[Updated Old Post]: AutoCAD Image Frame

Settings for image frames in AutoCAD
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This is an updated verion of a previous "guest post". I've been asked to remove that post, but since the topic is relevant I will just summarize it here.

Images in AutoCAD have frames (even if you don't see them). Playing with the "IMAGEFRAME" system variable allows you to toggle from seeing or not seeing the frame. THe three settings for the IMAGEFRAME system variable are these:


If you set it to 0 it means the frame is completely off (not seen nor printed), setting it to 1 means the frame is on (seen and printed), and finally setting it to 2 means that the frame is on in the drawing, but it will be off in when you print.

Also, you can switch from Visible (number 1) to invisible (number 0) frames by using the TFRAME command. It doesn't allow to control the variable to set it to number 2 though,  but this gives you the flexibility to switch on and off the frames quickly.
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Ferrovial's Handbook Against Waste [1962]

A Handbook against "waste" dated back from 1962.
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Recently, I got news of the realease of the "handbook against waste" written as an internal document for Ferrovial (one of the biggest general contractors in Spain). I had heard of this docuemtn for a while but had not had the chance to read it. Now it is available for everyone from this link. [The handbook is in Spanish]. I am also keeping here a mirror copy just in case the link goes down and I am not available to update it. Click on the image below.
It is a very interesting read, and what is specially interesting is that it dates back to 1962. Sometimes we tend to think that all the fuzz about Lean, Last Planner or Location Based Scheduling is something new that just came out of nowhere just a few years back. 
This handbook is the proof that some companies and many professionals have worked with better standards and processes for a long time, they just didn't publish it openly. Competition is fierce in the construction sector, and maybe this fierce competition is what for a long time has made it impossible for companies to share their knowledge and improve so the Construction Industry as a whole. Luckily, I think the internet and the advent of Social Media, has changed this, and more and more companies are sharing part of their better processes.  I am back! ;-) 
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The reason i am not blogging

Can't find the time to blog sorry, too busy.
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Been to busy recently to keep on blogging, the reason? Last december I prepared a presentation for a project we were bidding to be the general contractors, and it seems the presentation was good enough to win the bid. You can see part of the presentation below.



SO now I am the Project Manager on site, dealing with all subcontractors, writing contracts, controling costs, taking care that we keep on the tied schedule we have, all that! So no time to blog at all other than this few lines 2 months after the last posts. At some point I'll be back, can't tell you when yet. Hope you don't leave the blog forever.




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First Pull Session of the Last Planner System™

Just sharing a short summary video of our first Pull Session.
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One of the reasons I haven't been blogging in the past month is that I have been very busy at work. One of the two reasons (the second one I will explain soon if I can) I've been so busy is because we have been implementing the Last Planner System™ (LPS)at one of our projects to control the works on site.

I am not sure yet if I will share this type of information on this site in the future or if I will start a new blog on the topic somewhere else, but for now, let me share a short summary video of this 1st Pull Session. See below.



The Last Planner System™ is a set of processes to improve predictability of construction works through a series of planning and controlling conversations between the stakeholders of the project. We have been for now testing the LPS in one of our projects and we are trying to turn it soon into the standard methodology to plan an control the works on all of our construction projects.

We are proud to be of the few pioneers who are implementing this in Spain, and we will be sharing our experiences on the coming meeting of the Spanish Group for Lean Construction that will take place in Madrid on February 14th.

What you see in the video might be the first Pull Session in the history of Spain, so it might become a historic document ;-). The Pull Session is the first meeting to collaboratively agree on a schedule of the works were the Last Planners (those who actually will perform the tasks on site) share their insights and opinions on what is the best sequence to be able to do their tasks.

This is of course a very simple way of describing a Pull Session, if you need any help or more information or if you want a Construction Company that can / wants to work with this system, please do get in touch with me.

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The best multi device file and folder sharing and online storage

Share files from a desktop to another one or a cell phone. Even better than dropbox.
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No Spam intended, but I am not gonna lie., if you sign up for SugarSync, I will get extra storage for my account. So despite there is a slight interest from my site on this post, it is also like all others my way of sharing something I think it will help you. If you ar cool with this keep reading.

I have used Dropbox for a long while to be able to share files on diferent devices and have them always accessible. Recently, I discovered an alternative that actually works better for me for a couple reasons I will explain. This alternative is SugarSync.

Why SugarSync? Well, first of all it gives you 5Gb of free storage from the beginning on their free plan (compared to the 2Gb of dropbox). But more relevant to my decision is that you can share any folder in your computer in SugarSync without the need to work inside the SugarSync folder. In Dropbox, you need to drop files to the dropbox folder making it sometimes not useful if you have a very well organized system of folders to organize your files.

Why is Dropbox more popular than SugarSync? I have no clue. So if you are interested in trying it, go to this link. For me it is the best option I know so far for this sort of file sharing.

Do you know of any better service? Please share!


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Revit Interference Check

Check for interfering / clashing elements in your model directly in Revit.
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Revit has a functionality to check for elements that are interfering with each other. This might be used to check interferences when collaborating between consultants (Architect, MEP Engineer, Structural Engineer, etc) or simply to check that the model you build has no interferences that could cause unwanted results. The functionality, of course is called "interference check".

To run it, simply go to the Collaborate Tab --> Coordination Panel --> Interference Check --> Run Interference Check.


You should be now at the interference check interface, where you can select the elements you want to use to check interferences. Select a type or types of elements on the left and another type or types on the right and click OK.



If there are interferences (i.e. those elements collide with each other) you will get a report listing those interferences like the one I am showing below.


Having this report, you can either select an object and click on Show to see the object, or you can also export the report to have a reference list of potential things to be solved / modified in the model. An exported report (HTML) looks like this.



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How to recover a MS Word File when everything else fails using Google Desktop

Use Google Desktop to recover the contents of a lost or damaged word file.
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I was today working on a report in word for several hours and at the time I was done and wnated to close the file and save it, Word Crashed. I don't know how, I had not done a manual save for a very long time. Second on my list of evening crisis was the fact that for some reason when i reopened MS Word, it didn't prompt to to the File recovery wizards. I got crazy scared. 3 hours of work lost? There must be a way I can find some of my info in some part of my computer.


All the advice about finding and recovering the Autosave files that is out there on the web didn't do any good to me. I did find what was supposed to be my Autosave recovery file with the extension .asd (see the image above). Unfortunately, this file was corrupted and could not be opened neither recover using the Open and Repair option in Word. What else could I do?

Well, luckily I always install Google Desktop on the computers I use. I do not find it very useful as a search tool but it is very useful to quickly access programs. I did go to GDesktop and search for my file name.


Miracle! Found 3 instances of it (I had tried to copy the file to different locations without success recovering it). One of this instances of my file, was good, and somehow, Google Desktop had stored it in its cache with several versions for me to choose.


Accessing the file itself was no good because it brought me to the unsaved version, but accessing the Cache of the latest version of the file allowed me to at least copy and paste the text (not the formatting) of the file into a new word document. Just had to do some minor tweaks to the formatting and had my 3 hours of work back with me in 10 minutes...

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AutoCAD: Customize the Display Order of Ribbon Tabs

It is possible (and quite simple) to customize the order in which AutoCAD Ribbon Tabs appear.
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On the last post I showed you how to modify the position of ribbon tabs in Revit. Well it is actually possible to do the same in AutoCAD (and I guess in all Autodesk programs with a ribbon) and quite simple.


Simply press control and click and drag the name of the tab you want to move. That simple!

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Revit: Customize the Display Order of Ribbon Tabs

It is possible (and quite simple) to customize the order in which Revit Ribbon Tabs appear.
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I always wondered why the hell the Modify tab on the ribbon is at the far right. Always thought it would be better to have it right near the "home" Tab. Well it is actually possible and quite simple.


Simply press control and click and drag on the name of the tab you want to move. That simple!

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Common Building Information Model Files from the BuildingSmart Alliance

Download the sample Common Building Information Model Files that the Building Smart Alliance has published.
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Las week, and directly through this blog's twitter account, I posted about the news of the publication of Common Building Information Model Files by the BuildingSmart Alliance. I jsut realised there is no link on the news excerpt to the page where you can download those files, so I decided to write a short post about it.

FYI these Common Building Information Model Files are intended to help users benchmark the performance of building information modeling software and applications in a common environment, the Washington, D.C.-based National Institute of Building Sciences' buildingSMART alliance has released a reference set of BIM open standards.

These files are available in a set of different formats including:

• COBie: Construction Operations Building Information Exchange Format ( .xml extenison)
• IFC: Industry Foundation Classes ( .ifc extension)
• IFC Analyzer ( MS Excel File .xlsx extension)
• 3D PDF ( .pdf extension)
• RVT: Revit File ( .rvt Extension)

According the the Original Source: "People downloading these models may copy, distribute, display, and use these models and make derivative works based on these models if they provide proper citation of the source of these models through proper academic citation whenever these models are presented. Any future examples or extensions to the models subsequently published on this website may also be used according to the terms above. There is no cost or use restriction on these models in any for-profit or not-for-profit."

Thus, I am posting links directly here for your convenience. There are three base models:

Model 1. The Duplex Apartment Model (release 2.0)
The duplex apartment model was originally created by a student who developed this building as part of a design competition. This model was first used at the Dec 2009 COBie Challenge event. The model provided here is the second version of this model completed by designers at Kristine Fallon and Associates.

• 2011-09-14-Duplex-COBie-DesignStage
• 2011-09-14-Duplex-IFC
• 2011-09-14-Duplex-IFCAnalyzer
• 2011-09-14-Duplex-PDF 2011-09-14-Duplex-RVT
• 2011-10-04-Duplex-COBie-HandoverStage

Model 2. Office Building Model
The two story office building model was developed based on the published sample floor plans for a specific type of mid-size office building built in the United States.

• 2011-09-14-Office-COBie
• 2011-09-14-Office-IFC
• 2011-09-14-Office-IFCAnalyzer
• 2011-09-14-Office-PDF
• 2011-09-14-Office-RVT

Model 3. Clinic Building Model
The Clinic Model was developed based on an actual federal medical and dental clinic building at a location in the South-West United States. The model also comes with a set of redacted design drawings. A full set of operations and maintenance manuals are also available but have not yet been redacted, so cannot yet, be posted to this public repository.

• 2011-09-14-Clinic-RedactedDrawings
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-COBie
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-IFC
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-IFCAnalyzer
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-PDF
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-RVT

You can find more information about these files at the original page of the BuildingSmart Alliance here.

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AutoCAD Architecture: Getting back the full right click context menu

Sometimes the right click menu with all the nice options of AutoCAD Architecture doesn't show. Get it back!
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For some reason (unknown to me till the date) the right click menu with all the nice options that AutoCAD Architecture [ACA]has doesn't show in full when I start the program. Instead I sometimes get this simplified version of the menu.


This context menu is quite useless, since some of the most uselful tools are not there (like the AEC Modify Tools, Select Similar, Open Xref, etc).

To get the full menu if you are having this problem, simply run one of the AEC specific commands like AECPOLYGON. This will load all the AEC tools and your right click menu will be back to "normal" with all its features like in the image below.



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Revit: Walkthrough Examples

A video with some sample walkthroughs done in Revit.
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This is a short promotional video we created to share with clients and partners some of the projects we've been working on in 2011. All are projects were BIM had a role, either as an experimentation exercise or truly as the tool to check for design inconsistencies or even later on as the basis of a quantity take-off and estimation.

I've been managing and modeling all these models, so well, a little self promotion isn't bad once in a while right? In a later post I will explain briefly how to create a walkthrough in Revit and a few tricks that might help on creating a video like the one below. Turn down the speakers bit, I think we got a bit too excited with the Music ;-P. Enjoy!



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