Tag Archives: Autodesk

Heading to AU2015? See you there!

25 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Autodesk University, Uncategorized

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The end of November brings two time-honored traditions to the design community: the celebration of Thanksgiving (with our family) and Autodesk University (with our other family).

AUfriends

With various friends & colleagues (a.k.a. AU Family) at previous events

This will be my 12th AU (wow), and by now, that community does feel like family. AU is where I find the people who are trying to solve the same challenges I am in the design process, and who know exactly what I mean when I say “can you believe it works THAT way?” Great big extended family…or group therapy sessions. (I’m never quite sure.)

I’m not speaking this year, so I’ll have plenty of time to attend classes and hang out in the exhibit hall. You can probably find me in a Dynamo session, or a structures-focused Revit talk, or at the AUGI booth in the hall. One place you can be sure to see me is at the AUGI Annual Meeting on Wednesday at 5:30…let me just say you won’t want to miss it. 🙂

Can’t come to Las Vegas? Watch from the comfort of your home or office! AU is live-streaming not only some of the mainstage events but ALSO a great selection classes! And of course much of the material presented will become part of the ever-expanding AU Online experience.

Hope to see you there–if you see me walking around, be sure to say hello!

Christmas in October: Revit 2016 R2

22 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in Announcements

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Where has the summer gone? For that matter, what happened to fall? I’d swear it was Labor Day only yesterday, and here it is Christmas already!

Okay, not really…but it feels like Christmas, because a new update of Revit is here, and it’s more than just bug fixes. As happened last year with Revit 2015, Revit 2016 R2 introduces actual new features — some that you can actively put to use, and some that will quietly improve things behind the scenes.

I don’t have time to cover all 20+ additions & improvements today, but here are a few favorites. (Click each title for a short preview.)

Draw Visible Elements Only

Revit 2016 now focuses its graphic energies only on elements that are visible in a view, instead of ones that are hidden or off-screen. This speeds up panning, zooming, and orbiting — I think you’ll notice the difference.

Family Visibility Preview

Ever work with a family that uses lots of visibility states, and have trouble keeping track of which elements go with each option? Not anymore! Objects that are turned off in the current type can now actually be turned off.

Unload Link Per User

Ever go to turn on a model, only to sigh with annoyance because someone else unloaded it? (only all the time…) Not anymore! You can now unload a link just for you, improving your model’s performance while letting your colleagues load and unload the links they need.

Name Reference Planes

You’ve always been able to name a reference plane in Properties, but now you can do so in-canvas too. Sometimes it’s the little things, y’know?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a deployment to plan…

Autodesk Revit 2014

26 Tuesday Mar 2013

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Autodesk will be holding a webcast in about an hour (http://autode.sk/webcast) to announce the launch of their 2014 family of products, including Autodesk Revit. But some of the details are already out, and the product pages have been updated, so…let’s talk new software!

I wasn’t in the beta program this year, so I found out about the new features the regular way…through Twitter.

My lack of advance knowledge means I didn’t have a post loaded and ready to go for today.  But I’ve read enough to identify three quick favorite new features, all in the small-but-significant category.

  1. Non-rectangular view crops & callouts. This one will solve a problem that literally came up yesterday.
  2. Temporary view settings. I love view templates, and loved that they were made “sticky” in Revit 2013. But they can be annoying too, if you just need to see something briefly and turn it off again. Sounds like that annoyance is gone now.
  3. Multiple Bring-to-front/Send-to-back. Another annoyance removed. Now you can select multiple detail elements and change their view order, instead of working with one at a time.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say once I actually get the new version loaded on my machine. But if you’d like to read more today, David Light has excellent in-depth coverage, or you can visit the official Revit home page. Here’s a link straight to the structural new features.