AUTODESK AEC SOLUTIONS ENGINEER, JOHN COOK PRESENTING AT SPECIAL CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA REVIT USER GROUP MEETING: SPONSORED BY PRINT-O-STAT, INC. 

YORK, Pa. 

The Central PA Revit User Group is hosting a special presentation in conjunction with Autodesk with a light hors d’oeuvres reception on Tuesday, October 30th from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at Buchart-Horn, Inc. John Cook, Autodesk AEC Solutions Engineer and MEP expert will be leading a discussion on the hottest topics of interest for Autodesk Revit users. The end of the event will include an open question and answer session with John. There is no charge to attend this event, but guests are asked to pre-register with meeting sponsor, Print-O-Stat, Inc. by emailing autodesk@printostat.com.

John Cook is an AEC Solutions Engineer and MEP expert supporting the AEC sales organization across North America focusing on helping our internal sales teams & channel partners effectively drive Autodesk solutions.  John has a Mechanical Engineering design background and is a BIM strategy and implementation expert with a specialty in MEP for Healthcare.  He has several years of both domestic and international experience with some of the most progressive BIM firms around the world.  Topics of interest for this discussion include Emerging Trends with BIM, Energy Efficient Modeling, Condition Capture, Pedestrian Simulation, Workforce Mobilization, Making Use of the “I” in BIM, and Autodesk Simulation CFD 2013.

Buchart-Horn, Inc. is located at 445 West Philadelphia Street, York, PA 17401. Guests attending this event should be sure to use the lower level entrance at the back of the building. On-site parking is available.

About Print-O-Stat, Inc.

Founded in 1954, Print-O-Stat, Inc. is a York-based company with offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. For over 58 years, Print-O-Stat, Inc. has led the design and construction community, providing clients with the best class of products and support. As an Autodesk® Silver Partner with Simulation Specialization and an Authorized Training Center, Print-O-Stat, Inc. is dedicated to providing customers the best solutions to meet their needs. Print-O-Stat, Inc. reacts quickly to identify new business opportunities and to introduce products and services. Their evolution in technology has helped them grow and maintain a leadership role in the industry. While operations are regional in nature, the company has gained national recognition in the industry from Océ and Hewlett-Packard. For more information, visit www.printostat.com.

Up to the Roof

Straight back to the questions and answers. I've stayed away from these as the first posted... mostly because they were my questions. I will admit to having a limited understanding of the tools available to me at the time I asked these questions. A little education later - and we've moved past the largest hurdles with these questions.

Q. How has anyone else handled the roof? I've watched the video tutorials about building dormers and that sort of thing, but I've been unable to learn on my own how to separate the structural deck from the rest of the roofing. IF the structure folks aren't in the same office and they design the roof deck/slop - how do I get the Dens deck, insulation, and other roof components to match that slope in the model?

The answer to this question is in part the details of the program, and in part how you've worked out your project with your team. The general consensus was that there was a space left in the architectural model that would be where the structure would be placed. When the two models are linked, everything should line up. The roof slope and the structure slope should match, along with the elevation. If they don't, that's exactly the sort of thing this program was meant to find!

Q. How has anyone handled tapered insulation when modeling a roof? What if you have perimeter drains and need to model the tapered insulation at the entire perimeter? What do you do at the corners?

This was one of those tools I needed to know more about. Model In Place. I was attempting to use an extrusion, and a sweep would have handled the majority of the issue for me. Simple, clean and still allows the piece just made to be catagorized with other roof elements.

Q. How has anyone handled fascias at the tops of wall? The fascia tool is designed for an overhanging roof, but what if you've got a parapet?

The fascia tool in Revit is limited. This question actually brought out two different answers. One answer was to use the same tool and technique as the previous question. The other answer was to create the fascia as part of a wall sweep. The only drawback to the wall sweep answer was the parametric information being categorized with walls rather than roofing.

There are more answers than the few I've covered here. The most important part of the process is you! Sign up for next week's meeting. Send a question in and then come see how many answers you get.

Back to the Answers

Returning to what had been started previously, I'm going to post up some more of the answers to questions from the last meeting. Some of the answers will be a little shorter than the actual discussions now that they've been thought through. Some of the questions will also get my own views tacked onto the end of the answer!

Is the BIM consultant just an opportunist?

This question was the top of the list at the last meeting. The discussion we had centered around your outlook. Is being opportunistic a bad thing? As with many ventures, this depends on the quality \ qualifications of the person doing the consulting. The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to learn something about the consultant, the tools and the process so you can tell what the "opportunist in question" is talking about.

My personal take on this question is that it's a limited, or at least constantly shifting endeavor. BIM consulting won't last in its current form. If you can model your own door, do you really need to pay another company for their version? If you're concerned with the parametric information, wouldn't that be best handled in house or with the product rep. for that line? This is the detail level, and the level I'm most familiar with. If the scope of the question is brought up past the detail level, you still encounter the same concepts. Once everyone gets a feel for what's involved in a contract that has specific BIM requirements, will you still be interested in paying somebody to help with that?

I am snatching a term I heard someplace else and applying it to myself. I am an Eduvangalist. The computer is not a pencil. You cannot just go and pick up a new sharp one and expect it to be exactly the same as the previous two. The software (the new pencil) evolves and changes on an annual basis if not faster. IF the tool changes every year, why aren't you willing to continue to learn about how to use it? It's not the tool's fault the project doesn't look right - pencil or printer. It is paramount that modern architecture and engineering offices reinvest in educating their staff. The most successful consultant for BIM in the future will be one that helps you apply the tools correctly to get the job result you want.

That's it for this post - but there is more on the way. Don't forget to register for the meeting next week!

RUG Meeting

While I suspect this is a bit like preaching to the choir, I'm going to post this anyway:

The next meeting is Tuesday April 10, 2012. The meeting will be held at the Kinsley Education Center 350 Hill Street, York PA 17403.

I am looking forward to this meeting! This is another open forum style meeting where (hopefully) your questions will be answered.

Over the next few days I hope to put some more of the answers from the last meeting up here. I've been quite busy attempting to employ a number of the things I learned at the last meeting, hopefully you have too.

Questions and Answers

Greetings all! My apologies for the delay in getting more stuff up here. Life does occasionally get in the way.

First, I have been remiss in a certain aspect of posting things here. I'm going to correct that today by saying thank you to Core-Design Group for hosting our last Revit User Group meeting!

That last meeting did have some really good stuff in it! Lots of good questions and lots of great answers from some very savvy folks. I'd say spread the word and let's get more stuff like that going.

I'm going to post up some of the questions and answers that we had based on notes and things others have sent. I'll do my best to represent what went on at the meeting, but please feel free to jump in and comment or add to what gets posted here. These first three answers are provided from Gretchen's notes (Providence Engineering Corporation).

Question #2. I would like to discuss surface patterns. I need to know how to get them to plot lighter than the wall itself. I realize that all “hatch” plots with pen 1, but it seems to me that a surface pattern plots with whatever the item it is associated with is using. This is making some areas of our drawings look terrible.

Answer: All suggestions given at the meeting work for vertical surface patterns. (materiel color, plotter density setting, etc.)
After discussing this matter with Lyle from LSC; we have concluded that there is yet another flaw in the system. None of the above mentioned effect the plotting of a horizontal surface pattern. We here at PEC have been using a filter to get around this problem, but you could also use a plan region or a filled region.

Question # 12. For the trusses we just haven’t figured out the best way to create them because we haven’t had much luck using the truss system in Revit.

Answer: We have not had any luck using the OOTB trusses for wood or light gauge trusses, especially hipped trusses. As of now I am currently modeling the trusses in place and creating a group. One day I hope to have enough time to figure out how to make this a family type that functions as needed for both wood and light gauge. The provided trusses work well for your typical pitched roof, but if you have anything that strays from the ordinary they don’t work well. Jackie might have more input on this one.

Question #14. Typically, who owns what element? For example, who owns structural walls? If architect does, then how does the structural engineer add footings, rebar and such. If the structural engineer owns them, then how does the architect label walls, add doors to them, etc? If copy/monitored, won't there be duplicate elements?

Answer: In an ideal world all would own whatever it is that they are responsible for providing. However this rarely occurs without duplication. We normally decide who has ownership of what when the job starts. Using worksets and copy/monitor I have found a way to get our drawings looking the way we want them to without causing others too much pain.

I'd like to add to the end of this particular answer - a number of the questions that were raised were less technical and more philosophical in nature. This software has opened (or re-opened for the folks that switched from boards to CAD) a series of discussions about what it is the folks creating should and shouldn't be doing. There may not be a set answer to some of these topics just because the nature of a particular firm's view might not match with the view your firm takes. Whatever direction the answer takes, it's always interesting to hear how other people handle it - particularly if you've found a way to further leverage this tool.

That's all for this post, but there should be more here soon! Keep looking and as always, feel free to contribute!

What do you get?

Do you really get anything out of that?

I've heard that question more than once relating to the User Group. It's a question that has both a complex and a simple answer. I'm going to attempt both answers here.

The simple answer is yes, yes I do.

The more complex answer applies to me, but I believe it also applies to anyone that wants to attend a meeting. If you want to get something out of a meeting, particularly a user group meeting, what you get depends completely on what you put in. If you're not a contributor, if you're not actively engaged in the process of whatever you're doing, then you're not going to get much out of any meeting. The more you put in, the more you'll get back. It might not be immediate, but the effort will end with payoff.

On the 7th of February (yesterday as I write this) we had the regular user group meeting and I believe it was very successful. We ran long, about a half an hour past our intended stop time, but we answered all the questions that were put forth. Structural, architectural, program specific and philosophical all brought forth lots of ideas from the folks attending the meeting. The questions had been submitted prior to the meeting and anyone that was on the mailing list had the opportunity to check things out beforehand. If that e-mail got missed, the questions were printed out and were on hand for anyone that wanted a hard copy. That's the core of the participatory aspect - the questions. These questions covered lots of topics and ranged from details to rendering. There were quite a few folks there that were really dialed in on this program. I certainly learned a lot.

Do I work on structural models? No, I don't. Was it helpful to hear what the structure folks were struggling with? Absolutely. Project teams have a lot to learn and a lot of new working procedures to figure out. Communication is the key to this program as it is with any successful project - and that requires participation.

I'm looking forward to participating in the next meeting, how about you?

RUG MEETING FEB 7TH

I want to remind anyone that is reading this to post questions on this site for our next meeting. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there.

First Post of the New Year

I hope everyone had great holidays. I had every intention of posting last week, but then I thought most folks had enough on their plate after a busy holiday season. Something that’s come up in our office recently is an error message:

We believe this error is related directly to the hardware acceleration setting.

Have you encountered any issues like this before? What was your solution?