i-model plugin for Revit

So Bentley provide a i-model plugin for Revit. Details can be found here.

http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Promo/Revit/i-model.htm

So on the face of it, this sounds cool if you are say an Structural Engineer or MEP Engineer using Revit & collaboration with an Architect using Bentley tools, but it ain’t much good if its the other way around from my experience.

We have a very complex project where we would have ideally liked to have linked in the Structural Engineers Bentley Structural Model & the facade Architects Microstation model into separate Revit models which we could then link into our main model. IFC I hear you shout! Well good luck with that, as its been a nightmare to get that to work. I will apportion some of the blame to both Autodesk & Bentley for not getting their act together to address the IFC disorder. Although, I have to say Revit 2013 IFC is way better than previous releases, but as this project must remain in Revit 2012 & most of the modelling is now complete, I’m not going to worry about it now. All I can say, is thank goodness for Navisworks! :-)

So the point of the post? People ask my; sorry! people tell me, that I have sold my soul to Autodesk Revit machine. That really isn’t the case, trust me. But right now due to limitations in interoperability I find it preferably to work on the same technology platform. Lets hope the holy grail of IFC does one day allow us to deliver robust data between technology platforms.

Leapmotion

You should check this out…this looks like an excellent piece of technology! I can imagine driving Revit or Navisworks using the this, just a thought. :-)

http://leapmotion.com/

IMAGINiT release new version of IMAGINiT Clarity

IMAGINiT Technologies division has released IMAGINiT Clarity and IMAGINiT Clarity LT for Autodesk Revit Server 2013 software. Designed to enhance the Revit Server platform, this web-based solution offers new and enriched features – all while supporting side-by-side installations of Autodesk Revit 2013 and 2012. Internal team members and external partners can dramatically improve project collaboration, automate repetitive tasks, and provide valuable data to non-Revit users with simple setup, easy administration and secure connectivity.

Architecture, engineering, and construction firms with multiple offices and multiple partners are now able to securely share a centrally hosted Revit 2012 or 2013 BIM model securely. New features enhance collaboration and significantly cut both time and resources required to complete essential tasks.

 

Secure Building Information Models

The new version of IMAGINiT Clarity helps minimize risk of downtime by supporting the ability to host different BIM projects on multiple central host servers. This optional mesh configuration eliminates the single point of failure issue by distributing different projects across multiple servers and also provides load balancing ability for users, projects, regional pipelines and servers.

IMAGINiT Clarity’s central dashboard makes management easy with the ability to view, manage and monitor all of the central host servers as well as local accelerator servers without having to log into each of them separately.

 

Distributed Task Servers

To ensure the host servers are focused on critical functions, the automation of tasks can now be assigned and scheduled to other servers and/or workstations. The new version of Clarity allows specific hardware to conduct mundane tasks while freeing up the mission critical servers and staff to undertake higher value tasks.

To share model data with people who don’t use Revit, IMAGINiT Clarity also provides more export options when transforming model data into file formats. In addition to PDF, DWF, Data Export and Image Export file formats, IMAGINiT Clarity can now also automatically generate both DWG and IFC files.

 

Easy Administration

IMAGINiT Clarity’s dashboard graphically displays the real-time network health of all central and local servers and activity for all BIM projects. The dashboard also provides alerts as they arise such as Model Locks, bandwith or connectivity errors, assisting the administrator to both pinpoint concerns and quickly correct the issue. Additional enhancements with this release include extending the integration and synchronization of Active Directory to virtually eliminate additional IT management required for setting up or managing user and permissions within IMAGINiT Clarity.

New LT Edition

Organizations of many sizes can benefit from Clarity, but not all need the entire package. Seeing this need, IMAGINiT created Clarity LT which helps organizations looking to get started with project sharing and security. Limited to 2 active projects and 25 users, Clarity LT has the same overall capabilities of IMAGINiT Clarity

Why unified Autodesk login is a mess

Ok, I don’t generally rant…(my wife thinks differently)…..but the unified Autodesk login is a total mess. Now it maybe that is has a lot to do with legacy login details when I was at Excitech (reseller). When I moved to HOK, I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to get it fixed. Finally it got is resolved. Then this year when I logged into the Subs centre I only saw a fraction of what I was supposed to see. Today, I can’t login at all!!!! Try to reset the pass word but “Computer says No!”….so what does this mean….well I can’t login to the Subs centre, I am locked out of the Cloud & I can’t access anything on the Autodesk Labs website. A wasted afternoon.

I guess those guys at the support centre will react & get it sorted, but this is not much good if you are trying to work at the weekend. Maybe the lesson is not to work at the weekend as the Autodesk Cloud is not open for business!

Revit 2013 – stair arrows

Some people are still very  precious about graphically output from Revit, certainly project managers! I can understand why, because in many cases a print, a dwg, a dwfx, a pdf is the project deliverable, it is what people have become accustomed to from CAD. The graphics convey the message, it explains how components are connected or how the design is assembled.

At the recent London Revit User Group I gave a quick overview on the new stair & railing tools in Revit 2013. One eagle eye member of the audience noted that the stair arrow was different. Indeed it is, in Revit 2013 we have a system family for a stair arrow. So you can now customise this to meet your office graphic deliverable standards. I am not going to go through all the settings, but if you draw a stair in Revit 2013, tab select the default stair arrow & you will find you can now modify to your hearts desire.