Thinking About Removing My “CAD” Blogs Category
Dec 31, 2009 AutoCAD, BIM, Commentary, latest
It’s New Years Eve day and I’m sitting in front of my laptop about to scan through the 214 new articles in the 321 blogs that I subscribe to. As you can see off to the right, if you scroll down a bit, I have my blogs categorized by topics. When I go through the new articles each day I find that I scroll through the CAD-based blogs to mark them all off as “read,” almost without even reading their headlines. I simply no longer have any interest in reading about the latest developments, issues, plug-ins, etc. within the world of AutoCAD (and this is coming from the guy who runs CADuzer.com). Now that I’m back on a Revit-based project (and it is a full-fledged, no exceptions Revit-based project), I can’t imagine going back to AutoCAD. To be clear, I have no problem continuing to use AutoCAD for tasks here and there, but I’m just simply not interested in reading about the solutions people have come up with for it, the latest service packs or updates or new beta programs and versions of it. I think the software should be put out to pasture. I think any further development for it should be finished and then discontinued. Again, to be clear, AutoCAD has been a wonderful program for many years and has suited the architecture industry very well. This reminds me of what many people these days say when they talk about how the Internet is killing newspapers. You know what? It is! That’s called progress! With all of the advances that have come in recent versions of AutoCAD, such as parametric objects, it is inching closer and closer to Revit. Well, we’ve got Revit…it’s called Revit. Anyway, that’s a long way of saying, I’m thinking about removing my “CAD” blogs category.
Pratt Class Updates
Jun 18, 2009 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, Commentary, Revit, latest
Take a look at the top-right of this page and you’ll notice a new section. It’s primarily for students who take my class at the Pratt Institute, Center for Continuing Education, but I’m happy to have anyone follow along if it might encourage you to sign up for my class for an upcoming semester. It describes what we’ll go over during our next class and also provides a link to a PDF of the latest version of the syllabus. While it’s too late to sign up for this semesters class, the class will occur again this fall. Click here to view the course description (you may need to click in the middle of the page after it loads to have it appear). Please let me know if you have any questions.
Tags: 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, Commentary, Revit
Turning AutoCAD-based Lines into Revit Lines
Feb 25, 2009 AutoCAD, BIM, Revit, latest
Have you ever wanted to take like work created in AutoCAD and not only bring it into Revit, but also convert it into Revit lines? In a recent instance I was asked about the possibility of doing this in order to bring some original building footprints from AutoCAD to Revit. Here’s how to do it with some basic shapes. You’ll notice in the image below that each line is on a different layer, in a different color with a different lineweight.
AutoCAD Linework
1. Import your DWG file into Revit using the following settings (notice that the Link option is NOT selected):
Import Settings
Notice that, when you select the drawing inserted into Revit, the type selector says Import Symbol : Drawing1.dwg:
Type Selector
2. With the drawing still selected, click the Full Explode button on the Options Bar.
Now, when you select one, or more of the lines, and click the Type Selector pull-down menu you’ll see 4 new types of line styles called Layer1, Layer2, Layer3 and Layer4:
New Line Styles
If you take a look in the Element Properties, you’ll see that the imported, AutoCAD lines are now System Family : Model Lines:
Element Properties
Have you needed to go through this process? It what situations?
Turning on Linked DWG Files within Linked Revit Files
Feb 15, 2009 AutoCAD, BIM, Revit, latest
When projects get larger and larger, it often becomes necessary to break them up into multiple Revit files and then link them together. Also, large projects usually involve many consultants who don’t use Revit. If they’re using AutoCAD, you’re normal process will be to link those received files into Revit and use them as underlays. If the Revit file you’re linking them into, however, will be linked into another Revit file, those linked DWG’s will be hidden by default. This tutorial will show you how to turn them on. Below you’ll see an AutoCAD file linked into the West Wing file of a large building (fig. 1). The West Wing Revit file will then be linked into an East Wing Revit file.
Figure 1 – Linked DWG File
At this point, if you were to link one Revit file into the other, you would get what appears to be empty space. Here’s how to make the DWG file visible:
1. Type VG on your keyboard to open the Visibility/Graphics dialog box and switch to the Revit Links tab. Here you’ll see the West Wing Revit file linked in.
2. Under the Display Settings dialog box, click the By Host View button (fig. 2). This opens the RVT Link Display Settings dialog box.
Figure 2 – By Host View Button
3. On the Basics tab, By Host View is selected. This means that whatever visibility settings are set by the view in this actual file (the East Wing file), that is how the linked file (West Wing.rvt) will display. Click the Custom option (fig. 3).
Figure 3 – Custom Display Settings Option
4. Click the Import Categories tab.
5. Click the pull-down menu next to Import Categories (fig. 4) and choose <Custom>.
Figure 4 – Custom Display Settings for Imported Files
6. Click the check box next to the DWG file name. In this case A-FP01.dwg (fig. 5).
Figure 5 – Turn on DWG File
7. Click OK twice and you’ll return to the workspace where you’ll find the DWG file now visible.
The infrastructure of files (DWG, RVT, etc.) for large projects needs to be considered carefully. There are many factors to keep in mind such as file size, network speed and file sharing. What other factors do you keep in mind when starting a large project which will require multiple files?
My Reaction to, “Revit is Too Limiting for Conceptual Design Work.”
Feb 13, 2009 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, BIM, Commentary, Revit, SketchUp, latest
I was asked this question in my class last night as I delayed starting in an effort to convince my students that Revit was the most important next thing for them to learn. The quick answer is, “just wait until Revit Architecture 2010. Things are about to get a lot more interesting.” The long answer is this, however, “so don’t use it for conceptual design work.” Autodesk owns enough software that it won’t be insulted if you use one piece of its software for one thing and another of something else. That being said, if you want to use non-Autodesk software, use it! We need to remember that the end goal here is good design and not loyal software use. When I was in grad school we had several computer labs whose workstations has differing specs. My department’s IT staff would continually say, “the right tool for the right job.” In other words, don’t use the fastest, most powerful computer in the school to write a document in Microsoft Word. In a recent meeting of Revit specialists, this concept was agreed upon, but one other point was added: all data must end in Revit.“ The reason for this, which I also agree with, is that Revit can calculate, quantify, coordinate and document. It’s relatively easy to bring data from most other pieces of software into Revit. In fact, SketchUp, for example, can be brought into Revit in it’s native form (ie. it requires no conversion). When I’m working, I like to think of what I’m using as a simple piece of software called, “Design.” It happens to have all of the individual pieces of software I use within it (Revit, AutoCAD, 3DS MAX, SketchUp, etc.) and they all have their own windows and icons. As an example, I often tell my students that 3DS MAX is not a drafting program. If you need to draw a two-dimensional shape with a high level of accuracy, and you’re familiar with AutoCAD, draw the shape there and bring it in. With an end goal of good design, use software that does two specific things, (1) offers you sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, tools that stimulate your creative juices and help you advance your design process efficiently and, (2) allows you to organize, analyze and document your data for easy recall and presentation.
What do you think?
The Bigger Picture
Jan 28, 2009 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, BIM, Commentary, Revit, latest
Hey All. I’m sorry I haven’t written in a few days but I was on vacation to the happiest place on Earth. I wrote the majority of this post while in mid-air on the way down, but, due to an Internet restriction imposed by my wife, for the duration of the vacation, I was unable to post it. Anyway, in trying to decide what to blog about, I’ve begun thinking about the larger purpose of spreading this knowledge (mine, yours or otherwise) and the answer is really to help us design better. Sometimes I think us techy people forget that because we hear that 3DS MAX (or any other piece of software) can do this cool new thing, or something like that. Last Thursday night the class I teach at the Pratt Institute in NYC started again and I, once again, altered it a bit from previous semesters. When I first started teaching it about 4 years ago it was called Architectural Visualization Using 3DS MAX. It was a 15 and 10 week introductory course that taught the architecturally-related features of 3DS MAX. That is, user-interface through rendering. 1 or 2 of the classes throughout the semester, however, would be about AutoCAD. It was during these classes that I found people were really paying attention. Their eyes would light up because suddenly there was an aspect of the new topics I was laying out that was familiar to them. After a year or so, I modified the class and renamed it Architectural Visualization Using AutoCAD and 3DS MAX.
Now, the time has come once again to modify my class. The reason? In a word, Revit. Since many of my posts go into the gloriousness of that which is BIM, I’ll refrain from repeating that here. What I will say is that Revit works (or can work) just as the design process does. The key word in that sentence is process. They don’t teach you software in architecture school as the main focus of your education. They teach you how to identify and develop your creative process. My problem will be that I can’t call the class Architectural Visualization Using AutoCAD, Revit and 3DS MAX. That’s just too long (and, no, I’m not ready to abandon AutoCAD, so it can’t be removed from the title just yet either). Maybe…hmm…this is going to be harder than I thought. Either way, Revit is helping to move the class back to the architectural process and away from how do I do task A in software B, so I think that’s a good thing. I write all of this to remind us of the process and the fact that the software is a means to help us think better, design better and work better.
Tags: 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, BIM, Commentary, Revit
Live in the Tri-state area? Take my Continuing Education Course at the Pratt Institute
Jan 11, 2009 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, Commentary, Revit
Hey All. The Spring semester starts soon (and I use the word spring lightly because it’s 29 degrees outside her ein New York) and that means that the class I teach at Pratt is starting soon. For 15 weeks I teach Architectural Visualization Using AutoCAD and 3DS MAX (and since Revit and 3DS MAX talk to each other so nicely now, I’ll mix that in as well). If you live in the area I would encourage you to take it. It starts January 22nd and runs through April 23rd. Every Thursday night from 6:05 to 8:05 we’ll go through how to prepare data in both AutoCAD and Revit, and then bring it into 3DS MAX. The largest part of the class will focus on what we can do with the data in 3DS MAX. While this is an introductory course, and we’ll start with the user-interface of 3DS MAX, we’ll go through modeling, lighting, materials, rendering (with Mental Ray) and how to take a project from beginning to end. There is a maximum of 10 to 12 spaces for the course so act fast before it fills up. For more of a description, take a look at this PDF: Spring 2009 Course Catalog and search for rosenbloom. Be aware that the dates in this catalog are incorrect. Again, the class runs from January 22nd to April 23rd. That’s every Thursday night from 6:05 to 8:05. I hope to see you all there.
Tags: 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, Commentary, Revit
Starting Your Revit Model from a 2D AutoCAD Drawing
Jan 10, 2009 AutoCAD, Revit, Uncategorized
I received an email recently from a woman named Monica asking if I would go through the process of importing an AutoCAD DWG file into Revit and modeling from it. We very often jump to the very complicated features of software and sometimes ignore the basics, for example, how to get into the program and start working. So, I’m going to go through how to place your drawing into Revit and start working with it. One thing I’d like to suggest, however, is that you look at one of my earlier posts, Shared Coordinates in Revit (and AutoCAD), which is what I’ll be talking about first. OK, here goes:
Let’s take a look at a simple AutoCAD drawing that I want to import (fig. 1):
You can see here that we’ve just got some walls, doors and windows and they’re all on their appropriate layer. Now, let’s bring them into Revit.
REVITalizing: Learning From the Past
Jan 8, 2009 AutoCAD, BIM, Commentary, Revit
Luckily the word “REVITalized” is still available otherwise what would I call my new segment? Articles with this heading will talk about the implementation and integration processes involved with Revit. I use the word, “revitalizing,” because that’s what I think Revit (and BIM in general) can do for our industry. I’ve been thinking that BIM is what CAD should have been from the start (and remember, that is a statement from someone whose website has CAD in it!!). With AutoCAD we were still creating lines, arcs and circles just like we did with a pencil. Certainly the ability to copy and create arrays was a great thing, but not until BIM came out did we realize what the computer could truly do for us. Computers should do more than make it easier to repeat our manual processes over and over. They should offer us new methods of creating new outcomes. I think Revit does just that. I would suspect that if you asked any non-architecture or -computer person whether they thought we drew walls with line tools or wall tools, they’d say wall tools because it sounds logical.
Now, don’t take any of what I’m saying to mean that I think CAD should be thought of as a waste of time. If anything, CAD can help us get BIM right the first time. What has CAD taught us that would be helpful for BIM? Standards, standards, standards!!! CAD Standards have allowed us to work more efficiently, keep drawing corruption to a minimum, and easily find things without having to interpret what anyone else might have meant when they named a layer scott3456Layer01 (don’t get me started on that!). With Revit, just as with AutoCAD, we can build standards right into our template files. Revit, however, allows us to insert more than AutoCAD ever did. In a template file, we can create standards for views (using templates of their own), drawing sheets, shared coordinates, materials, keynotes, object styles, line weights, line styles and more. Another benefit of standards is that both management as well as users will be much more likely to accept the, some would say radical, change in software when they see that a structure for it’s use has been established.
So, when you’re getting ready to bring Revit into your offices, start with the template file. Look at the template file you’re using in AutoCAD and all of the Standards and Procedures you’re currently using for creating digital design content. Much of what you need to set up in Revit has probably already been established and just needs a little tweaking. It will be much harder to try to create, distribute and enforce standards after you’ve got people working in Revit.
Tags: AutoCAD, BIM, Commentary, Revit
Shared Coordinates in Revit (and AutoCAD)
One feature of Revit that has confused me for quite some time is Shared Coordinates. If you don’t know what this is, basically, if you have a drawing in AutoCAD at specific coordinates, you can not only bring the drawing into Revit, but you can also bring in the coordinate system. This is really helpful when you’ve received, for example, a topography drawing from a surveyor which locates the contours at their actual coordinates in the world. The trouble comes in when those coordinates are so gigantic that when you try to bring it into Revit, at those same coordinates (“origin to origin”), you get an error message that basically says that since the numbers are so large, the drawing will just be brought in at the “center”. If we were working in AutoCAD, the solution would be to move the drawing closer to the origin. Well, in Revit, there isn’t an origin…OR IS THERE?? If you draw two lines, in AutoCAD, that cross each other at the origin, and then import it into Revit, you’ll see where the origin is. If you do a “spot elevation,” in Revit at that crossing point, you will see the value as, N 0″, E 0″ (fig. 1).
Figure 1 – The Origin in Revit |
Figure 2 – Rotated Building |
When you’re ready to import the DWG file into Revit (File –> Import/Link –> CAD Formats), within the Import/Link CAD Formats dialog box, in addition to selecting the Link option, next to where it says Positioning (to the bottom-right), choose Manual – Center. Click somewhere close to the origin to place it. Then, using the Move command, move the drawing from any point you’d like the origin to be to the origin we just located. If you are importing a building, it’s a good idea to rotate it so that one (or more) of the walls a perpendicular (fig. 2).
Now that we’ve brought the DWG file in, we need to bring in the coordinate system as well. Click Tools –> Shared Coordinates –> Acquire Coordinates then, select the imported DWG file. Now you’ll notice that the values of the spot elevation have changed to reflect the new coordinate system (fig. 3).
Figure 3 – Acquired Coordinate System |
One other thing worth mentioning is the fact that right now, we’re looking at our plan view in an orientation of Project North. This allows us to view our building orthagonally. If we’d like to view it at True North (meaning North points straight up), we need to go into the View Properties (right-click in the view and select View Properties) and within the Graphic group, next to Orientation, click the pull-down menu and choose True North. After you click ok, the view will change. To lock the DWG file, and make sure it changes with the orientation change of North, select it and click the blue push pin icon: 
.
This is a confusing topic so please email me at scott@caduzer.com if you have any questions.
Tags: AutoCAD, Revit, shared coordinates
