Inventor Simplification

Autodesk Labs has released a new technology preview for Inventor 2013. The new add-in is called Inventor Simplification. If you are familiar with the Shrinkwrap tool that was released in Inventor 2010 then you will realize that this is just a more advanced version of Shrinkwrap. Inventor Simplification has made it easier to simplify parts and assemblies for downstream consumption by allowing you to remove intellectual property that might not be needed. Take a look at the videos and link below to get a better understanding on how amazing this tool really is.

IP Removal

BPM

Follow the link below for the download and also for some additional information.

Autodesk//Labs_Inventor Simplification

-Jason Miles

BIM Coordinator

Autodesk Labs have a new product to assist with coordinating Revit with Civil 3D.  This new add-in tool will allow the coordinates inside of Civil 3D be saved out as an external file, that can be imported into Revit to acquire the Shared Coordinates.  This process appears to work without having to import the actual Civil file.  A quicker, simpler way to make sure you Revit model has the correct coordinates.

The add-in app is written for release 2012, but I copied it to my 2013 version and it appears to work correctly.

Check it out!

3ds Max Design - MassFX

Wind, gravity, and kinetics... we can incorporate all of these into a scene in 3ds Max Design. Lets start with a simple example of a bouncing ball, rolling down a sloped ramp, and the ball running into dominos that, once struck, will topple over, and make a series of dominos fall over, until it hits against a large domino at the end, that topples over.

First we create a sphere, ramp and dominos and copying several of them to make a row to fall against. These are all made using standard creation tools of sphere for the ball, and box tools for the ramp and dominos.

Next is to use the MassFX tools. These are tools which apply Rigid Body conditions to the objects. Allowing them to react and react to movement and collisions from other objects. The ball and dominos can all be applied as Dynamic Rigid Bodies. This make the an object that will not pass thru another object, but "bump" against them with some kind of reaction. For the object, especially the ball, we will enable gravity, so the ball can be dropped (no pun intended) and hit or react against the ramp, causing it to roll down to hit against the dominos, causing a chain reaction, knocking over each domino as it is hit.

Watch this quick video on the ball dropping, rolling down the ramp and knocking over the dominos. Full screen will display the video better. Enjoy!

Navisworks 2013 – My First Impressions

For an overview of the new features and enhancements for Navisworks 2013, see the link: http://usa.autodesk.com/navisworks/features/

My Favorite New Feature

Grids and Levels from Revit
In the past we had to do a lot of setup to get grids and levels to display in Navisworks, particularly difficult to acquire from Revit.  3D Grids were introduced as a Family that helped to go from Revit to Navisworks.  Now in the new 2013, standard Grids and Levels will pass over to Navisworks.  The only specific setup that I have found to have this feature work: The grid must be native to the project; you cannot just have the grid displayed from a link.  Also, to get the Level information, you need to have at least one grid line.

Revit Grids and Levels show up now in Navisworks 2013

My First Bug Find

Navisworks Revit File Reader
With 2013 you can now read a RVT file just like you can read an AutoCAD DWG file.  Fortunately, the folks at Autodesk did not take away the Revit Plugin so that we can export from Revit to NWC.  I write ‘fortunately’ because I have discovered that the Reader doesn’t read some objects in Fine detail, while the Exporter does.  

I tried the main two ways the Reader looks at a RVT file: Navisworks Named View and Whole Project.  My Navisworks Named View is set to Fine display.  

With the Reader, Pipe and Conduit fittings are single-line.
Cable Tray is Medium Detail level

With the Exporter: Pipe, Conduit, Cable Tray and
Duct all come in at Fine detail

I have only tested RMEP objects and specifically just Duct, Pipe, Cable Tray and Conduit.  Duct seems to be OK either with the Reader or the Exporter, but I wonder if this is because Duct is the same when displayed in Medium detail as with Fine detail.  Cable Tray, in my test I used the Ladder type, the Reader brought it in equivalent to the Medium detail level, while the Exporter shows it as Fine.  Pipe/conduit fittings do show up with the Reader, but they are shown as the coarse/medium detail level, single-line display.  In contrast, the Exporter exports out the fittings as Fine detail (oddly though, the fittings come in NW a different color from the pipes themselves).

Consequently, I recommend for you RMEP folks to continue using the Exporter until a fix gets applied in an Update.

dennis

Mobility, Workflow and Productivity

Mobility is an essential part of today’s normal business workflow. With the workplace no longer being defined by the company’s headquarter address, having immediate access to information – from the jobsite, the fabrication shop, on the road, at a client presentation – is crucial to successful business transactions.

We put together a quick survey to explore how mobility is being addressed with technology in the design industry's day-to-day business. The survey can be accessed on our homepage at www.asti.com or here . Some preliminary results were included in our March webinar which focused on mobile apps.

Check back next week for results and see what your peers are doing.

Inventor Styles and Standards

A consistent configuration of the Styles and Standards of Inventor in the 2D environment will make you a happy designer and detailer. We all want to be happy designers and detailers, right?

Let's take a look at a simple task you can do to ensure you are making the best use of the Styles Editor. There are many ways to do what I am about to do, but I have found over multiple implementations that this tends be free of headaches in the long haul.

In the Styles Editor, I begin by making a new Style for EVERY existing Standard Style. Yes, every one of them, whether I am customizing it or not. So starting with the top left column, I will expand STANDARD and make a "new" DEFAULT STANDARD but I will prefix the name with, for example, the company name. So in my case, I will make an ASTI_DEFAULT STANDARD. I will continue all the way down thru Balloons, Center Marks, all the way down to Weld Beads. My last "new" style I will create will be named ASTI_WELD BEAD RECOVERY (ANSI).

The new styles I created will then be modified to make the "company standards" for 2D Drawings in Inventor. But we are not done yet...

The OBJECT DEFAULTS Style should have an ASTI_OBJECT DEFAULTS now and if you open it to modify it, you should make the appropriate changes in the OBJECT STYLE column to list all "ASTI_..." styles. None of them should say Default, or Table, etc. They should all start with the company name.

Why go to all this trouble? This ensure that all modifications are not made to the "out-of-the-box" standards but rather the COMPANY standards! Then when you have to make changes to any of the drawing defaults, always go to the MYCOMPANY_STYLE NAME and make your changes.

It is a good bit of up-front work, but in the long run, you will be a much happier designer and detailer, which is what we all want to be. :)

A side note... if you don't want to go thru the process I have explained above, which can be long and tiresome, Applied Software can do this for you as a service! Contact your Applied Software Sales Rep for a quote!


--Scott

Revit to PDF

First thing, if possible, use DWF.  I could end the post there, but for those that find themselves having to produce PDFs, read on.  For years I have used CutePDF and thought it was the best driver out there.  However, the weakness in CutePDF shows up when you try to use the Print Range feature in Revit to create a batch job of multiple prints.  CutePDF just fails miserably when it is fed multiple views to process.  So, I took to Google looking for free PDF print drivers.  I limited myself to FREE rather than trials.  Why you may ask?  Well, the FREE is the right price for everyone, right!?!

Drivers Evaluated: 1) BullzipPDF, 2) CutePDF, 3) PrimoPDF, 4) GIRDAC, 5) NitroPDF, 6) PDF995

My official findings:

1. All PDF creators are your standard Print Driver type of process. 
2. They each have their own printer icon in the Devices and Printer dialog. 
3. Each supports the Print Range batch process with the exception of CutePDF.  (I did get a message from the CutePDF folks that they are working on an update that will fix this issue.)
4. Most all do require the support of Ghostwriter, which will need to be installed prior to the PDF driver.
5. All but one, you will need to babysit the process because they force the user to respond to their SAVE dialog box for each view selected. 
1. BullzipPDF is the only driver configurable to turn off the SAVE dialog.  It will use the default naming conventions.
6. Naming of the PDF: 
1. CutePDF and BullzipPDF will append the name of the PDF as: PATH_PROJECTNAME_VIEWNAME.  So you will have an ugly, long name like: C_MyPDFsFolder_Project Name_View Name.pdf. 
2. PrimoPDF and PDF995 will append the name a bit better: PROJECTNAME_VIEWNAME.  Nicer in that you don't have all PATH data included. 
3. GIRDAC's PDF Creator actually forces you to name each PDF processed as you go.
4. NitroPDF is the nicest for naming in that it just grabs the VIEWNAME.
7. Aggravations:
1. GIRDAC's PDF Creator and PrimoPDF want to install other apps, so watch your prompting interface as you go through.
2. PDF995 will throw-up (yeah, I meant to use that word cuz that is what it looks like on my screen) "Sponsor Commercials" with each PDF SAVE that you do. Ever hit somewhere on the web and all-of-the-sudden all these pop-ups take over your screen?  Yeah, it looks like that.  Complete 'show-stopper' for me.

Overall, I would find myself leaning toward NitroPDF with its simplest naming convention and clean install -or- BullzipPDF with it's Ok naming convention, clean install and because you can turn off the SAVE dialog, which is nice for that workflow that entails "set in motion" then go to lunch while your workstation creates PDFs.

dennis