Revit 2012 – New Features

Hey, guess what? A post (or rather a link to a post) that has nothing to do with anything that’s not about Revit.

David Light did a bang up job here documenting the new features coming to a workstation near you with Revit 2012.

Sucker Punch

Get out of the office early and go see Sucker Punch today. It’s an original screenplay by Zack Snyder (IMDB link here), the same director behind such hits as 300, Watchman and presently tasked with directing Superman: Man of Steel.

Tell your boss you’re doing it for research because 1) You need to be inspired and 2) Revit was used to design the sets and you’re tired of hearing people of less experience and force of will tell you what “Revit can’t do”. 😉

Here’s a detail of a rail car that’s had it’s roof blown off. According to Bryan (IMDB link here) this was accomplished via Revit’s phasing capability.

Pretty. Damn. Cool.

Many of the sets in Sucker Punch were designed in Revit. James, Eddy and I were incredibly fortunate to (once again) discuss with Bryan Sutton the many unique processes he used to design Sucker Punch and Tron II for this year’s Mastering Revit 2012 book.

The amazing images of those projects will go a long way to convince people of the power of using Revit as a design through production tool. And if the pictures don’t convince a doubting someone to implement Revit and you’re done with trying to rationally appeal to their sense of intellect, keep in mind the book weighs around 5 pounds. You could just hit them in the head with it, thus appealing to their sense of fear.

If you’re in Australia for RTC 2011 I’ll be going into some detail about how Revit was used on both projects (and more) during the session on Revit for Film and Stage. So please consider signing up for the class if you’re attending. Last year’s session on film and stage at RTC 2010 and the subsequent showing of the Watchman film resulted in one of the most uniquely themed awards I’ve ever witnessed.

Let’s just say you had to be there. 🙂

Announcing…..Stuff

So, it seems whenever we (as a blog) do announcements we seem to always show the three of us, James, Phil, Eddy, in some fashion that’s not who we really are but somehow embodies the concepts of who we might be. So, as the heading states, I have some stuff to announce and to do that, I was looking for some imagery of the conceptual version of ‘us’.

I found this one – the Three Musketeers. Not so much for the obvious references but the un-obvious references. Two specifically. First off – well there’s really 4 of them in this photo (Willem, that can be you on the right). And mainly because one of them is Charlie Sheen who at times can act like one of the key authors of this blog.

Hint: it’s not me.

Then I came across this: Three’s Company. You can figure out yourself who I was picturing as a a character for each of us. (Hint: James used to be blonde and Phil still wears a gold chain).

With that done, Autodesk yesterday announced the release of Revit 2012. You all knew it was coming, but now it’s officially out there. It’s got some great new features that I’m personally very excited about – but haven’t been able to discuss until today. The worksharing features alone will be well worth the pain of the upgrade. With that messy 2010 a thing of the past, they’ve been pulling out the stops to make some really great changes.

With the new release of the software comes the announcement of the new books. We’ve revised Mastering Revit Architecture for the 2012 release in all of it’s 1157 pages. We’ve got some great new content in there as well addressing conceptual modeling and analysis, some of the new tools like assemblies and parts. We’ve also received some excellent contributions this year. Don Rudder has updated the Revit API work from last year, we have some new stuff on Revit in the classroom, Revit for Film and Stage now features work from the new Tron movie and Kelly Cone contributed some work on some very high level parametrics. All great stuff. You can find it here (with the new cover art) on Amazon and here on Barnes and Noble. One of the best things we got for this book was a great foreword by none other than Anthony Hauck – the Product Design Manger for Revit itself.

We’re also introducing a new book called Revit Architecture Essentials 2012. Full color, 400 pages, 3-4 days of all the core ingredients you need to know to learn Revit and be a functioning team player. This is not for Revit Masters, but for Revit Beginners. Check out our ‘final’ cover (after much cajoling).

Anyway, we’ve worked very hard on all 1544 pages and we’re oh so happy that the books will be hitting bookshelves in a matter of a few short weeks. Thanks to all for your contributions and support. And thanks to Mr. Roper for unclogging the drain.

Unfrigginbelieveable!!!

I think I’m gonna send Lynn Allen a t-shirt and CD to celebrate!

It’s official! The punk rock band the FLAT TIRES and their album “Freeborn” that I had the honor of producing last fall has been put into rotation on Pandora! Here’s a link to their station for your listening pleasure 🙂 Headphones apply. NSFW.

Jeezzus I love working for start ups! And these four guys from Hickory, NC are definitely some diamonds in the rough. Since last fall the crowds are getting larger, louder and in most cases drunker. Long story short – word is getting out. These guys are a hellfirehonkeypunkrocknroll force to be reckoned with. You know that bar from the Blues Brothers where the band had to play behind chicken wire? That’s nothing…last week at their show in Cleveland they played behind a chain link fence. I guess the show went pretty well since they left the door open.

I can’t imagine how hard it would would have been just a few years ago for a band to get noticed. The process of booking shows, get radio airplay, trying to get your music stocked at a traditional retailer (where people could actually find it) would have been an incredibly manual, time consuming process. Yet in a few years, what would have taken weeks (or months) now takes moments, and other efforts have become altogether obsolete.

So what’s next? More mid-west shows are coming up fast over the next few weeks. First, they’ll be heading up to Pittsburgh, PA on Saturday, the 2nd of April courtesy of the 31st Street Pub.

The following Friday night they’ll be in Hammond, Indiana courtesy of the 5th Amendment (formerly Eli’s Pub). So if you’re in the Chicago area (ahem…Mark Schmeding…cough 😉 leave work a bit early and get outta town. The show is being put together by an incredibly talented local tattoo artist that also created the poster for the show.

For Saturday the 9th, the band will head west to Fort Wayne, Indiana to play at the Brass Rail. Then back to North Carolina on Sunday. Back to work Monday morning.

And if you happen to see Lynn Allen rocking out and wearing a Flat Tires t-shirt, don’t even begin to think you can face her in a mosh pit. She’s tougher than you ever know. 🙂

RTC North America – LIVE!

Good news everyone! Registration is now open for the Revit Technology Conference being held this spring in Huntington Beach, California from Thursday, June 23th till Saturday, June 25th.

http://www.revitconference.com.au/rtc2011us/index.htm

Why will you attend? Because time is money!
1. RTC is keenley focused on BIM and the ecosystem that is BIM.
2. RTC is held less than 8 weeks after new software launches (based on historic release cycles)!

We’re not competing with AU! Heck – even Autodesk CEO Carl Bass will be attending. He’s the keynote speaker!So where does RTC fit within the AU / BIM / Autodesk Universe?

On one hand – AU is a much larger conference that is rightfully focused on the business of Autodesk. This is really great, because Autodesk has a lot of stuff to show it’s customers and only a week to do it.

On the other hand – RTC is keenly focused on the ecosystem of BIM and highly complimentary to Autodesk’s BIM focus customers. But more importantly, RTC is nimble enough to be held on the heels of new software releases (not 8 months later).

This is why RTC is strategically focused for those of us that have to constantly manage teams and technology, as well as the business side of client and project management. We’re the ones that are staying up late at night seeking out the best practices, tips and techniques to keep our teams and businesses up and running as smoothly as possible! And we don’t have 8 months to find out the latest and greatest information that is essential to our business!

So select the link above and get started to:

Check out the incredibly well-rounded schedule!

Check out the awesome venue!

Check out the high caliber speakers!

And no…your eyes don’t deceive you. That’s right…we’ve got Steve Shell!!!

Carl Bass and Steve Shell?! In the same room?! In the same universe?! Areyoufrigginkiddingme!?

So get signed up – stay connected!

LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

See you at RTC 2011!

Ecosystems vs Technologies

Technology graveyards are littered with amazing stuff that didn’t survive because of two really important dynamics:1. Time to market: By the time your well-intentioned and nearly comparable product arrives – the other guy has already created a well-established paradigm. In the process they’ve captured important first to market mindshare. Your hopefully competitive technology will constantly be compared to the first to market and established paradigm. And if your solution is not overwhelmingly and compellingly better – it’ll be viewed as mediocre and fail.

The first iPod wasn’t a technology breakthrough. It was basically a 5gb(!) hard-drive and lightweight OS. The screen was crap. But it captured people’s imagination and the learning curve was really, really shallow. But most importantly, it was 2001. By the time MFST brought the Zune to market it was just over 5 years later. By this time the market had already had bought into the “carry a bunch of songs in your pocket” paradigm with other products – and Apple customers were overall pretty satisfied.

So why would a customer “upgrade” to a comparable technology with no compelling event? They won’t. So what compelling event moved people away from the iPod? Less than a year later the iPhone launched (2007). So while MSFT was making this thing to carry a much of stuff in your pocket, AAPL let you carry the internet in your pocket. The iPhone was a compelling event, indicating that Apple is about the only company that can make Apple’s technology obsolete.

Note: Making another company’s technology obsolete is an incredibly hard, uphill battle. But having the leadership force-of-will to make your own technology obsolete? This is incredibly rare. Microsoft had great technology, but Apple had great vision.

Lesson: Don’t wait till your technology is perfected. Get it to market before it’s ready. Then push your team to rapidly release updates and improvements ahead of expectations. Before a color screen. Before copy/paste.

2. Lack of ecosystem: Does your new technology do something really cool? BFD. Your great technology will fail in the market if your competition has incredibly well-honed, integrated and elegant distribution because their sum is greater than your parts. Zune Marketplace? Well, sure – as you would expect, there’s stuff to buy, watch or listen to on your Zune from an online store.

ZZZzzzz…It’s not enough to evolve new models of delivery around old models of content. You have to create revolutionary models of delivery around new models of content. Microsoft was doing the first and Apple was doing the second.

By 2006, Microsoft was trying to create ecosystems around existing media ecosystems: TV, Music, etc. But Apple had already well-established distribution around some amazing and compelling content: podcasts (along with the old stuff). So while MFST was making something old to do something old, APPL was humming along creating something new to do something new.

All of the conventional content that could be brought to you by MSFT wasn’t nearly as interesting as an episode of TikiBarTV (here’s the very first episode from 2005). When Tiki Bar TV first started out, it had really pretty poor production and sounded like the mic was in the corner of the room at the bottom of a metal trashcan. But it was damn funny. And it had Lala.

Microsoft Zune + Regularly Scheduled Programming vs. iPod + Lala? No contest.

Lessson: Don’t be satisfied to do an old thing a new way. Rather than fight over existing marketshare, create new markets and force others to compete on your terms.

So that’s your lesson for today: if you build a better mousetrap the world won’t beat a path to your door. You have to capture mind-share and create new modes of distribution for your new idea.

What happens to the mouse once it’s caught? Can I share mouse-catching ideas with other mouse catchers? Who would I rather watch dance in a mouse suit? Steve Balmer or Lala?

No contest.

Friday Reprieve #32

Wow! What a ride! Writing two books at the same time + the 10 hr day job + family leaves very little time for fun. or beer. Thankfully we’re at the stage in the books now where we’re finishing up some final reviews, and getting ready to print. It’s very exciting – Mastering Revit 2011 was translated in India, Germany, and the UK (they use weird words like ‘lift’ and ‘torch’ and the beer is warm). The Revit Essentials book will soon be translated into Portuguese for sale in Brazil. Do you know what that means? It means that somehow Phil will be able to mold young minds in several countries. Hide your kids.

This also means we’re working feverishly on book covers. We received some great content through the blog and we’re sorting through some cover options with the publisher. You might have seen this one online at amazon.com:

If you did, we’re sorry. We’re sorry that first, we didn’t tell anyone that we’d selected cover art (which we haven’t yet) and we’re also sorry that anyone would have to look at a cover that bad. I can only hope (and pray) that:

– someone was still drunk from Fat Tuesday when this was laid out

– they had lost a bet

– it’s some sort of computer generated cover art and no human would have ever produced this.

As you might be able to tell, it rubbed me a bit wrong and I DID stop putting coke in my rum. It also sent me on a quest for the worst book covers imaginable. There’s some pretty bad stuff out there in the world. Like this:

Nice that they got someone from every gender and race to be in the pic, but they’re all talking to the blonde, white kid. No one outside of 1986 can be cool with acid washed jeans. Sorry. Then there’s this one:

Moment of Truth! for real!! Note the branding on the side ‘Intimate Moments’. I wonder if the story is that discrete….

Then, there’s this one:

I….. I, uh…… well, I don’t quite know where to begin. Funny thing is, this book has a huge cult following and almost a 5 star review on amazon.com. Ok, one more. How can you say no to a book about all the characters William Shatner ever played, come to life!

I’m sure it’s a gripping story that is hard to put down. New Revit Essentials art coming soon. Maybe it will feature Shatner.

>LEED Silver

>

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Calibri}

Subject: 1626 Jefferson

Eddy,

I have a certificate to mail to you for the above referenced project but, we do not have a physical address on file.

Please provide your address and I will make sure the certificate is mailed.

Thank you,

This is the email I received to close out my LEED paperwork. It’s a testament to how this process went. Thankfully, they figured out the address was in the subject line of the email they wrote (not to mention on all the paperwork and they visited the house several times). With all that said, the lovely, oversized certificate arrived today.

>Earl Grey…Hot

>
It was just a matter of time. Is there a CMYK equivalent in the Food Pyramid?
Really interesting article on the research going into food printing.
“Honey, the Soylent Green cartridge is nearly empty and the guests will be here in less than an hour!”

>Authoring Team

>We’re so close to being done with the next Mastering Revit book. It’s been a long and winding road, so I thought I’d take a moment and recall some of the finer authoring achievements over the past few months.

Initial planning for the content took place in Vegas at Autodesk University 2010. James (left) wore his favorite shirt. We didn’t mind the colors, but Eddy (right) begged him not to roll up the sleeves. I was just dumbfounded that Eddy could grow a goatee. I didn’t think he was capable of facial hair.

As New Year rolled around, deadline pressures mounted. James lost the beard but insisted on the “I’llkickyourassallthewaytothefarendofLongIsland” sideburns when I dared to suggest authoring was “fun”. I like James, but I’m afraid of him when he’s pissed off.

By January, let’s just say we had to wear uniforms. Our publisher was getting a bit anxious about meeting deadlines for two books about the same time and after some trumped up charges were pressed we found ourselves “sequestered”. Note to self: always read the contractual fine print.

James picked up a nicotine habit to calm domestic related nerves. Eddy took one for the team. Me? I’m smiling. Let’s just say our cell mate will never again giggle when we say “Family Editor” or “Reload Latest”. It turns out that last year’s Mastering Revit book tucked in the end of a pillowcase is a weapon not to be reckoned with.

As February rolled around, Eddy was back on the rum and Coke. Not that we missed our uniforms and former “room mates” but it beats yard work around the house. James begged us to help with his gardening and we all chipped in. Eddy’s pissed that all the hydroponics are putting his electric bill through the roof.

Speaking of roofs, the very next day Eddy installed a 1kW photovoltaic system on the roof of the trailer and got the whole thing LEED certified (and then wouldn’t shut up about it). It seems silly to me – turning sunlight into electricity just to turn it back into artificial sunlight. But James recons it’s better in the long run cause otherwise my cats keep getting into his “gardening”.

Everything was fine till the editor showed us “finished and approved” cover art for the Revit Essentials book; cover art that we didn’t approve and what we all agreed looked like what comes out of a cat that’s eaten way too much from James’ indoor garden.

At this point, Eddy freaked said something about what he was going to do with the business end of the rake he was holding, which kind of freaked me out. Eddy is supposed to be the calm one – and now I found myself trying to talk down both James and Eddy. In the end, some really great cover art was selected by the three of us and Eddy settled down. But I wouldn’t be surprised if packs his rake for Vegas this year.

Wow – was this the best day ever. After spending months writing the book we find out – after the fact and at the last possible moment – that we have to go back and make sure that there’s all this extra stuff added to the book for certification purposes. Did I mention that a lot of the content the publisher wanted added had been previously edited out in order to make some bean counter with a spread sheet happy by keeping the book below a target page count? I said something about fire-ready-aim and James said something about being surrounded by f*&tards and needing to work in his garden and Eddy stopped adding Coke to his rum.

But in the end, it all came together. We’ve finished all the writing and now it’s just editing, choosing cover and center art. And my new eye wear prescription finally arrived.

We’re all really amazed how much James polished up after selling his first “harvest” (which pays way more than writing books anyway). You can’t see all the nicotine patches covering his back, but we’re glad he’s going to try to quit smoking (again). Eddy’s went back to adding Coke to his rum, but as you can see – he’s kind of melancholy. Since I help James cover his back with the nicotine patches, Eddy has to take them off.

Did I mention that I’d love to write a Family Editor book? Come on James…it’ll be fun!