Re-post: Syncing Field Equipment Properties with Revit

07/01/2016 from Beyond Design

Syncing Field Equipment Properties with Revit

BIM 360 Field is offering a great way to track data on the building suite using your iPad, e.g. the status and install dates of certain equipment. But what if you want to see this data in Revit?
The answer is pretty simple - the new BIM 360 Plugin for Revit gives you a very easy way to sync the equipment properties in Field with your originally shared Revit model:


After opening the Revit Model, go to Add-Ins > BIM 360 Equipment Properties and chose the model you want to sync with. In this window you will see all your models available in BIM 360 Glue and you will need to select the one corresponding with your currently open Revit Model. You can recognize the Models with shared Equipment Sets on the orange icon:


Once the properties have been synced, you will get the following message:


Now that your Field Properties have been added to your Revit Model, you can see them among the object properties:


Of course, you can use the properties in schedules or in filters - in this case, we used the value for Functioning (Funktionsfähig) to create a view showing all lights colored according to whether they are working correctly (=green) or if they are defective (red).

To learn more about BIM 360 please have a look at the BIM 360 website and visit our online help for BIM 360 Glue and BIM 360 Field.

Posted by Lejla Secerbegovic on 07/01/2016 at 01:38 PM in BIM 360 Field, Revit | Permalink

New COBie for Navisworks tool now available

Over at Beyond Design, they have an interesting blog post on the new COBie tool for Autodesk Navisworks. Even if you don't intend on using Navisworks as part of your COBie delivery process, the post is interesting.

Revit to BIM 360 Glue improvements

The Beyond Design blog team has posted some interesting Revit to BIM 360 Glue improvements. It's now possible to export from Revit to Glue using a .NWC file rather than a .DWF file.

Repost: Beyond Design: Building Information Modeling: What’s in a Name?

Building Information Modeling: What’s in a Name?

Recently, I participated in the BIMForum in Boston, where the topic about "Design Optimization" drew a record crowd of professional attendees. Early and often, the presenters referenced "BIM" (Building Information Modeling) as a term or concept, with notable attention to the "I" (Information) in BIM as a key point of emphasis in successfully optimizing design.

The term Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been around over 20 years, and the concept of representing buildings digitally and spatially has been around about twice as long as that. You might think that a group of professionals dedicated to discussing and advancing BIM would be able to hover around a common definition for the term, or even a common term itself. Yet, there was more than enough perversion and variation of the term BIM to suit any number of viewpoints: painfully-redundant "BIM Models," not-quite-synonymous "Virtual Design and Construction," "Town Information Modeling" for urban planners, "Building Information Management Models" for facility owners and operators, and the horribly misleading 3D, 4D, 5D, 6D, 7D, etc for those who like to confuse things even further!

While it would be nice someday to settle on one term to rule them all, it became painfully clear that in 2014, we have a long way to go towards a standard term and definition for "BIM," much less agreeing on BIM standards for professional practice!

BIMs are 3-D models, but not all 3-D models are BIM.

BIM ≠ VDC

When explaining the subtle and not-so-subtle variations between these terms with owners, designers, and builders, I've found it useful to map out the domains of "BIM and "VDC" this way:

As you can see, "BIM" and "VDC" are not synonymous, nor should they be used interchangeably. When mapped this way, they describe and define similar but different concepts, and with BIM reaching horizontally across all phases of a building's life cycle, and VDC constrained to just two phases but can span vertically across multiple markets and project types. I am not arguing for the superiority of one term over the other, but rather: an attempt at clarity about when and why to use each term.

Department of Redundancy Department

Much has been made of the sorely redundant and all-too-often used term "BIM Model." It's as painful to my ears as the terms "ATM Machine," and "PIN Number." My colleagues developing and promoting BIM solutions are at least as guilty of using this embarrassing phrase as the myriads of professionals who echo the term and further its use. A handful of passionate and purist BIM professionals have campaigned and pleaded to curb its usage, from joking about killing #FluffyKittens, to implementing "BIM Model" swear jars.

But let's take it one step further. Is the term "Building Information Model" itself redundant? Consider the following breakdown and loose definitions of the components in the term "Building Information Model:"

Building, from Proto-Germanic buthlam "house"
The spatial, structural, and physical expression of values of an individual, organization, or society

Information, from Latin informare "to shape, form"
Act of giving shape, structure, form, or likeness to a value or concept

Model, from Latin modulus "a small measure, standard"
Spatial representation, likeness, or construction of a concept or set of relationships

If you look at these terms in this way, arguably all three terms describe loosely the same thing: a way we give meaningful expression or shape to a concept or value. In particular, we have significant redundancy between the meanings of "information" and "model." Are they interchangeable synonyms? No. But they have such overlap in meaning, we ought to consider a bit of reductionism for clarity.

It's a Model

We're decades into this BIM journey, and our industry ought to be ready to drop our second-millennium baggage, set aside the clay and foam core for our preschoolers and retired architects, and shorten the term "Building Information Model" to simply what it is and always was meant to be: the model.

With that point, let's go back to the recent importance of the "I" in BIM at the recent BIMForum. There, "information" was emphasized heavily in presentations and discussion about "Design Optimization," implying that one could not efficiently or effectively optimize a design with "dumb" or uninformed, geometry alone. However, the term "model" by itself is sufficient to represent the design intent; today's models appropriately include 3-D geometry, 2-D tabular arrays, and 1-D text strings to give them meaning and utility. We need not labor on the presence or emphasis of the "I" in BIM. Rather, we need to clarify our terminology, raise the ante of our expectations, reduce our cluttered vocabulary, and upgrade our use of "model" to a contemporary way of thinking.

It's just a model. Of course it is data-rich to be useful for design optimization, and a whole host of other BIM uses. If it wasn't embedded with meaningful data, it simply wouldn't be a model consistent with today's standard of care.

It's just a model. A digital one, a smart one, an enriched one, a useful one, a measurable one, comprehensive one, an accessible one, an enduring one, and one capable of simulating the full lifecycle of a project.

But it's not a BIM, a TIM, a FIM, a PIM, a BAM, a BIMM, or even a VDC artifact. It's a model.
What do you think? Is your firm ready to leave behind outdated terminology and uninformed representations of design, whether they're built of polygons or paper?

As an industry, are we ready to accept that a 21^st-century model, without meaningful information associated and embedded, is insufficient to address our contemporary needs in planning, design, construction, and operations?

~Dace

Repost: Beyond Design: 14 things you’ll be shocked you never knew about Autodesk Navisworks!

This is a really good post from Beyond Design.

I've been traveling around a lot in the last year and met a huge number of you guys and girls at various events, we chat a lot about workflows, features of the program and how you first came to use it. However even now I find it surprising that I can show something new to even expert users that help with their day to day work. So in typical Buzzfeed style, here are 14 things you'll be shocked to know you can do with Autodesk Navisworks!!!!

1. Forget 3D, 4D, 5D 6 and 7D, did you know there's 2D support in Navisworks?
   It still shocks me that people don't know about this, so I'll shout it:-
   NAVISWORKS HAS 2D SUPPORT!!!
   Now why is that important? Viewing a 3D file is great! It's revolutionised the way people work and coordinate with each other! However in the majority of cases, the main deliverable to the construction team on site is a set of 2D drawings, they provide additional detail you can't always get into a model, they're also a way of conveying information in a way familiar to that team. It's possible to save 2D sheets with a NWD alongside the 3D files with review, markup, viewpoints, sections, Timeliner animations then pass this to the wider team. One of the nifty features with 2D support is the ability to find the same item across other 2D sheets and the 3D models by using the 'Find Items in Other Sheets and Models' when right clicking an object. This has become even more important with 2D Quantification now in Navisworks, more on that soon.
   
   
2. You can create very quick quantification for building out resources and tracking changes in models.
   
   This video shows a quick workflow on how to do this, if you're an estimator you may want to do a more thorough takeoff using a preconfigured catalogue, but if you just need access to some quick quantities, Navisworks is also perfect for that.
   
   
3. You can colour up anything in the model based on properties using the Appearance Profiler
   In this case we have some Construction Progress Fields from BIM 360 Field that can be used to color up the latest state of the project before running Timeliner, allowing you to identify any problems on the critical path
   This could just as easily be used to quickly color up the different MEP systems for clarity, or phases of a project. Profiles and Search Sets can be moved from one project to the next saving time with set up.
   
4. You can load BIM 360 Glue projects straight into Navisworks
   It's simply a case of opening or appending the file from the BIM 360 tab in Navisworks 2015, meaning you'll always be using the latest coordinated file and able to run your latest advanced construction tasks without worrying about using the wrong version.
   
5. There are different ways to select items in the model
   My favourite is to use the Properties section of the Selection Tree, I also use this method to create quick searches and Search Sets, this video shows some more detail.
   
   
6. You don't even have to click on an item to view the properties of an item using Quick Properties
   You can view any properties in the model by hovering over them in the model, you just need to switch on Quick Properties and decide which properties you want to see.
   
   
7. You can select a number of items and just export their properties using the Selection Inspector
   If you haven't seen the Selection Inspector before, click on the icon on the Home tab, select a few objects and view the properties, again you can use the Quick Properties to decide which properties you need and then just export out a CSV of all those properties.
   
   
8. Navisworks now has an App Store!
   
   In Navisworks 2015 you can now start taking advantage of Autodesk's huge network of API developers who will be posting a series of free and paid extensions through the Navisworks App Store. Are you a developer yourself? You can upload your own apps and make them accessible to a wide user base, just head to the Autodesk® Exchange Apps Developer Center. A current favourite of mine is Properties+ which came about as part of customer feedback asking if there's a quick way to just view the properties you need rather than the multiple tabs of all the properties, this is the result, try it out, it's free!
   
   
9. Render Navisworks files in The Cloud
   
   For those of you using Revit, you will already know cloud rendering is easy, quick and gives amazing results, now it's available in Navisworks, meaning you can pull together all your files, no matter which application they came from and produce amazing renders. For example I'm no rendering expert but this Panorama took around 20 minutes to drag and drop some materials, send to the cloud and receive this impressive rendering back. You can also do illuminance studies in the cloud too!
   
   
10. Did you know you can create cache files automatically overnight?
    
    What's the best way to save time whilst files are loading, get them to cache whilst you're asleep! It'll save you time and money every morning! You can automatically create an NWD every week to give a snapshot of where the project is up to. Make sure you run Navisworks as an Administrator and run the Batch Utility, you can then set up your automated tasks using the Windows Task Scheduler.
    
    
11. You can create Time based clashes to ensure you have enough clearance on site for moving objects
    This would help with getting large machines or loads through a site, for example this video shows how moving an escalator through a 3D model would allow you to identify problems before you get to site. More information on linking animations to Timeliner Tasks can be found in this blog post
    
    
12. You can see your model with 3D glasses!
    If you have supported hardware you can enable Stereo viewing. More information on Stereo Viewing in Navisworks can be found on the blog.
    
13. You can link to a database or spreadsheet if you ever need more properties
    There's more information on how to do this in an older blog post How to Link a Database using Navisworks Datatools
    
14. Autodesk has great IFC Support
    In fact we have huge support for the IFC file format across Autodesk, look at our Interoperability page at www.autodesk.com/ifc for more information about our IFC certifications across Autodesk products and support of COBie with a COBie exporter from Revit which completed the COBie challenge with top honours in 2013 and 2014.
    

Cue shocked Taylor Swift photo

And a cute animal picture for no reason whatsoever

Via cute-baby-animals.tumblr.com

If you want to see anything in more depth, send us an email on beyond.design@autodesk.com

Repost: Beyond Design - How to resolve coordination issues with BIM 360 Glue

From Beyond Design

How to resolve coordination issues with BIM 360 Glue

Some people working with or implementing BIM 360 Glue ask us about best practice for managing clashes with BIM 360 Glue. Ultimately the goal is not to manage clashes but to resolve the issues causing these. Have this in mind when working through the process outline below, as it focuses not on individual objects clashing but about issues. For example, a single duct in the wrong location can cause 100 or more clashes. 100 clashes, but really just a single issue. And issues are what your design teams need to focus on for resolution. So here's how you do that with BIM 360 Glue.

1. Start by running your clash analysis. Use the visual heatmap to identify problematic areas in your model (here's a quick video of how this works). Did you know you can get a quick metric using the 'Overview' link of all clashes? It also lets you drill down further using the automatic grouping of clashes based on the originating models, e.g. mechanical model vs. structural. This is crucial as you cannot handle 3008 clashes this week and the grouping is the divide & conquer tool that helps you tackle it.
   
   Now you don't see single items clashing, but rather groups, e.g. a duct clashing with 3 other objects. The number in brackets tells how many objects the one you have selected is clashing with. And this also gives you the single issue to resolve.
   
   
2. Create a markup for this issue. To keep track of issues, setup folders (Open, Pending and Closed). Move this markup to the open folder. As you move through the process ultimately all markups should end up in the Resolved folder.
   
3. Notify the relevant design team of at least the clash, so they can resolve the issue. If you have some particular instruction which you didn't add in your comments it will be useful to also notify of the markup. It is crucial to notify them of the clashes as they can then use the Clash Pinpoint feature inside their design application to locate and resolve the problem.
   
4. After the design teams upload new versions of the model verify if the issue has been resolved. If true move the markup to the Closed folder, if not move to the Pending folder. You can use the Pending folder to bring up all unresolved issue for review during the next coordination meeting.
   
   
5. Rinse and repeat.

I hope you found this useful to resolve design coordination issues more rapidly and retaining an auditable trail of actions to create accountability along the way!
-Thomas

Repost: Beyond Design - BIM 360 Glue – Easy, Accessible Reviews for the Extended Project Team

From Beyond Design

BIM 360 Glue – Easy, Accessible Reviews for the Extended Project Team

Today sees the launch of the BIM 360 Glue Reviewer role, which provides simplified web and mobile access for everyone on the project team to participate in connected project review workflows.
With the addition of the Reviewer role, BIM 360 Glue project admins can invite project stakeholders and occasional users not experienced with BIM to participate in collaborative project review workflows anytime, anywhere. And reviewers like owners or project executives with no hands-on BIM experience can easily go directly to a specific model view. The reviewer is not exposed to the coordination environment and can't get confused by multiple versions of the model.
So, how does this work? The Reviewer role provides an easy way for the project admin to provide the appropriate level of controlled access and the right information to the right person at the right time.
Once a BIM 360 Glue administrator adds Reviewers to the project, other project members can share project views and markups with any Reviewer on the team. The Reviewer receives an email notification with a "one click to BIM" link that goes directly to the specific view shared with them.    The reviewer's inbox maintains a list of all shared views and markups, so they can go back any time to review what was previously shared.

The latest BIM 360 Glue iPad app, available today on the App Store, now supports the new Reviewer role, including round-trip collaboration. Upon opening a notification via email on the iPad- or from the Apple Notification Center - the Reviewer has the "one click to BIM" experience to go directly to the message and specific view or markup. Reviewers can add markups and send notifications to other team members on the BIM 360 project team, providing a simple collaborative workflow for the extended project team.

Making BIM accessible to everyone on the team has never been easier. You can try it out today – sign up for a free 30-day trial.

Repost: Beyond Design: Invitation to beta test Navisworks Ivanov

From Beyond Design

Invitation to our beta program for Navisworks Ivanov

We'd like to invite our Navisworks users to our Ivanov beta program. This is great chance to get early access to our next software release, understand how the new features can benefit your workflows and provide us with input, feedback and suggestions for improvement. If you are interested in participation then please sign up using the link below with a valid work email address (i.e. not Gmail, Yahoo etc.) and complete a short survey.
All feedback and software downloads will be handled through the Autodesk Feedback Community website. The Navisworks Ivanov Beta Team will closely monitor this beta community for questions and reported problems. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and is essential in helping us to make a better product.
Thank you for your support, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Sign me up now to the Navisworks Ivanov Beta program!

Beyond Design Repost: BIM 360 Field roadshow is coming your way!

From Beyond Design

You've heard my friend, Pete Billante talk about the cool features in Autodesk® BIM 360™ Field for the iPAD and how they've helped thousands of construction project managers, superintendents, and field engineers to manage quality, safety, and commissioning processes. Now, it is time for you to see the power of BIM 360 Field first-hand.

I'm excited to announce that Autodesk is kicking off a five-city roadshow (in the United States) on BIM 360 Field! The roadshow runs from September 17 to October 17. The first event is in my city (San Francisco) and is taking place in the Autodesk Gallery. By attending one of the events, you will gain a better understanding of how BIM 360  Field enables you to combine mobile technologies at the point of construction while supporting 2D and 3D workflows.
During the three hour event, you will learn how mobile devices and cloud-based services are transforming the construction industry and how you work every day. Each event will showcase a different local customer and highlight how they are using BIM 360 Field in their construction projects. Get answers to these questions:

• How do I manage my field data?
• How can I improve quality, safety and commissioning?
• How can I maximize the benefits of mobile devices in field management?
• What role does BIM play in field management?

Here is a list of dates and cities that we are hitting:

• San Francisco, September 27
• Waltham, October 3
• Ft. Lauderdale, October 10
• NYC, October 15 (To be confirmed)
• Houston, October 17

Register today for an event near you. Tip: search by product name on the registration page (Autodesk BIM 360 Field or Autodesk BIM 360 Glue) for an exact list of activities.

Don't see your city on the list? Not to worry, there are plenty of ways to learn about BIM 360 Field. For example, Microsol Resources is hosting a BIM 360 Field webinar tomorrow (September 10) and it will cover Autodesk® BIM 360™ Glue and BIM 360 Field workflows. We are always adding different types of events to the calendar so be sure to check-in and get the latest scoop from the BIM 360 team.

~Sunny