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    • Path of Travel tool – Revit 2020

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Path of Travel tool is a new feature in Revit 2020 that determines the distance between two points on a floor plan. By selecting a start point and an end point, Revit automatically creates the path and calculates the length and the speed of the travel based on an average walking time. The tool also recognizes obstacles such as walls and furniture and create a path around these model elements. The tool will ignore some model elements such as demolished elements or elements that are hidden in the view.

    Some other categories can also be customized under the Analyze tab – Route Analysis Settings.

    Notice that by default the doors are not considered obstacles.

    You can also set an analyze zone and determine the top and bottom offset. Any object in this range will be considered an obstacle and the path will avoid them.

    Path of Travel

    To use the Path of Travel tool, open a floor plan view and go to the Analyze ribbon tab and select Path of Travel on the Route Analysis panel. Revit will ask to pick a start point and an end point.

    Once we have selected the end point, an automatic green path line runs along the building. Since we can tag the path information, I placed a tag to read the length and time parameters.

    The tool can also be updated in case we add a model element on the way. To update the path, select the path you want to update and under the Modify | Path of Travel Lines click on Update.

    Notice that it also updates the tag.

    If we select the path created and look under properties, we can find the instance properties calculated by the path. These are reporting parameters and when you modify the path Revit will redo the calculation. Notice that the Path of Travel is a detail line which means it is view specific. It is important that you create this in the view you wish to see it in, and it will not need to be filtered or hidden from other views.

    Reveal Obstacles

    This tool is very useful to figure out why the Path is not behaving properly and understand which elements are being considered as obstacles.

    After toggling it, all elements analyzed as obstacles will display in color and the rest will display in halftone. The categories can be changed at the Route Analysis settings.

    Schedule

    We can also schedule this information and set filters to analyze the content and see if it is code compliant. The Path of Travel Lines will be under the Lines category.

    Here is a sample of a schedule with all the parameters that are available. On my example I set a filter to highlight in red the paths that go over 30m.

    Filters

    We can also set filters to easily identify these paths on a floor plan view and make changes if necessary. In this example I set the filter to override the lines that are greater than 30m.

    Potential Issues

    One last thing I would like to point it out is that this path graphics are not fully customizable. We can change the line style from solid to dash for example, or create a new line style, but you cannot customize the arrow and dot at the start and end point.

    The other aspect that we cannot control is the distance the path takes around an obstacle. The calculation of this distance occurs in the background. It takes in consideration the width of a typical person and body sway while walking. If you want to read more information about the path travel calculation click here.

    Conclusion

    It is impressive in how automatic and smart the tool is. Even though there are limitations on how much customization we can do with the tool, it is very exciting the fact that it can goes around objects and that it automatically updates when a change occurs, also how you don’t have to draw the line yourself, it does it for you.

    BIM Project Suite – Free Valuable Tools for AEC

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Down below are BIM Project’s Suites best FREE tools:

    (1) Quick Select

    Gives users the ability to build or filter selections of Revit objects by specific categories or parameter values. For more click here

    Revit Filter Tool

     vs Quick Select Tool

    (2) Renumbering

    Provides a fast and simple way to renumber your rooms and doors. Auto-swapping avoids duplicates. Alphanumeric sequential numbering. Add separators and suffices to room and door numbers. For more click here

    PART 1 : New Project Introduction Process In Fusion Lifecycle

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    This is the first in a three-part series of Fusion Lifecycle videos. In this video, we will review the New Product or New Project Introduction process in Fusion Lifecycle.

    Fusion Lifecycle and Autodesk Vault Professional can be integrated to streamline the Project creation process.  In our example, we will begin by creating a project in Fusion Lifecycle.  Upon approval, Fusion Lifecycle will then automatically create that project in Vault, complete with our defined folder structure.

    Project Analytics with CTC Software

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Need for data analytics is growing rapidly within the AEC industry. I have clients that tell me about the work, effort, time and most importantly money they have lost because they did not understand the reasons behind a project or a model being corrupted.

    CTC Software makes tools to make sure these errors don’t occur. Specifically, a tool that logs data; Project Activity Logger.

    There are some challenges to become a data driven organization, and CTC has the solution.

    Common Challenges

    • Aggregating statistics and data of activity in on-going Revit projects
    • Detecting problems encountered as projects progress
    • Generating accurate and complete reports of current workflows, resources and expertise

    Solution – Project Activity Logger (PAL)

    • Lightweight background capture of key performance indicators for Revit projects
    • Real-time availability of data on work-shared projects
    • Data stored allows easy connection & visualization with popular business intelligence software

    Source of ROI – Return on Investment Realized

    • Flexible licensing & highly competitive pricing- get up and running with lower investment than similar products
    • Proactive and ongoing project analysis- make informed improvements before problems escalate
    • Optimize workflows, schedule resources and identify training opportunities for future projects

    If you are a data driven firm or looking to get there. Contact SolidCAD to assess your current Revit workflow and understand what other firms are doing in the industry to get ahead.

    Oneira Corporation

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva
    Success Stories

    Oneira Corporation

    Oneira Corporation, An EPCM* Company, Is A Leading Engineering And Technology Company Providing Industrial Process And Solutions

    Based in Toronto, Canada, Oneira has more than 30 years of experience working with global leaders in the Specialty Chemical, Chemical, Oil & Gas and Mineral Processing industries. Oneira has executed projects around the world ranging in size from small studies to $200 million Greenfield facilities.

    Project Profile

    Products & Services Used

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    DIALOG believes that their passion for design should improve the wellbeing of our communities and the environment they share. DIALOG’s multi-disciplinary team of 700 includes architects, interior designers, structural, mechanical and electrical engineers, urban planners,…
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    Common Uses of Productivity Tools by Contractors

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Model Compare, in the BIM Project Suite. This tool can compare to iterations of a Revit model. Very useful to see “what’s changed” in very great detail. Thus if they are estimating, or looking for coordination issues, model compare is an excellent tool that many of our contractors use.

    Spreadsheet Link, in the BIM Project Suite. This tool can push and pull data to and from Revit and spreadsheets. Very useful in estimation processes, and also if they ever need to push commissioning/installation/facility management data back into Revit objects in a project.

    Fab Sheets, in the BIM Project Suite. This tool was actually created specifically for contractors who self-perform concrete work. If they do, or create any type of construction sequencing drawing/pour sets, this tool could be a huge time saver.

    Project Cleaner, in the BIM Manager Suite. This tool is free. It helps to clean up models coming in from other parties, blowing away things like working views, or “all views, not on a sheet” which is a common desire of general contractors. This solves a few things. One, it makes the Revit project file faster performing. Two, by blowing away all the “junk” the designers left behind, it makes navigating the project in Revit easier.

    Dim Checker, in the BIM Manager Suite. This is a really cool tool. It finds out where designers might be “lying” in a dimension.

    1. Sometimes designers and engineers do not feel they have time to properly coordinate modeled object positions
    2. Too frequently this leads to overriding dimension values in very dirty ways, mimicking the days of AutoCAD workflows
    3. Unfortunately, these are rarely found and more rarely repaired, and can cause HUGE headaches for contractors and increase risk.
    4. The DIM Checker allows these dimensions strings to be found and reports generated to allow the team to easily repair and coordinate these dimensions where appropriate

    Plotter & Exporter, in the BIM Batch Suite. This tool runs on a nightly, or specified schedule to do all your exports for you. NavisWorks, PDF, DWG, whatever else you might need, automatically.

    1. Sure, generating PDFs can happen from Bluebeam, but what about everything else
    2. DWGs, Navisworks files and others often must be exported for other consultants and partners
    3. Instead of doing this from multiple places, use Plotter/Exporter to single click export all the needed files
    4. Have them exported where you want, named how you want with the exact settings you want.
    5. Instead of manually triggering exports, try scheduling this so it can happen after hours and be ready for you when you walk in the office

    Last but not least:

    Import & Link Manger, in the BIM Manager Suite. Loading, and reloading links and imported files for coordination happens all the time. Waiting for Revit to link in everything, or to find where a link or import may, or may not be working is a pain.

    1. All too frequently files are improperly linked or imported into production models
    2. While Revit does allow minimal management of links, there is no easy way to find and fix imported AutoCAD files
    3. ILM is critical to the regular maintenance of models by finding and fixing imports and update link settings in a simple interface

    To watch our previous webinars on BIM Project Suite click here!

    Uncover CTC’s Project Cleaner tool from BIM Manager Suite

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    In case you were unable to attend SolidCAD and CTC’s webinar last week here is what you need to know…

    When working through general project cleanup, there are many tedious tasks. Deleting unused views, removing imports, cleaning working schedules… the list goes on.
    Instead of doing this all manually, perhaps a free tool that can help automate this process. These are tasks we all should be doing in project models on a regular basis, and when sending or receiving models from others. Who has the time to do this without automation?

    Project Cleaner 

    • Removing user duplicated working views can frequently enable purging of unused documentation elements, reduce file size and speed model performance
    • Allows BIM manager to easily manage unwanted or unneeded views, sheets and schedules in the project without re-organizing the project browser
    • Using ‘Options’ can enable sorting of views and sheets in meaningful ways to enable rapid decision making about view use and value.

    Join SolidCAD and CTC’s Shawn Zirbes to explore Project Cleaner from BIM Manager Suite. This webinar will demonstrate how Project Cleaner from BIM Manager Suite can speed up this task for free with a simple to use toolset.
    Click here to Register

    Uncover CTC’s Project Cleaner tool from BIM Manager Suite

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    By Mughees Altaf , Account Manager — AEC Productivity Tools at SolidCAD

    In case you were unable to attend SolidCAD and CTC’s webinar last week here is what you need to know…

    When working through general project cleanup, there are many tedious tasks. Deleting unused views, removing imports, cleaning working schedules… the list goes on.

    Instead of doing this all manually, perhaps a free tool that can help automate this process. These are tasks we all should be doing in project models on a regular basis, and when sending or receiving models from others. Who has the time to do this without automation?

    Project Cleaner 

    • Removing user duplicated working views can frequently enable purging of unused documentation elements, reduce file size and speed model performance
    • Allows BIM manager to easily manage unwanted or unneeded views, sheets and schedules in the project without re-organizing the project browser
    • Using ‘Options’ can enable sorting of views and sheets in meaningful ways to enable rapid decision making about view use and value.

     

    Join SolidCAD and CTC’s Shawn Zirbes to explore Project Cleaner from BIM Manager Suite. This webinar will demonstrate how Project Cleaner from BIM Manager Suite can speed up this task for free with a simple to use toolset.

    Click here to Register

    Civil 3D Assembly Sets

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Have you ever saved and used Assembly Sets within the Intersection Wizard for saving your custom assemblies for future use?  Have you ever had issues with them not appearing to work properly every time you use them?  Have you ever wanted to share them with other team members?

    This document will shed some light on why; and what you need to do to make them work every time.

    Intersections

    Civil 3D intersections are complex corridors containing many assemblies, regions, and baselines.  Creating and editing them without the Intersection Wizard takes skill, time, and patience.  There are up to 8 assemblies required for a typical intersection and creating them is also time-consuming and prone to errors.  The image below shows a corridor which contains just one intersection, complete with all of the baselines, regions, and assemblies applied.

    Assembly Set Basics

    If you’re not familiar with them, Assembly Sets can be accessed and saved from within the Intersection Wizard when creating a new intersection or when Rebuilding Corridor Regions for an existing intersection.  You simply create new assemblies or edit the ones that Civil 3D creates for you, and then export the set for use on future intersections, so you don’t have to recreate the assemblies every time.

    The Assembly Set is saved as an XML file initially stored in its default folder…
    C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\C3D 2020\enu\Assemblies\Metric

    The Problem

    There are technical support cases where the user has indeed exported an Assembly Set, but the proper assemblies do not appear after the set has been selected.  In the image below, the custom set was selected where all the assemblies were renamed to MPK…  As you can see, it appears as if an out of the box set was selected; no MPK assemblies are listed.

    The Solution

    There are 4 different scenarios where Assembly Sets are used.  One for each of the two corridor types, selected within the intersection wizard…

    One for a T intersection…

    And one for a cross intersection.

    If you open the Assembly Set XML file with your internet browser, you will see the 4 scenarios listed and the assemblies applied to each scenario.  In the second image below, note the AssemblyName is set to MPK Primary…

     

    When you save the Assembly Set, only the current corridor type is exported, only 1 of the 4 scenarios.  The next time you use the Assembly Set, if that corridor is of a different type, your custom assemblies will not be applied since that corridor type has not been exported.

    To ensure your custom assemblies are used in all 4 scenarios, you must go through the intersection wizard 4 times, one for each scenario and export the Assembly Set for each of them.

    • Create a cross intersection and specify All Crowns Maintained.
    • Create a cross intersection and specify Primary Crown Maintained.
    • Create a T intersection and specify All Crowns Maintained.
    • Create a T intersection and specify Primary Crown Maintained.

    Select the same XML file each time, the exported scenario will overwrite only the applicable section of the selected XML file.

    Introduction to BIM Project Suite

    Posted on by SolidCAD

    In case you were unable to attend SolidCAD and CTC’s webinar last week here is what you need to know…

    Shawn Zirbes, a Guru for everything CTC, uncovered how the BIM Project Suite allows Autodesk Revit users to automate routine tasks, manage large numbers of content files, generate database information and much more in a lot less time, all within the Revit environment.

    BIM Project Suite is meant for everyday users of all skill levels and used by firms of all sizes. To learn more about the some of key functionalities of the suite, watch the full webinar on our YouTube Channel.