Do you use BIM 360 and AutoCAD products? Do you have the Autodesk Desktop Connector installed? If so, there is a new update. This may not be news to you as there are frequent updates, but this one is somewhat unique. Please read on.
The new Reference Explorer provides the ability to visualize all files in a dataset as well as the relationships between the files before or after uploading to the cloud.
Resolved Issues:
DST files will not open, and content is incomplete after the DST file is saved to the workspace, or when synced from the cloud.
Increased the number of concurrent files in download workflows to increase performance.
Aethera Technologies is an innovative manufacturer of solid state RF power generators.
RF power is used in many industrial heating and drying contexts. Most dielectric heating systems run on legacy vacuum tube RF power. Aethera has reinvented RF power through the use of solid state technology which is highly energy efficient and extremely reliable. For the first time, Aethera has made solid state affordable for high power generators.
Aethera has developed a series of solid state RF generators that generate 10-400 kW of power at a range of frequencies. At 95% efficient, these generators help clients reduce their environmental impact.
Project Profile
Challenge
As a forward-thinking company, Aethera recognized three specific areas of their business that needed to be prioritized and protected, specifically, (1) data security and revision control, (2) design collaboration and (3) standardized storage policies.
Given that Aethera’s technology was uniquely designed by their expert team on a per client basis, they needed high-level data security to protect their data and IP but still allow them to manage their designs and collaborate with ease.
In addition, Aethera also recognized that with growth, comes the need to make changes and track the design history of their systems. They also required the ability to eliminate rework, reduce errors in the field and have control over the entire lifecycle of their equipment.
Lastly, they needed to restructure the organization of their information and introduce a standardized approach. Aethera required that their designs and data would be stored in one single location, that is both easily protected and managed by all departments.
Solution
After identifying their challenges, they turned to SolidCAD for a detailed assessment, that would clearly recognize what Aethera required.
In order to streamline their workflow so that both stakeholders and other departments could work from a central, secured, and organized location, the implementation of Autodesk Vault Professional was essential.
SolidCAD defined a statement of work, that included a customized configuration of Aethera’s product designs and part number autonumbering as well as their lifecycles and revision control schemas. Additionally, SolidCAD provided a personalized training program that introduced users to the features and functionality of Vault and a separate training program that was delivered to the administrator to provide knowledge in sustainment and support of the system.
Results
Since implementing Vault, Aethera has made significant improvements in how they create, manage, and share digital data. Their design team can now monitor and control their work in complete confidence, while tracking the entire product development cycle with the ability to quickly find and re-use information at any time. These significant improvements have increased their data security and reduced errors.
Both collaboration and communication has also been made easier with Vault, where users can now work efficiently together on product designs without risk of overwriting information.
Aethera continues to work closely by leveraging SolidAssist technical support services to keep their users up-and-running with on-demand expertise.
Testimonial
“Working with the team at SolidCAD has been such a positive experience. They really understand our business needs and have prompt, professional staff. Their software experts help us maximize the benefits from the tools we have invested in.”
Équipe Laurence: Driving Growth and Efficiency with BIM
Ian Robertson Design, renowned for luxury residential projects, partnered with SolidCAD to fully implement Building Information Modeling (BIM), enhancing client engagement through advanced visualization tools and streamlined workflows. [...]
Ian Robertson Design Elevates Client Engagement with BIM
Ian Robertson Design, renowned for luxury residential projects, partnered with SolidCAD to fully implement Building Information Modeling (BIM), enhancing client engagement through advanced visualization tools and streamlined workflows. [...]
Énergir, Québec's leading natural gas distributor, collaborated with SolidCAD to transition from MicroStation DGN to AutoCAD DWG, enhancing data accuracy, field safety, and interdepartmental collaboration.[...]
A very common question that we get asked is how we can add a custom table inside the catalog browser. As you already know, the catalog browser consists of several different “families” or categories that divide all the components by type, which store all the relevant catalog information as you can see from the image on Figure 1.
In many cases there might be a specific type of component that might be missing, or you want to create a new table for anything that might be build/available in-house such as parts that you build on your own floor shop.
Figure 1
In this blog article, we will cover how to add/create a new table/family inside the catalog browser.
For us to achieve this, we need to make sure that we are working on an active project that has the main catalog database which we want to edit.
Next we need to go to the “Project” tab and select go to the “Other Tools” panel. There you will notice that on that panel there is an arrow with a drop-down menu.
In that menu we can find the command “Add Table to Catalog Database,” we need to click on that command as seen on Figure 2 or type AEADDCATALOGTABLE from the command line
Figure 2
Once we activate this command, a pop-up window is going to appear asking us to select the catalog database which we want to edit. If we want to modify the main default catalog database, we select the file “default_cat.mdb” as seen on Figure 3 (left). We select the database we wish to modify and we click on OK. A new window is going to come up displaying all the available tables found inside the catalog browser. If we want to add a new family, we need to enter a Table Name in the available field and if we desire we can add a Table Description, which is optional as you can see on Figure 3 (right) and click OK.
Figure 3
Those are all the steps needed to create a new table inside the catalog database. Now for us to see the changes reflected on the catalog browser, we need to switch the active project or re-start the software as this will force the software to reload all the files. Then will be able to see your custom created tables inside your database ready to be populated as seen on Figure 4
Fixes, and of course new features are included with this update. Here are the release notes. Read on to discover what’s new.
Fixes
There have been many defect fixes and you can read about them here. The one notable item I’ll describe here is about feature lines. Some users have experiences them magically disappearing from some drawings. Here is an excerpt form the documentation:
“Errors that will lead to missing feature line issue are automatically detected and fixed when opening a drawing. This operation will only run when Civil 3D detects a potential error in the drawing.”
Use the Insert Points at Crossing Locations command to insert PIs or elevation points on crossing feature lines in the same site.
Use the Set Grade/Slope Across Feature Lines command to edit the grade or slope between vertices on two or more intersecting feature lines.
Use the Set Corridor Baseline Elevation by Reference command to set the elevation of a point on a feature-line-based corridor at a given grade or slope from a specified location. This command adjusts the elevation of the corresponding PI on the corridor baseline accordingly.
Autodesk Collaboration (BIM 360):
Support has been added for reference templates and sheet set data files.
ArcGIS:
Refresh an ArcGIS dataset in your drawing so that it matches the ArcGIS dataset online and add new Civil 3D objects to ArcGIS.
Pipe Networks:
Gravity network analysis has 2 new settings:
Pipe Length Type which you can use to specify the pipe length type to use for the analysis calculations.
Conservative Travel Time that you can use to specify whether the minimum velocity or the calculated design velocity will be used to calculate the pipe section time if the design velocity is smaller than the minimum velocity.
Digitizing plan documents is only as effective as your ability to access them as you work. Digital dashboards in Bluebeam Revu make it easy to do both
While completely digitizing document management remains among the construction industry’s determined priorities, the challenges of truly becoming fully digital don’t stop there.
Once a contractor completes its transition from paper-based workflows and processes to a 100% digital document environment, the next challenge often is determining the quickest and most efficient way to facilitate the proper distribution of plan documents to all project stakeholders during its lifecycle.
Even though having an entirely digital document management system is inherently more organized and efficient than a paper-based one, issues around folder structure, file access and viewing permissions are tedious and painstaking problems to solve.
Enter digital dashboards.
A digital dashboard is a visual interface that allows for easy access and navigation to a project’s digital document ecosystem. Whether someone is working in an office, jobsite trailer or in the field, digital dashboards allow all project participants a simple way to find, access and view relevant plan documents at the point of need—without having to navigate complicated folder and file structures.
Digital dashboards are especially powerful for users of Bluebeam Revu, as the platform’s features for viewing, marking up, storing and collaborating on construction documents are made even more optimal by adding the proper visual interface.
Michael Echave, a senior AEC technical specialist with industry consultancy ATG USA, is a big advocate of digital dashboards. He’s worked with clients in a variety of subsectors in the industry as they seek to finalize their digital document transformations by integrating visual interfaces to make project documents more accessible to workers spread across big and complex jobsites.
Keep the end in mind
According to Echave, there are many ways to create a digital dashboard to serve as a project’s document and reference materials navigation hub. Essentially, a dashboard is a hyperlinked page in itself where designers can create buttons and other interface elements to lead users to find plan documents stored in folders in a platform like Studio Projects in Revu, Bluebeam’s document storage capability.
“You want your end goal in mind when you start to build a dashboard, and then you start peeling back those layers,” Echave said.
There’s also a lot of flexibility in where dashboards are built. Of course, Bluebeam Revu is one option, using the markup tools to create navigable buttons that link to subfolders within Studio Projects or other document storage systems.
An ATG project dashboard homepage.
Once construction professionals have determined the program they’ll use to build the dashboard, it’s important to determine how many layers of navigation the dashboard will include. Dashboards can be as simple as having one homepage with several links to single-layered subfolders, or they can include several layers of complex subfolders that lead to different types of documents and reference materials, such as websites or other online resources.
What’s more, a project may have multiple dashboards. For instance, field workers might work off a simplified dashboard for easy access, while engineers, designers or architects in the office may decide to have a more complex dashboard at their fingertips.
Regardless, Echave said every dashboard will include a home page that features different links, or “actions,” that serve as clickable buttons. These buttons bring users to different subpages that help them refine their document search. Buttons can lead to PDF documents or entirely different applications or websites. The image below is an example of an ATG digital dashboard home page:
Each subpage will include more interactive links, allowing users to navigate to even more subpages in the dashboard. The free storage in Bluebeam Studio Projects makes the possibilities of layers and subpages virtually endless.
Critical steps to building a dashboard
Pick a background
Digital dashboards can be elegantly designed with compelling visuals or made simple with solid color backgrounds. Consider who the user will be for the dashboard when determining its design. Workers in the field may prefer a more straightforward design, Echave said, while architects or design professionals may find more complex design elements more engaging.
Echave said when building dashboards, he typically uses an 8.5 X 11 for his border size. Then he inserts a logo.
Use markup tools
Next, Echave advises using markup tools such as rectangle, ellipse or polygon to place shapes that are colored and filled.
Ultimately, this is the opportunity to consider how the dashboard’s subpages will be organized, which will inform the layout of the home page. Also keep in mind that the homepage will also serve as a template for the different subpages.
Create links
Using the text box markup in Revu, create links to different subfolders. Echave said images can also be used as links. Make sure that interactive icons and clear fonts are used as well, Echave said; this keeps the dashboard visually appealing for users.
With the layout complete, add links to the static actions. For instance, the area highlighted in the image below will never change in any of the dashboard’s subpages. Users can also add static popup windows.
Copy page to add multiple subpages
Once this initial template is built, it can be copied via the thumbnails panel in Revu. Echave said to create as many subpages as needed to organize the digital dashboard. Users can also save text boxes or any markup into the Tool Chest as a custom Tool Set to allow users to replace them later on or on future dashboards.
Once the outline has been copied for the dashboard’s intended page count, Echave said users can then start to reorganize each subpage, such as Site Plan and Submittals.
After all subpages have been reorganized, Echave said it’s now time to add the link to the text boxes or images.
Avoid broken links
Avoid broken links by double-checking that every link works. One thing to keep in mind: if links go to local files on a computer, other users won’t be able to access them. Cloud-based storage like Studio Projects in Revu is ideal.
When using Studio Projects, Echave said it’s important to set the proper project folder permissions. Project partners who do not have access to Revu can use a free 30-day trial to collaborate in the dashboard; after that, Revu will convert to view mode, allowing users to continue accessing Studio.
Finally, if dashboards are created in Studio, construction professionals can send out email invitations to different project partners, giving them access to the digital dashboard.
Maintain throughout project
Once the dashboard is fully deployed on a project, Echave said it’s critical that it is maintained throughout the project’s duration. Keep it updated by refreshing it with the latest documents while ensuring that no links have been broken along the way.
What will you do if you take a month off work and can not travel anywhere due to Covid-19 travel restriction?
The answer is easy: Stay home and build a musical instrument repair workshop from an old shed and learn how to build an acoustic stringed musical instrument using Autodesk Inventor.
There are many steps in between, but two main steps of my project are:
Build a musical instrument repair/build workshop.
Use Autodesk Inventor for making an acoustic stringed musical instrument.
1. Build a musical instrument repair/build workshop.
How to build a musical instrument repair workshop?
A piece of cake! You need 3 guys who are willing to turn an old dirty storage shed into a shop with just pizza and beers. I do have an old shed full of junks under my sundeck for the job. The three amigos are:
Al – The mighty Builder who bought an old sailing boat in New Zealand, rebuilt it, and alone sailed back from New Zealand to Canada.
Karim – The Luthier who builds amazing acoustic guitars, violins, ouds, and multiple acoustic stringed musical instruments. He is known as the musical instruments Doctor.
Hung – The guy who has been teaching Autodesk Inventor since it was called “Rubicon”.
Figure 1: Shop construction
What are the plans and drawings for the workshop?
After measuring the space, we used AutodeskRevit to quickly layout the plan, extract the material information, then calculate the budget with Revit’s schedule features.
How long does it take to build the workshop completely?
One week. It can be much faster if the three guys spent less time chatting over pizza and beers.
How does it look after the workshop completed?
Here are photos of the exterior/interior of the shop. On our opening day, we had local musicians dropped by to perform on guitars, violines, oud and cellos built by Karim the Luthier.
Figure 2: Shop’s Interior/Exterior
2. Use Autodesk Inventor for making an acoustic stringed musical instrument.
How to use Autodesk Inventor for stringed musical instrument?
You can use Autodesk Inventor for modeling, detailing almost anything out there. Musical instrument is just one of many examples. I love Arabian oud, Turkish and Persian barbat music. I bought an Oud a long time ago but wanting to have a new one with deeper bass voice. To deepen the bass notes, the oud needs a larger body with a full teardrop shape. Using Autodesk Inventor, I layout and detail the body shape from Karim – the Luthier’s sketch.
Figure 3: Inventor model of Oud body with hand sketch and prints.
After a few discussion and modification, we decided that the body of the oud should be divided into 14 sections along the curve of the body as shown on Autodesk Inventor drawing:
The Inventor’s “Unwrap” is an amazing feature and did a very accurate job. After printing the flat-out pattern as 1:1 scale on paper, we turned the prints into templates for cutting. The flat pieces were bent & molded to assemble the oud body precisely as the design.
Figure 6: Oud body assembly is precisely as the design.
After the oud body shell harden, Sound board with sound hole, fingerboard (neck), and head were made and installed.
The oud is very similar to modern lutes, and to Western lutes. Similar instruments have been used in the Middle East, North Africa (particularly the Maghreb, Egypt, and Somalia), and Central Asia for thousands of years, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Caucasus, the Levant, and Balkanise countries like Greece, Albania, and Bulgaria; there may even be prehistoric antecedents of the lute.
The oud, as a fundamental difference with the western lute, has no frets and a smaller neck as seen in these photos.
Figure 7: Sound board with sound hole, fingerboard (neck), and head were made and installed.
How does the Oud designed with Autodesk Inventor look and sound after finishing?
It took 3 months with couple of hours here and there after work or weekend, finally the oud is completed. The oud has 11 strings grouped in 6 courses, but some models have 5 or 7 courses, with 10 or 13 strings, respectively. The pattern of tuning the strings is (low pitch to high): D2 G2 A2 D3 G3 C4 on single string courses or D2, G2 G2, A2 A2, D3 D3, G3 G3, C4 C4 for a course of two strings.
Picture is worth a thousand words…Here goes the Autodesk Inventor Oud:
My next project will be learning how to make this 21-string harp guitar with a super-treble bank with violin fine tuner mounted in the bridge. The challenge is making a mold for this harp guitar. I’ll have to turn back to Autodesk Inventor to construct a prototype and study the strength of material using InventorNastran in CAD before drawing a details plan and building it.
Figure 10: Doolin’s Harp Guitar
It will take some money and may be another 5 months of my life, but…Well, what can you do if you take time off work but can not travel anywhere due to COVID restriction?
With today’s shifting digital landscape, if your organization is not focusing on document version control, you maybe be costing your business money and efficiency by not using modern, practical engineering tools.
Without effective version control, your document controllers and editors may work on out-of-date, incomplete, or duplicate information. These issues lead to lowered operating efficiency and raised labor costs.
Legacy Document Version Control Comes with Challenges
Document storage and version control have changed significantly over the last several decades. The process has moved from manual pen, paper, and filing cabinets to the initial batch of online document storage systems. These first digital systems were complex, hard to maintain, with little to no integration support for surrounding platforms. Information was tough to locate in both scenarios, and users have had to deal with incomplete data.
These issues lead to the following consequences:
Lower employee efficiency
Incorrect document revisioning across different teams
Reduced understanding of as-built files and sites
Trouble adhering to regulatory compliance
Enter the Modern Electronic Document Management System (EDMS)
The new generation of EDMS systems emerged from the need to meet these challenges. They improve user experience with intuitive user interfaces and provide full integration into existing surrounding platforms.
A single source of truth for all your mission-critical technical drawings and data
Compliance with all regulatory bodies
Increased team effectiveness with improved data accuracy
Complete document control and change tracking
Streamlined collaboration between different teams
Full Document Version Control
Automated document revision control and auditing ensure all changes are tracked across different teams and devices. These powerful capabilities lead to the following benefits:
Full History of Documents
Having access to previous versions of documents safeguards against data loss, server crashes, and incorrect changes. The audit log also provides insight into who made changes and when they were made.
Enabling Team Collaboration with Concurrent Work
Allowing multiple team members to work on the latest version of a document increases throughput and prevents updates to out-of-date revisions. It also provides the ability for a single member to access the exact working copy on multiple devices.
Maintaining Regulatory Compliance
An EDMS can empower multiple teams to meet the challenges of modern-day compliance requirements by providing easy access to the relevant documentation required to meet these standards. This access is shared across various departments and streamlines the process.
Save Time Searching for Documents
Searching for a document can cost a business by increasing labor costs. Not only can time be saved across the organization by utilizing powerful search tools, but it can also improve data integrity by pointing key stakeholders to the latest document in real-time. An average operations team spends approximately 2 hours a day searching for the correct versions of documents.
Tips to keep your EDMS system running smoothly
Assign and train an EDMS Administrator / Document Controller
Hiring an EDMS Administrator is a great way to ensure your day-to-day activities remain streamlined and effective. They can assist the larger team by:
Keeping the EDMS updated with the latest functionality
Highlighting key metrics and KPIs
Providing advanced training to the user group improving efficiency
Maintaining compliance on all required documents
Creating and providing data-driven reports to key stakeholders
This user can improve user adoption of your EDMS solution and build best practices to avoid pitfalls found with legacy Document Control environments.
To learn more about Meridian solutions and how they can help your team, please contact the SolidCAD Meridian team.
Do you use more than one CTB file when printing in AutoCAD? More than 10? 40? What if I said you really only need 1, the Monchrome.ctb file? Read on to find out how…
If you already understand CTB files, feel free to scroll down to the heading “Do This Instead”.
Let’s look at what we have to work with:
1.AutoCAD users use various colours.
2.Typically, the colours used are chosen from this 256-colour “Index” palette.
3.Those colours on the screen don’t always print that colour.
4.Linework need to print to varying widths.
On-Screen:
Printed:
CTB files are the intermediary between the drawing on screen and the final printed product. If one is not used, what you see on screen is what is in the print. They are used to transform what is seen on screen to what is displayed in the print.
Many AutoCAD users rely on several CTB files to print documents to various regulatory standards. Here is why…
The City of SolidCAD requires a sanitary sewer layer to be red on screen but print black and thick (1mm).
The District of Cansel requires that same sanitary layer to be red on screen but print red and not so thick (0.7mm).
42 other standards exist and a unique CTB file is required for each of them.
Here is the SolidCAD CTB file:
Here is the Cansel CTB file:
THESE ARE NOT REQUIRED!
Yes, that was a little tongue-in-cheek. Sometimes you’re sent a file and you just need to print and use the available CTB. But if you have the time, inclination, and desire to make things a little easier on yourself, understand it’s possible.
Do This Instead
The solution here is actually very simple. Follow these steps.
1.Set the line weight properly for the layer based on the regulatory body standard.
2.Use the out of the box monochrome.ctb file. This file prints all 256 Index colours in black.
How to print hat sanitary layer in red when the CTB file prints all colours black, you ask? Well, I didn’t say the CTB prints all colours black, just the 256 Index colours.
3.When colour is required set the layer colour, not to one of the 256 Index colours, but to one of the 16.7 million True Colours.
4.You need to print a grey shade? Again, choose a True Colour; just choose a colour at the very bottom. Use the slider on the right to control the shade.
You see, the CTB file does not control the output of True Colours, only the 256 Index colours.
Working on a job that requires numerous PDF files to be collated into one manageable document? It’s easy with Bluebeam Stapler.
What is Bluebeam Stapler? Among other things, it’s a tool that helps users combine individual PDF documents into a single PDF. It can also batch convert a variety of document types, such as PDFs, Word docs, and Excel spreadsheets, into a single PDF file.
If you’re working on a job that requires numerous PDF files to be collated into one manageable document or master file, and you’d like those files to be added to or amended, Bluebeam Stapler makes the tasks easier.
Settings and the organization of the individual PDF files can be saved as a stapled job for future use, saving time and resources.
Illustration by Nico Abbasi
Making life simple
Once a file has been established, updates to individual PDFs—which would usually involve creating a combined PDF again—can be done by opening up the previously created staple job, organizing the documents in the way you wish, hitting “staple”—and voila.
Using Bluebeam Stapler helps your working life be more straightforward. It means not having to worry about slip-sheeting individual PDFs into the original PDF to replace outdated pages.
It’s really useful when compiling a large document, such as a calculation package comprising many component PDFs.
Easy to use
The system’s interface is easy to use. One of the easiest ways to use it is “drag and drop.” You can take the files that you want to combine into a single PDF, select them, drag them over to the window, where you will see the normal Bluebeam combined PDF dialog.
Naming PDFs using a numerical prefix makes identifying the files easier, as does showing the date that each file was last updated.
Once you have everything where you want it, you just hit “staple.” The system automatically combines those PDFs, uses the file names of the individual PDFs and can bookmark those for you. Settings are also saved.
If you want to update a couple of these files in the future, all you need to do is open up the file using the staple job file. It will automatically combine all those files in that single PDF again.
Combination benefits
You can create a master file, which will have a combined PDF package and can be easily bookmarked for future use. You can have as many or as few bookmarks as you like.
Combining PDF documents used to take hours, not least when a document had possibly hundreds of individual PDFs that needed to be brought together.
Using Bluebeam Stapler speeds up the process and helps increase efficiency. It’s that simple.
Autodesk has released the latest version of their Civil Engineering package, Civil 3D 2022, and its partner in crime, Infraworks. Click to peruse the Autodesk Documentation. Recap 2022 has also been given some new features. Read on for some notable features.
Civil 3D
Grading Optimization: Takes the parameters that you have specified and generates, very quickly, an optimal grading solution. After installing Civil 3D 2022, you’ll find sample files in the folder C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Grading Optimization 2022\samples.
Connected Alignments: Supports complex curve groups, offsets from parent alignments, curves larger than 180-degrees, and calculates the cross fall of the associated profiles.
Project Explorer: Pressure networks are now supported. Multiple languages are now supported.
Infraworks
Road Decorations: Allows users to add decorations to component roads or linked corridors from Civil 3D. The InfraWorks model will display the features more quickly compared to previous releases.
Decoration Library: Now users can create more realistic landscape environments to add to the model context.
Bridge: Provides for the definition of full-span complex parametric 3D bridge girders.
Model Builder: Enhanced with a new and streamlined interface to provide a more consistent experience and improve usability.
Recap
Scan to Mesh: Select all or a portion of a point cloud in ReCap Pro 2022 and have it create a low, medium, or high-quality mesh. This was included in a previous version as beta software, but it was removed. It is back!
