Between the Lines

Digital Construction Superintendent

Just having some thoughts as a technologist and designer. Wouldn't it be awesome and save costs due to errors if we had a Digital Superintendent in a design product, like spell check but construct check? Imagine designing a tall cantilevered structure and then your screen goes dim and a talking hammer comes onscreen and says: “Hey there pal, at that height I need a helicopter for each of my workers to install that structure, or you need to design another... Read more →

AEC Excellence Awards 2019

Every year we recognize some customers for their AEC designs. Every year I am amazed, inspired, and in awe of their projects and the innovative ways they used Autodesk software. These nine winners and the Innovator of the Year will present at Autodesk University 2019 in only a couple of weeks. Read about the winning customers and their projects. ”When it comes to the AEC industry, projects come in all shapes and sizes. So does the innovative use of technology—whether... Read more →

Learn Autodesk BIM 360 - FREE

Are you looking for some training on using Autodesk’s BIM 360 to better manage your construction risk, improve quality, and deliver projects on time and on budget, and the training courses for free? Here is a great resource for you to learn BIM 360 Document Management, Approvals Workflow, Quality Management, RFI Workflow, Submittals Workflow, Cost Management, and Design Collaboration. Get started now at https://learnbim360.autodesk.com/ Read more →

Mass Timber in the Neighborhood

I love the new Mass Timber buildings that are growing in popularity, especially up here in the Pacific Northwest. We have had a mass timber building going up just a block from our Portland office. The Sideyard held a grand opening last evening and soon Ferment Brewing and other tenants will hopefully be opening, especially Ferment Brewing – yes yes yes. The Sideyard (B76 West) building went up really fast compared to other local construction we have been watching from... Read more →

Free Revit Courses

Check out the free Revit courses created in partnership with expert trainer and author Paul Aubin. Learn how to navigate the Revit interface and your model, how to layout the building plan, add and customize walls, floors, roofs, add construction details & much more. https://autode.sk/2kEHq4Y ”Learn the basics of what you need to know to navigate the software efficiently.” Read more →

Bring Your Questions to Autodesk Today

If you have questions about Autodesk’s AEC products and AutoCAD, today is your day with the AEC Answer Day event going on. How The Day will work in the ENGLISH Community: Our team of experts will be in the following Community categories from September 24th, 2019 from 6:00am to 2:00am on September 25th PST ready to answer your questions. Just pick your product category, select a forum and click the “Create a New Post” button to ask your question. AutoCAD... Read more →

Happy Labor Day

Many of my US based readers celebrated Labor Day yesterday, except for those preparing for possible hurricane in the Southeast US. Next door to the Autodesk Portland office is a new 17 story building 5MLK as been under construction for the past year by Hoffman Construction. In the office we have been spectators to the entire process of construction of the building, after all AEC construction is a major focus of Autodesk to transform the AEC design and construction industries... Read more →

Revit 2020.1 Is Released

Just in case you weren't aware, Revit 2020.1 has been released and the Revit Blog has all the details in great detail as usual. If you do MEP work in Revit, you MUST go get this. ”A new version of Revit in August? Now that we release features as soon as they are ready, subscribers don’t need to wait for the annual release to access the latest Revit. The product team is happy introduce this latest Revit point release, bringing... Read more →

Portland Autodesk Employee Mass Timber Field Trip

Almost Two weeks ago I arranged a special tour for Autodesk Portland employees with two of our customers a field trip of a mass timber building designed by Skylab Architecture constructed by Anderson Construction and located a block from our Autodesk Portland office. Following the building tour, we loaded up on a shuttle and went to Northwest Portland for a tour of CutMyTimber’s NW Portland shop with Hundegger Speed-Cut SC-1, Hundegger K2, and Kuka automation which was used in making... Read more →

Autodesk and Esri Partnership Results in BIM Data Going More Places

Recently, I reached out on Twitter (@ShaanHurley) to connect with people that were Esri or Autodesk customers and making use of the Autodesk & Esri Collaboration to better understand this by my team. One Esri customer Greg Jameson a GIS Specialist contacted me. I asked if I could share their feedback publicly. “We have been working & playing with BIM to GIS since last summer when Esri launched Pro 2.3 with direct Revit reads. I had the opportunity to speak... Read more →

Optimized Design and Fabrication Workflows with Dynamo

Are you looking for in-depth information on using computational design with Dynamo (Open source graphical programming for design) for structural design? Well here is your opportunity with class content from an Autodesk University class and posted recently! “Learn how to optimize your design workflows with Dynamo and how to perform design automation for repetitive structural tasks.” Structural Dynam(o)ite: Optimized Design and Fabrication Workflows with Dynamo https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/article/Structural-Dynamoite-Optimized-Design-and-Fabrication-Workflows-Dynamo-2019 “In the world of structural engineering, we are challenged to consider many design options,... Read more →

A Glimpse Into the Future of Revit

The Revit team regularly publishes the roadmap for Revit which details in a very transparent form what they are working on so that you can expect and prepare for including the request for 2D PDF printing and better collaboration between structural and analytical models on the roadmap. Read: Revit Public Roadmap – July 2019 “HOW DO I GET INVOLVED? There are a variety of other discussions and work related to connecting workflows from design to fabrication and beyond. If you... Read more →

Revit Users – We Need Your Feedback on 3D Export

Do you need to export your Revit models into other 3D formats? We would like to invite you to take this short survey to give us feedback on your experience with “3D Export Functionality in Revit”. https://autode.sk/2LhYf1j Your feedback on the products you use helps us build better products for you. You can also sign up for providing feedback on future Autodesk product feedback at the Autodesk Feedback website. https://feedback.autodesk.com/ Read more →

Meet Project Discover for Dynamo

My colleague Kean Walmsley announced on his blog Through the Interface on the new Project Discover for Dynamo out of Autodesk Research and is ready to be tested. It is a tool that we used to perform generative design in the AEC design for our Autodesk Toronto office including predicting the natural light rays into offices to assist in office location based on employee preferences (video Generative Design for Architecture: Autodesk MaRS Office). Read Kean’s overview in his blog post... Read more →

Got My Bags Packed for My Mars Condo!

A great story of smart young minds tackling a challenge put forth by NASA helped AI SpaceFactory Win NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge for additive constructed habitats. NASA awarded AI SpaceFactory $500,000 for the successful construction of a 15 foot Mars habitat with three windows named MARSHA. Read more →

Realtime Revit BIM Models in Unity in Just One Click

Today, the awesome fi9ne folks at Unity announced the collaboration with Autodesk for a Revit importation product named Unity Reflect. Unity provides a platform for all sorts of immersive 3D possibilities in AR/VR and more that have bent my mind at times. Now with Unity Reflect you can import your Revit BIM 3D model in one click. Get a hands on look at Autodesk University London in just two weeks! https://unity.com/event/au2019 “Announcing Unity Reflect, a new product for architects, building... Read more →

Civil Engineers Can Save the World

Here is a great article about thinking about things differently and how engineers can help create a better world and future. 3 Ways Heroic Civil Engineers Can Save the World Through Resilience Planning https://autode.sk/2EFfBAg Read more →

Reimagining the Eiffel Tower Landscape Using BIM

“At an event in Paris’ City Hall this week, Gustafson Porter + Bowman was named the winner of a competition to redevelop the Eiffel Tower’s “grand site”—an area which includes the Trocadéro Gardens and Champ de Mars, as well as the Tower and its esplanade. The announcement was made by Paris’ mayor, Anne Hidalgo, along with Jean-Louis Missika, and Jean-François Martins, Deputy Mayors of Paris.” “Autodesk worked closely with the teams over the last year to help them visualize their... Read more →

Machine Learning Unleashed to Aid in Construction

Machine learning has been a growing in this ever growing world of growing data. It has been in your hands surfacing tips and reducing tasks on your phones, in your bank statements, everyone and now in construction. Autodesk has released a preview of Construction IQ after several years of research and testing to help customers identify risk, Construction IQ Preview available for Quality and Safety for customers using BIM 360 Field. Using machine learning can surface insight into your construction... Read more →

Builders Herald the Coming Wave of Mass-Timber Construction

In Portland, Seattle, and around North America we are seeing more and more beautiful wood being used in building construction, and it has been more common in Europe for years. There is a massive tall timber project is in the planning stages for Toronto by Google’s Sidewalk Labs. These buildings using solid wood or engineered woods are commonly called Mass Timber. Most commonly you see CLT (cross laminated timber) and increasingly some CLP (cross laminated plywood). The use of the... Read more →

Revit IFC v19.2.0.0 Open Source Code Released

Autodesk’s Angel Velez mentioned on Twitter the Revit IFC 2019 source code was just released with many bug fixes and 2020 is coming. “The long awaited Autodesk Revit IFC v19.2 released ((link: https://bit.ly/2PKzt9C) bit.ly/2PKzt9C)! Lots of bug fixes, and working on getting 2020 open source out the door also (with even more fixes, many of which will be back-ported to v19.3). App store soon.” RELEASE NOTES 19.2.0.0 General: • This is generally a bug fix release with some new IFC... Read more →

AEC Hackathon in Seattle was Amazing and Inspiring

The 41st AEC Hackathon event was held in Seattle this past weekend and was great and filled with many smart and inspiring people and several new friends and connections. First, the Seattle weather was amazing and I got in a morning run and flight in South Lake Union area. The AEC Hackathon was held in the University of Washington campus Department of Construction Management CERC. Friday the event began with introductions, speakers including Damon Hernandez the AEC Hackathon Executive Director,... Read more →

Power of AI & Machine Learning in Construction

Subscribe to our BIM 360 Newsletter and get access instantly to this PDF report on AI and Machine Learning in AEC Construction, and much more. AI and Machine Learning will be a big part of all of our future from how our personal phones process our photos, provide navigation, and deliver data tips from the massive amounts of data we use daily to make it beneficial and personalized and AI and Machine Learning will also have a great benefit to... Read more →

AEC Hackathon This Weekend in Seattle

Starting tomorrow, another (41st actually) AEC Hackathon will be held this time in beautiful Seattle Washington and I will be participating. The AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) Hackathon was created to give those designing, building, and maintaining our built environment the opportunity to collaborate with cutting edge technologies and its developers and designers. It has quickly become a community of innovators that include all elements of the built environment, not just AEC all around the world. Please join all of us... Read more →

Shaping the future of construction using BIM tools and an innovative design approach of DfMA

The acronym DfMA stands for Design for Manufacture and Assembly and is a growing in popularity process to make sure that the manufacturing and assembly on site is considered in the design phase to save materials, labor, time, and bottom line costs. DfMA is not really what we have known historically as prefab as it is much more like the growing offsite construction for homes and buildings and considering in the design process how to manufacture and install efficiently and... Read more →