Autodesk University 2007 Schedule

We will be sending 15 people to AU this year! There will be a wide variety of users, from Architecture, Structure, MEP, Management and Visualization.

I take back my comments I posted on Steve's blog about there not being enough advanced Revit classes at AU. I've come to the realization that I've pretty much reached the end of Revit technically. I now need to focus my skills on management and further implementation into the rest of the company.

I'm pretty happy with my schedule, a nice variety of advanced Revit classes, BIM and business/management.


Tuesday

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
General Session - Designing the Future

10:00 AM-11:30 AM
Effective Collaboration with the Autodesk® Revit® Platform

1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Autodesk's Revit® SDK Sample Smörgåsbord

3:30 PM-5:00 PM
The Fusion of Technology Innovations

Wednesday

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
Building the Future - AEC Industry Presentation

10:00 AM-11:30 AM
Expanding BIM with the Autodesk's Revit® API

1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Methodology for Implementing BIM: Educational Processes vs. Professional Practices

3:00 PM-4:30 PM
Technology Underpinnings of Integrated Practice in Building Design and Construction

5:00 PM-6:30 PM
Effective Techniques for Large Projects in Revit® Architecture

Thursday

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
Running Revit® Architecture in Virtual Machines

10:30 AM-12:00 PM
The Essential Guide to NavisWorks

1:00 PM-2:30 PM
A Walk-through NavisWorks

3:00 PM-4:30 PM
From Concept to Construction: Real-World Construction Management Techniques and Best Practices with Revit® Architecture

5:00 PM-6:30 PM
Advanced Massing Studies in Revit® Architecture

Friday

8:00 AM-9:30 AM
The Successful Implementation of Building Information Modeling in a Construction Project for the 2008 Beijing Olympics

10:00 AM-11:30 AM
Sharing 3D Geometry Among AutoCAD® MEP, Revit® Architecture, and Revit® Structure

Learning how to write again....

I've caught on to the phenomenon of "Getting things done" or "GTD". I've ordered a Moleskine so I can effectively jot down my thoughts when a computer is not available.

I've run into a problem though. This wonderful digital age has made me forget how to write. I'm not even going to post an example, let's just say it's awful.

I saw RobiNZ's post this morning about this very subject. Great, I'm not the only one. My question is how do we get help?? I think going back to elementary is probably not an option (a freaky looking long hair in an elementary school might raise some eyebrows)

A quick google search brings up a million results, I'm looking for some real advice for a dummy that doesn't even know how to write anymore :(

Collision Detection in NavisWorks

Here's a few images of some collisions I found on a small project we're working on.
It was extremely easy to convert and import the files into NavisWorks, took about 10 minutes and this was my first go at it!
This was simply checking Mechanical against Structural, the collision detection runs so fast it's ridiculous. In Revit this would have taken an hour.
Next step is to learn TimeLiner

Should Autodesk make a free file exporter for NavisWorks files?

I've been using NavisWorks for a couple weeks now and it is the greatest program I have found since I came across Revit. I will post some examples a little later...

The biggest problem I see with it is that the exporter is not free, with subscription costs it is over $1400 just to be able to export to NavisWorks! This is because you have to purchase Roamer to use the exporters.

Granted most of the time NavisWorks will import the native file format without having the original program installed. On the other hand there is a rather large list of file formats that cannot be imported, it has to be exported from the original program.

So what are we to do? Require the subcontractors purchase NavisWorks....that will go over well (note the sarcasm) Do we buy it for them? Or maybe it's just a matter of having them export to dxf, dwg, dwf or ifc first.

If they have to export to a different format first there will most likely be data loss, even in the NavisWorks help file it states you will get the best quality and limit the amount of data loss if you export from the original program with Publisher.

Comments?

Edit: After talking with NavisWorks they have no plans of making the exporter free, although if enough users request it they may consider it. Their suggestion for now is to export to dxf, ifc, etc. then you can bring it in natively, but they did confirm there is possibility of data loss.

del.icio.us Tags: NavisWorks, autodesk, bim

Autodesk acquires NavisWorks

Apparently Autodesk realized that their idea of one integrated Revit model was not going to work in reality. They were trying to push this idea of linking all the Revit models together, which seems like a great idea until you realize in a real world size project that Revit struggles enough with one discipline, the computers are just not up for the task yet.

Now Autodesk can scrap that idea and push everyone to get NavisWorks (I'm sure the Archicad users are cringing at this acquisition)

BTW this is my first post using Windows Live Writer, so far I really like it, very simple and intuitive.

del.icio.us Tags: NavisWorks, BIM, Autodesk, Revit

Link

Speaking of IFC's

Revit Architecture Achieves Full IFC 2x3 Certification

While I have my reservations about using IFC's this seems to be a step in the right direction towards interoperability.

While Archicad has been the leader with IFC's for a long time it looks like Autodesk is finally taking this seriously.

I hope IFC does become the standard but I think it's still a few years out before we really get there.

After the BIM Conference....

Back from not-so-sunny Anaheim, the conference had it's good and bad points. There was a bit too much focus on interoperability, IFC's, Lifecycle, etc. The IAI had a bit too much involvement. Don't get me wrong they have a great vision of how a BIM is going to work in the future and the lifecycle of the building is really where the value is going to lie in the future.

For now though the real money is in 4D/5D for us and this was barely touched on.

I did come away with some new software that will help us in early design where a Revit model may not make sense because it is too complex to change quickly and easily early on.

One is DProfiler developed by the Beck Group, we will be using this in very early design to help the owner figure out if they can afford to build the project. It can export to Revit and next month it will link to Timberline so we can use our existing database for estimating.

Another is Onuma which is a very interesting product for preliminary design/programming. It is all web based which makes for very easy collaboration. It is very quick at laying out bubble diagrams, and as they're created there is 3d geometry being created too, along with all the square footage, counts, etc f or programming analysis.