• CTC 2021 Revit Product Updates!

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    CTC Software has been preparing to release updates to our AEC tools for Revit 2021. This release launched May 4th and affects most of our AEC offerings. HIVE has undergone a massive update, streamlining all aspects of user interaction and management. Our software suites have all been built to work on the new Autodesk 2021 platforms, and the SuperDoor Configurator and Casework Configurator content packs have been upgraded for 2021 as well. All of these tools will continue to support the 2017 versions of Autodesk products and newer, so they will also fit into your workflows for any version from the last 4 years. Additionally, the Mechanical Electrical Plumbing Productivity Pack content files have been upgraded to 2019, containing hundreds of updated families and a lot of new features and improved workflows. These tools are purpose-built to support your entire workflow from beginning to end, putting the right tools in the right hands so all team members gain efficiencies every day.

    Contact CTC or one of our partners for more information about the 2021 updates to our tools!

    HIVE specifically has had major changes to the user interface of the content management system (CMS). Many of you have provided feedback after extensively using the currently released HIVE system. We listened! The new HIVE has a major facelift, and the HIVE management portal on the web has been overhauled to make management easier, and to provide you with analytics for organization-wide use of CTC tools, project performance metrics and insights into how your teams are searching for content in the CMS. As always, we strive to develop our tools alongside you, so you and your teams can work efficiently. This update will be available May 11th. Feel free to share your experiences and ideas for how we can continue to improve.

    The other productivity tools in the software suites are all updated to work on the Autodesk 2021 platforms as well. This year we have decided to make sure that we support 5 version of Autodesk products, since we know many of our clients have projects with long lifecycles. While Autodesk may not officially support 2017, we felt that we should continue to make our tools available for that release since some of you have let us know that your projects are still being managed in that version. This new 2021 release of our tools will have the ability to communicate with the HIVE management portal so you can have a better understanding of the return on your investment this next year.

    CTC has 3 major Revit-based content packs. The two that install into the ribbon are the SuperDoor Configurator and the Casework Configurator. These, like our other suites, will be supported on Revit 2017-2021. The other content pack, the Mechanical Electrical Plumbing Productivity Pack (MEPPP), has been heavily updated in its latest version. It will be supported on Revit 2019-2021 with the actual content delivered in Revit 2019 format. We made this choice since most of the projects starting fresh in your firms will be on 2019 and later. We did not see value in building on older versions, as existing projects in production do not see huge benefits in transitioning standards mid-production. This MEPPP update has seen further standardization of the parameters used to help align our pack with metric users. The first release will be in Imperial units of measure, but a metric pack will be coming soon. This release saw heavy formula updates and further removal of unit dependencies. The lighting fixtures, electrical equipment and mechanical equipment have seen major updates, improving face-based and level-based hosting in a single family, and general ease of use. Many other categories have been touched as well, to ensure a uniform workflow and general consistent use. SuperDoor Configurator and Casework Configurator launched May 4th, the MEPPP will be available May 11th.

    As always, we encourage you to contact us at: sales@solidcad.ca

    Autodesk Desktop Connector Update

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    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.

    Read the official Autodesk documentation for all the details.  Below are the notable changes.  Note that some of these changes may affect your Autodesk references and some IT configurations.  It is recommended that you discuss these changes with your IT department and/or CAD manager prior to installing.

    • Due to the rebranding of BIM 360 to Autodesk Docs, the local folder will be renamed to Autodesk Docs from BIM 360.
    • If your files contain supported Desktop Connector file references, their paths will be automatically fixed to the new folder.  Should your files contain references that are not supported by the Desktop Connector, those that contain a full path, their paths must be manually fixed by the user.
    • Opening files in the Recent section may not open due to files being moved to the new folder.
    • BIM 360 local cache files found in %userprofile% are moved to:

    Grimco acquires Cansel Company, COBALT Graphics Distribution

    Posted on by Daniella Delgado

    Dear Valued Customer,

    The Cansel Group of Companies is announcing today that Grimco, a national wholesale sign supply manufacturer and distributor with close to 60 locations throughout North America has acquired our COBALT Graphics Distribution division effective May 1, 2021.

    What does this mean to you?

    There will be no change to your relationship with us.  We are committed to partnering with you and continuing to serve all your wide format technical needs.  This change strengthens the Cansel Group of Companies allowing us to focus on improved customer service and product offerings while providing the best customer experience possible.

    Thank you for being a valued customer.  We hope you will remain safe and healthy.

    Sincerely,

    Lovett Lewis
    CEO, Cansel Group of Companies

    How to Create an Empty/Smaller Catalog Database in AutoCAD Electrical

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    When we are working with AutoCAD Electrical, one of the keys features of the software is the ability to quickly grab information from the catalog browser so it can be later on be used in our reporting tools such as the Bill of Materials. We can also quickly add custom part number as the manufacturers keep adding new components to their catalogs.

    What is lesser known to a lot of users is the fact that this database (default_cat) has a considerable size of approx. 550Mb, as seen on Figure 1 and that file size can quickly add up if we constantly have the need to add custom part numbers to the catalog.

    Figure 1

    Depending on the speed and reliability of your internal network, having multiple users share this file can be quite taxing on the network’s resources and if you require to access the file over a VPN, you could see some serious lagging.

    If you are experiencing this kind of issues, AutoCAD Electrical comes with a feature that will allow you to create an empty database so you can significantly reduce the size of your custom database. As a best practice, we can work with a primary database which contains the main part numbers that come from the installation, and work with a secondary database which will only contain your custom/new part numbers with a much smaller file size.

    For us to create an empty database we need to fist create a brand new project and the proceed to create Project Specific Catalog Database, which will contain a database with only the part numbers used in that project, and since its new, the project’s catalog database will be empty. This command can be found in the Project tab, inside the Other Tools drop-down menu as seen on Figure 2.

    Figure 2

    Once we start this command we need to keep this new database as separate, as seen on Figure 3, and we will be able to create an empty database for us to us exclusively for or custom/new parts and we can rename it to custom_cat or secondary_cat so it’s easier for other users to understand its use. As default, the new database will be saved inside the project folder of the active project.

    Figure 3

    The last step is to compress the database by using MS Access, selecting the Database Tools, and use the command Compact and Repair Database. When the command is complete you can safely close MS Access and the database will have been compressed to a much more manageable size. As you can see on Figure 4, the database file size has been considerably reduced.

    Figure 4

    With a new empty catalog database, now we are ready to set it up as a secondary database for our project and start using it exclusively for our new/custom part numbers in AutoCAD Electrical.

    Matterport – Blur Brush Tool (Beta)

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Do you need to censor something in your Matterport Tour, say a family photo, signage, license plates? Inside your Matterport Account, in the Edit Mode of a Showcase model, is the Blur Brush.

    The Blur Brush is brand new and we couldn’t be more excited to show it off. Many of you have been patiently waiting for this tool to help boost privacy and control over what to hide in your Matterport spaces. This, however, is only the beginning. What Amir covers in this video is only version 1.0 of the Blur Brush. As the tool develops, we’ll be adding new videos and linking to them from here.

    To enable the beta Blur Brush, simply login with as the Admin https://my.matterport.com/settings/account/manage

    Go to your Settings > Manage

    Below Turn on the Blur Brush:

    It will now appear in the Edit Mode:

    To see this tool in action, check out the video :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzFuW1nfr1s&t=94s

    Lumion 11.3 Release Overview

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Architects love using Lumion for one important reason — it breathes life into rendering.

    Lumion makes the process feel like a natural part of your craft, helping you produce beautiful results with ease at every phase of the design project. Its elegantly simple workflow guides you through a rendering experience peppered with moments of unexpected joy.

    Whether for design development or the big client presentation, Lumion 11.3 continues to enhance the rendering process by bringing architects and the art of rendering even closer together.

    No longer will you need hours of frustration and guesswork to produce compelling images and videos of your project.

    With Lumion 11.3, the flow of ideas from your imagination to the computer screen encounters so little friction that rendering becomes an effortless tool in your design toolbox.

    Show the life and emotion in your project, and enjoy the process along the way. Learn more about how Lumion 11.3 changes the relationship between architects and rendering.

    Watch the recording of the webinar by SolidCAD’s product specialists Samuel Plante and Stephane Faulkner and learn all you need to know to get started with Lumion visualization software.

    The webinar covers the overview of Lumion software including some of the new features from the latest release.

    Revit Content Management- Changing Needs for a Work from Anywhere Future

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    The past year has brought challenges to all. While we look for areas to support and encourage, we continued to look at how we can best serve the needs of our clients. One of the most critical points that hit many, was the need to support entire workforces now working remotely. For our clients using Revit, Autodesk BIM 360 Collaboration enabled our clients to continue to work as teams on new and existing Revit projects. This critical piece ensured that projects could move forward. However, the Revit project models are only a portion of the solution required.

    Architects, engineers, and contractors need to author and populate these models with content. Doors, windows, beams, columns, HVAC equipment, lighting fixtures. Every piece of design content needs to be carefully selected and placed. We also need ways to manage and support these projects. Ideally helping our clients be more efficient, reducing the risk of errors and omissions, and heading off project issues ASAP.

    Dan Stine of Lake Flato Architects shared his thoughts around the important topic of content management and project analytics in this article published on the Autodesk University site. Dan explains the critical issues that CTC Software’s HIVE solution solves. SolidCAD is the exclusive provider of HIVE for Canada.

    In his article, Dan talks about the important topic of content management and project analytics and CTC Software’s holistic solution in this space, that being HIVE. He covers the importance, the challenges, disparate pockets of content, broken feedback loop, and more.

    Check out his blog post on The Necessity of Content Management and Project Analytics.

    *Dan Stine’s Bio:

    A Minnesota native who recently relocated to San Antonio, Texas, Dan Stine has nearly 30 years of experience in the AEC space. He is a Wisconsin registered architect and teaches graduate architecture students at North Dakota State University (NDSU) and presents regularly at the University of Minnesota. Additionally, he has written 14 textbooks, including six on Revit, two on AutoCAD, and one on AutoCAD Architecture. His Residential Design Using Autodesk Revit 2021 is the #1 Revit book in the academic market in North America. He also writes posts for his blog, BIM Chapters, and for Enscape’s blog. He is currently the Director of Design Technology at Lake Flato Architects, the #1 US firm on the 2019 ARCHITECT 50 List.

     

     

    HIVE is a content management system developed specifically for the AEC industry. Firms can organize, manage, set permissions, and ensure the latest content is kept up-to-date and available for all project participants, even when working remotely. Users can quickly find Revit, AutoCAD, PDF, JPEG, and other file types quickly using libraries, tags, favorites, and file metadata.

     

    SolidCAD is the exclusive provider of HIVE for Canada.

    Reach out to our CTC team today. We’d like to understand more about your workflows, issues, and projects in Revit so we can continue to work towards practical solutions for our clients. 

     

     

    How Meridian Portal Can Help You Streamline Online Reviews

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    A typical review scenario can look like the following: a technical drawing or document needs to be approved internally by a group of experts. 

    The relevant documents are gathered from various sources, printed, and mailed to the initial reviewer.  

    This review process is relatively easy to complete but can also incur delays due to the following issues: 

    • Someone is required to keep the review process moving through direct contact with the approval team 
    • Due dates can be missed without a document controller monitoring the status of a review 
    • Sequential reviews can cause delays in the later stages if feedback is required from someone who reviewed the document earlier in the process 

    Due to these typical constraints, reviews can be delayed. Still, by providing visibility to the proper stakeholders, the process can bypass any participant if their approval is not required to move forward. Approver’s roles must be communicated clearly during the initiation of a review, or else participants may fall back on previous experience. 

    These delays are exasperated by the paper chase required for review packages. If a critical approver is out of the office, it will lead to added time lost. 

    The Digital Age:  Online Reviews Can Lead to a Seamless Review Process 

     The digitization of plant assets has become the norm and will continue to be essential going forward. The Covid-19 epidemic has accelerated the need for a digital footprint due to much of the workforce working remotely. Organizations that have already embraced reality this have proven to be more nimble during these difficult times and are better equipped to handle unexpected events in the future. 

     Leveraging an on-premise or cloud-based EDMS (electronic document management system) can free up team resources by removing the paper chase required for manual reviews. EDM systems can also provide the following benefits: 

    • A cloud-based SaaS solution reduces the resources required to maintain software and eliminates the need to acquire hardware. 
    • Custom automated workflows can handle the review process for a smoother experience 
    • These systems can integrate with an existing computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) and external contractor portals such as Meridian Portal 

    Meridian EDMS and Portal will provide your team with the ability to create a review package with specific roles (Lead Reviewer, Required Reviewer, Optional Reviewer). Automated emails generated by the review workflow will notify the group of the package contents. The review can be completed anywhere a user can access the internet and provides full support for markups and comments.   

    Comments and markups are fully tracked and available to the entire team through the process. The real-time responses will help eliminate reviewer bottlenecks by raising the visibility of the sequential review status for the whole group.  

    Like Accruent’s Meridian Portal, EDM solutions help teams work together with maintenance groups by providing complete control over handovers and the document review process. Collaborative online reviews allow your business to access documents from a single source of truth without the traditional bottlenecks and paper chases associated with manual paper reviews. 

    To learn more about Meridian solutions and how they can help your team, please contact  the  SolidCAD Meridian team. 

    Matterport Capture app for Android is officially here!

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    This article was originally published by Kirk Stromberg and Matterport on the Matterport Blog.

    With Capture now generally available on Google Play, anyone can Matterport their space using a Pro2 or their favorite 360 camera.

    When it comes to helping you digitize physical spaces, we’ve always believed the less friction the better. It’s your world, and we want to help you capture it.

    That’s why when we shipped our first 3D camera, we paired it with the Matterport Capture app so that anyone could download it on their iPhone or iPad and use it to scan spaces in a simple and intuitive way. As we expanded our lineup of supported cameras to include 3D LiDAR scanners, 360 cameras, and even the camera on your iPhone, the Capture app on iOS was always at the center of our user experience because we wanted to make using Matterport easy, flexible, and instantly familiar.

    Capture for Android works as flexibly and simply as on iOS, making it a cinch to connect a Matterport Pro2 or six of the most popular 360 cameras made by our partners, Insta360 and Ricoh. So if you or your company already uses the Matterport platform, the free app can be downloaded onto the compatible Android devices you already own, making it fast and easy to mobilize more people on your team to capture spaces.

    If you don’t own a compatible camera, check out the options below. The Matterport Pro2 is the right pick if you are scanning a large volume of spaces and high accuracy and image quality are important to you. If portability and affordability are key factors, then choose a 360 camera. They are a great choice for scanning small to medium size spaces. You can compare cameras here.

    Check out this video to see how easy it is to get started. And then download the free Matterport Capture app on Google Play today. We’re excited to know what you think.

    https://youtu.be/pxST9ofYshQ

    Learn more

    Below is more information on Matterport Capture for Android. Note that additional information on requirements and support can also be found on our support page:

    Minimum Requirements for Supported Android Devices

    1. Android OS – 8.X (Oreo), 9.X (Pie) , 10.X (Q), 11.X
    2. 3 GB of RAM or more
    3. Android devices certified by Google and unrooted.
    4. Modern devices with a 64-bit architecture

    Supported Cameras

    • Matterport Pro2 3D camera
    • Matterport Pro2 Lite 3D camera
    • Matterport Pro 3D Camera
    • Insta360 ONE X
    • Insta360 ONE R
    • Insta360 ONE X2
    • Ricoh Theta Z1
    • Ricoh Theta V
    • Ricoh Theta SC2

    Supported languages

    12 languages including, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese  (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional).

    We’ll keep on building and adding to this list, and please stay tuned for updates on Matterport for Android, giving you the ability to capture 3D spaces using just the camera on your Android device

    Pinnacle Series by Eagle Point Software Partners with SolidCAD

    Posted on by Daniella Delgado

    Dubuque, IA – April 19, 2021 – Eagle Point Software’s Pinnacle Series has announced a partnership with Canadian-based SolidCAD, a leading company specializing in technology that supports multiple industries, including architecture, engineering, construction, civil infrastructure, and manufacturing.

    “Our team is very excited about our new partnership with SolidCAD, especially for what this means for AEC and manufacturing firms across Canada. By combining the expertise of SolidCAD’s professionals with the value that Pinnacle Series brings to organizations, we expect that client companies will see large improvements to their productivity,” shared John Biver, President and CEO of Eagle Point Software.

    The Pinnacle Series AEC e-learning system features a comprehensive library of thousands of videos, documents, and other development resources and enables long-term employee training and on-demand problem-solving.

    SolidCAD President Marcus Tateishi stated, “SolidCAD has always excelled at providing customers with world-class training. Our new partnership with Eagle Point leverages Pinnacle Series, which will offer customers a 21st century, world-class learning platform. We look forward to our customers realizing the benefits of this exciting new education services offering.”

    About Pinnacle Series

    Pinnacle Series creator Eagle Point Software has helped AEC companies work more efficiently since 1983. Based in Dubuque, Iowa, the Pinnacle Series team is comprised of engineers, architects, and construction technologists who deliver the leading AEC and manufacturing development and productivity platform to 200,000+ global registered users. Pinnacle Series offers a robust library of on-demand software training content created by industry professionals, plus knowledge capture and sharing capabilities that ultimately increase efficiency. www.eaglepoint.com; (800) 678-6565. Follow Pinnacle Series on  LinkedIn; Twitter; Facebook; YouTube.