Revit Platform - Shortcut Keys

While spending a few days in Baltimore, MD after a short trip to Roanoke, VA last week with a great group of Autodesk product users I got posed a question in a follow-up to the AutoCAD platform Shortcut key post on ways to do something similar using the Revit platform.

The use of the keyboard shortcuts in most computers these days make can help to make you a bit quicker. For those who work with Revit you can customize these menu shortcut keys (keyboard accelerators) as the default ones you see are stored in a standard .txt file called KeyboardShortcuts.txt which can be easily edited.

You will find the KeyboardShortcuts.txt in the following location: C:\Program Files\Autodesk Revit Building (version)\Program\. Note: If you have installed Revit to another location you will find the file in the location you installed this to.

To modify this you need a standard .txt editor (Notepad is fine). Once open you will notice that each line begins with either a semi-colon (;) or starts with a quote ("). The ones that start with the semi-colon have not been customized, the entries without the semi-colon are customized items.

To add your own custom short keys for commands you can remove the semi-colon and enter a key combination between the parenthesis.

Ex. the move command uses the key combination "MC". To modify this to use another key combination you can use the following: "MO" menu:"Edit-Move". Save your file then restart your Revit session. Unfortunately there is no command similar to the REINIT in AutoCAD to keep from having to close your Revit session.

One other item you will notice once you restart is that not only does your new keyboard shortcut work but if you look in the pulldown menu's you will also see the new shortcut key combination listed next to each command you modified.

Happy Revit'ing...

ADT 2006 Service Pack 1

For those running ADT 2006 a service pack was released yesterday which is available for download here or by going through the communication center (look for the lighting bolt icon that says Maintenance Update Available).

From the readme here are some of the primary items this service pack addresses:

Curtain Walls
A fatal error no longer occurs when you are editing a curtain wall while in a shaded view of a drawing started from the AEC Model (Metric DACH)ctb.dwt template.

Stairs
Tread edges are now displayed for stair styles configured to only include a slab stringer.
Drawings that contain certain configurations of ramps with landings will now open successfully.

Ceiling Grids
An internal error no longer occurs when you exit an Architectural Desktop session in which a ceiling grid that uses a space object as its boundary has been grip edited.

Spaces
The location information for space objects will now persist within the Properties Palette if the Audit command is used after an action (such as invoking the VBAIDE command) has caused the AcVBA.arx module to load.

Areas
The Calculation modifiers option for area objects is still displayed in the Properties Palette after the first area is tagged in a drawing.

AEC Dimensions
Location of opening height text within an AEC Dimension is now properly retained after the AEC Dimension is mirrored.
The edit in place functionality now allows you to individually edit the position dimension text within AEC Dimensions that are configured to dimension the wall width via components.

AEC Polygons
An internal error no longer occurs when you open files that contain AEC Polygon styles in which hatch patterns have been enabled.
Plot preview and plotted results are now the same where break marks are used to mask objects. See Additional Known Issues for related issue.

Materials
Materials that do not include texture maps (such as Doors & Windows.Glazing.Glass.Clear) now display correctly when i-dropped into a drawing from Content Browser.

Project Navigator
Elevations stored in View drawings will now regenerate appropriately after changes are made to levels within the project.

Project Browser
A fatal error no longer occurs when accessing properties of a network-shared project in Project Browser while a network connection is unavailable.

Tool Palettes
A fatal error no longer occurs when you exit an Architectural Desktop session in which a tool has been created by dragging and dropping content from Style Manager to a project tool palette.
Tool properties edits will now persist within the current Architectural Desktop session if the Audit command is used after an action (such as invoking the VBAIDE command) has caused the AcVBA.arx module to load.
Modifications to the following properties of a window tool are now retained: Measure to, Head height, and Sill height.
A fatal error no longer occurs if you are simultaneously editing multiple AEC style-based tools and attempting to edit the tool images.

Content Browser
Moving multiple command tools to a palette with Content Browser no longer results in duplication of command tool properties, such as name and description.

Detail Component Manager
When you add new components in Detail Component Manager, the Block drawing location field now displays the path to and name of the drawing file that was selected as the block library.
Italian masonry anchor details now scale properly when inserted into drawings using meters as the drawing units.
A fatal error no longer occurs when you insert dovetail corrugated anchor details into drawings using meters as the drawing units.

Layer Manager
Creating new layers through use of the New Layer from Standard command in Layer Manager no longer results in the unexpected selection of the last layer filter. Now the currently selected layer filter remains selected.

Style Manager
A fatal error no longer occurs when you use mnemonics while editing door or window styles in Style Manager.
When exiting Style Manager you are now prompted to save changes to drawings if new structural member styles were created through use of the Create Style command.

Display Manager
A fatal error no longer occurs when you select display representations associated with Curtain Walls, Curtain Wall Units, or Door/Window Assemblies in Display Manager.
Clicking Apply in Display Manager no longer results in the unexpected selection of the parent drawing file. Now the currently selected configuration, set, or representation by object remains selected.
The appropriate icon for configurations is now displayed after the Override View Direction option is enabled in Display Manager.
ARX_ERROR: eNullObjectId and ERROR: Could not instantiate AecDict! errors are no longer displayed at the command line when Display Manager is launched after you start multiple new drawings without templates.

Export to AutoCAD
The appropriate display of wall cleanups for intersecting walls that reside in separate xrefs are now retained in files generated by the Export to AutoCAD command.
Hatch patterns associated with sloping slabs or structural members are now flattened after use of the Export to AutoCAD command.
The Export to AutoCAD command now produces files with the appropriate display of xrefs with display configuration overrides.

Design Center
A fatal error no longer occurs when you drag content from Design Center to drawing file.

.NET API
ArchDBVariables can now be created to allow access to the AEC object settings in the Options dialog.
Fixes have been incorporated to deal with the autodelete feature of managed wrappers as well as NULL point checkers.

Miscellaneous
A lengthy startup delay no longer occurs while the AEC Recipe Base is loading.
Cannot find resource string number 25207 in resource AecResUi40 error is no longer displayed when you are editing Architectural Desktop styles.
A fatal error no longer occurs when you attempt to enable the Separate Hatch option in the Hatch and Gradient dialog for a hatch pattern that has been modified using the Subtract AEC Modify Tool.
The Property Lookup Table is now displayed during the creation or modification of lookup actions in the Block Editor.
Both Schedule Tags and Callouts using Right-Reading text will now have the text in a vertical orientation when placing at a 90 or 270 degree orientation.
A fatal error no longer occurs when you exit an Architectural Desktop session in which the properties of a tool associated with a linked catalog were modified.

Happy ADT'ing...

ACAD Platform - Shortcut keys

Hello gang and greetings from Bonita Springs, FL. This is a short trip and beautiful area, driving from the airport earlier with Charlie I got to see my first flamingo in the wild. =)

This post is for those new to using cad or the vertical products based on the AutoCAD platform. One of the best things you can do to speed up your work is to learn/understand how the command aliases (aka shortcut keys) work and how you can add/edit your own. This will allow you to modify the key combination used to invoke a command or external program.

The command aliases are stored in a file called "acad.pgp". For those using ADT the default path is found in the following location: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Autodesk\ADT 2006\enu\Support

If you are unsure of which acad.pgp file your cad session is using you can always type the following:

(findfile "acad.pgp")

Once typed this will return a path to where the command aliases are stored. Of course this only returns the path, if you wish to open the file try the following:

(startapp "notepad" (findfile "acad.pgp"))

Once you make a change you will need to either use the "reinit" command to reinitialize the pgp file or close your cad session and reopen.

====
Guru Note
====
The AutoCAD platform uses the first "acad.pgp" file it finds from the Options>>Support File Search Path to load into memory.

happy cadding...

August Developments

The past few weeks have been heavy on travel and on-site consulting; with a two week gig in Texas focusing on AutoCAD/ADT Modeling techniques, a presentation explaining BIM; Past, Present and Future ,and a bit of Revit Building thrown in for good measure. During this trip I bumped into quite a few people (Jay Moore from VisionREZ and Chip Foose from OverHaulin TV Fame complete with rendering in hand).

This week I am working in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg area) working with a great group of folks using ADT. If you are an Autodesk product user in the Machanicsburg/Harrisburg/York area and interested in getting together for a "Geek Dinner and Chat" drop me an e-mail.

There are plenty of new things under development (from communities, websites and more) that I can share over the next month, stay tuned... =)

AU 2005

While driving back from South Carolina the other day I saw the greatest license plate "I Love AU" but unfortunately my camera was in the back of the car so no photos showing it... :( That being said you have a chance to see if you agree with the woman driving the "I Love AU" car.

The upcoming AU 2005 will be held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida from November 28 - December 1, 2005. This year you can expect 375 classes and hands-on labes in addition to the ADN conference and the 3ds Max Developers Conference. This will be my fifth year at AU and each one just keeps getting better and better!

For those looking to get approval from your company the "Justifying AU" section of the website may be of some help.

This year I have two classes I will be teaching:

Cutting Your Way Through the Collaboration Process with Autodesk® Buzzsaw®
Tuesday Nov 29, 2005
5:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Session Code: CD22-1

A Manager's Guide to Centralizing Autodesk® Architectural Desktop Content on Your Network
Wednesday Nov 30, 2005
1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
Session Code: BD33-3

I look forward to seeing you there...

ADT Project Navigator - Defined

One of the most useful items within Architectural Desktop is the Project Navigator. Unfortunately this is also one of the more difficult item to understand and one that I get the most questions from new users/companies moving to using this. Whether this stems from having a traditional cad background, program terminology or other reasons the bottom line is that with a little understanding you can successfully start using this for you next project.

This post will attempt to explain the workflow and terminology for use with the project navigator to help get you started.

In traditional cad we have always worked with multiple files that related in some way to our project. What Project Navigator attempts to do is to manage that "flow" of information. This "flow" is what I like to call the "Information Life Cycle".

Information Life Cycle - The 4 Step Program

Step 1 - Creation

Step 2 - Organization/Management

Step 3 - Publication

Step 4 - Changes

More on the Information Life Cycle later...

To better understand the Project Navigator we need to examine the typical project workflow. This is typically where most companies/users have instituted some type of external reference structure (how xrefs should go together). The use of the PN can be summed up as a three tier external reference system.

For us this begins with our first tier or base drawing. This is typically where geometry is drawn such as Walls, Doors, Windows, etc... It is quite common that this base drawing is what is shared with other members of the design team (consultant) as a background reference.

Once we have the base geometry defined we move into the second tier or annotation. This is typically where annotation is generated such as: text, leaders, dimensions, symbols, schedules, etc... When working in the annotation drawings this is usually when you start to consider the particular view/region that will be showing when plotted and of course the intended output drawing scale of the "view" becomes important in this tier.

Moving to the third and final tier or plotting. This is typically where you will find the base drawing and annotation brought together to load onto the sheet for plotting.

Project Workflow Summary

First Tier - Base Drawing

Second Tier - Annotation

Third Tier - Plotting

Project Navigator

The Project Navigator Palette is divided into 4 tabs; Project, Constructs, Views & Sheets. Each of these tabs has a specific role to play in your project. Let's define some terminology starting with the Project tab.

Project Tab - This is where non-graphical project data is entered.

Within here we have two areas that need some clarification; Levels and Divisions.

A "Level" separates the building in a horizontal plane with a physical separation. Typical uses include Grade Levels, Footings, Floors (partial & full), Roofs, etc…

A "Division" separates the building in a vertical plane and can be either a physical/virtual separation. More on what the physical/virtual is shortly. Typical uses include Building Wings/Extensions, Project Phasing (Phase I, Phase II), Construction Options (Demo, Existing, New, Temporary, Future), Design Options of differing configurations, Disciplines (Arch, Struc, PME,) etc… Essentially this gives you a controlled way to break up the building model.

Constructs Tab - This is where the base drawings begin.

A "Construct" is a unique portion of the building on a particular level in a particular division. Typical uses include Floor Plans & Roof Plans.

An "Element" while similar to the Construct in that your base geometry is drawn has a fundamentally different definition as it is a portion of the building WITHOUT a specific location, level or division within the building model. This is most often a repeatable type of element such as a bathroom layout, Unit Based Design, Titleblocks, etc…

Views Tab - This is where the annotation drawings begin.

A "View" is a report of the building model. By using the project navigator the needed base drawings (Constructs and/or Elements) are brought together to create the required view. Typical items within the views include Text, Dimensions, Leaders, Symbols for floor plans, elevations, sections, details, schedules, composite building models, etc…

Sheets Tab - This is just for plotting

A "Sheet" is a "Ready to Plot" report of the building model. Typically this involves the created view defined in the Views tab loaded onto the sheet for printing. Typical items you find in the sheets are the titleblock (can be an element) with fields referencing your project information.

Workflow Summary

We mentioned the Information Life Cycle Four Step Program above, so how does this apply to using the Project Navigator? Great question lets look at this one step at the time:

Step 1 - Creation. The creation of your project begins with the project browser. Once the project is started the creation of all new files associated can be done within the project navigator. Within the Constructs, Views, or Sheets tab you can right click to create a new working file. Depending on which one is chosen you will be presented with a dialogue box indicating which files will be referenced together to document your building model as required.

Step 2 - Organization/Management. With all the working files in one location anyone working on the project can see the files that make up the building model. From those working in/out of drawings on an hourly/daily basis or those less frequently you can find and work on the needed drawings at any time in one easy to manage location without going outside of your ADT session.

Step 3 - Publication. The sharing of this information whether digital (2d/3d) or hardcopy prints is a necessary part of the documentation. From sharing with Consultants to print shops to building owners; with all the design submittals along the way the most time consuming part (besides design time) is plotting. The project navigator alleviates this by giving you a simple right click on single or multiple drawings (without opening, printing and closing each manually) and deliver in any of several methods (e-transmit, printing to file, printing to plotter, etc…).

Step 4 - Changes. During the design process changes happen constantly. By having your project drawings in one easy to access interface (once you learn the basics) you can get in/out of your working drawings and make changes as needed. For those using ADT 2006 and higher the introduction of "Project Standards" allow you to make style/display changes and have these updated to the multiple files that make up your building model either manually, semi-automatically or automatically.

The ILC and PN concept is a repeating cycle as you create design data, organize and manage this data, publish/share and then continue to refine your designs through numerous changes all managed in one central location for your entire project.

There are plenty of additional items that the Project Browser and Project Navigator offer including migrating legacy projects (pre-PN days) that we have not covered. I would encourage you to explore this further once you begin your journey into using the Project Navigator. Now that you have the concepts understood the actual implementation of putting this into action should go much easier!

Happy BIM'ing…

Tech Call - PDF vs. DWF

Ran across this tech support call over at Lee's site, pretty funny. User having an issue with PDF vs. DWF. Source unknown.

Note: Flash player needs to be installed on your machine to use.

EVAUG Extravaganza - Thursday, July 21, 2005

The Eastern Virginia AutoCAD Users Group is hosting the yearly "EVAUG Extravaganza" on Thursday, July 21, 2005.

This meeting is a great chance to network with other AutoCAD professionals in the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area, and I hope you’ll be able to join us.
Our keynote speaker on Thursday is H. Edward Goldberg, AIA. He is a practicing licensed architect, industrial designer, technical writer, and educator, and you may have seen his articles in Cadalyst. He’s a wonderful speaker and we’re honored to welcome him. You don’t want to miss meeting him!

Agenda: 2006 Autodesk Products and Workflow Building Information Modeling explained Food, Fun, and Prizes!
Date: Thursday, July 21, 2005
Time: 6:30pm-9:00pm
Location: Advanced Technology Center (ATC) Theatre / Auditorium
Find directions and more information about this location here: http://www.vbatc.com/a-directions.html
You can RSVP via email to info@avat.com.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope to see you there!

ADT - Mass Tool Palette Generation

In past releases of ADT (2004/5) the creation of tool palettes containing ADT styles was always one of the most time consuming tasks. Fortunately in ADT 2006 this process has become much easier, unfortunately little has been mentioned about this useful topic.

Brief Overview:

To create a new tool catalog from styles located in one or more drawings try using the Tool Catalog Generator found in the Cad Manager pulldown (if the Cad Manager pulldown is not visible in the menu bar, click the Window pulldown and choose the Pulldowns>>Cad Manager pulldown).

The Tool Catalog Generator has numerous options which are subdivided into three main categories: Catalog, Content Source, Tool Organization and then finally a listing of 22 object types within ADT. The following will help to clarify what each section/option does.

Catalog:

In this location you have two radio buttons; the first allows you to create a new catalog by first providing a Catalog name then browsing to define the location of this catalog (with the opportunity to provide the Catalog name) the second to add to an existing catalog with the option to append an existing catalog (optional choice to ignore duplicate style) or overwrite the existing catalog.

Content Source:

In this location you have two radio buttons which allow you to specify whether you want the new catalog to be created from multiple drawings located in a folder or from a single drawing and enter a path to the respective folder or file location. When choosing the Create from drawings in folder option, any sub-folders are included in the new catalog.

Tool Organization:

In this location you have 2 check boxes and 2 radio buttons that allow you to organize your soon to be created tools. If the "Group tools by source drawing" is selected your tools will be organized by the source drawing (quite useful when used in combination with the drawings in folder option of the Content Source section). If the "Group tools by object type" is selected your tools will be organized by the object type (ex. useful for organizing your content from among multiple drawings to keep them grouped similar to the following: Doors, Windows, Walls, etc...).

From the help file:
1. If both options above are enabled, the catalog is first grouped by the drawings and then by the object type, generating categories from the drawings, and palettes from the object types. This is implemented because palettes cannot be nested. In this case the radio buttons for categories and palettes are disabled, and the Create tools in palettes option is selected for the catalog.

2. If neither of the two options is enabled, all new tools will be generated in the top category of the catalog.

3. To organize the new tools in categories, select Create Tools in Categories. If you selected Group tools by source drawing, a category will be created for each source drawing. If you selected Group tools by object type, a category will be created for each object type.

4. To organize the new tools in palettes, select Create Tools in Palettes. If you selected Group tools by source drawing, a palette will be created for each source drawing. If you selected Group tools by object type, a palette will be created for each object type.

The next step is to specify the object styles you would like to appear as tools in the new catalog. Using a combination of the Select All/Clear All, one at a time selection or windowing across multiple objects and selecting the check boxes to get the right mix of object styles as needed.

Finally choose the OK button and a progress bar in the status bar area informs you of the progress of the catalog generation. NOTE: For large catalogs this may take time to generate.

This process is much easier than dragging your styles one at a time and provides a quick way for you to generate standard palettes for use in your office.

happy cadding...

RB - Door Insertion

When working on a project it is quite often the little tips/tricks that make us even faster in production:

When placing a door in Revit Building you can easily choose the side of the wall you wish to place a door either before or after insertion. If you find yourself changing the door swing using the arrow indicators after insertion; you may find it a bit easier to use the space bar while placing the door. Doing this will allow you to flip the instance of this door swing left/right for single door families before placement.

For those looking for a video example the following clip shows 3 doors being placed:
Door 1 is placed and flipped after placement
Door 3 is flipped before placement using the *space bar

*This is also a tip shown in the status bar (bottom left of screen), if you have been ignoring this section pay attention as it gives valuable information depending on the object/family.

happy BIM'ing...

Independance

Happy Independance Day!

Please keep those in the military stationed around the world in your thoughts.

For those that have their own fireworks and children, a cool tip just learned (courtesy of Jim) is to draw a circle using chalk and have the kids stay within it to watch.

Acad - Fields, Attributes and Objects

If you are using AutoCAD 2005 or higher and need to input square footage information (spaces, planning, etc...) the use of Fields can make the tedious manual process much easier by giving you the ability to update automatically as your area changes.

This can be accomplished through the use of a closed pline object and Fields. To do this insert any text (single, multi-line or attribute) in your drawing, right click and choose Insert Field. From here set your Field category to Objects and the Field names to Object. From here simply select your pline using the Select Object button next to the Object type area. Final item is to select your formatting and in 2006 set your precision.

This tip courtesy of Mark Couture and that's not all. Watch the video example showing how to accomplish this with attributes and fields then putting this information into a table and use the formulas feature in 2006 to total the areas here.

**Note**
To view this video you will need the camtasia codec available from Techsmith.

Visualization - Blocking and Staging

Whether you are shooting your own movie or animation; one of the most important steps you can take is to do a quick storyboard to work out the details of items you need vs. those you do not. When pre-visualizing what you plan to show you may also find that a particular camera angle/effect works better than another alternative.

The alternative camera angles and motion chosen may seem hit or miss, if you feel this way you may want to review a DVD collection called: Hollywood Camera Work. I purchased this recently and have been reviewing the 9 hours of animated examples. Since reviewing this collection the way I have been looking at the camera work within the TV, movies, commercials and animation has been an interesting progression and opened up many new items never noticed.

Check out the site above for some of the sample clips and of course the more animation and camera work you do the more these principals apply to help make your work look even better.

happy rendering...

Revit Structure

Revit Structure (v1.0) has just been added as a 30 day trial download from the following link:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/autoindex?siteID=123112&id=2470966&linkID=5495519

Revit Structure is a new release of software based on the Revit platform that is designed for engineering and documentation software. This allows you do have bi-directional linking to analysis software and link to architectural models (both ADT and Revit Building) while using the parametric change management of Revit.

If you are using a third party structural analysis design program (ETABS, RISA-3D and ROBOT Millennium are currently supported with more coming) your model will stay linked and any analysis changes that need to occur will automatically update your model which are then updated throughout your project views and construction documents.

Another large item (eluded to above) includes the ability to use 3D object based model files created within Architectural Desktop and will export as 3D structural native objects back to Architectural Desktop after analysis. For any objects that are not supported within ADT (structural walls, etc...) will come into ADT as a mass element. With the ability to export structural elements, you can also send this file to Autodesk Building Systems for interference checking between ducts, pipes and structural members. If you are using Revit Building you can continue to use the interference check for any possible issues (Tools>>Interference Check).

Of course for those working with others on vanilla AutoCAD you can still import or link DWG files directly as either reference geometry or as a starting point for your design. Revit Structure supports importing and exporting DWG, DWF and DXF format files that will allow you work easily with most cad packages on the market.

happy BIM'ing...

ADT 2006 - Add Project

When using the Project Navigator in ADT/ABS 2006 when you create a new project within the Project Browser you have the opportunity to enter the Project Number, Name and Description. You also have the opportunity to use a "Template Project" (see graphic below).



If you choose the browse button (with the 3 dots) this will allow you to choose an alternate project template. By default the last path you browsed to will be stored in this location.

*(Note to self, check to find out how/where this value is actually stored).* Update: This value is stored in the registry: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R16.2\ACAD-4004:409\Profiles\insert profile name here\Preferences\AecProject40] in the Key: "Project Template" Thanks to David Kurtz for passing this information along! :)

When creating a project using this method all the details, categories and sub-categories for Constructs, Elements, View and Sheets (we had the ability to do this for Sheets in the past but not the others) will be pre-created for you.

If you uncheck the "Create from template project:" box; the values stored in the Options>>AEC Project Defaults will be used.

**********
ADT BIM Guru Note
**********
If you are taking the time to centralize your files to a network location and create templates, take an extra moment to create a single (or multiple) Template Projects with all the details and categories you will commonly need.

happy BIM'ing...

Revenge of the Sith

If you ventured out recently to watch the latest Star Wars release you may have been impressed with all the visual effects (including great digital environments and background action).

What you may not have known is that for some of the effects; the use of Max and Brazil were used. More on this can be read over at VFXWorld, as they are running a three part series on the VFX of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

happy rendering...

Back to work...

After a great vacation it was off to the Augi CAD Camp in St. Paul. This stop on the tour had 124 attendees who gained a wealth of focused knowledge. It was great getting to meet and chat with so many users; not to mention getting to see several old friends. If you are interested in showing off your cad skills take your try at the AUGI Top DAUG contest, the winner this round was my good friend Lee Ambrosious.

There are several other cities that were just recently added to the list for the fall of 2005:

Orange County, CA USA - August 16th
Salt Lake City, UT USA - August 23rd
Toronto, ON Canada - August 30th
Paramus, NJ USA - September 13th
Cleveland, OH USA - September 15th
Jacksonville, FL USA - September 27th
Boston, MA USA - September 29th
Denver, CO USA - October 25th

If have been looking for a single day of focused industry knowledge on Autodesk software then this is something you should not miss. If you are looking for more than a day, AU 2005 is approaching soon (11/28-12/01 in Orlando, FL.)!

From here it was off to Dallas, TX and now Harrisburg, PA. More to come from the road this week on the BIM front.

Fun With Structural Members - Part I

If you have worked with Structural Members within ADT in past releases for any length of time, like me you have probably wished for the ability to mass fill out the nodes within a column grid. Unfortunately this has only been possible during the creation of the column grid, otherwise you had to place these one-by-one or create and copy to multiple node locations.

Well things have changed for the better in ADT 2006. If you already have a column grid placed you can mass fill out nodes without columns by simply using the ctrl key during placement of the column.

The use of the ctrl key during placement presents us with three options:

1. Add a column to a node
2. Add columns to all nodes
3. Add column at a point

There is a red visual indicator shown on the screen, depending on the option cycled to above, indicating the insertion point(s) you are getting ready to use. Video is often a better medium to show examples, so you may wish to watch the following video example.

The techsmith codec is required to view the file and is available from the techsmith website.