Roombook Extension for Revit 2011 Available

There is a new extension available from the Autodesk Subscription Centre website for particular locations.  The extension was originally developed for the German market, but has now been modified for wider international use.

Below is some information off the subscription site:

• The program calculates the surfaces of walls, floors and ceilings as well as room circumference and furnishing elements on a per-room basis and in total. 
• The calculation of each surface is made transparent by detailed listing of all sub areas. 
• Apart from automatic detection of elements and sub areas, it is also possible to add further elements manually. Additionally, it is possible to illustrate situations with no constructive equivalent in the project, by numerical definition or graphical selection of detail or model lines (use case: tile panels). It is also possible to define a wall height reduction on a per-room basis, in order to calculate the material requirements in case of reflected ceilings. 
• All sub areas can be modified manually, including materials. This allows to handle exceptions to the rule and special situations. 
• Surface material types contain material definitions for walls, slabs, ceilings and room circumference, which are typically assigned to particular rooms (Example: Bathroom, Habitable Room Carpet etc.) This allows to assign surface materials to rooms with one click. 
• The calculated quantities can be exported in a clear and detailed Excel form, separated in 

1. Wall surfaces (including inner reveals, and window area per room in the Excel survey) 
2. Floor surfaces (including threshold areas)
3. Ceiling surfaces
4. Room circumference 
5. Furnishing elements and a survey which lists face to face all quantities per room and in total. 

• Material requirements are listed per room and in total.  
• Additionally is supported the export to a dwf-file which later can be opened and edited further in Autodesk Quantity Takeoff (QTO), as well as a CSV output

Find out more here:
Autodesk Subscription Centre

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Collaborative Modeling with Revit Worksharing and Bluestreak

For those needing to communicate between offices and work on single models. Use Revit server coupled with Autodesk Bluestreak.

Now all we need is a multi-discipline solution to control those pesky architects moving structural elements or vice versa. (we've got one in the works...)

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Hey, look! A movie poster with our logo on it. You can catch "Sin Ella" in Mexico at the end of this month; we were happy to help produce it, and even happier to see so many award-winning Mexican and Spanish stars bring it to life. Thank you Buena Vista International, thank you Miravista, and thank you director Jorge Colon for this little gem of a drama.

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There's nothing we like more than sharing good news about our directors, and this month we have two accolades to share.

First, kudos to the fantastic Nelson Cabrera for taking home silver at AHAA for his very funny MTV spot (you can read more in Ad Age about it here). That was thanks to the creative minds at Miami's La Comunidad agency.

Second, Angel Gracia finally and wonderfully has a trailer for his feature film debut, "From Prada to Nada."

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Xrev Revit API Tools

Great News!

Our new Xrev website goes live next week.

www.xrev.com.au

it will also be accessible from www.cadway.com.au

Checkout Xrev Transmit! Our Revit issuing tool to take the pain out of issuing drawings whether it be hard copies, digital copies or both, as well as managing your transmittals... LEVERAGE ALL THAT INFORMATION IN YOUR REVIT MODEL for generating the transmittal rather than having to reproduce it in your file names and transmittal documents...

Soon to follow are:

Xrev Sheets
Xrev Transmit PRO

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Making a completely parametric mobile crane - Final

Hi Everyone,

Again, sincere apologies for the delay in updates.  Please watch the below 3 videos for the final explanation of how I went about making this family.  Comments always welcome and any recommendations for what people what me to show next.

Cheers.

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Revit 2011 - Subscription Advantage Pack Released

If you haven't already, download the Revit 2011 Subscription Advantage Pack to get Revit Model Server & Conceptual Energy Analysis tools.


Finally a tool for teams that are spread across multiple offices...

NOTE: You must have a valid Subscription to do this and be logged into the Autodesk Subscription Centre.

http://subscription.autodesk.com/

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Is summer almost over? Where did the first half of 2010 go!? Kudos to director Angel Gracia, who finally has picture lock (i.e. closure, also known as a completely finished edit) on his feature, From Prada to Nada. It scored ridiculously high with test audiences and is scheduled to hit theaters in early 2011.

Congrats are also due to Aaron Burns for wrapping Blacktino, his directorial debut. The film was shot in Austin, Texas and features Danny Trejo (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids), a few surprise stars and talented newcomers Austin Marshall, Devyn Ray, Tiger Sheu and Denise Williamson.

Ted Melfi's shorts Roshambo and I Want Candy have been selected by Film Independent (IFP) as two of their Movies of the Month. The former is a mockumentary about the cut-throat world of competitive Rock, Paper, Scissors; the latter follows a family looking for the "perfect" nanny.

As a company, The Cortez Brothers is extremely pleased to announce that we're filming a 13-part television series. We can't give many details except to say that it's English-language, Latin-flavored, the pilot is in the can, and we're quite literally foaming at the mouth thinking about upcoming episodes.

We've reached the 100+ mark on webisodes for our much-loved and ever-evolving AARP project. On the commercial end of things, we've very happily shot spots for wireless carriers, music video channels, department stores and delicious, delicious beer. If you see an awesome Public Service Announcement for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, that would be us (together with the good folks at Adrenalina).

Finally, a treat for those of you who paid attention in Spanish 101 or are lucky enough to be native Argentine Spanish speakers... this is a ridiculously funny new spot from our director Hernán Almar. If you don't speak español, just revel in the absurdity of Scot-Argentines wearing kilts while riding moonwalking minature ponies.

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Revit 2011 - Creating a Parametric Shade Sail using Adaptive Components

In this video I'll demonstrate how something can be easily made very parametric using adaptive components for a tension structure such as a shade sail.

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Why can't I see this element??!

Arggh, there is nothing worse than trying to find why an element isn't visible in a view, so many different potential causes that need to be checked.  I thought I'd put a little bit of a checklist together:

1. Is the view "Discipline" set correctly?  For example if your view is accidentally or purposelly set to Structural the wall may not be showing because its non-bearing...
2. Is the view range set correctly to see the particular element?  I'll often switch to my 3D view and orientate it to match the view, if I can't see it in the 3D view its most likely a view range issue.
3. Is the element in the correct phase and is an appropriate phase filter set in the view to make it visible.  Maybe someone set it in a future phase?
4. Can you see the element by enabling "Reveal Hidden Elements"?  If so, select it and select unhide element or unhide category.  Try not to use the Override element or hide in view options...
5. Is the element in a worset that isn't open or turned on in the view?
6. Is there a filter applied to the view that is causing the element to be hidden?
7. Has someone used the linework tool on the element?
8. If its a family, is the detail level of the view set correctly?  Sometimes families are set not to show at Coarse.
9. If its a family, has someone selected the geometry of the element not to show in plan, section/elevation as the case maybe?
10. Maybe the view has been created as a detail view?  By default certain categories aren't visible in a detail view...  As such change to a standard section.
11. Is the element part of a design option and perhaps that isn't the current option for that particular view?
12. Is there a plan region in the view that is adjust the view range settings incorrectly for the area in question?
13. If its a datum, is the 3d extents of the datum intersecting the view?
14. If its a section/elevation marker, check the "hide at scales coarser than" parameter to ensure its set appropriately to show.
15. Is it part of a linked revit or dwg file?  Ensure that the link is loaded...

I think there are a few more, but that's all i can think of off the top of my head.  Feel free to post comments of any additional ones you think of and I'll add them.

Cheers!

I know this can do my head in sometimes!

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Revit Sheet Management & Issuing Painful?

Who finds editing sheet/titleblock information tedious and slow?

What about adding consultant sheets and mass sheet lists into your project one at a time, what a pain...

Not to mention the issue process of exporting DWG, DWF/PDF, Hard Copies, file naming, uploading to online systems such as Team Binder/Aconex/IrisProjectMinder etc.  Prone to human error and so repetitious!

Filling out transmittals/repeating data entry multiple times, yuk...

Certainly don't want to have to manage tonnes of shared parameters and a difficult setup process!

Need a simple solution that's easy to use?

Well very soon we will be releasing our first amazing Revit enhancement bound to drastrically improve your productivity and sanity!

Stay tuned!

PS.  Post any special requests and we'll see what we can do :)  Also, add this blog to your Revit communication centre by using this RSS feed:  http://blog.cadway.com.au/feeds/posts/default

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Making a completely parametric mobile crane - Overview

This video runs through the introduction and overview of how the family is setup.  If there are specific topics you'd like me to address in more detail please comment.

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Making a completely parametric mobile crane

Throughout July I will be posting a series of videos demonstrating how I went about making this 150T parametric mobile crane.

The crane has:

• Adjustable materials
• Adjustable rotation
• Adjustable extension
• Adjustable support extensions
• Adjustable boom angle
• Adjustable cable drop/automatically stays perpendicular to the ground.

We will look at how we can add jigs, rules to stop the crane overextending/tipping.  I am interesting in any crane experts posting limitations they'd want to impose as I'm going on very limited knowledge of cranes so the values I use may not be correct, but the principles will be the same.

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First, we are in Cannes this week--so if you spot us sporting our double-headed logo somewhere around town, feel free to say "bonjour."

Second, it is our pleasure to post some impressive artwork from our equally impressive writer Sierra Hall (drawing courtesy of IDW artist Casey Maloney).

Her feature film script "The Naked Eye" is a modern, noir-ish drama about a pair of doomed lovers. Chloe's a young woman escaping her past by hiding in the big city; he's the scientist who falls in love with her--but only after he has turned her invisible, and by then it's too late. Except it's not the invisibility that tears them apart... it's the secret she's hiding.

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Congratulations are in order for our director Nelson Cabrera, who has a stunning ten spots running during the World Cup. If you tune in to a match and see any of his AT&T, Best Buy or Ford work, let out a yell with something other than a vuvuzela.

We also offer some applause for Ricardo de Montreuil, who directed a special effects-driven short called "The Raven." It is floating around the Interwebs in several dozen places, but we particularly like the HD version:

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Revit Hatch Patterns (Hatch Kit)

Firstly apologies for my slackness in regular posts...

This question has come up a lot, and its how do I make custom hatch patterns for Revit?

Typically I'll recommend using Cadro's Hatchkit.

However, I recommend a different workflow to using hatchkit directly as the editor. I like to use the import DXF feature.

1. Begin by starting up Revit.
2. Start a new project.
3. Start a drafting view, set the scale to 1:1 for a drafting pattern or 1:100 or similar for a model pattern.
4. Now using solid detail lines draw the pattern you'd like to create at the scale you require it. In my example I'm trying to create a water surface pattern (some waves).

5. Next we need to outline a box/tile that if repeated would create a clean pattern and break our linework here.
   
6. Then delete the excess linework. (leave the box there as this helps to define the size of the tile)
   
7. Export to 2004 DXF format.
8. Start HatchKit
9. Go to File-->Import (change files of type to DXF entities) Find you file and import
   
10. Now we just need to delete the box that we drew. Select each of them by clicking on the white box and delete. You actually end up deleting 6 lines...
    
11. Finally add a name/description/comment then save as a Revit Model or Drafting pattern as required.
12. Its now ready to be imported and used in Revit!

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Wow, what a Spring! We really hit the pavement over the last month, shooting projects and chasing film premieres in Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Atlanta and Dallas. We are happy to report that we returned from Uruguay with a newfound appreciation for filmmakers there (like our own Fede Alvarez) and for the country as a whole.

Closer to home in Santa Monica, we also moderated a workshop at the National Association of Latino Independent Producers' conference entitled "The Secret to Making 30-Second Feature Films: Commercial Production for Fun, Experience and (Mostly) Profit."

We give a big tip of the hat to our director Cole Webley, since he is a finalist for Boards Magazine's Eleventh Annual First Boards Awards. Boards doesn't mention that he's a red-headed fluent Spanish-speaker (by way of the Dominican Republic), but we will.

On the Storytelling side we welcome the very talented and brilliant writer Sierra Hall to our team, and give a kudos and lots of love to writer/directors Aaron Burns (of the upcoming film "Blacktino," to be produced by Elizabeth Avellán and shot in Texas) and Carlos Rincones (of the upcoming film "Malaventura," currently casting in Mexico).

Finally, we welcome Uruguayan director Guillermo Carbonell to our team. If you happen to read Spanish you can learn more about him in this interview here, and if you don't -- well, you're just going to have to trust us when we tell you that he has worked all over South America and Mexico and we are excited to add someone as talented as he is to our roster.

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Greetings to anyone visiting us from SourceEcreative; their special edition on Latin American production this month prominently features The Cortez Brothers, and we think that's pretty cool. Also, kudos to our director Nelson Cabrera, since he just won five Addys--two of them for "Reunion," the Latin-flavored AT&T spot we shot with the awesome team at Bravo. Cole Webley, our favorite redheaded Spanish speaker, has been chosen as a finalist for the 11th Annual First Boards Awards. Meanwhile, the Storytelling Department lent a hand to three feature film scripts and one documentary proposal over the last few weeks. We specialize in helping producers, directors and writers in the advertising industry turn their ideas into Hollywood-worthy final products (although we do a lot of work with civilian folks, too). Two of the seedling projects we nurtured into full-fledged scripts last year are set to shoot by the end of summer, so we're quite excited about that. Finally, if you haven't checked out our YouTube site we suggest you stop by and say "hi." Of course, you can do that in person if you're in the Marina del Rey area, too...

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January and February have been busy for us, shooting spots (amongst others) for some deliciously cold beer and hot-hot-hot phone packages in Mexico and the US. We've added another team member and some extra Cuban flavor to the office with the arrival of René Delgado, who'll be assisting our EP Ed Rivero. Also, "Sin Ella" will be screening at the Dallas Film Festival in April, with other screenings to be announced in coming months.

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So much to update! First, The Cortez Brothers (specifically and alphabetically Dan, Ed and Marcos) are lending a little co-producing help to our first collective feature film, "Sin Ella." It is the sophomore directorial effort of the very talented Jorge Colon. If you like the way it looks, and we certainly do, it is thanks in part to another beloved member of the extended Cortez Family, Eduardo Martinez Solares. Second, we have been busy shooting commercials at an ever-increasing rate, mostly in the US, Mexico and South America. Finally, an enormous tip of the hat to our Venezuelan brother Angel Gracia who is now in post-production on his first feature (due out from Lionsgate), "From Prada to Nada," a modern Latin adaptation of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility."

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