Revit Users NT & Revit Argentina

It was great to catch up with some of the members of the Revit Users of Northern Territory, Gregg Jettner, Brad Hayward, John Berryman to name a few...

Whilst they tried to pick my brains on Revit questions majority were questions relating to AUGI and Autodesk University. I finally got to meet SA/NT's KarelCADs Sales Manager, Phil Sawbridge who had earlier demonstrated web-ex online demonstration - a very useful tool in training.

Later that day, I also recieved a nice note from a fellow Reviteer, Leonardo Martin Aita, who writes for Revit Argentina's blog who has a nice link video showing some Revit work... looks like I will have to brush up on my Spanish.

"Metric CadCARDs"

For those users still using AutoCAD injunction with or whilst learning Revit, Susan Dunn of Autograph Technical Services sent me this email about an exciting new product designed to assist, Save Time...Save Money...Accelerate Productivity and Education.

Autograph Technical Services introduces two new "Metric CadCARDs" - one version featuring ISO Sheet Sizes, and the other, ANSI and Architectural Sheet Sizes into metric conversions. Text heights, dimensioning operations, and all other functions have been revised and updated to be the perfect metric productivity, reference, and educational tools for use with AutoCAD.

CadCARD SlideCharts are updated through AutoCAD 2009 and also compatible with other versions of AutoCAD - including 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2002, 2000, R14, R12, LT, earlier versions of AutoCAD, and other software that functions with AutoCAD. In addition, some features are useful with other CAD programs such as Revit...

Be sure to check them out at www.cadcard.com

Its finally happened...

After many members asking me when is it likely to happen, Autodesk have finally announced that that all three Revit products are now available to Subscription customers in 64 bit versions.

It has been reported that the 64 bit verions offer improved performance for memory intensive tasks such as rendering, printing, model upgrading and file importing and exporting.

If you're a 64bit operating system user and an Autodesk Subsrciption user then I'd be seriously checking this out...

Revit Service Pack 2 now available...

OK it was first mentioned in the AUGI Forums, then in Steve Stafford's Revit OpEd blog and lastly in The Revit Clinic AND now I'm downloading Revit's Service Pack 2

Yes, its finally happened, the Revit product teams have just released a Web Update 2 for Revit Architecture 2009 (Build 20080915_2100) in Service Pack technology similar to the AutoCAD based products.

The Web Update 2 can be found under the Revit Architecture product download page:

DOWNLOAD NOW

It is recommend that you read the Service Pack Readme before installing.

Technical Publications...

From my regular blog, I had mentioned and introduced The Revit Clinic. This time they've provided us with a whole list of technical documents for all Revit products users - certainly worth a look and read.

Thanks guys - keep up the great work

Truss Generators

Well its certainly been awhile... I meant to post this info sometime back but just never got around to it...



What the heck am I'm babbling, you ask... well In the AUGI Forums, about one month ago, there was an interesting thread about a Roof Truss Generator and its now reporting:

demo about 3D Truss Sytem Grid tansformations and link with roof parameters
was added to our web site:http://www.tools4revit.com/on the page:http://www.tools4revit.com/truss-plus/overview/

From a basic inspection of the site - it certainly looks very promising.

Beside the Cursor...: IES VE-Ware, Building Energy Analysis for Revit 2009#links

Beside the Cursor...: IES VE-Ware, Building Energy Analysis for Revit 2009#links

Good friend and fellow AUGI BoD member, Richard Binning posted this exciting news on his blog "Beside the Cursor".

It'll interesting to see if any Australian company follows suit with something suitable for our energy rating schemes... only time will tell I suppose

Yes Its On Again! Revit Technology Conference

Experience the Power of BIM with Autodesk Revit

Now in it's fourth year, the Revit Technology Conference has already established itself as the premiere BIM-based event in the Asia Pacific region.

Following the success of our Roadshow in 2007 (Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Melbourne, and Perth), the RTC Committee have pleasure in inviting you and your team to attend the Annual Conference to be held in Brighton Beach, Sydney. The Conference aims to draw attendees from throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as other Asia Pacific regions.

The 2008 Annual Conference is to be held Thursday 26 June – Saturday 28 June at the Novotel Brighton Beach, Sydney.

You can now register to the Conference. Also remember to keep checking back in for updates posted in the RUGs Forums.

Sadly I cannot attend again this year, as it conflicts with the AUGI Board of Directors meeting in Portland, Oregon, USA.

EARLYBIRD Closes Monday 26 May!! Don't miss out... Register today!!!

Season's Greetings

Wishing you all a very

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year

Avatech Revit Utilities

Another little gem found in the AUGI forums - Revit Extensions

Avatech’s Revit Utilities for Autodesk Revit 2008 have developed a variety of applications, namely...

• Room Renumber
  This utility allows a Revit Architecture user to easily renumber existing rooms into an order defined by selection. In addition, rooms can be inserted into an existing series of rooms with the subsequent room numbers “shifted” to make space for the inserted room number.
• Change Case
  Does your company (or your client) have standards or preferences on whether rooms or views are named with UPPER CASE, Title Case or lower case? If so, this tool will save you lots of time! The tool can scan your model, and automatically fix “case issues” to whatever standard you would like.
• Door Mark Update
  Should your Door Marks refer to the room that the door swings into? This utility interrogates all doors and rooms to determine what the proper mark should be for each door, allows the Revit Architecture user to inspect and override the suggested marks, and updates the marks.

So far, whilst I've installed all 3 extensions, I've only used the "change case" utility with no dramas... A little bit limiting with only Rooms Names or View Names able to be changed but its a step in the right direction. I may just have to take a look at the API as well - time to learn a new language!

In case you missed these notices... New Builds... & Revit Estimating

(1) As mentioned in many Revit blogs and in the AUGI Forums, there are new builds for Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and Revit MEP.

They can be downloaded from here.

(2) In Daryl Gregoire's blog, "REVIT Rocks", he has posted information about an Autodesk White paper on BIM Modelling & Estmating and details of a new product, entitled "eBusiness Software - A Revit Esitmating Demo Site"

Looks promising... nice find!

AUGI BoD ~ End of Term

Wow doesn't time fly when you're having fun... As I'm gearing up to attend Autodesk University 2007 in Los Vegas, USA, next week, my term of office is nearing its end with the AUGI Board of Directors. Directors are elected for two-year terms, and mine finishes on December 31, 2007.

People often ask, why I do it? I believe it's an honour and privilege to serve on the AUGI Board and I volunteered to be involved, to learn new things, to meet new people. I am grateful to have had this experience, to have met so many interesting people from all over the world, with different experiences, different outlooks. It never ceases to amaze me how vast our experiences are, yet how similar.

AUGI Chapter Awards to be Presented at Autodesk University

AUGI will present three awards to recognize outstanding dedication and efforts in the AUGI chapter user group community. The winners will be announced and given an award at Autodesk University 2007. Make sure you put your nominations in now! Please forward this email to your members and to your group'ssponsor.

The three award categories include:

Chapter of the Year Award
This award recognizes the outstanding contributions by the dedicated people in an AUGI Chapter organization who provide essential services to their members. This award will be presented at the AUGI Annual Meeting, Tuesday, November 27.

Sponsor Individual of the Year Award
This award recognizes outstanding accomplishments of a sponsor individual in the mentoring and support of their sponsorship of one or more AUGI Chapters. This award will be presented at the AUGI Local Chapter Leadership Conference, Monday, November

Chapter Member of the Year Award
This award recognizes outstanding accomplishments of AUGI Chapter members in support of the operation and management of an AUGI Chapter. This award will be presented at the AUGI Local Chapter Leadership Conference, Monday, November 26.

Requirements:
Complete the nomination form for the category of your choice. Nomination forms, for each category, are available at:
http://www.augi.com/documents/chaptermemberform.pdf
http://www.augi.com/documents/chapterform.pdf
http://www.augi.com/documents/sponsorindividualform.pdf

Every line must be completed for the nomination to be considered. Send the nomination form to AUGI Community Coordinator Jill Keefer, jill.keefer@augi.com, by October 17, 2007. A panel will review the nominations and select a winner based on the criteria outlined on the nomination form.

Revit Architecture Wish List Ballot is now open!

As previously mentioned in the AUGI Community Forums and on Blaugi...

It's time to vote for your Revit Architecture top ten wishes. AUGI members have been submitting their ideas for product improvements via the new Revit Architecture Wish List.

The ballot will remain open through the last day of October to give everyone a chance to drop by and choose their top ten wishes. Please contribute by taking a few minutes to visit the Revit Architecture Wish List Ballot and make your wishes known.

Temporary Dimensions...

For those of you you missed in it in the AUGI Forums or even Steve Stafford's Revit OpEd, part of the new improvements in the recent build included adjusting the size of temporary dimension text through Revit.ini.

Scott Latch, the new Technical Product Manager for Revit Architecture, posted these step-by-step instructions on how to modify the Revit.ini file to adjust the size of the temporary dimensions, in the AUGI Revit Community Forums.

1. Open Revit.ini file in Notepad.
The file is typically located in C:\Program Files\Revit Architecture 2008\Program.

2. Add the following line to Revit.ini in [Graphics] section:
TempDimFontSizeInPoints=N
Where N is a number larger than 8 (default hardcoded value). Good starting point is twice the default size (i.e. 16-17).

3. Save Revit.ini.

4. Restart Revit. If the size of temporary dimensions is still small, repeat from step 1 with larger number.

Please note, the [Graphics] section may not exist. If this is the case add a line that contains [Graphics].

Revit Architecture - Web Update SP2 available

Hot off the presses, so to speak...

This download is the most recent build for the Revit® Architecture 2008 and AutoCAD® Revit® Architecture® Suite 2008 software products.
It is available to registered users of Revit Architecture 2008, and is subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that appears during installation.
For a list of improvements, please download the Revit® Architecture 2008 Web Update Enhancement List:
Note: Build Number can be found in the Web Update Enhancement List (as noted below)


Web Update Enhancement List
Revit Architecture 2008
Improvements made in the current Web Update SP2 build (20070810_1700):
• Improves stability after receiving a corrupt element warning when opening a project.
• Publish to DWF™ functions when Rooms are present and are clipped by the viewport.
• Improves stability when saving a Project with a linked DWG™ file that contains an image.
• Improves stability when applying a view template to a sheet view.
• In Windows Vista™ operating system, allows the ability to write to revit.ini, licpath.lic,
KeyboardShortcuts.txt, and the Journals folder.
• Line based families contained in a group are no longer flipped when the group is mirrored.
• Improves stability when importing group into Titleblock family.
• Allows the ability to export renderings to TIFF format.
• When temporary dimension text too small to read, user can adjust the size of the font through Revit.ini.
• Linked DWG added by another user will now show up in Manage Links after reload latest.
• “Relative” spot elevation updates automatically with the change in Level elevation.
• When exporting to DWG, overlapping lines that share a point are no longer missing in the resulting DWG file.

AU2007 Registration Opens for AUGI & Subscription Members

Great News, its that time of year again. Registration for the Autodesk Event of the Year - Autodesk University has just been opened for AUGI and Autodesk Subscription members alike...

Similarly, like last year AUGI has negotiated with Autodesk to offer the "AU 2007 3-For-1 Promotion"

If you are you attending AU 2007 you'll want to take advantage of this exclusive offer from Autodesk and AUGI. Register three (3) or more members from your local user group community and your chapter will receive one free pass to AU. This is a limited offer available to the first 100 registered groups who take advantage of it (limit of one free pass per local user group chapter). Don't delay. Act now.

"How do I take advantage of this offer?" Once your chapter members are registered for AU 2007 send their contact information (name, email address, phone number & local chapter name) in an email to: michael.curry@augi.com. Please put "AU 3-For-1 Promo" in the subject line. The first 100 chapters to respond, and whose registrations are subsequently confirmed, will qualify for this offer.

Don't delay. Act now! Make sure you are one of the first 100 chapters to take advantage of this limited offer!

In addition to the 3-For-1 Promo, The Second Annual AUGI Leadership Conference will be held on Monday, November 26th in association with AU 2007 at the Venetian Hotel, Room Lido 3101.

Registration opens at 1:00 p.m. and the event will begin at 1:30 p.m. This powerful half-day conference is open to all registered AU attendees and will focus on the creation, building, and maintenance of local user group communities.

A general session and opening remarks will be followed by training sessions focused on topics that are vital to user groups, including: how to launch and grow a successful user group, strategic planning, and partnering with key organizations like Autodesk and the Autodesk Re-Seller community.

Following the training sessions, attendees will participate in breakout sessions focused on developing new ideas and approaches for user group marketing, hosting successful meetings, and creating win-win sponsor relationships. In these sessions, ideas and best practices will be shared and innovative techniques will emerge.

A reception and refreshments will follow. Close the event by networking with friends, old and new.

Group leaders and potential leaders - do not miss this; plan to attend the AUGI leadership Conference for a truly rewarding experience.

Seating is limited and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no fee to register.

To secure your spot, send an email to: jill.keefer@augi.com. Please put "AUGI Leadership Conference Reservation" in the subject line and be certain to include the following information in the body of your email: name, user group name, city, state, and phone number.

See you at Autodesk University 2007!

AU2007 Preliminary Schedules released

Well the AU (Autodesk University) machine is about to ramp up...

Joeseph Wurcher has just posted in his blog the preliminary course schedules for AU2007 - but requests your assistance...

This year, we will offer sessions at the same time as the General Session. Those offered at the same time as the General Session will be repeated during AU— in a sense, it frees up one slot for attendees who are interested in those particular repeat sessions. The AU core team made the decision today to offer those additional 20. Those classes do not show up in the schedule yet. I would like your point of view on this plan. Does it make sense to you to offer classes at the same time as the General Session? Let me hear from you!

— Joseph

And for us Revit users there's some great cousres being offerred... it’s time to get your justification together, if you haven’t already, to attend the best Autodesk user event on the planet.

So when and where is AU2007 - 15th Annual Autodesk University

November 27 – 30, 2007

The Venetian Resort Hotel

Las Vegas, U.S.A.

See you there!!!

Revit Technology Conference 2007

This just received via an email from Wesley Benn, RTC & RUGS (Revit User Group Sydney) Chairman

The Revit Technology Conference is an annual event designed to cater to the needs of the Revit-based CAD community. Founded and run by users of the software, RTC is the pre-eminent educational and networking event for users throughout the SE Asian region. This year the team is coming to you! We are embarking on a series of one day seminars held in 6 cities designed to entice, enrich, and enliven your worklife (FDA approval pending...).

The Conference program will specifically look at User Interface, Modelling, Documentation and Collaboration. These sessions are designed to provide users at all levels ideas to take back to work with them to improve workflow, efficiency, and effectiveness.

The Roadshow will focus on tips and tricks, best practices, and undocumented features within each broad subject area. These sessions are not intended to be tool by tool training, but rather an opportunity to show existing users how to improve their user experience, and new users what they can achieve using Revit. The sessions will discuss and be relevant to all versions of Revit (Architecture, Structure, MEP), and cover information valuable to all experience levels.

You can pre-register your interest for the RTC Roadshow at this link...


I do hope that we will get to see many more of you in person than has previously been the case, and that this roadshow drives the conference series, and the community, on to bigger and better things in the future.

Remember to diarize the date for Adelaide leg:

Adelaide

Wednesday 29 August

Hyatt Regency North Terrace Adelaide, South Australia

9am - 5.30pm

See you all there!

AUGI BoD meets at "the Factory" (aka Autodesk Waltham)

Well one of life's great pleasure was walking inside the hallowed offices of the "Revit Factory" or more commonly known as Autodesk Waltham, MA.

The AUGI board, decided to host their June face to face meeting at the Autodesk offices, this time in Waltham, MA rather than the usual San Rafael, CA. and it was certainly an uplifting experience...