All of My AU Classes are Now Available Online

As promised, this year I recorded all six of the classes that I taught at Autodesk University. While most of those classes were also recorded as part of AU (and are available on the AU-online website). But not all of my classes were recorded by Autodesk, and only those who have attended Autodesk University have access to the AU-online website.

So, for the sake of completeness, and to ensure that everyone has access to all of my classes, I have posted all of this year's classes (as well as several from past years) on my website. Here you will find not only all of the class handouts and PowerPoint presentations (in PDF format) but also the complete webcasts of all of this year's classes. I've also posted datasets from several of the classes, and will gladly add more materials in response to requests.

So, what will you find? Here's a complete list of the classes that I've posted:

• Rendering Techniques in 3D AutoCAD, Part 1
• Rendering Techniques in 3D AutoCAD, Part 2
• Revit Architecture/MEP/Structure: Collaborating Across Disciplines
• Annotation Scaling: Making Drawings Smarter with Intelligent Text
• Keep It Inside AutoCAD: Data Extraction Direct to AutoCAD Tables
• Collaborating with AutoCAD and Autodesk Design Review

I hope you find these materials useful and take full advantage of them. And I welcome your feedback. I am always working to improve these materials.

Great Revit Sessions at AU

There's no end to great Revit classes this year at Autodesk University. This afternoon I taught a class to help users collaborate between Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure. This was by far my biggest class (nearly 450 attendees) and my sense is that it went well. The class was recorded and I will be posting it as a webcast. Look for it next week on my website at www.dscohn.com.


I've also been attending classes every chance I get. This afternoon after my class I went to a class titled "Solving Common Revit Architecture Problems" by Harlan Brumm. Harlan is the Global Technical Lead for Revit Architecture in Autodesk's Product Support Department.

This is such a popular class that it's being given twice. Yet there were more than 100 people lined up outside the room waiting for last-minute space. This class was a must for anyone who has ever had issues with items not appearing in views, problems with family creation or display, corrupt file errors, memory issues, or problems printing and plotting from Revit. Many of the topics Harlan covered are also addressed on his blog at http://revitclinic.typepad.com.

Well, gotta dash. The AUGI Annual Meeting starts soon and then there's the annual AUGI Beer Blast.

AEC Keynote at Autodesk University

I'm at Autodesk University this week, and while I'm teaching six classes, I'm also taking at least that many more and also attending most of the keynote sessions. This morning's session is of particular interest to Revit users.

Jay Bhatt started off this morning's keynote by outlining five key areas on which the company is focused as it continues to enhance its BIM initiative. One key area is a greater enhancement of conceptual design tools. To help illustrate that, he brought up other members of the development team.

Paul Donnelly started out by paraphrasing the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." He showed some of the new free-form design tools that are planned for the next release of AutoCAD and pointed out that since many customers will have AutoCAD as part of their Revit Suite solution, they will be able to use these tools in AutoCAD and then bring those designs into Revit. But then he showed similar new freeform design tools right inside Revit. In the brief demo, you could see that the next release of Revit will most likely incorporate a ribbon bar interface similar to what was introduced in AutoCAD 2009. But as the designer worked in the new freeform modeling environment in Revit, the interface automatically changed and adapted to what he was doing, rather than having to switch tools and open the Element Properties dialog box.




I've been a bit skeptical about what the ribbon bar would mean to Revit users, but from what I saw in the brief demo, I am a bit more receptive.

The next topic addressed was sustainable design. The team showed tools in Civil 3D and Autodesk Ecotect as well as enhanced heating and cooling load analysis tools in the next release of Revit MEP. The new release has multiple levels of report, from basic to advanced.




Jim Lynch, VP of AEC Marketing showed how BIM can create a more integrated design delivery process including using Autodesk Inventor to study fabrication of custom components and Navisworks to run collision detection.

Next, the estimating team used Autodesk Quanity Takeoff to do a quantity takeoff directly from the Revit model. The estimator saved that takeoff to an XML file and then brought that information into Constructware. Quantity Takeoff is a product based on DWF. I first saw this product in an early incarnation at the Autodesk University held several years ago in Orlando, FL, but its release was definitely under the radar. It's definitely worth a look.

Definitely a lot to mull over. I've got to get moving now to head off to my first Revit class of the day. Stay tuned for more.

64-bit Revit Now Available

At the end of September, Autodesk finally announced the long-awaited release of the 64-bit version of Revit. All three flavors of Revit 2009—Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure—are now available for 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista, with one very important caveat:

The 64-bit versions of Revit 2009 are only available to Revit subscription customers.

One would assume that Autodesk will provide both 32-bit and 64-bit versions to all customers once the company releases the next version of Revit, which should be next spring (probably in April 2009). Until then, the 64-bit version will only be available to customers with subscription contracts. Thus the 64-bit versions of Revit join the list of other applications and add-ons currently only offered to Revit subscription customers. That list includes the Worksharing Monitor, Batch Plot Utility, and Globe Link extensions as well extensions for Excel-based modeling, a grid generator, text generator, element positioning, freeze drawings, and model compare.

What are the benefit to running a 64-bit version of Revit? The biggest advantage of running a 64-bit operating system is the ability to access more than 4GB of memory, which is maximum possible with a 32-bit OS. That maximum rises to 128GB for 64-bit versions of Windows, more than most of today's computers can even accomodate. Extra memory means that users can create huge Revit models without having to split them up into multiple linked project files.

Generally, moving to a 64-bit OS does not provide significant speed improvements. In fact, some tests show that performance can actually be a bit slower under a 64-bit OS due to the additional overhead. But according to Autodesk, beta testers reported that the 64-bit versions of Revit provided improved performance when rendering and printing, importing and exporting files, and when converting models to the newer release.

At some point, I hope to get a system configured so that I can quantify the performance difference. Ideally, I'll set up a system that can dual boot to either 32-bit or 64-bit Windows. But since I do not currently have access to the subscription site, that may have to wait until the next release.

An annual Revit subscription currently costs $695 per year while customers who purchased one of the Revit suites pay $725.

The Times are a Changing

You may have noticed a small change to the subtitle at the top of this blog. On Friday, October 3, after returning from the season's first CAD Camp event in San Francisco, I was informed that I had been laid off from my job as an applications engineer with The PPI Group. Talk about comfirmation as to the state of the economy.

So after two years as the voice of PPI's Revit evangelist, this blog now represents my personal opinions. I am once again an independent CAD consultant. Maybe I'll find time to post here more often.

I am actively seeking new clients. I know times are tough, but that makes it all the more important that users get the most out of the tools and technologies they are using. With more than 25 years of experience, I am uniquely qualified to help ensure that success.

Autodesk and Bentley Get Together

Autodesk and Bentley announced yesterday that they have agreed to exchange programming information in order to expand the interoperability between their architectural, engineering, and construction software.

Autodesk and Bentley will exchange software libraries, including Autodesk RealDWG. "to improve the ability to read and write the companies' respective DWG and DGN formats in mixed environments with greater fidelity." They will also reportedly share APIs (application programming interfaces) in order to improve interoperability between their programs. The goal is to improve AEC workflows by enabling greater reuse of information generated during the design, construction, and operation of buildings and infrastructure.

I've seen lots of agreements between competitors before, but if this one pans out, it could be huge. A 2004 study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology found that inadequate AEC software interoperability costs users nearly $16 billion annually.

AutoCAD and Revit can already read and write DGN files and Bentley applications have long been able to utilize AutoCAD drawing files, but thus far, the companies have had to rely on their own programming expertise to properly translate those files. The planned sharing of information should improve those translations while at the same time opening up even greater ability to exchange information with the full suite of products from both companies. Think about direct intergrations of Bentley's STAAD and RAM structural analysis products with Revit Structure.

I can't wait to see how this all plays out. We're all beneficiaries of this one.

My Apologies for Not Posting in So Long

I'm just taking a few minutes to apologize for having not posted anything new quite some time. While not meant as an excuse, I've been on the road for the past several months doing AUGI CAD Camp events all over the country. And when I haven't been on the road with AUGI, I've been teaching Revit classes, meeting with clients, and speaking at various PPI events.

But summer is here now. I'm not traveling as much (there's only one CAD Camp event this month, just across the border in Vancouver, BC). And I've gotten up to speed with Revit Architecture 2009.

So stay tuned for new postings in the days and weeks to come.