Additional Highlights from Autodesk University 2005

In AECbytes Newsletter #24, I captured the conference highlights, product announcements related to the AEC industry, and my overall impressions of the recently concluded Autodesk University 2005 in Orlando. There was a lot more happening at the conference than could be covered in a single article, and this issue of the "Building the Future" series captures the other highlights from Autodesk University, including the products showcased in the Exhibit Hall relevant to AEC, a site visit to the offices of JetBlue Airways, and some classes that I was able to attend.

Highlights from the Exhibit Hall

The Exhibit Hall at Autodesk University showcases both Autodesk solutions as well as partner and third-party vendors of products that work with Autodesk applications. Most of the "regulars" that I have written about in previous years (see AECbytes Newsletter #16 and AECbytes Newsletter #3 featuring Autodesk University 2004 and 2003 respectively), were back with new versions of their products, or in some cases, with brand-new products altogether. HP is traditionally a big presence at Autodesk University, and this year, it was showcasing two new workstations—low-cost HP xw4300 for mainstream CAD and a little pricier HP xw4300 for 3D applications—and three Designjet printers at different levels of cost and quality—110plus series for 1200 x 1200 dpi and prints up to 24" wide, 800 series for 2400 x 1200 dpi in 24" and 42" models, and 4000 series for 2400 x 1200 dpi and prints up to 42" wide. In an attempt to promote DWF, HP was offering a complimentary copy of Autodesk DWF Composer with the purchase of a printer. HP also showed a new hardware device, SpacePilot, a 3D motion controller that allows a 3D design to be manipulated with one hand, while the other hand uses a traditional mouse for executing commands and editing, thereby increasing speed and productivity. HP also continued to demonstrate the Remote Graphics Software it had introduced last year, a collaboration utility that allows you to remotely share your graphics workstation desktop with team members on the same network, giving the entire team the ability to control the application and manipulate the design.

Another regular at Autodesk University is CADzation, which this year unveiled a new tool, AcroPlot Repro, for faster printing of PDF and DWF files on large format engineering plotters and copiers. While most AEC firms are converting drawing files to the PDF and DWF formats for collaborating and printing, large format printers have still to catch up on these technological advancements, leading to a reduction in quality and speed. AcroPlot Repro addresses this problem with its ability to convert these files into both TIFF and CALS formats at resolutions up to 600 dpi. It also has additional adjustments for brightness, contrast, dithering type, and optimized memory usage levels to maintain conversion speed and quality. Another new tool in the CADzation toolset is AcroPlot Auto, which allows organizations to convert their legacy files in formats such as DWG, PLT, TIFF, etc., into DWF, so that a single file format can be maintained across the organization, reducing software support and maintenance costs. In addition to these two new applications, CADzation also demonstrated four new technological enhancements in its set of electronic documentation tools for converting DWG files to PDF or DWF: the ability to include layer information, hyperlinks associated with drawing objects, searchable text regardless of font style or type, and the option to reprocess existing PDF files to enable markup and commenting in the free Adobe Reader 7.0.

Another electronic documentation vendor at the show was Bluebeam, which was also unveiling a new product called Bluebeam Revu. Bluebeam is best known for its Pushbutton Plus product, an electronic publishing add-on to AutoCAD that can convert batches of DWG files into eleven different file formats including PDF, DWF, and TIFF. Revu is a PDF viewing, editing and markup application that allows users to easily view large format PDF files and add clouds, lines, highlights, text and other markups. The markup properties such as color, line thickness, opacity, font, etc., can be easily changed from a conveniently displayed tab. Other features include a customizable toolset and a split screen option that allows simultaneous viewing of two different PDF files or different views of the same PDF file. Revu comes integrated into Bluebeam Pushbutton Plus and Bluebeam Lite (a lower-cost PDF solution without some of the advanced features of Pushbutton Plus), making these products complete PDF creation, viewing, and markup solutions. Thus, Bluebeam is attempting to match some of the more advanced markup features available in Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0 (see my review of this product published in Jan 2005), and from the demo of Revu that I was given at the show, it seemed like a very intuitive and user-friendly application. However, it is still missing one advanced capability that both Acrobat Professional provides for PDF and Autodesk DWF Composer provides for DWF: the ability to round-trip comments and markups back into the original authoring AutoCAD file, so that these can be seen in the context of the original document and the appropriate changes can be made (see my review of Autodesk DWF Composer). Despite this limitation, however, Revu is certainly a very useful addition to the Bluebeam family of products.

One vendor new to the show this year was Architectural Data Systems (ADS), which has a web-based system that integrates spec writing, schedule generation, product selection, document production, and knowledge management in architectural practice. In the standard online version, the user specifies the products and materials for the project manually, using pull-down menus and entering data in forms. ADS also comes with a CAD interface that integrates with AutoCAD as well as Autodesk Architectural Desktop (ADT), allowing the specs and schedules to be created as you add objects or keynotes to your drawings. A catalog interface allows products to be selected from within the CAD system, which are then integrated into the specifications and schedules. The product data can be standard construction data from manufacturers' catalogs or company specific data. The specifications are created from ADS masters that have been written by independent spec writers, while the details are created from an automated detail engine. The choice of creating specs using the MASTERSPEC Short Form library is also available. Specs are created in Word, schedules in Excel or DWG format, and details in DWG format. Thus, the use of ADS eliminates manual document creation and coordination, because all the data is related within a database. In addition to consolidating document production, ADS can centralize communication and knowledge management and enable firm-wide consistency in documents.

ADS currently does not integrate with Revit, and this is where an application like e-Specs from InterSpec is already ahead, at least as far as specifications is concerned. At the InterSpec booth at Autodesk University, a demonstration of e-Specs showed how it automatically creates and updates project specifications from AutoCAD, ADT, as well as Revit Building and Revit Structure, ensuring their coordination and accuracy. In AutoCAD, the specifications are created from text, keynotes, blocks, hatches, and other drawing elements, while in ADT and Revit, they are created from walls, doors, windows, and other building objects added to the model. Any changes made to the design are automatically incorporated into the specification manual. Other features include the ability to review the history of the specification section to see why a specific product was included in the project, collaboration on the specification documents by the extended project team using markup tools or by publishing to Autodesk Buzzsaw, and a built-in browser for researching available products from suppliers that meet the specifications.

Recall from AECbytes Newsletter #24 that Autodesk is working on an asset management application targeted for facilities management (FM) that works with 2D floor plans exported in DWF format from any of its design applications. This will certainly come as competition to other FM applications, one of which I had the opportunity to see at Autodesk University. faciliCAD is built on top of AutoCAD, linking its graphical objects to database records of spaces, people, furniture, equipment, and assets, thereby transforming a drawing into an intelligent resource whose value extends beyond the design phase throughout the life of the building. It can also be used with ADT. faciliCAD features a dual interface, allowing text information to be entered manually using a Data Manager, and graphical data entry and manipulation through the CAD Manager. It also includes an optional MapGuide linkage that allows space, asset, and employee data to be published in both graphical and non-graphical web pages for others to view or edit using Autodesk MapGuide. faciliCAD is an established FM application that has many additional capabilities, and it should be interesting to see if the AEC's industry's move to BIM adoption has any impact on the FM industry which is still primarily 2D-based, and thus on applications like faciliCAD.

Other regulars at the show, which I have written about in Autodesk University reports from previous years, were NavisWorks, VisionREZ, and Codebook. One new exhibitor in a totally different application area was kubit from Germany, which showed solutions for capturing geometric and non geometric as-built data for building surveys, topographical surveys, facilitates management, and historic building preservation. One of its tools called TachyCAD allows the site to be surveyed directly with a total station. It is integrated in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, which allows the total station to be used like a 3D mouse with any CAD command for surveying. Using the station hardware and a laptop with the software, most of the surveying job can be completed onsite, automatically input into CAD. Another kubit tool is PointCloud, which works with the points recorded by a 3D laser scanner and supports the visualization and analysis of millions of these 3D points within AutoCAD. A third product is PhotoToPlan, which allows true-to-scale rectification of digital images of plane objects in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT. The result is an image plan that allows easy measurement of areas and distances, and connects photographic documentation of the present state with exact geometrical information. The rectified images can be used to draw plans of façades or gain geometrical data of ceilings and wall frescos, very useful for historic building preservation.

JetBlue Site Visit

Some of us at Autodesk University had the opportunity to visit the new JetBlue Airways training facility at Orlando International Airport, designed to accommodate 200 permanent daytime staff and up to 300 students (training to be pilots and cabin crew) on any given day. The project was completed by the design/build team of BRPH/Suitt Construction Company, and was opened in June 2005. It is sized to accommodate eight full flight simulators, two cabin trainers, classrooms, cabin crew training equipment, training pool, fire fighting training station, and administrative area. We actually had the opportunity to experience one of the full flight simulators in action, including the simulation of flight turbulence, which was quite a surreal experience considering that we were very much on the ground.

Autodesk was using this site visit to showcase the use of Buzzsaw rather than BIM. The design brief called for a very tight budget and timeline—less than 12 months for the design, permitting, and construction of the simulator bays to have them ready for the installation of the simulators. The design/build team was able to complete the project in less than 10 months, and one of the key technologies that made this time-savings possible was the use of Buzzsaw, which provided a central location for storing and sharing all design data including drawings, specifications, photographs, and so on. BRPH had been using Buzzsaw for two years prior to this project, and the experience certainly paid off on this one. With regard to the design application that was used, it was primarily AutoCAD rather than a BIM application. All the specialized analyses needed in this type of a building—acoustical, structure, energy, and so on—were performed by the corresponding engineers using traditional 2D-based processes.

Thus, the JetBlue project makes somewhat of a contradictory customer success story for Autodesk, since it very effectively illustrates the time-savings potential of Buzzsaw for project collaboration and document sharing, but at the same time, shows that projects can still be designed and constructed efficiently without the use of BIM.

The Learning Experience at Autodesk University

Autodesk University featured close to 400 classes and hands-on labs in various industry-specific sessions. The Building Industry sessions focused primarily on Revit Building, Revit Structure, and ADT, and to a smaller extent on Autodesk Building Systems (ABS) and collaboration with DWF and Buzzsaw. I was able to attend a few of the Revit sessions, and these were packed to capacity. Most of them were devoted to advanced aspects of Revit such as the parameter scheme and the level of detail when designing families; defining shared parameters that can be accessed by multiple projects and families; using formulas to create parameters that depend upon other parameters for their value; modeling curtain walls and storefronts, stairs and railings of different configurations, walls of different materials and shapes including curved and battered walls, foundations and footings, and different types of roofs; techniques to work with large projects including custom view parameters that only load those views in a certain category, and organizing sheets and views so that they can be filtered; creating complex and freeform shapes within Revit; and so on.

One particularly interesting session provided more details of the Revit API (Application Programming Interface) in the context of Revit Structure. The API was likened to a "Swiss Army knife," which allows people to do varied things with it. In the case of Revit Structure, the API provides access to the full analytical and physical model, and the session demonstrated some examples of how it was being used. For example, one user of Revit Structure had used the API to write a plug-in tool to add a structural connection between a beam and column, based on the number of bolts that was specified. All the connections, sizing, and so on were correctly generated by the tool. This particular example involved about 500 lines of code, and was written in less than a week by someone who was not a programmer, illustrating that it was relatively easy to use the API to create custom tools and functionality. Revit Building has a more limited API functionality than Revit Structure at the moment, but it is not hard to imagine it eventually spawning a whole industry of plug-in tools similar to what has grown around the AutoCAD API, many of which were on display in the Exhibit Hall at Autodesk University.

This wraps up AECbytes' offerings for 2005. I look forward to returning with more features, reviews, reports, case studies, viewpoints, and tips and tricks in 2006. Till then, best wishes to you for a festive holiday season and a happy and fulfilling year ahead!

About the Author

Lachmi Khemlani is founder and editor of AECbytes. She has a Ph.D. in Architecture from UC Berkeley, specializing in intelligent building modeling, and consults and writes on AEC technology. She can be reached at lachmi@aecbytes.com.