Beyond Design

UK Government Construction Summit

Just a quick post to let you know I'll be at the UK Government Construction Summit on Monday, feel free to say hello to chat about Autodesk Construction Solutions, and what Advanced and Enterprise Priority support can do to improve the way you work.

I'll be on the Navisworks Twitter all day.

Autodesk® Construction Magazine: First Edition Digital Magazine from Autodesk!

We've just launched the first digital edition of the Autodesk Construction Magazine. Inside this edition, you will learn about key trends and capabilities of the Autodesk BIM for construction solutions. Hear from our customers directly and get insight into the latest trends in the construction industry from our thought leader, Dominic Thasarathar.

Autodesk® Building Design Suite offers a comprehensive set of tools to manage all phases of design and construction at an exceptional value. By combining Building Information Modeling (BIM) and CAD tools, Autodesk Building Design Suite helps you design, visualize, and simulate more efficiently. Check out the digital Autodesk Construction Magazine in the link below, and learn more about how Autodesk BIM for construction solutions can help you overcome construction challenges and accelerate paths to new business.

To gain access to Autodesk Construction Magazine, sign up here:

http://www.autodesk.com/constructionmag

Service Pack 1 now available for Autodesk Navisworks 2013

UPDATE: Service Pack 2 is now available from our website which contains all the fixes below and more.

A service pack is now available for Autodesk Navisworks 2013 products. You can download and install the Autodesk Navisworks 2013 Service Pack 1 from our website

If you have experienced any of the following issues then we recommend you upgrade to the Service Pack 1

• File refresh not working after Options changed
• Timeliner 'Find Unattached Items' not working
• Inconsistencies in Clash grouping
• Google Earth model exported from Navisworks placed below surface
• Construction Parts in Revit Linked Files not working
• Save back to earlier Navisworks versions from Batch Utility
• Faro files loaded in at the wrong orientation
• Re-running clash tests with Isolation > Hide Other selected in Results tab, results are classed as resolved
• Merging Clash data inconsistencies
• Changing the selections in the Select tab in Clash causes Tolerance to revert to previous value
• Dates linked to from DataTools are displayed as previous days date in Properties window
• Sort button is disabled when there are items in Sets window.
• 'Cut, paste, copy' context menu not appearing when right clicking on Sets name.
• Selecting multiple Search Sets is not updating the Current Search
• Properties for piping and pipe supports from CADWorx 2013 not appearing
• Navisworks closing unexpectedly when: -
  • when linking to Microsoft Project file
  • when selecting a property in Freedom
  • in certain graphics card drivers
  • after refreshing during Autosaving
  • in Search and Selection Sets dialog
  • when machine locked or a screensaver is running
  • using the Simulate tab in Timeliner

Please select the relevant 32 or 64 bit version for Manage, Simulate or Freedom. This can be installed on each individual machine which already has Navisworks 2013 installed, included in the installation, or included in a deployment, the readme contains more instructions.

Should you have any issues installing the service pack, please use the Installation and Licensing forums which are monitored by Autodesk experts.

BIM in the Cloud? Now a reality with Autodesk BIM 360!

In a world where the global economy is affecting projects every day, and clients want buildings cheaper and faster, and pressures to improve the quality and sustainability of projects are pulling firms in every direction, BIM has become the 'buzz word' of the industry as the only way to do business. Autodesk® BIM 360^TM is the next generation of BIM, for anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Building, infrastructure design, and construction professionals can access intelligent model–based workflows through a broad range of cloud-based services within the Autodesk® 360 platform, which provides mobility and accessibility through infinite computing power. This video shows you some more about BIM 360 and what it means for you.

Autodesk BIM 360 helps multidiscipline design and construction teams improve project outcomes by moving computational-intensive tasks to the cloud, enabling more rapid visualization and simulation and optimized collaboration with access to intelligent data–rich models.

As part of Autodesk® BIM 360^TM we're offering 3 new services on top of some that you may have seen from Autodesk® 360.

• Clash Detection, Collaboration and Coordination – Work globally to detect and avoid potential issues before they happen, coordinate over the cloud without sending bulky models over FTP's.
• Conceptual Design and Feasibility Evaluation – Use Autodesk® 360 Infrastructure Modeler to store and manage large models and review and edit proposals.
• Field Management, Commissioning and Handover – Why should BIM stop with the model sat on a computer in an office? Taking an information model onto site and feeding information back into the model using real world information.
• *Rendering – 3.3million hours of rending since launch in September last year, that's 125,000 working days that would otherwise be spent sat next to idle computers!
• *Structural Analysis –Using the power of multiple servers as opposed to a single machine to analyze potential pitfalls in your structural design.
• *Energy Analysis – Sustainability is one of the biggest challenges the industry faces, the Energy Analysis tools help you make informed decisions about improving efficiency of your buildings.

*Existing Services

Find out more through the BIM 360 website, you can also find BIM 360 on the recently updated Autodesk 360 Facebook page. Or log into 360.autodesk.com, and try out this innovative cloud based technology and the advantages and benefits it provides.

We'd love to hear what you think, leave a comment below or email us.

Find your serial numbers and product keys for Autodesk Revit, Navisworks, QTO and the suites

Sorting through the piles of notebooks, manuals, boxes for hardware and software and emails, there's plenty of times people think there must be an easier way to get your serial numbers and product keys. Luckily there is!

This link shows you how to find your Autodesk serial numbers and product key in Subscription Center and this link shows how to find the product key for your Autodesk product.

These links also have a full list of all the product keys for the last few Autodesk releases: -

2013: Product keys for Autodesk products
2012: Product keys for Autodesk products
2011: Product keys for Autodesk products
2010: Product keys for Autodesk products

Have you got any unique ways to store your serial numbers and product boxes? If you do send us a photo by July 1^st 2012, we'll send prizes to the best ones.

Vela Systems acquired by Autodesk to help transform the construction industry

Vela Systems are an exciting company that we have been working with for some time as a partner organization, and late last week it was announced that Vela will be joining the Autodesk team.
This video, posted just a few weeks ago explains in more depth the integration between Vela's products and Autodesk Revit and Navisworks.

Amar Hanspal, the Senior Vice President, Information Modeling and Platform Products Group say "BIM has tremendous value in the planning and design aspects of construction projects, but if you can't get that rich data into the field, at the point of construction, you are leaving out the critical 'last 100 yards' in the process. Integrating Vela Systems and its cloud and mobile products with the Autodesk BIM portfolio transforms the business of construction, delivering valuable information to job sites anywhere in the world".

Read here for the full press release.

Practical tips on starting and maintaining a BIM user group

Further to a blog about starting a BIM User group a couple of weeks ago and a worldwide list of BIM in Construction User groups, James Vandezande from HOK has kindly passed along a series of posts he has written about running effective user groups.

These are well worth a read whether you are looking to start a group or contribute towards a local group with more detail about locations, speakers, hardware and sponsorships.

http://www.allthingsbim.com/2012/01/effective-user-groups-part-1.html
http://www.allthingsbim.com/2012/01/effective-user-groups-part-2.html
http://www.allthingsbim.com/2012/04/effective-user-groups-part-3.html

Since we launched the BIM in Construction User Groups page we've added lots more groups across Europe and the Americas and Australia thanks to your suggestions. If you have a group to add, email us!

Be the face of Autodesk Construction products

Have you ever wondered how we put together the splash screens that you view every time you open the product? Have you wondered how Silver Cross Hospital or Blackfriars Station were selected to be the 'face' of Navisworks? Have you ever wondered how you would get your project to be the one everyone see's on a daily basis? Well wonder no more!

The Autodesk Construction team are inviting customers to submit images of your use of Navisworks for inclusion in the next release of Navisworks. We are looking for impactful and inspiring images of how you are using our technology on your projects. For all selected images, we will require you to complete a consent form, granting unrestricted use of the imagery to Autodesk. For the image that is placed on the product box and splash screen, we will request access to the model dataset so that Autodesk graphic artists can create the final renderings. All image usage will display a credit line as defined by you.  

What is the value of participating?

• Expanded marketing reach - You can dramatically increase the visibility of your company's work since the images generated from the datasets may appear in a variety of high-profile web and print marketing assets, with attribution to your firm. For example, customer imagery was prominently displayed on more than 100,000 units of AutoCAD® 2013 product packaging and receives more than 280,000 views per month on Autodesk.com
• Enhanced brand recognition - Close associations with Autodesk, a leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software, can enhance your brand, build industry recognition for your company as a technology leader, and be a strong selling point to your clients, increasing your competitive advantage.
• Using resulting imagery - While the imagery created using your data sets is usually subject to embargo dates associated with product launches and campaigns, it will eventually become available for general use. In most cases, you can then use the resulting imagery for your own marketing purposes upon request.

One selected image will be used for the next release of Navisworks product box and splash screen. Here is the 2013 image of London Blackfriars station, courtesy of Network Rail and Jacobs®.

 

Other selected images will be included in the Navisworks installer (see below for 2013 images):

If you are interested in participating please email anthony.governanti@autodesk.com or sunny.hira@autodesk.com.  We will be happy to answer your questions and provide you with additional details on the submission process. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, July 11, 2012.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you,

Autodesk Construction Team