Worksets: how and why in any flavor of Revit

WORKSETS.  Has any word caused more fear and dread in the heart of man?   

Probably.  But worksets and the whole concept is one area that people have an honest fear of within the Revit product line.  We are going exploring down the workset path in this weeks Professional Development Hour.   You will see the methods to incorporate worksets in a project so multiple people can work on a single project within Revit.  We will explore what worksets are, how to workshare, new tools for worksharing, and best practices based on discipline.  Prepare to be amazed at how easy worksets are once you understand the concept.  click here to sign up:  PDH Signup

Max-imize your Revit Architecture

Visualization with Revit Architecture to 3ds Max 2008

In this web-session we will show how to take a existing developed building model in Revit Architecture with applied materials and other model settings into 3ds Max for final rendering. We will develop the scene for rendering by creating camera and environments. Improve your overall quality of your renderings by using the Mental Ray rendering engine and produce realistic images with the use of these customized tools. Learn how to save time by effective use of both Revit Architecture and 3ds Max.  Please note that this is a general overview session not intended to be used as in-depth training.

Redefining the Initial Sketch Plane in Inventor 2008

One question I sometimes receive from clients is controlling the orientation of our views after our part has already been modeled. One of the ways we can harness this capability in Inventor 2008 is the process of redefining our initial sketch plane.

By default all of your initial sketches are created on the XY plane (unless we choose otherwise). When we reach the point of placing our initial views in our drawing, one of our options for placement is the Front View, labeled XY, meaning if we use our ‘Look At’ tool in our model and choose the XY plane from our origin folder, we will see our corresponding view from our drawing.

By viewing my model below, you will get a clearer picture about what I mean:

NOTE: As we change the orientation of our initial sketch plane, any & all views in our drawing will update. For this example, I use a drawing with a Front view already placed.

Here is an isometric view of a part below. Keep note of my 3-D indicator in the bottom left corner referencing the XYZ planes (Red=X, Green=Y, Blue=Z)

Next I’ll use my ‘Look At’ Tool and choose the XY plane.

Again, notice the orientation of my 3D Indicator. You can see as I hover my cursor over the initial sketch, all of the sketch geometry becomes highlighted and is Normal to my default sketch plane, being the XY plane.

The corresponding ‘Front’ view in my drawing is shown below.

However, sometimes after our model has been created, we may need to manipulate the orientation of the views in our model and our drawing. We can do this by redefining our initial sketch plane. This is done by simply performing a Right Mouse Click on our initial sketch (In my example, the initial sketch creating my Revolution), and selecting ‘Redefine’.

Then simply choose the new plane we would like our sketch geometry to be placed upon. In this example, I chose the YZ plane. Notice the corresponding directions of my 3D indicator.

If we use our ‘Look At’ tool once more, and again choose our ‘XY’ plane now we get the corresponding view.

Finally, notice how the view in our drawing automatically recognizes our change and makes the corresponding update.

Thank you for visiting our website and accessing our tips and tricks. I hope this will benefit you in the future and allow you to make any necessary orientation changes seamlessly & effectively.

Paul Cetnar
Application Engineer, Manufacturing Solutions Division

Civil Engineering Professional Development Hour

Join me Friday, January 18th for: Taking Advantage of Points. Not only are points used by Surveyors for mapping and construction staking, but they are widely used as a design tool by Engineers as well. In this demonstration, you will grasp the concept of both Point Styles and Point Label Styles. I will show how to import and export points from Civil 3D and the mysterious world of the “Create Points” toolbar. I will also uncover the many settings available under Point Command Settings that can be adjusted to help increase workflow and productivity! Let’s not forget about Point Groups and Description Keys…we will examine both functionalities. If your organization has battled with using Point Groups over Description Keys, this will help you to make an informed decision! Join me in talking about Points from A to Z!

The webinar begins at noon and goes to 1pm Eastern time! You can come into the Plymouth, Michigan office and watch me live, or view it from the comfort of your office. Click here to sign up.

For office locations, click here.

Add the Civil 3D Extensions to your Cui!

Have you ever wanted to add your Civil 3D Extensions to your cui?

First:  Civil 3D extensions.
There are currently 3 Civil 3D extensions. Each extension comes with manual instructions on incorporating the necessary commands to access the extension from within Civil 3D. If it would help you, I put together a partial menu file that you can quickly add the commands to launch the new extensions to your Civil 3D menu. The partial menu creates new pull down menu called C3D Extensions. (I am calling the Hydraflow application via. an AutoCAD shell command. Quick and easy but not the most graceful. Feel free to refine as you see fit. Usage of the .cui assumes the Extensions have already been installed to their default locations. You can access the install files for the extensions from the links below:

• Survey Extension: civilcommunity.autodesk.com/content/utilities/view/5891″
• Define Traverse Stations from Figure
• Translate Survey Network
• Survey Link: usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/section?siteID=123112&id=613372
• Hydraflow Storm Sewer Extension: usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=10375755

Manufacturing Professional Developement Hour

Join me Friday December 28th for: Verify Form and Fit of Tubing, Piping, and Flexible Hoses without Costly Manual Layout Processes. I will be showing features of Autodesk Inventor Professional for designing runs ridged pipe with fittings, tubing, and flexible hosing. With ridged pipe, I’ll dig into the various styles provided with Inventor and adding and replacing fittings. With tubing we will look a various ways of creating the route for tubing we want to create. I will be showing how to define your own style for creating flexible hosing for pneumatic hoses. 

If you design tubing, pipes, or hoses, if your design contain tubing, pipes, or hoses then this PDH (Professional Development Hour) is for you.

We start promptly at noon, est. If you are in Central Kentucky, we would love to have you visit us at our Lexington Office: www.advancedsolutionsonline.com/about/locations.aspx 

You can also attend from the comfort of your desk. Sign up at: www.advancedsolutionsonline.com/manufacturing/prodevhour.aspx

Professional Developement Webinar – Vaulting in AutoCAD Civil 3D!

Happy Monday!!!

My topic this Friday, Dec. 14th is Project Management Workflow Using Autodesk Vault. My intent is to demonstrate how organizations can efficiently collaborate using AutoCAD Civil 3D; within their design teams as well as with clients and consultants. Integrated into Autodesk Civil 3D software, Autodesk Vault is a management system for sharing design data across project teams. By providing multiple team members with parallel, controlled access to designs, Autodesk Vault helps to maintain data integrity across projects. Your project teams will have the ability to work more efficiently, complete projects faster, and reduce the risk of errors. I will take a closer look at Vaulting with AutoCad Civil 3D:

1. How to share data with consultants and clients?
2. What is considered “project data” now?
3. Why use Vault over Data Shortcuts?
4. Where does project data live in a vaulted environment?

If you have ever asked or wondered what the answer is to any of these questions, than this is the webinar for you/and or your organization. Our focus should be current Land Desktop customers as well as all prospects using some other civil design software. Legacy application software remained largely static over the past five releases of AutoCAD. In contrast, AutoCAD Civil 3D creates custom objects which are dynamic and kept in a single location.

Register to view the webinar!

Susan

Blog with Me….

Hello! My name is Susan Palazzola, I am a Technical Engineer – Civil with Advanced Solutions. I have been with Advanced Solutions for 15 months now and I love my job! Mostly because I love working with Civil 3D! Prior to working here at Advanced Solutions I worked for a Civil Engineering Firm in Michigan for ten years; working on topographic surveys to aiding in the drafting of large subdivisions, road rehabilitation projects, sanitary & storm sewer designs to name a few. Now I have the pleasure of working with AutoCAD Civil 3D with many customers and clients to improve their project lifecycle and workflow with this Dynamic Engineering Application. Stay tuned as I will begin blogging about specific features within Civil 3D!!!

I also present a weekly Professional Development Webinar every Friday afternoon during lunch on various topics within Civil 3D. Not only do I demonstrate how to use the software, but I put a business spin on it as well! Visit our website  and sign up to watch the webinar from the comfort of your office or come to one of our offices and view the webinar!

Have a great afternoon…….

Susan