Some commercial content creators have had very little or no experience in system development, building templates or modelling in projects. From time to time I will list some key distinctions that explain how small (seemingly insignificant) choices that you make when creating commercial content can affect the firms who wish to use your content.
FINDING POSTS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO YOU:
Please see my ‘Home‘ page or refer to the TAG cloud at the bottom of the blog page to look at most recent posts or specific topics.
Remember: If you content causes too many problems for the firms that the content has been made for (usually a manufacturer’s client) then the content WILL NOT be accepted or used in projects. The end users might not always take the time to give manufacturers verbal feedback back they will simply just ignore your range and move on to the next competitors range.
Bottom line: If you make well-considered content it will be an opportunity for the manufacturer that you represent to be the hero to all those designers and drafters that are relying on good Revit content. So I invite you to create content that readers can’t wait to tell me about. If I think it’s worth reviewing publicly – I’ll do a write-up of the range on this blog for free.
BIM BOOM BAM 
Hi there
How are you doing. My name is Adalsteinn in Iceland and I want to thank you for you’re countribuition to the BIM Revit enviroment.
I’m a building Technician and in school studing to be an Architectural Engineer.
Just resently I started to dive in to the Revit software and I’m now browsing thru diffrent intresting articals and families. There is no doupt in my mind that this is the future in design so I’m determant to be a professional in adobting my schills to this way of designing.
Anyway I did not have a quiestion or remark other than to thank you for you’re inspriation to the topic.
Adalsteinn in Iceland
Hi there,
I am Stef Gard originally from Switzerland, now in Australia, I have been using and teaching CAD since 1986 and now BIM.
I started using CAD with Autocad 1.2 long time ago… then spent many years as an architect using AutoCAD, APDesign and Archicad. I joined QUT in 2001 to teach 3D modelling and building simulation using AutoCAD and Archicad.
Over the past 12 month I have included Revit in my curriculum.
From the first semester 2009 the School of Design at QUT (Queensland University of Technology) will introduce a string of BIM subjects in which I will teach mostly the Revit suit. I am also interested in research in BIM so your blog will be of great interest to me.
I have been an avid reader of your blog for quite some duration now and I would first like to express that as an Architecture student I really enjoy learning through your postings. I have begun to research my thesis project and am investigating Communication in Architecture. I feel that our available software products are very powerful in designing buildings and streamlining the building process. However, I think that these software solutions could allow us to better communicate to our clients and others in consultation settings. I would like to know your opinion on any options where BIM could increase communication across any involved parties resulting in a better process and product. For example, on page 6 in the June 2005 article in BIM for Sustainable Design it is noted on how Little Diversified Architectural Consulting group used the lighting rendering abilities in Revit in order to prove that they could reduce the amount of light pollution entering the air and thus meet several criteria for LEED accreditation without negatively affecting the building light quality. http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/bim_for_sustainable_design_jun05.pdf Or these Functional renderings from the blog (bim)x which communicate to the builders the quality of the space and help them to feel more a part of the process. http://bimx.blogspot.com/2008/11/functional-renderings-from-autodesk.html My thesis is set to revolve around a phased design of a public building and I will be using the project phases and design options tools in Revit in order to create presentations that better communicate to the building committee and users. I was wondering if you have had, or had come across any articles on other interesting ideas similar to the previous articles. I am greatly excited about this project and thank you very much for any assistance you are able to provide. I can be reached at david.kohlmeyer@ndsu.edu
Sincerly,
David Kohlmeyer
Hi David
Thank you for your post. To be honest I have been a bit slack of late (BLUSH) in posting but I appreciate your generous acknowledgement and your question. I will take some time to read the links sent and ask a few wise friends of mine if they have any links or comments that may be useful. I do think you are SPOT-ON when you pin point that one of the biggest challenges we have with is communicating concepts between spectators/ clients/ colleagues and consultants. I’ll take a closer look a your links on the weekend and will post another reply ;-) Let’s see who else I can inspire to comment ;-p
Thank you for your comments David. I have not got enough time available to respond in too much detail so I hope that perhaps the links below might begin to open up some of the options you were asking about.
QUOTE: “I would like to know your opinion on any options where BIM could increase communication across any involved parties resulting in a better process and product.”
In my opinion the aim of BIM would be to essentially raise awareness amongst various disciplines of all the factors that go into creating a well considered end product. It is the process by which we hope to share knowledge and information in some sort of a graphical means to one another (wether that be a spreadsheet, a graph or an image etc.) The options of how BIM could increase communication and improve the end product are numerous and probably too broad a topic for me to respond to.
The obvious options are:
• Project costing http://www.exactal.com/
• Construction http://navisworks.com/ or http://www.synchroltd.com/shop/project-constructor_procons.htm
• Environmental & sustainability feedback http://greenbim.blogspot.com, http://greenbim.blogspot.com, http://ecotect.com/products/ecotect
• Planning & auditing tools http://www.codebook.co.uk/ (It still needs work with integrating with Revit, so I’m told but does work well with Bentley Microstation.) or http://www.trelligence.com/affinity_overview.php (Revit friendly)
• Facilities management (I have not delved into this much – yet, but this may end up being the golden egg of BIM. I think BIM could help improve how we translate our data in a re-useable format to Facilities Managers in time, and I think that it may become valuable value adding service which we can provide to clients. JBIM has an excellent article about this. http://www.wbdg.org/pdfs/jbim_spring08.pdf
http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2007/FMDesktop.htm
http://www.facilitiesnet.com/software/article/Interest-in-BIM-Software-Grows-Report-Finds–10314
In summary I believe the biggest challenge for BIM, at present – as I see it, is the current limitation in the ability for various softwares to transfer and integrate information in an efficient and automated manner.
This will change in time and I’m sure as the software geniuses chip away at the hurdles and learn what various disciplines need and how they use the relevant information the closer we get to achieving a communication environment that can share a platform where data is not having to be re-entered, re-associated or even re-evaluated in order to be useful.
Best of luck in your thesis project and please add some of your discoveries to this blog if you feel it will help others. If anyone else which to add to this list please comment on the software you are using and provide link and I will gladly approve it to be added to this blog. Be sure to offer any negative feedback in a tactful and professional manner please. (Perhaps as a wish list item)