Archivo etiqueta Revit
Survey Angled Walls in Revit with a Disto and PKNail
Por Jim Foster - Point to Point Laser Technology, Revit - August 4, 2010
One of the tougher issues and part of any surveyors work flow is to capture non-orthogonal (i.e. angled) geometry correctly the first time. This increases in importance if the angles are played throughout the building and especially if they are part of the exterior. In order to help users capture a building’s geometry in Revit while in the field PointKnown has incorporated triangulation and a close room function as part of our PKNail Building Surveying Software. Having the Disto drive Revit allows quicker data capture and increased accuracy. And while many of us might want to be watching videos of the beach in August I still included the process here as well.
BIM CAD Throwdown : Dassault Takes Aim with Catia Live Building and Draftsight
Por Jim Foster - 3D, BIM, New Technologies, Open Standard, SaaS, cloud - July 30, 2010
Holy frontal assault Batman. Dassault, the french producer of CATIA (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application) / Solidworks is making a strong move into the world of architecture. CATIA, generally used in the aerospace and engineering fields, has also been used successfully by Gehry to produce his curvilinear buildings. They are now introducing 2 products aimed squarely at the Autodesk Bullseye, a CAD application developed through the IntelliCAD Consortium (ITC) and the Open Drawing Alliance (ODA) called Draftsight and its going to be free, yup free. And is available here.
And while it is available for the Windows Family of OS (XP / Vista / Seven) MAC and Linux versions are in the pipeline, take that into account that IBM, you’ve heard of them, markets these solutions worldwide and that complaints about Revit not handling larger products are scattered across user groups and BIM forums one can believe there is an opening. Additionally, if they are following the SaaS path of putting Draftsight in the cloud for file sharing/integrity it becomes a pretty powerful argument to think about switching, especially if all the ingrained keystroke commands and shortcuts from AutoCAD are copied along with it. Having seen the Intellicad interface, I think that most likely a yes.
Excellent article at AEC Magazine that covers the introduction in depth, and thanks to @amonle / John Allsopp twitter for bringing this to my attention. I’ve included a portion below.
Based on a future version of Catia and its data management system Enovia, Dassault Systèmes is developing a competitive parametric modelling solution to compete with Autodesk’s Revit BIM (Building Information Modelling) tool. I understand that the next update of Catia will store its data in the cloud and Catia will potentially be downloaded and licensed from the desktop. This will enable Dassault Systèmes to overcome the fact that it does not have a value-added reseller channel to sell Catia Live Building but needs to compete with an established and low-cost player.
The brief demonstration showed an architectural model being rapidly developed and edited using Catia. Bernard Charlès said that the new product could do modelling in seconds, what Revit would take 45 minutes to do. And Dassault Systèmes should know — it was among the many original investors in the start-up company that developed the first version of Revit.
While Revit has captured the mindshare here in the US and Down Under among other places no one can discount the Dassault / IBM alliance and their entrance into the AEC industry in a big way. The amount of consulting opportunities and hardware sales should have IBM salivating. So if Draftsight is free, what is Live Building coming in at?
Design Build Boom : AECOM acquires Tishman : #BIM
Por Jim Foster - BIM, Virtual Construction, economic trends - July 16, 2010
I have suggested among others that the optimum work flow could be architects focus on the design, not construction docs or the BIM, but the design and then consult during the actual engineering and BIM process, that way it minimizes redundant efforts especially in regards to BIM creation. This process also would suggest the rise of design/build firms. AECOM just took a huge bite out of that apple when terms were disclosed yesterday that they agreed to acquire Tishman for $245 Million Dollars creating a design/build behemoth. Strategically, vertical integration is a double edged sword. Positively, you have control of costs and quality and capture every last dime a developer was intending to put into the project. Negatively, you have to feed the beast and can you really be that good at all disciplines?
On a side note, I was speaking to an integration specialist at Bentley who told me AECOM was a Microstation shop. This may be because back in the day the US Government was using a lot of Microstation and AECOM gets the majority of their work from the public sector. Tishman, and I am only speculating here, was most likely Revit. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) used Revit at World Trade and Tishman was on as construction. Quick google search shows they still seem to use it on current projects. Future projects and technology they use could be a proxy for the industry.
Revit As Built : Field BIM Technology : Build Digitally As You Measure : #BIM #Revit
Por Jim Foster - BIM, Laser BIM, New Technologies, Point to Point Laser Technology, Revit - July 2, 2010
It’s been a hau
l and it starts with a quote from Irwin Jungreis one of the founders of Revit who I spoke to early in the process, ‘we never intended Revit to have an API,’ he said with a smile. ” It was supposed to be so good it would never need 3rd Party applications.” “WHAT?!” you say. I believe Irwin at the point understood the original hubris of that statement but then again I spoke to him after they sold out to Autodesk. “So what” we thought and we continued to forge ahead with an API that had as much horsepower as my old Puch moped. Thank you Autodesk for your continued efforts in beefing up the API but it has been a bear.
PointKnown is getting closer to releasing the commercial version of PKNail; it’s building surveying software. PKNail was programmed behind 7 years of building surveying experience. Our intention was to:
- Automate many of the rote tasks when creating existing conditions surveys of a building
- Create repeatable work flows
- Increase speed and accuracy by linking measurements directly into Revit
We understand surveying can be the bane of some people’s existence and it is a necessary evil to almost all projects, that is having accurate information to start the project. While we never considered it a bane or evil but when we would put on lunch and learns and dog and pony shows we usually got one of two reactions. One, where have you been my whole life I hate surveying or two, will you sell us the software because we do all our own measuring. We get it. And building in real time, in the field makes thing easier and building inside a familiar platform, and one that you will be designing or working in anyway makes you more productive right out of the box. I look forward to your feedback, comments we’re here to work with you. And to summarize my last statement in the video, ‘We’re much better at designing surveying software than making videos,’ but even comments on our production and lack of directing talents are welcome. Thanks for reading. – jim
Revit As Built : Field BIM : Existing Conditions
Por Jim Foster - BIM, New Technologies, Revit, Uncategorized - June 29, 2010
While I don’t usually take the time to pump my own gas with this blog I wanted to share the complete reversal in our deliverables over the last year. It used to be, way back at the end of 2008 that we delivered most of our building surveys in 2D AutoCAD format, now we would build in 3D, normally in ADT but our clients wanted 2D AutoCAD. From a surveying perspective a 3D object oriented universe worked better for us because essentially all the views were coordinated, that is build it in the floorplan directly, it is represented in elevation correctly. Anyone who has keyed up a plan in 2D knows where I am coming from, which if you are here reading this, means you know what I am talking about. Now, however, the bulk of what we do is deliver as-builts in Revit. The GSA requiring BIM has a lot to do with it, I believe, and Autodesk being the biggest player in the US means Revit becomes the default. Whether you like that or not does not matter, that’s the reality.
Recently we have performed as built surveys at Phillips Exeter and Emmanuel College and we were field testing our laser to BIM technology, PKNail. It was created to capture typical conditions quickly and accurately. If you wanted to capture the Capitol Dome, I would suggest laser scanning, for capturing most situations Point to Point Laser Scanning (PPLT) should work just fine. PKNail converts measurements directly into a Revit workstation-wirelessly, measure a wall that wall is entered into Revit, encounter a door, window, Fire Extinguisher Cabinet, sink, if you can measure it, it can be placed quickly and easily into the model.
Lastly, if the deliverable is 2D CAD, exporting views from Revit to AutoCAD sheets is a snap. Here’s a long winded Autodesk treatise on the subject or well, it looks like I will need to update with a screen capture video the quick process but the resulting CAD contains some of the meta information collected in 3D, such as 30″ Door, rather than creating anonymous objects. Next post will follow in short order with a sneak peak of some of the features and the connectivity between Revit and a Leica Disto enabled by PointKnown surveying software.
Thanks for tolerating some self promotion.
Autodesk : Solar Radiation : Revit 2011 Preview
Por Jim Foster - Green, Revit - May 25, 2010
It looks like Autodesk continues to integrate technology from their Ecotect purchase into their products. Solar Radiation studies are now available through Revit 2011. It is available through Autodesk Labs and is limited release for preview and feedback. Visit the Autodesk Labs site to sign up. Or view below.
When I say BIM what do you think? Take the Poll. #BIM
Por Jim Foster - BIM - May 19, 2010
Following multiple discussions through linked in and blog I am seeing a fundamental breakdown between people creating a business around BIM and those trying to implement it, some see it as an all or nothing affair, some see it like Baskin Robbins and take the flavor they like, others simply think it’s a particular piece of software. While a poll with only a few answers can hardly decide this question, let’s start the dialog.
The poll is in the sidebar, or feel free to add your comments. Or visit the Poll on Linked In:
Business of BIM v. Practice of BIM
Por Jim Foster - As Builts, BIM, Built Environment - May 17, 2010
I follow a discussion on LinkedIn within the BIM Experts Group titled the Politics of BIM that has provided amusement, as much as following a discussion on BIM could possibly provide, as well as being highly informative. Two of the combatants (sic. collaborators) could not reconcile their 2 positions. One was a BIM/CAD manager that coordinated very large projects, the other was a service provider for the industry. The point of the conflict? Revit. The BIM Manager did not see Revit as a robust enough program to deal with huge projects and the needed coordination between programs, etc. The service provider highlighted Revit’s abilities and Autodesk’s suite of products. What I saw was the difference between the Business of BIM and the Practice of BIM.
What I find most exciting and frustrating about the industry currently is it is wide open. The business of BIM is looking at high level needs and creating deliverables, whereas the practice of BIM is trying to coordinate large models, 4D, 5D applications etc. and getting all the disciplines to be integrated. The business and practice silos do not seem to always be to integrated and or coordinated and I can see where this causes frustration.
The BIM field is still so wide open so it is open to define in the terms of deliverables and process. For example, a Texas firm asked us for a BIM model; their only interest, as best I could decipher, was to deliver one to fulfill the Texas mandate and wanted to know little about it except for the tail light guarantee they were going to leave with their customer. I also have been asked for a Revit model by clients who have never used Revit and negotiated the contract without fully understanding what they wanted. General Contractors as the McGraw Hill SmartMarket Reports allude to and as is evidenced in the field have seemed to embrace it more quickly and understand it better and from my conversations have seen it quickly pay for itself many times over with just collision detection.
The 
GSA BIM Program may be the most highly documented and while government mandates can create jobs, not sure how well they can define the process and if the industry would want them to. Meanwhile we have BIM mandates while the deliverable is still being defined. In the ideal world the industry would use a centralized BIM that gets updated during design by all the disciplines so that the owner gets a true ‘as-built’ BIM at the end of the process, however, we are still a long way from there with the majority of projects, couple with the face the majority of construction is done within the built environment. What will happen is that companies will use the parts of BIM that immediately provide value whether it is energy analysis, collision detection, scheduling or just visually communicating with the client. Those will start to grow and cross pollinate each other until we have are fully realized 3D object oriented BIM universe. Use the tools you understand, the ones that make sense for your company, improve your workflow keep an open mind and don’t let the good be the enemy of the perfect.
iPAD : BIM : Game Changer?
Por Jim Foster - BIM, New Technologies - April 8, 2010
The launch of the iPad has brought a lot of focus back to the tablet or I guess we need to call it a slate. Nevermind that tablets have been commercially available for over a decade; however commercial success has always seemed to elude it. Lack of killer apps, increased expense compared to regular laptops certainly contributed but perhaps it was the change in the UI (User Interface) zeitgeist that provided a bigger hurdle. Apple introduced the world, in a largely commercially way, to the multi-touch interface with the iphone making many comfortable with the concept and its app store was a huge success with many programs priced around a $1 made it the equivalent of an impulse purchase at the Walgreen’s check out line. With the release of the ipad Apple has upped the ante, not just because of the user interface but with a mobile platform that is relying mostly on the web to deliver applications/data/multi-media/snacks/beverages much like the ‘thin-client’ devices promised to us in the nascent days of the interweb. So the question is does the iPad have the power/features/connectivity to matter in the A/E/C Industry, and if so who needs it as an always on, apple form factor in the field?
Processing power and GB of RAM, BIM tools are hogs so any true BIM authoring software would have to run remotely and accessed through the iPad or similar slate, and then the bottleneck becomes the latency in the broadband connection, in this case, most likely the 3G connection unless you have public wifi on your job site. And that would bring us back to something like Project Twitch from Autodesk which allows you remote control their products through an internet connection, since I don’t have an ipad I can’t vouch yet for how that would work but having your project stored remotely and using the ipad to drive through it that starts to get interesting.
Screen Shot goBIM on iPad
goBIM which was released for the iphone, yes you read that right is running on the ipad. It is a BIM viewer that has an exporter API that will let you translate Revit and Rhino models into its own format. Why’s it’s own format? Visit the site for the FAQ and explanation but it seems as it matures the developer wants it to be an xml format.
One company focused on bringing BIM to field, an aptly calling it FieldBIM, Vela Systems blogged about the ipad, and beyond reiterating iPad specs and blogosphere pronouncements ends with a ‘we’ll have to wait and see.’ One of their 
prerequisites though was a field case which is already available at HardCandy. Additionally, they have partnered with Motion Computing to provide ruggedized tablets for the FieldBIM. However, what we all just really want is to unlock data that is stuck in file rooms or servers and be able to interact with it in a meaningful way which seems to be Apple’s sweet spot.
Counterbalancing Apple’s offering is the new HP Slate, which is essentially a slate wearing Windows 7 clothing and I am not sure how compelling an argument that is going to be as we’ve had a tablet edition of XP for a long time, is a multi-touch version going to sway a lot of people? Comes down to the applications and how they are served? If they are running remotely, who does the best job with the interface because the slate/pad whathaveyou is just the conduit. Which brings us to what might be the real game changer and that is the Google Chrome OS, open source/operating system, which doesn’t care what device you use and will just deliver it, this web centric open model seems more in line with our egalitarian nature and should increase adoption. But what keeps nagging at me is Apple’s tremendous execution and if their closed ecosystem produces field tools for the laymen then they got something going on, maybe break the functionality into bits, collision bits, scheduling bits, so the app provides not just the CM with a tool but workers who can use an app designed for their function, punch list, update, done. And that has been the beauty off the app store, essentially singularly focused bits that are easy to understand and implement. So if we have the true BIM up in a cloud and all these specific apps interfacing with it, that would be the equivalent of the web with user generated content (UGC) driving the system, and not the bloatware cloud we’ve been living under. It will be in the execution, otherwise you might be seeing people treating them more like Daniel Tosh did.
BIM Pricing : Graphisoft fires 1st Shot of 2010
Por Jim Foster - BIM - February 22, 2010
So there are always been a lot of water cooler discussions about the price of software, and in here at frombulator it would be the pricing of BIM software. With visual communication of clients still being the number 1 reason for people using the stuff, and not necessarily the right reason, it seems a less robust BIM, miniBIM piece of software might do the trick. ‘Hey, that’s Sketch Up’ True Sketch Up does a fine job of communicating visually with clients, however, I don’t know anyone putting construction documents together with it, although by saying that I’m sure someone out there will correct me. However, needing a first step with BIM without laying down $5K and 20% annually seems like there might be a sweet spot for an entry product. So Graphisoft issues a press release Feb 18, about the new ArchiCAD STAR(T) Edition with a suggested retail price of $1995. Is this big enough to warrant a response from the gorilla in Waltham, yeah I know corporate HQ i in California but Revit still lives closer to its ancestral home. I will be watching this because I usually ask somewhere in my presentations, ‘When I say BIM how many of you are thinking Revit?’ Sounds like the start of good poll, not sure who wants to know the answer.
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