Look what just arrived!

AutoCAD 2012!! Cool...

Revit 2012 webcast comments

I'm not a MEP guy but this is looking really good. I wish I had a MEP counterpart who would do this level of detail.

Revit 2012 webcast comments

Assemblies are totally new. You can select elements and create views that focus only on those elements. Talk about a smart beam or column schedule! Back in the day we used to do make these drawings but they took a long time. Seeing this in Revit is astounding.

Revit 2012 webcast comments

Nice! Rebar ties can now in RST2012 to not intersect themselves and actually lap as it does in real life elements. The power of this is huge, but now we have to worry about it as well. :p

Revit 2012 webcast comments

Hey, some new features that create 24 different ways to place rebar in RST2012!

Revit 2012 webcast comments

Revit Structural enhancements look pretty cool.

A big improvement has been made for the analytical properties of elements. You can enable and disable this as needed. You can also turn the display of the AM on and off easily.

Revit 2012 webcast comments

New visualization methods really do improve the workability via selection transparency. That keeps things clearer as you work and select stuff. Gone is the Shaded with Edges and that is managed via the Graphic Display Options. A much better placement IMHO.

Don't be afraid of the Ghost....it's cool!

It is getting close to not need rendering at all in 3ds max... damn... max was fun.

Point clouds scare me, talk about filling up your model with data. But it comes with the territory if you need to do it. Changing the point cloud within Revit is pretty easy, scale and placement is just by property and placement.

Once you have the cloud in place you can actually reference the inherent planes made by the mass of points to place work such as walls. That is pretty damn cool.

Revit 2012 webcast comments

Revit server doesn’t work for you? Now you can try Citrix!

Revit 2012 webcast comments

This point cloud scan is of the Autodesk HQ in Waltham, MA! Cool stuff!

Revit Webcast comments

David Mills and Anthony Hauck are presenting a live webcast on Revit 2012 products! WOOHOO!

Autodesk Suites are sweeter!

Clearly there is a huge push by Autodesk to suite products together. I don’t know if it is a great thing for the average user since many products are networked and you get what your IT group gives you. But it should do wonders for expanding the single user by providing access to other apps they never had access to in the past.

Revit 2012 is coming soon!

Autodesk exposed many of the new features of Revit 2012 during a worldwide webcast on Mar 21. It is all very exciting! Somewhat akin to Christmas, or a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get! Now the key question is what do these features mean for you, the everyday user? Well like anything else, you need to try it to find out. Now there are other blogs with more detailed info than mine (here is David Light’s http://autodesk-revit.blogspot.com/2011/03/autodesk-revit-architecture-2012.html) but everyone deserves an opinion so here is my take on some of these.

Revit Server gets add’l platform support. Yawn… yea, it’s great to see this improve but I don’t use Revit for that feature so it doesn’t really touch me.

Linking and tagging. Now we are talking! This one feature has potential to dramatically change how we all use Revit. My only concern is that we start to further break into more models now (because we can) and therefore tracking down *where* something is becomes more of a challenge. But yet, having the option to tag thru a linked model was something that has been needed from the beginning.

Work sharing. This is one of those features that at first seems like “oh, ok, that’s nice” and you don’t really care. But once you put this into practice you will find that they added visual insight will become so second nature if they took the feature away you would get angry.

DWG exports. At some point, it always happens. You have to provide DWG files and cringe at the thought of how messed up your purty drawing will become. This enhancement should remove most of your worry for now you can tweak and tweak to heart’s content. I guess the problem then is when to stop.

General improvements. There are a handful of other improvements that basically shine up a feature or two. Colors and graphics along with rendering styles all help Revit 2012 a little more refined, like a nice 6y old wine, rather than the brute 2y discounted wine. I really like the new assembly views features. I guess my problem now is plotting in color – I don’t have a large format color plotter.

Core modeling. Wow…neat and fun is all I have to say! I can’t wait to get a job where it is usable. Too bad most users don’t have a need for that level of Gehry type design. Of course all should benefit from the ability to cut into family files of all types. Punch holes in my beams? No problem! Donuts coming right up!

Revit parts. Every want to make a view of just one thing? Bingo, Revit parts to the rescue. I’m very excited about this because it finally frees up the modeler from having to worry about all the other junk in the mode polluting their view of a specific object. Who hasn’t produced a series of drawings only to find something stray in a series of views. Arg! This would help that a lot!

Massing. There are a number of improvements to massing although I don’t use it much it will help those that do. Especially curves and refinement of surfaces.

Materials. They are never perfect so they got tweaked again.

Point Cloud. This one is exciting and scary. I love the idea of being able to have this directly in my model, but what happens when I’m expected to model to the cloud precision with all the camber, sag, creep, in the existing structure. Painful to say the least. Hey, but at least I can see how much the building has sagged.

IFC. Industry Foundation Classes got improved. Until I have a need I don’t really know if this solves many problems.

That’s it for now. I think I’ll dive into more later.

Autodesk Webcast Invitation!

You’re invited! There is a kick-off webcast will be hosted by Amar Hanspal on March 21^st at 5p Eastern Daylight Time.  This webcast is open to the general public. 

·         What: Autodesk invites you to a live webcast featuring Senior Vice President Amar Hanspal.  Learn about Autodesk’s new products for the design, engineering, and entertainment industries.

·         When: Monday, March 21 @ 5p EDT

·         Preregister: http://autode.sk/glzUsA

 

AUGIWorld magazine - March 2011 issue

AUGI is pleased to announce that the March 2011 issue of AUGIWorld is now available for download via PDF and online via digital edition.

Christian Barrett provides a Civil 3D Guide to Sustainable Designing.

 

Click Here to read the AUGIWorld March issue

 Also in this issue of AUGIWorld

• David Harrington, interim AUGIWorld Editor-in-Chief introduces the new AUGIWorld Content Management team

• Erik Lewis has the latest industry news in the Inside Track

• Antonio Fontenele introduces the new AutoCAD Material Editor and Browser

• Beth Powell covers her top 5 commands that she can’t live without in AutoCAD

• Christopher Fugitt admits we don’t know everything we could about AutoCAD Civil 3D

• Jeff Bartels speaks volumes in AutoCAD Civil 3D for Earthwork in living color

• Melinda Heavrin explains how Display Themes work in AutoCAD Architecture

• Matt Worland gets old school with AutoCAD AutoLISP

• Phil Russo finds the Formula for success in Revit Structure

• Todd Shackelford exposes Revit MEP Lighting Fixture Schedules

• William Troeak gathers in Heads Up all the latest updates, services packs and top known issues.

Do you use 3D in your AutoCAD work? Autodesk wants to learn from you!

If you are familiar with 3D modeling, lighting, rendering, or visual styles, either in AutoCAD or in other software, we're interested in finding out more about how you work. 

 

Autodesk is conducting a survey to learn about your 3D work process.  The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete, and your feedback will help them improve future versions of AutoCAD.  Here is the link:

 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/72HDGVG

 

They are also conducting a series of paid research sessions over the next few weeks.  At the end of the survey, you will have a chance to sign up for sessions if you are interested.

 

Who they’re looking for: People who are familiar with lighting, rendering, or visual styles

 

What it involves: If you are selected to participate, they will get in touch with you to set up a study time.  During the 1-hour session:

 

·         You will work 1-1 with a facilitator using meeting software and the phone

·         They will observe part of your work process and ask questions

·         You will be given a $30 Amazon gift card as a thank-you for your time

 

Dates:  They are conducting studies during the week of March 7th and the week of March 14th.

 

They look forward to receiving your feedback!