BIM Toolbox

Welcome to BIM Toolbox

Welcome to the BIM Toolbox, a blog dedicated to Building Information Modelling for Buildings, Plant and Infrastructure.

BIM Toolbox is brought to you by the Northern Europe Technical Specialist Team at Autodesk. We have a wide range of industry and software experience within the team and will use our blog to bring you news, product information, tips & tricks and workflows to help you be successful.

If you have suggestions for something you would like to see from us, let us know!

Revit Extensions

Some of you may be looking for your 2014 version of the Revit Extensions.  There are now two locations for them: Autodesk Subscription Centre and the Revit App Store.  This readme document contains much of the information with regards to functionality and locations.

Of particular note is that the civil structures extension and SDNF import/export are now individual downloads from the app store.  These are required for integration with Civil 3D and Plant 3D.  The new wood framing extension now includes both wall and roof modules.

I found the best way to locate the installs is to use the excellent search facility within the app store app...

Any problems please let us know and you may find other add-ins of interest along the way!

Infrastructure Design Suites Modules Released!

We are pleased to announce that the following modules for the Infrastructure Design Suites 2014 have been released on Subscription center.      

For Infrastructure Design Suite Premium & Ultimate

Autodesk® Bridge Module 2014 enables users to create bridge models based on critical geometry in the Autodesk® AutoCAD® Civil 3D corridor model and existing ground surface.

Autodesk® Rail Layout Module 2014 provides functionality to place and edit track turnout geometry from a configurable library, on AutoCAD Civil 3D alignments.

Autodesk^® Geotechnical Module 2014 is designed to integrate geotechnical data with AutoCAD^® Civil 3D^® 2014 and provides the ability to build and manage complex Civil 3D surfaces and profiles in geotechnical data into BIM workflows

 

For Infrastructure Design Suite Ultimate

 Autodesk^® River & Flood Analysis Module 2014 (Ultimate Only) is a sophisticated river modeling software package that supported HEC-RAS within the Autodesk® AutoCAD®  Civil 3D®  2014 environment.

 

 

Peter Ingels

FDO Provider OSGeo.SHP.3.7 Not Registered

People using AutoCAD Map 3D 2014 or AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 may run into problems importing/ exporting shape files.

 

A fix was posted on Being Civil

 

Peter Ingels

Snoop Civil 3D 2014 Database

This blog is intended for all of us who like to do some coding in AutoCAD Civil 3D.

One of my colleagues at ADN, Augusto Goncalves, created a tool (SnoopCivil3D, for Civil 3D 2012) that allows us to have a look at the structure of a Civil 3D drawing.

This tool has helped many of us, including me, in understanding the Civil 3D API and achieving our goals while customizing the product.

The good news now is, that a new version of this tool is available, supporting AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014.

You can read all details about it and download both the source code and executable at his blog: Infrastructure Modeling DevBlog

Happy programming

Peter Ingels

Autodesk’s Brand is Evolving

 Our new brand made its public debut today at this year's TED held in Long Beach, California, USA.

It's more than a new logo, our business is evolving: http://autode.sk/adsk

BiMiT Symposium 2013

Savoy Computing is organising the BiMiT Symposium 2013 on Monday 25th February at the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel.

BiMiT is a collaboration between Autodesk, Savoy Computing, TRL, Design Pro Software and CADline; working together with the aim of integrating aspects of transportation design workflows through the use of shared technologies to produce designs in which changes to the central dataset by any source are immediately reflected throughout the model. More information can be found at www.bimit.org.

Event Content & Timings

09:00 - 10:00 Welcome with complimentary tea and coffee

Morning Session: Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Collaboration

10:00 - 12:00	Opening Keynote Speech
	Collaborative Data Sharing – A behind the Scenes Story
	Extending BIM principles through to construction

12:00 - 13:00 Complimentary buffet lunch

Afternoon Session: Engineering BIM to fit transportation

13:00 – 14:30	Bringing BIM to smaller scale projects
	Industry infiltration, relevance and uptake
	BIM in Northern Europe: A state of the art review

14:30 - 15:00 Afternoon break with complimentary tea and coffee

Closing Session: Industry voices

15:00 - 16:30	Group Workshops
	An Industry Case Study: BIM Project Practicalities
	Discussion and open question time with all presenters. Focus question: "What does BIM represent for the transportation practitioner?"

 To register for the event click here

I will be presenting there as well. My presentation is about the Autodesk BIM for Infrastructure solutions, focusing on construction.

Peter Ingels

Paramics & Autodesk Workflows - Combining Simulation, Analytics, Design and Visualisation

Join us on Wednesday 30 January 2013 for this one hour webinar to find out how Autodesk and Quadstone Paramics combine the power of simulation, analytics, design and visualisation to provide comprehensive end to end solutions for infrastructure designers and transport engineers.

During this webinar you will learn how we are empowering industry practitioners to take advantage of our unique integrated workflows to shorten the modelling and construction phases for projects, help organisations to determine the optimum layout for new developments and to conduct future year analysis to ensure that investments are maximised across the entire asset lifecycle; workflows connecting Autodesk Infrastructure Modeller, Civil 3D and Paramics Modeller, Converter and Analyser will be demonstrated.

The webinar will consist of a 45 minute presentation followed by a live discussion with our experts Lenny Winsel from Pitney Bowes Software and Peter Ingels from Autodesk.

 

Webinar Details
Date	Wed, Jan 30th
Time:	15:00 GMT
	Register here

 

 

    

Collaborating and sharing data in the AEC Industry

This article written by Autodesk's Sander Lijbers, first appeared in the Dutch CAD Magazine in October last year. It provides a useful viewpoint on interoperability and we think it is worth publishing in English for a wider audience:

Effective new technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), can change the way we organise both project data and the way project teams work. We are experiencing some of these effects today in the AEC marketplace. As the AEC industry becomes increasingly comfortable with BIM, construction documents may be replaced by 3D models as the new standard. These cultural and technical changes will occur only if BIM gives all parties a more accurate picture of design and construction projects. The work Autodesk is doing on data exchange is in support of this goal. Over time, and if implemented effectively, BIM and improved data sharing can increase trust among partnering organisations on a job and may contribute to delivering AEC projects more effectively.

Autodesk understands that sharing data among project team members is of critical importance for quality execution on projects. Government agencies around the world are increasingly mandating the IFC (Industry Foundation Class) standard file format. At the same time, Autodesk continues to work on the quality of IFC data exchange. Examples of our support for the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) include 2x3 coordination model view, the U.S General Services Administration (GSA) IFC model view, The Building Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA) IFC model view, as well as work on IFC 2x4 certification and by releasing IFC Export for Revit (currently available for Autodesk® Revit® 2012 and 2013 products) as an Autodesk-sponsored open source project at: http://sourceforge.net/p/ifcexporter/home/Home/

Open source availability of the Autodesk IFC technology provides opportunities to meet the demands for data sharing in the AEC industry more effectively.

Autodesk® Architectural Desktop (now AutoCAD® Architecture) software has a long history of support for IFC; starting in 2006 through a plug-in provided by G.E.M. Team Solutions GbR. Starting from AutoCAD Architecture 2008, IFC export and import based on the buildingSMART IFC 2x3 data exchange standard are implemented directly into the product. AutoCAD Architecture 2008 received stage-1 certification by the IAI in November 2006 and full stage-2 certification for the IFC 2X3 Coordination View for both import and export in May 2007.

There is an instructive paper discussing IFC files in the execution of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) : Collaborative engineering with IFC: new insights and technology. L.A.H.M. van Berlo, J. Beetz, P. Bos, H. Hendriks, R.C.J. van Tongeren. This research discusses project team collaboration in relation to an IFC reference model. The paper outlines an effective application of IFC information for project teams using either a wide variety of BIM software applications or where one BIM platform is predominantly being used. In either circumstance the IFC information proved effective as a reference and collaboration verifying data source. Sharing this IFC information between team members facilitates the workflows demanded in an integrated project delivery scenario. Using IFC files in this way is an effective application of the IFC technology today and provides a framework for more aggressive application of IFC information in the future. The described IFC reference model approach fits the fluid project team demands on today’s AEC projects and this paper provides an effective description of how IFC data exchange technologies can positively impact the AEC industry.

In addition to IFC data exchange, Autodesk provides support for other data file types and file translations to assist project teams based on the specific need of the project: Autodesk BIM applications create and export COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) building handover information, directly to .xlsx or via an IFC path. Autodesk applications write CIS/2 data for structural steel collaboration as well as standard ACIS Text (SAT) for transporting geometry from one 3D application to another, and by sponsoring and providing active support for the gbXML open schema, http://www.gbxml.org/, Autodesk supports a data exchange protocol for energy analysis.

Autodesk entered into an agreement with Bentley to exchange DWG and DGN software libraries in order to make it easier for Autodesk and Bentley customers to read and write both file types with greater fidelity. Autodesk Navisworks, as well Autodesk BIM 360 Glue, also play a role by supporting the overlay, clash detection and referencing of dozens of 3D file formats for project teams to work more effectively. These are some of the data and workflow exchanges we are working on at Autodesk.

Autodesk has cooperated in defining many standards for digital information exchange, including Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data, ISO 10303 (STEP), Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES), LandXML, the Open Source Geospatial Foundation™ (OSGeo™). Autodesk is a founding member of LandXML.org and buildingSMART International (formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability). Additionally, Autodesk has been a ―Principal member of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGS) since 2002.

This wide variety of participation is necessary because the AEC industry has many contributing disciplines generating information for the various demands of an AEC project. For instance, professionals participating in a project may include:

Civil Engineer, Owner, Architect, Contractor, Structural Engineer, MEP Engineer, Interior Designer, Planner, LEED/BREEAM Consultant, Cost Estimator, Fabricator, Product Manufacturer, Specification Expert, Sub-Contractors, Project Managers, Specialist Consultant.

Each of these professionals creates specific data products and each demand specific and sometime unique data inputs. In the execution of a project these professionals create specific deliverables including:

Master Plan, Architectural Design, Structural Analysis, MEP Fabrication Instructions, Civil Engineering Plan, Zoning Compliance, Permitting Documents, Building System Model, Site Survey, Energy Analysis, Specification Documents, Scheduling Documents, Space Plan, Visualisation Model, Cost Estimates, Project Plan.

These project artefacts evolve and iterate at increasing levels of detail through the project phases (Concepts, Detailed Design, Contract Documents, Construction, Handover and Facilities Maintenance). This creates a complex environment of multiple exchanges between people, disciplines and project phases, each activity is built for a specific purpose to complete the project. To complete these activities many software applications may be used. A limited sample of data types (not at all comprehensive) used on projects may include:

Project Function:File Type Extension

Architectural Model:IFC

Structural Model:IFC,CIS 2

CAD Data:DXF,DWG

GIS Data:SHP

Civil Engineering:LandXML,DWG,DGN

Cost Estimating:.xlsx,ODBC

Visualisation Models:FBX

COBie Data:IFC, xlsx

Scheduling Data:P3,mpp

Energy Analysis:IFC,gbXML

Site Imagery:.jpg,png

IFC data exchanges play a vitally important role in AEC project team collaboration and will increasingly do so as more IFC model view definitions are introduced, but many different types of data are also used on projects. Autodesk supports and is continually working on IFC data exchange methods and we also support these additional exchanges for AEC project execution. In this way Autodesk is working to meet the needs of project team members today and in the future.

Sander Lijbers, Autodesk AEC Industry Manager

Tunnel Subassembly

First of all I want to wish all our readers the best for 2013. I hope you all have a fantastic year!!

I received many requests for my Tunnel Subassembly that I have been using during the Bridge/Tunnel Webinar in December last year. 

Here it is…

The Tunnel subassembly can be downloaded at the bottom of this post but before you can start using it, I need to explain how it is to be used.

The geometry of the tunnel subassembly contains different parts for the floor, walls and roof of the tunnel. I also have added leveling concrete (to fill gaps caused by the superelevation of the road model) and barriers on each side.

This becomes handy if you need to define separate volumes for each part of the tunnel model.

The subassembly is designed to be used in an undivided crowned road model, which means that it has only one slope value for the right side and one slope value for the left side of the centerline. Medians are not supported.

Since the road that goes through the tunnel can have a varying slope (Supperelevation is applied) and width (Widening is applied) I built in targets for both offset and elevation for the left and right lane. The target lines are the Edge of Pavement lines for the lanes.
The width of the tunnel depends on the offset targets. In Layout view, it will have a fixed width of 20 meter.

 

Besides the targets, I have added some input variables to support as many situations as possible.

 

Road Slope is the default slope of the road when no superelevation is applied. This is mainly done for representation in the subassembly view or when no targets are defined.

Road depth is the depth of the road model, which is the depth prom the centerline to the bottom/datum of the road package, this value indicates where the leveling concrete needs to begin.

All other values are tunnel size parameters.

Download Tunnel2013

Peter Ingels

Autodesk Construction Magazine

A good resource for articles on BIM in Construction is the Autodesk Construction Magazine. The third edition is now available from:

Autodesk Construction Magazine

This edition includes articles on:

• The benefits of cloud and mobile technologies for construction.
• Capturing the ROI of 'All-In' BIM.

Simon Gillis