Autodesk Seek Web service announced

I blogged about Autodesk Seek a short while ago and now it's "official". Autodesk officially announced today the availability of the new Web service.

Autodesk Seek provides an online source for building product design information and delivers information-rich results – including relevant design files in multiple formats from within the customer's design applications. Design files can then be easily dropped directly into the designer's building model or drawing, reducing the need to recreate individual components in the design.

This embedded search functionality is now available in the 2009 U.S. versions of Autodesk's Revit-based software applications, as well as AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP. The web service is also available through standard browsers at http://seek.autodesk.com.

Via Inside the System on BIM content and Autodesk press release

ACA_db 2 released for AutoCAD Architecture 2009

With ACA_db you can use AutoCAD Architecture or MEP more fully in your BIM process.

Property Set values can automatically be updated or populated with values that you have available and updated in an external database.

The ACA_db program finds database connection on selected objects in the active drawing and property set(s) that has definition(s) with specific database links and updates them accordingly.

ACA_db will improve the BIM process and experience and will improve quality of your data and remove redundancy and conflicts of data. ACA_db is easy to setup and use.

Novedge Pulse and CadKicks as one-stop sites for CAD news

How do you keep up-to-date with CAD news?

TenLinks.com and CAD digest most of you knows about as it's been around for long.

CadKicks.com has been running for a short while now. CadKicks.com is a community based news site. Individual users of the site submit and review (kick) stories, the most popular of which make it to the homepage.

Now comes another CAD related site Novedge Pulse.

It’s a new free area of the Novedge website where blog posts, Press Releases, tutorials, and other pertinent information is collected, organized, and presented in a simple and clear way. At Novedge Pulse, you can also vote for each item with a simple and effective thumb-up, thumb-down system.

A glitch I've mentioned to Franco is that if you use PgUp and PgDn as a keyboard junkie you will miss some of the content. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.

Do you read/contribute to sites like this? Do you care? Do you not like it? Are they just stealing content on your cost? Do you find new blogs this way?

Personally I rarely visit sites like this but I can understand that they are useful for some and I don't mind that they aggregate snippets from my blog as long as they link back in a good way as they do and not just put up plain copies like many splogs do.

I have my doubts on how valuable the ranking is based on that it's probably only a handful that will bother to do the ranking.

What's in it for me? I checked how many referrals I've got so far and found 6 from CadKicks and 0 from Novedge Pulse and some of them could have been when I myself tried the sites.

Both these new sites have a lot of work behind to set things up to be user and community friendly so give it a try.

Via email and seen on the Novedge Blog.

What does Encyclopaedia Britannica say about CAD?

Not much actually but you should be able to read the full article computer-aided engineering thanks to the Encyclopaedia Britannica WebShare initiative open for web publishers and bloggers.

computer-aided engineering in industry, the integration of design and manufacturing into a system under the direct control of digital computers. CAE combines the use of computers in industrial-design work, computer-aided design (CAD), with their use in manufacturing operations, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)....

Have you seen a non-digital computer?

Tried searching for BIM but there was nothing found. Architecture on the other hand had quite a large article that you only can access via the link from this site unless you have access to it as a subscriber.

the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. The practice of architecture is employed to fulfill both practical and expressive requirements of civilized people and thus embraces both utilitarian and aesthetic ends....

This link will hopefully take you to an image of Pont du Gard, Roman aqueduct, Nîmes, France, by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, during the Augustan period.

One good reason to blog is having full access for a year on Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The table of contents on the Architecture page did not work good at least in IE7 as I hardly could navigate without having the list automatically scroll.

Autodesk NavisWorks Freedom 2009

The free viewer Autodesk NavisWorks Freedom 2009 is available now. It is a great 3D viewer and with great performance on even very large BIM models created with AutoCAD, Revit or several other applications.

A good news is the support for 3D DWF files as they can be created without the need to have any of the full versions of NavisWorks and if you have tried with a really large model in Autodesk Design Review you will probably find that Freedom handles it much better.

www.autodesk.com/navisworksfreedom

When running the downloaded exe file Autodesk_NavisWorks_Freedom_2009_English_Win_32bit.exe (126MB) it says it will install in C:\Autodesk\NavisWorks Freedom 2009 but what it actually does it to extract all files required to run the setup to that folder and then the real install starts.

New Features

Autodesk NavisWorks Freedom 2009 contains a number of key enhancements for this release.

Interface Enhancements

• .NET GUI Modernization - Up-to-date look and feel including new icons, improved control bar docking and tabbed control bars.

• The Selection Tree Control Bar - Shows the internal structure of the loaded NWD, allowing direct navigation through the tree list to required elements in the project.

• The Properties Control Bar - Shows all properties of a selected geometry item.

• TimeLiner Playback - Abitlity to play back a TimeLiner sequence.

• Animation Playback - Ability to play back viewpoint and object animation.

• New Editor for Global Options. - A change from complex tabs to a logical tree structure, making finding options much simpler. Also making global options sharable across multiple PCs through import and export.

• Viewable Comments - Ability to view comments recorded in NWD files.

Display Enhancements

• 3D Text Support - The visualization of 3D text brought into other NavisWorks products from AutoCAD and MicroStation, and exported in the NWD.

• Parametric Support - Any parametric data brought into other NavisWorks products and exported in the NWD will be displayed in Freedom. This data increases cylinder accuracy, and dramatically reduces the memory footprint to load and display them.

Operating System Support

• Microsoft Vista Support - Full support for Microsoft's latest operating system.

• 64-bit Support - Support for 64-bit versions of both XP and Vista.

File Formats

• Autodesk DWF support - Freedom is now capable of reading and displaying Autodesk’s DWF Design Review format. (comment by me: only DWF files with 3D content as this is a 3D viewer)

For more about NavisWorks see this previous post.

Find blocks and more with Autodesk Seek

Looking for drawings, blocks for AutoCAD or Revit? Autodesk Seek finds DGN, DOC, DWF, DWG, DXF, GSM, LCF, PDF, RFA, RVG, RVT, SKP, ZIP files.

What is Autodesk^® Seek?
It is a web service that allows designers - architects, engineers, students - to search and find generic or manufacturer-specific building products or components and associated design content. This content could include 3D models, 2D drawings, specifications, and descriptions for that product or component.

Which industries are you targeting with Autodesk^® Seek?
Currently, it is targeted at designers working in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry. We are considering extending the service to include content particularly useful for mechanical designers in the future.

How do I use the browse capability on Autodesk^® Seek?
The browse capability on Autodesk^® Seek allows you to browse for content using AEC industry standard classifications, including MasterFormat 2004, Omniclass 1.0, and Uniformat II.

Senior Software Architect of Autodesk Inc. Mike Haley discusses the company's latest product Autodesk Seek and its business model at FORA.tv. See also The Autodesk Seek Taxonomy System and the Autodesk Seek Search Engine.

Via Between the Lines

Understanding Floating Point Precision in AutoCAD, Excel, etc.

AutoCAD has had 64-bit accuracy in the 32-bit platform for many years but still with 64-bit accuracy things can go wrong with with "unexpected" result.

Why is 1.320 - 1.3190 not equal to 0.001 when it really is 0.001?

Be careful when you make comparisons like this.

Both AutoCAD, Excel and many other applications are designed in accordance to the IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic (IEEE 754). The standard defines how floating-point numbers are stored and calculated.

A floating-point number is stored in binary in three parts within a 65-bit range: the sign, the exponent, and the mantissa.

1 Sign Bit
11 Bit Exponent
1 Implied Bit
52 Bit Mantissa

A detailed article that describes this thoroughly is Understanding Floating Point Precision, aka “Why does Excel Give Me Seemingly Wrong Answers?”

Do you want to republish any of the blogs posts?

I have got some requests from Autodesk resellers if they can republish some of the blog posts or other AutoCAD related things from the website.

If you have a newsletter, knowledge base or want to inform your customers or user group in any other way feel free to contact me and let me know how and where you want to use the information. I will most probably let you do it for free as long as you give credits to JTB World and link back to the blog or website.

Splogs and the like are of course not welcome stealing content.

Autodesk NavisWorks 2009 is shipping today

Autodesk NavisWorks 2009 contains many new features and enhancements.

Here is what "Manage" contains and to some extent the other variants "Review" and "Simulate":

Interface Enhancements

• Object Animation

  Animate objects across an animation timeline using simple but powerful object manipulation and animation tools.

  Interact with objects whilst they interact with the viewer, all via new simple but powerful scripting tools.

  Link object movement with TimeLiner for precise object movement scheduling based on project tasks, for more informative and realistic 4D process planning.

  Link object movement with Presenter for enhanced worksite realism in exported photo-realistic animations.

  Link object movement with Clash Detective to automatically check for interferences between static and moving objects, for example a door colliding with an obstructing column.

  Link object movement with both TimeLiner and Clash Detective together for full time-based interference checking. Scheduling the moving of a crane on-site could coincide with the delivery of construction materials, all simulated in Autodesk NavisWorks Manage 2009, all checked for scheduling and interference issues, all adding up to a powerful, automated workspace simulation and planning tool.

• .NET GUI Modernization

  Up-to-date look and feel including new icons, improved control bar docking and tabbed control bars.

• Workspaces

  Allow predefined default window and menu layouts, as well as full customization and sharing of layouts across multiple PCs.

  New editor for Global Options.

  A change from complex tabs to a logical tree structure, making finding options much simpler. Also making global options sharable across multiple PCs through import and export.

Licensing Enhancements

• FlexLM Licensing

  The capability of check-in / check-out of licenses, timed-out licenses to automatically return checked-out licenses after a set period of time.

• Autodesk Standalone Licensing

  Support for the well-known and well-documented Autodesk standard licensing technology.

Operating System Support

• Microsoft Vista Support

  Full support for Microsoft's latest operating system.

• 64-bit Support

  Support for 64-bit versions of both XP and Vista.

File Formats

• 3D Text Support

  Visualization of 3D text from AutoCAD and MicroStation.

• Parametric Support

  Increasing cylinder accuracy, and dramatically reducing the memory footprint of file formats containing them. Of key benefit to the MicroStation exporter and DGN file reader.

• Object Animation Playback

  Playback of object animations inside NWD and NWC files that have been created in Autodesk NavisWorks Manage 2009 or Autodesk NavisWorks Simulate 2009.

• File Format Updates

  Revit 2009

  ArchiCAD 11

  MAX 9 (32-bit and 64-bit)

  MAX 2008 and 2009

  VIZ 2008 and 2009

  AutoCAD 2009 (32-bit and 64-bit)

  Inventor 2009

  Primavera v6

  Faro 4.1

  MicroGDS 10

What are the minimum system requirements?
XP or Vista and 512 MB minimum in RAM and 2 GB or more recommended.

If you have a previous version of NavisWorks installed on your system, you can install Autodesk NavisWorks Manage 2009 and keep other versions of the program on the same system.

NavisWorks 2009 does not include the Ribbon but it would surprise me if it was not added to NavisWorks 2010.

Previous related posts:
Welcome Autodesk NavisWorks describes the difference between the NavisWorks products.
NavisWorks forum on AUGI

It will probably not take long before a NavisWorks discussion group is added.

From the press release:
Revit Architecture 2009, Revit Structure 2009, Revit MEP 2009, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 and Autodesk NavisWorks 2009 now shipping

Autodesk is now shipping the 2009 versions of its comprehensive software solutions for building information modeling (BIM) including Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, Revit MEP, AutoCAD Civil 3D, and Autodesk NavisWorks software solutions.  BIM is an integrated workflow built on coordinated, reliable information about a project from design through construction and into operations. By adopting BIM, architects, engineers, contractors and owners can easily create coordinated, digital design information and documentation; use that information to more accurately visualize, simulate, and analyze performance, appearance and cost; and reliably deliver the project faster, more economically and with reduced environmental impact. The 2009 Autodesk BIM Solutions include:

· Revit Architecture 2009 (BIM for architects and designers) allows customers to capture early design concepts with improved analysis and visualization capabilities through increased sustainable design and energy analysis capabilities via interfaces with partner applications. The new Mental Ray engine for rendering has improved visualization functionality, improving speed, quality, and usability. www.autodesk.com/revitarchitecture

· Revit Structure 2009 (BIM for structural engineers, designers and drafters) has been enhanced with greater modeling and documentation capabilities.  The AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite now includes AutoCAD Structural Detailing, enabling steel and reinforced concrete detailing and shop drawings as well as state-of-the-art formwork drawings www.autodesk.com/revitstructure

· Revit MEP 2009 (BIM for Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing engineering) provides customers with enhanced modeling capabilities, more robust Building Performance Analysis capabilities that support sustainable design, and more than double the previously available content. www.autodesk.com/revitmep

· AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 enables the benefits of BIM for civil engineering, from surveying and design through to documentation submittal and the delivery of 3D models for GPS machine control during construction. Important new functions in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 include a stormwater hydraulics and hydrology solution for storm sewer design, watershed analysis, detention pond modeling and culvert analysis, survey functionality that allows users to directly import raw data and criteria-based road design that follows local design requirements such as stopping and passing sight and headlight distances. www.autodesk.com/civil3d

· Autodesk NavisWorks 2009 software solutions (Autodesk NavisWorks Review, Autodesk NavisWorks Manage, Autodesk NavisWorks Simulate, and Autodesk NavisWorks Freedom) improve coordination, collaboration, and project sequencing for design and construction projects. With the 2009 versions of the Autodesk NavisWorks solutions, users can aggregate design models and data from documents created on both Autodesk and non-Autodesk software applications; develop more comprehensive views of projects and analyze for clash detection; and make better design and construction decisions.  www.autodesk.com/navisworks

Autodesk’s 3D modeling technologies are helping customers understand and improve the performance and operation of their designs before they are built.  The updated BIM solutions also improve project collaboration and integration between the building design, civil engineering and construction disciplines.

Share and Review Models

Fully integrated with the Revit platform for BIM and AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Design Review is the free* all - digital way to share, review, mark up, and measure models created within the BIM process.  For more information, please visit www.autodesk.com/designreview-aec

Autodesk Design Visualization Award 2008

Congratulations to the students Emil Andersson and David Hultberg that got this award. Autodesk is giving it to students in a building visualization class.

Among the applications used where AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD, Autodesk 3ds Max 9, Autodesk Combustion and Autodesk DWF Viewer. (Did they not use Autodesk Design Review?)

This is an interesting project as it is a elevator bridge for ships that go on the famous "Göta kanal" (190.5 km and 58 locks) that makes it possible to sail across Sweden and will now take a jump over a high way.

The Göta Canal was opened back in 1832 and was largely built by 58,000 billeted soldiers from 16 different regiments. During the 22 years building was in progress, about 60,000 men, including a company of Russian war prisoners and a number of civilian workers, worked a total of about 7 million man-days, each of 12 hours.

To keep the men in good spirits, 14 measures of schnapps were included in their weekly rations, since fingers and feet were liable to go numb in cold weather.

The opening of the Göta Canal in Mem, Sweden 1832. Painting by K. Chr. Berger

More on Göta kanal at www.gotakanal.se and the Swedish press release.

 

One house to house 100000 in London

Maybe like this according to London based Populararchitecture.

Autodesk Draw important application using Google Gears

Project Draw from the Autodesk Labs is recognized among the so far few applications using Google Gears.

If you are on a plane or on the beach you can work with drawing a flowchart or a Windows UI mockup using the free Draw.

Via Google Operating System blog

Measure and markup a DWG without AutoCAD

Autodesk Design Review has the ability to import a DWG or DXF file. It is automatically converted into a DWF and you can use all Design Review's tools.

If DWG TrueView is not good enough as it will only report the distance to the command line and the area command is pretty basic consider using Design Review instead.

Here is what the distance look like in DWG TrueView 2009. It is nice that it's now possible to measure but it's still not that user friendly.

And here is the area reported. Notice that for each point you snap there is no indication on where you snapped previously.

After importing a DWG into Autodesk Design Review 2009 it's a snap to measure, especially areas. Wish this was included in AutoCAD as well.

NVIDIA Quadro for AutoCAD 2009

NVIDIA has a website dedicated for AutoCAD users and now I mean AutoCAD 3D users. If you are serious about doing design work in AutoCAD in a BIM or PIM environment I fully agree that a graphic card like NVIDIA Quadro make a big difference so hardware acceleration can be used as fully as possible. When I worked as CAD Manager I made sure IT only purchased my recommended and tested Quadro cards for the CAD users. At minimum they should have an entry-level card and those working with larger 3D models had at least a mid-range card.

An easy way to find what graphic card and driver version you have is to run DXDIAG.EXE (Microsoft DirectX Diagnostic Tool) in Windows. In AutoCAD use

Visit AutoCAD Graphics Hardware website and find out if your graphic card is certified and recommended for AutoCAD 2009 (including verticals like AutoCAD Architecture) and what driver version you should use. Does it support Gooch hardware shader, Full shadow display, Smooth line display, Texture Compression and Per Pixel Lighting or not?

How do I check to see if AutoCAD is using hardware acceleration?

In AutoCAD 2007, AutoCAD 2008, or AutoCAD 2009, enter 3DCONFIG at the command line. In the Adaptive Degradation and Performance Tuning dialog box, click the Manual Tune button. In the Manual Performance Tuning dialog box (shown here), see whether Enable Hardware Acceleration is selected. The Manual Performance Tuning dialog box also indicates the 3D display features that are supported by your graphics hardware.

AutoCAD 2009 certification introduces the following new features:

• Support for per-pixel lighting.
• Hardware acceleration support in 2D drawings when running on Windows Vista.
• The Certification XML file can be updated automatically by selecting Check for Updates.

Why was my card certified for AutoCAD 2007 or AutoCAD 2008 but now fails for AutoCAD 2009?

Newer features and optimizations may require more of the video cards. Because of performance and stability issues, AutoCAD no longer supports cards with 32 MB of RAM or less. Support for some older graphics hardware that manufacturers no longer provide driver updates for has also been dropped.

Why is there no OpenGL option in Windows Vista?

OpenGL® software is currently not supported in AutoCAD 2009 when running on Windows Vista. AutoCAD 2008 uses Direct3D® software to enhance 3D performance.

Is Quadro better than GeForce or Quadro vs GeForce?

If the GeForce card is newer than the Quadro card and has better specs it might be better for CAD work. But in general the Quadro cards are better for CAD work. The Quadro GPU is optimized for 3D CAD, without sacrificing visual quality while GeForce is optimized for high-speed renderings of games. If you have a laptop I would say that in most cases a GeForce card will be good enough compared to the often more expensive Quadro.
This technical brief document describes more about NVIDIA Quadro vs. GeForce GPUs. It is from 2003 but many of the details are still valid even though it would be good to have it updated for 2008 as some of the features not available in GeForce at that time probably are included nowadays.

Why Quadro for AutoCAD Overview (Download PDF 571k)

Recommended Quadro Solutions for AutoCAD according to NVIDIA.
High-End
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700
Mid-Range
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 1700
Entry-Level
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 570
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 370

Mobile
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500M
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M
-NVIDIA Quadro FX 360M

If you have any links for good performance tests feel free to add a comment below.

Welcome Autodesk NavisWorks

NavisWorks has now been added to Autodesk's website (time for a visit as it has been updated for the 2009 product launches). You find the products at www.autodesk.com/navisworks. If you are into 3D construction, BIM, PIM or the like NavisWorks is a great solution to review and manage your project.

The products are now named:

• Autodesk NavisWorks Freedom (Free viewer)
• Autodesk NavisWorks Review (For reviewing of project designs)
• Autodesk NavisWorks Simulate (For reviewing project designs, 4D scheduling and presentation)
• Autodesk NavisWorks Manage (For reviewing project designs, 4D scheduling, presentation and interference checking.)

   

NavisWorks is now also possible to license using FLEXnet like most other Autodesk products and that means JTB FlexReport can be used for network license monitoring and statistics.

Urban pictures

I subscribe to the Urbanity blog to see all amazing buildings. Even though my Spanish is not as good is it should, looking at the images is enough.

     

AutoCAD Automation Tools released

AutoCAD Automation Tools are some tools for AutoCAD that JTB World have released that can be a real time saver if you need to make justifications on hundreds or thousands of drawings.

Typical usages are if you have a template drawing but text in the title block and some attributes or other text needs to be different on each drawing. Use for example Excel to enter or populate all values. Depending on your computer performance and the complexity of the drawing you can generate around 100 drawings in just 60 seconds.

You can change text or attribute values on a lot of drawings. It could update a title block with revision, date or some names for example.

You can add text, blocks or xrefs to existing drawings.

It works with AutoCAD 2000 or later (tested also with AutoCAD 2009) or verticals based on AutoCAD.

The AutoCAD Automation Tools are great for the CAD manager or administrator but also very easy for any AutoCAD user to use.

NavisWorks forum on AUGI

The NavisWorks forum is a welcome addition.

Via BIM Manager