Revit Building - Schedule Keys 101

For Revit Building users a very useful tool, but often overlooked by those just getting started, is the use of schedule keys. When used this can help to automatically populate fields within your schedule, rather than manually entering these values line by line.

Here is a video example showing how this can be used.

happy BIM'ing...

Intel based Mac, dual boot windows?

Microsoft and Apple ink a 5-year software deal, more here. This opens up a few possibilities for those who like the apple style, but rely on windows based software.

Autodesk 3ds Max 8 Service Pack 1

Autodesk 3ds Max 8 Service Pack 1 includes a number of fixes for Autodesk 3ds Max 8 across several functional areas, including Biped, Batch Render, Hair, Material Editor, Maxscript, Script Controller, SDK, Snaps, UV Unwrap and mental ray.

The readme and installation file can be found here.

happy rendering...

Web Based Applications - Collaboration

I am not talking about Buzzsaw, believe it or not there is a whole technology world out there beyond cad and BIM. :) No, I am talking about a new software beta called Writely, that allows you to edit and publish documents online, privately or through a collaboration with multiple people and can be posted to the internet or blog quite easily.

I have been testing this for a short period of time and immediately took to using it a bit more heavily after a MS Word crash (be wary of updates, still tracking this one down) and immediately started using this to work on a multiple authored document in real-time. Though the software is not without a few minor issues (under dev) it is shaping up to be a great piece of software. What do I like about it? For starters I access it directly through Firefox (though IE would work equally as well) and the speed is beyond what I expected. The second thing is that the document is saved automatically for you as you work, though there is the option of selecting the save button if it makes you feel better. :)

In the Writely About Us section they refer to being called a "web word processor" and a "wiki with permissions" I will be calling it useful and think there is hope yet for additional web based applications. Give it a try, all you need is an e-mail address to get started and let the Writely team know your likes/dislikes.

By the way this post was done entirely from within the Writely interface, including posting directly to the blog. :)