More iPad and Architecture

Just a few more examples from some of my Architecture related classes and using the iPad. The first is using an App called PenUltimate in my Design of Wood Structures class... It worked out well but does have its flaws. For example, you cannot change the pen thickness, color, or opacity. You also cannot create any book marks. Although the inking looks better on this program I am still enjoying the features of PaperDesk right now.

• Click here to see the PDF of my Structures notes with PenUltimate

The second example is using a great app called iThoughtsHD. This app is very much like the program Mind Manager (in fact, you can export to a Mind Manager file type). For school, in general, it is a great way to brainstorm, write papers, etc... I used it to calm my nerves about how much crap I have left to do in my Design Course... It is nice to break everything down sometimes. Finally, you can export your map directly from the iPad into PDF format and an outline format.

• Click here to see the PDF of my iThoughts map.

The Revit Kid Reviews - iPad and Architecture

After weeks of contemplation, research, and uncertainty I finally bit the bullet and bought an iPad. I know there are millions of reviews on the web about this wonderful little computer but I think my review comes from a different perspective. I am a student, first of all, and also an Architecture student/professional. My classes, work, and hobbies are much different than those of the CNET reviewers and the old guy at the New York Times.

Potential

Before talking about what the iPad CAN do, I would like to talk about what it COULD do. There are a plethora of possibilities in my mind for the iPad in the AEC industry. As I sit mere tapping my fingers on a virtual keyboard I imagine a future where this perfectly sized device is car ride with me everywhere I go....

I begin the day with a cup of coffee and eggs. While I am eating I check my email, read some of the top news of the world and architecture, I check the blog feed and see if any colleagues have posted some great stuff, I check the soccer scores and fixtures for the day, and then review my schedule for that particular day.

The first event on my iPad calendar is a meeting at the Doe residence. But what was that edging about? I then see the note on the calendar that says "See sketch #0212". I fire up SketchBook Pro and open the sketch. Got it! As I am tying my shoes I log into my computer at the office (UsingLogMeIn Ignition for the iPad) to see if the rendering I started in Revit has finished yet (Even in my future Revit's rendering speeds are slow...). Off to the Doe house.

I jump into my car and plug my iPad into the stereo to start playing some music. I then fire up GPS on the same iPad and look up the Doe residence. I arrive at the Doe residence. I snap some pictures of the construction detail that is being debated. While the contractor talks I upload the photos to my iPad and begin sketching right on top of the photos. I then fire up Go-BIM (Autodesk Go-BIM in my future haha) and open the building model to further inspect the issue... You can continue your day here...

iPad for Me Today

Being an Architecture student requires a very particular set of tools. Mainly, note taking (which utilizes both writing and drawing), sketching, and modeling. For sketching, par non, Autodesk Sketchbook Pro is by far the best. I have used this app for numerous concept sketches, details, light fixtures, etc...

Note taking on the iPad is still at the infant stages but has some great features. As far as what app to use, there are two that rise above all. I currently have 7 different note taking apps due to me searching for the height one and I highly recommend these two: Evernote and PaperDesk. I will start with Evernote.

Evernote is a great all around app for note taking but not for architecture. Right now it lacks the ability to ink, or physically write, on the screen. This eliminates it from being used in a majority of my classes (Physics, Structures, Design, Calculus, etc...).

PaperDesk, on the other hand, is the best app for student note taking. Before speaking about it's limitations I will review it's features: You can type and physically write anywhere on the page. Organize notebooks and pages with bookmarks. Export by page or entire notebook to PDF format. Edit the pen color, size, opacity, brightness, etc... ( See website for more details) Soon to be able to manage all of your notebooks on a free server at MyPaperDesk.com. The limitations that, if added, will create the perfect app for an architecture student, are:

- No tab and bullets
- No ability to change font color, boldness, etc...
- No audio or image importing

Although these seem major I promise you they are not. I spoke to the developer, Scott, and he is going to add as much of my wish list to the next few updates (which are free once purchases). Once those three simple items are fixed or added PaperDesk will be a great app for architecture students such as myself.

• Click here for one example from PaperDesk
• Click here for another example from PaperDesk

Ultimately, I have not put the iPad down once for the past week. I am putting it through the true tests of an architecture student and it is managing very well. I charge it once every night (even though it usually has about 40% battery life left after a full day of usage).

I highly recommend it to my readers and peers and I promise you that you will have just as hard of a time putting it down as I do.

I would like to open the comments sections form readers who are also using the iPad and your experience.

Here are some SketchBook Pro Examples:

-Posted on my Apple iPad

Autodesk Sustainable Design Center

Very nice mini-site over at Autodesk... Great for starting the converstaion and contemplation of green practices to use in your design:

• Click here to visit the Autdoesk Sustainable Design Center

As the semester comes to an end...

As many of you may have noticed I have not been posting much at all lately.... You can thank my studio project for that one. So you all don't get TOO mad at me for not making any tutorials here are a few random progress renderings and photos of the project. Can you guess which ones are Revit 2010 and which are 2011??

Revit Elephant.... Wow...

I knew when I began playing with the new conceptual modeler and all the great freeform tools that came with Revit 2010 there would be the ability to make some insanely organic forms, but this takes the crown.... Found over at Buildz...

Done completely in Revit by Marcello Sgambelluri....



Click here to see the rest of the post and all the informaiton...

Excellent work Marcello!

Revit 2011 Graphic Issues and Questions

The Revit Clinic put together a nice little list of what I garuntee will be FAQ's:

Revit 2011 Graphics Q&A
I've compiled a list of some of the common questions \ answers on graphics related issues. I hope this helps organize this information in one place:

When launching Revit 2011 I receive a Some features may not be fully supported by the video card and driver on this computer message

See the following technical solution, Some features may not be fully supported by the video card and driver on this computer.


When using remote desktop to connect to my workstation why is hardware acceleration disabled?

Hardware Acceleration will be disabled for remote desktop clients. Software mode will instead be utilized. You should receive the following dialog at startup if launching Revit over a remote connection... Continue to the post for more Graphics Inquiries....

Tutorial - Getting Started in Revit 2011

Alan over at Revit Structure Learning Curve put together a nice collection of videos for you Revit noobs:

Click here to see Alan's post for more videos...

Download Revit 2011 NOW!

Autodesk finally updated their free trial download to Revit 2011!

Click here to register and download now!!

Alternative download location...

The Direct .exe download.

Then, head over to Greg's collection of links to make sure you have everyhting you need for Revit...


Given a 30 day trial, you will have plenty of time to update the license to your student license on May 5th...

GO GO GO!

Tutorial - Sweeps and Swept Blend (Revit Clinic)

Great little video over at Revit Clinic that might help some of you out:


Sweeps and Swept Blends and Profiles along a Curved Rising Path

I’ve created a quick video tutorial [with sound] which I have included below:

Video Tutorial

You may have an issue when you have specific curves and rising paths for sweeps. Depending on the geometry of the slope, a profile may not sweep along and maintain the same angle from start to finish.

One approach which typically works well is to instead use a Swept Blend, and specify the same profile at both ends. This will additionally give you angle and offset dimensions at each end.

I hope this video helps!

Autodesk 2011 Products - Student Release Date

It has been formally mentioned to me that the Autodesk 2011 products will be officially released on May 5th, 2010!

Mark your calendars fellow students and head over to the Autodesk Student Community if you are not registered!

Performative Design - New Site

I never pass up the opportunity to blog about a new found site... Thanks to Zach over at Buildz for introducing me to the site. From the person who brought you Ecotect, Andrew Marsh, here is a site full of great ideas and tutorials:

Welcome to the personal website of Dr. Andrew Marsh ...
This site is basically my online notebook, containing an eclectic mix of ideas, discussions and experiments in building performance analysis, generative design, computer programming, data visualisation and web development - all organised under the following two primary themes: Performative Design & Informative Design.

Click here to enter the website and explore all of its great content...

Revit 2011 - Student Community Release?

I know I have not posted many original tutorials and editorials (like I usually do) and I apologize to all of you who look forward to them. Seeing as a lot of my readers are students I am sure you can all understand how busy I have been while taking 5 classes and Design Studio and working... Needless to say, I have barely had time to breathe. I promise as soon as I get some free time I will address some of your emails I have not addressed yet as well as posting some original tutorials. For today, I wanted to talk about the release of the Revit 2011 products.

The Student Community is usually the last place that the Revit products are released. Maybe, this year it will be very close to the actual release date. Anyone who has information on when the Student Community will get the 2011 versions please comment. I have asked my contacts at Autodesk and no one knows.

As for what you and I, the students, will do on April 16th... I just checked my schedule and April 29th appears to be my final jury review. The question is, should I finish my project in 2011? If the release is April 16th and I can have a 30 day free trial that will allow me to use the software, and save/print, until the middle of May. Finally, the Student version should be released by the end of the 30 day trial and I can simply activate...

Is it worth it? I think from a students perspective downloading and using 2011 right away is very much worth it. I am excited for the real time sun path manipulation (that will create some great images for my presentation board). Also, the new FBX link to 3DS Max could greatly increase those ridiculous render times (especially within the last hectic weeks).

What are you going to do on April 16th?

Buildz : Parametric Pandora

A very nice little written piece on Revit by Zach over at Buildz. A cool perspective that I think all of you students who are cursing at the computer right now trying to make your "Gehry-esque" design project work:

Parametric Thinking and Pandora

Careful . . . I haven't really thought this through entirely but here goes:

You're having guests and you're putting music on via Pandora. You think, something a little folksy, simple, a little gritty. Bob Dylan before he went electric! So you pop on a new station for Bob and 15 minutes later, you're wondering why you're listening to the Traveling Wilbury's and Credence Clearwater Revival, and all that stuff from Stealer Wheels. Well, you asked for something really general and you're going to get something really general. It's all Dylanesque, the problem is, which Dylan did you mean?

Pandora is a system, not a DJ or a librarian, and like any other system, it isn't going to be any smarter than the information you give it. I don't know technically how it works, but it seems to work in some derivative fashion. You give it Bob Dylan, and it will give you back music that was inspired by Bob or very near to him in musical time/space, which is a pretty large patch of musical history. To get effective playlists, you have to go one step back or above your target.

I've heard a lot of questions from Revit users about why it doesn't do what they intended. Yes, sometimes there are bugs. But more often than not, the problem is that Revit is not yet telepathic (fingers crossed for 2012!) and the user has not given the system enough information to properly define the performance of their geometry. One user was confused about the behavior of an arch that was "defined" by two points (center and radius). An arch must have three points to be defined (arc length or angle!), otherwise you get "Stuck in the middle with you" or "The Joker".

...Continue reading the post...

Revit and 3DS Max FBX

Another great find from Greg:

Navisworks 2011 for Architects

Great find from Greg over at Revit3d.com. People always ask me why I bother to have Navisworks installed on my laptop and why I bother learning how to use it. Well, this video should end those questions... Not to mention, this only shows the very brief array of usages for Navisworks and Architects.

• Click here to view the video...

Oh, did I mention Navisworks is free for students?

Tutorial - Adaptive Components

Some more genious work by Zach over at Buildz:

Adaptive Components: The Frame

This is a work flow that the Conceptual Modeling team looked at while developing the new Adaptive Component toolset.

This particular construction method was first attempted by Rahul, the brains behind much of the Adaptive Components code and one of the many hard working developers at the factory to whom I sacrifice a goat every full moon. (Look for the infinitely extended intersection line hack, this will start showing up more and more.)

Generally, this tutorial (in 2 parts) is riffing on a project that has been done in Catia/Digital Project and Inventor. For these examples, check out the posts on DesignReform



Click here to go to the post and see more videos and pictures...

Autodesk and AIAS 2010 Student Sustainable Design Challenge

Autodesk and AIAS have teamed up to create a great design competition, and... guess what? Revit and Ecotect are REQUIRED for submission.

Contest Description
Over the past five years, temporary shelters have grown from a niche design element to a necessary aspect of the architecture profession. Ranging from transitional housing and community charrettes in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina or the need for entirely new villages built following the tsunami in Thailand, natural disasters have increased the need for successful and thoughtful design of short-term shelters. The earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, has yet again put the spotlight on temporary shelters and good, quickly built structures to facilitate the thousands of homeless families in Port-au-Prince.

Numerous organizations and individuals have focused their efforts on developing housing for the nearly 600,000 homeless in Port-au-Prince. On the other hand, without social areas such as community centers, schools, and libraries, the city of Port-au-Prince will struggle to bring displaced individuals back to the city center. It has been estimated that of the 4,616 schools surveyed in Port-au-Prince, 80 percent are damaged and approximately 431 teachers and 4,000 students were killed. An additional 250,000 schoolchildren are now displaced.

Autodesk and the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) are challenging design students from around the globe to create designs for small single-room schools that could be constructed across Port-au-Prince with limited materials and minimal construction experience. Using Autodesk® Revit® and Autodesk® Ecotect® Analysis software and the predefined site and materials files provided, registrants can submit their designs before June 4, 2010, to be reviewed and juried by professionals in attendance at the AIA National Convention and Expo in Miami. Winners will be announced on June 12, 2010.

Click here to check out the competition details and prizes... Pretty neat.

Also, some great Revit kid, I mean user, out there created a nice template file for the competition with loads of parametric families and the existing site so everyone starts on the same page. It can be downloaded on the Challenge page. What a nice guy ;)

Tutorial - Ambient Light Rendering

Great little tip to make your live 3D sections look EVEN better: This technique is very similar to the Buildz post from way back.

This works best with exterior or cut-away views of interiors, not so well for interiors where the camera is fully surrounded. Makes soft shadows and renders much more quickly than with interior lights.

(Adapted from HOK BIM Solutions )

Make a new sun setting with the time set to 2:30 AM or so.

Set the Exposure Value on the Rendering to somewhere between 2 and 2.5

Render with Exterior: Sun Only and a white background (or sky if you prefer)

Click here to see the rest of the post...

Tutorial - Reporting Parameters to Curtain Panels (Buildz)

Another great tutorial with some videos from Buildz...

Adding reporting parameters to curtain panels

In Revit 2011 we (finally) have something that I've been hoping for since I started in on the whole BIM thing. With the exception of things like old style curtain panels and beams, you could never get a placed family to tell you anything about the context that it was placed in. Lots of work has been done in the API with users trying to get doors and windows to "know" how thick the walls are that they are hosted in, and curtain panels have had this power, as long as they were flat, four sided and had all right angle corners. But now, we have the "reporting parameter", which is a labeled dimension that simply tells you what it is. "Hi, in the family editor I was hosted in a 8" wall, but over here in the project you placed me in a 6" wall, and over here I'm in a 12" wall. I'm good, schedule me, please".

But then, if you make your reporting parameter to "host" geometry (a concept I still have a shaky grasp of, loosely, geometry that was baked into the family before you got there) you can use that dimension to drive formulas. So, now your door family can not only tell you how thick the wall is that it is hosted in, it can adjust itself accordingly. "I'm in a 12" wall, so I'm going to be a six panel door instead of 2" or whatever.

Click here to see the rest of the tutorial and a few videos...