| | ‘ = Diamond Sponsors es AUGIWorld The Official Publication of Autodesk User Group International | TOES aa ~ Also in This Issue = Are You Taking Full Advantage of Civil 3D? = BIM Then and Now = Back to Basics in Revit Structure> Make your . NVIDIA. building projects more awesome with Take your design Innovation tothe next level with Z Workstations from HP. Featuring next-gen intl” Xeon” processors andhigh-end NVIDIA® Quadro" graphics, Workstations ae specially designed to accelerate your most demanding IM ‘workflows. Now you can tackle large and complex datasets andrenderings wth no slowdovno ost me, Stay ahead af the curve with the innovation, high performance, ‘xpandabity, andelabity oH 2 destop, mobile, andvirtua workstations. Find out whet mokes HP Z Workstation the world's #1 workstation brand Learn more at hyp.com/go/bimAUGIWorld contents product focus Citas tosh ane 6 CAD Manager The Protégé Perspective 28 Revit Structure Back To Basics 8 Revit MEP 34 AutoCAD Introduction to Revit Macros, Part 2 Architecture Rendering Materials in ACA. 14 AutoCAD 38 BIM Construction New Old Tricks for Newbies and Old Dogs BIM Then and Now 18 Revit Architecture 40 AutoCAD Civil 3D No Magic Wand, in Life OR Revit Are You Taking Full Advantage of Civil 3D? 20 Inventor 44 3ds Max Tips for Advanced Assembly Control 50 Fast Tips & Tricks columns 4 Letter from the President 12 Technology in Practice, with CASE & HP 47 Inside Track March 2015 vmwaugicomLetter from the President “AUG! MUSINGS REGARDING AUTODESK ecently had a meeting with several folks from Autodesk. The meet: ing was productive in thac everyone came away with a better under- standing of what we could provide for each other, AUGI has areas of strength thar Autodesk appreciates. MARCH 2015 “The largest strength that AUGI has is its membership. Hundreds of thousands of Au todesk product users are members of AUGL. This is unique in several aspects. Fis, the vast majority of AUGI's members are folks that use the products day in and clay out, You arent just the manager of a group of users or che administrator of the ‘Autodesk contracts. Yo use the products. Each and every day. You have an amount of experience and feedback that is huge. You should be proud to be a member of such a group of people. Second, AUGI is single resource to reach a huge group of users. This is of obvious ap- peal to companies that want to reach out to such a large group. Rest assured that one of the primary concerns of the AUGI Board of Directors is that you never feel like you are being inundated with offers and promotions. ‘The leadership of AUGI knows that you ‘want to feel a part of a community and not just an entry in a marketing database. Itis the sheer sizeof the membership that helps AUGI be recognized asa voice of importance to ‘Autodesk, The more you utilize your influence as a member of AUGI to provide feed- back via the Wish List, the easier itis to be heard. “Third, when you have an issue with a product, you ae probably not alone, Reach out to the vast experience available to you in the AUG forums. Did you know that many of the ‘most active forum posters are also members of Autodesk's Expert Elite program? AUGI is working with Autodesk so that this talent is visble vo users of ether AUGI's forums co Antodesk’s communities. Having said all hat, some believe that AUGI is pare of Autodesk, the company. That «can be understandable since the word Autodesk’ is in our organization's name. Let's put that idea to rest. The largest strength that AUGI has is that itis an independent voice. ‘Yes, AUGI does inform you of Autodesk's products and programs. But that is why you became a member of AUGI co begin with: you were interested in Autodesk products. If you are passionate about another company’s products you are probably a member of whatever user groups they support. Be proud that you are part of an organization that has such a great membership! R. Robert Bell AUGI President uade ats, uate ede ee, uta et ates Bulg Spt, ude Cul Des, de ‘end Cae te ged ademas oars oad CUE roan oe es Ae wwauglcom AUGIWorld www augiworld.com Editors Editor in-Chiet Dana Herrman -davitharngonaugicom Copy Faitor Layout Editor Content Managers Fevit Semmctare Kimberly F int Sales snagerGaugi cor Advertising / Re} kevin Mernit- oa AUGI Management President R Robert B ‘Treasurer Wat. Spa Secretary Meta Management Kevin Merri -Director July Ratley -Dizector of F avid Harrington - Direc AUG! Board of Directors Momical sie Perry pas Lande fale Spaling Publication Information ‘Alscieea es ©2016 AUGI No informa maybe iprechted Witole ® quel March 2015bim arcat.com ‘oviaamil arcat.comCOLUMN CAD Manager A \ A by: Mark Kiker , "The Protege Perspective n chs tied installment ofthe Mentoring series, I explore the perspective ofthe protégé, We can nor expect mentoring to work wel without both mencor and protégé being fully involved. Becoming a protégé is something we all should do. Everyone, at every level of an organization and with any ttle, can and should become a protégé under a mentor. Learning from and gatherin inpuc from others on a level that goes beyond cask manageme: and business processes, the mentor can provide che protégé with valuable insight into office politics, unspoken alliances, real power brokers, connections that go beyond the org chart, and hidden land mines that the protégé may step on without realizing it Mentors need a protégé. Without an engaged protégé, mentors are jus elking to themselves, Without an invelved protégé, men- tors are just tossing advice into che wind. Without a responsi protégé, mentors are left feling like their encouragement is falling oon deaf ears. So let's look at several areas co see what is needed from the protégés perspective with regard to being plagged-in, en ergized, and ready for action, wwwauglcom Protégé interactions can take on many shapes. They can be focused. ‘on technology upd advice, or just connecting on a specific topic. I have been a protégé via formal and informal connections. Many tim ‘ed with people and never old them that I fel like a protégé. [just identified someone that I thought knew more about something than I. I sidled up next to them for a while and learned what they knew. I have watched people from a distance who handled tough situations better than Ido, so I garnered ideas and approaches that helped me later. es, navigating company politics, getting career No matter how you approach these kinds of interactions, a pro ‘tégé is simply a person who is learning from another by coming alongside, Lam not a protégé when I read a book or watch a video. “There is no interaction between the persons involved. I may be ‘come a protégé when taking a clas if !nurcurea relationship with the teacher that extends beyond the class location or topic. I am. a protégé when I connect with someone on a regular basis, with deeper involvement fora defined goa. Inall protégé relationships, there are a few common threads. March 2015A PROTEGE NEEDS TO BE ENGAGED Engagement isa term used in measuring employee morale, focus, initiative, and more. Ic was defined in the 1990s and has since been used in surveys and such to define just how energized the employees are. One definition proposed “an employee's involve ‘ment with, commicment to, and satisfaction with work.” With a protégé, the need is to be involved with the mentor, have the commitment to make things happen, and gain satisfaction from participating in the process. Engagement covers the full breadth of the perspective the protégé needs to nucture. They need to get engaged and stay engaged CAD Manager ‘ually challenge their advice if i seems off target. This repartee, with back and forth, open and honest discussions, will prove so valuable to che protégé. “The protégé will ao seek to be responsive to the mentor's need for ‘more information. ‘The two may even respectfally flip roles—the protégé may become the mentor on a specific topic of interest to the mentor. It is a two-way street. The best protégés will know when co offer advice back to the mentor. And a good mentor will welcome it. A PROTEGE NEEDS TO TAKE ACTION A PROTEGE NEEDS TO he best wot Beyondl being sesponsive while inter- HAVE COMMITMENT e best protegés acting with the mentor, the protégé knowthat they need imust be devoted to taking action on A protégé needs to have a commit- ment level that sets other things asi to interact with the mentor. They keep tw the schedule of agreed-upon meet- ings and move calendar items around if needed. ‘They commit themselves to staying with che process. They also commit themselves to taking action “They are not passive listeners; instead, they initiate actions born of conversa- tions with the mentor. More on this lates duplicate, A PROTEGE NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED “This means that the protégé should be involved in a manner that encourages discussion, pondering, refining, and planning on how the information provided by the mentor might be used. They should be interactive and inquisitive. ‘They need to ask questions, listen tothe answers, be introspective about what the mentor says, and then define how they might put the advice into practice. Involvement also means full disclosure and honesty with che mentor. ‘They need to speak the truth and divulge fall informa tion about the topic being discussed. Providing half-truths o partial, one-sided information will not allow the mentor to give the best advice. ‘The protégé also needs to be willing to ask the tough questions of the mentor. Mentors are accustomed co ask- ing tough questions, but protégés must also dig deep into men- tors’ perspectives so that they can filter it through cheir own viewpoints A PROTEGE NEEDS TO BE RESPONSIVE ‘When interacting with a mentor, the protégé needs to be respon: sive. They are active listeners that take notes. They ask for clarifi- cation on items that are not fully understood. They are not afraid to ask dumb questions (because the mentor makes them feel chac comfortable). They are nor intimidated by the mentor but will ae- March 2015 to act as themselves and that attempts to reenact, or even march along the same path as the mentor may not work as hoped. the mentor provided advice, input, and observations. [ am not talking about taking every word as a command. Rather, proteges should pass the in- formation and perspectives of mentors through thei own filters, observations, talents, and goals and then come away with a plan of action. ‘The best protégés know that they need to act as themselves and that attempts to duplicate, reen- act, or even march along the same path as the mentor may not work as hoped. The protégé is focused, self reflective, proae- tive, and resilient, They are nor derailed when things get tough. They may go back and reevaluate their efforts with che help of their mentor, but they continue to move forward. ‘They are thankful for the input and advice they ger- ‘As you can see, being a protégé (or a mentor) is not an easy task, but ic is a rewarding one for those who choose to follow it. By ‘working out a good relationship with one or many mentors, you «can make more progress than by going it alone. I encourage you to step out and ask someone to be your mentor. ‘Mark Kiker has more than 25 years of hands-on experience with technol- gy. He is fully versed in every area of. ‘management from deployment plan- ning, installation, and. configuration 0 training and strategie planning. Asan internationally known speaker and writer, be isa returning speaker at Autodesk University since 1996, Mark is currently serving as Direc- tor of IT for SIATech, a non-profit public charter high school focused on dropout recovery. He maintains two bog sites, www.caddmanagercom and wwwsbimmanagercom. ‘woraugwori.com NIN'TOOPRODUCT FOCUS Revit MEP by: Troy Gates Introduction to Revit Macros, Part 2 ‘a my previous article “Introduction to Revit Macros,” which appeared in the November 2014 issue of AUGIWerld, I outlined the ba- sics of writing macros in Revit. In this follow ‘particle I will step through a macro thac was made specifically for my previous company, an MEP firm, The macro is for use during project setup to create views for each of the MEP disciplines. wwauglcom ‘The macro, called "CreateMEPViews,” will create several disci- pline views for each level inthe model I bul dhis macro because I ‘was spending hours setting up large projects in Autodesk” Revit’. ‘The process of duplicating a view, renaming it, and applying a view template for every discipline for every level in the model is very time consuming, especially on large, multi-story projects. March 2015“This macro is meant to be eun after an architectural model has been linked into your MEP model and copy/monitor has been used to copy the architectural levels into your MEP model. In this article, che maceo is listed in its enticety first. Following that I break ie down to explain the code. Note: You will need to modify the view names and view tem- plate names to reflect the ones in your model before running this macro; otherwise ic will result in an ertor. 11 Desesiption: C project public void! Create MEPViews() { cate MEP discipline views for each level in the tive Documents Document doc = uidoc. Document; UlDocument uidoc {/ gerall elements in che model FikceredElementCollector collector = new FileeredElementCollector(doc); 1 flee ou everything but levels ICollection colletion = collector. OfClass(«ypeo!(Level)).ToElements(); | eveate and start a new transaction uusing(Transaction ¢ = new Teansaetion(doc, “Create MEP Views") t eSeare(); // add a counter to count the number of views created // loop through each level in the model foreach (Elemente in collection) { wy Level level = es Level; // co use the routines for createFloorPlan or createCeilingPlan, supply the // following. vo Wl el //_ planName = text to use after level name (include a space at 11 beginning) Jf viewTempName = the exact, view cemplate name co be H1 applied to the view 11 uidoe = uidoe (from above) H1 doc = doe (from above //BIM Management ‘ereateFloorPlan( level,” - BIM Management’, March 2015 Revit MEP b_BIM Management Floor Plan’, uidoc, doc); xeoh // Lighting RCP cereateCeilingPlan(level,- LIGHTIN' *_¢ Lighting RCP’, uidoe, doe); xeeh H/ Power ‘reateFloorPlan(level, “- POWER’, "e Power Floor Plan’, widoc, dac); xesh 11 Special Systems ‘ereateFloorPlan(level, “- SPECIAL SYS "TEMS", "_e_Special Systems Floor Plan’, uuidoc, doe); xtsh H Mechanical createFloorPlan(level,“ - MECHANICAL", *_m_Mechanical Floor Plan’, uidoe, doc}; H/ Mechanical RCP. createCeilingPlan(level,”- MECHANICAL CEILING’, “_m_Mechanical RCP”, nidoe, doe); xt=h 1/ Plumbing createFloorPlan(level, “- PLUMBING", *_p Plumbing Floor Plan’, uidec, doc); cacch(Exception ex) f 1/ finalize teansaction Commie(): // show dialog of how many views were created ‘TaskDialog. Show("‘CreateMEP Views, "Views Cre ated:" + x:ToString()); ‘wavaugwor.com Jereleu mn reyelarey- telPRODUCT FOCUS Revit MEP // Description: Create a new Floor Plan View and apply View Template public void createFloorPlan(Level ist, string planName, string viewTempName, UIDocument uidoe, Document doc) 11 Find a floor plan view type IEnumerable< ViewFamilyType> viewFamily Types = from lem in new. FilteredElementCollector( loc). OfClass(cypeof (ViewFamilyType)) let type = elem as ViewFamily Type where type. ViewFamily == ViewFamily FloorPlan select type: 1 create a new floor plan ‘ViewPlan newViewPlan = ViewPlan.Greate(doc, viewFam Aly Types Fies()-Ld, Ld); 17 change the name to the level name (in uppercase) + he name provided (planNName) / when calling the routine new ViewPlan.Name = lvl Name-ToUpper() + planName: 1/ find dhe view cemplace provided (view TempName) when calling che routine View view Temp = (from vin new FilteredElementCollector( doc). OfClass(cypeoft View)). Cast() where vlsTemplate == true &¢& v.Name == view “TempName select v) First); 1/ apply the view template co the view new ViewPlan ViewTemplateld = viewTemp.d; } 1/ Description: Create a new Ceiling Plan View and apply View Templace public void createCeilingPlan(Level Iv. string planName, string viewTempName, UIDocument uidoe, Document do:) { 1 Find a ceiling plan view type IEnumerable< ViewFamilyType> viewFamily Types = from lem in new FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(«ypeof (ViewEamilyType)) let type = elem as ViewFamily Type where type. ViewFamily == ViewFamily.CeilingPlan {1 create a new ceiling plan ViewPlan newViewPlan = ViewPlan.Create(doc, viewFamily Types First), lvId); // change the name to the level name (in uppercase) name provided (planName) #/ when calling the routine new ViewPlan.Name = lv. Name-ToUpper() + planName: // ind the view cemplate provided (viewTempName) when calling the routine wwauglcom ‘View view'Temp = (from v in new FilteredElementCollector(doc).OfClass(ypeof{View)). Cast() where vsTemplate == true && v.Name == view- ‘TempName select v) First /1 apply the view tempiate to he view new ViewPlan. ViewTemplateld = viewTemp Id; // covuen co original maceo } First, I need eo define the Revit UL and Document objects so L ‘can work with che current Revit model. UlDocument widoe = this.ActiveUIDocument; Document doc = uidec: Document; “This code will collec ll che levels in the model so I can create views for each level. FilceredElementCollector collector = new FileeredElementCollector(doc); ICollection collection = collector. OfClass(cypeof{Level)).ToBlements(); Next, I need to ereate a transaction. A transaction is required whenever I am going to make changes to the Revit model. In this case, Lam creating views. Then I am going to start the transaction named using(Transaction ¢ = new Transaction(doc, “Create MEP, “7 eStart(); In order to show a dialog at the end of the macro with how many views were created, I use the following code co create a counter named "2". int x= 0; ‘Now I will stare looping through each level. The foreach code in C# will step through each level in my model and run the code within its set of brackets { }. After running the code on the first level ie will stare at the top again and run the code on the next level in the model. It will do this until i has reached the last level and then ic will continue on with the code outside the foreach, foreach (Element ein colletion) {In the fist article I explained abou the try and eatch cools used for error catching within macros. [use this here to catch any errors ‘that might occur when I start the process of creating my views. March 2015[Next I need to define thar the elements in my collection ate actu ally levels. This bit of code does just that. Level level = eas Level; Now I get into the meat of my code, which is creating the dif- ferent discipline views, naming them appropriately, and final- ly applying a view template. Becanse I want to do the same thing over and over with differene disciplines, T can reduce the amount of code by creating a routine that can be reused as many times as I want. I have created two separate routines, cone for floor plans and one for ceiling plans because they use a bic of different code. I will explain how the floor plan routine works and you can review the ceiling plan routine to see the minor differences First, [ need to create a routine outside of my main macro code. 1 then need to name it and list the information it needs from my ‘main macro in order to run the code. I named the routine create FloorPlan. lerequires Level, the name for the new view, the view template name, and che Revit UI and Document objects in which Lam currently running the main macro, public void createFloorPlan( Level lvl string planName, string view TempName, UIDocument nidoc, Document doe) Next, I need to get the type of view that I am going to be ereat- ing. In this case, is a for plan. The following code will search through all che view types in the model and find the one chat rep- resents. a floor plan. Because the line of code is so long, it has been broken into multiple lines for easier reading, TEnumerable viewFamily Types = from clem in new Filtered ElementCollector(doc).OfClass(eypeof (ViewFamilyType)) lee type = elem as ViewFamily Type where type. ViewFamily == ViewFamily.FloorPlan select types Now that I have the view type, [can ereate the view based on all the supplied information (Document, View Family Type Id, and the Level Id). ‘ViewPlan newViewPlan = ViewPlan.Create(doc, viewBamily Types.First()-d, W.ld); With the view created, I can now name it based on the Level name plus the discipline name I provided. I also use a method co make it UPPERCASE. newViewPlan. Name = Io Name.ToUpper() + plasNames March 2015 Revit MEP Finally I search through the model for my view template for which provided the name and then apply it tothe newly created view and a renuen statement to get back to my main macro. View view Temp = (from v in new FilteredElementColleetor{ doc) OfClass(typeof{ View)). Case() where vs Template == true &8 v.Name TempName select v)-First(); newViewPlan, ViewTemplateld = viewTemp.ld With this routine in place, Ian now calli from my main macro with the following code. I supply the Level, the discipline name L want added to the view name, the view template name (must be exact and in my current model), and the UI and Document objects for my current model. You'll see in the full code listing above, I reuse the same cosle again for each of the disciplines and their appropriate view templates. I also increment the counter (x) by 1 because I have added a new view to the rotal being cre- ated by the macro. LIGHTING’, " createCeilingPlan(level RCP", uidoe, doe): 1 Lighting, [Nex I need to commit the changes to the Revit model and ehen finally, show a dialog box with che coral number of views created using my counter object (x). Commit() “TaskDialog Show("CreateMEP Views’, "Views Created: "+ xToSteing()); If you want to download the code above in a text file, you can download ic from here: hetp://g00.g1/YOXs9Q Troy Gates, Design Technologies ‘Manager for KTGY Group, has more ‘has 20 years of experience in te cv architectural, and MEP engineering industries. Hecurrenty manages all BIM. and Design Tecbnolgy related software and process for KTGY. He bas worked swith several firms in the past 10 years implementing BIMreated technologies and processes. Toy is also an Autodesk Revit Cored Profesional, Autodesk Revit Implementation Certified Expert, and isin the Las Angeles Revit Users Group leadership eam. ‘wavaugwor.com [2! Bs} fe} SG [eI [e ra [Es {e) le) fo [221Tech Insights nyone who uses a current version SE AtoCAD? knows ther fier jut for 2D drafting anymore. In fact, with the ability co import 3D geometry from other software packages or from 3D scanned point cloud files, AutoCAD is becoming a 2D/3D, everything-for-everyone product in many companies— making 3D performance a much larger issue than i has been in years past. OF course, the ability to visualize this 3D geometry requires computing resources that are well beyond the capabilites of most con as CAD models grow ever larger, the proc ystem RAM speed, and controller technologies thac being the data from storage disk co processor must be more robust as well. In short, that four-year-old, dual-core machine with the generic graphics caed, insufficient RAM, and old disk subsystems really isn up to the tasks of today’s AutoCAD product line. (Oftentimes AuoCAD users explain to their management reams that a workstation-class machine will help them get the most out of the application and improve productivity. Unfortunately, managers oftentimes have the mistaken impression that a workstation is‘simply too expensive” Whar many of them donit recognize are the hidden costs of using so-called inexpensive PCs. For example, older dual-core machines equipped with limited RAM and generic graphics cards are usually not buile ro handle huge AutoCAD fies. ‘This means that crashes can and do happen. The result is work having to be started again—redlucing productivity and morale. wwauglcom So how can your organization make a financial case for new workstations? The trick is to figure out how much time you're losing by not having modern, fast, reliable workstations on your users desktops. To do that, you have to ask yourself some basic diagnostic questions: + Whar does it cost every time a computer locks up or crashes? « How much time do we lose due to slow rendering/ processing. of models? + What does it cost when a computer breaks down? + What does it cost to keep up with hardware drivers for new AutoCAD versions? «+ How much time will [T spend keeping computers up to dace? + What are the implications when poorly performing computers keep us from optimizing design iteration and innovation? 4+ What does it cost to be stuck with consumer PCs that we cant upgrade? March 2015Based on those answers, your organization can then total the time you are losing during a three-year service life of a new workstation and compute how long it will ake to pay back the cost of the new workstation. TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ADDED COMPUTING RESOURCES AND RELIABILITY ‘Traditionally workstations cose much more chan consumer PCs and you cant purchase them at the corner big box oflie store. Bur a system such as the HP Z230 SFF Workstation with an Tntel” Core” i7 quad-core processor’ is surprisingly affordable, and brings far more computing resources and reliability to the table chan consumer PCs do. Because AutoCAD 2015-based products do much more visual processing and 3D work than previous versions, exe profesional graphics now becomes amore important component to consider. With certified professional graphics the HP Z230 SFF Workstation is a much more powerful alternative for heavy 3D workloads chan a vanilla consumer PC In addition, AutoCAD 2015 new antialiasing graphics display and high-precision visual styles actually benefit from powerful graphics to creare a much more realistic and readable screen image. Event when working with 2D linework and text, the difference is notable. And when working with point clouds or 3D geometry, the added geaphics and processing power makes athuge difference. For users secking uncompromising power and performance, an HP Z230 SFF with an Intel" Xeon" processor offers the HP Z Turbo drive, a PCle-based SSD storage solution that offers up to two times the performance of conventional SATA SSDs to load applications rapidly and speed through large daca set processing with ease. These SSDs can be combined with mechanical HDDs to meet your need to maximize storage space while stil yielding blazing performance. If you'e still not convinced that the extsa power and relabilicy is worth the extra investment, heres another way to look at it: A CAD professional will typically spend 5,760 hours ac the computer in a three-year period. This translates into an approximate cost of $0.29 per hour for an HP Z230 SFE with an Intel Xeon processer. Why would you ever force a highly compensated professional to suffer with an old, consumer PC when they could be so much more productive for so lice? REDUCING DOWNTIME WITH SERVICEABILITY Of course, when something breaks on your consumer PC, how long does ierake to fix? And how much time does it rake to keep hardware drivers up to date? Contrast your answers with the reality of owning a professional workstation such as the HP 2230 SEB, which offers features stich as March 2015 Tech Insights +A three-year next-day parts replacement and onsite service ‘warranty. The exact part you need will he sent overnight for an, easy swap out. How hard would ibe to figure out and obrain the exact part you need to fix a consumer PC? «Telephone support. HP Z Workstations all offer 24/7/365 phone support. «+ Tool-free servicing, ‘The HP Z230 SEF Workstation has a tool-free chassis that is easy to open and easy to service. That ‘means no messing with screwdrivers, chumbscrews, or cabling. Juse power down, swap out parts, and power up. HP Performance Advisor. This usily eeacks software applications for geaphics drivers and systems settings, and automatically updates your system when greater performance may be obtained. Learn more about how your organization can improve productivity and delivery a retuen on investment through the use of workstations by visiting wwn:hp.com/go/AntoCAD. ABOUT HP HP helps you stay ahead of the curve with professional desktop and mobile workstations designed for large andl omoper aaasers, dpe mam and. ihe deadlines, HP Z Workstations, built for Pros with Intel” Inside", deliver the innovation, high performance, expandability, and extreme reliability you need to deliver your 3D CAD projects in less time. To learn how to configure a HP Z Workstation, visit the HP and Autodesk page at wrwwhp.com/go/autadesk. Start saving now! ABOUT ROBERT GREEN Robert Green provides CAD management consulting, programming, speaking, and training services for clients throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. A ‘mechanical engineer by training and alpha CAD user by choice, ati li all kes ia io edt aed bac Expert CAD Management: ‘The Complete Guide. Reach Robert at rgreen@greenconsulting.com Eco 0 201 Hewlt-Pacdard Deeopeat Conga, LP. Te infra cnane hein eg anceps ree ek Jn theese wary semen corpying sch pra and ares, Nong ae ‘Bou Woot 9 mataig so sed wary. dl ct be ble for estael fold eer x uit ceed len eel ow and Ueber temas list Corston sn he San other coe. mage cnc of A | Mfu-Cone ic design improne pafemance of cain sofware pos Not all cuties er fraeptiaten wl eae nett Bene fs cng ak ‘Spann ye gee Pesormance wl ary deere oars a lar ‘ngs lls ners siren ph prema ‘wavaugwor.com Eye emiii EB = (aa) rd IS} 8. ee: ey leg is Q o foAutoCAD 2015 by: Murray Clack a News Olial THie¢ks for Newoles and) Olid, kay. what? Buc what about ericks thac are still relevant, but never saw che light of day? forgoten(duetoiimprovemenss beat wich the newest fearaes of AutoCAD Let's begin. March 2015START SPREADING THE NEWS Wall actually it'"Seart Spreading the NWS" Regardless of your CAD experience, you are most likely Fail iar wich the ROTATE command and/or rotating objects with GRIP handles. I would also hazard a guess that che majority of the time you rotate your objects 90, 180, or 270 degeees (it should go without saying as co why you dont rotate anyehing 360 degrees. Hore’ the Trick: To cur down on inputting the orthographic nu: meric values, you can simply enter the characters"N,"W", or “S te rotate your objects 90, 180, or 90 respectively when prompted +0" specify rotation angle commend: FO Current positive angle in UCS: NGOTR-counterclechuise AUGBASE-© Select objects: Specify opposite corner: 1 feund Select onjects Specify base point: Specify rotation angle om (Cony/Reference] <@>: N Commend: | Figure OH SNAP TO THE ZEE bject snaps back in the day was simple because WAY back reryone was still drafting in 2D orthographic views, dlidatt have to worry about 3D entities “getting in the way” when using commands such as DISTANCE, or snapping to the wrong endpoine when creating geometry. nd we Nowadays, isa different story because the majority of Autodesk products have an element of 3D to them (ie, Civil 3D, Revit, etc), bur the problem of accidentally object snapping to the wrong point still exists. To gee the diseance berween wo points co either a single 3D objector between ‘wo separate 3D objects, Ive seen peo ple daw a line berween the ewo desized points, and then change their respective values to the samse murmber so they getthe tue distance beeween the points in order ro avoid the hyporenuse eror created by the different"Z” values). Here's the Trick: Before you use any commands thar require you to object snap between two 3D points, enter the furs March 2015, AutoCAD 2015 syscem variable OSNAPZ, and ser it toa value of 1 first. ‘This sys: tem variable setting forces AutoCAD to forget about the"Z” value and think in 2D only. When you need to work in 3D again, make sure you set OSNAPZ back co a value of 0. HA HA HA - CIRCULAR WIPEOUT ‘The WIPEOUT commancl has been around for a number of years now; but to this day i still eannot create a wipeout frame in a circ lar fashion, That is it cant use ciecles as a source to define the size and shape of the wipeout. The majority of users will click multiple points in an erratic, time-consuming fashion to best eyeball a cic cular shape “Heres che Trick "The nexe rime you need to create awipeout frame in the shape of a cirele, use the POLYGON command. When prompted to"Enter the Number of Sides," enter a value of 36, center it within the cireulae limits you wish to wipe out, and define the radius accordingly line wheze each segment is the same incremental length and 10 degree angle. Ata glance it looks just like a circle, and then just use the WIPEOUT command as you normally would This will create 36-sided poly. COME ON, BABY... LET'S DO THE VIEWTWIST Have you ever needed to know what is the vi w angle within a Layout Viewport? Surprisingly, neither the Properties Manager nor the LIST command will give you any results You can find the view angle of the Viewport if you are good at programming, or you can even create some geomerry within the viewport co ge its included angle, bue chere is an easier way Here the Trick: If you need co know the rocation angle of a Lay. a custom UCS setting, simply enter the command VIEWTWIST, and the command prompt will display che angle cout Viewport, regardless if it ha vavavugivorls.com snood LondouwdAutoCAD 2015 I was thrilled when AutoCAD introduced Multiline Attributes because it eliminated the need to have several individual arteibuces| defined to simulate the appearance of a paragraph of text, and it also eliminated the hassle of curring and pasting several word seg: ments between each attribute. Multiline Atcribuce emulated the same feacures as an MText ob- ject, which allowed for unique characters and word-weapping. However, editing the text became a minor hassle because you had to jump within ewo editors just to change a single word of text. That is, until now. 1e Trick: IF you only need to edie a couple of words with in the Malriline Artribute, dont bother going edivor and chen the MText editor. All you have co do is select your block containing the Multiline Arerib ties Manager (my Properties Manager palette is always open), and below the” Misc" category in the Properties Manager, you will se a lise ofall the arevibutes thar ace editable. Simply insert your cursor inside che desired attribute field, change the text as desired, and press the Enter key. ‘open the Proper This trick is a newbie, but a goody: As you probably know MLeaders have the ability co create multiple leadess within ic so that itis pare ofthe MLeader entity. You can also delete che extra leaders as desired, bue there is alot of clicking and sight- clicking just to delete one of these extra leaders. This can be rime consuming. Heres the Trick (No.1): Since the 2013 release of the Auto: CAD family, you can delete these extra leaders simply clicking once on the MLeader object in order to activate its selection grips, and chen hover your cussor over the active grip of arrowhead you want co delece. A pop-up window will appear with a number of options including"Remove Leader.""There are fewer hoops co jump through with chis tip, buc ic is still a tad time consuming. Here's the Trick (No.2): If you want an even quicker way vo e- move unwanted leaders from your MLeader object, try this in stead. First, do NOT select che leader, you dont need to. Simply hold down the Cerl key on your keyboard and with your left mouse buteon, click on the desired leaders (note: dont click on the arrow head) you want co delece, and once they are highlighted, simply press the Del ce key on your keyboard Bonus Trick! Now thar you know how co individually select an MLeader leader by using Crel, did you know that you can also have individual arrowheads as well? As described in Trick No.2, hold down the Ctel key on your keyboard and select the desired leader to change. Once the leader of leaders ate selected, you can then use the Properties Manager to change che style of the ar- rowhead if need be (along with other features, so donit be afraid to experiment). FenoveLexder Figures Figure Maren 2015AutoCAD 2015 § be recalled later. First, f navigate to the desired fi area in your drawing, and at the command prompt enter the fol- lowing code exactly as you see it: (setq PL (getpoint)) Once you enter thar code, press the enter key and chen pick a point anywhere near the desired area on your screen. You have just saved the X&Y coordinates of the point you picked into a variable defined as PI (note: it doesn’t have to be called P1; you can call ie" Bob’ if you wish). 1 like using grips on objects, and 1 especially like using grips on multiple objects at once. Assum- ing you do as well, you may have noticed the only problem is that if you have to modify the same group of objects AGAIN, you have to rese- lect every object again, which is time consuming, Here's the Trick (Nol): Let's say you manipulated a number of objects using grips and cleared the selection set using the Esc. key as you normally would, Buc then you realized that you have to manipulate the objects again. Instead of clicking on the objects to activace their grips, simply enter the PSELECT command, enter P for “Previous,” and when you press the Enter key, the previous selection set will be highlighted with its grips active. Now, during the current drawing ses- sion, if you are zoomed into another part of your drawing and you need to quickly PAN to that area where you saved PI, simply enter the -PAN com mand (note the hyphen at the stare of the command). When prompted to ‘Specify base point or displacement. enter the following at the command prompt: !P1 (note the exclamation point before the P1 variable), press the Enter key, and then pick near the center of your screen. The PAN com- mand recalled the X&Y coordi- nates of the P1 variable and used i as the base point. Here's the ‘Trick (No.2): In addition to using the PSELECT command to high- light the grips of the last selection set of objects, you can also use the PSE- LECT command to highlight the sips of the last object created. Enter the command PSE LECT and then enter L for “Last.” When you press the Enter key, the last object created will be highlighted. "This works great if an object was just cre~ ated in a large cluster of objects and you need to find it quickly. “This trike works great if you have to pan around within a Layout Viewport. Keep in ‘mind that the variables you save are good only during the current clrawing session. Once you close the drawing, che memory of those variables will be lost and you'll have to recreate them again. T think itis safe to assume tha many of us ereate drawings chat are so“busy" with information that it ean be confusing navigating within the model from time to time. You may end up spending a locof time ZOOMing In and Out, and PANning Side co Side ry- ‘Murray Clack is the CAD Systems ing vo get your bearings. Coordinator for CBCL Limited, a con I saing ogni fm crests During my drawing session, I like to set up a series of reference 3 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, He has points throughout my drawing that I constantly ZOOM or . been using Autodeskrlated products PAN to by using some on-the-fly LISP progeamming right at for 26 years. Murray bas bad artces the keyboard. ‘published in Autodesk’ 's° magazine, submitted tips and routines to CADa- Heres the Trick: As mentioned above, let's say you constant- st magazines “Hot Tip Harry.” and iy aicmi‘or pah'to‘a particulat-area over’and ever again recently proved consitation to Auto- your drawing. By using the following LISP code at the key- raph Technical Services forthe metric board, you ean create a reference point (or several) that can version of the CADCard. waren 2015 vo aogivotcom aPRODUCT FOCUS Revit Architecture by: Jay Zallan N® Magic Wand, in Life OR Revit THE BEST WAY TO DO IT IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT (PERIOD) fhe magic wand treatment is what many people seem co be looking for with tips and tricks (in my experience). In other words, many people want—if not expect—great solutions with no personal work—like having a mag. icwand passed over them, imparting knowledge. {contend that giving an answer to an obvious question—one that ‘exists in HELP, ete.—is enabling laziness or worse. Therefore, be- fore giving an answer I suggest that people exhaust at least tips #1 through #3, 1. FL Need I say more? Use chat litee burton! A large number of issues can actually be resolved by doing a few minutes of looking at HELP! ‘ntep/ help aucodesk.com/view/RVT/2015/ENU/ bexp:/help.antodesk.com/view/RV'T/2014/ENU/ ‘ap: help auodesk.com/view/RVT/2013/ENU/ bep://help.antodesk.com/view/RV'T/2012/ENU/ wwauglcom You DO Have Tim Any older a version and you're on your own; the HELP should be installed locally) or Found via #2 below: ‘The Internet Yeah, search yout issue including the word Revit’ and I will bet you'll find someone has already had the issue and chances are there are solutions, if not video accompaniments. heeps://www.google.com/ RevitForum Go there, create a username and password, and use it I like to keep chat site onsereen so T can see the conversa- tions... ithelps. Ineep://wwww.cevitforum.org “The TI donit have time” excuse is oft cited, so let me give a tip ‘on that: If or when one says,“I dont have time” stop and ask if iis rather,"I don have time to do i eight and would rather it take threefold the amount of time to re-do over and over later The best way to do ic is the best way to do it, no matter the time, March 20155. ‘The Properties of an Object Are the Properties of an Object Tay 10:1 odds that a majority of issues are staring users inthe face, or are just a but- ton or so away. Look in both the Instance and ‘Type properties and dont overlook any lice flyout arrows, "Take a couple of hours (I do this on my own time) and look at and explore every (and Tmean EVERY) button, setting, and flyout available, I do this with every new release and guess what—it helps, because not every feature is documented and new things sip in egulaly, Tam not saying to change everything, let alone ANYTHING, bu Lam saying that do- ing is will give you a good idea of what is available in Autodesk” Revit” andl who knows what you might find, chen remember some tools or options you never knew existed, 6. The Blogosphere If you want more blogs (beyond mine) use tips #2 and #3 at least. For #3 look atthe REO organizers and find cheie blogs, chen look on theirs and our blogs since most of, us place inks to some of the blogs we follow right there. DWG file cleanup before using in Revie (yeah, from my blog) hep:/ead-vs-bim, blogspot.com /2014/12/dwgs-in-revit-lean-them-or-dont-use hem] 7. Figure it Our on Your Own. “This might not work every time, but it will work alot more than you might imagine. Step away, think about what you feel might work, talk to others about what you pro- pose, and watch a good number of issues go away. I find thac going over pocental solutions with others gives me a chance ro hear my ideas differently and often I modify the solution based om what I leat. “Twiteer Join, find BIM and Revit people and use it, Most of us post solutions, articles, and other helpful items. So as you go through life and need help with something (in Revie, o0) do yourself, your life, and your eareer a favor: Try finding and creating tips, tricks, and solutions/ ‘workflows yourself before asking others. Then if tha fails use the inal tip herein: 9. Ask ‘These are Jay B. Zalla’s profesional pasion: an intense and wel experienced Virtual Desgn and Construction, BIM Leader, Designer, Arts andan ABC technologist. Asan AECO BIM and VDCleader, ay brings cvique and quai insights tothe business and creative iprceses of arctectare, focusing om large projects and lange teams ‘rough commuaication, collaboration and shared goals. He brings ‘proven strategies, leveraging technology, bh human and meshanical, building teamwork toward efficient project deliver. Jay bas more than 20 yous of Architectural experience aid enjoy a varied and diverse portfolio of Arciecture and Art. He is an Autodesk Expert Elite ‘memiber, President @ Los Angeles Revit Users Group, AUGInorld ‘magazine Revit Anbitecture Editor and Graphic Standards’ BIM Advisory Board, a speaker at Autodesk University, Revit Tecnology Conferences) ana lecturer on Creativity & Arcitcture at the University of Southern California, Cal Pob, LACMA, as well as sarious AIA & CSL events March 2015 Revit Architecture Room Layout Sheets in Revit with “ARUtiIs - Room Views Fae om rs! oomce erate jet ow ent ee (Fae eee ay ene 5 Bl the views. 2 2 With ARUtis you can create all hse vers nd the det wh a sh gle click! Nollexn ise your standards. Set Naring Bete omrrina of plas, cevancre, Bs 2 ens. Aerly ine of hachis and Meson ards, Taq ciens and elevators IGeste mille schedules. Do it for 1000 rms! 'ARUtls - Room Views is just one ‘of aver 40 time saving routines iat moke up the ARUtSs ~ Leaks suite, Bisse te 20 many bre caving route Bibel Exc Inpert Caport ruses, pide pavastan tocis, projet exter fee Got of Hous batch processra, and Many, many, more. Reduce time and frustration with ARUUs -Loacks. A single network license of ARUis -Leatkr with one year's Sibscription costs just $624 US, Bie kote without ny nasty surprises Bra leans ean be Used by anyone in Rete coreany. Bete yeti can be used in Raye amt3, 2034, 20:5, and Revit 2016 when itis released ‘Apart from updates, subscription Fels you request new features. these fate usually acted upon in hows or Mays, Not ignored for years. No extra cost! Ifyou ate lots of families you may be insect in "ARLE — Hs ni Se 24 batch processing of families, tal te otter tours Fora 'ee20 day vid go to jaresolutions.com.au EME soisions SP ‘wavaugwor.com [Jerelecmreyalare)sralInventor 2015 by: Mike Thomas for Ady K33¢ Autodesk University 2014 I co-pre~ sented the class “Advanced Assembly Control with Representations” within Aucodesk Inventor". This class was an overall success as there is so much to learn and share about representations. Inventor representations can have 2 big impact on your day-to dla experience with Inventor: Representations ace used co capture aid in managing the visibilcy, suppression, position, and several other characteristics of components within assemblies. Repre sentations enable you eo save specific views of your assembly to prepare for presentations and co create drawings. Proper use of representations also significantly improves computer performance when dealing with large, complex assemblies. There ate three types of representations in Inventor: View; Posi- tional, and Level of Detail (LOD). What are View Representations? View representations capture view-related information. This information is stored in a named configuration that can be re stored later. Assembly view representations capture the following + Component Visibility (as in on or off) inly) Control + Colour (and other style characteristics) of individual compo: nents within che assembly + Sketch & Work Feature Visibility + Zoom magnification and viewing angle “| =] ——— March 2015Use view reps co simplify che geometry used in Overlay jews to shaw only the components effected by the posi ional represencat ‘View representations are used tor + curn off component visibility (as needed) to simplify che eur- rent task. + capeure viewing angle and zoom factor to return to ata fucure time. Convenient for presentations. + assign a unique colour to 4 component instance (say, opaque— see through one instance) + control sketch and work feature visibility to reduce the clutter ‘on the screen. + simplify positional representations by eucning off all unneces- sary components. «+ help manage multi-user projects in that each user can have his or hrer own design view focusing on specific areas of the assembly. Creating drawing views within Invencor ean be quite time consuming, especially for larger assemblies. Improve perfor- mance by reducing the number of components within the view that Inventor has to work with, Inventor 2015 ,0110-008.iam (SIMPLIFIED) > [Relationships Representations [221 Ps) (e} \s) fe a pe Fy Oo [o) tes ca 0500-009:4 ‘When opening an assembly you can specify the view rep that will be active as the assembly is opened. By default the las active view representation isthe one used, soem Working with View Representations Use the Inventor browser ta create and manage view representa: sions. All options are available via the right-click men. 2 egrets the Mew View rn select New. + Double-click to activate che view rep, click ewice slowly to «+ View representations are“live”in that they update automatically as the viewing information of the assembly is adjusted, March 2015 ‘When creating drawing views you set the view representation to manage the component visibly in che view, ‘wavaugwor.comInventor 2015 If the view rep is ser to associative: «+ the drawing view will update asthe assembly view rep is adjusted + you cannor adjust component visibility within che drawing view from within the drawing’ browser, ‘Creare as many view representations as required for your assem- by, but rename them appropriately. The default names Inventor ites new view reps (View, View), ete) are NOT acceptable! PRODUCT FOCUS Design View Associativicy When you place a component into an assembly, the component remains associated to its view representations. This means that changes to the component (as in changing workfeature visibility ‘or turning parts on/off) automatically updates the instances of the component in the assembly ‘socitive Dzign View Raprzantacon Theconponenteatris msn sty them Ye Ay emisntetoasenommmt Omer deen ow Representation Rameve acocab iy = Gee ‘When you make a change to this component in context of che a5- sembly, you are really asking it co go against che view rep with which itis associated. Because Inventor is not sure what to do, it prompts ‘yous shown in the figure above. If you select Remove Associativity, the component will no longer bbe associated to its own view representations. You will see your changes in the assembly, but any changes to the components view reps do not apply to the instance in the assembly IF you select Modify Design View Representation then you are up. dating the view rep not juse for chat instance, bur also in the com- ponent itself This means that anywhere that component is used ‘will see che changes to the view rep. “Take, for example, where the brace assembly is placed into the as sembly so thac the view rep in assembly is active and associative. wwauglcom Any view rep changes to the brace are antomatically reflected in tractor assembly: However, if I make changes to the visibility of components in the brace from within the ceactor, Iam prompted by Inventor to either modify the associativity or remove it, In this case, I decide to remove the associativity. This means the cano py beace is updated, but the changes ate nor sent back co sib-assembly Ac any point I can reser the view rep used and make it associative making dhe instance in the assembly appear as in the subassembly. Any changes I made to subcomponent visibility within the assembly will be loseas the components view rep wil se the visibility derails POSITIONAL REPRESENTATIONS Positional representations caprure “snapshots” of assemblies. Use these snapshots to review motion and evaluate the position of assem- by components in both the modeling and drawing environments. Positional representations allow us co display different positions of the assembly components, The Master Positional Representation (auromarically created) represents the default seate of the assem bly, where your modeling operations take place. You cannot edit the master positional representation. March 2015