Revit + Twinmotion 2020: Rendering a Night Scene (Tips and Tricks)

 

On this special Tuesday episode of BIM After Dark Live I gave an update on my own house project and jumped back into some Revit & Twinmotion 2020 content.  

We talked about rendering night scenes in Twinmotion 2020 with Revit.

This episode was inspired by a student's question following our Twinmotion class.  She asked about making a "moody" nights scene.  Then, it dawned on me, I had yet to make a NIGHT SCENE in Twinmotion.  

So, I dug in, spent some time, and figured out some of the tips and tricks to creating sexy, moody, and super-fun images!

Continue reading to view the replay an all of the links mentioned (including my FREE Revit to Twinmotion course...)

Flipped Interview w/ BIM Thoughts (Talking AU2020, Fishing, & More!) + Announcements!

 

On last night's episode of BIM After Dark Live, I welcomed Dana, Bill, and Carl from the BIM Thoughts podcast.  It was nice to have a drink, sit back, and chit chat about myself, AU2020, 3D printing, fishing, and more...

Also, a couple important event notes for next week (before you check out for the holidays!):

BIM After Dark Live. Episode 34 

Tuesday, November 24th at 12:30 PM (Eastern US)

Due to Thanksgiving I will be live on TUESDAY next week with the next episode of BIM After Dark Live.  Stay tuned for the topic announcement here on the blog, on Twitter, or Youtube.

Free Webinar:

Making Virtual Reality More Real: Tips on Improving Your VR Scenes with Enscape

Tuesday, November 24th at 4:00 PM (Eastern US)

I will also be hosting a free webinar on Tuesday (yes, Tuesday is going to be a busy day hah).  In the webinar I am going to walk through 6+ real-world projects in which we used Enscape and VR. I'll be breaking down what makes a VR meeting successful and what makes a VR scene more immersive. 

Click here to register for the free webinar... 

Continue reading to view the discussion and links mentioned...

Cold-Formed Steel (Metal) Framing in Revit

 

In today's quick tip Revit tutorial (extracted directly from an episode of BIM After Dark Live) I run through the process of modeling cold-formed steel (or "metal") studs in Revit. 

Simple, straight-forward, and to the point....

Continue reading to view the tutorial...

Tips for Deploying Dynamo Scripts w/John P (+ Datasets)

 

On yesterday's episode of BIM After Dark Live I was joined by the one and only SixySecondsRevit (aka John P). John is a Design Technologist at Parallax Team and is also the creator of one of my favorite Dynamo custom packages (Rhythm). John will be talking about his approaches to handing off and deploying Dynamo (for Revit) scripts. This is huge! Once you've created the greatest script ever, understanding how to share it and let other users actually use it is the next big step... Some things John and I discussed... - Drop down considerations (for Revit versions) - Grouping ideas

- Dynamo Templates!!!?!? - Showing View Extensions to Help - and more...

Continue reading to view the episode and download the datasets...!

Rainscreen in Revit

 

In this short video (extracted from a longer episode of BIM After Dark Live) I demonstrate different ways to utilize the curtain wall tool to your advantage.  I talk about creating rain screens, wood slat walls, and more...

When you begin to think about the curtain wall tool as simply a grid system used for hosting solids and voids it opens up a whole new world!

Continue reading to watch the video...

Advanced Revit Railings (w/Revit Pure) + Big News!

 

On last night's episode of BIM After Dark Live I was joined by Nick from Revit Pure and we got REALLY deep into railings... 

Maybe, too deep?  

No way!

Nick was forced to learn every little property within the railing tool when he was tasked with modeling an old ancestral stair (seen in the image above being slid down by The Revit Kid, haha).  Nick used this opportunity to document what he was learning and share it with us all!!

Topics Covered:

- Difference between top rail, mid rail, and hand rail...

- Stacking Balusters

- Building Custom Terminations

- Dealing with extensions.

- Mitering and Fileting rails....

... and so much more ...

Build Your FIRST Parametric Revit Family, Today! (Replay)

 

Just in case you missed it... Yesterday was the 30th episode of BIM After Dark Live!!  

Pretty cool!

During the episode I taught the fundamentals of creating parametric content (families) in Revit.  This was not your ordinary "here is how you build a family" lesson, though.  I really stressed the concepts behind how a parametric family, reference planes, and constraints work.

Even if you think you KNOW how families work... This episode may be worth a watch!

Of course, given that it is a live show, we also had some great questions from live viewers!

Continue reading for the episode 30 replay and links mentioned....

3 Steps to Beginning Your Dynamo Journey, Today (+ Special Offer)

 

Well, that was fun!  It has been a while since I talked in depth about Dynamo. 

On the latest episode of BIM After Dark Live I walked through the 3 steps it takes to start learning Dynamo (click here to see all of my related posts about Dynamo).  These steps help you get into the right frame of mind and give you a starting point when entering the Dynamo world... 

There were also some great questions from the audience and even a cameo from some of the Dynamo superstars (like our good friend, John...).  

Laser Scanning and Revit - What you NEED to Know (Replay)

 

On last nights episode of BIM After Dark Live, I was joined by Matt Stachoni to talk about laser scanning.  Long story short... Matt went DEEP into the details of laser scanning basics.  Additionally, the live audience had some great questions along the way.

Matt talked about everything from the different types of laser scanners, to what registering a scan is REALLY like, to his preferred process to checking a scan against a Revit model for QA/QC and as-built verification...

I, for one, had a new appreciation for when I ask a surveyor to scan, register, and model an existing structure for me.  Having a better understanding of the registration process and what is involved is going to help me down the road whether I scan myself or procure it from others.

Matt dropped a ton of laser scanning knowledge and still clearly had more to share.  Hopefully he will join us again soon!

Continue reading to view the replay and links mentioned...

Good Looking, Fully Organic, All Natural, "NURBS" in Revit (w/Tim Waldock)

 

On last night's episode of BIM After Dark Live I am excited to have Tim Waldock (of the Revit Cat blog) on the show.  I've been following Tim's blog for many years and I have always loved the way he dives into the nitty gritty details of Revit features and functions.

Tim will be demonstrating some of the awesome techniques he has developed for creating super smooth, good looking, organic forms in Revit.   

When I say organic, I literally mean he showed us how to model some vegetables (or a fruit?)...  

Revit isn't known for being able to display super smooth "NURBS" type of shapes but Tim has some tips and tricks to help you out.  From random blob shapes to beautiful modern furniture, I guarantee you'll find a use for what Tim has to show.

Continue reading to view the episode and see any related links mentioned....

Revit & Enscape 2.8: Design, Present, Collaborate (w/Dan Stine)

 

Dan Stine returned to BIM After Dark Live last night to talk about some of the new features in Enscape 2.8 (and what's to come in Enscape 2.9)...  Similar to our previous episode with Dan he didn't just run through the features, he also demonstrated some useful tips and tricks along the way!

Personally, I am most excited about all of the new healthcare content in Enscape 2.8, but even more excited about the FBX/OBJ import options in 2.9 to come!!!

Topics Covered:

Enscape 2.8

BIM 360 freeze fixed
Collaborative annotation
"Puddle Tip/Trick"
Animated vegetation
New assets
Carpet material
BIM Mode

Version 2.9 beta

Video textures
Custom asset library (and editor!!!)
Offline asset library

Continue reading to view the episode and the links mentioned...

Power BI for Construction Visualization (DBEI Webinar)

 

There has been a lot of interest in Power BI throughout the AEC industry.  In fact, I have received a bunch of feedback from Episode 18 of BIM After Dark live looking for a follow up... Well, I still plan on digging deeper with more episodes, but if you can't wait, you're in luck!

I will be speaking tomorrow about how my team and I use Power BI on the construction side of things...  This was supposed to be a session at BILT NA this year... Luckily, I am still able to present it virtually!

(** This webinar is worth 1 AIA learning unit **).

Synopsis

At Turner Construction, Power BI has revolutionized the way we build by giving us the ability to connect, visualize, and analyze our data. During this session we will look at real-world case studies that demonstrate how we are taking advantage of connecting building information models to other data sources.

Learning Objectives

1.Learn how extracting and visualizing your Revit data can change the way you approach and analyze your designs.

2. Discover how Power BI lets you connect, visualize, and analyze data from nearly unlimited sources and types.

3. Learn how Assemble Systems can create a cloud-based dynamic connection between your model data and your visualizations in Power BI.

4. Discover the best practices to connecting your model data with data from any other source program.

Click here to register for the webinar....