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Archive for the ‘Building / AEC’ Category
Distributed Bucket Rendering in 3ds Max
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
The process of rendering an image is extremely intensive on the computer processor and high quality images require a great deal of time to complete. The mental ray rendering engine has been included with 3ds Max for several releases now and it effectively utilizes multiple processors within the computer during rendering, as indicated by the multiple buckets shown in the rendered frame window while rendering. But even with these improvements, it is frequently not enough for a production environment that requires higher level renderings in a shorter period of time.
Fortunately, mental ray comes with a tool called distributed bucket rendering that can help. Distributed bucket rendering functions similarly to Backburner in that it spreads the load of the rendering across multiple computers. It differs in that there are no external client or management executables to load and configure and unlike Backburner, it can easily distribute portions of a single rendered image. The use of distributed bucket rendering allows you to use up to 8 additional processors to render a single image. The result will add between 8 and 32 buckets to your screen as you render depending on the types of computers and processors available to you. Just like Backburner,
Setting up distributed bucket rendering is quite simple.
- Open the Render Setup dialog and click on the Processing tab.
- Scroll down and open the Distributed Bucket Rendering roll out.
- Check the box marked Distributed Rendering to turn the feature on.
- Click the Add button and add the IP address of the computer that will be used as a satellite node.
- After entering all of the IP addresses you can use, select those to be used for the current rendering from the list in the Distributed Bucket Rendering roll out. This allows you to use only specific computers at a given time, rather than all of them.
Some things to be aware of with distributed bucket rendering:
- There is overhead processing time involved in controlling the distributed bucket rendering satellites so the speed gain is not directly proportional to the number of processors assigned.
- On smaller renderings, distributed bucket rendering can actually take longer than using a single computer.
- Distributed bucket rendering distributes the final gather pass as well as the raytrace pass.
- Distributed bucket rendering will seize all the resources of the satellite computers so it’s not something you want to assign to another computer that is regularly used.
- Distributed bucket rendering can increase computer network traffic significantly and the use of an isolated network is advised if the satellites are dedicated machines.
Distributed bucket rendering is an easily configured tool that can greatly improve rendering times and is a feature already included in 3ds Max since the advent of mental ray. Using it will provide you with more time to evaluate and improve your final rendered output and decrease the amount of time spent waiting for things to finish rendering.
BIM: More than a Buzzword
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
If you keep up with CAD industry publications you’ve seen the term BIM thrown around with abandon. Often BIM (Building Information Modeling) is mentioned in the same sentence as 3D modeling. However, just because a software package creates a 3D object, doesn’t mean BIM is involved. At the heart of BIM is data linked to an object. The object “knows” what it is and can react with other objects with programmatic intelligence. Most likely, if you are reading this blog you are already using BIM without realizing it.
Take for instance a base Autocad rectangle. Even if we extrude it into a rectangular prism, it is still just a “dumb” object. Take that same prism into Revit, convert it into part of a door and now you’ve got BIM.
As the concept of BIM becomes more widely understood, users naturally want to take it to the next level. “OK,” they are thinking, “If my door ‘knows’ there’s a wall, and the wall ‘knows’ its part of the building - can my building ‘know’ it is sitting on the ground?” Well, we are getting there. In this case, now we have to jump to a different application - and this is where the concept of BIM can dim.
The attached document explains how to make the jump from Revit to Civil and vice versa.
Keep in mind that when the civil surface is imported to Revit, it must be converted before it is back in the BIM world. On the flip-side, a Revit building in Civil 3D is just a block - no BIM in sight.
As future releases of AutoDesk products evolve - conversions and loss of intelligence will be a thing of the past.
Until then we still need to share data. I hope this document narrows the gap.
Revit 2009 and Civil 3D interoperability 2009
Autodesk Impression
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Subscription customers can download Autodesk Impression for free from their Autodesk Subscription website.
Impress your colleagues and clients with compelling presentation-ready graphics created directly from your DWG™ and DWF™ files. Autodesk Impression software is easy to use, saves you time, and recognizes data from your CAD files. Autodesk Impression 2 software is available to AutoCAD®, AutoCAD® Architecture, AutoCAD® Civil 3D®, AutoCAD® Map 3D, AutoCAD® MEP and AutoCAD® Revit Architecture Suite software products’ subscription customers.
Benefits of Impression include:
- Generate Great-Looking Images—Fast. Presentation graphics are about winning business. Your images have to sell your projects. With Impression you can easily apply graphical styles to your CAD files using prebuilt styles or customized styles that you create—from pencil styles to watercolor fills.
- CAD Compatible - Because Impression understands CAD data, the illustration process is much faster than with general-purpose graphics applications. Open any DWG or DWF file in Impression. Impression recognizes blocks, layers, hatches and other CAD-specific data.
- Easy to Learn and Use - Impression is designed so that anyone in the office can learn the application in minutes and can get great results right away.
- Quickly Create Multiple Design Iterations - Quickly update your presentation graphics when designs change or apply your signature style to all the drawings that you produce.
- Integrate Into Existing Workflow - Impression fits easily into your existing workflow and is interoperable with many popular graphics applications.
Posted by Scott Brisk
Drawing Compare Subscription Module for AutoCAD Architecture/MEP 2009
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Drawing Compare is available exclusively for AutoCAD Architecture/MEP 2009 customers participating in the Autodesk Subscription program. Download this module now to get the Drawing Compare feature. The Drawing Compare feature enhances collaboration by using color-coded displays to show items on a drawing that have been changed, added, or deleted by other members of the design team. Changes to items such as styles, fire ratings, or other non-graphical properties are also tracked. Combined with redlining features, such as revision clouds, the Drawing Compare features help make communication across the design team clearer than ever.
The comparison process is like how drawings were compared when they were received on tracing paper or Mylar sheets and then overlaid on the original project drawings using a light table. Drawing Compare displays informational data about the objects in your drawing as well as displaying the graphical changes on the drawing screen.
You select the review drawings and compare each to its corresponding project drawing on the Setup tab of the Drawing Compare palette. After the comparison, you view the results on the Review tab of the Drawing Compare palette and in the drawing area.
Drawing Compare identifies objects that have been modified, added, or removed in the review drawings. Based on the status of the objects (modified, new, or missing), colors are assigned, and a list of the changes is generated.
In the following example, a simple floor plan was modified to show what information Drawing Compare displays during a comparison session. The review drawing shows that changes to the project drawing include moving the lower vertical interior wall segment to the left (resulting in a shorter horizontal interior wall segment), adding an exterior door to the right exterior wall segment, and removing a window from the upper exterior wall segment.
When the drawings are compared, color-coded changes are displayed, based on the type of change.
Information about changes is also displayed in the Object Report List on the Review tab.
Posted by Scott Brisk
AutoCAD MEP 2009 Compatibility with Earlier Releases
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Because of the new enhancements to the software, for example electrical panel database files, in 2009, if you open that 2009 drawing in an earlier release, the older program doesn’t understand the new features, and will give you errors. This will continue with every new version of AutoCAD MEP in the future, so it will be important to stay up to date with the latest release, and make sure everyone is using it.
Revit doesn’t allow you to open a newer project in an older release at all. That eliminates these types of issues of backwards compatibility, or lack thereof.
In 2009, you will not see any warnings or messages when you open a 2009 drawing in an earlier version program. But as soon as you get to a new feature that it doesn’t recognize, you will then get a warning that the drawing is a newer version and might not be compatible. I don’t understand that. It should be displayed just as you open the drawing like in previous years, but it isn’t this year. So be aware if you do work in a prior release program.
Posted by Scott Brisk
AutoCAD MEP 2009 Using Multiple Catalogs
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
In 2009, you can now specify multiple part catalogs for a category. For example, you can specify the MvPart catalog provided with the software and a custom MvPart catalog for the MvPart category. However, if 2 parts in different catalogs have the same ID or the same name, only the part in the catalog that is higher in the list will be displayed during part selection.
I was messing around with this more tonight, and I found out that in order to facilitate two catalogs in the new version of AutoCAD MEP, you need to add all of your custom parts to a new custom catalog; do not add custom parts to the catalogs provided with the software and delete the out of the box content. My custom catalog started from the default catalog, and I deleted the default content and the second catalog didn’t appear in the tool palette. I created a new Catalog, and dragged my custom content into the new catalog, and mapped that new custom catalog to the options catalog path, and now in the tool palette, under add Mechanical Equipment, I can see both catalogs.
Posted by Scott Brisk
Showing Pipe Below a Slab in Revit MEP
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
The issue of hiding pipe that is running under walls and/or slab is a little tricky. At this point, there are two ways that you can show piping as hidden, when it is running under slab. Unfortunately, neither one is really “automatic”.
The following images shows a method of creating a filter using the pipe elevation. So if you go to Visibilty/Graphics, and look at the filter tab, you’ll see a filter created, which shows any pipe as dashed if it is below the elevation of 0′-0″. To create that filter you have to click on the Edit/New… button to create the filter.
Inside the filter tab, you can click ADD, and choose the catagory that your filter is going to apply to, then choose the rule you want to apply to those catagories or objects.
The image below shows the alternate way of displaying “buried” pipe, and that is much more of a manual process. Simply highlight the segment you want to show as hidden, right-click, and select Override by Element. Then you can override the line property of each segment that you want to show as hidden.
As you can see, neither one of these options may be what you were specifically looking for, but these are the workarounds for now.
Posted by Scott Brisk
Revit MEP Coordination Views
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
When you are using either a Mechanical or Electrical view disipline, the view will display those objects darker than the architectural objects or other MEP objects. You can see from this Mechanical 3D view below, the walls are light, and you can see the piping going through it.
If you change the view properties so it is displaying using a coordination disipline instead, the walls will become darker, and the piping will be hidden behind the wall objects. But it will not display the piping with hidden lines.
If you create plan views using Coordination disipline, you can see the pipe that goes through the wall or under a light fixture or another pipe as disappearing.
When in plan mode, and the view set to a mechanical disipline, you can see those pipes passing below other MEP objects as hidden lines, but not shown hidden through the wall objects as shown below.
To do this, you’d probably need to use a basic line tool for this. Perhaps there will be more control provided for this feature in the future. For now the above workaround may help.
Posted by Scott Brisk
Displaying room color fills in section views In Revit 2009 Platform
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
To display the color fills and room objects in section views, you need to enable volume calculations. Follow these steps:
- On the Settings menu, click Area and Volume Computations.
- In the Area and Volume Computations dialog box, under Volume Computations, select the Areas and Volumes option.
Color fills and room objects will now be displayed in section views.
Posted by Scott Brisk
Play It, Sam
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
Many of you already know (and love?) FLEXLM utilities that are needed for network licensing of Autodesk products. Did you also know that there is a utility that comes free with most Autodesk products and can be used for more in-depth license reporting? The utility I’m talking about is SamReport-Lite, by Macrovision.
With this tool you can get a very clear picture of how many licenses are being used and by whom throughout the day. It can help you make decisions as to whether or not you need more licences.
The only trouble is that the documentation that comes on the DVD is not Autodesk-specific and is confusing. People commonly get Java error messages installing off the DVD and just give up.
The following instructions will get you past all the confusion. As long as you know how to install FlexLM, you can get through the document.
Good luck and happy reporting!