Understanding BIM Stages

Many industry discussions affectionately expand on BIM’s far-reaching deliverables: seamless collaboration, construction sequencing, shareable databases and fully integrated project delivery. While all these possibilities are foreseen today and are becoming more readily accessible as we speak (type), it is important to understand the deployment road ahead. Such an understanding will help us focus on the task at hand, better allocate available resources and prepare for the BIM-flavoured future. read more...

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An Introduction to Ecotect: AECBytes Feature

Some of you may be familiar with a little program called Ecotect. It is a 3D building analysis program that assists architects in analyzing many aspects of a building’s performance, with a particular emphasis on creating energy efficient, sustainable designs. Development of Ecotect commenced as part of Andrew Marsh’s Ph.D. thesis at the University of Western Australia—I was privileged to be one of Andrew’s architectural science students at the time. It has since grown to become a leading application for the analysis of building performance, offering a diverse suite of tools for assessing aspects of a design such as solar exposure, thermal performance, acoustics, lighting, shading, and much more. read more...

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AU 2007 - The Training Trinity

The concept of a Training Trinity is one I have not seen much (if anything published on). About a month ago I made a post centered on “Starting a CAD Standard“. I’ll paraphrase for those of you who may not have read that post. My “Starting a CAD Standard” post focused on the idea that the most important element to a CAD Standard is not the awesome DWT you have set up, it’s not the documentation (directly), not even the automated routine you may have programmed. Instead what makes of breaks a CAD Standard is the unspoken (and undocumented element). When starting a CAD Standard one must have a clear and concise goal, a mission statement even. read more...

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Between the Lines: Lee Ambrosius, Welcome to the Dark Side

I wanted to mention that top beta site customer for years, AUGI Top Gun, Command Reference map current owner, recent documentation contractor for Autodesk, AUGI writer contributor, and all around nice guy will be now working for Autodesk. Lee Ambrosius will be on the User Assistance Team in PSEB which does many things including the AutoCAD documentation. Lee's prior personal company was HyperPics and his Beyond the UI blog. Lee will be at Autodesk University next week, so make sure to give him a good hard time as he is now a salaried full time Autodesk employee. read more...

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How to be a CAD Manager in ten easy steps

Let me start by saying Nigel knows nothing about CAD Management. He has spent the whole of 2007 writing Survival Guides and his Soapboxes trying to explain that there is oh so much to learn about “the management side” of CAD and “co-ordinating projects” and “user support” and “changing the industry” and blah blah blah. CAD Management is easy, which is why I’ve kicked Nigel off his soapbox this month. read more...

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CAD Manager — Document Management: Is It Still Valid?

Good article by Robert Green: "..most companies I work with have less control over their data than I did back then. These companies have never had that "we've got to manage our data" moment that I experienced so long ago. Apparently, it's time to revisit document management and demonstrate why this problem is still so vexing and why managing your files is a valid concern." read more...

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It is Alive in the Lab: Project Draw 0.6.1 Now Available

Project Draw continues unleashing software updates at a fast and furious pace. Check it out at http://draw.labs.autodesk.com and tell us what you think: Labs.Draw@autodesk.com or the Project Draw discussion forum. On Monday, November 19, we released Project Draw build 0.6.1. This release has a few improvements such as more facile shape connection points. It also has the ability to email links to your drawings created using Project Draw. read more...

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Win a Free Pass to Autodesk University 2008 -The ARCH

Head over to Autodesk Island (slurl), follow the red carpet to the end and drop a notecard with your avatar name into the last kiosk. You can also learn more about AU and find out how to meet other Second Lifers at this year’s AU. Good Luck! read more...

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