Revit 2010 is finally here!

From Autodesk’s website:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=8479974

Check out the full feature list and the new brochure for Revit 2010:
http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/revit_architecture_2010_brochure.pdf

Revit 2010 FAQ:
http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/revit_architecture_2010_faq.pdf

Download the Revit Architecture 2010 Feature Summary

Here’s a quick rundown on features -

New Features:
• Native 64-bit Support
• Revit Building Maker
• Streamlined User Interface
• New Conceptual Design Tools

Enhanced Features:
• Design Visualization
• Enhanced Interoperability
• Autodesk 2D and 3D DWF Integration
• Interference Check
• Material Takeoff
• Detailing
• Design Options
• Parametric Components
• Schedules
• Bidirectional Associativity

Detailed Features

Autodesk® Revit® Architecture software helps you gain a competitive advantage with tools that help keep all your design information better coordinated and more accurate.

View Larger New Conceptual Design Tools Autodesk Revit Architecture software offers new easy-to-use conceptual design tools that support your creative flow. Sketch freely, create free-form models easily, and manipulate forms interactively. You can define forms and geometry as real building components for a smooth transition to design development and documentation. As you design, Autodesk Revit Architecture automatically builds a parametric framework around your forms, offering greater levels of control, accuracy, and flexibility. Take your design from concept model all the way to construction documents all in one environment.

View Larger Streamlined User Interface Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 software features a sleek, new user interface that offers better desktop organization, a larger drawing window, and quick access to the tools and commands you need. You’ll be able to find your favorite tools faster, locate lesser-used tools more efficiently, and discover new features more easily.

View Larger Bidirectional Associativity A change anywhere is a change everywhere. In Autodesk Revit Architecture software, all model information is stored in one place. As a result, any information that gets changed is effectively changed throughout the model.

View Larger Schedules Schedules are just another view of the Autodesk Revit Architecture model. A change to a schedule view is automatically reflected in every other view. Functionality includes associative split-schedule sections and selectable design elements via schedule views, formulas, and filtering.

View Larger Parametric Components Parametric Components, also known as families, are the basis for all building components designed in Autodesk Revit Architecture. They offer an open, graphical system for design thinking and form making as well as an opportunity to express design intent at increasingly detailed levels. Use Parametric Components for the most elaborate assemblies, such as cabinetry and equipment, as well as for the most elementary building parts, such as walls and columns. Best of all, no programming language or coding is required.

View Larger Design Options Develop and study multiple simultaneous design alternatives to make key design decisions. Present multiple schemes to your clients easily. Substitute each option into the model for visualization, quantification, and other data analysis to better inform decision making.

View Larger Detailing Take advantage of the extensive detail library and detailing tools that are part of Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010. Presorted to align with the CSI format, detail libraries can be tailored to accommodate your office standards. Create, manage, and share your own detail library.

View Larger Material Takeoff Calculate detailed material quantities with this new tool. Appropriate for sustainable design and checking material quantities in cost estimates, Material Takeoff facilitates the tracking of material quantities. The parametric change engine helps ensure that your material takeoffs are accurate.

View Larger Revit Building Maker The Revit Building Maker feature provides a seamless way to turn conceptual forms into functional designs. Select faces to generate walls, roofs, floors, and curtain systems. Use tools to extract important information about your building such as surface area or volume per floor. Conceptual forms may be created natively in Autodesk Revit Architecture or imported from applications such as AutoCAD®, form-Z, Rhino, Google SketchUp, or other ACIS- or NURBS-based applications into Autodesk Revit Architecture software as mass objects.

View Larger Interference Check Use interference checking to scan your model for collisions between elements.

View Larger Design Visualization Capture design ideas in a photorealistic state. With easy user interaction, high-quality output, and faster render times, the mental ray® rendering engine enables superior design presentation. For more granular control over the rendered scene, use the Autodesk® FBX® file format to import your designs into Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design software. You’ll get unmatched flexibility and control over how you visualize and present your work. Learn more about design visualization.

View Larger Native 64-bit Support New native 64-bit support enhances Autodesk Revit Architecture’s ability to handle large projects and improves performance and stability for memory-intensive tasks such as rendering, printing, model upgrading, and file importing and exporting.

View Larger Enhanced Interoperability Interoperability enhancements enable you to work more efficiently with members of your extended project team. Now you can export your building model or site, complete with critical metadata, to AutoCAD® Civil 3D® software. And you can import accurate models from Autodesk® Inventor® 3D mechanical design software.

View Larger

Autodesk 2D and 3D DWF Integration
Autodesk Revit Architecture software supports complete round-tripping of markups with Autodesk® Design Review software. Because Autodesk Design Review software’s markup capabilities combine with Autodesk Revit Architecture navigation and revision management capabilities, tracking changes is easy. There’s no need to re-enter information. Autodesk Revit Architecture supports publishing a model to 2D or 3D DWF™ format. This capability provides high-impact, dynamic communication of design information in a lightweight format. It’s great for including nontechnical participants in the project review process.

What’s new in Revit Architecture 2010

More information from Autodesk on what’s new in Revit Architecture 2010:

Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2010

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 software works the way architects and designers think, allowing users to work more naturally, design freely and deliver more efficiently. Purpose-built for building information modeling (BIM), Autodesk Revit Architecture helps designers explore early design concepts and forms, and more accurately maintain their vision through design, documentation and construction. Use the essential BIM data that

Autodesk Revit Architecture provides to support sustainable design, clash detection, construction planning and fabrication. Share the model to work collaboratively with engineers, contractors and owners in an integrated process. And with parametric change technology, any change made is automatically updated throughout the project, keeping design and documentation better coordinated and more reliable.

What’s New

Conceptual Design Enhancements
- New and innovative conceptual design features provide easier-to-use tools for freeform modeling and parametric design, and the ability to support the earliest design analyses.
- Sketch freely, create 3D forms more quickly and manipulate forms interactively.
- Prepare models for fabrication and construction with built-in tools for conception and clarification of complex forms. New tools to divide, pattern and panelize designs make forms more buildable.
- Autodesk Revit Architecture automatically builds a parametric framework around your most complex forms as you continue to design, offering you greater levels of creative control, accuracy and flexibility.
- Users can now take designs from concept model all the way to construction
documents within one intuitive environment and user interface.

Improved User Interface
- New streamlined user interface helps users find favorite tools and commands faster, locate lesser-used tools more efficiently and discover new features more easily.
- Customizable Quick Access Toolbar allows one-click access to a user’s favorite and most frequently used tools.
- The ribbon feature is organized around the way designers work, enabling users to find the tools to accomplish tasks without searching all over the user interface.
- Consistent user interfaces between most Autodesk software applications allows users to move between programs more smoothly.

Performance and Interoperability
- New native 64-bit support enhances the software’s ability to handle large projects and improve performance and stability for memory-intensive tasks such as rendering, printing, model upgrading and file importing and exporting.
- Expanded API (application programming interface) support.
- Export to AutoCAD® Civil 3D® software and import from Autodesk® Inventor® , while preserving parametric data.
- gbXML (green building XML) improvements allow users to help streamline the
collaboration process with external analysis applications.

GBCI announces deadline for LEED 2.2 exam registration

Just a couple weeks ago the GBCI announced the final deadline to register for the LEED 2.2 exam.

Now is an excellent time to get this done as the construction industry slows down, there’s a huge opportunity with the new stimulus package that is pending to green government buildings. Whether it’s schools, or infrastructure, health-care, etc. There’s a good chance that these new government projects are going to be green.

Be sure to take the exam now while there are lots of resources for study material out there. Here’s your chance to stand out in the crowd. Here is a previous post with an excellent list of what to study:

< http://designerati.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/leed-nc-22-exam-study-materials/ >

Deadline for LEED NC and LEED CI Exam Registration March 31, 2009

THE GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATION INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES DEADLINES FOR LEED EXAM REGISTRATION
Deadline for LEED NC and LEED CI Exam Registration March 31, 2009

(WASHINGTON – JANUARY 29, 2009) – March 31, 2009 will be the last date that candidates will be able to register for the current LEED for New Construction (NC) v2.2 and LEED for Commercial Interiors (CI) v 2.0 LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) credentialing exams. As part of the changes to the accreditation process announced at the end of 2008 the LEED NC designation will be replaced with the LEED Building Design and Construction (BD&C) designation and the LEED CI designation will be replaced by LEED Interior Design and Construction (ID&C). Read the FAQs for more information about these changes. In order to maintain alignment with the new LEED 2009 Ratings System for BD&C and ID&C, new exam registrations will not be accepted by GBCI to take the current LEED CI and LEED NC exams after March 31, 2009 (11:59 PM, Eastern Time). Prometric’s scheduling and rescheduling services for the current LEED NC and LEED CI version 2.0 AP exam registrations will still be available after the March 31, 2009 registration deadline with more specific information to announced later in 2009.

About GBCI
GBCI was created to administer certification and credentialing programs related to green building practice and to ensure that the LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) program continues to be developed in accordance with best practices for credentialing programs. To underscore this commitment, GBCI will undergo the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accreditation process for personnel certification agencies complying with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 17024. Beginning in 2009, GBCI will begin administering the LEED certification process for buildings. For more information, please visit www.GBCI.org

Revit 2010 details become public

Well I think the time we’ve all been waiting for is finally here… Revit has grown up. With a new UI, robust and easy-to-use conceptual modeling tools, 3ds-max and SketchUp users who’ve been reluctant to change to Revit for schematic design, have no more reason not to. I for one am really excited about the UI change. This has been circling the rumor mill for years and it’s finally here. While some don’t like the ribbon UI, it’s something that after working with for a couple weeks, you’ll notice it’s simpler & easier to use. I think we’ll see some huge productivity gains (hopefully along with stability) with the new Revit Architecture 2010.

In terms of the release date of Revit 2010, I can say with confidence you can expect it in early April based on the last couple years of release dates:

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2009: April 15
Autodesk Revit Architecture 2008: April 5th
Autodesk Revit Building 9: April 12

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 Box Shot

To view the product launch webcast:  Click here

In the presentation section pull-down select Presentation PT 1.
Advance the slider to the 9 minute mark in the presentation for details specific to Revit Architecture 2010.

NEW User Interface Screenshot:

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 offers a streamlined new user interface that optimizes workflow and increases discoverability of new tools.

NEW Conceptual Design Tools Screenshot:

New conceptual design features help you to prepare models for fabrication and construction with builtin tools for dividing, patterning and panelizing complex forms.

NEW Revolve Tool Screenshot:

New conceptual design features allow you to sketch freely, create 3D models quickly, and take your design from concept to construction documentation all in one environment.

2010 Autodesk Revit Platform

The Autodesk Revit platform based products for BIM feature an aligned user interface, giving the entire range of products a consistent look and feel. The updated Autodesk Revit platform also allows a greater level of interoperability for green building analysis, providing support for the green building extensible markup language (gbXML) format. Updates to the products based on the Autodesk Revit platform include:

• Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 software (BIM for architects and designers) enables customers to more accurately capture early design concepts with improved conceptual design functionality via:
  • An intuitive conceptual design workspace to create complex geometry more easily.
  • A new user interface (UI) that works the way designers think, providing a smoother and more continuous design workflow.
  • Improved interoperability with programs such as AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 software, Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 software and Autodesk Inventor 2010 software.
• Autodesk Revit Structure 2010 software (BIM for structural engineers, designers, and drafters) integrates a multi-material physical and an independently editable analytical model, to help provide for more efficient, more accurate documentation, analysis and design. Users will experience:
  • Enhanced conceptual design, modeling and analysis to handle more complex architectural forms.
  • Improved user interface with a new customizable ribbon toolbar.
  • Improved performance and interoperability, including native 64 bit support.
• Autodesk Revit MEP 2010 software (BIM for mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers) provides customers with optimum tools for system design and building performance analysis helping engineers to make better informed decisions. The 2010 release provides new functionality including:
  • Native heating and cooling loads analysis enabling MEP engineers to determine the energy demands of the building.
  • Enhanced gbXML export with the ability to examine an analytical model of the project before exporting to a gbXML file.
  • Improved performance of the application enabling users to see significant performance enhancements while handling and working on large project files.

View the full press release on the 2010 product lineup here:
http://pressreleases.autodesk.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=526%3C%2Ftd%3E

Autodesk Whitepapers

Here are some really helpful resources directly from Autodesk:

	Autodesk White Papers – BIM (General)
	Autodesk White Papers – Revit Architecture
	Autodesk White Papers – FBX – Interoperability and FBX Technology
	Autodesk White Papers – 3ds max design
	Autodesk White Papers – Green Building Studio

New lala.com brings new features: stream your music for free!

With the introduction of a new pricing scheme over at iTunes today (now $1.29 for popular songs, $.99, and $.69 songs) I thought it was worth mentioning the new lala.com.  For just .79 or .89 cents you can BUY DRM-free music (256-Kbps bit rate mp3), that’s about .40 cents less expensive the Apple iTunes.  In addition to that you can stream your music for free wherever you are with just a simple internet connection and a web browser, no need to carry your music collection around with you.

Play over 6 million songs for free

Play any song or album once for free. No ads or clutter, all legally licensed.

Play your music anywhere

Lal a matches the songs on your computer to our catalog, and adds them for free to your online collection. Quick and easy.

Buy new music

Add new music to your online collection as you go. Get the web song (unlimited online plays) for 10 cents, or the MP3 download for 79 cents more.

Top 3 features that lala.com brings to the table that other music giants don’t have.

• Feature #1: Full previews.  Brilliant idea.  Why NOT let the people listen before they buy?

• Feature #2: Web songs.  Think of it as licensing rights to only listen to your music online.  With the likes of Last.FM and Pandora being huge among music fans, why NOT give the people an incentive to play the music THEY want to stream to their headsets.  Another brilliant idea.

• Feature #3: Online Audio Storage & Playback.  Give the people the right to stream music and play music they already own.  Another great idea.  Let’s just hope by letting people do this for free, that in turn people will buy some music from them to support all this bandwidth!

Other features include the ability to post your 4 favorite songs at the moment (music forecast) to share your listening tastes with other listeners on lala.com.  Think of it like twitter for tunes.  You can also embed or share your albums on websites or blogs.

In the mood for something different?  Something done right, that’s cost-efficient and customizable to YOUR listening needs no matter where you are?  Try lala.com

You can get 50 web songs for FREE when you sign up.

“Technically” Funny Comedian

Are you always laughing at binary or ASCII jokes, yet wondering why no one else finds it funny? Well enter, Don McMillan. He’s an engineer turned funny man and some of his jokes will just make you roll on the floor laughing. It’s definitely “Office Space” level of humor with jokes about powerpoint, management, sales, and a lot of just funny jokes.

Check out his site and a couple of his videos and you’ll get the idea.

http://www.technicallyfunny.com/

http://www.technicallyfunny.com/videos.htm

Sweets BIM Collection, Free Revit Content!

Well it’s off to a really slow start, but a couple select companies have finally seen the light and begun to offer Revit content for the AEC community using BIM. Here are a couple in the Sweets BIM Collection offering:

AmericanSeating
Bilco
Da-Lite
Dyson
Ideal
Labconco
Modernfold
Pella
PAC-Clad
PPG Coil & Extrusions Group
PPG Architectural Glass
PPG Architectural Finishes
Porter
Ruskin
Sloan
Stanley

http://construction.com/BIM/

OpenOffice 3.0 finally is final

OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

http://www.openoffice.org/

http://why.openoffice.org/

Windows XP SP3 now available on Windows Update!

http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/2008/05/06/windows-xp-service-pack-3-now-available-on-windows-update.aspx

Hello,

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is now available on Windows Update (and the Microsoft Download Center)!

If you’d like to install it via WU today, you’ll need to visit the Windows Update website. To do this, go to Windows Update and perform an express or custom install, make sure you see the service pack selected, and proceed with the install. After it downloads, you’ll see a series of screens and you’ll be asked to make a few clicks before the install will begin.

If you’re not in a rush, we recommend you use Automatic Updates to install Windows XP SP3. It provides the best experience because the download will happen in the background. We’re planning to begin automatically distributing Windows XP SP3 over AU sometime in the next few months.

You can find more information about the release here.

Hope you enjoy it!

-MU Team

P.S. You may have heard about an incompatibility Dynamics Retail Management System has with SP3 and Windows Vista SP1– we’ve added a filter to block WU from offering Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1 to systems w/ RMS for now and will make a fix available soon (details here). You may have also heard that we temporarily suspended automatic distribution of Windows Vista SP1 for this – we’re now also happy to report that we’ve resumed automatic distribution of Windows Vista SP1.

Posted: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 6:08 PM by muteam