BILT NA 2018 - See You There?!

It's that time of the year again!  Time to plan your trip to BILT NA (formally known as RTCNA).  This year BILT NA is in St. Louis from August 9th to 11th.

I have talked about how valuable I find this conference every year on the blog...  So, do yourself a favor and show all of these posts to your boss and tell him or her you want to go!

If you've registered, or will be registering soon, make sure to sign up for my lecture on Saturday morning: 

Session 3.1 - Construction Can Be Sexy: How Visualization Tools Help Us Build

It is hard to imagine where many of the new visualization technologies will be used within a construction company. Truth is, at Turner Construction we are using tools like Autodesk Revit, Lumion, Enscape3D, Photoshop, In-Design, HTC Vive (virtual reality hardware), and 3D Printers everyday as part of our construction process.

Register for BILT NA today!   I hope to see you all there!

DIY Dynamo Class of 2017 Reviews + Live Happy Hour (and Giveaway)!

In the midst of enrollment for DIY Dynamo's Spring 2018 session I thought it would be fun to ask the first ever "graduating" class of DIY Dynamo their thoughts on the course, and, of course, share them with you!

Additionally, if you are interested in hanging out with myself and a few special guests online this week keep reading for more information about the next free and live BIM After Dark Happy Hour (I know, it's been a while!).

Continue reading to see what the DIY Dynamo Class of 2017 has to say and to learn more about the BIM After Dark Happy Hour this week....

DIY Dynamo - Enroll Today

It took me a while to decide what kind of Dynamo class to create when I sat down early last year and began planning the course.  After much deliberation and our first successful session last October with 74 students I am glad I chose to start right at the beginning.

I published some posts recently that discussed some of the challenges I recall from a few years back when I began learning Dynamo.  The first had to do the challenge of where to begin.  The second was a "Q&A" session to analyze those first attempts at learning Dynamo... 

Finally, last week I posted a video tutorial (extracted directly from DIY Dynamo) to demonstrate how and where to begin and how easy it can be to get started!

Now, are you ready to start your Dynamo journey?  Enrollment is officially open for DIY Dynamo - A Beginners Course on Dynamo for Revit. 

Continue reading to learn more about the course, what's inside, and a special launch day discount...

Have You Tried to Learn Dynamo?

In my last post, I discussed the two major challenges that beginners will face when learning Dynamo for Revit.  The first challenge to overcome is being able to relate Dynamo to a real-world problem as a solution.  The second challenge is figuring out where and how to begin.

Because getting started is such a huge obstacle to overcome at the beginning of your Dynamo journey, I wanted to expand a bit on how I began and talk to those of you who may have attempted to learn Dynamo already.... (Oh, and there may be a FREE giveaway inside, too...)

So You Want to Learn Dynamo but You Don’t Know Where to Begin?

I’ll go out on a limb here and assume you have heard of Dynamo by now. Additionally, you’re probably familiar with what Dynamo is and how it is rapidly changing the way we use Revit.

If not, I touch on what Dynamo is here and check out the first chapter of the Dynamo Primer here.

Assuming you have heard of Dynamo and you know what it is, I'll bet you have been saying to yourself, "maybe I should learn how to use this Dynamo thing?".

Then, your immediate next question is "but, how and where do I begin?".

Continue reading if you have been pondering where and how to begin learning this Dynamo thing...

DIY Dynamo - Spring 2018 Enrollment Coming Soon...

I launched my first ever Dynamo course called "DIY Dynamo" last October.  The goal of the course is to get every student started using Dynamo for Revit and build the proper foundation to consider Dynamo just another tool in the bag (as opposed to the "mysterious creature" it is to many Revit users).

In total, there were 74 students that signed up last "semester".  All 74 students worked through the modules and successfully completed the course and many sent me some example "scripts" they created themselves from scratch to solve every day Revit problems or automate every day Revit tasks.  I will be sharing some of their feedback and thoughts on the course over the next few weeks.

Due to the success of the course I've decided to hold a "Spring Semester" session.

Registration for the Spring Semester of DIY Dynamo will open on the week of April 9th, 2018.

If you are interested, want to stay up to date on registration, and recieve email-only discounts click here to sign up to get in-line today...

From Revit to Lumion - The Ultimate Review #3 (Lumion 8 Pro)

"HOLY SH**!"

Those were my first two words when pressing render for the first time in Lumion 8 Pro.  

I have been taking my time getting to know the new release before posting a review.  Today is the day.  In this post I will highlight my favorite new features and why I love them.  I will also talk about my wish-list items (in hope that maybe the next go around will address them). 

But, before you read through the review below you should take a minute to check out my previous reviews of Lumion 6 and 7.  This is a continuation of the series and some of the thoughts and feedback I give on my workflow, process, and opinions of the older versions are still valid.... Also, in the previous posts I give some background on why I started using Lumion and what it was like.

Click here to view my Lumion 5 Review...

Click here to view my Lumion 7 Review...

Now, continue reading to hear about my favorite new enhancements and features in Lumion 8...

The Mysterious Case of the Moving Parameter Button and Arrays

When I am teaching students how to create parametric families in Revit it I have become familiar enough with the differences between each version of Revit that I can usually call out where a button may or may not be.  For example, in the image above the "Add Parameter" has moved from the options bar in 2016 (top image above) to the ribbon in 2018 (bottom image above).

Great, so whenever I am teaching someone how to add a parameter in the family editor in 2018 versus 2016 I can tell them where to look....

Or can I ....?

Revit Tutorial - Streamlined Topography (Auto-Clicker Update)

Way back in 2011 I posted a tutorial showing how you can use a simple little tool to streamline your topography creation.  This is especially valid if you don't have a CAD file and are using an image file of contours, etc... If you are still making topography by clicking every little contour point, and giving yourself carpal tunnel in the process, you need to see this tutorial.

Well, that tutorial is still relevant today, but, the Auto-Clicker software I link to does not work on Windows 10...

I still use this technique today when modeling topography from image files so I thought it would be helpful to re-post it and add the Windows 10 download link...

Keep reading to view the tutorial and download "Auto-Clicker" to streamline your topography creation in Revit....

Revit Tip - The "Site Settings" Dialog

Well, I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks...

Last week, I posted about missing secondary contour lines.  Until now, my solution was to simply move the topography up so that there were no "negative" contour values.  Ivan (from BIM Level) commented on the post and flipped my world upside down.

After over ten years of using Revit, I found a dialog box that I have honestly never even seen before...  I can admit it.  Ivan, you've humbled me.


Continue reading to learn about the "Site Settings" dialog and where it is located...

Revit Tutorial - Missing Secondary Contour Lines (Topo Tip)

File this post under "random things that are good to know about Revit".  Although, it seems to come up more than you would think...

Have you every had a topographic model within Revit not display the secondary contour lines?  Look closely at the two topographic images above.  What is different?  Notice that the model on the left is missing three sets of secondary contour lines (the dashed lines that represent 1'-0" of elevation change).

Why?

Keep reading to find out....

Revit Tutorial - Line Weights and Silhouettes

There area  few things to keep in mind when creating "illustrated" graphics with Revit.  What do I mean by "illustrated" graphics?  I mean anything exported out of Revit as an image file for use in presentations or other mediums.  For example, diagrammatic images (like the one below) or maybe images like the exploded axons in this post...

Example Diagrammatic Image...

I thought I would put together a simple post that helps shed some light onto how you can control line weights and "vector" looking graphics in Revit.  Believe it or not, one of the best ways to control your graphics is using the view scale...  

Continue reading to find out what the heck I am talking about...