Worst blogger ever

I do feel that way - I have so ignored this thing it is pathetic! Anyway, I'm setting a reminder to myself to post more often so we shall see.

So what is new? Well the Mastering Revit Structure 2009 book is done in writing and off in production with expected street date late in November. You check it out at Wiley's web site for the book here. It came out really good IMHO, I hope it gets a great reception in the industry.

AUGIWorld is offline for the moment. AUGI and SolidVapor are producing an issue for AU (Nov/Dec08) but after that is unknown. I've done technical editing for AUGIWorld for quite some time so I will miss it but no doubt find something new to do.

Workwise I have a number of projects underway, most notably a new baseball stadium with a retractable roof. Doing a large roof like this in Revit is interesting to say the least! Also, back in August Walter P Moore opened an office in San Francisco and Washington DC. So literally, WPM, spans coast to coast now.

BAAACCCCKKKKK!

Whoa, it has been a while since I visited my poor little blog site. I have recently been traveling and training people on Revit Structure. I went to Kansas City, Atlanta, Orlando, and San Francisco. Plus I had to 2 hurricanes mess up my plans at various moments. I am still amazed at how few hotels offer free internet. As such I have been out of touch with many things except email on my phone.

This week I go to Houston and then I hope to take a break for a month at least. I have to begin planning for AU 2008, get my flight and write my paper for the Standards class I am teaching.

I also at the end of August I finally moved into a 'new' home. It was a short sale - wow, what an aggravation that was. Anyway, so I have lots on my 'Honey do' list - especially with all my recent travel taking me out of the house!

AU or bust!

The registration is now open for Autodesk University 2008. The premier annual event for Autodesk, here is the chance to rub (leader) shoulders with the brightest in the industry - and I'll be there too!

http://au.autodesk.com/event/

AUGI and SolidVapor part ways

A bit of a shock, AUGI and SolidVapor are ending their partnership after 4 years. The organization grew a lot in this time and is much more professional now than ever before. I hope AGUI can take the best of what SV was able to do and continue to expand on it. Volunteers, now is the time to put up.

http://augi.typepad.com/augi_news/2008/08/augi-news.html

I got BIM&BEAMed...

The people over at Autodesk invited me and I accepted to be interviewed for the current BIM&BEAM series on Revit-ready companies. Way cool!

http://bimandbeam.typepad.com/bim_beam/2008/08/interview-with.html

It's time for some campaining!

Sorry for the lack of postings. I, like everyone else I know, is busy as ever. But I do sense a slowing enough to begin again to post on a regular basis. I'm not ready today for anything meaningful but I might as well offer up a laugh for those who actually read this thing.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/owner/X8ksReTKnbkvgByy

AU 2008 Class: Standards!

I got notice today that the class I submitted to teach at Autodesk University 2008 was accepted. The class title is 'Structure or Standards? Do Both!', this 90 minute lecture will focus on how to customize the Revit Structure templates and installation to both control standards as well as provide a means to organize your content.

Standards have long been a favorite subject of mine, albiet always a contencious issue. For a few years I wrote the CAD Manager column in AUGIWorld and often touched on this problem. I am very much looking forward to this class. Sweet!

AU2008

I got word that a class submitted by Marcello Sgambelluri with John A. Martin & Associates got accepted for Autodesk University 2008. The class title is Modeling and Documenting Complex Geometry within Revit Structure, a mouthful for sure, but should be quite interesting. I need to be sure to sign up for it so I can get a seat! ;)

AUGIWorld Articles Off to Production

I know, I know, no posts very recently. I'm busy as anything but much of it I can't really discuss publically. Bah!

However, I just sent off the editorial content for the July/August issue and it looks to be a killer edition. We have articles on Impression, AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, Inventor, and Revit Architecture.

As always, if you are interested in writing for AUGIWorld, or Hot News for that matter, just contact me and see where you can get plugged in!

See it in 3D

I was reading the Bim&Beam blog (nothing on my blog to read anyway) and noticed some discussion on STL (sterolithography) and 3D printing of models. So I rounded up some pics of stuff I had made and sent it off to the BB boys. Well they liked it enough they posted them which is cool. http://bimandbeam.typepad.com/bim_beam/2008/05/3d-printing-exa.html
Now as for my thoughts on this topic, there are a few methods out there and if you go down that road you need to run some tests. You need to know if your structure type #1) can support itself with whatever material you are using, and #2) can support other things as well. Both of these issues should be paired with the size of the members you are modeling. If your incoming member is thinnly walled the shape itself will have trouble keeping its strength.
Until these systems can actually do metal, one has to embellish the shapes to get them to work. Therein lies the rub, if you fake it to make it work - does it still have value as model?