Season's Greetings!

I'd like to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.  I'm spending Christmas this year with my wife's family in Arizona.  It's not quite the same being away from my family, but the warm Arizona weather is easing my pain. Since we've been here, we've visited Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon was amazing.  Unfortunately, it was overcast and even rained a little, but the views were still amazing.  Below is a picture of me, my wife and son standing at the South Rim.  The picture above is my son during a recent family photo shoot.

AU 2010

Are you going?  This will be my first year attending Autodesk University.  I'm excited and a little anxious because I don't quite know what to expect.  This will be my first time to Las Vegas as well.  I did go there to visit relatives when I was about 4 years old, but that doesn't really count.  If any of you have been in the past and have any tips or suggestions for me, please leave a comment.  Or, if any of you would like to meet up in Vegas, that would be cool as well.  When I get back, I'll make sure to give a review of AU and discuss any good Revit tips I learned.  Viva Las Vegas!

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving.  This time of year can get a little hectic for a lot of people.  In the hustle and the bustle, people tend to forget what Thanksgiving is all about.  No, it's not about eating 3x your typical calorie intake or getting up at 4:00am on Black Friday to stand in line at Best Buy to get a deal in a flat screen TV.  Yet, that is what most of us do because it's the "norm".  I for one refuse to go shopping on Black Friday.  There is no sale worth getting up that early and fighting the crowds for.  However, I do find myself eating a little more than I should.  Let's not forget to give thanks for what we have.  With the current state of our economy, I am especially thankful that I have a job, and a good one at that.  I am also very thankful for my loving wife, my awesome son, and and the fact that we are all in good health.  I hope you also have many things to be thankful for.


Jason

Filtering Lines

If you spend a lot of time working with lines in Revit, like converting AutoCAD details to Revit format, this little trick may come in handy.  Have you noticed that when you select multiple lines of various line styles, the filter tool isn't available?

However, if you add a piece of text, and then select all of the lines and the text, the filter tool will appear.

You can then see what line styles are present in your selection and filter the one(s) you want.

Of course, you could also select a line and use the Temporary Hide/Isolate tool, but this method allows you to quickly see what line styles are present while keeping the remaining lines visible.

KC RUG

No, this isn't a post about a carpet store in Kansas City.  It's an invitation to all Revit users in the Kansas City area to attend the new K.C. Revit User Group.  KCRUG meets once a month at various locations in the metro K.C. area.  Architects, engineers, designers, CAD Techs, contractors and anyone else interesting in learning about Revit and BIM in general are welcome.  Meetings are held on the last Thursday of each month from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.  Dinner and drinks are provided by the group sponsors (Mid-West CAD and Applied Technology Group).  For more information, check out the official KCRUG website.

Scheduled Rotation

This is not a little known secret or a new feature in Revit, but did you know you can rotate a schedule? I've never had the need to do it, so I've never even thought about it.  The only application I could think of where this would be useful is for a revision schedule on a sheet titleblock/border.  Simply click on the schedule, and in the options bar, select 90° clockwise or 90° counterclockwise.

Revit 2011 Update #2

Go get it!

Revit Architecture

Revit MEP

Revit Structure

goBIM

What to view a BIM model on your iPhone or iPad?  Well, there's an app for that!  Check out goBIM.  Looks like it currently supports Revit 2010 & 2011 and Rhino.  I haven't test it out because the only Apple product I own is a three year old iPod.  If you've had any experience with this application, please leave a comment  below.

Hiatus

Is anyone still reading this blog? I just realized I haven't posted anything since December 2009!  My apologies.  I've been too busy I guess with family, a new job, and life in general.  I think those are good enough excuses, don't you?.  Since my last posting I've had a slight career change.  I am now working for a company called HNTB as a BIM Technical Specialist.  I am part of a small team responsible for company wide BIM (mainly Revit) training, support and implementation as well as R&D of new BIM technologies.  It has been quite an adjustment transitioning from the design/production side of the business into more of a support role, but I enjoy it. Anyway, I'm going to make an effort to post to this blog more frequently now so stay tuned.


Jason