Customer Case Study - BIM After Dark: Volume 3

One of the things I actively pursue when developing the BIM After Dark video series is gathering customer feedback.  Many of you are happy to take quick surveys or have blunt conversations about any of the Volumes and I love it!  For this Volume 3 launch week I thought it would be fun to publish a "customer spotlight" style post.  Today, I would like to share an interview I had with Jeffery Harwood.

Besides being a longtime customer of BIM After Dark and reader of this blog, Jeffery has a Master in Architecture from Tulane University and is an architect at John Williams Architects. In Jeff's own words:

" I love being an architect and love working with Revit and other 3D programs. I consider myself very lucky to do what I do. I have a wonderful wife and two beautiful little girls. I am an architect at John Williams Architects in New Orleans. We do a wide array of projects from historical projects in the historical French Quarter to newer commercial projects..."

Continue reading Jeff's experience with BIM After Dark, family creation, and Revit... Oh, and a special Volume 3 offer...

BIM After Dark - Volume 3 : We are family!

BIM After Dark - Volume 3 is now available!  

Now you can finally scrap all of the bad models you’ve downloaded, stop letting what’s available dictate your designs, make time for custom content, stop drafting over elevations, and begin creating your own parametric Revit content.

Volume 3 is focused 100% on custom family creation while stressing the use of real-world situations and examples. In addition to over six hours of non-stop, easy-to-follow, and information packed tutorials you have the option of some great bonuses in the complete package…  

Continue reading to find out more about what’s inside and a special launch discount…

Revit Tutorial - Custom Shaker Cabinet Family

I recently wrote about the dangers of not creating your own custom Revit families.  More specifically, I used the example of modifying the out of the box Revit casework families.  In this post, I wrote about how representing your model incorrectly due to “lack of time” could kill a project's budget.  In this post, I wrote about how drafting in details over your families to make them look correct could add hundreds of hours of re-work when changes occur (and they always occur).

Now, to demonstrate just how simple it would have been for you to make a custom shaker door and modify the existing casework families I created a tutorial.  Continue reading to view the tutorial and to fully comprehend the power of custom family creation in Revit….

The Drafting Workaround...

Yesterday, I published a post that explored the dangers of NOT building custom Revit families.  I used the example of out of the box casework families. Today, I want to expand on this idea and present a common work around I see every day.  In fact, you or your company may use this workaround too!  What is the workaround I am talking about?  Let’s call it “drafting”...  For example, when you create an interior elevation and you use drafting lines and filled regions to show details, patterns, and information.  Let’s talk about how dangerous “drafting” in Revit can be...

The Top 5 Family Creation Tips ... From the Pros!

In honor of BIM After Dark - Volume 3 releasing next week (March 17th, 2016) I wanted to create a new free eBook with Revit family creation tips.  Instead of trying to think of my favorite tips I thought it would be fun (and valuable for you) to include some tips from other Revit superstars!

I reached out to some of my Revit idols (Steve Stafford, Paul Aubin, Michael Anonuevo, and Brian Mackey) and asked them for their top three family creation tips.  Be sure to follow all of the bloggers mentioned above if you aren't already.

From there, I narrowed them down to 5 short, simple, and extremely powerful Revit family tips!  Continue reading to download this FREE ebook today...

Revit Tutorial - Adaptive Fabric Roof Canopy Introduction

Adaptive components are a topic in high demand by the readers of this blog.  Due to this demand, I knew I had to dedicate a section of BIM After Dark - Volume 3 to adaptive components.  Similar to the rest of the series, I start by teaching you how to make a practical family that introduces the foundations of adaptive components.  Then, we build on these concepts and add some complexities such as parameters and hosting to a divided surface (giving you the ability to make forms similar to "The Web", which is also demonstrated in the series as a case study).

Continue reading to view a tutorial extracted directly from Volume 3 that demonstrates the principles of an adaptive component while building a fabric canopy...

Revit Tutorial - Constant Slope Rigging Family (Rigid Insulation)

We've all seen the wall section before.  A flat roof with rigid insulation that is sloping towards a roof drain.  I would venture to say everyone reading this post has drawn or modeled the above detail at some point in their lives.  I would also venture to say many of you are drafting the rigid insulation as a filled region EVERY time you draw this section.

The following tutorial (extracting directly from BIM After Dark - Volume 3, set to re-release in a couple of weeks) illustrates how simple it is to make a parametric detail component for this typical condition... Continue reading to view the tutorial...

Revit Tutorial - Parametric Pendant Light (Start to Finish)

To close out the launch of BIM After Dark - Volume 3 a couple weeks ago I held a live webinar (happy hour).  The event was fantastic with well over 150 people attending (live)!  You guys rock!  I wanted to post a recording of the event here on the blog for those of you that missed it.  In the video below you will learn how to create a parametric pendant light fixture (that looks good rendered) in less than one hour!  Continue reading to view the tutorial...

Don’t Let Free Content Dictate Your Design…

How many times have you been asked about why you used a specific family in your project?  

How many times was your answer “because it’s all I could find”?

Frank Lloyd Wright is turning in his grave.  A man that custom designed everything from a desk chair to a drawer pull.  Imagine the horror on his face if you told him that you threw your design intent in the trash for the simple reason that there was no model available.  The time has come for you to stop settling for what is out there and build your own Revit families...

Are You Tired of Downloading Bad Revit Families?

I'm just as guilty as you are.  I'll admit it here on a public forum for the whole world to see.  I, The Revit Kid, have downloaded free Revit families from the Internet.  

You may be thinking, “So what? How else will I build my models?”

I will respond by asking a question.  Was the last family you downloaded for free a good family?

Was it parametric?  Did it actually look like the production intended it to? Was it even the size of the product you are specifying?  Finally, did it kill the performance of your overall project model?

Autodesk Revit "Family Cheat Sheet": Free Printable Guide

BIM After Dark - Volume 3 is set to release on January 25th...  It's time we get our families in order!

Do you remember every single acceptable formula syntax in Revit? Do you know which family template you should start with and why?  Do you know what the recommended file sizes are for your different family types?

If you're like me, you constantly search for or browse to the same help files, forum posts, and blog posts to find the same information over and over again...  Finally, I've created a simple, printable, PDF with all the information you need when building custom Revit families... It's called the Autodesk Revit "Family Cheat Sheet".  Continue reading to download it for FREE today...

Revit Tutorial - Creating Family Type Catalogs

If you have ever loaded in a family and a strange dialogue popped up that allowed you to choose which family types you want to load then you have had experienced a "type catalog".  This is a quick little tutorial extracted directly from BIM After Dark - Volume 3 (set to release January 25th, 2016).

A type catalog lists all of the types in a family, allowing you to select and load only the types you need for the current project, resulting in a smaller project file size and less headaches.  Creating a type catalog used to be a major hassle and required some serious notepad use... As you will see in the tutorial it has become MUCH easier...

BIM After Dark - Volume 3 Survey: Revit Families [ What Do You Want to Know? ]

To date, the release of BIM After Dark:Volume 1 in December of 2013 and Volume 2 in January of this year have successfully helped over 750 (currently at 763) readers expand their Revit knowledge.  The success and feedback from the video series has completely humbled me and reinforced what this website has stood for.  Helping people learn Revit in a straight-forward, easy to follow, video format.

I truly believe the reason for this success is your feedback.  The topics for all of the BIM After Dark videos have been chosen by you.  Through simple surveys over the years I have collected data on the most in-demand topics you would like to learn about.  Well, the time has come to hone in on the direction Volume 3 will go.

Volume 3: Creation - BIM can do anything..., will generally focus on family creation and conceptual massing.  Please, take a few minutes to answer a survey about Volume 3 and have a say in the next BIM After Dark video series!  I know some of you have been asking for a release date... I will say that my goal is to have Volume 3 live this summer (no official date yet).

Please, click here to take the survey today...