• Author: Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Previews… More like Pro-views: Professional Revit Family Previews the Easy Way Using the Free Family Preview Generator

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    When you are looking at inserting a family, you will want to get the most amount of information about the family file in the shortest amount of time. Without tools like HIVE you are limited to 2 sources of information, the name of the family and the preview image.

    Figure 1. Multiple preview directions in the Door Family Folder on my computer

    You can control the family naming convention for your company, so why not do the same with the preview image.

    Do you know how the preview image for a Revit family is defined? Its very simple, it’s defined in the File Save Options for the family:

    Figure 2. Setting the thumbnail manually

    The default in the Generic Model Template is that the Active view/sheet is used for the Thumbnail. This means that anytime you save the file you need to make sure that the view is setup for the presentation you want to see, this takes time and if most often overlooked.

    The Family Preview Manager from CTC enables you to control the preview image for multiple files:

    Figure 3. Free tools have the lighter tool image

    It is also one of the Free tools within the CTC BIM Manager Suite.

    Settings for the tool are found within the Options.

    There are general settings for things like whether to create backup files as well as which item should be hidden, for example, text and reference planes.

    Then there are Appearance settings and here you can select the View direction, Style, Detail level and more. So here you can define that it will be in the Realistic graphic style from the 3D Left Front Top view with the Fine Detail level. You can define the Default Appearance which will be for any categories that do not have an Appearance Template defined.

    Appearance Templates are then used for any catalogs that will not use the Default Appearance, for example Tag categories would be best saved in a Plan View rather than a 3D Isometric view.To use an appearance template, setup the template then assign categories to it. Note that you can assign templates for different hosting methods of families, this is important when you think of the orientation of content when face or wall based.

    You can select between the Active Family Document or multiple family files with the Document Batch option, however, Active Family Document will of course require that you have a family as the current open file.

    Once you have selected the files to be processed you will have the option to overwrite the family or save to a new location, I recommend using the save to new location when you are testing the tool, once you are comfortable with the results then use the Overwrite Family option.

    The end result of this tool? Consistency in your family library, all with a free tool from CTC, here is the link to download the tool:

    https://www.ctcsoftware.com/bim-manager-suite-trial/

    CANDEVCON LIMITED

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva
    Success Stories

    CANDEVCON LIMITED

    CANDEVCON LTD., is a Canadian-owned multi-disciplinary company of engineers, planners, and technologists. The company and its staff have diverse backgrounds with emphasis on all aspects of infrastructure development. With offices in Brampton and Whitby, Ontario, CANDEVCON provides a full range of services including consulting, planning, studies, design, environmental, and construction management to clients across Southern Ontario. Its team of engineers, planners and technologists work with governments, architects, and developers to engineer the built environment.

    Standardizing CAD Processes with Customized Training

    The Challenge

    CANDEVCON was looking to create a consistent appearance and internal structure for their drawings. Their goal was to standardize their entire engineering design workflow and improve its production of land development project deliverables.

    They specifically wanted a training program that would train employees on their standardized procedures, improve the quality of work, and find efficient ways to complete repetitive tasks while enhancing their users’ knowledge base of the capabilities of their existing Autodesk software, Civil 3D and InfraWorks.

    The Solution

    The first half of the training was exclusively focused on training new staff on their new standard procedures. SolidCAD used CANDEVCON’s existing methods as a basis and formed a curriculum that would show users the best practices on how to facilitate the exchange of CAD data, add intelligence to the CAD drafting process and provide tips and tricks to better manage and integrate project data into a 3D design models.

    The second half of the training was focused on teaching all users a variety of methods that would enhance their design workflow such as efficient ways to simplify profiling for road infrastructure, site plans, and subdivisions and how to apply these techniques to their existing projects.

    The training program also included advanced techniques for all employees that would improve the production of project deliverables by teaching them how to manipulate the point-cloud data, use it within the company’s network and convert it into InfraWorks to create effective and valuable design presentations for clients.

    The training program ended with customized sessions for their senior staff that provided an additional advanced knowledge of the capabilities of their existing Civil 3D software.

    The Outcome

    After undergoing the training, the CANDEVCON technical team significantly improved their skills. The design workflow was standardized, CAD drawing appearances and configuration became efficient which sped up design production while reducing the likelihood of errors. In addition, the use of added intelligence to the CAD drafting process reduced the effort and time spent on updating drawings as well.

    In addition, CANDEVCON was able to develop robust 3D design models that incorporated data from geospatial and civil infrastructure data sources, giving them a competitive advantage when putting together detailed proposals when bidding on new projects. With new skills and the ability to add visualization techniques with InfraWorks, CANDEVCON was able to provide detailed and accurate designs to their clients.

    Testimonial

    Over the course of years, CANDEVCON chose SolidCAD as it’s software and service training provider due to the strong trust and confidence in the level of support and expertise demonstrated. From planning out investments in software purchases to finding the best ways of tailoring and conducting trainings according to our needs, SolidCAD makes the process simple and smooth. The moment we contact their team, they make themselves accessible and we appreciate the one-to-one customer support experience

    -Lynn Orr,
    Finance & Administration at CANDEVCON LTD.

    Products & Services Used

    • Autodesk Civil 3D, (software already owned by CANDEVCON)
    • Autodesk InfraWorks (software already owned by CANDEVCON)
    • Training (Customized Training Program owned by CANDEVCON for 9 Days)
    • Support

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    Earthworks Processor Alternative Use Cases – Mapping Borehole Information

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Earthworks Processor is a great tool in the CTC CIM Project suite for automating hours of surface creation and manipulation for the purpose of calculating dynamic and accurate earthworks quantities. With the use of a finished grade surface, existing grade surface, and simple closed polyline “regions”, Earthworks Processor will create 6 different surfaces including a stripping surface, earthworks volumes surface, and a subgrade surface. As well as offer bound volume outputs in the form of tables and labels.  

    Today I want to talk about an alternative use for EWP. A dynamic way to calculate volumes and map profiles of points of interest from borehole data. This data could be anything from tops or bottoms of contaminant plumes to bedrock mapping, to volumes of loam that cannot be used for backfill. Borehole data of such points of interest is generally represented in depths from the existing surface, not elevations, and it can be tedious to get correct elevations mapped out.  

    EWP only requires the existing surface and some closed regions identifying depths of the unsuitable backfill (in this case). I have mapped this out as depth contours in the capture below. 

    These depth contours are derived from the borehole data, but without manually calculating, there is no efficient way to turn these depths into true elevations.

    EWP can take these depths and run them through its processing to produce surfaces relative to the varying elevations of the existing surface as well as get you accurate volumes that will be dynamically updated as new borehole information is added to the design. In this scenario it’s the polyline region with the depth of 0 (or the extents of the unsuitable fill) that will give us the volume of unsuitable fill that we are looking for.

    This whole process from mapped estimated depth contour polylines to dynamic volumes and surfaces is about 5 mins. The power and ROI of EWP is even more apparent when additional borehole information is added. Depth contours are modified, and EWP is rerun, and surfaces and volumes are updated in seconds.

    I would like to acknowledge Jae Kwon, another Civil Technical Consultant on our SolidCAD team for this alternative EWP workflow. I hope this blog post earned your time today and helps you save time on future projects as well.

     

    15 time-saving labeling shortcuts with CTC’s Label Genie (Part 1)

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    Label Genie can save you a ton of time by creating all sorts of useful labels quickly. Here’s 15 examples that you can use right now.

    Descriptions of the settings are included, but to really get up and running quickly Label Genie template files and the sample DWGs have been made available as well. Simply copy the .lg files into %AppData%\CTC\Label Genie then open up Label Genie. They will then show up in the dropdown box in the Label Genie template section.

    If the labels you are creating are for design purposes, you may want to set their layers to a non-plotting style that you can ignore, or a layer that you can just freeze without affecting others.

    Labelling for Corridor Design (*Corridor Design.dwg)

    1.      Label Assemblies (*Assembly Name.lg)

    Make it easier to which assembly is which at a glance by label their names. The labelling is done with a field, so that if the assembly name changes, a simple regen will update the label.

    • Type = Multiline Text
    • Anchor Object = Assemblies (Layer filter = *)
    • Formatting, contents = (Assemblies).(Name)
    • Formatting, Y offset = -4

    2.      Label Alignment Names (*Alignment Name.lg)

    When doing corridor work, we may want to see alignment names at a glance. This is especially true if setting up a lot of labels with the Corridor Mapper, for instance. Label the alignment names at regular intervals, oriented with the lines to avoid having to check the property palette constantly.

    • Label Type = Multiline Text
    • Anchor Object = Alignments (Layer filter = *)
    • Anchor Point = Vertices (Interval = 100, rest unchecked)
    • Formatting, contents = (Alignments).(Name)
    • Formatting, orientation = To Objects
    • Formatting, Y Offset = -0.5

    3.      Label Feature Line and Polyline Layers (*Feature Line Layer.lg / Polyline Layer.lg)

    Continuing the theme of adding some labels to corridor target objects, we can label feature line (and polylines) layer names at intervals. For feature lines, you may want to switch the Contents to the feature line’s name instead of the layer name – depending on how you like to use feature lines.

    • Label Type = Multiline Text
    • Anchor Object = Feature Lines (Layer filter = *)
    • Anchor Point = Vertices (Interval = 100, rest unchecked)
    • Formatting, contents = (Feature Lines).(Layer)
    • Formatting, orientation = To Objects
    • Formatting, Y Offset = -0.5

    If you have a lot of polylines for use for horizontal target condition subassemblies, you can label those as well, to make it easier to see what layer names they have. They tend to be shorter, so instead of intervals, midpoints might be more appropriate.

    • Label Type = Multiline Text
    • Anchor Object = Feature Lines (Layer filter = *)
    • Anchor Point = Vertices (Interval = 100, rest unchecked)
    • Formatting, contents = (Feature Lines).(Layer)
    • Formatting, orientation = To Objects
    • Formatting, Y Offset = -0.5

    Labelling for Presentation (*Presentation.dwg)

    Sometimes, we need to fill in some objects in the drawing for conceptual presentation. At the conceptual stage, we can forego precise placement and mass populate objects such as trees, lights, and structures quickly. These objects, in turn, can be exported to InfraWorks for even greater visual impact.

    4.      Place Tree Blocks at Back of Lots (*Place Trees.lg)

    First, we can place some trees at an interval at the back lot line.

    • Label Type = Blocks
    • Anchor Object = Feature lines (Layer filter = _LOTS BACK, C-PROP-BNDY)
    • Vertices = Interval 60
    • Format, Block Definition = Deciduous Tree
    • Format, Scale = 60

    5.      Place Lights (*Place Lights.lg)

    Lights are place along the right of way with an offset at intervals.

    • Label Type = Blocks
    • Anchor Object = Feature Lines (Filter = *ROW*)
    • Anchor Point = Vertices (Interval 100)
    • Formatting, Block Definition = SL
    • Formatting, Scale = 30

     

    6.      Place Building Footprints (*Place House.lg)

    Next, we can place some house block representing structure footprints in lots.

    • Label Type = Blocks
    • Anchor Object = manually select a row of side lot lines at the North end of subdivision
    • Anchor Point = Vertices (Begin of Object)
    • Formatting, Block Definition = House
    • Formatting, Scale = 0.8
    • Formatting, Orientation = To Object
    • Formatting, Rotation/X Offset/Y Offset = 270 / 40 / 30

    Measuring and Quantifying (*Measure and Quantify.dwg)

    7.      Dimension a Building (*Dimension Building.lg)

    We can automatically apply dimensions to objects using the Label Genie. Let’s try it on a building footprint.

    • Label Type = Dimensions
    • Anchor Object = Polylines (Layer filter = A-BLDG)
    • Anchor Point: Segments
    • Formatting, style = Annotative
    • Formatting, annotative = checked on
    • Formatting, Orientation = To Object
    • Formatting, Rotation / X Offset / Y Offset = 0 / 0 / -8

    8.      Dimension Curb (*Dimension Curb.dwg)

    We can dimension curb feature lines as well. Key to success is consistent stationing direction – always counter-clockwise or clockwise.

    • Label type: dimensions
    • Anchor object: feature lines (Layer filter = C-PRAVE-CURB-EOA)
    • Anchor point: segments
    • Formatting, style = annotative
    • Formatting, orientation = to object
    • Formatting, rotation / x offset / y offset = 0 / 0 / -8

    9.      Measure Areas (*measure areas.lg)

    Next, we generate area quantity labels for various hatching in the drawing. Note that labels are created in the centroids of hatches. This means that if you have an “L” shaped hatch, such as the grass in this drawing, the label may end up being outside the hatch. Some manual repositioning may be required.

    • Label Type = MultilineText
    • Anchor Object = Hatches (layer filter = *)
    • Anchor Point = Centroid
    • View Type = Plan
    • Formatting contents =
      • (Hatches).(Layer)
      • <New Line>
      • (Hatches).(Area)
        • Field customization: Format = Decimal, Precision = 0.0, Suffix = sq. m.
      • Formatting, Style = Annotative
      • Formatting, display width = 12

    More Labelling Tips On the Way

    That concludes the first 9 of the 15 time-saving shortcuts using the CTC Label Genie. It can help us quickly generate labels that can help us find the design information we need, place blocks to flesh out a conceptual design drawing, and dimension and measure various objects.

    Keep an eye out for Part 2, where we cover locating points and objects, as well as communication key surface information.

    *Please email us at info@solidcad.ca to request the data sets.

    How Sets in Revu Simplifies Document Management

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    This story was originally published by Rob Dunn on the Bluebeam Blog.

    Digitally creating PDF drawings and sharing them for review and markups through the cloud saves lots of time for professionals in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. But constantly organizing and tracking the huge volume of files and folders created daily is a challenge.

    When team leaders or project managers need the right set of drawings in the right hands in a quick and organized fashion, that can require picking through hundreds of drawings in dozens of folders and sorting or tagging those files into an entirely new folder—which might be replaced next week anyway. And, if anyone errs in updating a drawing or folder, that can cost time to discover and correct.

    Deepak Maini, national technical manager at Cadgroup Australia, is an expert on Bluebeam Revu, as well as a strong advocate for using Sets.

    Maini described Sets as “a collection of multiple PDF files, organized, categorized and displayed in a single view.” He continued: “So, all of the PDFs could be located in separate folders, but the Sets feature allows the document to be displayed as a single document in specified sort order. It’s the most efficient way to work with drawings that cannot be merged because of digital signature or other PDF security reasons.”

    Think of how many sources for drawings go into a project; you’ll probably immediately think of the structural team, the services team, and the architectural team—but that’s leaving out quality and safety, inspections, BIM collaboration, document management, and many other teams that need to access or provide drawings.

    It’s imperative that every team is clear on which drawings and files are the most up to date when they need them, without every team having to continually track changes and revisions for every document.

    Sets organize files without refiling

    Sets in Revu offer a straightforward solution to this challenge that eliminates the need to constantly create new folders to organize files—or the endless clicking that can go into checking what files are up to date across different folders.

    Sets allow users to quickly add and organize PDF files according to both preset categories such as Architectural, Mechanical, Plumbing (MEP), and others, as well as create custom categories.

    Individual files or entire folders can be added, as can files that can’t be merged due to digital signatures or PDF security, because you’re not actually merging the PDFs into a new file. Each drawing remains in its original folder, but the Sets function allows users to view files or make changes (depending on permissions) without creating any further information infrastructure.

    Simply put, you can view or alter files across numerous folders from a single column or window, and you don’t have to endlessly find, drag and organize drawings into new folders.

    You can use Sets to add individual Files, entire Folders, or Folders with selected Subheaders.

    Using sets is simple

    To use Sets in Revu, open the Sets function to create New Sets. Add individual files, and then choose from the Options menu how you want your files organized as thumbnails—by file name or preview, which you can change anytime.

    Next, choose the Categories under which your files fall; built-in categories include General, Civil, Landscape, Structural, and others that are universal to the building and design industries, or you can create your own.

    Once you’ve created your Set and assigned Categories, it’s time for Tags. This is where Sets offer a tremendous advantage in organizing your files.

    You can add as many Tags as you like to files in a Set. So, you might Tag a drawing or file for the purpose of sharing with a particular field installer, or to keep track of drawings for teams coming on different days of the week, or to organize drawings for the review of a safety inspector. Again, drawings can have numerous Tags, but they never leave their original file; they’re simply viewed and edited through Sets.

    Select your own Tags to customize your Sets for unique purposes or viewers and attach as many Tags as necessary to files in your Set.

    The Sets advantage

    Once you’ve created a Set, you have an easily navigable and sortable group with thumbnails, and you’re ready to put your Set to work. The primary functions of Sets include:

    • Uploading a PDF file in a Set to Studio Projects in Revu and setting permissions for viewing or editing
    • Marking up or revising drawings and PDF drawings
    • Incorporating new drawings or PDF drawings
    • Superseding drawings, which are automatically Stamped as SUPERSEDED in their original folders, so there are no issues of drawing redundancy or errors over which drawings are most current
    • Allowing comparisons and overlaying of PDF versions of the same drawings, and tracking changes
    • Exporting the markups list as PDF, CSV or XLS, or printing PDF drawings
    • Creating a drawing log as a PDF, CSV or Excel file, saving time from the tedious process of creating and maintaining one manually
    • A drawing is automatically stamped as SUPERSEDED when changes are made

    Sets have so many useful functions that Maini is surprised its use isn’t more widespread.

    As Maini described it: “I just think that this is one of those features, it’s actually really powerful. Within five to seven minutes, I was able to put together an entire drawing set. In the real world, if people are trying to access all these drawings, they must go through different folders. They must look at all these files. Plus, making sure that they always have access to the latest version of the documents, especially when they must print them, is an absolute nightmare. Whereas this feature, it’s a powerful feature, but not too many people use this and not too many people are aware of this.”

     

    Wrangle that Sheet: Making Revit Sheets Layout Easily with Free Tools from the BIM Project Suite

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    The CTC BIM Project Suite is geared towards users doing the project work, the included tools aim to make everyday project work easier and more efficient that using Revit tools alone. There are 5 free tools accessed from the ribbon while working in Revit, as well as Revit Properties which is access from the File Explorer to allow you access to Revit file properties, such as the Revit version. The paid version of the Project Suite has an additional 13 tools to add to the Revit workflow. The 2022 release of CTC BIM Project Suite saw the addition of a new free tool, View Aligner.

    This tool allows you to select any view on a sheet and align the other views to it based on your project needs. The greatest advantage to the View Aligner tool is that it works across sheets.

    When selected from the tools on the ribbon the floating tool bar appears and can be repositioned to a convenient location.

    You have the option of 7 alignments, based on the crop boundary of the views. You can align by each edge; top, bottom, left or right, by either horizontal or vertical centerlines, or by levels.

    Upon selection of the desired alignment, instructions for ending the operation appear at the end of the toolbar.

    If you click back on the toolbar before pressing Esc you will need to click back into the view (so the toolbar goes white again) before you can press Esc to exit.

     

    Align Horizontally by Top Edge

    • Select the Align Horizontally by Top Edge icon.
    • Select the view with the position you want to align to.
    • Every view you click will now align horizontally top edge to top edge of the crop region.
    • Press Esc to complete the operation.

    To keep crop regions the same size for all plan views, use a scope box to control the edges.

    Align Horizontally by Centerline

    • Select the Align Horizontally by Centerline icon.
    • Select the view with the position you want to align to.
    • Every view you click will now align horizontally centerline to centerline of the crop region.
    • Press Esc to complete the operation.

    For details that don’t show the crop region try using centerlines to get the massing relatively aligned then adjust view names for a nice symmetrical look.

    Align Horizontally by Bottom Edge

    • Select the Align Horizontally by Bottom Edge icon.
    • Select the view with the position you want to align to.
    • Every view you click will now align horizontally bottom edge to bottom edge of the crop region.
    • Press Esc to complete the operation.

    Align the bottom of images to help determine the spacing for other elements on the sheet.

     

    Align Vertically by Left Edge

    • Select the Align Vertically by Left Edge icon.
    • Select the view with the position you want to align to.
    • Every view you click will now align Vertically left edge to left edge of the crop region.
    • Press Esc to complete the operation.

    Align images along the edge of a page for a nice crisp line.

     

    Align Vertically by Centerline

    • Select the Align Vertically by Centerline icon.
    • Select the view with the position you want to align to.
    • Every view you click will now align vertically centerline to centerline of the crop region.
    • Press Esc to complete the operation.

    Vertical alignment by centerline works best with the unrelated views that Revit can’t snap alignment to.

     

    Align Vertically by Right Edge

    • Select the Align Vertically by Right Edge icon.
    • Select the view with the position you want to align to.
    • Every view you click will now align Vertically right edge to right edge of the crop region.
    • Press Esc to complete the operation.

    Using a right edge alignment (or left) for elevations results in a cohesive look when grid bulbs for all views are aligned to the same side.

     

    Align By Levels

    • Select the Align by Levels icon.
    • Select the view with the position you want to align to.
    • Every view you click will now align by levels.
    • Press Esc to complete the operation.

    To use this alignment the scale of the views must be the same.

     

    TIPS:

    • Use the View Alignment tool to align ‘like’ items.
    • Assign a scope box to the crop regions to make alignment quicker.
    • Open each sheet you will be working on before starting the tool to use alignment across the sheets. You cannot access the project browser once the tool is active. Use the view tabs to flip between sheets to align the views horizontal across each sheet, then do the same to align vertically.

    • Alignment works best on views of the same type. As seen below when you align an image and a schedule the space between visible content and the outermost edge of the crop boundary are not the same so despite being aligned the appear “off”.

    Get your 2022 release of CTC BIM Project Suite and try the FREE View Aligner tool on your next project. Reach out to us at info@solidcad.ca

    Civil 3D 2022.0.1 CIM Suite Tools Updates from CTC

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    We are excited to announce that our partner CTC Software released Civil 3D CIM Project and Manager Suites, version 22.0.1. It is now released and can be accessed on the CTC website.

    This update saw a lot of fixes and enhancements to new products released in 22.0.0 and before.

    Below are release notes:

    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Pipe Planner Bug Fix Fixed a variety of issues causing Pipe Planner to error out or crash. Improved application speed performance. Fixed issues with exporting to external spreadsheets. Fixed issues with importing external spreadsheets.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Pipe Planner Enhancement Added support for formulas in user-defined empty columns and rows. Added properties filter search bar. Added interactive selection of export starting cell. Improved part renaming, allowing old names to be reused on new part names within the same operation. Added new right-click options to edit the middle table. Misc. enhancements and performance improvements.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Pipe Designer Enhancement Improved part renaming, allowing old names to be reused on new part names within the same operation.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Label Genie Enhancement Added option to manually select anchor objects in drawings.  Added option when labeling layouts to create a unique layer for each layout.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Label Genie Bug Fix Fixed an issue where layout-specific labeling was not respecting exact viewport extents.  Fixed an issue where segment labels were not following the assigned layer. Fixed misc. issues with specific drawing files.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Earthwork Processer Bug Fix Fixed an issue where errors occurred if existing or proposed surfaces were empty or not overlapping one another.  Fixed an issue where earthwork region polylines that were significantly small would not offset and cause the app to error.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Data Wizard Bug Fix Fixed an issue where survey figures caused Data Wizard to error.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Parts Swapper Bug Fix Fixed an issue where parts not found in the parts catalog were causing Parts Swapper to file.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite Corridor Mapper Bug Fix Fixed an issue where changes to assemblies would cause the app to error.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Project Suite CIM Project Suite Bug Fix Fixed an issue where custom subassemblies were breaking when CIM Project Suite was installed.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Manager Suite Template Tracker Bug Fix Fixed an issue where pressure network band styles were causing Template Tracker to error out.
    22.0.1 8/17/2021 CIM Manager Suite CIM Manager Suite Bug Fix Fixed an issue where custom subassemblies were breaking when CIM Manager Suite was installed.

    8 Ways Layers Create Clarity in Revu

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    This story was originally published by Troy DeGroot on the Bluebeam Blog.

    ne powerful feature in Bluebeam Revu I think everyone should be using in some capacity is Layers.

    If you come to Revu with a CAD background, you probably understand and use Layers already. For those who don’t, you just don’t know what you don’t know. I hope this article helps shed light on a new opportunity to add flexibility, organization and clarity to your PDF workflows.

    For those old enough, Layers could be described like this: Remember in grade school when the teacher used the overhead projector to show things on the wall or pull-down screen? The surface of the overhead is the PDF when you open it. The clear film they write and draw on is a layer. That layer can be taken off or hidden, turned back on, or you could overlay several different layers to see them all on the screen.

    In Revu, we can isolate categories of markups or flatten them. If you’re not familiar with the Flatten function, refer back to this previous blog post.

    You might be asking: “Where do we find Layers?” There are a few places.

    First, let’s look at the Panels on the sides of the Revu interface. You should see a black vertical bar on the side with several panel tabs toward the top. Right-click below the tools and hover over “Show.”

     

    There, you’ll then see a list of Panels; click on the Layers option. When it turns blue, that means it’s visible.

    Another place you will see Layers is, when you open a document printed from drafting/design tools, they will often transfer from the original file. To quickly see what Layers look like and how they can be powerful, try the Overlay Pages tool. If you’re not already using Overlay Pages when revisions cross your desk, brace yourself.

    Here are some quick definitions of how Layers could be used for different phases of the project lifecycle.

    Planning: When planning a new construction development, you might use Layers to break down different elements of design requirements. For example, you might have individual Layers for building area, parking, green space, etc.

    Design Review: During the design and review phase, you might have Layers and colors indicating markups needing to be added to the drawings, markups which are just comments to the drafter for reference or internal notes for design intent. You might even have Layers to track first-round markups and another for additional comments after the backcheck.

    Estimating: When I build custom tools for estimating, I like to always include Layers to break down systems or material types. I always reverse engineer the tools and think about how I might manipulate the Layers when the sheet is full of markups. You might want to turn off all the flooring area measurements so you can see all the transition strips.

    Hiding all the concrete slabs will make it easier to see and select the isolated footing, or maybe you only want to see the continuous strip footings. Layers allow you to isolate materials so you can build out the estimate without having all material Layers on at the same time.

    Site Preparation: On the civil design side, you might want to get quantities and differentiate cut-and-fill areas indicating what materials can be reused someplace else on site. If you’re recording progress with site images or survey points, you might organize those by date as well.

    Construction: During construction, we can use Layers to break down your schedule. Looking at the estimating markups, you could determine how many concrete trucks come each day and isolate the curbs, slabs and footing accordingly. You could also use it for site logistics locating material deliveries, job trailers and portable toilets on site with a date layer. Knowing what needs to move on site as the project progresses can keep everyone informed on expectations.

    As-Builts: When on site recording existing conditions, P&ID or verifying installation, Layers can be used to indicate new vs. existing, supply vs. return, gas vs. water piping or to indicate valves that need to be replaced.

    Facility Management: When tracking so many systems in a facility, it can help to keep them all in one drawing and use Layers to organize them. When all the Layers are on, it might seem like an organized mess, but when you isolate the low voltage layer to investigate a network problem, suddenly it’s clean and precise. After you solve that emergency, you might switch Layers for a plumbing issue or verify the dates on fire extinguishers.

    Extra Credit: Incorporate Layers so those markups you do early in a project are still used downstream, eliminating redundant work. I’ve worked with several specialty contractors building tools for the sales team to layout while walking a site with the owner. All the devices are built with pricing, so they immediately have an estimate.

    Those same markups are moved and revised by the engineering team back in the office, with the estimate being updated automatically. When revisions pass through, they have direct visuals of scope creep and price increases. These markups can also be used by the installation team on site, changing the status of each device as they complete the install. In Studio Sessions in Revu, the project manager knows in real time how much work remains on site, helping him schedule the next project.

    As you can see, there are many powerful ways to use Layers throughout all phases of a construction project. I hope you found this introduction to Layers in Revu helpful and you have some new ideas of how you might implement them into your workflows.

    To learn more about layers check out my other blog post, “Understanding Revu Layers Like a Pro.”

     

    Bring your designs to life in Lumion 11.5

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    This story was originally published by Lumion on the Lumion Blog.

    With Lumion, you can render more than a building. Render your client’s dream home, render a story about design that moves emotions, render the space where life happens.

    A building begins as a structure. Walls. Floors. Roofs. Windows and doors. All expertly crafted into a beautiful arrangement of form and function.

    When looking at the 3D model, however, you might feel as if something is missing. Maybe it doesn’t capture the energy and atmosphere of the space and its surroundings. Perhaps it doesn’t ignite emotions or make you want to be there. Whatever it is, there’s something about life that’s just not easy to show in CAD.

    With Lumion, you can bring your vision to life and tell a richer, more immersive story about the design’s role in the real world. A story that sparks imagination and helps clients fully visualize how life could unfold within those four walls.

    From the small experiences you share with others to the objects that decorate your home, life is full of feeling. The sofa, coffee table and chairs in the living room, for instance, become a gravitational center where families share peaceful moments together. Papers and pens and books are scattered across a busy home office desk, alongside used coffee cups and photos of loved ones. In the kitchen, the teapot boils and toast pops out of the toaster, signaling the start of a new day.

    These are not just objects, they are reflections of life. They fill spaces with character.

    Lumion helps architects unveil their designs as lived-in spaces, capturing the deeply personal connection between a building, the people who inhabit it, and all the unique objects they bring with them.

    You can render more than a building. Render your client’s dream home, render a story about design that moves emotions, render the space where life happens.

    What’s new in Lumion 11.5

    The latest version of Lumion reinforces its ability to make spaces feel alive with the everyday activities that occur there. You can let your imagination loose and tell a story about a room, a building, or even the entire project, exactly as you see it in your mind’s eye.

    Lumion 11.5 Pro comes with 123 new objects* in the content library, making it easier to add a human, personal touch to your renders. You can find 73 new retro-inspired objects that reveal the unique identity of spaces, including:

    36 eye-catching kitchen objects, including blenders, refrigerators, toasters, mixers and more. 12 furnishings from another era, including café tables and chairs, a jukebox, a popcorn maker and more.
    11 timeless pieces of office furniture, including sofas, desks, chairs, table lamps and more. 14 other stylish items, including clocks, radios, a sewing machine, TVs and more.

    Additionally, you can express delight throughout your scene with 50 new 3D characters, including a diverse variety of children, teens and adults of different backgrounds and cultures.

    These cheerful non-animated characters are ideal for communicating context, scale and emotion in the background of your project, whether it’s a sunbather relaxing on the grass, a child looking up with wonder, or a couple enjoying a beautiful view together.

    There are infinite stories to tell about your design with the mix of new 3D characters and retro-inspired objects in Lumion 11.5. When combined with Lumion’s existing content library of over 6,300 assets* and over 1,250 materials*, you’ll find yourself on a smoothly paved road to rendering creativity, to bring your designs to life.

    Availability

    Lumion 11.5 is available from June 1st, 2021, as a free update for Lumion 11 and Lumion 11.3 users. Lumion 11 users can download the updated version on your Lumion Account.

    Have more questions?

    Contact us today info@solidcad.ca

    Civil 3D 2022 CIM Suite Tools Updates from CTC

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    We are excited to announce that our partner CTC Software released Civil 3D CIM Suites for version 2022. It is now live and can be found on the CTC website.

    The update can be downloaded from the about menus in the apps.

    For network licensing you will of course need new license files, which can be requested here: LicenseRequest@ctcsoftware.com.

    Standalone licensing has been updated already for current subscriptions.

    This release saw support updated to 2019-2022, a major new app for pipe networks, a completely rebuilt app for corridors, and many new features and fixes across the majority of the tools and both suites.

    Release notes for CIM suites 22.0.0:

    Version Date Suite Component Type Detail
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Pipe Planner First Release Load pipe networks in an in-app spreadsheet or export to external spreadsheets. Edit parameters and perform analyses in the spreadsheet then push changes back to the pipe network. Create customized manhole schedules, pipe depth reports, and detailed QTO.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Corridor Mapper New Features Completely rebuilt the legacy Corridor Mapper tool to a new app. Corridor Mapper version 2 allows for linking of subassemblies to styles and object names. Can also now select multiple subassemblies at once an assign targets to all of them. Subassemblies can now be mirrored to other subassemblies, so that when the source one changes all the dependent subassemblies update with it. A default surface can be assigned for surface targeting so that as new surface type subassemblies are added to the corridor their surface target will automatically assign. Users can filter out objects by type. Manual selection of targets has been added. A list of current targets is now available to view targets assign automatically and manually to a given subassembly.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Auto Grader Bug Fix Fixed an issue where loading certain grading family templates caused an error. Fixed an issue where parent features lines being added to a surface in template insertion family types were causing odd surface behavior. Fixed an issue where naming a child grading component “parent” would cause the app to crash. Fixed an issue with template grading families where deletion of template feature line and subsequent running of a family referencing that template would result in deletion of all child feature lines.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Auto Grader Enhancement Added support for partial station ranges to wrap around the end of closed parent feature lines. Added option to duplicate “split” points in parent features lines as PVIs in child feature lines. Added option in child feature line formatting when grading existing feature lines to “keep source” of existing feature lines. Added option in stations settings where users can specify the starting station to increment from, opposed to it always being 0+00.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Auto Grader New Feature Added new feature for template insertion grading families, where Distance at Slope and Distance to relative Elevation methods can have the template insertion elevation determined by adjacent feature lines, and not just the parent feature line. This allows for smarter placement of grading pads relative to surrounding lot elevations.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Pipe Designer Bug Fix Fixed an issue where using cancel to escape out of the app would not allow a network license to be returned.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Parts Tagger Bug Fix Fixed an issue where using cancel to escape out of the app would not allow a network license to be returned.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Data Wizard Bug Fix Fixed an issue where when object counts were zero the app would error when trying to create a table. Fixed an issue with embedded grids where scrolling didn’t work correctly.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Earthwork Processer Bug Fix Fixed an issue where surface styling defaults in Options would uncheck “match default” when rebuilding earthwork sets. Fixed misc. issues where app settings were not saving correctly for future sessions within the app. Fixed an issue where the app errored on incorrectly drawn polylines.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Earthwork Processer Enhancement Added option to multi-select region rows for mass editing.  Added zoom in drawing buttons for each region. Improved the region row visibility when earthwork sets are expanded. Improved messaging when illegal subgrade boundaries are utilized. Improved label placement to use largest area placement instead of centroid. User edits to labels will now not be overridden when earthwork sets are run, including label placement.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Earthwork Processer New Feature New supporting function to all creation of automatic offsets of user-created polylines or feature lines. Users can reference existing region objects by manual selection  or filtering and specify an offset distance to quickly create subgrade regions that do not overlap.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Label Genie Bug Fix Fixed an issue where auto-feature lines could not be selected in the drawing.  Fixed an issue where erroring occurred when trying to save a template. Fixed an issue where app errored when running line and curve labels.  Fixed an issue where the Required Object field for surface type labels was not reseting correctly. Fixed an issue where unfound label styles were causing the interface to glitch. Fixed an issue where child styles for some categories were not appearing in the style lists. Fixed an issue where manual text overrides performed prior to using label genie were being erased.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Label Genie Enhancement Improved user guide explanations for drawing source and label selection behavior.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Project Suite Parts Swapper Bug Fix Fixed an issue where using retain size option would not properly allow parts to swap if those parts were not found in the parts lists and/or had identical descriptions for multiple part sizes.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Manager Suite Layer Boss Enhancement Added legend in import results to better understand the different color coding of results. Added column header filters to excel export.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Manager Suite Layer Boss Bug Fix Fixed an issue where the layers export dialog box wasn’t stretching components correctly. Fixed an issuye where, when the user settings in the user appdata folder did not exist, the app would error out. Fixed an issue where french color spellings were not recognized when export to or syncing from Excel. Fixed an issue where the description column would sometimes be empty when exporting to Excel. Adjust button order on import function to be more industry standard.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Manager Suite Layer Boss New Feature Add a new column to the excel export titled “New Name”. This will allow users to change layer names in excel, then upon syncing back to the dwg, the layer name will change, but all references to that layer will stay intact.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Manager Suite Linetype Manager Bug Fix Fixed an issue where certain .shx files could not be read.  Fixed an issue where some linetypes would not import. Added support for include periods (.) in the linetype name.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Manager Suite Survey Template Manager Bug Fix Fixed an issue where block references in point styles were not updated when exporting to Excel. Fixed an issue where multiple description key sets were appearing in the app, but did not exist in the drawing.
    22.0.0 6/24/2021 CIM Manager Suite Template Tracker Bug Fix Fixed many issues where certain mleaders, layers, text styles and dimension style references were not found in the drawing. Fixed an issue where sorting by layer in layer editing dialog box caused an error. Fixed an issue where certain drawings would cause a looping error when opening Template Tracker. Added support for Pressure Network related references can now be tracked (2022 version only).