AU 2009 Day 3 Part 2

While I have been a fan of his blog for awhile, I didn’t expect the sheer amount of personality that David Butts posses (as was evidenced by his Gold 2010 shaped glasses, his Mardi Gras bead prizes for audience participation.)

In his class MP314-1 Revit MEP Powerful tips and tricks is a must watch for anyone in the beginning to intermediate stages of using Revit MEP.  When this is posted online be sure to watch and download the accompanying material.

Bonus: He usually posts a Kick @SS MEP Systems Project template to the class site that will go a long way towards helping you create an office standard template.

Also, check out his new instructional books for Revit MEP Basic and Advanced

AU's a comin'....

I'm a goin'. Are you? I hope so.

Although attendance is projected to be down considerably from last year, it looks to shaping up to a great event.

This will be my first time attending, and I am open invitations to share an adult beverage of choice and shoot the .... Revit.

And contrary to popular belief, I'm pretty sure when it's your first time that the rounds not on YOU, but on everyone else. But, I've been wrong before. ;)

New Sustainable (Green) Design Forum at AUGI

AUGI has launched a new forum. It's tag line is:

Discuss this emerging focus on Design with the environment in mind.

Paperspace, Layouts, and Viewports... Oh my!

Since paperspace was added to AutoCAD (in R12) users have been trying to wrap their minds around the concept. Long time users were of the opinion that they didn't need it and wouldn't use it (there seems to be a direct correlation between how long you've been using a product and how willing you are to accept new features.) Well paperspace is obviously here to stay. However, it still confuses its fair share of users. While brushing up on my AutoCAD skills through the AUGI Training Program I came across this explanation of the concept in the courseware for a class titled; AutoCAD 103-From Surviving to Excelling at AutoCAD (by Kenneth Leary):

"Paperspace can be explained like this. Imagine you have a blank wall, not a spectacular view is it? You would love to see your new Hybrid car outside so you cut a window in the wall. Now you can see the car, but you can’t see all of it. Cutting a bigger window would work but it’s a lot of effort so you go outside and back the car further away from the window. Now you can see the all of the car and all is good and right with the universe."

I want to take this opportunity to thank the folks who volunteer there time with AUGI. Whether it's moderating their forums or putting together courseware they are an invaluable resource for those of us using Autodesk Software on a daily basis. Thank you AUGI, Thank You.

Is this BIM? Ah, who cares.

(BTW, I have even resorted to cutting a hole in a piece of paper and placing it over a drawing to demonstrate paperspace. It explained panning in the viewport, but even this "visual aid" couldn't explain zooming.)