Autodesk Impression 2 for Download by Autodesk Subscription Customers

For those not familar with the product, Autodesk Impression allows you to turn your DWG and DWF files into an impressive hand stylized rendering without having to break out those smelly ink markers, pencils, or talent. Unlike other methods you can update your rendered image when your DWG file changes instead of having to start all over again in the process. Images stylized in Impression provide another way to see the project instead of a exact 3D crisp rendering which communicates to some as a completed design, the 2D or 3D DWG files in Impression can give an impression of in process, quality style, and still pre-construction thinking and convey a different impression and much faster. Give it a try as you will see how fun and easy it is to impress others and sometimes it is hard to tell which was a watercolored, pencil sketched or inked marker rendering from what you output with Autodesk Impression.

The products that get this Autodesk Impression download benefit are:

AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD MEP, AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite,AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite, AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite, Revit Architecture Revit MEP, and Revit Structure.

Impression 2 will initially be available in English only.
New in Autodesk Impression 2

Users of the first release of Autodesk Impression, as well as the Technology Preview, will notice several new features and overall improvements. Enhancements include

* New options in the Import Wizards, including Layer Packing for improved drawing performance
* Enhancements to the Area Fill tool, which now offers five different methods for applying styles
* Expanded content libraries, including watercolor trees and pencil strokes in traditional lineweights: H, HB, 2B, and so on

New features include

* The Match Properties tool, used for applying the style, layer, or text properties from one object to another
* A new Power Fill tool fills multiple areas based on shared criteria such as shape, layer, CAD color, and lineweight
* The Drawing Performance Tuner, designed to improve application performance by packing objects on layers and modifying how styles are displayed
* The new Block Editor, which offers a seamless environment in which to create and edit vector-based blocks
* The Global Stroke button, which adjusts the stroke type and lineweight of geometry and inserted blocks

More About Autodesk Impression: http://www.autodesk.com/impression
Become a Member of the Autodesk Impression Community (FREE)

Become a member of the Autodesk Impression Community to stay current with all the latest developments and resources available for this product. Learn how Impression is evolving, find new content to use in your images, and share your experiences with other users. Benefits of membership include access to

* Content Sharing
* Member Discussions
* Blogs, Local Events, and Webcasts
* User-submitted Tips and Tricks

Membership provides you with up-to-date information on the latest developments with Autodesk Impression, and with tools to help you get started.
Go to http://impression.autodesk.com/community.

Thanks for Shaan Hurley at Between the Lines for providing this information.

Hostile Takeover - Google takes on Autodesk and Bentley

Steve Stafford on his RevitOpEd blog has an interesting article on Googles future plans

Revit 2009 Release Dates

Autodesk will release the 2009 versions of Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and Revit MEP on April 15.

Palazzo Hotel - Vegas

This past week I was in Vegas attending speaking at the AGC conference and ended up staying at the Palazzo hotel, which is the expansion property to the Venetian. The Palazzo is a much larger hotel than the Venetian, more really good customer service, though the hotel is not as nice. The rooms of both hotels are very similar, though you can tell that a lot more time and money went into decorating the Venetian.

That being said, if AU 2008 is held at the Venetian again and I could choose to stay at the Palazzo, I probably would. Both hotels are connected, but the walk to the conference area from the Palazoo seemed to be shorter than the Venetian.

There was not a lot to see in the Palazzo, but I took a few pics of what I thought was interesting.

360 Architecture - Job Opening

If you are looking for a position in Kansas City and want to work for a great firm (I have never worked there, but I have friends there), then check out 360 Architecture.

BIM Facilitator - 360 ARCHITECTURE

BIM Facilitator

360 ARCHITECTURE is a design-centered, client-focused and solution-oriented firm providing full-scope services to corporate, institutional and public sector clients, and private individuals across the United States. We’ve developed integrated expertise in strategic planning, architecture, interiors and graphics to deliver the best overall solutions to our clients and community. We are creative, business-minded professionals devoted to superior project design and delivery.

At THREESIXTY ARCHITECTURE, our ability to deliver excellence in design is based on our ability to attract and retain creative people committed to quality design, innovation and professional growth within a collaborative team environment.

We are committed to the promotion and implementation of BIM as a means to further design, sustainability and project efficiency. With over five years of Revit project experience, 360 has completed more than a dozen projects totaling approximately 2 million sf, in commercial, sports, interiors and institutional projects.

We are looking for a BIM Facilitator to continue the advancement of Revit, and other software applications, within our practice. Architectural professionals who are experienced in managing large, multiphase, complex projects in Revit are of particular interest.

Responsibilities will include:

Revit support and trouble-shooting for project teams.

Project template development, maintenance and content creation.

Research of current and developing software applications.

Liaison with contractors/consultants.

Participate and promote at a local and national level the advancement of BIM initiatives.

Develop and coordinate training strategies.

Familiarity with other software applications such as sketch-up and 3D Studio would be an advantage.

This position will not be responsible for purchasing and installation of software, workstation support or network maintenance. Successful candidates will possess an architectural degree and a minimum of 5 years of demonstrated Revit experience on large-scale project types. Interested in joining our team? Check out our WEBSITE at Please contact us and/or send resume to: hroffice at 360architects dot com

THREESIXTY ARCHITECTURE provides a professional, creative, and supportive team environment. Equal Opportunity Employer.

REVIT and Windows VISTA

David Light authors the Revit blog has an interesting article on running Revit on the Windows Vista operating system.

I am using a MacBock Pro and using VMware Fusion to run Windows Vista. When time permits I will run a pre and post Revit benchmark to see if I see a performance increase using David's findings.

Level of Detail and Project Performance

Today I was conducting a project review of the BIM and I came across something that was having an impact on the performance of the project that I thought I would share.

Several views in the project were set to either 3/32" or 1/16" scale with a detail level set to Fine. The problem with this is that the views in question did contain and information in elements that required a Fine level of detail. Setting the level of detail to Course made an immediate impact on loading those views. So, something you might want to look at.

You might also want to consider looking at the level of detail in your families. That can be a performance killer.

Daniel Hurtubise of RevitIt has also suggested that ou also might wanna consider seting the view to coarse or medium but overwrite the display of CERTAIN elements to be fine through Visibility/Graphics.

A Request to join the buildingSMART alliance today and ensure your future tomorro

The following is from a recent email from:

Deke Smith

Mr. Dana K. "Deke" Smith, FAIA
Executive Director, buildingSMART allianceTM
National Institute of Building Sciences
1090 Vermont Ave, NW, Suite 700 | Washington, DC 20005-4905
(202) 289-7800 x142 cell (703) 909-9670 direct (703) 481-9573
www.buildingsmartalliance.org

BIM is transforming our industry and we find ourselves each having to invent the transformation one office at a time. This is not a SMART way to work. While we can collectively help each company make a successful move to BIM there are some significant collective efforts that need to be accomplished at an industry level. Items such as coordination of manufacturers information to be pulled into a model, coordinated and comprehensive education, standards, foundational technology and best business process practices, to name a few are needed. These things cannot be accomplished by one office, one company, association, or industry segment. Accomplishing these things is the basic purpose of the Alliance. Join now to allow these industry changes to occur. Invest in your future. Let us make a strong statement together that we, as practitioners, are in charge of our future.

Some of the projects that we will soon be posting on the web that you will be able to get involved with include:

AIA Contracts for BIM
BIMStorm™ Open Standards
Business Process Integration
COBIE
ConsensusDocs
Integrated Practice (IP)
Early Design
Legal & Risk Group
College & University programs
Continuing Education Coordination
Distance learning
Developing Common Education Principles
University Physical Plant Coordination
Vendor Training Coordination
Cost Model / ROI
SMARTCodes™
Architectural Precast
BIM – Execution Planning
Structural Modeling
University Research & Development Compendium
GIS - BIM ifc Based Information Exchange
Commercial Real Estate Listing & Conveyance
Residential Real Estate Listing and Conveyance
A Unique & Persistent Real Property Identifier
AECOO Testbed
High Performance Buildings
Industry Foundation Class (ifc) Development
Information Delivery Manual (IDM)
International Framework Dictionary (IFD) Development
ISO 15926 / ISO/PAS 16739 Harmonization
Model View Definition (MVD) Development
National BIM Standard, Version 1, Part 2
National CAD Standard, Version 5
OmniClass Modifications
UNIFORMAT Consolidation
Information requirements, Model view, data Validation (IMV) Framework Development
GSA Spatial Program Validation IDM/MVD into NBIMS
Enhancements to classifications for Real Estate, building and geospatial objects.
Standardization of building spatial validation models
Standardization of design and construction, building and building equipment information handoff to facility operations

Involvement will be from becoming active on a project team, observing the work of a project team, reviewing documents, and direct sponsorship.

This list will be expanding, as more organizations become part of the Alliance, some will come from your organization or associations with which you are involved.

Please make the decision now to become a sponsor of the Alliance, a corporate member or even an individual member, together we can and will make a difference.

I ask you to also read the Memorandum of Understanding. If you agree with the principles of the Alliance please sign the MOU and send it in and we will post your name on the web site as being a party to the future of our profession. This will also allow you to use the buildingSMART alliance logo on your web site and other marketing material.

AutoCAD 2007 File format and WAN Acceleration - UPDATE

Marie left the following comment on this Blog topic and thought it was important enough to share with all.

Potential for reduced write performance for Riverbed WAN links when working with AutoCAD 2007 DWG files

Published date: 2008-Mar-12
ID: TS1082827

Applies to:
AutoCAD® 2008
AutoCAD® 2007
AutoCAD® Architecture 2008
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2007
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008
Autodesk® Civil 3D® 2007

Issue
In March 2006, Autodesk changed the DWG file format for AutoCAD 2007 to make it more compact and improve performance for AutoCAD users. Autodesk’s customers widely welcomed this change and almost all AutoCAD users have enjoyed improved performance.


Solution
However, Autodesk and Riverbed have recently received reports that some customers using some WAN acceleration appliances, including Riverbed’s Steelhead appliances, have experienced noticeable reductions in write performance when working with files saved in the AutoCAD 2007 “DWG” format. One of the side effects of the DWG format changes is that when users perform a complete save from within AutoCAD (as opposed to an “incremental” save), virtually every byte of the file gets changed – even if zero changes were made to the file itself. The net effect is that writes that would normally affect only “warm” data are actually “cold”, due to the reordering of the data in the file.

Users of Riverbed or other affected WAN acceleration solutions can implement the following immediate workarounds that improve write productivity.

1. Using a feature in AutoCAD called “Incremental Save Percentage” (ISP), and setting it to 50

2. Using a version of the DWG format other than the AutoCAD 2007 DWG format

The performance and productivity of our customers is a key consideration for Autodesk and Riverbed. For this reason, our engineering teams are working together to devise workarounds and are examining potential longer-term solutions. Given Riverbed’s experience in WAN acceleration technology, our joint work may also provide solutions for customers of other WAN acceleration or deduplication technologies, who might be experiencing similar issues with write performance. We will provide information on those developments at a later date.

In the meantime, customers should contact Autodesk or Riverbed customer support with any questions, or visit www.autodesk.com/support.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=10901842&linkID=9240617

Phil Read Sighting

Well, there has been another sighting. This time in Canada. But it appears that Phil's trip to Vegas took a lot of out him.


















I just happened to be in Vegas this week speaking at the Association of General Contractors (AGC) conference and I spotted Phil just hanging out at a Starbucks.

Friend in Need

I normally would not do this, but a friend of mine has a daughter that was recently diagnosed with a childhood cancer. Like most of us, money is tight.

If you get a chance, please visit Lily's website to send her a note or to make a small donation.

Thanks.