New Facilitator

Hey everyone,

I’ve been facilitating the group for the past 3 to 4 years and I’m ready for a break! Because of the limited offers of hosting & presenting, I’ve asked Kim Eicher of MasterGraphics if she would like to take over the group and she’s accepted. I will still be attending and helping her out as needed, but please direct any future correspondence to her.

Kim Eicher – Application Engineer
MasterGraphics, Inc.
Kimberly.Eicher@mastergraphics.com
(262) 717-2158

I’m not sure at this point if the blog will continue to be updated, but I’ll keep everyone in the loop if it is. Kim may use the MasterGraphics site to keep the group updated on what’s going on. Also, due to the change, there probably won’t be a January meeting. Kim will need some time to prepare, etc., so look for something in February.

I hope everyone stays involved in the group to keep the momentum and success going. Remember that the point of the group is not to have one person presenting at every meeting while the rest of the group sits and says nothing, but to have feedback and open discussions from EVERYONE.

Thanks for a fun 3-4 years and good luck Kim!

Tony Isenhoff

Metal Wood Framer for Revit

Ran across this (Wood & Metal Framing tool for Revit). Thought it may be of interest to some of you since we talked about modeling trusses in a past meeting. I don't know much about this application though, so check it out!

http://www.strucsoftsolutions.com/mwf.asp

Meeting Follow up - Design Options

This just a quick follow up with some of the Design Option tips discussed at the December's meeting...

"Primary"
When making options, the primary should be the option that you feel will ultimitely be chosen. Reason being - ALL views by default will show the primary option. Individual views can be changed later to show other options, but that can be time consuming.

"New" or "Duplicate"

If you've created options, worked on each for quite a while and now the client wants another... If you're going to start from scratch with some totally new design, select "New". If you want to leverage one of the existing options and tweak a few things, select "Duplicate". That way you don't have to start all over!

To show different options to the client (especially if you want to put them side-by-side on a sheet), it may make sense to create a view for each option. Depending on the number of views, this can take a while... Here are some tips to speed up the process.

First off - to setup a view to show a specific option, duplicate the view, then adjust the Visibility/Graphics. As mentioned earlier, the primary option will be displayed by default. So, in Visibility/Graphics, you'll see Automatic listed.

Select the drop down and select the option you would like to ALWAYS be displayed in this view.

This leads me to another tip...

When you set a view to always display a specific option; lets say Vertical layout, don't expect the view to update when you go and try to edit a different option, like Horizontal layout. Once you tell a view (in Visibility/Graphics) to show an option, that's what it's going to do... So, you may want to keep the original view set to automatic and duplicate for the other options. That way if you're working in the original view, when you go and edit any option, the view will update to show you that option, then when you're done, it will go back to displaying the primary option. Your other choice is to create a view for each option. When you want to edit a specific option, go to that view & edit... Clear as mud?

View Templates:

Creating a view for each option can be time consuming... plans, ceiling plans, elevations, etc.. To speed up this process, consider using View Templates. Setup a view for each option as discussed earlier. Then create a view template for each.

Name the View Template:

In this case, you only want the Visibility/Graphics of the Design Option settings to be shared, be sure to un-check all other choice.

You can now select multiple views within the Project Browser and apply the view template - Sweet!

Exclude Design Options:

Items that are within a Design Option are un-selectable by default unless you're editing the option. We'll not always...

You can un-check "Exclude Design Options" from the options bar to be able to select objects within a design option (even though you're not editing the option). I would recommend this only if you want to query an object, or something simple like that. If you're going to make more substantial changes, then edit the option...

Schedules:

Schedules can be setup to include objects only in a specific option. Go to the Properties of the schedule. You'll be taken to the Instance parameters. Select "Visibilty/Graphics", the select the option you wish to schedule.

Last but not least

The client has decided on an option, so you're ready to accept the primary. Everyone is always worried about this, "Well, if I accept the primary, then all the other options are gone and I won't be able to go back if the client changes their mind later"... He's my solution:

1. Make the non-primary option you wish to save active.

2. Select all the objects in the option.

3. Create a group.

4. Save the group in a safe location :)

5. Repeat for other non-primary options.

Now you can accept the primary option. If at a later date you need to come back to one of the old options, you have all the data safe & secure in a save group (which is its own .rvt). That data can be brought back into your project via. Load from Library, Load File as Group.

I prefer this method because I'm only saving a small amount of data, rather than the entire project out (which is the other solution). By saving the entire model out, you could have a lot of models floating around on the network (taking up space) and you have the potential of getting confused on which model is the "current' model, messed up user's local files, etc...

Hope these tips were helpful - enjoy!

December Meeting

Date: Thursday, December 18th
Time: 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Location: Waukesha office of MasterGraphics (map)
20633 Watertown Court, Suite 100Waukesha, WI 53186
Phone: (800) 873.7238
http://www.masterg.com/

Topic: Design Options (bring samples and questions)
Presenter: Kim Eicher of MasterGraphics

Lunch: Provided by MasterGraphics

Please reply to tonyi@eua.com if you plan on attending so adequate lunch can be ordered.

Visa Lighting - Looking for Firms using their content

Georgia Jackson from Visa lighting is looking for firms using their content to help her with a marketing piece. If you're using Visa lighting content and are interested in helping her out (and getting some free PR), please contact her at: gjackson@visalighting.com

Here is a short clip of what she's looking for:


I’m looking for BIM projects that have used Visa Lighting families. I am developing a feature for the Visa Lighting website to show renderings along with the corresponding application shot. All work will be credited with live links directed to the submitter’s website.

Equally important, I am looking for feedback for a pitch regarding the importance of developing products in BIM formats and that providing manufacturer's content is a valuable asset to the specifying community.

October Meeting

Date: Tuesday, October 28

Time: 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Location: Milwaukee office of IMAGINiT Technologies (map)
10000 Innovation DriveSuite 160Milwaukee, WI 53226

Topic: Worksharing and Design Options (bring samples and questions)

Lunch: Provided by IMAGINiT Technologies

Please reply to tonyi@eua.com if you plan on attending so adequate lunch can be ordered.

Here is a link to the site that had Revit tools for truss creation...

http://www.tools4revit.com/