Enhancements For Advance Steel and Steel Connections

Autodesk is enhancing its product for structural engineers and is previewing those enhancements to Advance Steel and Steel Connections for Revit at NASCC 2017.

Following is Autodesk’s statement concerning the enhancements.

Autodesk Revit and Advance Steel better connect structural design and fabrication

Since acquiring Advance Steel in 2013, Autodesk continues to work towards better support for BIM-centric workflows for structural steel design and detailing. For instance, we have been working to strengthen the interoperability between Autodesk Revit design software and Autodesk Advance Steel software. In advance of tomorrow’s opening day of the NASCC conference, we’re happy to announce that the forthcoming Advance Steel 2018 release next month will now offer seamless consumption of LOD350* Revit models.

This exciting news means that engineers can deliver more accurate designs and bills of materials to the detailer and fabricator. And for the detailer, it means they can more quickly respond to design changes while delivering the files needed to drive steel fabrication. This interoperability will help steel detailers and fabricators take full advantage of the steel design model—a notable benefit for the industry.

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Year End BIM Evaluation

It is now the end of another year, with all the experiences of life that comes with that year.  As such, we tend to evaluate the past year and look forward to the challenges and experiences of the new year.  That includes all different aspects of our lives, including the personal and professional sides.  However, in additional to individuals doing this, organizations need to do the same thing.

Since this is an building industry oriented blog, I am going to touch on what I believe to be an important component of AEC firms in the technological age in which we now live.  That is the evaluation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) within your firm.  While there are still many AEC firms that have not moved into the world of BIM, it is becoming more common and more important in the industry.

It is extremely important to evaluate BIM within a firm.  There are costs associated with moving toward BIM integration and it is important to understand whether your firm is getting a return on that investment and how it can be improved.

Revit Family Creation Expertise Needed

As a company moves into using Autodesk Revit for the design of buildings, they quickly learn that families are an important part of the process.  Families represent entities within a project, such as walls, doors, windows, furniture, water heaters, drains, sinks, condensers, air terminals, receptacles, electrical panels, light fixtures, etc.  Revit provides many families with the software installation, but there are never enough or they never look or function the way that the Revit user’s organization desires.  As a result, custom Revit families are created for use within their organization.

Unfortunately, many organizations utilize inappropriate people to create these custom families.

Public Entities Requiring BIM and have Standards

The AEC industry is seeing more clients requiring Building Information Modeling (BIM) on projects.  Some clients have very detailed standards and expectations for the BIM process, and some clients say that they want BIM but have not idea what they really desire or how to get BIM.  And then, there are clients that fall somewhere between those two types.  Many clients (especially in the private sector) that have BIM standards in place have not publicized their standards, but will provide it to the design/construction team for specific projects.  However, there are public entitites that have established BIM standards and have posted those standards on the internet and are accessible to anyone with internet access.  Since it is nice to reference those BIM standards, I thought that I would list various public entities which have BIM standards that you can reference.

Project LOD for BIM

It is becoming more common for the Level of Development (LOD) to be specified on projects that require Building Information Modeling (BIM).  Many times, the “LOD” term is thrown around and utilized without the specifier being familiar with what the term really means.  As a result, confusion abounds and clients may say they want “a LOD 500 project”, although it does not really exist.

Design Software Formats and the AIA E202

Get the file format that you really want or need on a BIM project!

The AIA^® Document E202™ is a contract document that dictates how the Building Information Model is developed for a project.  The document itself is design software package neutral, but is typically developed around specific software packages desired by the document author.  Document authors will sometimes complete the document thinking that they are specifying the desired software package, but in reality are providing “wiggle room” for other packages to also be provided.

Blog in Review for 2010

Thank you to all of the people who visited my blog this past year!  I write articles on this blog to help software users in the AEC industry and I hope that I have been successful in that regard.  May everyone have a great 2011!

Following is some interesting information from WordPress.com concerning 2010 stats for the “Applying Technology to Architecture” blog.  I thought someone might find it interesting. 🙂

AU 2010 Class Presentations

I feel very honored to have been accepted as a speaker at Autodesk University again this year.  While AU 2010 will be my 15th consecutive year to attend Autodesk University, this will be my 4th consecutive year to be a speaker.  I am a very big advocate for Autodesk users attending Autodesk University and believe that it is an excellent value for the price.  I encourage you to attend if at all possible. 

I will be teaching 5 classes at AU 2010, in addition to one AU Virtual class.  If you are planning on attending AU, I would love to have you attend one of my classes.  If you are not attending, you can still check out the Virtual class and “attend” from your office desk. 

Alternative to AIA E202 Document

When working with Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, contract documents concerning the development and usage of the actual model are extremely important.  I have previously written articles on the “Building Information Modeling Protocol Exhibit Document E202″ by the American Institute of Architects.  An alternative to this document is the “ConsensusDOCS 301 Building Information Modeling (BIM) Addendum” by ConsensusDOCS, LLC.

Deciding to Upgrade Your Autodesk Revit Projects

As Autodesk releases its latest version of the various Revit packages, users get excited about the improvements and enhancements in the software.  With each release, there are enhancements or new features that are nice to have, but there are times when a release is such an improvement that it is really hard to not utilize immediately.  The Revit 2011 line of products falls into this category, especially with the Autodesk Revit MEP 2011 version.   It has some excellent improvements that make this release a very significant release, and one that is very enticing to immediately implement.

BIM Standards with the AIA® E202

The Building Information Modeling Protocol Exhibit Document E202 was developed by the American Institute of Architects in 2008 and is an extremely important document when working with Building Information Model (BIM) technology.  I have previously blogged about the Level of Development portion and its impact, but there is another aspect of the document which is also very important.  A portion of the document addresses the BIM standards that are to be utilized when creating and sharing the model.  This portion is very important as it creates continuity for the project and provides the owner with the format that they desire, if applicable.  It can also have a big impact on productivity.

Navisworks Exporter for BIM Models

Autodesk has released a utility that will benefit users that need to create a file to be used with the Autodesk’s Navisworks 2010 program.  This is excellent news as users no longer must have a licensed copy of Navisworks Manage installed on their computer to create this file.  This has real benefits to companies needing to create the exchange file.