• Matterport – Accelerating the AEC Industry

    Posted on by Diana Gonzalez

    Register for Space Jam, the Matterport event series that showcases how our partners enhance Matterport offering and provide your customers with immersive experiences

    Blog Source: Matterport

    Architects, engineers, and construction professionals are quickly discovering the power of Matterport digital twins through every stage of their project cycles. Capturing and leveraging a digital twin ensures a solid project foundation, and as professionals across the AEC industry understand, a strong foundation is vital to the success of each and every project.

    With that strong foundation, Matterport has continued to grow and evolve while staying laser (level) focused on the needs of end-users. We recently released a Notes feature, which is especially useful when several stakeholders, from a team of architects to a GC, are looking to make project updates or callouts. Notes supports a high level of collaboration across teams and projects, but is just the start. While Matterport supports notes, measurements, and even a scan-to-BIM file add-on for users, Platform Partners have taken digital twins to the next level.

    Explore the offerings below and join us on February 24 for Space Jam, the Matterport Platform Partner Demo event.  Learn how Partners can transform the way you work. Bring your questions because Partners will demo their products and stick around for live Q&A. Come ready to vote on your favorite presentation!

    Do you need to censor something in your Matterport Tour, say a family photo, signage, license plates? Inside your Matterport Account, in the Edit Mode of a Showcase model, is the Blur Brush.

    The Blur Brush is brand new and we couldn’t be more excited to show it off. Many of you have been patiently waiting for this tool to help boost privacy and control over what to hide in your Matterport spaces. This, however, is only the beginning. What Amir covers in this video is only version 1.0 of the Blur Brush. As the tool develops, we’ll be adding new videos and linking to them from here.

    Register here: https://my.matterport.com/settings/account/manage

     

    e-Building

    Beyond powerful tools, e-Building allows users to manage all their BIM models on a single platform and connect them to Matterport models. Upload Revit, SketchUp, Autocad and Inventor files as well as .IFC, .Stp files, point clouds and more. View, section, examine, share and associate files with a tag of the Matterport model and display them in the e-Building DataBox.

    AEC 1

     

    Use this solution for:

    • Tag management
    • Smart document management
    • Model extension
    • BIM Model management

    Register here.

     

    Nspect takes 3D data and creates layers on top that show what your team needs to see. This could be an inspection report, a quality control review, safety inspection, or a work plan for a site on how to repair and maintain a property. With their API, you can take this 3D data and place it in the tools you use every day, or keep it with them and have complete, instant access to the issues that your teams need to address.

     

    AEC 2

    Use this solution for:

    • Virtual site inspection
    • Maintain safety requirements

    Link to site: https://nspect.net/

    Register here.

     

    RemSense

    RemSense has developed an industrial software package that uses Matterport as the image fabric that is overlaid with layers of information from client management systems. RemSense combines, adapts, modifies and implements existing and new technology to deliver solutions that solve complex engineering challenges.

     

     

    Use this solution for:

    • Building your industrial metaverse
    • Asset Augmented reality
    • Asset management system visual navigation
    • Virtual asset identification and audit

    Read the Partner Story 

    Register here.

     

    SIMLAB

    STAGES by SIMLAB is a tool used by all stakeholders to view, monitor, and compare building progress over time. Their goal is to create a living timeline of changes allowing users to view, collaborate, and solve issues throughout the full lifecycle of the property.

     

    Use this solution to:

    • Identify issues and collaborate on solutions
    • Draw sketches in a 3D space
    • Add notes to a project, including written, voice notes, video or files

    Read the Partner Story

    Register here.

     

    Maybe you are new to Matterport, a long-time user, or find yourself someplace in between, no matter the case, we have partner offerings that will extend the value you provide to each and every project under your management.  Matterport Platform Partners will help drive your business toward the next level of innovation. Join us on February 24, 2022 for Space Jam, where you will gain access to the solutions that will provide your customers and teams with transformative tools. Bring an open mind, and your questions, plus vote on your favorite presentation during this Matterport Partner AEC focused demo event.

    REGISTER HERE!

     

     

     

    Civil 3D: Edit a DREFd Object with No Source

    Posted on by Diana Gonzalez

    Civil 3D: Edit a DREFd Object with No Source

    You have a drawing containing an alignment that was data referenced. The source drawing cannot be found, and you need to edit that alignment. How to do this? Read on.
    Here you see the broken reference. The alignment can’t be edited or promoted.

    Follow these steps:

    1. Export the alignment to a LandXML file.
    2. Start a new drawing and import that LandXML file.
    3. Create a Data Shortcut to that alignment in the new drawing.
    4. Open the original file and replace the existing alignment with the new Data shortcut. There is no more broken reference; the alignment source is now the newly saved drawing.

    5. Open the new drawing and make your edits there as you normally would, remembering to synchronize the DREFs.

    Enjoy!

     

    Environmental Acoustics Inc.

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva
    Success Stories

    Environmental Acoustics Inc.

    Located in Mississauga, Ontario, Environmental Acoustics Inc is an exclusive distributor of the LogiSon® Acoustic Network. This networked sound masking, paging, and music system is recognized as an industry leader that’s installed in hundreds of millions of square feet worldwide and earned numerous awards for innovation, performance, and ease of use.  Environmental Acoustics Inc. prides themselves in designing and installing “sound masking” systems that provide acoustic comfort and higher levels of speech privacy within the office, medical, and hotel environments.

    Automating AutoCAD’s design process with SolidCAD’s built-in plugin

    The Challenge

    Whenever Environmental Acoustics (EA) begins a new installation, they start their project by studying the building layout drawn as an AutoCAD file. Their experts identify required components (e.g., speakers, power supplies, etc.) and insert them as AutoCAD blocks. The EA experts use AutoCAD’s lines and arcs to model wires and connect them to the component blocks. However, because AutoCAD has no relation between components and wires, EA faced many challenges in having a clear and standard way to properly mark their AutoCAD files.

    Often, many of their experts worked on different installations at once, and each drawing would contain incorrect components or redundant wires that were once attached to a component that was either moved or deleted. This often resulted in a final AutoCAD drawing that contained various design errors.

    With a growing increase of errors, this also complicated the company from creating Bill of Materials (BOMs) since there was no standard way to quantify the wires used in any of their projects.

    The Solution

    After identifying the issue, EA turned to SolidCAD in need of a solution that would streamline their process and limit the number of errors and rework their design files. SolidCAD’s programming team developed an AutoCAD plugin that can be added to any AutoCAD version between 2018-2022. The plugin was built to show a list of available components which can be dragged and dropped into the AutoCAD file. The plugin also added a new command which allows users to select two components to wire them. Behind the scenes, the plugin uses the standard AutoCAD entities such as blocks, lines, and arcs which flatten the learning curve. This allowed users to only select from standard design options when adding components onto a drawing, which always ensured that every user followed the same design expectations for all their projects. In addition, the plugin was also designed intuitively that whenever a component was removed, it would automatically delete any incoming and outgoing wires attached.

    To help solve the issues of generating BOMs, SolidCAD ensured that the plugin automatically generated BOMs for components and wires that could easily be exported into Excel which would automatically contain any cost information related to the materials used in the installation.

    The Results

    After undergoing the process of assessing current procedures performed by EA, SolidCAD was able to help EA to:

      • Generating BOMs from 30 minutes into milliseconds
      • Standardized design files with the built-in component blocks while still allowing admin to add/edit/delete components as necessary.

    Testimonial

    SolidCAD’s development team delivered an AutoCAD plugin that not only improves our design process and eliminates errors, but also showed their commitment to delivering high-quality automation services.

    - Stan Klas,
    President at Environmental Acoustics Inc.

    Products & Services Used

    • Programming
      • AutoCAD
      • .NET framework to create AutoCAD plugin
      • C# to write the plugin
      • XAML to create UI

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    Autodesk Docs: Public File Sharing Links

    Posted on by Diana Gonzalez

    Autodesk Docs: Public File Sharing Links

    Do you use Autodesk Docs?  Would you like to create a link for an external customer to download a file?  Does this customer NOT use Autodesk Docs?  If so, read on.

    Public link creation in Autodesk Docs is off by default.  This means that your recipient must own Autodesk Docs and be logged in to view or download a file you have shared.  You’re presented with this option when sharing a file or folder by default.  Note the disabled public link option (Anyone with this link).

    To enable public links, go to Doc and Files.  Then click on Settings.

            

    Once enabled, here is how the sharing form appears.  The public link option is enabled, and the link can be copied and sent to anyone.

    Enjoy!

    Civil 3D: Sharing Assemblies

    Posted on by Diana Gonzalez

    Civil 3D: Sharing Assemblies

    So, you’re the technical team lead for your Civil Engineering firm, and you need to share amongst your team some Civil 3D Assemblies.
    You know how to create an AutoCAD tool palette, and you know that this is the best place to share assemblies – but you’ve tried, and it’s not working.

    If you’d like to learn how this is done read on.
    Palettes can be exported and then imported onto users’ machines, but when an assembly is edited, the creator must export again and then all the users must again import. This is not efficient.

    The Hard Way

    The method that Civil 3D uses to store assemblies on a palette works well, but to set it up is a bit of a bear.  Open this document to see the full details.  Here is a summary:

    • When an assembly is dragged to a tool palette a new DWG is created on your system. For my system this is:
      C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\C3D 2022\enu\Assemblies\Metric
    • You can create a tool palette with custom assemblies, sure, but you need to make these drawings available to your users. Usually, this means copying them to a network shared folder.
    • Even when you make them available, the DWG path must be defined in an ATC file that defines the palette, This is XML programming language and it can be difficult to find and disastrous if an error is made.

    The Easy Way

    I won’t say this is “The Best” method, but I believe it to be the easiest, quickest, and most foolproof method; and it’s the one I choose to use at this time.

    I won’t go into detail about how to perform each of these steps; it is assumed you know the technique. The short answer is that each assembly will reside in its own DWG file and that file will be stored in the shared network folder. That file will be a block in the tool palette.

    Open a drawing that conforms to your Civil 3D standards. Possibly one that already contains your desired assembly. 

    1. If the assembly has yet to be created, create it. 
    2. Ensure it is on the desired layer. Assign the desired code set style to it. Move it from its insertion point to 0,0. If this last step is skipped, the assembly will not be inserted properly later.

     

    3. Save the drawing to your shared network folder.

           

    4. WBLOCK and select the assembly and subassemblies together.  Ensure the insertion coordinates are 0,0,0 and provide the file name.  Click OK to create the drawing.

     

         

     

    5. Create a new tool palette or set current the destination palette for your new assemblies.  Drag the newly created drawing into the palette.

    6. To use the new assembly, drag it from the palette into a new drawing.  This will be a block, however.  It will need to be exploded once.

    7. You may suggest turning on the Explode option in the tool to avoid the explode step.  Indeed, I thought of that as well.  Problem is, this is what you get!

         

     

    That’s it.  Once the assemblies have been created, it takes about 45 seconds per assembly to add to the palette.  If edits are required, simply open the appropriate DWG, make the edits, and save.

     

     

     

    What’s New in Plant 3D 2022

    Posted on by admin

    One of the strengths of AutoCAD Plant 3D is its customizability. For example, it allows users to build custom P&ID symbols and tags to suit their project needs. Whenever I conduct Plant 3D training, I’m always asked if there is a way to copy custom symbols from one project to another. Unfortunately, my answer was always no. That is, until this new feature of AutoCAD Plant 3D 2022.

    Say hello to Project Compare. Project Compare allows you to see differences from 2 projects and lets you sync data from one to the other.

    In this example I am comparing a SEED project with a DEMO project. The SEED project contains the custom P&ID symbol. As you can see, the tool compares more than just P&ID objects.

    I’ve selected the P&ID category and applied the synchronization settings. The preview will provide a list of what items will be synchronized. After reviewing the information and a few clicks I can now bring in the custom symbol into my DEMO project.

    After the synchronization process, the DEMO project is now updated with the custom symbol from the SEED project and is ready for use.

    This new feature is time saving. There is no longer the requirement of rebuilding the symbol for new or existing projects. You can just compare and synchronize.

    If you would like more information on this process, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

    3D-P

    Posted on by admin
    Success Stories

    3D-P

    3D-P consists of a team of mining and positioning technology experts. It was created to bring innovative thinking and new technologies to the mining industry. They have since evolved to bring this approach to several outdoor industrial environments around the world. They continue to work hard to understand the unique environments their clients are working in and the unique needs their operations have.

    Streamlining workflows and improving data management with Fusion 360 Manage!

    The Challenge

    After investigation of their issues, 3D-P identified two specific areas they wanted to improve; (1) the inefficient design management that relied heavily on manual data entry, and outdated practices for managing their Bill of Materials (BOMs) and (2) challenges of change management and communication. As the company grew, they realized that a lot of their processes were slowing them down and needed to be optimized.

    Particularly, they were able to identify their need for a redefined workflow and sought out a PLM strategy that would help them better share and collaborate their BOMs with other departments from design to manufacturing and improve the way they managed their regulatory documents. They wanted to have the ability to quickly identify documents that were related to a specific component in their products, rather than manually digging up information.

    Their goal was to have a centralized system that would help them identify changes and communicate them effectively with other parties involved. After diligently investigating six different platforms, they reached out to the SolidCAD team to help them on their journey to success.

    The Solution

    Partnering with SolidCAD’s Enterprise Team, 3D-P decided to proceed with an implementation of Autodesk’s Fusion 360 Manage.  The solution enabled them to achieve efficiency and control of their BOM’s, documentation and change control processes. Working with SolidCAD gave them access to the expertise needed, ensuring the solution would be designed to achieve their goals.

    The BOM management feature in Fusion 360 Manage helped 3D-P to have more structured process when they create, modify, and manage both their electrical and mechanical BOMs. Since Autodesk PLM solution is in the cloud, 3D-P’s manufacturing team always had access to the latest information. The company was able keep track of their changes and more importantly identify the business areas that required improvements. Since the change and BOM environments in PLM are connected, 3D-P was able to take advantage of the revision control and easily keep track of their product changes.

    As an added bonus, team members within their engineering department were already familiar with Autodesk products and adapted to the implementation of their new software with a shortened learning curve.

    The Results
    • Fusion 360 Manage is now their single source of truth. While they previously spent a lot of time consulting various departments and team members to verify data, the information is now in one central location, easily managed by their engineering manager.
    • Their change management is now more ergonomic and practical. Team members are notified of any changes or updates, ensuring everyone is working with the latest data.
    • It now takes their team a third of the time to manage BOMs.
    • Overall, they save 7-10 hours of rework that would often be due to human error in their design and engineering data.

    Testimonial

    One of our core values as a company is that relationships matter. We’re all about building relationships with our customers and working to enable their success. The tool on its own is one thing but in order to be successful, you want someone who can be a good partner and that’s what SolidCAD has been from the beginning. You want a partner that understands the importance of that relationship and is willing to work with you. That’s the key to success.

    – Billy Muma,
    Engineering Manager at 3D-P

    Products & Services Used

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    How Framing Contractors Can Best Use Bluebeam Revu

    Posted on by Rikki Kenzhebayeva

    This story was originally published by TROY DEGROOT on the Bluebeam Blog.

    In my last article, we covered the features in Bluebeam Revu that all concrete subcontractors should know. I started the piece saying I’m a firm believer that every specialty contractor could benefit from implementing Revu. To continue with this series, I want to highlight the next subcontractor on site, the framing contractor.

    Let’s look again at some creative ways Bluebeam Revu is being used in the industry.

    It’s the framing contractor’s turn to show off and again prove my theory that every specialty contractor could benefit from implementing Revu in their everyday workflows.

    Whether you’re timber framing single-family homes, multi-family residential or steel stud commercial tenant improvement, this article applies to you. If you’re interested in seeing the more technical side of these workflows in action, check out my article.

    Material Takeoffs: With the complexities of wood framing, estimating would be difficult without some degree of guesswork. Not only do we have different nominal lumber for different wall thicknesses, but we also have different products like glulam, LVL, timbers, Versa, BCI rafters and I-joists with different series, as well as CDX plywood and OSB. With all of those comes a library of sizes, shapes and thicknesses.

    Do we base on averages for square footage or measure the linear footage of walls? If our material takeoffs are too low, the project is on hold waiting for supply shortages. If it’s too high, we have an owner assuming you’re hauling the lumber they paid for to the next job. Also, when material arrives, how do I know what goes where?

    With the flexibility of Revu, we can build custom tools with formulas embedded to not only get the length of material needed for the facia board, but that same markup could calculate the sub-facia and number of outlookers as well.

    Starting with the end in mind, takeoff tools can be built to calculate several materials at the same time, like an assembly. This allows a chance to embed industry know-how and ensure materials aren’t overlooked. Obviously, you can imagine this method easily translates into the pre-construction of wall panels or modularized construction by applying mark numbers to the panel assemblies.

    Civil 3D Styles: Object Naming Defaults

    Posted on by Diana Gonzalez

    Civil 3D Styles: Object Naming Defaults

    So, you’re in charge of your company’s Civil 3D standards and drawing template and you’re annoyed when users don’t use the documented naming convention.  Read on to find out more.

    Users will typically do what’s easiest, especially when the heat is on from an impending deadline.  They don’t always take the time to find the standards manual and read the proper section when they’re not sure if they’re doing the right thing.

    When Civil 3D objects are created, they all need names.  We’ve all seen Alignment(12) and Surface(235).  These are terrible names!  Road A and Existing Ground would be better, respectively.  While it’s great to have a documented standard, why not have something in the users’ faces, Just-In-Time, when they are creating the objects?

    Here is the out of the box naming scheme for surfaces.  Surface<[Next Counter(CP)]>, where Next Counter would be 1, 2, 3, etc.

    The default for this can be changed in the Settings tab.

            

    Why not set up the default with a hint to the desired name(s)?  in this case, the user would use one of two conventions.

    • EG
    • FG Road A Corridor

    This same technique can be used for every Civil 3D object as they all have settings for default names.  I’ll let you decide on what a good default would be, but it will help your users more easily conform to your standard.  Just sayin’.

    As a bonus tip, consider creating these objects in your template with their names already defined.  When a user starts a new file using that template, the objects will already be there available to be edited and already named with pertinent descriptions.  This technique may not work for everything, but it certainly works for quite a few.

     

    Meridian Tips – How to Easily Add Redlines and Comments

    Posted on by admin

    Today in our Meridian Tips video blog, we want to show you how easy it is to collaborate with other user’s in the Meridian EDM solution. If you have ever wanted to add comments or markups on technical documents within an EDMS tool, Meridian is your solution. 

    If your business is interested in unlocking the power of a dedicated EDMS, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the SolidCAD Meridian team.