Save the Date!!! First Official STLRUG Meeting!

Ok everyone, mark your calenders and save this date!  The first official St. Louis Revit Users Group meeting will be held on Thursday July, 18th 2013.  Location and time for the event are still being put together, but should be finalized in the next week or so.  We have set up an RSVP site, so if you plan on attending this meeting, please click on the link below and RSVP.  This will allow us to plan space and refreshments accordingly. 
RSVP here!
The topic for the first meeting is Revit 2014 new features.  We are discussing doing this in a Pecha Kucha format. For those of you who don't know what that means (like me when I first heard it), it means 20 slides presented for 20 seconds each. This means that we can cover each new feature in 6 minutes and 40 seconds. If you are interested in presenting on one of the new features in Revit 2014, (Arch, MEP or Struct flavor) check out our LinkedIn group and send us a message. Not on LinkedIn, simply post a comment here or shoot us an e-mail. 
We will also be covering some of the ever developing details of how the group will function from an organizational standpoint.
We also encourage all of you to create an AUGI account (if you don't have one already), and navigate to the St. Louis Revit Group page in the Local Users Groups section of the site and become a member of our Group. This site will be utilized to post upcoming events, post handouts for download from our meetings and we even have our own forum to post questions, comments and suggestions to other members of our group. Let's take advantage of this great resource that AUGI has provided for us!
I will update this post as additional details for the meeting are developed.  Pass the word on to all of your colleagues and lets make the first meeting a great success!!

Pre-Launch Happy Hour - Recap

The Pre-Launch Happy Hour Event held at the Moonrise Hotel last night was a great success!  Thank you to all who came out to show your interest in the St. Louis Revit Users Group.  I personally had a great time catching up with some old friends and making some new ones!  Just based on the sign in form, we had approximately 40 people in attendance, however I believe we had more than that. (maybe it was just the drinks. LOL)  This was a great start for our group and I was excited to hear the enthusiasm for this group from the people that I got a chance to talk to.
I would like to personally thank the Moonrise Hotel for being such gracious hosts for this event.  I would also like to thank John D. Lark of John Lark and Associates, Steve O'Rourke and Marc Lopata of Microgrid Solar and Jim Sauer and Bill Ferebee of Fixture Contracting for their time to conduct the tour of the wonderful new Moon Room at the Rooftop Terrace Bar.  What a great space and a great project!
I also have to give a big shout out and a huge thank you to the wonderful guys and gals of the St. Louis Revit Steering Committee. (Brian Myers, Melanie Perry, Brok Howard, Ellen Smith, Pamela Beard and Bruce Johnson)  Without the influence, direction and ideas from these folks, STLRUG would still just be an idea and a dream of mine.

There are great things in store for this group, so get involved, volunteer and share your ideas and lets make this a great Revit Users Group ran by Revit users and for Revit users!!

STLRUG Pre-Launch Networking Happy Hour Event

Here we go everyone!! We are one step closer to our first official St. Louis Revit Users Group meeting! The Steering Committee has met several times, we have a few sponsors in place and we have a preliminary draft of the by-laws for the group.  We are planning on having our first meeting in mid July.  In anticipation of that event the Committee is planning a pre-launch networking happy hour event on Friday May 10th, 2013.  The event will be held at the Rooftop Terrace Bar at the Moonrise Hotel in the Delmar Loop from 5:30-7:00 pm.  One of the primary functions of the User Group is to develop relationships with other Revit users in the community. This event is meant to be a time where we can start that networking process and meet the people in the amazing companies that have agreed to sponsor our Group.  What better way to wind down from a long work week? Please plan on joining us for a drink and some networking!  This is a non-sponsored event, so drinks are not provided, but I vow to buy a drink for at least three people, so look me up!!!  Hope to see you there!  In the event of inclement weather, we will utilize the indoor Eclipse Bar Louge area for the event.

UPDATE:  The Happy Hour networking event will also include a tour of the newly opened Moon Room at the Rooftop Terrace Bar!!  This tour will be conducted by the architect and engineer who worked on the project, as well as some Hotel staff. We will also be joined by the St. Louis Young Architects Forum group for the tour and our networking event!!

You can see more details and RSVP for the event here:  http://stlrugprelaunchhappyhour.splashthat.com

STLRUG Revit Tips - Revit Tip #1 - Revit Interface

In anticipation of the launch of the St. Louis Revit Users Group, I have decided to post a few tip sheets that I have created.  These tips are not some amazing new Revit technique, but rather some basics to help some of our beginner level Revit Users get more familiar with the interface and some of the basic commands and functions within Revit.  I will try to post one of these a week from now until we relaunch the Users group hopefully sometime in June.  By the way, we are planning on reviewing the new features of Revit 2014 for our first STLRUG meeting.  We are discussing doing this in a Pecha Kucha format.  For those of you who don't know what that means (like me when I first heard it), it means 20 slides presented for 20 seconds each.  This means that we can cover each new feature in 6 minutes and 40 seconds.  If you are interested in presenting on one of the new features in Revit 2014, check out our LinkedIn group and send me a message.  Not on LinkedIn, simply post a comment here or shoot me an e-mail.

And now on to Tip #1 - The Revit Interface

Revit Interface

This tip is designed to help you understand the different parts of the Revit User Interface.  By learning these terms it will help us all communicate better when discussing Revit. Instead of you saying “When I click on the thing-a-ma-gig…”, you would say “When I click on the Floor Tool…”,  or when I tell you to “Look on the Annotate Tab, Detail Panel and click…” you will understand what I am talking about.  Below you will find a labeled screen capture of the Revit Interface and a legend with the names of the parts of the interface.  These interface parts are the same regardless of what variety of Revit you use.  (Arch, MEP or Struct)  Below the images you will find a brief description of the pieces of the interface and the information available on those pieces as well as some tips on how to use them.  This is meant to be a high level overview of the interface, so I encourage you to explore the interface for yourself and become familiar with what is available and where you can find it. 

 Typical Revit Interface

1)    Revit Application Menu – Allows access to commonly used commands: New, Open, Save and Print.  This is also where you access the export dialog in order to export your project to numerous 2D and 3D formats.  Licensing information is also managed from here as well as Publishing content to Autodesk Seek.  Other functions of the Application Menu include: Access to your main Revit Options dialog and accessing Recently viewed families and projects.

2)    Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) – Allows you to create a group of frequently used tools into one selection area. Right-clicking on any Tool in one of the Tabs allows you to add items to the QAT.  Customize your QAT with Tools that you find yourself using consistently. Your QAT settings are saved under your user name and can be transferred from computer to computer. (More on that in a later Tip)  Clicking the small, down-facing arrow at the far right of the QAT allows access to further customization of the QAT including grouping and removing commands. You also have the option to show the QAT below the ribbon.

3)    Tabs – Group Tools together based on their functionality within Revit.  The Tabs are different in all flavors of Revit (Arch, MEP and Struct) because of different functions, but some like Home, Manage, Collaborate and View are consistent in all. Some Add-Ins to Revit will also add additional Tabs to the interface.

4)    Contextual Tab – Contextual Modify Tabs are contextually revealed as an addition to the Modify Tab when specific elements are selected or when certain Tools are engaged. Contextual Tabs turn green in color when active and available Tools for the Contextual Tab appear at the far right of the Modify Ribbon. If the green Contextual Tab is active then either something is selected or a Tool is engaged and awaiting input.

5)    InfoCenter – This is where you can access the online Revit WikiHelp files to search for assistance on a topic.  You can also access the Subscription Center and Communications Center from the InfoCenter.

6)    Ribbon – The Ribbon contains all of the Tools for designing and documenting a project in Revit. It consists of Tabs, Panels and Tools.  Clicking the up-facing arrow at the end of the Tabs allows you to minimize the Ribbon to just Tabs, Panel Titles or Panel Buttons.

7)    Options Bar – Is a contextually sensitive area that provides feedback and options for Tools that are being used or objects that are selected.  Options vary for each type of Tool or object selected. Always check the Options Bar when using a Tool as some Options will hold their last used setting.  The Options Bar provides added or enhanced functionality to basic object creation Tools as well as Modify Tools.

8)    Panel – Panels identify areas of Tools grouped by functionality in the Ribbon.  Panels can be pulled out of the Tabs and placed on screen so they remain available while using other Tabs. Simply drag the panel from the Ribbon and place on screen where you desire. To return Panel to its original location, click the small down arrow that is in the upper portion of the right grey bar in the Panel that was moved.

9)    Tool – Tools are all the “commands” that Revit uses to create model and annotation objects as well as access all the additional settings and dialog boxes that are available to the Revit user. If a Tool has a small down-facing black arrow under the text, then it contains additional Tools similar in nature as a Flyout Tool.  Flyout Tools appear below the Tool when you click the small black arrow.

10)  Project Browser – The Project Browser is a project tree of all the views, legends, schedules, sheets, families, groups and links in the current Revit Project. This is your main control to change from view to view, or explore sheets or see what families or links are loaded into your project.  The Project Browser can also be filtered and grouped into folders based on a number of user-defined parameters. (This will also be covered in a future Tip) You collapse or expand the Project Browser by clicking the + or – icons. The Project Browser can also be undocked and moved to a different part of the screen if desired. (or a completely different screen in dual monitor environments)

11)  Properties Palette – The Properties palette contains all of the instance parameters of the object you are currently working on.  Whether it is view, an object, an annotation symbol or a Sheet, most items in Revit have some form of instance parameters that can be modified through the Properties palette.  You can also access the Type Selector, filter properties and Type parameters from the Properties palette.  The Properties palette can also be undocked and moved to a different part of the screen if desired. (or a completely different screen in dual monitor environments)

12)  Drawing Area – The drawing area is the window into your design space.  You can have many “views” or windows open at one time. These “views” which could include schedules, floor plans, Sections, Sheets, drafting views, etc., are where you actually model and document your project. Windows can be tiled (keyboard shortcut: WT) or cascaded (keyboard shortcut: WC) so you can see what “views” you have open and quickly toggle between them. (Ctrl+Tab toggles between views)

13)  Status Bar – The Status Bar provides useful information on objects that you hover above and immediate feedback on objects that you are performing a modification or operation on.  The Status Bar provides feedback with regards to snaps while you are drawing or modifying an object.  It also identifies objects that are “preselected” while hovering.  When you are trying to select objects that may be obscured under other objects you use the Tab key to cycle through the available objects during “preselection”. The Status Bar tells you which object you have highlighted while tabbing through “preselections”.

14)  View Control Bar – The View Control bar is at the bottom of every view except Sheets and is contextual based on the type of view that you are working in.  The View Control bar contains tools to control view scale (except perspective views), view Detail Level, Visual Style, Sun Path, Shadows, Temporary Hide/Isolate and Reveal Hidden Elements.  This is also where you control your visual style (Hidden Line, Wireframe, Shaded, etc.).

15)  Workset Control Bar – This bar shows what the active workset for the drawing is and provides a dropdown to change the active workset, if worksharing has been enabled.  It also provides a quick button to get to the Workset Tool/Dialog box.

16)  Design Option Control Bar - This bar shows what the active Design Option for the drawing and provides a dropdown to change the active Option Set.  It also provides a quick button to get to the Design Option Tool/Dialog box.

17)  Filter Tool – This Tool gives a quick count of the objects that you have selected.  If you click on the Filter button it opens a dialog box that shows the object category and number of objects in that category for your current selection. It also allows you to clear or include, via check box, objects of a certain category to be included in the appended selection.

 

Please get comfortable with the names and locations of these Revit Interface items.  It will make communication and understanding of where to find the correct Tools, Objects or Views easier.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks, and Happy Reviting!

Relaunch Update - January 2013

Happy New Year and welcome to 2013!!  I hope you and your families had a wonderful Holiday season!  I wanted to give you all an update on where we are with the relaunch of the St. Louis Revit Users Group.  Back before Thanksgiving last year we had our first official St. Louis Revit Users Group Steering Committee meeting.  This was a meeting of a group of Revit professionals and some of the leaders of the original Gateway Autodesk Users group to discuss ideas and topics on ways to make our group successful and exciting for all the members, as well as some of the basics of how, when and where the group will operate. The meeting was extremely productive and I am very appreciative of all the volunteers that contributed their time and ideas to this meeting.  We developed a lot of great ideas as well as a lot of additional questions that we need to answer before this group relaunches.  We all agreed that rushing this group to a relaunch before we have all of the ideas and questions answered was not a good idea, because most of the continued success of a User group is based on the excitement and interest that is generated from the first meeting.  Therefore we agreed that we would need to have a minimum of one (or more) Steeing Committee meetings before we set the date for our first official meeting. I hope to have the next Steering Committee meeting in the next few weeks which will hopefully give us a better idea when the first offical meeting might be.  We still hope to have the first official STLRUG meeting sometime in the first quarter of 2013. In the meantime, I will be updating this website to include some additional links to some great Revit resources to help this be your "one stop shop" for Revit training and support resources.  I will also be posting some of the discussion points and ideas from the Steering Committee meeting for your comments and review.  Please note too that the St. Louis Revit Users Group is officially a registered Local User Group on AUGI's website.  So as we continue to work towards a relaunch, keep checking back to the website for updates.  I will also post these updates in the LinkedIn group as I get them completed.  Let's make 2013 a great year for the St. Louis Revit community, as we continue to grow and learn together.

1st Annual Central States Revit Workshop

I recently (Sept. 21st and 22nd) attended the first annual Central States Revit Workshop in Omaha, Nebraska.  This event was coordinated and hosted by the Revit Users Group of Omaha (RUGON), and is an inspiration as to the type and quality of event that a well organized and motivated users group can organize and deliver. Carla Edwards, of Leo A. Daley was the driving force behind the organization of this event, and she and her committee did an amazing job in bringing an AU or RTC quality event to their region.  Carla was inspired by the RTC event she attended in Huntington Beach, California in 2011, and saw a need and desire to bring that level of a learning event to the Revit users in her area.  Complete with top-notch presenters such as Paul Aubin, Steve Stafford, Joe Eichenseer, Zach Kron, Shawn Zirbes, William Spier, Jason Gardner and others, along side the amazing RUGON committee sharing their wisdom presenting classes; I left this workshop with lots of incredible ideas, techniques and tools to bring back and introduce in my firm. The workshop was sponsored by great companies and organizations such as Imaginit Technologies, CADLearning, SDS/2, ARC, Trelligence and the awesomeness that is Lonnie and Bill from BIM9.  My hat is off to the wonderful people of the RUGON committee and their sponsors who dedicated their time an effort to put on such a great event. Keep an eye out for this event next year, because nowhere else can you find that quality of a training event for such an affordable price ($250).  There was also some initial discussion as to broaden this event out to more of a true "Central States" Workshop, by rotating the responsibility of the workshop to different host cities and user groups in the midwest for coming years.   I believe that this should be a goal for the STLRUG to shoot for as we re-launch. Hopefully we can work out some more details on this as I continue to collaborate with other successful users groups such as RUGON and KCRUG. See the RUGON website for more details and links from Central States Revit Workshop.

New AIA Digital Practice Documents open for public comment

The AIA has released a draft guide and copy of the new Digital Practice Documents that have been developed by the AIA to address the ever growing impact of digital data and BIM in the AEC industry.  The documents are open for public comment until September 24th, 2012.  After the comment period the AIA will review suggestions and incorporate any changes, if appropriate, into the final versions of these documents.

The three new documents consist of:

• E203-2012, Building Information Modeling and Digital Data Exhibit - This document is the anchor for the new digital practice documents, and is designed to replace the older E201-2007 and E202-2008 documents.  The major change that this document provides is that all of the details of how and when digital data and BIM will be used on a project do not have to be defined when the agreement is executed.  This information is reserved to be developed in the other two new documents.(G201-2012 and G202-2012)  The E203-2012 would simply define, contractually, the scope of how digital data and BIM will be used on the project and what the authorized uses of this data will be, and then requires the project team to follow the protocols developed in the G201 and G202 documents. The E203-2012 is intended to be a flow-down/flow-through document, which means that if the owner and architect negotiate and attach an E203-2012 to a typical AIA B101-2007 “Standard Form Agreement between Owner and Architect”, than the architect would be required to incorporate the same E203-2012 into each of the agreements with its consultants. Similarly, the owner would be required to incorporate the same E203-2012 into its agreement with the contractor, who would also be required to attach the E203-2012 into its subcontractor agreements.  This is very important to be able to legally enforce the provisions provided for in the E203-2012 as well as the protocols established in G201-2012 and G202-2012.
• G201-2012, Project Digital Data Protocol Form - This document defines the scope and authorized uses of digital data on a project, including any Electronic Document Management System, storage and archiving requirements and transmission methods.  The document defines the format, transmission method and authorized use of data ranging from Project Agreements to Closeout documents, and everything in between.
• G202-2012, Building Information Modeling Protocol Form - This document is meant to define the requirements, participants, authorized uses, standards and model management and collaboration processes and procedures with regards to Building Information Modeling on a project.  This form includes a matrix that defines the LOD requirements of each model element at a certain phase or project milestone, and can be customized to fit the needs of the project. The form also defines a Model Element Author (MEA) for all model elements in the project. The MEA is the party responsible for modeling and coordinating that particular model element.  The MEA can be defined as a firm, or an individual within a firm to develop points of contact with regards to those elements. The form also identifies any standards (Omniclass, Uniformat, NBIMS) that must be followed with regards to the model, as well as the accepted software platforms and versions required to be used on the project.  The form allows for the definition of other requirements with regard to the model including model origin point, model exchange procedures, naming conventions, clash detection and resolution procedures, and any model security requirements.

The documents can be viewed here:
Draft Guide and Commentary
Draft Documents Only

After reviewing these documents I believe this is a huge step taken by the AIA in an effort to help the design professionals educate and identify the owners needs and requirements for the use of Digital Data and BIM on their projects.  These documents will not only facilitate the discussions but also define the requirements and protocols to accomplish the tasks required to provide better, more coordinated projects to the owner.  These documents, when leveraged correctly, can also serve to protect the design professional and its use of BIM technology, from being used in a manner inconsistent of its intended use. These documents, while not designed to take the place of a Project Execution Plan (PxP), mirror a lot of the data that is included in a well developed PxP, and are included as part of the agreements between all of the stakeholders of the project.  I believe these documents together with a well developed PxP are great vehicles to achieve a successful BIM project where owner expectations are identified and all project stakeholders are aware of the requirements and expectations for the use of BIM and digital data on a project.