http://www.anzrs.org

This is just a quick update. I know in my previous post I had suggested that the Peer Review set for the ANZRS (Australia, New Zealand Revit Standards) project was almost ready. Well…. I was wrong…. we worked on it for hours, and then some, and now… I can say that we have finally issued our first formal Peer Review set to selected members who were originally part of the project. We have reached a huge milestone in this project and we have had more than 100 people contribute during the past 20 months on this project. (To varying degrees of course.) 

Because the new ANZRS document set is at the Peer Review stage I can’t share them, just yet. We will run this set through this 6 week Peer Review process, respond to all feedback and then formally launch our proposed solution at the next Australian Revit Technology Conference this year, on 21 May 2011. I would expect that the documents will then also be available shortly thereafter to all of our industry at the following website: http://www.anzrs.org/

Thank you for your continued patience and support. It is my hope that all this effort will certainly have been worth it and that we would hope that these standards will become a common and useful resource for best practices when creation Revit content.

Please note that the https://ausbim.com/Wiki is no longer active and you will be re-directed to our new website, as listed above. More information will be listed on the new site, once it can be released to the public.

Regards, Michelle Van Kolck (Co-Author and Project facilitator of ANZRS)

Many of us won’t use any shared or sold Revit content because it has been made poorly and often with little discipline and consistency.

Well…. the peer review draft of the Family creation Compliance standards is almost ready for release. I am working hard to try and get them ready by end of October and I have a few helpers that are jumping in to help finish it.I will post a copy of the package or a link for download within the next 6 weeks and look forward to your feedback/ responses. Please note that at present the WIKI site which we used for collaboration of ideas and for collating targeted feedback is not the most up to date version of the evolving protocols.

I look forward to sharing the standards with you all shortly and hope that all the hard work that has been put into this project will at the very least contribute to a new, improved level of shared and sold content across Australia and New Zealand.

I will keep you posted. We are almost there!!! I can’t wait to have it all done.

Cheers Michelle

I am snowed under at present with several things, and Revit blogging is just not my priority at present ;-p. (No offence) The main cruncher of my time has to be the development of the Revit Content Guidelines for Australia and New Zealand. We will be presenting our first peer review at the RTC but we still have so far to go. The project itself has great potential but we are lacking in community support and effort from other Revit leaders in assisting in generating these guidelines.

It seems everyone else is busy and can’t do it in work hours! (That response always surprises me. Hmm… What do they think the rest of us are doing? Anyway – I will refrain from ranting about the lack of industry input of late and look forward to some Revit leaders raising their hands this year to help with this project and to be part of defining a standard that reflect the industry’s needs and requirements.) LOL!

We have had support from both KarelCAD and Benn Design (two of the most dominant content creation companies in Australia) and they have both said that they will support the guidelines once they are issued. We do however also need to consider Seek’s existing guidelines too (particularly in regards to Shared Parameters and GUIDS) as they are likely to influence some of our proposed solutions. We have more work to do and welcome energetic contribution, feedback  and support ;-D

I am assuming that most of you will know about the Revit Technology Conference which is in May, in Manly, Sydney, but if you don’t – here is a quick link to register or find out more. See you there.

http://revitconference.com/rtc2010/index.htm

Cheers-a-roo    Michelle

MY RESPONSE:

Hi David

I will just quickly respond to your question – in brief – and say the following:

I am okay with the GC model remaining in DWG format with the Revit model. (I know this is technically not best practice – but I think in this instance the pros out way the cons. I would say in response to your question that I am also okay with GC generating all the required BIM data for the GC part of the model. whilst the Revit model generates the data for all Revit related model.

In that sense I do think that we need to reconsider the purist approach/ ideal that so many have clung to for so long…

The more I get to grips with BIM the more I believe that BIM should not be so much a single model driven solution as much as it should be a database- associated-with-a-collaborative- collection-of-models-solution.  (Ha-ha … A new term for scrabble fans ;-p)

My point being that the ideal of cramming every single bit of information into a single model environment (even per discipline) might – potentially- be too idealistic given the current limitations within software’s from various sources to integrate fully.

I hope this answers your questions in some form.

• Essentially my approach would be to build a Revit model where appropriate
• Import a GC model (in DWG) where Revit cannot generate the require form and complexity
• Generate automatic Fabrication plans (AMEN!!!!!) through GC and import into Revit to keep documentation output set tidy. (This will become an ongoing management task – since the GC will not remain live if changes are made. But I think it can be managed with good ol’ fashioned communication
• Schedules for Revit model obviously come from Revit
• Schedules for GC model from GC- Since the GC form could not be generated in Revit (And if it could you would obviously do it in Revit – unless GC fabrication plans where still a requirement) So in that case import schedules into Revit or even better… export all relevant data into a neutral database environment.

That would be my plan of attack… which I’m sure might ruffle a few feathers – but hey there’s always more than one way to achieve an out come.

I hope that was helpful and has answered your question for the most part.

I would just say that I would not waste hours of my life converting a GC model into Revit massing (Apply by face) unless it was really-really worth while. And I can’t imagine when it would be…mmmm… Sure it means you will need to dimension the GC model every time you re-load but my response to that would be – dimension the GC model in detail only when it’s resolved!

GC is a very specific software that should be used to generative a unique range of forms that currently Revit and other 3d modeling software’s currently cannot.  Sure – there is some time lost in rework of dimensions… but hey – I wouldn’t be game to try model some of the GC forms in Revit. Apart from the fact that you must remember that the BUZZ about GC is it’s ASSOCIATIVE, LIVE and can generate new forms based on new formulas or constraints. Use it’s strengths and adapt your BIM solution accordingly. That would be my approach.

I’d be happy to approve your comments and findings if you wish to share them on this blog in future. Mm… I did say it was going to be a short response – I cant seem to help myself sometimes!!! Have fun.

Cheers for now

Michelle.

I am adding this reply as a seperate post as my blog tends to hide replies in a logical place (below original comment ;-p) ….. but some of these useful links may not show up instantly to a new reader – so forgive any duplication.

Hi David

I’m glad to read that you are exploring GC!

To be honest I’m a bit snowed under right now to add much more on the Revit and GC challenges and benefits. Testing and learning more about GC has gone on the back burner for a while since I am working on an international project that was nominated at the RTC this year.

As you would know I am part of the committee that is working towards trying to define some best practices & standards/ guidelines for Revit content across Australia and New Zealand.  The project is proving to be a bit of a beast but we are making some progress

Fergus or Sean (from Bentley) have offered to be of assistance to anyone wanting to explore GC in more detail. Here are some links they sent me a few days ago that I hope may prove useful to curious GC fans….

You are most welcome to add any finding of your testing to this blog as I’m sure other readers would be excited to hear what you discover along the way. I have also invited Sean to comment to any of your responses on my blog should they pop up.

The video from the RTC GC demo is now up on the Bentley website at http://www.bentley.com/en-AU/Promo/ANZBIM/

www.bentley.com/anz-bim 

 The direct link to the GC demo video stream (which we covered at RTC in my talk segment this year) is:

http://www.bentley.com/bentleywebsite/files/streaming_media/verticals/Building/gcdemo_nocaptions.asx

To contact Fergus or Sean please email Fergus at Fergus.Dunn@bentley.com and he will direct emails accordingly.

Best of luck and please let us know how it all goes!

Recently I was asked to write an article on Revit and Business sytems for the brand new E-magazine in the USA called AUGIAECEDGE

Here is a shortcut to my recently published article:  (Page 9 & 10)

http://digitaleditiononline.com/publication/?i=17799

Here is the link to the AUGIAECEDGE:

http://www.augiaecedge.com/pdfs/AUGIAECEDGE_Spring09_lr.pdf

 Stephen Taskin – Associate    [Altis Architecture]

Many of us have known Stephen for years in the Revit world. He has spoken on advanced Revit Modeling several times before at RTC. As always Stephen loves pushing the boundaries of what’s possible so of course it was not hard to get him to join me in this exploration. Thanks Stephen – I know you have been so busy!

•  Fergus Dunn – Building Industry Director – Aus/NZ
• Sean Dodsworth – Building Consultant –

[Both from Bentley Systems]

 I would also like to give a special thanks to Sean and Fergus. They have gone out of their way to make sure our Revit audience will get value from the GC demo at RTC in a context that does not detract from Revit in any way.

How GC models behave inside Revit files

A special thanks to Lars Moth-Poulsen who is an Application Engineer at Bentley Systems, who did a great job in building the demonstration model and who is also a great teacher of GC concepts

http://www.bentley.com/en-AU/Markets/Building/GenerativeComponents/more_info.htm

•  Massing cannot be applied to surfaces
• But there seems no need to be able to do that
• Cuts in all views
• Can dimension. Aligned dimensions work best – since twist can cause elements to no longer be parallel to screen work plane. Arcs can be dimensioned if cut, like Revit. Create point as work around.
• Better when updated, since massing is not reformed.
• Obviously changes made on reload will mean dimensions are lost. Small price to pay for flexibility and re-generation speed of form
• Fabrication plans can be imported into Revit
• Fabrication readings of x,y and z co-ordinates can be reported in schedule format through GC.
• Layers can be switched off in VG to create various set-out drawings – like structural versus glazing etc.

Here are some tips of best settings from Sean Dodsworth (Bentley Solutions) when saving the GC model into a DWG format that is best for Revit®

Essentially we had two option:

DWG IMPORT DIRECTLY INTO PROJECT

•  It is treated as one complete object. Elements cannot be selected individually
• No massing can be applied
• Less control when trying to dimension to it.

 DWG> MASSING FAMILY> INTO PROJECT

 Loaded into Project file

• Makes reloading easier and accurate since origin point and offsets are already defined. Bring dwg in the same place in family. Then okay.
• Can apply massing to the elements, but it can be a bit tricky due to the complex nature of some forms.
• When form is changed, the massing in Revit disassociates since the reference in no longer the same. (Linking not an option in Revit family files) Massing elements can be re-associated to dwg.
• Updates will drop dimension
• Layers can be switched off in VG to create various set-out drawings – like structural versus glazing etc.