Autodesk's New Logo and The Story Behind It

An interesting article discussion Autodesk's new logo and branding...  The only explanation I have heard so far for the crazy folded letters and the 2014 software:

"...A talented team of Autodesk designers created the new branding and found their inspiration in origami. The style beautifully shows the convergence of art and science, form and function, aptly representing the Autodesk software portfolio..."

Click here to continue reading....

At first I am thinking to myself "why use an ancient art form to represent the new digital future?"... But then I remember an article I read sometime last year...   Interesting...

I guess I will have to launch that folded "R" software for a few months and see how much it grows on me.

Revit 2013 - Extensions (Free for Students)

Not sure when this one was fully released but Autodesk Student accounts can download all of the Revit 2013 extensions free!

Autodesk Revit 2013 Extensions

Revit® Extensions for Autodesk® Revit® 2013 extend the capabilities of Autodesk® Revit® 2013, Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2013, Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2013, and Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2013 software in key areas, including structural analysis, modeling, reinforcement, interoperability and construction documentation. This download contains all previously released Revit Extensions and updates. The Q3 Update includes enhancements to bridge modeling, integration with Autodesk® Robot™ Structural Analysis Professional 2013, and improvements to the reinforcement extensions. Refer to the “Feature Summary” for details.

Please note that the multi-language executable file contains the following language versions: English, French, German, Japanese, Polish, Russian and Simplified Chinese.

Revit Extensions for Autodesk Revit 2013 are compatible with the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Revit 2013 software products.

Download Revit 2013 Extensions

More Revit and BIM Related Autodesk 2014 Information

Some other posts by great bloggers about new features in Revit and BIM related 2014 software:

• Boost Your BIM:  Revit 2014 API Updates
• BPA Blog: New Revit 2014 Building Performance Analysis Features
• Beyond Design: What's New in Navisworks 2014
• Autodesk Recap: Taking Advantage of Laser Scanning! (with video)...
• Autodesk Revit 2014 Wiki : The wiki has been updated. (Thanks to Steve for the heads up). 

Is this the year of BIM??

#Revit2014 - What's New?

Well, it is that time of the year again.  Get ready for the social media storm everyone!  Autodesk has lifted the NDA on Revit 2014 and you all get to find out about it!

For the first time that I an remember Autodesk has taken it upon themselves to beat the bloggers!  

Click here to view Autodesk's Revit 2014 new features (and old features) website...

Autodesk may have released the features before most of us bloggers but David Light still wins for the most comprehensive post about the new features... 

Click here to read David's post about Revit 2014... 

What am I most excited about in 2014?  Well, the displaced views function will be a lot of fun to play with (especially for presentations).  The new (well old) material editor makes me happy.  I learned to live with 2013's but my goodness did it suck!  Non-rectangular view-ports will help me greatly in the office (no more hidden elements and masking regions!).  Lastly, the new scheduling functions will be pretty useful.

What do you guys think?!

Oh... And how about that new "R" logo.... At least I think it is an "R"....

  

Autodesk 2014 Product Release Webcast - March 26th at 11AM (EST)

As Steve noted on his blog Autodesk will be holding a webcast event tomorrow where many of the new features of their 2014 line of products will be announced.  If you are not a Beta tester or are interested in seeing the presentation then follow this link. 

And no, that is not the Google Drive logo it is Autodesk's new logo...

National BIM Library - Promotional Video Exemplifies BIM

The National BIM Library released a promotional video about BIM and objects with information... and it is AWESOME!

Click here to Stephen's post and view the video....

This video needs to get on YouTube and go viral....

Revit Tip - The Color of Text (The "Almost White" Workaround)

Yesterday, a colleague of mine was attempting to create a presentation style title block in Revit.  Well, the bottom of the title block has a large black bar.  When she tried to make the text show she ran into some funky issues. Well, another colleague reminded me of the lovely "almost white" workaround.  I wont try to explain it here because there is a nice blog post by PKH Lineworks out there already...

The colour of text

I was approached by an architect a few months ago to produce presentation drawings for an auto dealership he had designed. On the presentation drawings he wanted a red bar across the bottom of the page with white text declaring the name of the sheet. It sounds simple but turned out to be a problem....

Click here to continue reading the post....

Revit Tutorials - Energy Analysis and eQuest (BPA Blog)

If you haven't checked out John and Emile's blog about Building Performance Analysis (BPA) check it out now!  

To start you off with some goodies here are two great posts about Revit, Green Building Studio, eQuest, and beyond....

Advanced Energy Analysis with Green Building Studio DOE2 and EnergyPlus support

Posted by:   David Scheer - Green Building Studio Product Owner

Who is this for:

• Engineers and energy analysts who want to do more detailed work on their analysis model than the tools in Autodesk^® Revit^®, Vasari^® or Green Building Studio^® allow.

Continue reading the post here...

Tutorial – Green Button XML file

By Peter Shi with Barry Tsai

Who is this for: Energy Analyst, Building Scientists, Energy Modeling Engineers and GBS users.

Takeaway: If you have experience in any real world building energy simulation, you would know synchronization of utility data and historical weather data is a very manual and labor extensive process. Green Button feature is designed to help user to automate and streamline this process.

Continue reading the post here...

Move Command - The Dimension Eater #BIMBattlefield

This has always bothered me later on in projects.  Dimensions constantly get deleted.  There is usually a warning letting the user know they are getting deleted (which most people will simply click "OK" and move on).  For some reason when you  move an object with the move command it will delete the dimensions associated to that object.  Yet, if you move the object using the Align command... The dimensions will stay.  

I have never found any consistency as to when and why this happens but it can definitely be frustrating when you open a  model up to find someone has deleted half the dimensions.  

If you find yourself getting a warning or dialogue that asks or tells you dimensions will be deleted... Think twice about it, try and align instead of move (or move instead of align), and replace the dimensions if they get deleted...

Revit Radio... LIVE NOW!!

Log in an check Brian Mackey and I answering questions live now....

What: Ides of March Edition

Where: Revit Radio!

When: Mar 14, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (MST)

Description: 

REGISTER: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/764271176

This Week on Revit Radio

I will be on Revit Radio live this week with Brian Mackey and Stan Hennigh.  For those of you not familiar with Revit Radio, well, get familiar with it!

What: Ides of March Edition

Where: Revit Radio!

When: Mar 14, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (MST)

Description: 

REGISTER: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/764271176

Click here for more information and to listen in!

Revit Technology Conference North America 2013 - Officially Registered!

I am officially registered for RTC North America 2013!   Are you??  Unfortunately, due to school commitments I was unable to submit the abstracts I wanted to but I will still be there!!  Last year was an awesome time.  I met tons of people and learned lots of new things...

Click here to check out RTC and register!!

Also, here is a list of posts from my first RTC even last year:

• Day 1 & 2
• Day 3
• Day 4

3DS Max - Populate

I have been using 3DS Max much more the past few months.... And with the easy connections to Revit in 2013 you should be too!  Not convinced...?  Take a look at the "Populate" plugin (formally Geppetto)....


Convinced now??  Placing active people in my Revit model sounds like fun to me!!!

Source..http://digitaldesignguide.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/the-one-about-what-used-to-be-geppetto/