A living list of the latest BIM standards available online. A list that will be updated regulary Català - Castellano - Deutsch
I've been trying to find as many BIM standards as possible for what is the seed of my next paper. I thought I'd share them here. In no way this means there are no other BIM Standards available, it simply means I haven't found them, so please share in the comments if you know another set of published BIM standards that are available online and that I haven't added to the list.
UPDATE: I have turned the list into a table that can be sorted clicking on the headers. THis way it is easy to sort the standards by country,or date or name, etc.
Audoesk seems to be suing Revitforum. Don't they have any sense of bad online campaings? Català - Castellano - Deutsch
Got the message I am quoting below from RevitForum. Apparently, Autodesk wants to take over their domain because it uses the word Revit. Look, I am no expert on copyright laws and domain names, but it seems kind of stupid to ban a community of users to talk about your product. Are the guys at Revit Forum making money because of the use of the Revit name? Not sure, but even if they do, isn't it logical that a Forum where people talk about revit should be called "something with revit + something with Forum"?
Our apologies for the mass email - we try to avoid these as much as
possible, but we feel it's very important that we share this news with
all of our members as soon as possible.
As some of you may be aware, Autodesk, Inc., makers of Revit, have
retained the law firm of Donahue Gallagher Woods to notify all domain
holders that have the word REVIT contained in their top-level domain
name, that they are infringing on the Autodesk REVIT trademark. They
have requested that we change the domain name of revitforum.org to one that doesn't contain the the word REVIT.
We refute these claims of infringement. The use of the trademark "REVIT" in the domain name "revitforum.org"
is protected by the "Nominative Fair Use" legal doctrine that provides
an affirmative defense to trademark infringement as enunciated by the
United States Ninth Circuit, by which a person may use the trademark of
another as reference to describe the product.
The administrators of revitforum.org will formally respond to Autodesk. However, if all else fails, we want to assure you that we are prepared to move revitforum.org to a new domain if that is required.
Whether or not there is a domain name change, rest assured that the
forums will continue to operate just as they do now. We retain all the
data on revitforum.org - that is not in any way at risk.
We will notify you via email and on the revitforum.org website of any required domain name change ahead of time.
p.s. if you know an attorney with the appropriate expertise who is
willing to donate their time for this good cause, please feel free to
contact a forum administrator privately.
Hate this type of Goliat attitudes big companies have sometimes. What do you think? UPDATE: Apparently, Autodesk has replied and seems to be willing to not force a change of domain name if the forum changes some stuff and adds a disclaimer about not being affiliated at all with Autodesk. Well, that seems fair. Not sure if it is a response to the fact that the news about this have spread quick or of really good-hearted company behavior but the result will be the same so I guess things are not as bad as they seemed at the beginning.
A lot of fuzz about Foster's plans to print buildings on the moon, but shouldn't we work harder to develop something like this on earth? Català - Castellano - Deutsch
Ok, so Foster and Partners have been working for the European Space Agency to develop a system to print buildings on the moon. I read the same news like 25 times in different blogs, and magazines since Jan 31st. Yes, it is the type of short news that travels the web at lightning speed, but I think that considering the last time the man was on the moon was in 1972 maybe it's just that, a short article intended to give a lot of publicity to Foster, the ESA and Monolite UK, (the company that have envisioned the large scale 3D printer system called D-Shape) because they added the "one the moon" ending.
Although there are rumors of plans from China to go to the moon, not much of it is known to be really true. So as I see it, the "moon" part of the news is not very relevant on the short term (although it is the reason why everyone is talking about it). What makes an interesting read is what's behind the technology to do that. The guys at Monolite UK have developed the D-Shape printer, a 3D printer that can actual print things as big as 6 by 6 meters, not bad at all.
What is even more interesting is the materials used as a building substance. According to the sources, the D.-Shape printer: "returns any type of sand, dust or gravel back to its original Compact Stone state. The Stone is very similar to Marble (...) and with a resistance and traction much superior to Portland Cement (sic), so much so that there is no need to use iron to reinforce the structure". Well, if that is true, I think the real innovation is that, much more than the fact that they have built a 3D model to show structures on the moon.
Why this is not being used already in real buildings if it is cheaper, faster, stronger and allows all kind of shapes like the inventors claim? No idea, something might still not be 100% proof ready, but anyways its an interesting experiment.
Related to this, I remembered a video I saw some months ago about a research going on at a research group at the University of Southern California. The research is called Contour Crafting, and it aims to something very similar, to be able to sort of print parts of the building and to actually use a sort of huge crane to automate construction. Here is a video about it.
This research from USC, although it has some points I think they need rethinking, seems more developed than the "print on the moon" experiment. It is based on using some standard construction procedures combined with the automation of a big part of the construction of the structure. Is this the (near?) future?
So let's think about it, printing on the moon when we don't know exactly how to do it on earth seems a bit of a far shot, but these too experiments show a trend that I think will slowly evolve and that has huge repercussion, the slow replacement of construction man-labor by machine automated work. Let's review in a couple of years how much of this is actually on the real world!
A new add-in to manage your families in revit. And it is free. Català - Castellano - Deutsch
Got the heads up from Luke Johnson about this new, and free, add-in for Revit available at the Autodesk Exchange app page. I haven't tried it but it looks promising.Quoting the app developers HTSSIndia:
The purpose of this tool is to directly load families from one Revit project to another i.e., this tool enables the users to easily look in to the views, types, parameters of the families in a Revit project file and directly load the selected families in to the current Revit project or save them as ‘rfa’ files in the given PC path.
So now it is easy to transfer families from project to project knowing exactly what you are transferring. Excellent.
Without this add in, you can transfer families from one project to another using the Transfer Project Standards tool in revit. But then you would be transfering without so much control of which families you actually copy, so this add-in is worth it.
To install it, download the add-in from here, then run the installer.
Did you delete an object by mistake and kept workin? OOPS! No worries, you can have it back! Català - Castellano - Deutsch
If you delete an object in AutoCAD, keep working, and then you realize you shouldn't have deleted it and want it back, there is a command in AutoCAD that allows you to get that object back.
The OOPS command in AutoCAD will bring back the last deleted object, even after you kept working and doing more stuff. It has its limitations as you can imagine (for instance if during that "kept workin" you deleted something else) but still can save you from having to redo stuff.
Creating a Slum from scratch in 5 minutes thanks to this plugin and a bit of smart thinking Català - Castellano - Deutsch
The people of ARTmine just got in touch with me to share their SketchUp plugin ARTmineSKP. I think it is pretty cool so thought I'd share it here despite not posting much about SketchUp lately. What this plugin does is that it makes available a database of artworks and allows you to add them directly to your model. This way you can decorate your interior design projects with some original artwork. See the video below that explains how it works.
You can visualize your DWG files also on your mobile device now Català - Castellano - Deutsch
I wrote back in 2011 about the official launch of AutoCAD WS (what had been called on Autodesk Labs Project Butterfly). At that time I actually had no smartphone and the Ipad and similar tablets where not as common as they are right now. So when I talked about the use I was giving to it and the potential I saw, I have to admit I didn't foresee that the main use could be to view files on site with your mobile devices. ANd I think this is actually one of it main uses today.
I was asked today at a lunch party by a friend who also works in the AEC Industry: How can I see AutoCAD files on my IPad when I go on site? The answer was simple, download the AutoCAD WS app for iPad, create an account, go to the AutoCAD WS web page from a computer where you have those files and upload them to your account on the cloud, then simply access the app on your iPad and you will be able to see those files. Simple it doesn't get in life.Here the links to the apps, choose the one that fits your device:
This is actually the best use I see for this app, but don't forget another one that I also talked about back in 2011. It can actually work as a free AutoCAD version converter. See the image below
If you get a file and you are not updating your AutoCAD software regularly you can use AutoCAD WS to upload the file to the cloud and then download it saved in any version from R.14 to the latest one. So this is another great use of this tool I guess.
As far as I know, so far only iOS and Android have apps, something to consider if you have to buy phones for your field staff.
Any other great uses you guys know about and that you wish to share? Please Comment!!
Modyfying Revit keyboard Shortcuts Català - Castellano - Deutsch
On a previous post I collected the latest (2013) Revit Keyboard shortcuts. This list is made of the default shortcuts for Revit. Of course, as we also saw about AutoCAD, you can actually change those shortcuts to fit your preferences. Some people love to personalize these shortcuts to work even faster (one cool trick is to have the shortcuts you use the most to be made of 2 equal letters so you can type that much faster). See this comment on twitter by user @Jrostar.
@cadaddict I changed mine to 'AA'. Best shortcut change ever
So now that we know that it is very useful to personalize the Revit shortcuts, how do we do it? Well two ways. Either use the shortcut to access them, that is type 'KS' or go to the 'View' tab in the Ribbon --> Windows Section: User interface --> Keyboard Shortcuts. See the image below.
Either way you access it, you will get this window with all the existing shortcuts, and all the actions in Revit that can be shortcut.
One thing to consider, if you get used to non-standard Revit shortcuts you will not enjoy changing computers, so remember to Export and store your shortcuts in an XML file and have it available in case one day you move to a new company or new computer or you reinstall revit.
List of Revit keyboard Shortcuts Català - Castellano - Deutsch A list of Keyboard Shortcuts for Revit, updated to Revit 2013 (see that there are up to 3 letter shortcuts)
// - Divide Surface
32 - 2D Mode
3F - Fly Mode
3O - Object Mode
3W - Walk Mode
AA - Adjust Analytical
Model
AD - Attach Detail Group
AL - Align
AP - Add to Group
AR - Array
AT - Air Terminal
BM - Structural Framing:
Beam
BR - Structural Framing: Brace
BS - Structural Beam System; Automatic Beam System
BS - MEP Settings:Building/Space Type Settings
CG - Cancel
CL - Column; Structural Column
CM - Place a Component
CN - Conduit
CO#CC - Copy
CP - Cope; Apply
Coping
CS - Create Similar
CT - Cable Tray
Ctrl+` - Activate the first contextual tab
CV - Convert to Flex Duct
DA -
Duct Accessory
DC - Check Duct Systems
DE - Delete
DF - Duct Fitting
DI - Aligned Dimension
DL - Detail
Line
DM - Mirror - Draw Axis
DR - Door
DT - Duct
EC - Check Circuits
EE - Electrical Equipment
EG - Edit
Group
EH - Hide in View:Hide Elements
EL - Spot Elevation
EOD - Override Graphics in View:Override by Element
EOH - Graphic
Override by Element in View: toggle halftone
EOT - Graphic Override by Element in View: toggle transparency
ER - Editing Requests
ES -
MEP Settings:Electrical Settings
EU - - Unhide Element
EW - Arc Wire
EW - Edit Witness Lines
EX - Exclude
FD -Flex Duct
FG - Finish
F9 - System Browser
FP - Flex Pipe
FR - Find / Replace
FT - Structural Foundation: Wall
GD - Graphic Display Options
GP - Model Group:Create Group; Detail Group:Create Group
GR - Grid
HC - Hide Category
HH - Hide Element
HI - Isolate Elemente
HL - Hidden Line
HR - Reset Temporary Hide/Isolate
IC - Isolate Category
KS - Keyboard Shortcuts
LD - Loads
LF - Lighting Fixture
LG - Link
LI - Model Line; Model Line; Boundary Line;
Rebar Line; Draw Lines
LL - Level
LO - Heating and Cooling Loads
LW - Linework
MA - Match Type Properties
MD - Modify
ME - Mechanical Equipment
MM - Mirror - Pick Axis
MP - Move to Project
MS - MEP Settings:Mechanical Setting
MV - Move
NF - Conduit Fitting
OF - Offset
PA - Pipe Accessory
PC - Check Pipe Systems
PC - Snap to point Clouds
PF - Pipe Fitting
PI - Pipe
PN - Pin
PP#Ctrl+1#VP - Properties
PS - Panel Schedules
PT - Paint
PX - Plumbing Fixture
R3 - Define a new center of rotation
RA - Reset Analytical Model
RA - Restore All Excluded
RB - Restore Excluded Member
RC - Cope:Remove Coping
RC - Repeat Last Command
RE - Scale (Resize)
RH - Toggle Reveal Hidden Elements Mode
RL#RW - Reload Latest
RM - Room
RO - Rotate
RP - Reference Plane
RR - Render
RT - Tag Room
RY - Raytrace
SA - Select All Instances: In Entire Project
SB - Floor: Structural (Slab)
SC - Centers
SD - Shaded with Edges
SE - Snap Endpoints
SF - Split Face
SI - Snap Intersections
SK - Sprinklers
SL - Split Element
SM - Snap Midpoints
SN - Snap Nearest
SO - Snap Off
SP - Snap Perpendicular
SQ - Snap Quadrants
SR - Snap to remove Objects
SS - Turn Override Off
ST - Snap Tangents
SU - Sun Settings
SW - Work plane Grid
SX - Points
SZ - Close
TF - Cable Tray Fitting
TG - Tag by Category; Tag by Category
TL - Thin Lines Toggle
TR - Trim / Extend to Corner
TX - Text
UG - Ungroup
UN - Project Units
UP - Unpin
VG#VV - Visibility/Graphics
VH - Hide in View:Hide Category
VOG - Graphic Override by Category in View: toggle ghost surface
VOH - Graphic Override by Category in View: toggle halftone
VOT - Graphic Override by Category in View: toggle transparency
Show the last save date and time in a cell automatically with VB code Català - Castellano - Deutsch
We have a standard excel file at work where we track the bidding process of each project with subs. It basically shows who was sent what and when, have we received anything back, etc. One of the points to fill is when was the document last updated to check how recent the file really is.
I wanted to get that "last modified" to be automatic. The idea was, that a cell would show the date of the last time someone saved the file. So I searched for how to do that, and I found this here. The code there described allows you to get a cell in excel that shows your last saved date (and time with a few tweeks)
The process to get that is as follows:
First of all we have to create a macro. Press Alt+F11 and you will get the Visual Basic Editor. When it opens double click on This Workbook and paste the code on the right. I have added a new line to the code to show also the time on a different cell. See the image, the code is after it.
Private Sub Workbook_BeforeSave(ByVal SaveAsUI As Boolean, Cancel As Boolean)
Sheets("Sheet1").Range("F4").Value = Date
Sheets("Sheet1").Range("G4").Value = Time
End Sub
Once you have entered the code, just close the VB Editor and save your file. The cells specified as Range in the sheet specified after Sheets will fill with the Save (F4 in my code) and TIme (g4 in my code). If the code doesn't work be sure the Sheet name is spelled exactly as the name of the sheet in your workbook.
You will probably get a message like this when you save. Just do as you think best.
My first scientific paper has just been published online Català - Castellano - Deutsch
Some of you might remember that a couple of years ago, I talked about my Master Thesis here. Since I was told the Thesis was quite good, I started publishing parts of it here. While I was doing that, one of my Thesis tutor's, Jürgen M. Volm put me in touch with DDavid Bryde who told me there was potential to turn part of the thesis into a scientific paper. So me and David started to work together to turn my MT into a paper. Now this is done and the paper is available online on the January at ScienceDirect.com. You can access it here (if you have access to ScienceDirect, or paying the price...).
The paper is called "The Project Benefits of Building Information Modelling" and analyzes the benefits and challenges of using BIM in 35 case studies. It was a lot of work but I have to say it is very rewarding to have it up there in the scientific sphera. Hopefully there will be more coming.
See UK's advice on how to grow using BIM.Català - Castellano - Deutsch The UK Government Released by the end of 2012, a paper named Building Information Modelling - Industrial strategy: government and industry in partnership, a very interesting paper on the possibilities for growth for companies doing BIM. If you are on the BIM market, read it, plenty of inspiring ideas in there.
Considering that the BIS BIM Strategy is regarded as the most ambitious BIM strategy in the world promoted by a central government, the advice in this paper should not be taken lightly. The BIS BIM Strategy is a long term strategy that for now is forcing the government's AEC clients (architects, contractors, engineers, etc) to jump on the BIM wagon to not fall behind.
In the paper, you will the opinion of AEC professionals on the role of BIM and how it will help the AEC Industry. Finnally you will find several actions to be taken by the government together with the industry to help UK be a worldwide leader in BIM, and so, to help UK companies to gain business worldwide.
All this, seen from Barcelona now, seems like a dream really. Although some things are going on regarding BIM in here (Last June the Spanish Chapter of BuildingSmart started to roll officially) most of the fuzz right now in the insdustry is focused on the "hard times" and more recently on the new draft of the "LSP -L ey de Servicios profesonales" (Law of Profesional Services). This draft seems to change the atributions kept exclusive for Architects and Engineers and is creating a lot of movement from Architects' Boards and Unions trying to defend our parcel of work in the industry. I will try to talk about this draft later on another post, but for now it seems to me that while other governments like UK's is trying to create policy that will enable better ways to collaborate, the Spanish government (always so smart) is creating disruptive trouble and fighting between parts instead of promoting strategies that will help sell our services worldwide that is what the country needs the most.
A living list of the latest BIM standards available online. A list that will be updated regulary
