clean installs and updates. Link to Autodesk Multi Seat Standalone

So to summarize how best to use downloaded executables in three scenarios:

Standalone installation – Extracted content can remain on users own hard drive or the server to use for repair, reinstall, clean installs and updates for more than one seat. This scenario uses a different serial number for each seat. At the users discretion, extracted content can be removed leaving the zipped executable to extract again if needed for repair, reinstall, clean installs and updates.

Multi-Seat Standalone installation – Deployment image can be left on the server to be used for repair, reinstall, clean installs and updates for more than one seat. Deployment image allows a single serial number up to the allowed number of seats licensed.

Network Installation – Like multi-seat deployment, image can be left on server to be used for repair, reinstall, clean installs and updates for more than one seat. Deployment image allows a single serial number up to the allowed number of seats licensed to be administrated by a license server.

If are any questions you can contact us at support@cadsoft-consult.com or call us at (480) 820-0408 and we can help you with your licensing, updates and managing your subscription options.