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May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Revit Architecture 2008 AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 Also in this issue • CAD manager’s caveat: Protect the CUI

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Page 1: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

May/June 2007

Sponsored by

Key Equipment Finance

‰Revit Structure 2008‰AutoCAD 2008‰AutoCAD Architecture 2008‰Revit Architecture 2008‰AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008

Also in this issue•CADmanager’scaveat:ProtecttheCUI

Page 2: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

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Page 3: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

Peace-of-mind technology so you can concentrate on more important things

For over 15 years, Transoft Solutions Inc. has been providing innovative CAD software fortransportation and civil design professionals. Engineered with safety in mind, our solutions canhelp you reduce the risks inherent in design projects large and small. Plus, they’ll help you meetyour goals more efficiently, leaving you more time to perfect your ‘one that got away’ storyamong other things.

To learn more about our safety oriented, time-saving products, come and visitus at www.transoftsolutions.com/AW

©2007 Transoft Solutions Inc. All rights reserved. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Driving productivity through innovation

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Page 4: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

Tableof Contents

� w w w. A U G I . c o m

EditorialManaging [email protected]

Technical [email protected]

ColumnistsTheCADManager:MarkW.KikerEducation&Training:MattMurphyCustomizing&Programming:LeeAmbrosiusArchitecturalDesktop:MelindaHeavrinAutodeskRevit:ChristopherFoxOntheBackPage:DavidKingsley

Contributing AuthorsDonnieGladfelterDanielHurtubiseEricWing

Art & [email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

AUGI Board of Directors, 2007RichardBinning,PresidentChrisLindner,Vice PresidentBillAdamsMarkKikerMikePerryGlennPopeSteveStaffordDonniaTabor-Hanson

SubscriptionYoucanmanageyourAUGIWorldsubscription,changepreferences,mailingaddress,andotherinformationonlineatwww.AUGI.com/myaugi.Ifyouneedfurtherassistance,[email protected].

AUGIWorld isatrademarkofAutodeskUserGroupInternational(AUGI)www.augi.com.AUGIandAutodeskareregisteredtrademarksofAutodesk,Inc.intheU.S.andothercountries.Allotherbrandnames,productnames,ortrademarksbelongtotheirrespectiveholders.AUGIWorldispublishedbySolidvapor,Inc.,19601JamesRoad,Noblesville,IN4606�.

PublicationsMailAgreement#40733013ReturnUndeliverableCanadianAddressestoStationAPOBox54Windsor,ONN9A6J5Email:[email protected]

©Copyright�007Solidvapor,Inc.Allrightsreserved.

Feature 8

4 The CAD Manager

Managing the Information Glut

6 CAD Manager’s Caveat: Protect the CUI

8 First Look: Revit Structure 2008

12 First Look: AutoCAD Architecture 2008

16 First Look: AutoCAD 2008

18 First Look: Revit Architecture 2008

22 First Look: AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008

28 On the Back Page

The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from!

An examination of some standout features in the 2008 releases from Autodesk

Page 5: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

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Page 6: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

TheCAD Manager

4 w w w. A U G I . c o m

AUGI is obviously an incredible resource for information, training, and dialogs about Autodesk products. But this may present a challenge to some CAD managers. How do you manage all that information that comes into your offices from the outside world? Some may say, “I want to know what my team is exposed to” or “I don’t want my users trying some trick that they found on AUGI (or another source) with our systems.” How can you have an open environment and yet control what happens with all of the information that flows into your firm?

There is so much information out there now, and it is growing. It seems like a new CAD blog starts every week. Blogs, Wikis,

websites, newsletters, magazines, user groups, training events, etc. It is all over the map. Your users have opportunities that never existed even a few years back. Information flows from vendors, resellers, end users, blog posters, forum skulker’s, website creators, casual users, and more. How do you sift through the cacophony of voices nowadays? These voices at best are a fantastic resource. At worst, they are stabs at fixes, adjustments, and repairs without real knowledge of your environment. That is where the concern starts. With so many voices telling your users what is what, how do you manage these whispers into your users’ ears?

Settle into the fact that you cannot and really do not want to stem this flow of in-formation. All of this info on the products you use is actually a benefit to the CAD community. I have found some of the best solutions to my problems by searching the Internet or talking to someone at a user group meeting. The problem is not how much information is out there; the prob-lem is selectively applying it to your envi-

ronment. The problem is getting everyone on the same page relative to when and how we apply the information we have found.

Many of your users are going to do their own research and apply what they have found. In the current information glut economy, users are accustomed to dig-ging their own worms. In fact they may ask and get answers to problems that you don’t even know exist. They may and will ask others before they ask you. They may make changes to their systems without even letting you know. The truth is, that is happening right now and you don’t even know about it. Or, if you know about it, you cannot stop it.

You cannot know it all or control it all. So the concept may be how to make the best of the situation. In general, you need

to create an environment of trust and mu-tual protection.

You should constantly talk about how everyone needs to protect company data and equipment. Nurture an environment of notification. When someone finds some-thing that he thinks will work, encourage him to talk to you BEFORE he applies the fix. Have a solid policy in place that clearly restricts downloads, installs, or ad-justments to your software and systems without prior approval. This will not guar-antee compliance. but will put into place a rule so you can slap a few hands when it is violated. With that in place you can then soften the feeling of restrictiveness so that when someone is tempted to download and try, he will be discouraged (scared) if he doesn’t let you know. You want a balance between fear and respect. People should fear breaking the rules or the system and they should respect your position as some-one who needs to know.

The overarching concern that you need to communicate is that no one knows the ins and outs of your system better than you. No one on the outside world is more flu-ent in the impact of any given change to your overall space. The answers that your users may find are not fine-tuned to your system. They need to know that. They need to know that anything they do to their ma-chines may impact the setup that you have provided to them. The best outcome for them is to share anything they find with you first.

AUGI resourcesLet’s look at each resource that AUGI

provides and use that as an example for the information opportunities that come to your firm and how you can manage this flow of potential problem-solving solutions.

There are many unfiltered voices yap-ping on the Internet, but AUGI is not one

Managing the Information Glut

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�M a y/ J u n 2 0 0 7

of them. AUGI’s online resources—the Forums—are created and maintained by a pool of “experts” who monitor and manage the online conversations. So this may be the most valuable place to get good data. Encourage your people to go to reliable sources, such as AUGI and Autodesk, for their answers. Discourage the unfettered and random information you may get with a general Google search.

• BLAUGI.com (the AUGI blog)Blogs provide a wealth of timely infor-

mation. The speed at which information flows through bloggers is often astounding. Bloggers, who are not limited by publish-ing processes and dates, post 24/7, world-wide. This outlet is often where you hear about the first impressions of software. BLAUGI provides a link to the AUGI re-sources online. It is often the place where announcements are made. Collections of lists that refer to new releases are available on BLAUGI, which is an easy way to find information on 2008 Autodesk products.

• AUGI Forums and Product CommunitiesThe best of the best are here. Make

sure you and your users read the complete thread of any conversation. Sometimes the first answer to a posted question is not the final answer. By reading all of the conver-sations you will get the complete picture. These online conversations and postings are filtered and refined. They take into account several topics that may touch on the conversation. You get a back-and-forth conversation about the complete issue. You can post your questions, state your con-cerns, join conversations, correct those who are veering off track, and supply answers to others. All of this under the watchful eye of the forum moderators.

CAD managers should become very flu-ent in the use of the forums. Searching and posting are your friends. Become comfort-able with finding information and filtering the information you find. Again, no one knows your system better than you. You may even see the postings of your employees in the forums—if you know their “handle.” This might be highly instructive and will alert you if you need to take a con-versation “offline.”

• ATP classesThe cream of the crop provides this on-

line training for free. Go online early and feed your team the information it needs. Download the handouts and attend the classes. You need to know what the teach-ers are saying so you can run interference if they suggest something that won’t work

in your office.There are many training sites apart from

AUGI that provide online tools such as vid-eos, webcasts, webinars, and more. These can help provide introductory training for some of your team.

• CAD CampsBottom line… go to them. They are

some of the best regional, one-day events around. I think they are fantastic. You get to rub elbows and be taught by some of the best nationally known speakers and local talent. You get to speak directly with other users and CAD managers. There is a custom CAD Manager track. These are proven teachers working in a proven en-vironment for maximum training. Take a team from your office. Huddle up after the event and debrief your people. Have them tell you what they learned. Better yet, have them write it down or share the handouts with you. Have them discuss what tricks they heard before they go telling others.

Resellers often offer these types of events. Go to as many as you can. They provide valuable input that can assist you in thinking through the software issues you may face. Take the time to talk to others at the event. Make some good contacts.

• Local chapters (user groups)Face-to-face meetings with other end

users are so incredibly valuable. They pro-vide everyone with a sounding board. They provide a gut check on software perspec-tives. They provide the benchmark for your progress. If you attend make sure that at several times during the meeting you have an “SOH” check. SOH is “show of hands.” Ask questions such as “Show of hands—how many of you have upgraded to the latest re-lease?” “Show of hands – how many of you have are using XYZ software?” These allow you to quickly gauge what your industry is doing. Some groups have a more formal way of setting benchmarks by setting up surveys.

• AUGI publicationsAUGI publications consist of AUGI-

World and AUGI HotNews. AUGIWorld, a bimonthly print publication and AUGI HotNews, delivered via email, are both re-viewed by technical editors who check on each tip or trick to see if it is correct and worded exactly as needed. This provides an extra layer of validity to the information you receive.

Non-AUGI infoAny publication you receive should again

be filtered for application to your environ-

ment. If it is a trusted source, then you can circulate the article to your team. Highlight the most important areas that you want to reinforce. If you want to get formal, cre-ate a routing list that each person initials when he or she is done and then passes it on to the next person on the list. Your name should be the last one on the list with a re-turn date. When everyone is done it comes back to you and you can see who initialed it. Go back and discuss how to implement the suggestions with those on the list.

Vendor and marketing hypeThe gushing reviews. The fabulous

demos. The glossy flyers. It all adds up to marketing hype. Managing this may be the most important thing you do. As CAD m anager, it is your responsibility to provide the choreography to the chorus line of commercial messages. Help your end users and company management separate fact from hype.

I am not saying that all of what the sales-people are saying is false; quite the contrary. They are providing input into the many fea-tures and possible solutions that their prod-ucts bring to the table. But they do not know your environment. They are not privy to what you know about your firm, your mar-ket, your people, your clients, or your soft-ware portfolio.

Make sure that you can answer the “why aren’t we using this software?” questions. One way to do this is to tap into resources such as those mentioned above and to lock into AUGI offerings to get the full story on software tools. Finding info on AUGI won’t make the decision for you, but it will pro-vide fresh perspectives.

ConclusionIn a nutshell, you should think

through how you can better manage the overwhelming avalanche of information that circles your users and company man-agement. Don’t try to restrict the flow be-cause you cannot, so try to channel it into a positive stream of data that you and they can really use.

Mark W. Kiker is a member of the AUGI Board of Di-rectors. He is the General Editor of BLAUGI and also publishes caddmanager.com, the CADD Managers Journal, and the caddma-

nager.com blog. He is currently Director of Technology for HMC Architects in Ontario, California, and can be reached at [email protected]

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6 w w w. A U G I . c o m

So now that we know the Custom User Interface (CUI) is pretty much wide open to all users, this brings up a real problem, doesn’t it? The standards you have strug-gled to implement are now public domain. Like I said in the last article, the CUI is a wonderful thing if treated properly. If not, your CAD manager job just grew exponen-tially. Why? Because each user can create his own unique problem.

“This thing is NOT working properly,” she said as I watched in sheer horror. “Watch… I drag this entire menu over to this menu…and it…wait, I dragged it to the wrong thing. Well, last time I put this menu inside of the other menu, and my right-click stopped working so I made a new workspace. That kind of worked, but not really, so I deleted this stuff right here and transferred the acad.cui to here.”

As she talked, she was moving items around with that halting, stabbing mo-tion people sometimes do when they are trying to impress me with how quick they can click around. I was thinking to myself, “How can I quarantine this individual from doing harm to herself and possibly others?” It would be nice to force my custom menus to be read-only and give individuals a “play-cui.” Yeah… that’s it!

The steps are simple. 1) Make a new CUI file 2) Make it the enterprise CUI (read-only) 3) Make a new user CUI4) Distribute the CUIs in a controlled

(server) environment.- If you have an existing .mns file, put it in a “findable” location. I strongly recommend putting it on your server where all of the users can access it

- If you do not, open notepad and type the following ***menugroup=AUGI_company_Interface

- Save it to the “findable” server directo-ry as AUGI_company_Interface.mnu

- In AutoCAD, type menuload

- Browse for the .mnu or .mns file you created

- Load that menu after it has been found (see Figure 1)

- Once AutoCAD loads it, it will create a CUI.

- Open Notepad again and type ***menugroup=AUGI_user_CUI

- Save it to the same location

- Menuload

- Browse and load it into AutoCAD (see Figure 2)

- In AutoCAD, go to Tools > Op-tions > Files tab

- Expand the Customization Files branch (see Figure 3)

- It is broken down into two parts: Main (Which will be your acad.cui) and Enterprise. The CUI you specify for the enter-prise will be read-only to the end user. A decision needs to be made here. You can either make your custom CUI the main customization file (allow-ing editing) and the acad CUI enterprise (read-only) or vice-versa. I recommend making the acad CUI the main custom-ization file. This way when you reinstall AutoCAD or redeploy the image, you can start with a clean slate

- Drill into the Enterprise Cus-tomization File branch

- Click on the under Enter-prise Customization File

- To the right, click the browse button

- Find the AUGI_company_Inter-face.cui file

- Apply and OK

- Type CUI at the command prompt

CAD Manager’s Caveat:Protect the CUI

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Page 9: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

- Under Customizations in all CUI files, show All Customization files

- The tree view will be expanded. Mini-mize all of the drill-downs so your CUI looks like this:

No clutter, just a straight look at what is ultimately most important: these two menus. That’s it. The rest is there to safely appease the end users. A good CAD man-ager knows that standards must be flexible or users will revolt and never adhere to them. This is a good way of saying, “Here are the company’s system settings. If you want to customize, do it in this file right here.”

- Drill into the Acad menu (in my exam-ple I am using Architectural Desktop so mine is ADT)

- Find Partial CUI files

- Your AUGI_User_Interface should be there

- If it is NOT there, at the top of the dialog you will see a yellow folder icon Click it, and browse for the AUGI_USER_INTERFACE.CUI file

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Note: Obviously, you cannot modify the enterprise CUI file. On YOUR com-puter, when you need to make changes to the enterprise file you drop the enterprise status. Simply null the path out in the op-tions dialog. You may have to reload it into your system.

- In the enterprise CUI, click on LISP files

- Load all of your LISP files using this method rather than in an external LISP file. This is a very stable method

So, good luck setting up your customiza-tions. If you encounter any problems or have any suggestions, I want to hear about it. You can email me at [email protected].

Eric Wing has been in the building, architectural de-sign, and structural engi-neering field for 15 years and has been managing, teaching, and presenting Autodesk applications for

10 of them. Eric’s activities within AUGI in-clude: ATP Director, Survey Manager, ATP instructor, AUGI HotNews columnist, and AUGIWorld columnist. He serves as an Ap-plication Engineer for IMAGINiT, a large Au-todesk reseller. He can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].

Page 10: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

Shape editing for slabs, roofs, floors

One of the best features of Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2008 is definitely this one. We now have the incredible power of creating warped slabs allowing us an even easier documentation phase.

This new tool allows us to modify the surface of a slab by adding new points to the surface while specifying new elevations for those points, either relative to the slab or not.

For the tool to be available, your slab must be flat, horizontal, and have only straight boundaries. If it’s a roof it can’t be attached to any other roof nor can it be a curtain roof.

Once you have a slab that meets those criteria, you can select it and the option bar will display the new slab editing tools.

Creating the warpThe first option you can use to create

warp slabs is the create point one. With this option you can freely add

points anywhere on the surface of the slab while specifying its elevation, either relative to the surface of the slab or in absolute elevation.

You can create multiple points to achieve the desired design. I suggest using a ref-erence plane for precise positioning; how-ever, note that you won’t be able to lock the points to reference plane (see Figure 2).

The second option you can use is Split

Lines. In this case you draw a straight line where you can control the end point loca-tions and, more importantly, elevations. Note that split line can be lock-aligned to a reference plane (see Figure 3).

The third option of warping your slab is with the pick support tool. This will al-low you to automatically create the needed points to get your slab seated properly on a beam.

Unfortunately the slab is not attached to the beam by using the pick support tool.

Start by selecting your slab, then from the option bar select the pick support tool. From there pick any beam and your slab will react accordingly.

Modifying the warpTo modify a warp slab you can use the

first icon, “Modify sub-element.” That will allow you to select any element and apply changes to it.

You can also modify any sub-element by selecting it (using TAB) you will then see a temporary dimension appear; apply the needed changes.

The structural analytical model always stays at the slab surface.

Variable thickness for slabs, roofs, and floors

Along with sloping slabs comes the ability to have variable thicknesses in your slab components.

Here is our previous example without a variable component in section view.

We can clearly see the metal deck follow the slope of the slab.

Here is how to make the concrete vari-able. In the structure of the slab object you

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Figure 1 – Slab Editing Tools

Revit Structure 2008

Now in its fifth version, Revit for structural engineers comes up with a new name, Revit Structure 2008, and a wealth of new functionality

Figure 2 – Using points

Figure 4 – No variable component

Figure 3 – Using Split line

� w w w. A U G I . c o m

Page 11: Revit Structure 2008 AutoCAD 2008 AutoCAD Architecture ...May/June 2007 Sponsored by Key Equipment Finance ‰ Revit Structure 2008 ‰ AutoCAD 2008 ‰ AutoCAD Architecture 2008 ‰

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10 w w w. A U G I . c o m

need to check which component you want variable. Note that you can only have one variable component by object type. Figure 6 shows the result.

Dependent views Ever end up with a project that won’t fit

on a single sheet? I guess it happens to all of us.

Prior to Revit Structure 2008, we had to duplicate the view, adjust the crop region, and manually coordinate annotation be-tween both views.

Those days are over. We now have a new tool call Dependent Views. This new type of view is a view that stays coordinated with its parent view.

Prior to duplicating a view you will want to make use of another new tool, Match-line, which allows you to create a visual aid to split your project. You will find this new category under Annotation of the Visibility/Graphics dialog box. The weight, color, and pattern can be modified.

Note that Matchline has a Top and Bot-tom constraint for viewing purposes, allow-ing you to easily manage their display on each and every level in case the building levels might change. Their display can be managed in each view.

You will find these new dependent views within the Duplicate View options of the right-click menu (see Figure 7).

Once you duplicate a view as a depen-dent one, you will find it right under its parent view in the Project Browser, which makes it easy to identify.

You can then use crop region to align the Matchline and put them on sepa-rate sheets.

To help us even more in this process we now have the ability to use a second type

of crop region, the Annotation crop Re-gion. This tool is actually available for any view, but gets activated automatically when you create a dependent view. You can find the check box under View Properties. Note: now View and Element are at the bottom of the contextual menu, making it more accessible.

When activated, it will prevent any anno-tations that are outside its boundaries from

showing. You can also control graphically and independently from the Crop Re-gion the location of

the Annotation crop Region.Here comes the real power of the fea-

ture. Every element—even annotations that you will add to any of the views (parent or dependent)—will stay coordinated with the other views. That means that those ele-ments will appear in each view.

The navigation between dependent views and the primary view can obvi-ously be done within the Project Browser, but it can also be done using the Crop Region itself.

From the Primary View, right-click the Crop Boundary and select Go to View. From a dependent view, select the crop boundary and select Go to Primary view. If you want to keep using the symbol mecha-

Figure 7 – Duplicate as a Dependent.

Figure 8 – Dependent view in the project browser

Figure 5 – Assign a variable component

Figure 6 – Variable component result

First Look: Revit Structure 2008

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11M a y/ J u n 2 0 0 7

nism for navigation, you can actually use a new tool, View Reference, which is found on the View menu. This tool allows you to add a tag to each dependent view in the primary view.

Once you have your dependent view set up, you can even convert those to indepen-dent views. Simply right-click the depen-

dent view from the Project Browser and pick Convert to Independent View.

Say “so long” to manual coordination!

Structural parametric trusses

Trusses are a big part of any structural project. In this new Revit release, the use and creation of trusses is a lot easier.

The first thing that you will notice is that they now have a truss tool under the Basic or Modeling rollout of the design bar. This will allow you to create a truss based on span and a layout.

When adding a truss you simply pick the start and end of your truss. When you snap to beams the truss will be automatically attach to beam. If any changes appear in the beam layout, the truss span will be ad-justed accordingly.

The layout of the Truss Family is defined within the family, which also means that they are built out of a Family Template. That makes it easier to reproduce or man-age a library (see Figure 9).

Once you get to the Family Editor you will find three tools, one for Top Chord, one for Bottom Chord, and one for the Web. Those are defined with lines. You will then assign structural members to each element within your project. This is why in the truss family you are creating a layout and not the truss itself. Given that this lay-out can then be easily reused, it makes the truss tool a clever one.

Note that trusses now also belong to a new category in Visibility/Graphic and Ob-ject Styles.

You will find that Revit Structure 2008 is more then just those new features high-lighted here. It now is a perfect tool for de-signing any building.

Daniel Hurtubise is the CAD/BIM Manager for Burt Hill in Dubai. He can be reached at [email protected].

Figure 9 – The Truss Family Editor

First Look: Revit Structure 2008

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Drawing modificationThe Properties Palette now has a new

Display tab to allow for easier editing of the display properties of an object. You can edit display properties for individual com-ponents directly on an object. The changes will be applied immediately for an interac-tive workflow, allowing for quick on-the-fly corrections.

To do this, begin by opening the Properties palette and click the Display tab on the side. Next, se-lect an object in the drawing area using the Select Component but-

ton at the bottom of the Display tab (see Figure 1). You will notice that the current display representation is listed under the General category on the Display tab (see Figure 2). You can then select or enter a new value for any of the display properties you wish to change. The changes will be immediately visible in the drawing area.

In some instances, you may want your changes to apply to other display repre-sentations that are at the same level shown by the Display Controlled By value. To do this, click the worksheet button on the title bar of the General category and select the display representations where you want your changes to apply, then click OK (see Figures 1 and 2).

Generation and association of spaces

In previous releases of ADT, you could add spaces to a drawing by using the Properties Palette or a dialog box that would display when you were generating spaces. Space creation with ACA 2008 is now a unified process, creating a more efficient

way to tag floor plans with room areas (see Figure 3). This pro-cess allows you to use the same space tools to both draw spaces and to generate them au-tomatically using line-work or by using AEC objects as boundaries (see Figure 4). Because of this, all spaces in a drawing can be created at one time. You can do this by selecting the de-sired boundary objects and then simply gener-ate all possible spaces using the command line option. Resulting spaces will be either flat 2D, extruded, or freeform shapes.

Spaces are now au-tomatically associated with objects when the space is generated. Because of this, moving a wall or linework will result in the space automatically updating, along with any information in schedules or space tags associated with the spaces. This is a great time-saver!

AutoCAD Architecture 2008

Figure 2

EveryreleasefromAutodeskgetsmoreandmoreexcitingandIcan’t

waiteachyeartoseewhat’snewandimproved.ThisyearAutodeskhas

dubbedourmuch-lovedsoftwarewithanewname—ArchitecturalDesktop

isnowAutoCADArchitecture(ACA)�008.Namechangeaside,it’sstill

thesamegreatsoftwarewe’veallcometoknowandlove,butwithmore

improvementsandsomegreatnewfeatures.Let’stakealookatthelatest

andgreatest:ACA�008!

Figure 1

12 w w w. A U G I . c o m

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To top it off, the spaces tool palette con-tent is much improved, as all spaces come into the drawing color-coded now using a pantone color along with a solid hatch (see Figure 5). This feature makes spaces easier to understand when two or more spaces are of different styles.

Space area calculation standards

With ACA 2008, we can automati-cally determine the offsets between space boundaries by using an area calculation

standard that is specified in the drawing. These space definitions can include offsets from bound-ing elements that are based on preset or user-defined rules and are calculated based on the area calculation standard.

Area calculation standards included in ACA 2008 include BOMA (USA), DIN (Germany), and SIS (Sweden) and can be found under the AEC Object Settings tab under the Options menu (see Figure 6). These stan-dards allow for the same space to have areas measured differently,

depending on the purpose of the measure-ment. Governments and standards orga-nizations each require specific rules for area calculation and space categorization. There are some standards for calculating space area that consider if the space is on the exterior of the building or if adjacent spaces are used. The calculation standards that are in AutoCAD Architecture 2008

13M a y/ J u n 2 0 0 7

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will allow you to classify your spaces both by use and by considering adjacent spaces when calculating space areas. This is a very handy tool.

Annotation scalingIn prior releases of ADT, annotations

were scaled properly when inserted into the drawing and needed to be manually up-dated when the scale was changed. Now, in ACA 2008, annotations will scale properly at any time that you change the drawing or viewport scale. This is a great time-saver!

This means you can set up a view to plot at one scale, drag it from model space to paper space, and then change the scale for paper space. The annotation will automati-cally adjust to fit the newly selected scale. The same view can be used multiple times on a sheet at different scales. The dimen-sions and marks will scale to the view, as appropriate (see Figures 7 and 8).

Tool palettesAs you open your ACA 2008 tool palette

for the first time, you will notice a small difference (see Figure 9). This may be a little change, but it is a great time-saver. At the bottom of each palette, there is a “more content” icon that takes you directly to the content browser in the appropriate category of content (see Figure 9). In other words, if you need a door style that’s not on your doors palette, click on the “More Doors” tool and the content browser’s doors section will open and you can select a door style from there. No more opening the browser and having to drill down to the doors section!

New commandsACA 2008 has implemented several new

commands. Here is a quick list of some of the new commands and their functions:

AnnotativeDwg will mark the drawing

as annotative when the whole drawing is being used as a block.

AnnoUpdate is used to update selected annotative objects to allow those particular objects to participate in the current scale.

AnnoReset is used for locations of anno-tative objects that are scale-dependent.

AnnoAutoScale is used to add the cur-rent scale of the drawing to annotative ob-jects to allow those objects to participate in the current scale.

AnnoAllVisible is used to display all an-notative objects regardless of the current annotation scale.

AecChangeDisplayTabStatus is used to show/hide the Display Tab in the Prop-erties palette.

SelectComponent will allow for the se-lection of a single component in an object.

ObjectScale is used to access the scale list for selected objects so that the user can manage the object’s scales.

DisplayTabWarning is used to restore all the warning messages that were previ-ously turned off.

ConclusionACA 2008 has a lot of new and improved

features, which makes this release ideal for upgrading. We have barely scratched the surface of what’s new and improved. Of course, don’t take my word for it. Check it out!

Melinda Heavrin is a CAD Coordinator for Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Kentucky. She can be reached for comments and questions at [email protected].

14 w w w. A U G I . c o m

Figure 7 Figure 8

Figure 9

First Look: AutoCAD Architecture 2008

Figure 6

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Autodesk, AutoCAD, and Autodesk Inventor are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifi cations at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.© 2007 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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16 w w w. A U G I . c o m

Annotation, on a new scaleAutoCAD 2008 software’s Annotation

Scaling feature solves one of the most frus-trating issues one encounters when working with drawings that contain viewports of dif-ferent scales on a layout. Some of you might dimension in paper space (on a layout) to avoid the issue of having dimensions and text with varying heights in different viewports, or you simply create multiple text and di-mension objects that are on different layers and which are displayed in different view-ports as necessary. Both of these methods make a drawing more complicated than it should be and this is where the new Annota-tion Scaling feature steps into the spotlight.

Annotation Scaling spans across many other features in AutoCAD so it can take some time to fully understand how it all works, but if you currently create multiple text objects or dimensions using different heights and scales to show dimensions and text in different scaled viewports, you will want to take advantage of this feature. An-notation Scaling is intertwined with the text (single and multiline), text styles, di-mensions, dimension styles, multileaders, multileader styles, blocks, and hatches.

Obtaining annotation ZenAnnotation Scaling might seem like a

complex feature to learn, but it doesn’t need to be, as you don’t have to implement Annotation Scaling for all of your annota-tion objects in your drawing. The following set of steps explains how to implement An-notation Scaling for text objects by creating an annotative text style.1. Display the Text Style dialog box (click

Format>>Text Style).2. In the Text Style dialog box (see Figure

1), select an existing text style from the Styles list or create a new text style by clicking New.

3. In the middle of the dialog box, check Annotative. When you check Annota-tive, a small icon appears to the left of the text style in the Styles list to indicate that it is an annotative text style.

4. If you want your text to have a fixed height, enter the height in the Paper Text Height text box. Typically, you will leave this value set to 0 if you want to specify the height of the text as it is be-ing created and to ensure that the text height for dimensions is set correctly if the text style is used with dimension styles as well.

5. Click Apply and then Close to save the changes to the text styles.

Once you have a text style that is defined as annotative, you can then apply the up-dated or new style to existing text objects in your drawing or create new text objects using the style. The first time you create an annotative object in a drawing you will be prompted for the annotative scale with which you want the objects to be created. The annotative scale that you set will be the default scale in which annotation objects will be displayed.

You can control the annotation scale which a new object is assigned using the Annotation Scale list in the status bar of the application or drawing window before you create the object. The current annotation scale also controls which annotation objects are displayed in the drawing. Only the an-notative objects assigned the selected scale from the Annotation Scale list are displayed in the drawing or viewport, along with all annotation objects that are not annotative. When an annotation object is assigned an annotation scale, a special icon is displayed next to the crosshairs in the drawing to in-dicate which objects are annotative.

To add additional scales to an annotative text object, follow the steps below.

1. Select the annotative text object that you want to add additional scales to and right-click.2. From the shortcut menu, select Annotative Object Scale>>Add/De-lete Scales.3. In Annotation Object Scale dialog box, click Add.4. In Add Scales to Ob-ject dialog box, select the scales to add to the object to control which scales the text will be displayed for

and click OK twice. You can select more than one scale at a time by holding down the CTRL key when selecting scales in the Scale List. The scales that are dis-played in the Scale List are controlled by the Edit Scale List dialog box (click Format>>Scale List).Creating an annotative object in your

drawing is just as easy as making an an-notative text style. To create an annotative dimension style, check Annotative in the

AutoCAD 2008

This new release is full of 2D drafting and annotation improvements. A couple of the most significant features that can be found in the latest release of AutoCAD are Annotation Scaling and Multileaders

Figure 1

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17M a y/ J u n 2 0 0 7

3dx_augi-3rd-FF.indd 1 4/12/07 12:21:33 PM

Create New Dimension Style dialog box or check Annotative on the Fit tab. As you create a new block you can check Annota-tive to designate if the geometry scales are based on an assigned annotative scale; the same goes for creating attribute definitions and hatch objects. You can use the Prop-erties palette to enable annotative scaling for an annotation object by setting its An-notative property to Yes, and then add the scales to the annotation object using its An-notative Scale property in the Properties palette that is displayed after the Annota-tive property is set to Yes.

After you have assigned scales to your annotative objects, you can see how the ob-jects look by changing the current annota-tion scale for the drawing. You should see that annotation objects disappear when you select a scale that isn’t assigned to the an-notation objects in your drawing. To view annotation objects even when they are not assigned the current annotation scale of the drawing, you can click the Annotation Vis-ibility toggle on the status bar. The new con-trols on the status bar include Lock/Unlock Viewport toggle, Viewport Scale list, Anno-tation Scale list, Annotation Visibility toggle, and Automatically Add Scales toggle.

To control the annotation scale used for a viewport, follow the steps below.1. After you complete the drawing and

have assigned the appropriate annota-tion scales to the annotation objects that you want to be displayed with differ-ent scales, then you need to adjust your drawing for plotting.

2. If you are plotting from model space, you select the annotation scale from the Anno-tation Scale list on the status bar and make sure Annotation Visibility is turned off.

If you are plotting from a layout, which is going to be the most common way of working with a drawing that is using An-notation Scaling, you select the viewport for which you want to set scaling and choose the appropriate scale from the Annotation Scale list on the status bar. You will also need to set the scale for the viewport as well.

3. Once the drawing is set up, you plot it just like you normally would.

Leading the way with multileaders

Multileaders is a new feature that im-proves on the QLEADER command, but introduces a number of new commands to achieve the new functionality. With multi-leaders, you can have a single callout with a number of leaders that point to different features of your drawings, or you can have

multiple block callouts with a single leader. Multileaders take advantage of other new annotation and dimension features such as Annotation Scaling and Dimension Breaks.

Multileaders and the content they have act like a single object, so the content (text or block) of the leader is part of the multil-eader object making it easier to move/copy the leader and its attached content unlike leaders in previous releases. The other ad-vantage of a multileader being a single ob-ject with its content is the fact that you can use grips to adjust the leader locations, land-ing length, and the position of the content. Figure 2 shows a multileader used to indi-cate the radius of two fillets in a drawing.

Unlike lead-ers that you could create in previous re-leases of Auto-CAD, multile-aders use styles to control their f o r m a t t i n g .

These styles are created and managed in the Multileader Style Manager dialog box. From the Multileader Style Manager dialog box, you can create a new style or select an existing style to modify using the Modify Multileader Style dialog box. In this dialog box, you can refine the settings a Multileader style has such as leader for-matting, leader structure (number of seg-ments, scaling, and landing options), and the type of content for the leader (block, text, or none).

ConclusionAutoCAD 2008 brings many new fea-

tures to the table for the drafter, whether you work primarily in 2D or 3D. The An-notation Scaling and Multileader features are huge steps forward in the capabilities of annotating your drawings faster, but it doesn’t stop there. There are many other features that will benefit you. If you are an AutoCAD user and haven’t upgraded in re-cent years, you will find a few features in this release that will have a huge impact on your everyday productivity.

Lee Ambrosius is the own-er and operator of Hyper-Pics, LLC an AutoCAD Consulting/Training com-pany located in Wisconsin, USA. Lee can be reached via e-mail at lee_ambrosi-

[email protected]; other contact informa-tion can be found on his Website at http://www.hyperpics.com or his Blog at http://hyperpics.blogs.com.

Figure 2

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1� w w w. A U G I . c o m

Editor’s note:ThisissueofAUGIWorldisconcentrating

onnewreleases,withspecialextra-lengtharticles.Revithasgrownfromoneproduct to three, renamed thisyear Revit Architecture, RevitStructure, and Revit MEP. Futurereleases will be designated byrelease year, not version num-ber, in order to avoid possibleconfusion about version com-patibility.

This article will concentrateon Revit Architecture �008. Besure to check out the accompa-nying article by Daniel Hurtubiseon Revit Structure—most of thenewfeaturesor improvementsweintroduceinourcolumnsareplat-form-wide.

--Chris Fox, AUGI Revit Editor

What’s in a name?Well, humble Revit Building has

elevated its tone just a little beginning this year—it’s now Revit Architecture. I wonder, can we users who are not archi-tects raise our billing rates just a little?

Besides the name change, not much in the way of new architectural objects, com-ponents, or tools are evident in the new release, not that this is a bad thing. As you will see, there are plenty of other improve-ments that will affect how you work.

About the only change that affects strict-ly architectural components is in sched-ules: You can now schedule wall sweeps. When you create a new schedule, there is a wall sweeps category in the New Schedule dialog. Integral wall sweeps, which are part of the wall type definition, are not indepen-dently schedulable.

See the article by Daniel Hurtubise on Revit Structure for a look at new function-

ality in slabs. You can now have a slab with a flat base and sloping or indented top. Daniel also covers a new category of View, called Dependent.

There are new properties for Links and Groups. These new properties mean that you can share models, or parts of models, without having to go so far as to set up Worksets. Those improvements are worth a future article on their own.

In this article I’ll cover improvements in visibility controls and graphics. You now have much more precise control over hid-ing individual elements, which everyone will find useful. You can set color fill prop-

erties that were not possible before, and there are new adjustments you can make to views on sheets.

Visibility and graphicsThe first change in visibility appears on

the View Control Bar at the bottom of the screen. There are now two toggles for the crop region of the active view, and a Re-veal Hidden Elements control next to the Hide control.

The two crop region toggles mean you can show the view crop and actually have

What you don’t see is what you get: Visibility and graphics in Revit Architecture 2008

Figure 1 – New View Controls

Revit Architecture 2008

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19M a y/ J u n 2 0 0 7

it crop the view with separate clicks, as shown below.

There is also an Annotation Crop Re-gion property for non-perspective views, which controls the visibility of annotations that extend past the model crop region. If the annotation crop touches an anno-tation object, it hides the whole item, as shown below.

In the upper part of the image, the anno-tation crop is below the dimension string. When it is dragged over the dimension, the entire dimension hides.

Here’s an odd and interesting property of the View Crop region—you can select it and apply rotation to the view. The rota-tion value you use does not appear in the View Properties, so there is no way to reset it numerically. The rotation will persist if you duplicate the view and when the view is placed on a sheet. There is also a right click option to Reset Crop. This last option is new; the rotation ability is in release 9. Try it!

Hiding in plain sightView Hide has been greatly enhanced.

You can hide individual elements or cat-egories as a right-click option.

You do not open the Visibility/Graphics dialog to reveal individually hidden ele-ments. The new light bulb icon at the far right of the View Control Bar is a toggle that will reveal hidden elements in a view, so that you can select and unhide them as desired. Note the colored border that serves a reminder of the toggle.

The right-click menu options for se-lected objects now include a Graphics Override option, by Element or Category. Activating this option opens the Visibility/Graphics dialog, where you can apply half-tone, transparency, or alternate colors and lineweights. The visibility dialog now has columns for patterns in both projected and cut items in a view.

Figure 2 –The crop region for this view is displayed, but does not crop the model.

Figure 4 –Hide Element is available at the cursor.

Figure 5 –The light bulb toggle shows hidden elements. With the hidden wall selected, the right-click menu now has an Unhide in View option.

Figure 6 –Selecting a roof lets you make roofs transparent.

Figure 3 –The annotation crop region can display or hide dimensions separately from the model crop.

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The Temporary Hide/Isolate control has been improved as well. Once you select items and use the Hide/Isolate options, the view window shows a cyan border. Select-ing the View Control Bar toggle again gives you the option to apply your Hide/Isolate choices to the view. You can then use the Revel Hidden Elements light bulb icon to bring back hidden items.

Color my worldFilled regions have been improved and

augmented in Revit Architecture 2008, and color fills have, well, filled out.

Solid fills can now be transparent. There is no longer a No Pattern option for filled regions. A Masking Region tool has been added to the Drafting Tab of the Design Bar. There is no pattern you can assign to a Masking Region when creating it or by using its Properties. You can apply Graphic Overrides by Element or Category to both filled regions and masking regions. This lets you make a masking region with a line pattern on it. I like the new ability to make a transparent solid filled region halftone, as shown in the following figure. Beware: if you make a filled region transparent in the Element Graphics Overrides dialog, it disappears altogether.

Color Fills have been separated into Col-or Schemes and Color Scheme Legends. Color Schemes are View Properties, so you can create as many as you wish and apply them to views. Color Scheme Legends have annotation tag properties, so you can specify swatch sizes and text fonts, reorder values, and choose whether or not to display the scheme title. You can set color schemes to display in background or foreground mode.

Room with the viewElement Properties and View Properties

are now listed separately on the right-click menu. This should eliminate some confu-sion, particularly when you are trying to modify viewports on sheets.

When views have been placed on sheets, there are two new properties you can make use of. Select a viewport and the Options Bar displays the Rotation on Sheet view property that you can then adjust without having to open the View Properties dialog.

You can now activate a view on a sheet and access a Pan option that lets you shift the view within the crop region, if one has been applied. This affects the original view as well. The following illustration shows an

activated view with the Pan option selected, and that same view after the pan has moved it within the crop region.

That’s our first look at Revit Architecture 2008. I hope this gives you a feel for the enhance-ments and new controls for visibility, graphics, and views that are com-ing your way!

Chris Fox is the Revit edi-tor for AUGIWorld, and has written numerous ar-ticles on Revit Building and Revit Systems. Chris re-cently moved from the US to Australia and is leading

training classes in Revit through corporate, collegiate, and technical school contacts there. You can reach him at [email protected].

20 w w w. A U G I . c o m

Figure 9 –A named Color Scheme applied to a plan view.

Figure 10 – View Rotation now shows without opening a dialog.

Figure 11 – You can pan within a view from a sheet.

Figure 8 –A solid fill created as transparent and made halftone using a right-click override.

Figure 7 –Three walls have been hidden in this view using Hide/Isolate. There is now an option to make this permanent.

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Coming to a city near you!Charlotte,NC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May3Tampa,FL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May10Houston,TX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .May15Denver,CO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May�4Phoenix,AZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June5SanDiego,CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June7Honolulu,HI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June�7Singapore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July19Melbourne,AU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July�4London,UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September5-6LittleRock,AR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .September11StLouis,MO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September18Essen,DE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September18W.PalmBeach,FL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September�0Hamburg,DE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September�0Indianapolis,IN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September�5Leipzig,DE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September�5Tulsa,OK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September�7Stuttgart,DE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September�7MexicoCity,MX........................Sep/OctNewDelhi,IN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sep/OctSaoPaulo,BR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sep/OctWien,DE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .October�Zurich,CH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October4StPaul,MN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October9Dallas,TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October11Baltimore,MD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .October16Jacksonville,FL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .October18Boston,MA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .October�3Detroit,MI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .October�5Portland,OR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November1Birmingham,AL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November8Vancouver,BC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November13Toronto,Ontario. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November15Schedule is subject to change.

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22 w w w. A U G I . c o m

A quick peek under the hood will soon reveal that many of your long-time Civil 3D wishes are now a command. Regardless of your current design software, AutoCAD® Civil 3D 2008 introduces a number of new features that both current and prospective Civil 3D users will find exciting. The fea-ture set includes some expected enhance-ments such as better drawing performance, but also some atypical enhancements truly aimed at making Civil 3D 2008 the release civil users begin choosing Civil 3D as their design software of choice.

DocumentationOf course the most powerful software in

the world is only as powerful as its users. Moreover, it’s no secret that Civil 3D and its predecessor Land Development Desk-top are vastly different. These differences can prove intimidating, and let’s face it, can prevent users from migrating over to Civil 3D. Accessible from the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 Help menu is the new “Moving from Land Desktop to Civil 3D (PDF).” While this is not a “new feature” in the conventional sense, it does without a doubt prove an invaluable resource in making the connection between the two platforms.

Increased performanceNo one likes waiting on software. Recog-

nizing that “performance enhancements” have been on the new features list for near-ly every release of Civil 3D, one can’t help but question the validity of the claim.

It’s obviously difficult to pinpoint every enhancement, but from startup to general everyday tasks, Civil 3D 2008 seems to deliver its claims of better performance. Of course one thing no other release of

Civil 3D has ever had to contend with is Windows Vista. Running Civil 3D 2007 on Windows Vista is not impossible, but it can prove tricky for the weary user. Although most users are likely still running Windows XP, those currently running, or looking to upgrade to, Windows Vista will be happy to know Civil 3D 2008 does in fact run with-out having to make any sort of configura-tion changes.

Streamlined interface

Both Land Desktop and Civil 3D have for a long time taken a “one size fits all” ap-proach to toolbars and menus. The office environment is, of course, anything but one size fits all, especially when one compares the commands individuals such as design-ers/engineers, CADD techs, and surveyors need on a daily basis. Previously we had what was effectively an all-or-nothing ap-proach to menus and toolbars. Civil 3D 2008 introduces a number of predefined workspaces created with the specific needs of various design team members in mind.

We now have a workspace for Design, An-notation and Drafting, even Survey and Topographical. In addition to specialized menus, the infamous “Lines and Curves” has been ported from Land Desktop to Civil 3D.

Plan productionThe selling point of Civil 3D has forever

been the way various elements of your de-sign interact together and function as one. At the end of the day, a design is only as good as we can communicate it to be. While Civil 3D has successfully made it so we no longer have to regenerate profiles each time we make a change, keeping our plan sheets and design in sync with one another has been a completely different story.

Looking back to days gone by, some us-ers may recall an old Land Desktop feature called Sheet Manager. Quite simply, Sheet Manager had the ability to generate plan/profile sheets based on your Land Desktop design. Sheet Manager was undoubtedly a pretty advanced feature when it was re-leased during the Land Desktop heyday. While powerful, it was not for the faint of heart in the way of configuration. Simply configuring Sheet Manager could easily take a day or more.

A few releases back AutoCAD intro-duced the Sheet Set Manager. Its intro-duction made the setup, management, and plotting of plan sheets much easier. Even with that added functionality, nothing was dynamic. If your road alignment changed you still had to go back to your plan sheet to move and likely realign the viewport. Call us Civil 3D users spoiled, but, hey, we like everything to be dynamic—including our sheets!

Figure 1 – New Workspaces tailored to specific design tasks.

Sit down, buckle up, and keep your hands on your keyboard because AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 is here and be warned—it’s packing some extra horsepower

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Configuring Plan Production

Like the old Sheet Manager, Plan Pro-duction has the ability to create either plan, profile, or combined plan/profile sheets. While such features may be reminiscent of the old Sheet Manager, the new Plan Pro-duction feature can do what the old Sheet Manager could only dream of—react to changes in your design.

Now when your road alignment chang-es, the viewports for your plan and profile sheets can be updated quickly and eas-ily. Even still, there’s a lot more to creat-ing plan sheets than aligning and scaling a viewport; items such as north arrows and match lines have the tendency to trip even the savviest CAD users. Furthermore, us-ers of AutoCAD’s Sheet Set Manager will be happy to learn the new Plan Production feature effectively expands its functionality as the two work together rather nicely.

As with all Civil 3D objects, a collection of styles must be configured before design elements will display to your liking. Civil 3D 2008 ships with a rather impressive col-lection of drawing templates containing a large number of pre-defined styles.

While these templates serve as a strong starting point to illustrate traditional de-sign elements, at the time of publication none of the included templates contain pre-defined styles for the Plan Production features. That said, unless you are experi-enced in creating Civil 3D styles, you may want to hire a consultant to either create or assist you in the construction of your style catalog. When configuring styles, do your users a favor and don’t forget to set your default styles under “Commands” on the Toolspace Settings tab.

In addition to using a series of styles, the Plan Production tool also uses a pre-con-

figured drawing template. Quite frankly, a Plan Production template is nothing more than a copy of your existing Sheet Set Man-ager template with one or two viewports defined within it. When laying out sheets or View Frames, Civil 3D will cue in on both the dimensions and scale of the viewport(s) defined in your Plan Production drawing template. Do note that your viewports must be configured as either plan or pro-file viewports. For that reason, some may find it convenient to create separate draw-ing templates containing each plan, profile, and plan/profile layout tabs for your stan-dard drawing scales.

Using Plan ProductionThe hard part is truly behind you once

both the required Civil 3D styles and Plan Production drawing templates have been configured. In most firms the configuration of Plan Production should fall to either your CAD manager or hired consultant. Such an approach accomplishes the twofold goal of ensuring consistency in standards and re-ducing confusion for users. From this point, generating plan sheets with Plan Produc-tion is basically a two-step process.

The first step is to create a new “View Frame Group,” which will include a series of “View Frames” and “Match Lines” as-sociated to an existing Civil 3D alignment. View Frames must be associated with an alignment, so you will want to either work in the same drawing in which alignments are drawn, or reference your alignment(s) us-ing either data shortcuts or Vault. Currently there is no option for floating view frames which are not associated with an alignment. Perhaps this is something we will see on the Civil 3D 2009 new features list?

To create a new View Frame Group, navigate to your Toolspace Prospector tab, finding and right-clicking on “View Frame Groups” in the Prospector Tree. By select-ing “Create New View Frames” the “Cre-ate View Frames” dialog will be launched.

A lot goes into creating sheets, and that is illustrated with the five-step “Cre-ate View Frames” dialog box. Nearly every option in the “Create View Frames” dialog is able to be pre-configured by your CAD manager. If these settings have been pre-configured for you, then creating new view frames can be as simple as specifying your alignment, sheet type, and Plan Production drawing template.

Although the vast majority of the create view frames dialog box is all about specify-ing which Civil 3D style to use, there are a number of cool options tucked away. For instance the “Sheets” portion of the Create View Frames dialog allows users to control whether sheets are rotated with the align-ment or due North. Another helpful con-trol can be found under the “Match Lines” portion of the dialog. Users have the abil-ity to control how Civil 3D determines the position of Match Lines. More specifically the “Snap station value down to the near-est” can tell Civil 3D to position Match Lines on even stations of 25 or 50. Thus, we can have our Match Lines on stations like 24+50 rather than 23+48.21.

After pressing the “Create View Frames” button, a series of boxes will be positioned along your alignment indicating the posi-tion of your plan sheets. At this point you will want to review the placement of your sheets and use the View Frame grips to make any positioning adjustments. Like-wise you will want to tweak the rotation

of the sheets, if you are one who prefers your sheets be ro-tated at even 5 or 10 degree increments. When verifying the position of View Frames, you may notice that adjacent sheet numbers are shown as “####.” This is normal as no sheets currently exist, and thus the software does not know the adjacent sheet numbers yet.

First Look: AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008

Figure 3 – Configuring styles from Toolspace settings.

Figure 4 – Creating View Frames.

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2�J a n / F e b 2 0 0 7

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26 w w w. A U G I . c o m

With our View Frames in place, we are ready to actually create some plan sheets. To launch the “Create Sheets” dialog, right-click the View Frame Group for which you would like to create sheets and select “Cre-ate Sheets.” Like the Create View Frames dialog, a large part of the Create Sheets dialog can be pre-configured. The Create Sheets command will allow you to create a separate drawing file for each sheet or place every sheet in one drawing. When

choosing which to use, keep Autodesk’s recommendation of having no more than 10 layout tabs per drawing in mind. If you already have Sheet Set Manager configured for your project, be sure to specify “Add to exist-ing sheet set” from the “Sheet Set” por-tion of the dialog.

Click the “Create Sheets” button to marvel in how easily plan sheets can be

created with Civil 3D 2008.

ConclusionWitnessing the evolution of Civil 3D

over the past several years has been quite interesting. The first 2004 “preview” re-lease was in no way ready for production, but it did successfully show how sites could be designed much more efficiently. With the promise of more efficient designs, Civil 3D has evolved from being a “cool new

technology” to what many now consider a practical design platform.

Regardless if you are a current Land Desktop or Civil 3D user, AutoCAD Civil 3D delivers improvements worthy of a closer look. Weary Land Desktop users are likely to find the stability of Civil 3D 2008 strong enough to now sustain real-world design. Current Civil 3D users will undoubtedly be excited at the seemingly endless list of new features, such as the Plan Production. Bottom line: AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 has raised the bar once again and, more importantly, positioned itself to be THE release many users will begin call-ing their primary design tool.

Donnie Gladfelter is the Design Systems Specialist for Timmons Group in Richmond, Virginia. Backed by more than a de-cade of CAD experience, Donnie is jointly responsi-

ble for the development and delivery of train-ing, support, and CAD standards for his firm. He can be reached at [email protected], or through his CAD Blog online at www.TheCADGeek.com.

First Look: AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008

Figure 5 – Creating Plan Production Sheets.

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The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from!

This adage applies to many facets of the technology sector. Many of us have to deal with files generated by several CAD pro-grams. There are several common methods of exportation and importation that have been around for many years. Here is a short history of the manufacturing file for-mat hodgepodge. I’m sure there are similar timelines for other disciplines, and I’d like to hear them.

Sometime around 1994, I remember being wowed at a trade show by the first affordable (meaning something a human being could afford to purchase) 3D para-metric modeling system from a company called “Woodbourne.” I remember the demo delivered by an impassioned long-haired young man in a green t-shirt. That company was acquired shortly thereafter by Autodesk and the product soon became AutoCAD Designer. As part of the acquisi-tion, Autodesk hired the guy in the green t-shirt from Woodbourne, a gentleman named Robert “Buzz” Kross, who quickly rose through the ranks and currently holds the title Vice President, Autodesk Manu-facturing Solutions.

About a year earlier, Autodesk had ac-quired a company named Micro Engineer-ing Solutions and its 3D surface model-ing program called Solutions 3000, which became “AutoSurf” under the Autodesk banner. MES’s building became (and as far as I know still is) the Autodesk Novi, Michigan facility.

In June 1996, Autodesk released Me-chanical Desktop 1.0. It was Autodesk’s first serious platform for production 3D model-ing with integrated 2D drawing output.

AutoSurf and Mechanical Desktop had significantly different histories and archi-tectures. Making them play together re-quired some effort. I remember being frus-trated because I was required to dig deep into file formats and translation methods to make them interact. This was too much of a distraction from my creative mindset to suit me.

In the mid ’90s there were several prominent, midrange 3D CAD programs fighting fiercely to establish market share. People were deeply divided over the mer-its of each. In the field, users were quickly beginning to realize that tossing files to and from clients with different CAD software was no easy matter.

There was IGES (affectionately pro-nounced I Guess), officially the Interna-tional Graphics Exchange Standard. Its function was to serve as a mediator that translated files.

Another player, Spatial Technology, cre-ated ACIS and the .SAT file format. The way ACIS was sold back then could be com-pared to what MP3 technology achieves to-day. The CAD program would be the play-er, and the .SAT file would be the “song.” If everyone adhered to the ACIS standard, eventually it wouldn’t matter what program you opened the CAD file in, it would al-ways work with 100 percent accuracy. You would choose your “player” based on its ease of use, its price, and whether or not it came in pink.

Just when you thought there was hope…

In 1997, Dassault Systemes, a major Eu-ropean corporation, acquired SolidWorks, a major competitor to Mechanical Desktop and the then-fledgling Inventor. With its new major backing, SolidWorks posed a significant threat to Autodesk’s growing 3D market share.

In 2000, much to everyone’s surprise, Dassault dropped the other shoe. It ac-quired Spatial Technology and therefore owned ACIS technology, which was the geometric modeling kernel powering In-ventor and numerous other Autodesk 3D products. Autodesk’s key competitor now owned its core technology.

Making a long story short, Autodesk agreed to purchase the source code for the ACIS kernel. At that point, Autodesk’s and Dassault’s code began to diverge. Autodesk renamed the kernel “Shape Manager.” The long-term goal is for Shape Manager to be the kernel for all Autodesk 3D technolo-gies. This means that ultimately, you can

create a 3D terrain design for a factory site with civil software, create the building for the factory with 3D architectural software, and place the production machinery into the factory with the manufacturing soft-ware. Because they will all share a common kernel, one should be able to get detailed information, and perhaps even edit any 3D object, using any Autodesk program.

Needless to say, in terms of 3D solids file translation between programs, we have not achieved the level of fidelity originally promised by ACIS. Anyone who imports and exports these files knows that the best you can get is what is referred to as a “zom-bie” or a “dumb solid.” The boundary rep-resentation comes through, but there are no parametrics associated with it. The host program cannot edit the translated models nearly as easily as in the source program.

Autodesk Inventor® 2008 is here now and introduces DWG TrueConnect, which establishes an intimate relationship be-tween Inventor and AutoCAD drawings. This is a great feature set and will serve the Autodesk community well. The .dwg format has become an almost universal medium for CAD drawing data, but not for 3D model data.

Can’t we all just get along?Five years ago, nobody knew what MP3

meant. Today you can download an MP3 file from any of a dozen websites, and play it on an I-Pod, a Zune, or even a cell phone. You can rent a DVD and play it in a Sony, Toshiba, or PC player (as long as you don’t take the DVD out of the USA).

Why can’t we successfully translate a complete parametrically intelligent digital 3D model from one program to another? How many ways are there to describe 3D space anyway? I don’t know if the hurdles are technical, political, logistical, or finan-cial, but I do know that I’m growing weary of visualizing where the missing faces of imported 3D models should be.

David Kingsley served from 1999-2004 on the AUGI Board of Directors and is the Director of Electrons at CADPlayer Web Courseware. He can be reached at [email protected]

OnThe BackPage

�8 w w w. A U G I . c o m

David Kingsley

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Imagery acquired by Digital Globe. Autodesk and Revit are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offer-ings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2006 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Call CAD-1 today for a free 30-day trial of Civil 3D 2007 or visit our website for our current class schedule and list of events.

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