IES VE Updates available for Revit 2011 Products

IES has released their version of the Revit Plug-in for VE. Here's the notification:

Offering performance analysis and BIM within the same platform, the IES VE plug-in to Autodesk Revit Architecture and MEP offers powerful functionality for sustainable building design.


We’re pleased to announce we’ve got a fresh new version of the plug-in for you! Revit 2011 users can now easily export models into any of our Virtual Environment (VE) environmental building performance analysis tools and undertake sustainable performance analysis. This new plug-in now supports Revit 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

What does the plug-in offer?

The great thing about the plug-in is you don’t need to rebuild any models – a clever interface takes you through the ‘Setting Model Properties’ process step-by-step. All you need to have is basic information on building type, construction materials, and heating and cooling system types, at either the whole building or room level depending on what stage you are at in the design process.

Once you’ve set up your model you can access our performance analysis products by clicking the relevant button. Each product offers different levels of functionality; so whether you are an architect or an engineer, want top-level information or want to explore in much more detail, there is a solution for you.

Get your free copy of the plug-in today!

Simply visit http://www.iesve.com/Software/Model-Building/Revit-plug-in and click on ‘Download plug in’ to obtain your free copy.

For existing Virtual Environment VE Pro 6.0 users, download and install the hotfix 6.06 - this will update your version 6 software to support the 2011 products, as well as add some new features and improvements. Here's the link:
 
http://www.iesve.com/Support/Download-Centre/?aType=103&aSType=328
 
Go get 'em - the best analysis tool on the market is now even better.
 
Have a great weekend!
 
David B.

Bummer...gotta take a cool stuff back - Surface Connectors are for Conduits!

Put in my "cool new stuff" post a while back for Revit MEP 2011 that pipe and duct can also be placed with a surface connector, similar to conduit...but I was WRONG...thus the bummer. When creating the conduit connector, look at the options bar, and you can pick between individual and surface connector...hey, this should be on the wish list...but I'm not complaining too much, just glad to have the conduit and cable tray.

BIM on, guys...

David B.

Quick - can you tell me where this photo was taken - and when?

This is for the old school crowd - I took the picture, so I know the details, but am curious to see who else recognizes it...

New BLOG - Family Jewels - Creating Quality BIM Content

Got Greg Arkin's daily blog update today, which included a link to a new blog, that includes some great authors, including Scott Brisk, Martin Schmidt and William Spier, among others - the first article I read was on creating BIM content, and hits the nail on the head - so I'm adding the link to my site as well.

Nicely done - here's the link:

http://familyjewels.typepad.com/blog/2010/04/the-watershed-event-that-birthed-the-family-jewels-blog-site.html

Thanks for the heads up, Greg - have a great day!

David B.

Revit MEP 2011 Duct Routing Behavior - Undocumented Feature #1...

While working on exercises for the 2011 release of our fundamentals book, I ran across a neat little behavior...not sure if it was in 2010, but it's cool just the same.

Run an oval duct main out at an elevation, 16x12 is size, at about 12'. Leave the end hanging out in space. Run the air terminal command, and place the air terminal over the main - without selecting, watch for a duct centerline to be highlighted and an extension snap to appear (make sure you have this snap on). With the new properties dialog on, set the elevation for the air terminal at 8', and then place the terminal directly under the duct using the extension snap.

The branch to the air terminal will automatically connect into the main, complete with tap or take-off as specified by the main duct type. Try it out - it's really a time saver...and we'll have pictures of it in the book. This one may even make it to video...!!!!

Later - David B.

Slow Performance in ACAD MEP 2010 and 2011

After loading ACAD MEP 2011 on my new Win7 64 bit system, I noticed performance in ACAD MEP 2010 really slowed down dramatically. After checking a few posts, I ran a repair on my 2010 installation, which has fixed the problem. Other solutions beyond this (with reference to comments from Martin Schmid on the discussion groups) include recreating the user profile in Windows, if the repair doesn't improve it dramatically.

One other item I strongly recommend has to do with file maintenance. We've had a few firms experience problems with files that have xref's loaded, as well as issues when a server is swapped out. Anytime there's a new release, do one of these two things to improve performance

- open, audit and save all drawings on a project starting from base files (constructs if you're using Project Navigator) all the way up to your sheets. This helps make sure you don't have an older version base causing problems in an upper level view or sheet - which has happened regularly over the years). DWG convert only changes the release number, so I don't recommend using it - spend the time and do this right to avoid the issues later.

- if the file is still slow, start a new drawing from one of the out-of-the-box templates (you should update your templates with every release as well, by using one of these templates to create a new template, and copy your styles/layers, etc to this new template). Cut and paste all of the geometry from the old into the new drawing, and re-attach reference files from scratch. This full-service cleanup should help dramatically with file specific performance issues. And remember - work from the bottom up - from bases to sheets.

Here's a link to the thread on the MEP discussion groups -

http://discussion.autodesk.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=6373139?

thanks - David B.