Monday, May 31, 2010

30 Hours of Free AutoCAD Video Training

Now offers Full REVIT Video Downloads for only $89

Click the image above for 207 (30+ hours) of free AutoCAD Video Training. On the left hand margin scroll down and click the AutoCAD 2008 - Complete Series.
That's it.
207 videos for over 30 hours of in-depth AutoCAD training.
Lab exercises included.

REVIT Leader with No Text

Now Offers 1 Year of Full REVIT Video Tutorial Downloads for only $99
Ok, this one is for the migrating AutoCAD people.
Even though AutoCAD has had the 'Multi-Leader' for ever' most AutoCAD users still place the text and leader lines seperately in the DWG.
In REVIT I do not believe there is an 'out of the box' way to just place a leader line with no text.
The answer is to create a new 'Generic Annotation' family (wblock) of 'nothing'. That's right an annotaion family of NOTHING.
Then save and load this (blank) family into your project.
Then within the project right click the family in the (PB) > 'Type Properpties...' and assign a 'Leader Arrowhead' style.
Now drag the new leader family into the editing window.
Now (in 2011), on the options bar, when you place the family you will get a choice of how many leader lines you want.
After the fact you can select the family on screen and then Add or Remove leaders to the instance.
You can also edit the 'type properties' (right click in the PB) and 'Duplicate' the family and make variations of that same family but with different arrow head styles.
I just got a comment from someone on the Student Autodesk Facebook site that said this works great for 'slope arrows' in REVIT and I tend to agree.
Here's the CADclip.

Friday, May 28, 2010

REVIT Structure 2011 Temporary Dimensions

Now Offers 1 Year of Full REVIT Video Tutorial Downloads for only $199



REVIT Structure (and Arch. , MEP) have a couple welcomed new features in the area of 'Temporary Dimensions'.
1. You can now adjust the size of the text of a temporary dimension (without tweeking the revit.ini file) and specify whether the background is transparent or opaque. Much better !
2. (this is a big one) REVIT now remembers if you relocate the witness line of a temporary dimension. Even if you save the project and open it later. HUGE YEAH !!
Below is the CADclip

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Learn Revit 2011 with CADclip Video Tutorials

Now offers Full REVIT Video Downloads for only $89


The CADclip below shows you a little bit about the latest (and greatest) REVIT Architecture 2011 Tutorial Training Series available at CADclips.

CADclips are available to Individuals or can be delivered Enterprise Wide.


Wednesday, May 26, 2010

REVIT 3D Section Views

Now offers Full REVIT Video Downloads for only $89

I like to take advantage of ALL of REVITs wonderful benifits . . . . . and here's another.
Watch the CADclip below to see how you can instantly turn a regular section view into a 3d
sectional view.
OH . . . . . did I mention that this also works for plan views as well. By default the 'section box' gets turned on but the visibility has been turned off so you will have to use the 'light bulb' tool to access the section box.
Great for the MEP people with Plenum Spaces.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

REVIT Reset Level to 3D Extents

Now offers Full REVIT Video Downloads for only $89

Have you ever been frustrated trying to 'Reset to 3D Extents' for a Level !
I know I have.
Here's the tip:
You cannot 'Reset to 3D Extents' for a level 'while the view is being cropped'.
That's it.
Just (temporarily) 'turn off' the 'cropping' of the view you THEN you can freely 'Reset to 3D Extents' for a Level with a 'right click' or by dragging the level's 2D or 3D grips.
This had frustrated me to no end in the past.
Below is a fresh CADclip demonstrating this concept.
UPDATE:
I have since been informed that if all 3D extents of a level line lie 'within' the crop region then you CAN in fact use the 'Reset to 3D extents' tool. When you think you know everything . . . . be afraid : )

Saturday, May 22, 2010

REVIT has Totally Changed my Deliverable

Now offers Full REVIT Video Downloads for only $89

I need new sun glasses because the BIM shining through is making me quint.
I am just tickled to provide drawings like above to my customers. A 3D view that takes about 4.8 minutes to generate and is worth it's weight in plutonium, on the job site. This is just a plain jane residential foundation. Think about what could be done in a much more complex model. I chose to isolate the concrete but you could isolate what ever you wanted for the needs of that BIM aspect.
Spot Elevations are a structural modeler's 'Fairy God Mother'. Sprinkle a little BIM dust on the model and all the spot elevations update instantly. It's easy to do. 1. Duplicate the {3D} view (or create a new camera view etc) 2. Isolate only the objects you want with the temporary hide / isolate tool. 3. Go back and forth with the light bulb tool until the view shows what you want then Apply to the view.
! DANGER: This next step requires the use of Sunglasses 4. Slap in some 'Spot Elevations'.
. . . . NOW, CAN YOU FEEL THE HEAT RISING?

Friday, May 14, 2010

REVIT MEP 2011 Review

Here is a link to a REVIT MEP 2011 review posted at REED Construction Data.
REVIT MEP 2011 Review
Looks like RMEP has made some significant improvements and is moving in the right direction according to Mark Mergenschroer.
Key features mentioned in the review are:
Fixture Management
Customizing Electrical Panel Schedules and using Panel Schedule Templates
Assign spares and spaces
Rebalance Loads
Move Circuits Easily
Lock the Circuits
The ability to place the Panels on Sheets for Consistency and Size
Demand Factors Monitoring and ‘Total Demand Load’
Functionality to Coordinate Realistic Conduit and Cable Trays
Flat Oval Ducts
Reconcile Hosting Under the Collaborate Tools
Selecting all Instances Visible in the View or in the Project
Worksets in General
Place Valves and/or Fittings in a Section or Elevation View
Tag on Placement
Properties Palette
Speed of Software and Model Management has Improved

Thursday, May 13, 2010

CADclip - Waffled or Coffered Ceiling Tutorial

Now offers Full REVIT Video Downloads for only $89

In the 5 minute CADclip below I demonstrate how to create a Waffled or Coffered Ceiling using a REVIT In-Place Void family.
I keep it pretty basic but you could use multiple void / solid geometry to achieve a more creative result.

REVIT 2011 Interface - Can we stop now ?

Some days while I am working or teaching on the big screen I just stare at the REVIT 2011 ribbon and go blank trying to find something like . . . . . . . . 'Object Styles'. It is especially frustrating when the button I am looking for has now been moved to it's very own 1 square inch peice of realestate on the ribbon. I know, I know, I can use the keyboard shortcuts but after all I make my living teaching others how to use the software. If the Autodesk programmers redesign the @&# interface one more time I am going to hitch up my dog sled, portage my way to the main land, across New Brunswick, down through Maine to Boston and then stand outside the building and yell profanities. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

REVIT Jogged Section Lines

Now offers Full REVIT Video Downloads for only $89

This is nothing new but I'm surprised at how many people are not aware of this feature. Select a section line and then use the Split Segment tool to create jogs in the section line and subsequent view.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Free Ball Cap With All CADclip USB Sales

CADclips is currently having a 33% off sale with a Free Ball Cap or Coffee Mug to all USB sales.
Get them while they are hot !

Sunday, May 09, 2010

REVIT 2011 Roof Basic Videos


Below are 10 great CADclips on REVIT Roof basics as illustrated in the image above. The CADclips cover the basics for Gable, Hip, Intersecting, Gambrel, Mansard, Butterfly and Shed roofs. Alhough I am using REVIT Architecture 2011 in these CADclips these lessons apply to RAC and RST back several versions.

Saturday, May 08, 2010

33 Percent Off All CADclips

Get 33 % off everything at the CADclips Store .
Just use the Coupon Code > B I M and then click Update Cart
Training topics listed below:
REVIT Architecture
REVIT Structure
REVIT MEP
AutoCAD Architecture
AutoCAD
Civil 3D
MAP
Inventor
Sketchup
Navisworks
MS Office

Friday, May 07, 2010

REVIT 2011 Known Issues and Limitations

The following are known issues with this release: Rendering Additional Render Paths work differently with Realistic Views than with Rendering. Previously, if you moved your model or moved your custom textures and decals, Revit would allow you to add an additional render appearance path. This functionality let you specify a 'back-up' location for Revit to look if it did not find your custom images. In order for Revit to take advantage of the additional render appearance path functionality with Realistic Views, you have to add the path to the original image before you assign the custom image or decal. This tells Revit to use a relative path rather than an absolute path to the image. This only affects Realistic views; Rendering workflow will allow you to specify an additional render appearance path after assigning the image. Many families have 2D masking regions (or filled regions) in plan view and have the visibility of the 3D elements turned off in plan views. If this is the case, then your family will 'render' white when in Realistic view display. This will be true in both the family environment and the project environment. In order for your family to render correctly in Realistic views, you need to make the 3D elements visible in plan views, assign a render material, and delete the masking region. Upgrading IES lights. If your Revit 2010 project file contains IES lights and you upgrade to 2011, then your render may return a black image. If so, try turning off the IES lights. Not all IES lights will render incorrectly, however if a light does not render then try using another IES file. Custom Elevation Tags Best Practices for using Custom Elevation Tags in an upgraded Project If you upgrade a project from a previous releases of Revit to 2011, you will see your elevation tags look and behave exactly as they did previously. If you choose to modify an existing elevation tag and customize it, then you will see erratic changes when reloading the tag. Older elevation tag behavior was not concerned with correctly orienting elevation tags N, S, E, W. The UP direction was rotated to face Left, Right, etc. It is our recommendation not to customize upgraded elevation tags without investing additional work to fix and redraw elevations. Customize the Circular Elevation Tag Family before placing instances If you are starting a new project from the Revit 2011 default template file and you are planning to customize your circular elevation tag family, it is best to customize the family first, then load it into the project, then place instances. Elevations placed before the Circular tag family is customized will not update correctly after loading the custom tag. Pantone The Pantone "Find Color" field does not search for a matching color In the Materials Dialog, click on a color swatch to enable the color picker, and then click the Pantone button. In the Pantone color picker dialog, you are able to type in a number-but the search is currently not performed. You must scroll to find the Pantone color. Conceptual Modeling Division by Intersects Partial and Overhanging border panel conditions may require individual attention. To replace a border panel, delete the panel and manually place curtain panel by pattern or an adaptive component by snapping to the surface nodes. Adaptive Components An Adaptive Component cannot be placed from the component placement tool or using the CM keyboard shortcut. You must drag the component from project browser. Adaptive Components can only be placed in a Mass family, an In-place Mass, a curtain panel by pattern family, or another Adaptive Component family. Model Lines Model Lines and all in-canvas labeled dims and reference points associated with those model lines are absorbed when a form is made from those lines. Consistent Materials Install/Uninstall If you were on a Beta or Alpha with any Autocad, Inventor, Max, Maya, Showcase, or Navisworks product, you must manually uninstall the three material libraries using Windows Add/Remove Programs. The libraries must be removed in this order: Autodesk Material Library 2011 Medium Image Library Autodesk Material Library 2011 Base Image Library Autodesk Material Library 2011 To reinstall the material library, you can use the original installation media: Install Products > Select only >Autodesk Material Library 2011 Medium Image Library.> Proceed with installation. All libraries will be installed. Export Guide grids are not visible when exported to DWG and DWF files. When utilizing Windows Classic appearance theme, the Export CAD Formats dialog may not display properly after resizing the dialog. The dialog will be displayed correctly when the dialog is reopened. Display If your video card supports DirectX 9 or higher, Hardware Acceleration is enabled by default. When utilizing the 3GB Switch, Revit may crash displaying 3D views when Hardware Acceleration is enabled. In order to display materials using the Realistic visual style, Hardware Acceleration must be enabled. If Hardware Acceleration is not enabled, Realistic views will display similar to the Shaded visual style. In order to display Ambient Occlusion, Hardware Acceleration must be enabled. If Hardware Acceleration is not enabled, the Ambient Occlusion setting will be grayed out. When you start Revit, if your computer's video card and driver have not been tested with Revit, or if they do not meet minimum requirements, a warning displays that describes the issue. The warning has a hyperlink to an Autodesk website that lists the tested video cards and drivers. Upon start up of Revit and unknown dialog is displayed. This is due to a conflict with hardware acceleration enabled and ATI FireGL Card V3350 8.563.0.0 Unknown dialog may nolonger display when turning off Desktop Manager through Video Card Properties > Catalyst Control Center > and restarting Revit. When Revit is launched through a VPN (Virtual Private Network), you may need to re-enable Hardware Acceleration (Application Menu > Options > Graphics). Decals in Realistic Views When displaying Decals in views with Visual Style set to Realistic, a graphic box containing an "X" incorrectly displays over the Decal image. Sun Path When using Sun Path and Shadows the size of the ground plane (if active) set large enough as to reflect the shadows from the sun at 5 degrees above horizon. Any position of the sun lower than 5 degrees shall not make the ground plane larger and the shadows can get "clipped" by the edge of the ground plane. The sun path may not be displayed for projects located near the Earth's poles. Design Review If you try to repair the Design Review install you get prompted to insert disk 1. It does not matter if you have the Revit DVD in the drive, this is not what the repair mechanism is looking for. So you have to cancel out and can not repair the install. Workaround: Browse to en-US\Support\ADR, right-click on the msi and select reinstall. Communication Center When selecting some RSS Feed links from Communication Center they may not open correctly, this is caused by incompatible format of the RSS feeds.

REVIT 2011 System Requirements

Here's the poop on REVIT 2011 performance and recommended hardware. When REVIT Architecture installs it checks your current display adapter configuration. Then on startup you are notified you if certain features will not work. This notification can be turned off. I'm liking it so far but adapting to the new ribbon ain't no picnic. If I go for that stupid 'old' split properties button or right click for 'view properties' one more time I'm going to jump off the Confederation Bridge. 3 releases of REVIT inside 24 months and 3 different interfaces. It looks like Autodesk has finally removed the original REVIT programmers and replaced them with the AutoCAD programmers. Although the specs below are relative to RAC I'm sure RST and MEP are the same. RAC 2011 Performance Recommendations Operating systems Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Service Pack Service Pack (SP) 2 (or later): Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Business Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Home Premium Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Ultimate Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Enterprise CPU type Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processor (2.50 Ghz, 2X6M L2, 1333) or equivalent AMD processor ® Memory 8 GB RAM Video display 1280 x 1024 with True Color Video adaptor 512 MB DirectX® 9 capable graphics card with Shader Model 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- RAC 2011 64-bit Hardware and Software Requirements Operating systems Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Service Pack 2 (or later) Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Business Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Home Premium Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Ultimate Microsoft® Windows Vista® 64 bit Enterprise Microsoft® Windows® 7 64 bit Microsoft® Windows® 7 64 bit Home Premium Microsoft® Windows® 7 64 bit Professional Microsoft® Windows® 7 64 bit Ultimate Microsoft® Windows® 7 64 bit Enterprise Browser Microsoft Internet Explorer® 7.0 or later CPU type Microsoft® Windows® XP ® Professional x64 Edition SP2: Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD AthlonTM Dual Core, 1.6 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology Microsoft® Windows ® Vista® 64 bit SP2 (or later) or Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 64 bit: Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD AthlonTM Dual Core, 3.0 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology Memory 3 GB RAM Video display 1280 x 1024 with True Color Video adaptor Basic graphics: Display adaptor capable of 24-bit color Advanced graphics: 256 MB DirectX® 9 capable graphics card with Shader Model 3 Hard disk 5 GB free disk space Pointing device MS-Mouse compliant Media Download or Installation from DVD9 ------------------------------------------------------------- RAC 32-bit Hardware Software Requirements Operating systems Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (or later), including: Microsoft® Windows® XP ® Home Microsoft® Windows® XP ® Professional Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Service Pack 2 (or later), including: Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Business Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Home Premium Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Ultimate Microsoft® Windows® Vista® Enterprise Microsoft® Windows® 7 32 bit Microsoft® Windows® 7 32 bit Home Premium Microsoft® Windows® 7 32 bit Professional Microsoft® Windows® 7 32 bit Ultimate Microsoft® Windows® 7 32 bit Enterprise Browser Microsoft Internet Explorer® 7.0 or later CPU type Microsoft® Windows® XP ® Service Pack 2 or later: Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD AthlonTM Dual Core, 1.6 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology Microsoft® Windows ® Vista® 32 bit Service Pack 2 (or later) or Microsoft® Windows ® 7 32 bit: Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD AthlonTM Dual Core, 3.0 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology Memory 3 GB RAM Video display 1280 x 1024 with True Color Video adaptor Basic graphics: Display adaptor capable of 24-bit color Advanced graphics: 256 MB DirectX® 9 capable graphics card with Shader Model 3 Hard disk 5 GB free disk space Pointing device MS-Mouse compliant Media Download or Installation from DVD9 Connectivity Internet connection for license registration