BIM & BEAM

Worksharing Monitor and Batch Print Utility tools are now available in the Autodesk Subscription Center.

After several months of Beta testing by some Revit Architecture, Structure and MEP customers in My Feedback Portal website, the official release of Revit 2008 Worksharing Monitor and Batch Print Utility tools are now available in the Autodesk Subscription Center.

I would like to take this opportunity to guide you how to access to the Autodesk Subscription Center as I know that some users in the AUGI forum have asked this question several times.

1- Go to http://www.autodesk.com/subscription and click on "Log in to Subscription Center"

2- Enter your User ID and Password. Only company with Subscription can get access into the Subscription Center.

3- Once logged in, go to the middle of the page and you will see "Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC): Products Modules and &-Ons", press Click here

4- The following page is where you can download all the "COOL" stuffs. Depending on which Autodesk product(s) you've purchased and entitled, you may or may not see all the links below.

For Revit Structure user, currently you can download:

-Revit 2008 Worksharing Monitor (NEW)

-Revit 2008 Batch Print Utility (NEW)

P.S. Although those two tools are placed under Architectural Solutions, they can be installed in Revit Structure product without any problem.

Under the Structural Engineering Solutions, Revit Structure user can download:

-Revit Structure TrussWizard 

-Subscription Structural Library (We will try to upload new content from time to time (every couple of months) and we will announce it in AUGI and our blog)

-Extensions for Revit® - Full Package (COMING SOON, please be patient J)

IMPORTANT: Revit Architecture and MEP users won't be able to install Extensions for Revit® - Full Package and TrussWizard as those tools are developed for Revit Structure product only.

5- Once you click on one of the above tool. It will lead you to their individual download page with a brief overview. You can then download the Application and the ReadMe file.

Sample of Revit 2008 Worksharing Monitor page:

Wai

Interface between Revit® Structure and STAAD.Pro

Structural Integrators is currently developing an interface between Revit® Structure, and STAAD.Pro. The initial version of the link will be free to registered users of Structural Integrators, and will be a one-way link from Revit Structure to STAAD.Pro.  Future releases will provide full bi-directional integration between these two products.

In anticipation of the 2008 Q1 release of the link, Structural Integrators is seeking beta testers.  If you already own Revit® Structure and STAAD.Pro and would like to be a beta tester for this interface, please go to http://structuralintegrators.com/staad.php

Nicolas

Area Calculation – Is it possible in Revit Structure?

The answer is YES!

In the past, Nicolas and I have received a few emails from some Europe or Australia/New Zealand structural users saying that they need to calculate Area in their project and asking how can they achieve that in Revit Structure?

It is possible to achieve, but users need to know how to find the Area tool UI as they can access the Area tool in Revit Structure ONLY from the top horizontal Menu Bar.

Here are the steps:

1- First user needs to go to View > New > Area Plan.

2- Choose the Level that you would like to calculate the Area.

3- In the following screen, for demo purpose, I will choose "No" so that I can show you how to manually sketch the Area Boundary.

4- Once you click Yes or No, if you take a look on the Project Browser, you will see a new category called Area Plans (Rentable) and you can simply double click on the Level 1 Area plan which you've just created.

Important to know: Unlike a regular Structural Plan view where user can go to View Properties > Edit/New and adjust the View Direction to "Down" or "Up". There is a limitation for Area Plan that its View Direction can only be looking "Down" and user cannot really change it.

5- In the Area Plan (Rentable) – Level 1, go to View > Visibility/Graphics to turn on the Annotation Categories for Area Tags.

6- Go to Drafting > Area Boundary in order to define your areas.

7- Using the Pen/Draw option, start drawing and defining the area boundary that you would like to insert and calculate the area.

8- Go to Drafting > Area in order to insert the Area element and find out the square footage.

9- Revit Structure will ask you to Load an Area Tags family and you can say Yes.

10- Select the Area Tag.rfa under Annotations.

11- With the mouse curser, click inside the Area Boundary in order to insert the Area element and its associated Area Tag.

12- You can rename each Area by clicking on the Area element which is the invisible "X" (not the Tag!). Go to Element Properties and rename it.

13- Once everything is done, you can then create an Area Schedule (Rentable) by using your Schedule knowledge :-)

Wai

Autodesk Completes Acquisition of RoboBAT

Dear Revit Structure users,

I am very happy to hear that Autodesk has announced today that it has completed the acquisition of RoboBAT.

For more information, please take a look on the below link:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080115/aqtu089.html?.v=32

Best Regards,

Nicolas and Wai

New structural .rfa content available in the Subscription Center

Dear Revit Structure users,

Our product team has just uploaded some new structural .rfa content in the Subscription Center for you to download.

New content includes some AISC 13th Editions steel sections, Joist Girders, many UK Metric families and Finland ones, etc.

Once log into the Subscription Center, scroll down to "Product Information & Downloads" section and click on "Building Solutions: Product Modules & Add-Ons". Under "Structural Engineering Solutions" click on "Subscription Structural Library".

Please feel free to try it out and give us some feedback.

Thanks

Wai

NEW RISA/Revit Structure Link Now Available!

Version 6 of the RISA-3D & RISAFloor link with Revit Structure is now available for download. This is a full two-way link which means you can start modeling in RISA-3D or RISAFloor and send the model to Revit Structure. You can also model in Revit Structure first.

This bi-directional capability offers complete flexibility in the design process by allowing the engineer to decide where to start modeling. Visit their website at www.risatech.com for more information and to download this new link.

New Build 20080101_2345 to address the Y2K8 issue

We just posted a new build (20080101_2345) of Revit Architecture 2008, Revit Structure 2008 and Revit MEP 2008 that fixes this problem: http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS1079766.

It is still considered Web Update #3 because replacing the existing file was the fastest method of delivering it to the public. Therefore, the executable file names are the same as the previous SP3 builds (20071109_2345 or 20071209_1300).

We have updated the Web Update Enhancement Lists to add the following items:

·       Improves stability when editing groups, saving views/groups to the library or creating a new project with template set to “None”.

·       Improves stability when upgrading or linking a project from Autodesk Revit Building 8.1/Revit Structure 2 or older.

I would also like to inform everyone that we are only releasing this fix in the English version. Because of the time necessary to localize the update for the other languages, it would not be ready before February 1st, 2008 when the problem will go away.

The Web Updates can be downloaded by going to:

RAC: www.autodesk.com/revitarchitecture-download
RST: www.autodesk.com/revitstructure-downloads
RME: www.autodesk.com/revitmep-download

Thanks to everyone for their patience while we work through this problem.

Wai

Oasys GSA - Revit Structure Plug In is now available!

GSA now includes a bi-directional link between Revit Structure and GSA. With this Revit users can transfer model information between Revit and GSA with minimal loss of data:

http://www.oasys-software.com/products/structural/gsa/revit.shtml 

Options are accessed from the External Tools menu within Revit Structure including:

• Export a Revit model to GSA
• Update changes made in GSA back into the Revit model
• Update changes made in Revit back into the GSA model
• Create a new Revit model from GSA

 

The following elements are transferred while exporting a model from Revit to GSA:

• Revit Levels translate to GSA grid planes
• Revit Grids translate to GSA grid lines
• Revit beams and columns are transferred as GSA members
• Revit floors and slabs form GSA areas

The model can be exported as a whole or as a selected sub-set. There is option to coordinate with the GSA analysis layer, though coordination with the GSA design layer is encouraged (as the design data is less likely to require re-working).

Coordination of Revit and GSA objects is maintained throughout the bi-directional process, with extra data on either side being preserved.

Details of the transfer are recorded and reported, to give confidence in the data that has been coordinated, to identify any assumptions that may have been made, and to alert users of any failures in the process.

Oasys steel, concrete and general standard sections can be loaded into Revit models. Referencing Oasys sections in the Revit model results in strong coordination between the Revit and GSA sections during data transfer.