What not to miss at next week’s Fabricators Forum

The Fab Forum is next week? The Fab Forum is next week! We’ve got a great line up of classes at next week’s MEP and Structural Fabricators Forum at Autodesk University in Las Vegas. Here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect at this year’s forum:

If you’re attending the conference next week you won’t want to miss these great classes:

MSF22937           Create Structural Shop Drawings for Concrete, Precast, and Steel Structures in Revit

With the new tools added to Revit in the last few years, it has become easier for structural engineers and detailers to create shop drawings and fabrication models for structural components. This class will demonstrate BIM workflows to take a structural design team model into fabrication modeling and shop drawings production for rebar, precast concrete, structural steel, and concrete lift drawings. Attendees will learn new rebar modeling and annotation features for rebar shop drawing creation, how the new steel connections tool works in Revit 2017 and links with Advance Steel, how to create precast concrete erection (shop) and piece drawings in Revit, and also how to create detailed concrete lift drawings in Revit. We will also demonstrate add-ons that make shop drawing production more efficient for each structural component type, and discuss workflows and best practices. Speakers: Daniel Mccloskey, Principal with MB BIM Solutions and Erich Bretz, Structural Engineer/Technician, MB BIM Solutions

MSF20578-L       Customizing and Creating Your Own User Section in Advance Steel

In this class, you will learn how User Sections are created and customized to suit your company specific standards and how to use these User Sections in Macros for Stairs, Railings and Cladding. Furthermore you will get an introduction to the relevant databases and tables and understand what is necessary to keep your profiles when upgrading to the next Advance Steel version. Speaker: Stephanie Hoerndler, Solutions Engineer, Autodesk

MSF22025           Connected Insight with Advance Steel

Advance Steel is a powerful detailing and fabrication tool that has helped Steelway move to the ‘next level’ in terms of the complexity and scale of our projects. Beyond the basic functionality of the program, Steelway has also leveraged the technology as a tool for collaboration and communication. Discover how our workflows involve interoperability with design software for rapid concept generation in the BIM environment. This allows collaboration between engineers, detailers, fabricators, and erectors. Better modelling at the early stages of the project increases quality and prevents the need for costly rework during detailing, manufacturing, and construction. We will illustrate the key role of Advance Steel in several large-scale successful projects. Speaker: Mike Vance, Design Engineer, Steelway Building Systems

MSF21583           Design-to-Fabrication Structural BIM Workflows for Mixed Concrete and Steel Projects

In this class we will create a mixed material structure in Revit and explore a workflow that optimizes the collaboration between disciplines, and shares the project intelligently with engineers, designers, technical detailers and fabricators. Using connected, or Revit-specific applications we will round-trip the project to/from all disciplines and, using multiple software applications and Revit as the hub for the central BIM model, we will develop the detail at each stage adding reinforcement to structural elements – adapting to requirements for openings for MEP services proposed late in the stage, and applying and checking steel connections prior to sending the model to Advance Steel for detailing and then Advance Workshop for production. We will also look at how you to keep track production status as you link this data back into Advance Steel, and we’ll explore various Autodesk Cloud services for project visibility and collaboration. Speakers: Carl Spalding, Group Product Strategy Director, Graitec and Joseph PAIS, Design Product Line Manager, GRAITEC INNOVATION

MSF21122           Model-Based Steel Fabrication: Connecting the Model to Fabrication (and Back)

When 3D modeling replaced 2D CAD, only the detailing method changed; not the way data gets transferred to steel fabricators: Much of the knowledge in the model is lost. So while detailers benefited, steel fabricators are still getting the same information in the same format. But now it’s possible for fabricators to extract better information from the Advance Steel model. AISC’s IFC for Steel Fabrication Specification is available directly from Advance Steel to feed fabricators’ production management systems and workstations. The new workflow involves sending a single file that a fabricator can use to extract all the information needed for fabrication, including 2D and 3D views, connections and material information. From there, its possible to manage and organize the project ready for fabrication, optimize material and create the data required to drive and track CNC or manual workstations. This class will work through the process and review the benefits of model based fabrication. Speaker: Chris Moor, VP North America, Steel Projects Corp: A FICEP Group Company

In addition to over 40 great classes like the ones above, here’s what else you can expect at next week’s Fab Forum:

• Exchange ideas and strategies during the day with 400+ designers and fabricators
• Learn best practices from industry leaders from Mold-Tek Technologies, Norconsult, Southland Industries, BAM Construction, IKERD Consulting, and more
• Hear Autodesk executives Nicolas Mangon and Jim Lynch present our vision for the future of making things and connected project delivery
• Network at the Fabricators Forum reception with our event sponsors

We look forward to seeing you next week in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada! Viva Fabrication!

The post What not to miss at next week’s Fabricators Forum appeared first on BIM and Beam.

from my Autodesk source Bim & Beam: BIM and Beam at http://blogs.autodesk.com/bim-and-beam/2016/11/08/what-not-to-miss-at-next-weeks-fabricators-forum/
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How to Deal with Rebar Detailing Visibility in Revit

In order to better present, review and document all our rebar detail designs in Revit we want to have them displayed as solid objects and visible in concrete formwork in shaded views.

This requires that the rebars are visible in view as solid and unobscured by the concrete form. But this takes a lot of time and multiple clicks. What do I mean? Let’s have a look at Rebar Element View Visibility States. View Visibility States is a hard-coded property (instance parameter) of all Structural Rebars. It controls the visibility of rebars per view, and looks like this:

When you add a new rebar, by default its settings are:

• View unobscured (unchecked) – This property provides us with the opportunity to control if a bar is shown through formwork or not.
• View as solid – (unchecked)

To apply a new setting to our existing rebars  we need to regularly select all Structural Rebars in the entire project and check the View as solid and View unobscured checkboxes for all 3D views.

When we change these settings—and if we rather want the rebars to show as lines—we can simply change to Medium Detail Level.

These are kind of annoying properties, that take a long time since changes you make here have to be made again for new rebars or even copied rebars.

In this post I would like to talk a little bit about ways to improve this repetitive task, and streamline your workflow in Revit.

IMPROVING CONTROL OF REBAR DETAILING VISABILITY

SOFiSTiK Reinforcement Detailing gives us a pretty handy and productive tool to quickly control rebar visibility states. The Visibility tool changes the view visibility states to show rebars unobscured and/or as solid in 3D views. You can do it without a need to select any rebar.

If you don’t own SOFiSTiK Reinforcement Detailing there is another way to change rebar visibility settings quickly. This time the BIM4Struc.Rebar Dynamo package comes in handy.
Packages are like add-ins for Dynamo.  Packages are created by users like you and shared locally with colleagues or with the world via the Dynamo Package Manager.  Packages may contain a single node or a full library of nodes that you can use in your own Dynamo definitions. The best place to find packages is the Dynamo Package Manager, available from within Dynamo in the Packages Menu.

Choose “Search for a Package…” to browse through available packages with descriptions and access to older versions.

Choose the option to install the BIM4Struc.Rebar package, and the files will be downloaded and placed in the appropriate place on your hard drive so that Dynamo can access the new functionality.

The BIM4Struc.Rebar package offers nodes that increase your productivity for Rebar modelling in Revit.

The nodes don’t only allow you to get data from existing rebar such as sketch lines, geometrical properties … but they also give access to automation of Rebar tasks (from the API) such as representation settings of rebar, rebar layout rules setting.

Combining these nodes with the rebar creation nodes (from the Dynamo for Rebar package) make it possible to create almost any complex rebar model.

Dynamo (visual programming platform) is fully integrated with Revit 2017 and no longer requires an additional download. It provides you with powerful scripting capability without any additional installation.

Now in a few steps I will show you how to create a simple Dynamo script with the BIM4Struc.Rebar package and how to utilize it on a daily basis in your Revit projects without a need of running Dynamo for Revit.

In this example we will create a Dynamo script that sets up rebar visualization settings (view as a solid) for all rebars in the active view.

1) Add the SetSolidInView node. This node sets rebar elements to be shown solidly in a 3D view. It has 3 input parameters:

• rebarElements – list of rebars to set visibility settings
• views – list of views
• solid – a Boolean value to have rebars solid or wired.

2) Now we need to provide a list of rebars. To expose our rebars into Dynamo, we need to add the node All Elements of Category to our graph. This node takes as input Revit Category node’s output.

3) It’s time to define a view. In our example we always update the active view when the script runs. Add the ActiveView node to the active view of the document. Don’t forget to connect its input with the Document.Current node.

4) The third input parameter is optional. Its default value is true.

5) Save the script as the Set Rebar Solid in View.dyn

Now modify the script and create three additional scripts and save them respectively. Set Rebar Wired in View.dyn

Set Rebar Obscured in View.dyn

Set Rebar Unobscured in View.dyn

Revit 2017.1 introduces Dynamo Player. (See what’s new in Revit 2017.1 for Structural Engineers)  Dynamo Player makes powerful scripts available to all users without the need to actually write the script. The scripts will run on the current Revit project file. Thanks to this Dynamo scripts are now easier to share, deploy and modify using an intuitive interface directly within Revit. You can find it on the Manage tab in Revit.

6) Run Dynamo Player. When opened, the Dynamo Player displays a list of Dynamo scripts in a specified directory. Beneath each script name, displays the status of the script.

7) On the Dynamo Player dialog, click  . In the Browse to Folder dialog, navigate to a directory containing your Dynamo scripts you saved in the previous steps.

8) Now you can play your scripts in the Dynamo Player and see how quickly visibility of your rebar designs changes. No rebar selection and only one click to apply new setting.

If you are interested in Dynamo for Rebar solutions and if you would like to learn more about computational design for reinforcement detailing you should register for the ES15357 – Dynam(o)ite Your Rebar Design class at AU 2016.

This session will familiarize you with the Autodesk technology for complex reinforcement detailing with Revit software and Dynamo software. In this powerful 90 minutes, you will see a few examples, from the automation of basic rebar design over radial fan-shaped rebars to complex irregular elements. After this session, you will be inspired by the power and dynamics of parametric and computational design for complex problems.

Learn more about Dynamo for Rebar with Revit:

• Radial Reinforcement in Revit with Dynamo
• Rebar Modeling in Revit with Dynamo Use Case by ABT
• Dynamo for Rebar is now available

The post How to Deal with Rebar Detailing Visibility in Revit appeared first on BIM and Beam.

from my Autodesk source Bim & Beam: BIM and Beam at http://blogs.autodesk.com/bim-and-beam/2016/11/06/rebar-detailing-visibility-in-revit/
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‘Unbelievable Speed’: Fabricator slashes time with Autodesk Advance Steel detailing software

ON ITS FIRST ATTEMPT USING AUTODESK ADVANCE STEEL DETAILING SOFTWARE, ONE STEEL FABRICATION AND ERECTION FIRM SLASHES ITS ANTICIPATED DETAILING TIME FROM 100 HOURS TO 25.

A NEW TOOL FOR A SEASONED STEEL FIRM

Parsons Steel Builders, a small steel fabrication and erection firm based in Tucson, Arizona, has been in business for nearly 45 years, working on projects ranging from skyscrapers to parking garages. “We’re kind of a jack-of-all-trades,” says Alex Davidson, head of detailing for the company. “We’ll take the complicated stuff that nobody else wants to take the time to do.”

Recently, though, the firm found itself in danger of falling behind some of its peers. Managers noticed that many of the engineering firms that the company works with were already using 3D modeling programs for all of their designs, while Parsons was still doing all of its steel detailing work in two dimensions with Autodesk AutoCAD software. “We wanted to step up to the new generation of technology,” says Davidson. “We didn’t want to get left behind.”

Parsons turned to Autodesk Advance Steel detailing software, a 3D detailing software built on the AutoCAD platform. “I’m already very familiar with Autodesk products, and switching platforms wasn’t an ideal situation,” says Davidson. “We wanted something we could use for detailing and modeling, but also use for presentation purposes with clients, and this just seemed like a really good fit.”

TRAINING UP AND OVERCOMING SKEPTICISM

Davidson knew that Advance Steel had the potential to make the detailing process more efficient, but he wasn’t sure what sort of learning curve to expect. If the software turned out to be difficult to learn, it could have temporarily slowed down his work, rather than speeding it up. As it turned out, though, Davidson was off and running after a three-day training session and some one-on-one guidance from his software reseller.

“It was very easy to pick up,” Davidson says. “Basically all of the same AutoCAD commands work, so I was able to utilize my knowledge of AutoCAD and implement it into Advance Steel.”

At first, Davidson says, he was skeptical that the program was really as easy-to-use as it appeared, because his training session featured pre-made drawings. But when it came time to create his own drawings, that process was quick and simple, too. “It went together faster than I ever could have imagined,” he says. “You just have to create a connection the first time, and then you can use automatic tools to copy it at any other location.”

A SEVENTY-FIVE HOUR SAVINGS

Davidson put Advance Steel into action in the spring of 2016, using the software to complete the detailing work on a parking lot canopy that would provide shade and be outfitted with solar panels. The project had a footprint of 420 feet by 162 feet, and Parsons estimated in its bid that the detailing would take 100 hours. Since the firm was working from a physical copy of the project drawings, everything had to be re-created from scratch, and this process would have previously required Davidson to spend weeks painstakingly drawing connection after connection in two dimensions. “I would have had to have drawn every plate and every hole, over and over again, for each piece,” he says.

With Advance Steel, Davidson says, much of this process became automated. “I didn’t have to go and detail every single piece individually, or figure out which ones were duplicates of other ones,” he says. “The program was able to process everything in seconds, as opposed to me going through and figuring out which ones go where. It was unbelievable how quick it was and how much time it helped save.”

Davidson found himself getting excited as he realized how efficiently he could work with the new tool. “I didn’t believe that it was happening that quickly, versus the time that we had budgeted for it,” he says. “I was in disbelief, and actually I’m still a little in shock about how easy it was. I don’t want to say, ‘Oh, you just click one button and bam!’ But it was kind of like that.”

Instead of taking 100 hours, Davidson was able to complete the initial detailing work in 16 to 18 hours, he says. After some cosmetic “clean-up” work to resize some images and move overlapping symbols out of each other’s way, the whole project took a fourth of the time originally estimated.

INSTANT ROI

In addition to the firm’s familiarity with AutoCAD, Davidson says, Parsons selected Advance Steel in part because of the tool’s affordability. The lower cost of the program, coupled with the productivity gains the firm achieved with support from the software, led to a fast return-on-investment. “Even if the solar canopy job was the only job that I used Advance Steel with,” he says, “we’ve already made our money back on the program, because of the time savings on that one project.”

In addition to helping the company save time, Advance Steel helped Davidson catch design problems during the detailing phase. For example, one connection looked like it would work at first glance, but the bolts on one of the cap plates turned out to be inaccessible. That’s the sort of glitch that can cause delays – and, ultimately, financial losses—if it’s not caught before the steel erection process begins.

“I probably still would have caught the problem in a 2D detailing program, but Advance Steel made it apparent that there was a problem there,” Davidson says. “It was nice to be able to more effectively see the problems in the initial design, to see them in 3D space, and bring my boss in and say, ‘We have a problem here. We need to fix this.’”

LOOKING AHEAD

While Davidson worked from physical drawings on this first project using Advance Steel, Parsons also runs Autodesk Revit BIM software in-house, and Davidson says that working from 3D Revit models in the future could help the firm to reduce its detailing time even more drastically. He also anticipates that Advance Steel can help shave time from the fabrication process, since the program allows the company to automatically generate materials lists.

“The process of getting out to the shop seems like it’s going to be a lot quicker,” Davidson says. “I’ll just be able to give our purchasing agent a cut list sheet of what he needs to order, and he’ll be able to order it. He won’t have to go through each drawing and look at the bill of materials.”

For now, Davidson says, he is “super excited” about how much more efficiently he’s able to work with support from Advance Steel. “Cutting the detailing time fractionally—that was just amazing,” he says. “The program greatly exceeded my expectations.”

The post ‘Unbelievable Speed’: Fabricator slashes time with Autodesk Advance Steel detailing software appeared first on BIM and Beam.

from my Autodesk source Bim & Beam: BIM and Beam at http://blogs.autodesk.com/bim-and-beam/2016/10/28/unbelievable-speed-fabricator-slashes-time-with-advance-steel-detailing-software/
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5 ways the Autodesk Knowledge Network will change your life

Whether you’re learning a new software program, looking for tips to improve your efficiency, or a power user that wants to share your knowledge with others, the Autodesk Knowledge Network is a valuable resource that can connect you to the information you need, when you need it. With more than a million contributions from Autodesk users, educators, resellers, partners, and employees, the Autodesk Knowledge Network is full of tutorials, documentation, downloads, and troubleshooting advice that can help you improve the way you work.

Here are five of the best things about this resource that we think just might change your life—really!

1. Troubleshooting just got a whole lot easier

Are you using Advance Steel but the numbering process isn’t merging the identical parts? There’s an answer for that. Did you install Revit and now your templates and families are missing? Try this fix. Joists not importing or updating from Robot Structural Analysis to Revit? Yep, there’s an article for that too. There are literally thousands of troubleshooting articles that you can access to find answers to your software questions.

2. So. Many. Tutorials.

Did you install the Autodesk Steel Connections for Revit add-in? Great! The Autodesk Knowledge Network has you covered. You can learn how to install/uninstall the add-on, place a structural connection, learn about the available structural connection parameters, how to load and use connection types in your Revit model, how the background process works when calculating geometry and fabrication shapes for created connections … do we need to keep going? Experts across the world contribute new tutorials to the Autodesk Knowledge Network every day. It is truly your best resource for learning and mastering Autodesk software tools.

3. A one stop shop for customer service

This is where you go to get help with your accounts, installation, configuring a deployment, and more. But in addition to getting up and running with your own software, this is also where you can find information for planning and creating a network environment to help your firm distribute Autodesk software licenses.  You’ll find tips on managing network licenses and network deployment, server selection and system requirements, how to maximize available licenses, and how to deploy software installation files and updates to users in a network environment.

4. The Autodesk community

The Autodesk community is made up of customers and experts that take the time to share their knowledge of Autodesk software. Here you can read and post information on the forums, view interactive video tutorials, share and shape product ideas, or read blogs by Autodesk insiders. The community is incredibly active with hundreds of new posts every week.

In addition, the Autodesk community takes the time to review and approve the content posted to it. The community-approved answers to common issues help you sort through the articles and forums available to you.

5. A place for you to share your expertise

Don’t just take advantage of the Autodesk Knowledge Network—participate! Write an article, answer a question, create a screencast. Help software users around the world gain the skills they need to be the best they can be, and establish yourself as an expert.

The post 5 ways the Autodesk Knowledge Network will change your life appeared first on BIM and Beam.

from my Autodesk source Bim & Beam: BIM and Beam at http://blogs.autodesk.com/bim-and-beam/2016/10/24/5-ways-the-autodesk-knowledge-network-will-change-your-life/
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TOP 1O REQUIREMENTS OF STAIRS FOR BUILDING

Requirements of Good Stairs A good stair should provide an easy, quick and safe mode of communication between the various floors of the building. General requirements of good stairs are as mentioned below. 1. Location It should preferably be located centrally, ensuring sufficient light and ventilation. 2. Width of Stair The width of stairs for […]

The post TOP 1O REQUIREMENTS OF STAIRS FOR BUILDING appeared first on CivilBlog.Org.

from CivilBlog.Org http://civilblog.org/2016/10/21/top-1o-requirements-good-stairs-building/
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The Revit Roadmap is LIVE! See what’s in store for Structure

For the first time ever, Autodesk has made our roadmap for Revit public. This is our opportunity to share with our software users our plans to make sure Revit is working for you, and that our future goals align with how you’re using the software day-to-day.

What’s in store for the structural features in Revit?

Our roadmap for the structural features in Revit is all about improving design to fabrication workflows and supporting the key construction methods for steel, reinforced concrete, and precast concrete. Last week we blogged about our BIM strategy for reinforced concrete, and you’ll see in the roadmap that we are heavily investing in the modeling and documentation features of Revit to help move the industry from traditional 2D CAD documentation to BIM-based modeling and documentation tools. Our goal is to make modeling easy for designers and engineers.

Read what’s new in Revit 2017.1 for structural engineers here.

Revit is also being optimized for BIM-centric structural analysis and code checks, as well as structural contribution to the generative design and parameter-driven optimization of forms and model configurations. A key component of this will be automating features for steel connections and rebar reinforcement in future software releases.

One of the most important aspects of our roadmap for Revit centers around project-centric collaboration for structural stakeholders. Model fidelity and approval processes are a vital piece of this. Our goal is to improve structural workflows across products and consolidate functionality around key platforms to provide a higher level of automation. With these steps we are working to streamline the overall process and support collaboration.

Steel connections for Revit and the Advance Steel 2017 Extension for Revit are important steps in this direction. You can read more about these features for users here.

Ultimately, we want to support the full project lifecycle from shop to field for the modern, automated future. This includes support for paperless design to construction processes for fabrication and installation.

Read our vision for the future of making structural things here.

Read the roadmap and contribute

You can review the full roadmap for Revit and it’s features for each discipline here, and we hope you’ll contribute to making the software better for your structures at Revit Ideas.

The post The Revit Roadmap is LIVE! See what’s in store for Structure appeared first on BIM and Beam.

from my Autodesk source Bim & Beam: BIM and Beam at http://blogs.autodesk.com/bim-and-beam/2016/10/21/the-revit-roadmap-is-live-see-whats-in-store-for-structure/
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Download the new Dynamo Extension for Advance Steel

Autodesk recently released the Dynamo Extension for Advance Steel 2017, which helps structural engineers drive the geometry and behavior of Advance Steel elements from Dynamo. We will show you how to download this extension using the Autodesk Desktop App.

Step 1: Open Autodesk Desktop App

You can do this by searching Autodesk Desktop in the Start Menu. It should be one of the first results you see. Click and open your Autodesk Desktop App.

Step 2: Sign-in to your Autodesk Desktop App

Once the Desktop App window is open, sign-in using your Autodesk account login info.

Step 3: Select the program you want to update

Once signed in, you will want to select the program to update. In this case, you will want to select Dynamo Extension for Autodesk Advance Steel 2017 from the list of updates.

Step 4: Click Update to begin the Download

Select the Update option to the right to begin the download.

Step 5: Complete the Download and Installation of the Dynamo Extension for Advance Steel

After you have clicked Update, the Autodesk Desktop App will begin downloading and installing the new extension. Grab a cup of coffee and wait for it to finish!

Step 6: You’re done!

Once the download & installation are finished, you are all set.

The only thing left for you to do is jump into Advance Steel 2017 or Advance Steel 2017.1 and experience the Dynamo Extension for Advance Steel by yourself!

 

Here is a VIDEO showing an example.

Note: The Dynamo Extension for Advance Steel works with Advance Steel 2017 & 2017.1 and it is currently compliant with Dynamo 1.1. It is recommended not to install a newer version of Dynamo (e.g. Dynamo 1.2) to avoid any possible conflicts of non-compliance.

 

The post Download the new Dynamo Extension for Advance Steel appeared first on BIM and Beam.

from my Autodesk source Bim & Beam: BIM and Beam at http://blogs.autodesk.com/bim-and-beam/2016/10/18/download-the-dynamo-extension-for-advance-steel/
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