• Author: Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    AutoCAD 2022 is Here

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    It’s springtime and the birds are singing.  Also, Autodesk has released the latest version of their flagship CAD package, AutoCAD 2022.  Click to peruse the Autodesk Documentation. Read on to see some notes we at SolidCAD have prepared for you.

    **Please stayed tuned for the next article.  There will be important information about installing this new software**

    1. The first thing on many users’ minds is whether the file format has changed.  It has not!  We are still on the 2018 format.
    2. TRACE.  A new command enabling a safe collaborative environment to draw revisions without affecting the source drawing. Open a shared drawing in the web or mobile apps and create traces.  These traces can be managed by a CAD user in their desktop app.
    3. COUNT.  Quantifies selected blocks in a drawing and creates a dynamic table or Field.
    4. SHARE:  Shares the current drawing, with all reference files intact, to the web for others to view or edit.
    5. Push to Docs: Creates a PDF of selected layouts and saves to Autodesk Docs.
    6. Floating windows: maximize drawings on separate monitors.
    7. Redefined Start tab.
    8. New installer and options.  Very simple install.  Watch this blog page for a follow-up article.
    9. Batch publish in background uses multiple cores.
    10. Microsoft’s DirectX 12 is now supported for 2D and 3D visual styles.
    11. 3D graphics technical preview.  New 3D engine provides a better experience. It is off by default.  3DTECHPREVIEW .  Try it and provide feedback.

    Revit MEP and CTC– Schedule XL

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Having troubles keeping your MEP notes from Excel in Revit up to date? Schedule XL is the right tool for you.

    Schedule XL allows you to create schedule views (drafting view or schedule view) within Revit from your Excel worksheets. Simply create an Excel file with your MEP notes in the format you’d like and push that information to your Revit project.

    Within Revit, select the CTC Schedule XL tool and add your Excel file that you’d like to be placed in the project.

    Once added, you can override/preserve any graphics or formatting of the Excel file

    As you make your modifications to the graphics, select “OK” and Schedule XL will create a new Revit view for you. Place the view onto the desired sheet.

    As your Excel notes update and change, you can use Schedule XL  to verify if your project has the latest updated notes. Schedule XL has a “Status” feature to indicate if your Excel note files are up to date. With the “Status” showing “Out of Date”, simply click “Update” to apply the new changes.

     

    Schedule XL is a great tool for including outside data from other sources (Excel) to be a part of the Revit environment. With a simple Excel to Revit workflow, you can get any information across to a project with minimal effort. Schedules can also be configured to automatically update when the Revit project is opened if the original spreadsheet has changed.

     

    5 Revu Workflows for Civil Designers, Contractors

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    This article was originally published by Troy DeGroot and Bluebeam, Inc. on the Bluebeam Blog.

    Awhile back I was teaching a Bluebeam Revu basics class for a group of civil engineers and designers. An issue quickly came up that changed the way I teach, and it was so obvious.

    I was using the same data sets in all my basics classes to show markups and measurements, but it wasn’t relevant to the civil discipline in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. So, I quickly collected some new data sets and drew back on my industry experience to develop training tailored to those users.

    As a complement to my last post, 11 Tools to Ease the Punch Walk Process, I want to discuss five tools or workflows you may not be aware of that specifically apply—but aren’t limited to—the world of civil design and construction.

    First, let’s look at some of the differences between civil drawings and other disciplines like architectural, structure, MEP, fire, etc.

    Starting with the obvious, civil drawings are drawn at a much smaller scale. Because of the size of many jobsites, developments and roadways, drawings are showing a much larger area on each sheet.

    Also, most civil drawings don’t include dimensions or measurements. This might give some the illusion they’re not drawn to scale, but that couldn’t be more wrong. Those curvy contour lines are located very specifically.

    Obviously, everyone regardless of occupation can use the Markup tools in Bluebeam Revu to make comments on drawings and documents. I’ll skip over those and get right to my favorite five innovative ways to use Bluebeam Revu as a civil designer or engineer.

    Overlay satellite imagery

    Whether you do a screenshot or some other method for acquiring satellite images, be sure to include the scale in the image. This will make it easier to calibrate the image. If the scale isn’t available, you’re still in luck. Maybe you know the curb-to-curb dimension or a building footprint; you can calibrate from that also. Once you have the image calibrated, you can start to overlay markups for easements, utilities, signage or even site staging material and equipment. If you’re doing resurfacing or flatwork, you could even do material estimates.

    Calibrating Plan & Profile drawings with different X-Y scales 

    If you’re working with plan and profile drawings for roadways or power distribution, often the horizontal scale is drastically different from the vertical scale, making it difficult to rely on any accuracy in measurements. In the Measurement Panel in Revu, you will find the ability to calibrate the X and Y scales separately. Now you can do measurements and allow Revu to do all the complicated math for you.

    Ideas for Cut & Fill calculations

    The contour lines on a civil plan represent the vertical grade change. Depending on the size of the plan or map, this could be one foot or 1,000. To estimate cut and fill quantities, you can create volume measurements using those contours and average depths. (Maybe this video will explain it better.)

    Combining several PDFs into one large area map

    I’ve been asked this several times from the mechanical, electrical and plumbing teams as well. How can we do line-based length measurements when the material starts on one sheet and continues onto another?

    If you start a new PDF with an oversized blank sheet, you can use the Snapshot tool to collect portions of separate sheets, pasting them onto the new document. When using Snapshot, the image comes in at the same scale it was taken from, so you can easily piece them all together like a puzzle. I suggest grouping them once you have the puzzle together so you don’t accidentally move something.

    Bidding and tracking field survey projects 

    Maybe you have a last-minute bid due for a scanning or survey project and don’t have access to the site. Using the sequence or count tools in Revu, you can quickly mark all the locations you’ll need to perform a scan.

    Each mark represents a setup, scan, takedown and processing, allowing you to estimate the time needed. Using different colors or layers, you could assign different time estimates if you have to remove ceiling tiles or drudge through the mud to capture the required data.

    Use the same bid drawing when performing those scans on site. Quickly change the Status of the Markup to Complete and, if needed, attach an image of the equipment setup. In the field, you might even use different colors if you’re running several scanners at the same time. The more data the better, in case the scope changes unexpectedly.

    I know all these functions are possible in advanced software created for design. My intent is to show that you don’t need expensive CAD software to get information out of the PDF drawings. If you like these tips and want to see the technical steps, check out my YouTube Playlist.

    Hopefully, you’re inspired to look a little deeper into the civil workflows possible in Bluebeam Revu. How are you using Revu in your workflows? I’d love to hear your feedback or any new ideas you may have had while reading. You can find and message me on LinkedIn.

    Civil 3D Double Click Customization

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Is there a Civil 3D object that you would like to double click and run a specific command?  if so, read on.  (This works for AutoCAD commands too.)

    Try double-clicking an Alignment.  The AutoCAD properties palette appears.  What if we want the Alignment Properties dialog instead?  Or if you want the Feature Line Quick Elevation Edit tool to be run when you double click a Feature Line.

    Edits to the CUI file are required.  Please do yourself a favor and create a partial CUI file and make these edits in there.  And while you’re at it, save this file somewhere like My Documents.

    1.  Determine the object name.  Run the LIST command and select the object.  The object name will be shown.  Mine is AECC_ALIGNMENT.
    3. Run the CUI command.  The double-click assignments are stored in the CUI file.
    4. Right-click to add a new double-click action.  Name it something like Alignment Properties

    5. On the right half of the CUI editor, enter the appropriate object name.

    6. Find the appropriate command in the bottom-left window.  In this case, Alignment Properties.  Drag it onto your new double-click action.

    7. Close the CUI editor.

    8. You’re done!  Double click the object and the command will be run.

    Tip: 5 steps to great renders from Lumion

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    This article was originally published on the Lumion Blog.

    You’ve finished your 3D model and imported it into Lumion. Now, it’s time to make it look great. With all of Lumion’s functionality just inviting you to transform your 3D model into a beautiful render, it can be difficult to know where to start. This blog gives you step-by-step hints of what you can do.

     

    Villa, rendered in Lumion 9.5 by Gui Felix.

     

    As intuitive and dependable 3D rendering software, Lumion makes it easy to quickly breathe life into your designs.

    Simply imagine how you want to show your design, and you’ll find a wide range of easy-to-apply tools, features and effects. But before you start building a scene and rendering, there are a few questions you should answer first — 1) how do you want to artistically communicate your model and designs, and 2) how can you make it happen in Lumion?

    Building an artistically compelling image or animation of your designs requires a vision of what you want to achieve. To enhance that vision in your mind, some questions to ask yourself may include:

    1. What emotions do you want to convey?
    2. Are you going for light and colorful, grey and bleak, or something else?
    3. Should the images look realistic or sketchy?
    4. Which parts of the building are you trying to emphasize?

    To help streamline the development of your renders, we’ve provided 5 tried-and-true tips for transforming blank 3D models into beautiful, compelling images and videos.

    Step 1: Find the best point (or points) of view in your scene

     

    • Use at least one composition rule when framing and finding a camera angle for your image renders. Just a few of these rules include ‘simplify the scene,’ ‘use leading lines,’ ‘be creative with colors,’ and so on.
    • When making an animation, set the camera height to the human eye level. The camera angle shouldn’t be too wide so as to avoid perspective distortion.

    Interior wave lounge, rendered in Lumion 9 by ‎Kamon Tangruen.

    Step 2: Set up the scene’s lighting

     

    • Find the best position for the sun so that it draws attention to the parts of the building that you want to highlight. You can use the “Sun Study” effect to accurately simulate the sun location at a particular location, time and date. Other effects such as the “Sun” effect and the “Real Skies” can help you control the environmental lighting in your design.
    • Add interior and mood lighting. Even if the scene you want to show takes place during the daytime, interior and mood lighting can subtly communicate that the building is being used. You can also use volumetric lighting for an extra atmospheric feeling.
    • Balance the shadow brightness and coloring with the context surrounding the building. For example, outdoor shadows tend to show with a bluer color.
    • Avoid a high level of contrast in non-important areas. This is because high-contrast areas can sometimes direct attention to the wrong points in your design.

    Villa in UAE, rendered in Lumion 9 by CRIO Design Studio in collaboration with Arch. Alaa Hossari.

    Step 3: Make materials look beautiful with texture and age

     

    • When rendering, enable “Speedray reflections” and put reflection planes on big, flat surfaces.
    • Tweak the glossiness slider of the floor and ceiling materials. In many cases, making your materials a little more reflective will work better than static, non-reflective surfaces.
    • Do not use simple digital colors, include plain green, red, blue, purple, yellow. These simple digital colors can look ugly when applied to materials. Consider using a more natural (and more realistic) color palette for the entire scene.
    • Sometimes it is better to replace diffuse textures with plain colors (using the top slider in the material editor) and use bumps but without maximal intensity.
    • Consider showing a little age and weathering with the “Weathering” slider, located in Lumion’s material editor.

    GIF showing various wall materials, many of which were included in the Lumion 9.5 update.

    Step 4: Adding effects

    • Use the “Color Correction” effect (especially the first slider — Temperature) as it adjusts the color tone of the image and adds dark shadows where necessary.
    • Add a little bit of “Chromatic Aberration” and a very tiny value of the “Fish Eye” effect for a small, optical imperfection.
    • Add “Sky Light” and “Hyperlight” for still images and videos. For the most impact with Sky Light, turn the Sky Light render quality to ultra (which also means “ultra-slow render speeds”).
    • Use the “Sharpness” effect and set the slider to a low value to make the picture look a bit more ‘flat,’ as if were printed on a piece of paper.
    • “Depth-of-Field” (DOF) is really useful for narrow camera angles. Generally, you shouldn’t use this effect if you have wide camera angles.
    • Always add reflections to water and glass planes.

    Step 5: Extra details – every single shot needs them!

    • Furniture is very important for interiors and exteriors. Select and add furniture models from the Lumion object library and fill out some empty spaces. The idea is to make the spaces look “lived-in,” where you show how people might use a building, home, public space, etc.
    • Cars are really effective models when forming the “border areas” of a still render or a movie frame. Try to avoid having cars in the center of your composition.
    • By including people models in your render, you can easily show your audience how you’ve envisioned the relationship between people and a building design. Nevertheless, make sure that your people don’t dominate the render. Their faces should not be too visible so that you don’t distract viewers from the model design. Using silhouettes from the library is a good way to achieve this neutrality with the scene’s people models.
    • You can effectively create picture borders and backgrounds with trees and plants from the content library.
    • Remember that the background of your scene has a huge impact on the look of your building design. Even if the background is blurry, having the feeling of a real city or forest in the background can enhance the realism of the scene while making the entire render easier for the viewer to understand and digest.
    • While the “Real Skies” are beautiful and realistic, they can distract the viewer from the building in some cases. If you feel that the skies are distracting, you have a couple options. For one, you can use one of the “clear” Real Skies or you can add the Sky and Clouds effect and turn up the “cloud softness” slider to blur the clouds. Another option is to turn off any cloud effect and adjust the “clouds” slider in Lumion’s Build Mode to create a distraction-free, clear sky. Below, you can find a picture showing the difference between “no clouds” in Lumion and the clear Real Skies.

    CTC & Feature Lines – Establishing the Hierarchy of Power!

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Which option do you choose when creating a feature line? In my early days of learning Civil 3D I was given an analogy of buckets. That any of the objects in a site, “Bucket”, could not interact with other objects, this was the purpose of sites.

    This analogy was half-true and only the tip of the iceberg.

    For starters, sites can only house certain objects, and only parcels and grading groups are confined within sites.

    Alignments and feature lines have the option.

    The limited interaction between these “Buckets” only limits the interaction of the objects in a site from communicating with the objects in another site. That’s why we can choose to restrict feature lines and alignments.

    However, when feature lines are contained in a site, we have additional control over their interactions with one another.

    This is called Split Point Resolution and it allows us to set which feature lines govern at a crossing. Assigning styles to feature lines, we can set which styles are the most important for the design.

    I use this for lot grading to manage a variety of constraints and to make sure that right of way and existing elevations are respected.

    Using the split point resolution while grading this cul-de-sac, it ensures the lot lines obey the right of way and the existing tie in points.

    This technique can be used in many other grading scenarios like drops in a curb or pond access paths.

    It is a powerful concept that not many designers have embraced yet.

     

    And if that isn’t powerful enough for you, consider using CTC Software’s Auto Grader to automate the rest of your grading! This tool dovetails beautifully with the native split point resolution for feature lines in sites.

    Auto Grader has 3 different types of “Grading Families” that can be used to tackle almost any grading project.

    Parallel Grading allows mass dynamic stepped offsets from one or multiple baseline feature lines. Offering flexible grading for project areas such as curbs or ponds

    Perpendicular Grading allows mass insertion of elevation points/grade breaks across feature lines connecting to a baseline feature line. Offering automated grading solutions for lots in a subdivision or drop curbs.

    Template Grading is the newest addition to this tool allowing incredibly flexible 3D insertion control over template feature lines. Allowing you to establish grades from baseline feature lines and associate relative grades to the inserted template. This offers unparalleled flexibility for operations such as building envelope insertion.

    Hopefully, this challenges you to find even more efficiencies in your use of feature lines.

    11 Revu Tools to Ease the Punch Walk Process

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    This article was originally published by Troy DeGroot and Bluebeam, Inc. on the Bluebeam Blog.

    Today I want to talk about Punch Walks, QA/QC, or whatever you might call it when you collect field data during or after construction.

    I started my career detailing structural steel. As a result, I was often required to juggle large plan rolls, tape measures, pens, and a level to measure existing conditions.

    These measurements would then be brought back to the office to make sure the railings and stairs fit perfectly when fabricated. Obviously, this was before emerging technologies like building information modeling (BIM) and laser scanning.

    So, how has Bluebeam Revu improved field data documentation?

    Here are 11 of my favorite Revu tools that ease field data collection and distribution.

    Standardizing plan symbology will replace long, written notes—increasing consistency, legibility and speed. These symbols are manually created ahead of time or on the fly. To save the most time, I suggest building your symbol list in Microsoft Excel. Importing the CSV file automatically generates large lists of symbols, along with the associated comment.

    Embed images, 360-degree images, or even videos with audio giving a clear description of the field conditions. The Flipbook is a clean way to add many images directly where they apply on the plan rather than off to the side someplace with a reference number.

    Create a template PDF form to quickly fill in the information needed. Before I save the template, I like to add a blank page after the form. This provides a place to drop a related image or Snapshot from a plan or detail, including clouds and other markups. Save this to your template folder for quick access every time.

    Speaking of the Snapshot, quickly grab a screenshot of the affected area of the drawing, saving it directly to the Clipboard. Paste this image on your RFI form, in a written report, or directly into an email. Your markups will come over, assuring the form matches exactly what’s on the large plan.

    Use Studio Projects to keep data organized and available to all stakeholders. A Digital Dashboard is a great way to organize everything in a visual format, similar to a website.

    Before each site walk, create a layer naming it with the date, then set it to Current. This will record all the markups on an isolated layer. Turning layers on and off allows you to track inspection progress.

    Create Spaces to track where on the plan your markups are located. If you walk into a room on-site and want to know all the information associated with that room, simply sort your markups List by Spaces.

    Create custom Columns to track individuals or maybe subcontractors who are “Responsible” for changes or fixes.

    Create custom Statuses to track progress on your projects, whether you use them to mark things complete for yourself internally or the general contractor who owns the documents. Changing a Status will automatically stamp the time, date and author. These status updates cannot be edited or removed by anyone.

    A custom Legend is a great way to represent the Markups List visually directly on the sheet. This could include a description of the symbol or even the number of times it was placed.

    Finally, Summary Reports are extremely powerful using Bluebeam Revu. Creating a PDF Summary report of all the markups on the drawing can be a clean and easy way to transfer information to others on the team. This is especially true when including a Capture Media Summary, which will embed all the images into the document.

    You may be using some of these tips already. I hope you learned a few more to streamline and improve the quality of your Punch Walks, QA/QC or whatever you might call it when you collect field data during or after construction.

    If you like these tips and want to see the technical steps, check out my YouTube playlist from last summer.

    Flexible, Customized Legends and QTOs with CTC’s Data Wizard.

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Flexible, Customized Legends and QTOs with CTC’s Data Wizard.

     

    How do you tackle quantity takeoffs in your projects? Do you use Civil 3D’s QTO Manager? Do you scale on paper or PDF’s?

    Between the inaccuracy of paper and PDF calculations, and the tedious setup and inflexibility of the MTO Manager, we don’t have a great solution for quantities of what’s in our projects.

    Data Wizard can make this cumbersome task a lot more efficient and accurate. This tool searches your drawing for Civil 3D & ACAD point, line, and area type objects then tabulates them all for you.

     

    This is a very versatile tool, and once objects are selected and filtered, we can choose specific data to extract. In the case of QTO, a layer description can be used to label the item. Then areas, lengths, and counts can be tabulated for each respective item.

     

    We can then sort and prep this data for AutoCAD Table insertion, or export to Excel. Data Wizard allows you to customize what you are looking for every step of the way!

     

    Once the QTO is set up, we can also save the setup to a template to share among projects. This speeds up the QTO process even more for future projects.

     

    This is just one way to use Data Wizard. Alternatively, we can extract graphics and layer descriptions to produce sheet-specific legends for our plan production.

     

    This tool will save time and reduce human error with any tabulation tasks across your projects!

    Automated, Flexible, and Iterative Plan Production Tools. CTC’s Sheet Generator Workflow is the Whole Package.

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    You can’t afford to create plan and profile sheets without these tools!

    If you have ever tried to create Plan & Profile sheets on mass with the Native View Frame tools it sure beats doing it by hand. But it also still requires a lot of manual manipulation after the layouts are created. And worst of all, you have to get it right the first time because the tools were not built to offer an iterative workflow.

    CIM Project Suite’s Sheet Generator workflow is a set of tools to speed up and increase the flexibility of the sheet creation process.

    Native View Frames vs. CTC Software’s Plan Viewshapes

    Plan Viewshapes consist of a block to represent the extent of your allowable viewport area in a sheet and a polygon to represent the actual shape and positioning of the viewport you would like to create. No more chopping View Frames at matchlines and hatching the rest of the rectangular area in your sheets.

    Creating profile views natively vs. with CTC’s CIM Project Suite.

    This is a bit of a trick comparison because the Sheet Generator workflow takes advantage of the native tools for creating profile views. Although, Sheet Generator offers much more mass editing controls for profile view heights, stationing, and object projection. These tools give you the ability to have uniformity across any number of profile views, and have lots of flexible options for centering these profile views on key information.

    The sheets that are created from CTC’s workflow will pull from company templates for sheet layout, and integrate into Sheet Sets seamlessly. The previously specified Plan Viewshapes and Profile Viewshapes create polygonal viewports with custom matchline blocks. The layout creation also adds north arrows, names layouts, and adds sheets to sheet sets automatically.

    The most important part of this workflow is that if the linear design changes in any way, all the sheets can be updated. Not recreated but updated! This means that custom notes and legends, details and blowups will all stay in the layouts. Updates to viewports, north arrows, stationing, matchlines, layout names, and sheet set information all take place automatically when the layouts need to incorporate a design change. This iterative flexibility is a game changer for large projects, it eliminating human error, and executing massive changes to sheets with just a few clicks.

    I hope the Sheet Generator workflow peaks your interest and helps you to find a new level of intuitive automation for your projects.

    CTC also has great tutorials for all their tools on their Youtube Channel.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IlLnoK1qrk&list=PLTCH_HgPsbw_DWqEaVLF9xhWMjGPey9SI

    Create Your Own AutoCAD Tutorial Library

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Are you or do you have a staff member in your office who likes to create tutorial content?  Or maybe you simply have some web links to which you’d like to regularly refer.  Maybe you’d like to share these tutorials with the rest of your AutoCAD team.  Sure you can tell them where the videos, documents, or web links are, but the users must open them outside of the AutoCAD environment.

    What if the users could access this content right within AutoCAD?  The closer the help is to the user, the better, I always say.  Consider creating a custom tool palette containing buttons to open these tutorials, and sharing it with the users.

    I’ll go on the assumption you already know how to create and share a tool palette.  I’ll show you how to create tools that link to files or web links.

    Create the Tool

    Drag a line or a text object to your new tool palette then edit its properties.

    Web Link

    Edit 5 properties:

    • Name.
    • Description.
    • Specify Image.
    • Turn off the flyout option
    • Edit the Command String.  Enter this information ^C^C_browser https://WebLink  Paste the link after browser.

    File

    The only difference between this tool and the web link is the Command string which uses a little LISP code.  Enter the path to your file after findfile, within the quotes.  DO NOT use back slashes, only forward slashes.

    • ^C^C (startapp “explorer.exe” (findfile “C:/temp/1.docx”))

    That’s it.  Make it easy for your users to get the help they need!