Revit 2014 Update Release 1

Available since last August an update for Revit 2014 to fix some issues
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Autodesk Released an Update for Revit 2014 that improves several features of Autodesk's main BIM Authoring Tool:

• Allows Stairs, Railings and Wall Sweeps to be individual entities when exporting to FBX format.
• Improves data integrity of projects which contain RPC elements when exporting to FBX format.
• Improves categorization of parts when exported to FBX format.
• Improves performance when utilizing Render in Cloud functionality.
• Improves appearance of material textures when Rendering in Cloud.
• Improves graphics integrity of linked models when Rendering in Cloud.
• Allows Point Clouds to be visible when unchecking “Show Imported Categories in this View” display option.
• Maintains display order of filled regions which overlap solid hatches in projects that are upgraded to the Revit 2014 format.
• Corrects visual fidelity of objects in printed output which show as “Thin Lines” in drawing canvas.
• Improves consistency of displaying revisions within schedules.
• Improves data consistency of keynote legend when un-checking ‘Filter by Sheet’.
• Allows schedule footer text to follow column alignment.
• Improves stability when pasting elements between two Generic Model adaptive families.
• Improves stability when exporting project to Navisworks 2014.
• Improves stability during the loading of a family when utilizing either “Delete Element” or “Delete Type” option.
• Improves stability when placing details.Improves stability when a crop region is moved while the disjoin option is enabled.
• Improves data integrity during “Save As”.
• Improves stability when creating form elements.
• Improves stability when exiting Revit.
• Improves stability when printing Elevation and Detail views.
• Improves stability while editing groups.
• Improves stability when adjusting the elevation value of Levels.
• Improves stability when navigating in a project which contains linked point clouds.
• Improves stability when using the type selector within the properties palette.
• Improves stability when editing the layout of a schedule.
• Improves stability when adding a schedule to a sheet which has an active view.
• Improves stability when upgrading previous release projects.
• Improves stability when place a view on sheet.

To download the Update go to the following links:

• Revit 2014
• Revit Architecture 2014
• Revit Structure 2014
• Revit MEP 2014

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Revit: Changing Family Type

How to change a family type? Easy and simple.
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Last week I needed to change a family from window type to door type. Why? Well, I had a door to model that actually looks like a window, but I needed to report it as a door on schedules. So I basically wanted to reuse a window family, and was wondering how to change the family type. I got the answer through revit forum on this thread.

The steps are very simple. You just need to open the family file, either by browsing to where you have it stored or by using the Edit Family function from a project when you have that family selected.

Once you are have the family file open, simply click on Family Category and Parameters on the Ribbon.

Here you will be able to see the family type and change it.

Once you've done that, you can reload the family in the project. Now, you will be able to insert it as the new family type you have set.

Easy and simple.
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Revit: Calculating and Scheduling Gross Wall Area

Revit wall area is incorrect if you want it including the openings area. This add in allows you to get the gross area (including openings) correct.
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The way Revit calculates wall areas that have openings (doors, windows, etc) in them is by giving you the wall area minus the opening area. While this might be of some use, if actually you need to get accurate quantities I doubt this will do. The way the areas of the walls should be quantified according to, at least, our local standards is by including the opening areas that are below certain sq meters. Revit can't give you that by default (as far as I know) it just gives you the wall area minus the openings, see the example:

We need to be able to schedule the area of those openings (hello Autodesk??). Recently found an Addin, that allows to do that. It is called AutodeskWallOpeningArea (updated link)and gives you the chance to get this done right. After downloading it and installing it (simply run the .msi file) you will have a new button on your Add-ins tab in the Revit Ribon:

Once installed, simply go to a 3D view and click on the button. It will add 2 shared parameters on your wall families that will account for the openings Area.

The results you get are divided according to an area value you can set. All the openings below that Maximum value are stored as Opening Area Smaller Max, and the total openings area are added to the Opening Area Parameter. Now, you can schedule this parameters and get the Gross area of the wall by playing with calculated parameters. In this case I simply Added wall Ara + Opening Area to get the Gross Total that would be used on a project estimate.

Problems and limitations:

1. The parameters are not dynamically updated, which means that the command must be executed in order to updated the parameter value. Is is a major problem, actually and goes completelya gains the BIM approach of an integrated database, let's be serious, this sucks badly.
2. The Addin must be executed from a 3D view with all relevant elements (walls, doors, windows, openings, etc) visible. Second Major HUGE flaw.

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AutoCAD: Modify the Size of the Breakline Symbol

Control de size of the Breakline Symbol before you draw it.
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For a long time, AutoCAD has an Express Tools Command called BREAKLINE that allows you to quickly draw break lines to show stairs or other elements that should be represented with this symbol. Got a question recently on how to control the size of this BREAKLINE, and the truth is that it is very simple.
To Draw the breaklin you type BREAKLINE an ENTER, then, if you look at the command you will see this text:

At this point and before clickon to start drawing, you can type "S" and press enter and you will be able to modify teh Size of the BREAKLINE symbol. It is as simple as that.

If instead of pressing "S" and ENTER you press "E" and ENTER you will be able to control de Extension of the BREAKLINE, which is the distance that the breakline symbol will extend to each side of the Point you choose to start drawing it and the point you choose to end. See the image:

Need help with this tip? Please Comment!
If you need more info about the BREAKLINE command, you can also check this old post from 2009.

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Revit: Rotating the Section Box

You can actually rotate Section boxes in Revit to cut the model in a non perpendicular angle. How to do it is simple
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If you need to use the section box feature but you want to do it at an angle not perpendicular to the view, you can actually do it. There are some limitations, but you can do it.

If you are on a 3D view, click on the top of the View Cube. When you select the Section box from this position, you will see a rotation symbol on one of its corners. Simply click and drag it to ratate the Section Box.

If at any point you want to reset the section box, you can simply go to the properties of the view, uncheck Section box, and check it again to get it back to be NS oriented.

The limitations of rotating the section box is that you have to be on a Plan view (the top or bottom view of a 3D view works)

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New IFC Exporters for Revit Available for Download

New IFC exporters for Revit available
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New versions of the IFC Exporters for Revit have been published and are available for download. They seem to improve the IFC export for some types of elements, haven't tested them though. Here are the links

2013:

IFC Exporter for Revit 2013 (v2.11)

IFC Export Alternate UI for Revit 2013 (v1.11)

2014

IFC Exporter for Revit 2014 (v3.3)

IFC Export Alternate UI for Revit 2014 (v2.3)

via What Revit Wants

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SketchUp 2013 is now Available

SketchUp 2013 is now available with many new features
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About a year ago, Trimble acquired SketchUp. Yesterday, Trimble announced that the new version SketchUp 2013 is now available for download.

Many new features are available, you can read in more detail about them here, but this is the list:

• Extension Warehouse: Find SketchUp Pluigns in a single location from SketchUp
• Pattern Fills: Better documentation tools to fill section cuts with patterns
• Copy Array in Layout: The same way you copy multiple times in Sketchup you can now do it in Layout.
• Faster Screen Redraw when panning or zooming.
• Speedier Vector Rendering.
• Numbered Pages in the Pages panel: LayOut’s Pages panel now displays page numbers.
• Curved Label Leader Lines
• Dashes in Dimensions
• Smarter Toolbars in Windows
• Exporting a movie from your SketchUp model
• Zoom In More in layout.

It seem like Trimble is switching the focus on the documentation part, with many new features for Layout. It seems that those saying you can do construction documents with SketchUp actually saw something the bunch of us missed, but Trimble didn't. This is great news, SketchUp is by far the easiest to learn, easiest to use 3D Modeling tool out there IMHO, awesome that it is getting more and more options. let's just hope that it doesn't get many more $ added to the license.

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Revit 2014 Books

Revit 2014 Books are now available
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If you already updated to Revit 2014 or if you are starting your BIM modelling path using 2014 Revit Software, you might want to consider some of these books that have been recently published. All of them focus on Revit 2014. Some are more intended for beginners, others for more advanced users. The focus of the books is also split by Specialty. If you know of some more good Revit 2014 books, please do share in the comments and I'l add them to the table.

COVER	TITLE	LEVEL	SPECIALTY	BUY FROM
	Autodesk REVIT Architecture 2014 Essentials	Begginer	ARCH	.
				AMAZON US
				AMAZON UK
				AMAZON DE
				AMAZON ES
				.
	Mastering Autodesk REVIT Architecture 2014	Advanced	ARCH	.
				AMAZON US
				AMAZON UK
				AMAZON DE
				AMAZON ES
				.
	Autodesk Revit Architecture 2014: No Experience Required	Beginner	ARCH	.
				AMAZON US
				AMAZON UK
				AMAZON DE
				.
				.
	Mastering Autodesk Revit MEP 2014	Advanced	MEP	.
				AMAZON US
				AMAZON UK
				AMAZON DE
				.
				.

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Let's not overstate BIM benefits, let's not hide the difficulties

Is BIM paying off or are we exaggerating results?
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Yesterday I read an article at BIMetica named BIM Rinde Beneficios, that was a re-post and translation of this one "BIM finally starting to pay off for AEC firms" by Building Design + Construction. My first reaction was to believe what the headline said, and I though, wow, let's see, will they have doen an exhaustive study and do they have good data about BIM ROI. Once I read it all, my thoughts were completely oposite, I think the article (let's ee if the study behind it shows more) says nothing to support its headline. If we forget the headline "BIM finally starting to pay off for AEC firms" the quotes from different executive memebers of the companies interviewed actually contradict in most of the cases the headline. What they actually say is that after several years of investment and effort implementing, training and learning, some of them are finding an improvement in drawing production time or taking the same time as before, and most of the benefits quoted, are non quatifiable ones. Here are some of the negative quotes:

“BIM implementation has been a long-term effort and a considerable one,” says Phil Harrison, FAIA, LEED AP, CEO of Perkins+Will.

According to Graef CEO John Kissinger, “We were early adopters. It was more difficult than we thought, but it is ingrained in all areas of our practice now.”

President Steven Straus says Glumac made “an enormous investment” in BIM training and software development. “BIM is a new technology that is improving coordination,” he says, “but the software is not ready for prime time.”

“Not all contractors we work with are leveraging BIM. This means we have to spend more time preparing drawings in BIM than we normally would,” says BRPH President/CEO Brad Harmsen, AIA.

Of course, some positive feedback is also quoted, although see they type:

“Allowing owners to better visualize the project has become an influencing factor during the presentation process,” says Doug Davidson, President, New South Construction

“There’s no question that BIM has paid off in our role as engineer of record producing construction drawings and as detailing engineer,” says Robert Otani, PE, LEED AP, Vice President of Thornton Tomasetti.

“Now we are completing projects in close to the same time frame as previously with 3D, and in some cases faster,” says KJWW Engineering President Paul VanDuyne, PE.

Finally at EYP Architecture & Engineering, they say that “BIM integration has created more opportunities for younger tech-savvy staff to collaborate with senior technical team members,”

I think this is all the positive feedback quoted on this article. As you can see, only at Thornton Tomasetti seem to be sure the numbers add up, although not much more is explained on how they do. The difficulties found equal at least the positive feedback, and the benefits in € or $ are not mentioned anywhere

Finally, the list of companies by there BIM Revenue seems to me close to a joke. Are this company making this amount of money for "doing BIM?" Not at all, if we check online, we can see that Turner's revenue for 2011 was around US$ 9 billion, the list from the article says they got aroun US$5 billion from BIM. Goodness, did they model the entire earth? It makes no sense. What I assume this list shows is the revenue of the projects in which in a way or another BIM was part of the workflow. That explains why "BIM revenue" for GCs is much bigger than for Architecture firms.

I thin to not mislead anyone, the headline of these rankings should be "Total revenue on projects that used BIM" But I can see how that doesn't bring visits to your website. Like the saying goes: "don't let reality ruin a headline". I am a strong believer in BIM, but I also think the ones encouraging others to used should be the ones who are more careful on overstating benefits and hading difficulties. Let's be careful retwitting and reposting just by headlines without checking what the article actually say and what they do not say. We are at risk of ridiculing ourselves and of misleading others into impossible goals they will not achieve. I was having a very interesting conversation yesterday on how some countries, as early adopters and frustrated by the difficulties found, actually sort of Stop the BIM wagon. Over optimistic promises can do that, let's not make the wagon crash.

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Level of Development Specification (LOD) Released by BIMForum

BIMForum has published a LOD Specification Document that aims to clarify the level of Development of each model element according to the LOD 100-200-300-350-400 scale.
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A DRAFT of the Level of Development Specification has been published here at the BIMForum website. The Specification has been developed under supervision of people from the AIA and the AGC, and consultants from General Contractors, Architecture offices, Structural Engineering firms have been part of it too (see the aknowledgement on page 6). One of the main points that the document wants to clarify is that "there is no such a thing as a LOD XXX Model" but there are LOD for each element or assembly.

It will definitely be a good reference document to have in hand when modeling.

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EGLC Meeting - Our Experience aplying the Last Planner System

The EGLC Meeting took place last Wednesday May 8th and I was there presenting. A great event, a pity not more people showed up.
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The Universitat Politècnica de Valencia and the Spanish Group for Lean Construction, hosted last Wednesday, May 8th the Industry Day of the 16th Meeting of the European Group for Lean Construction in Valencia. Me and my colleague Xavier Pallàs were asked to come and talk about our experience applying the Last Planner System at two of the projects we've been managing. Xavi is the one who has led this process on the biggest of the two projects, a 9M€ renovation project in Tarragona. I am trying to share the Prezi presentation that Xavi prepared for our lecture, but I am having some problem uploading it to the cloud, so for now, I'll just share the brief intro I did to his presentation.

Xavier is the one that has done more on this Lean journey we started back in 2011. I have supported him on the initial stages of the implementation of the Last Planner System, and applied it myself in a smaller project in Vic. Nevertheless the true potential has been seen on this later stages of Fase II of the Tarragona project, with a reduction of the construction time and a construction site that has worked much smoother, more stable and with a much better relationship amongst the different trades on site.

Next week I'll share some more pictures and insight about the meeting.

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Revit 2014 Download Links

Revit 2014 is finally available for download
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I posted recently about the new features of Revit 2014. Tried to download a trial, but it seem that Revit 2014 was not available for download. Now (as of April 18th) it is. So hurry up and go to the download page to get your trial and test the new features.

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