Work with SketchUp and IFC together

If your a SketchUp user listen up; you can now take an IFC file and import into your SketchUp model.

Joe passed this along earlier to me and it shows a proof of concept (free beta available) that allows you to take an IFC file and import the geometry and data (ex. Revit parameter information) into SketchUp. This plug-in (available here) was created by Secom and distributed by Cadalog, Inc.

Sounds interesting for the small niche of folks who need to go this direction (BIM to SKP) and I am in the process of downloading now to test with. More later...

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Update 1
There are two sample files you can download to work with from the site above:

• SmallerBuildingIFC2x3.ifc - 558kb file created with ArchiCAD 10.00 release 1 using IFC2x3 schema
• TOFU2.0_2x3_simplefied.ifc - 1.22mb created with ArchiCAD 11.00 release 1 using IFC2x3 schema

On my testing machine I only had the free download of Google SketchUp available and was pleasantly surprised that you can import the IFC file via plug-in with this version as well.

There seems to be overlapping geometry (not reversed faces) in many spots but the entire model comes in as groups (for the objects).

CES TV mischief - Video

Have you ever wanted to turn off multiple TV's at once, maybe for a bit of mischief/pranking or even a "real" life need (and I keep drawing a blank on what that could be). Well the Gizmodo crew did just that at CES:


In browsing the web this morning I ran across video from CES showing just such a scenario courtesty of Gizmodo here. For those who may want to tinker with this device, for under $20 it can be yours here.

prank on...

Developers Conference - 3ds Max, Maya

Autodesk is holding a combined 3ds Max and Maya developer conference in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 5-8, 2008. Early bird registration is now until 2/29/2008.

More details: http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/masterclass/event

Revit Architecture Sustainable Design Systems

One of the sessions I had hoped to attend at AU but missed was on Sustainable Design Systems. Luckily this session (and many more) are available from the Autodesk University website (a more direct link below):

AB210-2P Sustainable Design Systems Based on Revit® Architecture
Presenter(s): Kenneth Hall
Air Date: 11/28/2007
Air Time: 1:00 PM PST
Length: 1 Hour 29 Minutes 5 Seconds

In addition to this I would also encourage you to read the "Building Performance Analysis Using Revit" (for working with IES) but also applicable to other analysis tools which is available here.

Revit Clean Tips Contest... chance to win $$

If you are a Revit user who "cleans" geometry and/or non-graphical data within Revit (Arch, Struc and/or MEP) on a regular basis, at certain key points within a project, deliverable or for analytical needs then this is for you. We are looking for your tips and offering $$ :) If your interested read on below:

With so many great users, project types and expanded uses for Revit in the industry, we are compiling a list of items for a future post (credit given to submitters) of the items that need to be fixed, checked or adjusted at various stages.

Please send your entry/list to us via e-mail with the subject line: Revit Clean. In exchange we have two $100 gift certificates for two (2) randomly selected winners from the entries received. All submittals must be done by 6:00 EST on January 24, 2008. Winners will be notified on January 25, 2008.

Thats it, if we left something out or you need any clarification let us know. :)

New Build of Revit for the leap year bug

In this post we mentioned an issue with the month of January 2008 and that Autodesk is aware and working on a fix. As it turns out it seems to be a leap year issue and fixes are available for Revit Architecture, Revit Structure & Revit MEP in the form of new builds (technically this is SP4 but the website lists them as SP3 for all products). You can install these if you are affected or wait until February where this will no longer be a problem... :)

The updates seem to be similar for each product line with a few minor additions for each product line. The snapshot below is taken from the web enhancement update list of fixes for Revit Architecture: Web Update SP3 build (20080101_2345):

• Improves stability when editing groups, saving views/groups to the library or creating a new project withtemplate set to “None”.
• Improves stability when upgrading or linking a project from Autodesk Revit Building 8.1/Revit Structure 2or older.
• Allows the ability to array face-based families placed on a vertical face.
• Allows the ability to maintain face-based instances on curved surfaces of a Revit link when the link isunloaded.
• Improves stability when selecting sections.
• Allows the ability to insert an electrical receptacle into a legend view.• Improves stability when accessing the Help menu in Revit Architecture on a computer with the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.
• Improves stability when applying a view template to a sheet.
• Improve the performance of a view when it contains many objects with overridden graphics by element.

Thanks Chuck for the notification and eyes on the build updates. :)

Revit Unspecified Error

Over the last few days there has been a number of errors within Revit (Architecture, Structure and MEP) when doing common tasks, showing up in the form of an "Unspecified Error" to be exact.

Some of these problems include:

• From Revit 9.1 - When trying to save Groups to .rvg file types
• 2008 - Editing of Groups
• 2008 - Opening legacy files in Revit Architecture 2008
• 2008 - Saving a view out of the project browser to an external file (also found schedules to be an issue)
• 2008 - Creating a project without a template.
  

How to fix:
Its a hack but its what we have right now; set your system date to be either before January 01, 2008 or after January 31, 2008.

Update:
Autodesk staff are aware of these issues and are working on a permanent fix for this.

Searching for trends

For those interested in the latest search trends and news that is occuring you can keep up with it all @ Google thanks to Google Trends.

This is updated Daily and you can see what the latest news is on a particular date (starting from May 15 2007). So if you are looking to see what is being searched for the most this new years day check out : http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X&date=2008-1-1

This was one of my first adds to the Chumby and now I know which celebrities are pregnant, divorcing, latest world headlines and more obscure breaking net related news. :)

trending on...