Infrastructure Universe, Vol. 15: What’s Coming in the Future of BIM + Recent Software Updates
Over the last few weeks, Autodesk has released a couple of updates for various software. I also have some really cool videos and articles that show some helpful tips & tricks for Civil 3D. Read on for all the updates this month.
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Software Updates and Hotfixes
#1: Infraworks 2018.2
This update includes several new features and feature enhancements including:
- In the new component road sketching workflow, select a PI or Element-based sketch method. In-canvas guides provide more precise layout capabilities.
- New functionality is provided for grip editing the radius of a Curve or Spiral-Curve-Spiral in canvas.
- Improvements to the parametric bridge content authoring workflow include the ability to view required parameters in the Parts Editing dialog, as well as enhancements to the size editing table that allow you to import and/or export part size tables in .JSON file format.
See the README for more info. Use the Autodesk Desktop App to download and install this update.
#2: Roombook Areabook Buildingbook Update 1 for Autodesk Revit 2018
Roombook Areabook Buildingbook Update 1 for Revit 2018 supports the released versions of Revit 2018 and Revit LT 2018. This Update corrects an issue where tags only displayed the total area and not the part area.
See the README for more info. Use the Autodesk Desktop App to download and install these updates.
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Great Videos & New Tools
Tool for Tuesday: IF()
Image: Civil Immersion
From Civil Immersion: “Using this function, we can perform some quick analysis on our GIS data and alter many aspects of how it is displayed and/or annotated. The possibilities are infinite! For example, when adding GIS data showing soil information, we could have poor soils automatically highlighted.”
Civil 3D LiDAR Straight to TINSURFACE
From DotSoft: “When we worked up our procedure for importing Lidar into Civil 3D a couple months ago, we realized there were way too many steps and way too many hoops to jump through—hoops preparing the data, through ReCap to prepare a RCP/RCS, through Civil 3D creating a point cloud, and finally creating the surface. Highly trained professionals have more important things to do with their time than spend it like awell-trainedd circus animal jumping through hoops, so we did something about it.”
Little Known CAD Commands that Rock!
My colleague Ron Couillard has started a series of blog posts called “Little Known CAD Commands that Rock!” to highlight some under-publicized commands that you might find to have some pretty cool uses.
In this video from Part 1 of this series, see Ron’s demonstration of the RTEXT command. RTEXT stands for “Remote Text,” and is a way for you to have a text file that works kind of like an xref.
Keep Your DWGs Healthy with 3 Simple Steps
From the U.S. CAD Blog: “As you can imagine, opening, saving, and editing over time can create undesired issues or corruptions in a DWG. Throw in program-specific objects (that come from object enablers) and the fact that DWGs can be created by a programs other than just AutoCAD, and you have a recipe for undesired performance issues and corruptions. Let’s not forget that files exported from Microstation, Revit, etc. can also bloat the files with data that can cause corruptions. These program-specific objects are saved in the DWG database—no matter what CAD software you use to open it—and build up over time. These are known in AutoCAD as REGAPPS, or Registered Applications, that embed data into the DWG so the file can use certain commands in a particular program.”
To help you address these issues, KaDe King and I put together a few simple steps you can take to help keep your files running clean and fast.
Do More with the AEC Collection from Autodesk
From Autodesk: “As a Civil Engineer working on roads and highways, land development or plant projects, you already use AutoCAD. With the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Collection, you can power up your existing AutoCAD workflows with an additional set of integrated infrastructure design tools that will transform the way you work and support you to deliver projects using Building Information Modeling (BIM).”
Hot Infrastructure News
Exciting Disruptions Coming For Architects, Engineers, and Contractors
From Bill Allen, CEO of EvolveLAB: “With advancements in generative design, software algorithms, and robotic construction, our current processes are going to be changing quite a bit over the next three to five years. We will see more and more done by computers and machines than we have ever seen.
“Rather than Building Information Modeling (BIM), we are going to see Building Information Optimization. Rather than manually drawing walls, doors, and columns for what we think is a good design, we will feed the computer “rules” instructing it to give us a building’s optimal footprint, structural load capacity, and thermal performance. Things that took months will be done in a day. What does this mean for you? How do you play a part in these changing processes?”
Intel Drone Light Show
Bellagio Fountains drone showThe Intel Drone Light Show lit up the sky above the Fountains of Bellagio tonight! The drone show is in town for CES and will take place nightly through Thursday at 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. 🎥: @PhotogAustin
Posted by FOX5 Las Vegas on Monday, January 8, 2018
The Intel Drone Light Show lit up the sky above the Fountains of Bellagio last month! The drone show was in Las Vegas for CES.
You’ll feel like you have X-ray vision
Walabot GadgetThis gadget lets you see what's behind your walls. If you want to buy one, use this link. We'll make some money to support our videos: http://insder.co/Walabot
Posted by INVENTIONS INSIDER on Thursday, January 4, 2018
With the Walabot, you can see inside your walls!
Webcast to Register For
Infrastructure Tuesday
Join my colleague KaDe King next Tuesday, February 6th to learn all about the STB and CTB plot styles in AutoCAD. In this sneak peek video, KaDe breaks down the basic difference between them.
If you can’t make it, you can still register, and we’ll send you the recording after!
And A Little Humor...
getting-to-bim-trailer-lynn-allen-02-subtitled-en.mp4Keep up with the BIM movement in Infrastructure via Lynn Allen http://autode.sk/2zl2ZvO
Posted by Autodesk Civil 3D on Tuesday, January 9, 2018
AUTOMATICA - Robots Vs. MusicSomehow, I doubled my follower count this week! Thank you 😀 If you're new and haven't seen it, this is my latest video... more here: http://NigelStanford.com/f/v2-/
Posted by Nigel Stanford on Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Want more from the Infrastructure Universe?
Each month, I compile a list of important software updates, new technology advancements, and current news like what you read above. Check out all the past volumes and subscribe to the mailing list to receive the updates via email!
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