OK so sometimes we need to just pick flowers...

It's been an outrageously busy week so I am going to post a recount of a lesson in perspective that is both humorous and true.

Enjoy, -J

Chapter One: (Eeeewwwww)

A short while (and about 25 lbs ago) I was in the "run" leg of a Sprint Triathlon (1/2 mile swim, 20 mile bike, 3+ mile run) about 1 mile from the finish I heard someone from behind exclaim that he had to pass me because he couldn't let someone with a disturbing injury beat him... (I had played hockey a few days before and got hit with a puck in the back of my leg...I did have a huge bruise but there was no more pain; I must admit that the huge, multi-colored bruise looked nasty). Well, I managed to beat him (ha ha); but, as it turned out this was just a sign of things to come...

Chapter Two: (WTF)

After the race I was getting some re-hydration and bananas and was walking back to the race staging area to begin to pack up and leave when I again heard someone behind me exclaim their horror at the bruise. The person was saying that he was inspired that someone with such a bad looking injury actually competed and finished the course... I turned in the middle of answering to him that "...Oh, it was just a hockey bruise and nothing too serious..." yet as I turned and finally saw this guy (a really toned athlete) I saw that he had only 1 leg (he wore one of those racing prosthetics)... He did the same race as me with only one leg and he was impressed by me??? WTF/LOL!!!

Chapter Three: (Hmmmm)

After running thru a long list of thoughts that flooded me I finally had a nice talk with him about how funny it seemed to me that he is the one to me who is truly inspiring, running on one leg and that he thought my little (well OK big) bruise was inspiring to him was a great irony...we both had a little laugh and a realization about perspective...we both seemed to think our situations were merely our normal state...

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More Fun With Views: Stacked Isometrics and More

A friend asked me how I made stacked 3D Plan Views in a project I was showing him; so I offer this up for everyone (who sees it) to use and abuse... I bet you (us) abusers can find many other uses for composite Revit Views!!! (perhaps one day I'll post my shortcuts too) Ready, Set...

GO.

1) Model your building (LOL)
2) Open Up a 3D View (you can have a lot of fun with Camera Views and these techniques as well!!!) I'll use this one:3) View>Orient>To Other View (or in my world OO...great for repetition!!!)

4) Yeah, It's obviously imperative to choose the appropriate View for what you are attempting...(Hmm Sections? Although not shown possible!!!)

Here's how that 3D looks now...BUT WAIT!!! (although if you create 2 of each View you can place the 3D "Plan" with shadows next to the isometrics that this posting illustrates...Ohhh More Fun!!!)


5) Now View>Orient>Save View (or in my world SV...Are you getting the idea that using shortcuts are faster for repetitive tasks???!!! I think I just saved $100.00)

6) Then (AKA: now) View>Orient>Northeast (or whatever you like...If you're not bored with the shortcut train of thought here it is: SV...Yes, Save View). Saving the View will create a new Default 3D view, thus enabling you to repeat the steps above as many times as needed (in this example there are 7 total)...

Here is a completed ISO Plan that will be stacked with the others... (Yes, I created one for every Level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...+ a Site view that I discarded in the end)

7) Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat...

Here is a sheet view with all 7 views stacked (Yes, you'll want to place the views in an order so as to not cover the wrong ones up...let's say lowest to highest...it all depends on your desires...remember they will snap to alignment if you move them in line with each other)

WAIT A MINUTE!!! Did I just stack them on a Rendering from Revit? And did I actually only select Medium Quality, then push the Render button and let Mental Ray work??? Oh yes I did!!! I also must admit I did open the exported .tif Rendering output in my photo editor, to place a background, due to the fact that when (in Revit 2009) you export a rendering as a .tif or .png it also saves out an Alpha channel (which even accounts for glass, etc...) I say F' Yeah to that!!!

Enjoy!!!

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Computer Security & 2009 Rendering "Too Much Perfect"

Yeah, Yeah I know this isn't BIM, or even Revit related but I did find this interesting & important; since computer security is paramount if we are to use them in business.

See this ASTALAVISTA.com Article. (or the Times Online Source Article) for a glimpse of Microsoft's ongoing lax security. Sorry Bill, I love you but something needs to be done. ' Glad I don't use HotMail!!!

BTW: Rendering in Revit 2009 is "too much perfect"... Thanks ADSK for Pimping My Revit!!! Images soon...

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Revit Architecture 2009 New Features Workshop

So, above is a peek at the Revit Architecture 2009 New Features Workshop... If you want to see a FULL RESOLUTION+ slide show of the workshop (or you don't see the Flikr library above) then CLICK ME!!!

I will get into more of the items in depth, but I thought you'd like to see the images above ASAP!!!

Soon the Revit Architecture web site will be updated with Revit Architecture 2009 info...HERE, I think.

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Do you want to save Thousands of dollars this year? Well just follow me...

OK so you don't have to follow me, I'm just listening to John Lennon... But if you want to save those thousands of dollars follow the directions below...

First of all I did not come up with this but I'll take credit (no pun initially intended) if you want to send me a check!!! OK here we go:

Create a new drafting view and place some text in it. Maybe the text says:
IF YOU WANT TO SAVE THE PROJECT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS (NO SHIT) PER YEAR THEN DO EACH DAY'S LAST SAVE TO CENTRAL FROM THIS VIEW.

-Perhaps you'll write your own blurb!!!

Now this next step is the most important and it’s getting 'buy-in' from the whole team: HAVE THEM ACTUALLY FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION OF SAVING TO CENTRAL FROM THAT VIEW!!! Remember to close all hidden windows as well!!!

You don't know how to get buy-in? Here's a trick I like; just understand that you may get laughed at when you say that saving 15 seconds at opening can save $1,000 but let them laugh, you'll have the last and best laugh in about 1 minute!!!

1) Have a meeting with the Revit team and make sure your bosses are present. The more bosses the better!

2) Tell them that you have a way to save thousands of dollars (and use my name, if you like!!!)

3) Do this math on a large white-board or paper if you can, if not it's ok:
Revit projects average between 15 seconds and 1 1/2 minutes to generate the on-screen geometry during opening a file ...So let's use an average of 1 minute and let's say there are 5 people on the team:
(1x5=5 minutes per open) x 2 times a day [morning & after lunch] = 10 minutes a day. Hmmm I see where this is going...but wait it gets better!!!

10x5 = 50 minutes a week ...it's getting more clear and approaching impressive...

50 x 50 weeks = 2,500 minutes or 41.667 Hours a year (yes I said HOURS!!!) Now are you impressed? Wait!!! There’s one more thing... The big bosses always like this and they usually get the team members to buy in after hearing this:

41.667 x Billable Rate (maybe $100, or more an hour) at 100 per hr. = $4,167.00 per large project saved a year by this dumb, yet brilliant workflow enhancement... Oh and the small projects usually average 15 seconds saved = $1,000.00 a year +/-... Not bad for low profit margin projects too!!! Saving all this money for doing what we have to do anyways!!! That's strangely amazing!!!

No one's laughing at this anymore, huh?

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Shared Coordinates And... 1

I am preparing a course on leveraging Surveyor's cad files to orient projects to true North, etc. and I just wanted to begin by placing a few assets that are already out there and their original links; so here we go:

From the AUGI posting: Click Me!!!

The "Factory says: This is one place where you have to follow the rules.
Revit's internal calculations do not like very large coordinate numbers. There are many number systems used in an app like Revit, some for calculating values, some for driving the display, etc. In some cases these systems differ in the precision of the numbers they can use.

When numeric values are small, these differences in precision are insignificant. When numbers get large, the differences while still small on a percentage basis become large enough to effect the results of display and operations. Thus, it is important to keep your Revit project near Revit's origin. (near means within 1 mile/1.6km) Revit's origin is near the center of the space made by the elevation symbols in the default template.

The Rules
* Always build your building near the starting point of the default template.
* Model it with Project North pointing directly up. (lay it out as you would have it appear on sheets)
* If you are using a dwg based site, Link your site file Center To Center.
* Move or rotate the SITE under your project until it is correctly positioned relative to the building. (do not move or rotate the project itself).
* Use the Acquire Coordinates tool and pick the site.

This will set your project's shared coordinated to those of the dwg's wcs. True North will be the dwg's Y axis. Now your building knows where the dwg 0,0 is, but it can still record its own information in well behaving small numbers. It knows and can orient to either True North, or Project North. Once the shared coordinates are set, subsequent imports can be made origin to origin using shared coordinates."

Another fine (merely excellent) asset is one of TG's posts Found Here!!!

This should be a good start...To be continued (with pictures most likely!!!)...

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Update: Why can't designers model in Revit (yet)?

Well, I am making progress in the translation of this class and expect to post it this month. I just got back the feedback responses from participants, as collected by ADSK and I am really pleased by the comments...the checks are in the mail!!!

Thanks to all who participated and to those who provided feedback. Perhaps ADSK will let me do more sessions in the future!!!

Even though there were preconceived notions as to the benefit of this session the reality was that it was (and is) a forum for positive change and inspired a lot of both thought and action...Without much further ado: Here's that feedback... (yes, it's a bit of an ego trip, but honestly it illustrates what not only I have to offer our world of BIM but what all of you bring to bare; as I see the results here as speaking as a microcosm of the entirety of the Revit community, illustrating the need and usefulness of pushing the envelope (sometimes in a confrontational manner, in order to get people's open listening)... BTW: I especially love the comment "Brilliant"!!! I think it was a brilliant session too...

1. Have you heard of AU Unplugged before arriving in Las Vegas?

Yes -14 (74%)

No- 5 (26%)

No Answer- 0

2. Did you vote for any session to be included in the AU Unplugged scheduled?

Yes –6 (32%)

No-13 (68%)

No Answer- 0

3. Please rate the following on a scale from 1 to 10. (a-e)

a. Overall satisfaction with this session. 8.68

b. Format of this session. 8.89

c. Session leader’s knowledge of topic. 9.05

d. Sessions leader’s effort to engage participants 9.31

e. The benefit or value (information, contacts, etc.) 8.73

You gained from this session.

4. Would you recommend this session or one similar format to others?

Yes –18 (95%)

No- 1 (5%)

No Answer- 0

5. What did you most like about this session?

Interactive, open, honest

Open, honest, healthy

Good discussion

Discussion and idea flow

Interactivity

Open exchange

Wide Spectrum of personalities/experience that attended

Good discussion

Free discussion and debate

Open discussion

The open discussion and knowledge of the attendees

Brilliant

Interactive rather than just listening

Open Discussion

Ideas

Open Dialog

6. What did you least like about this session?

Too short

Trivial topic

Off topic at times

The group was not a good match for the topic

Hw at times people pulled the conversation to the technical

Schedule conflict w/classes

Lighting

Not enough seats

Could talk express my thought without stepping as others

Comments:

Longer more session

I think the idea is great

More unplugged sessions

More of them

Schedule times to not conflict with added perhaps as breakfast and lunch sessions

Publicize and list schedule in augi daily sheet Just keep doing it

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