Grab A Cup Of Coffee...Really.

Ever read this?

Privacy Policy (Updated March 24, 2010)
http://www.autodesk.de/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=786921

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Cookies? Environmental Variables? Pixel Tags? Financial and credit card information? All required to run Autodesk software? Really?

"The PII requested may vary depending on which product, service or Site you are using or accessing. We typically ask for PII about you, such as your name, e-mail address, postal address, telephone numbers and fax numbers. We may also ask for financial information, such as account or credit card number to verify your user identity and to allow you to pay for any purchases you make."

So let me get this straight. In order to use Autodesk software, I must submit "Personally Identifiable Information" (or PII). Okay - fine. Just tell me how Autodesk will secure that information and we're all set.

"You hereby consent to the transfer of any PII to the United States or any other country outside of your country of residence where Autodesk or its licensees, agents or service providers are providing services or processing or storing PII in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy, which countries may provide a different level of data security than in your country of residence. Autodesk does not represent or warrant that the Site, or any part thereof, are appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction."

So in order to use Autodesk software, I must hand over personal information - even including financial, credit card numbers, etc. - that Autodesk refuses to keep secure?

And if I don't agree to this - ahem..cough..straight face - "Privacy Policy", then I can't legally use Autodesk software?

Really?

NYC-RUG rat on the prowl

Fellow Wiley author (BIM and Integrated Design, 2011) and blogger Randy Deutsch AIA, LEED AP has written a glowing (and quite detailed) review of our latest New York City Revit Users Group meeting here. I’ve subscribed to Randy’s blog in recent months and it’s a quite impressive read. Can’t wait to get a copy of his book!

As an FYI to Randy and our other webcast attendees, we had a bit of an interesting scenario this month at our lecture location. A group was in our space – right up to the start of our event! I had to start the webinar on an alternate laptop in the adjacent gallery while our guests mingled – then turn everything over to the podium laptop as the Pratt crew changed the room over. Lesson learned? I’ll probably change the start time of the webinar to 6:15 or so to avoid the loss of attention. Thanks to Randy for the feedback.

Take a stroll over to http://bimandintegrateddesign.com and prepare to be entertained…

Phoenix and Cadillac

Before their song “1901” became so ubiquitous on every Cadillac commercial, I remember watching this band on the Late Show with David Letterman and really liking this tune. It’s one of those songs that sticks with you like peanut butter on the brain…

Music keeps us inspired as we toil away on our chapters. More to come on my love affair with Pandora…

TRIVIA: Can you identify the building shown in the Late Show opening theme right before they show Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra?

Chapter 15 - Family Editor

Mastering Revit 2011 is coming along nicely. Once of the things that will make creating complex geometry really easy is to approach it as sculpture that is subtractive (carving) rather than additive (casting). The results can be surprisingly interesting and complex.

More to follow. But it'll cost ya. ;)

Speaking of which, got an email this week from an architectural intern trying to learn Revit and needing some stair and railing tutorials, content, etc.
A few emails back and forth. Happy intern! Thanks for the stuff!
What firm, I wondered?
Oh - that firm? I know a few people there. Do you know so an so?
No? That's interesting. Especially since I'd worked with that person and the firm and they've been using Revit on fairly complex projects for a few years now.

So Google.
But it turns out they've not worked there for years.

Turns out they're actually an Architectural professor.

Seriously dude. I like helping people. I'd have offered to help more. Loads of Revit files and images and parametric family content stuff. I really like your college. Would've gladly dropped by at your convenience. Grab a beer.

Just don't data mine me like a struggling intern.

And if you're going to use this stuff in your class - that's cool. Just be honest. Just ask. Maybe give some credit. Twitterblogemailshoutout.

Se comprendre?

So Sleepy...

And instead of going to sleep...just one more read of email, news, blog posts, waitwhatsthis?!

Ever wanted to control your PC or Mac from your iPhone?

Seems now you can. For free (non-commercial use).

Link from image above to TeamViewer app.

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Update (like 5 minutes later).

First I downloaded and installed this:

Which I then started to get this (codes not shown):

Then plugged the codes into the iPhone app and within a few seconds saw this:

That's my desktop. On my iPhone. Dang.

Looks like I'll be installing this on all the computers at home this weekend. The TeamViewer web app works across computers as well.

Another stupideasywonderful thing.

Enjoy.

And the Winner is....

A quick THANKS! to all of you who participated in our competition for your tips and tricks.
I have to tell you, we had several entries and I'm still weeding through them. I promise to get my act together soon, get that finished and get a winner posted. Until then.....

NYC BIM Event – March 2010

The next meeting for the New York City Revit User Group (NYC-RUG) is scheduled for March 18 beginning at 6:00 PM. We will be featuring a presentation titled “BIM and its Application to the Building Lifecycle.”  Our speakers will be Chuck Mies, LEED AP/Assoc. AIA, Richard Thomas, AIA/NCARB/LEED AP and John Aaron Phillips, LEED AP.  Chuck is BIM Solutions Executive with Autodesk who works on a national scale with university clients.  Richard and Aaron are with SHP Leading Design with headquarters in Ohio.  SHP was founded in 1901 and offers planning, architecture, interior design, engineering, construction administration and facilities management services.  They helped Indiana University develop their BIM Standards and Protocols and have also been featured in a recent Autodesk Customer Story.

Chuck, Richard and Aaron will discuss how owners are using BIM to face certain challenges within the building lifecycle and how the industry is poised to support these initiatives.  They will also talk about developing standards for BIM deliverables and use of contract documents such as AIA E202 (BIM Protocol Exhibit) and others.

For a complete presentation abstract and speaker bios, visit the NYC-RUG event calendar.

About the Event

This event is the first joint venture between the NYC-RUG and the NYC Metro BIM Group (a buildingSMARTalliance Interest Group).  Please visit either link to join one or both of the groups for event location and to RSVP if you plan on attending in person.  You can also register for the free webcast by clicking here.

AIA Continuing Education credits will be available for in-person attendees

Friday Reprieve #20.5

Because this site just cracks me up.......

Beyond the ring of scorched earth from last night’s landing, he could see that this new world was soft and green. He immediately prepared for lift-off.

Friday Reprieve #20

In the wake of Phil purchasing a new home and the raging house party James and I are planning there the minute he goes on vacation (you're all invited) we can't forget to come up from air from time to time from writing, spending, or whatever it is we do during the day. For many of us, it's architecture, which means the creation of space, form and functionality, and the love of design. Part of the beauty of all this (and the use of Revit) is the ability to visualize space that doesn't exist. It's one way of looking at the world through different glasses than the ones you're used to wearing.
Which is why I love this. It's an urban art installation which focuses on semi-permanent urban art at a truly micro scale. Imagine the world from a very smaller perspective. This one is entitled "They're not pets, Susan"

Whistle While You Work

If you look closely and squint, the above pattern kinda resembles the splatter resulting from the beating of a dead horse. Image above links to the software that makes it possible.

Why might this be interesting? For comparing dead horse splatter circa 2009 to splatter circa 2010. Perhaps journal files from the same project by two team members (one in CM and the other in DLM) would speed the analytic process significantly and make a really interesting visual comparison.

Even interesting enough to make a t-shirt.

Daylighting

As we continue to plug along in this process we call 'authoring a book' we promised some regular updates about content. I offer you this peak:

Hate Ecotect? yeah, me too. My daylighting class at AU this year was almost 100% full of people who wanted to find a new way to do daylighting. So, to help all of you (ok, all three of you) who didn't attend the daylighting class at AU, I've just finished adding it to the book. You can now perform Ecotect free daylighting analysis in less than 1/2 a day. Which is a big deal. It's easy, it's fast, and more importantly, it's accurate.

Here's a couple of clips of what we show how to make.

The Deed is Done

Long story. Cool ending. Between rugby concussions and facial fractures (not mine) and arguing with the wife (mine) about the required repairs and upgrades - I didn't touch the book for the whole weekend.

Sorry Eddy. Sorry James. Sorry Willem. Next time you're in Charlotte, drop by and I'll show you around. You'll understand.

Intent to acquire is announced on Feb 21. Acquisition to be complete by April 1st.

What an amazing coincidence. :)

The New Arch | Tech

Eddy, Phil and James are proud to announce a new address for the Architecture | Technology blog: architecture-tech.com  The old address (architechure.blogspot.com) will still function for awhile until our provider phases it out and it redirects to the new site.
Along with the creation of this new domain, we have a new email address for tips, suggestions and commentary on our upcoming book: Click here

Feel free to drop us a line and share your thoughts.

PLUS

Midway reminder

It's Feb 15th which means we're about 1/2 way through the month and 1/2 way through our requests for your best Revit tips. If you haven't seen this yet, take a look.

Offer only good while supplies last.
Not available in stores.

Friday Reprieve #19

Just a little binger to brighten your Friday. If you're like me, it's cold, grey, and icy. Which means you can't bike. Which is always a bummer. So, in the dull drums of winter, I've found this most excellent bike website. Rapha. It's what Apple would be if they sold bicycles. Purely glorious. You're not buying a bike, you're buying into the lifestyle and the brand. (Cyclist is the one on the bridge. that little dot. probably carrying an iphone)


What's funny about that? Nothing. But I like it and I wanted to share, so stick it.

However, if you're looking for the joke here I've found this other blog clearly written by the children of modern architects. Why the children of them? Because if you read between the lines, they must have been strict modernist, elitist architect parents - maybe even as bad as studio professors - to raise a child who thinks this way. Welcome the Unhappy Hipsters.

Mastering Revit: Walls, Floors and Roofs

As the snow falls in the Northeast today, I’m still churning out high quality content for Mastering Revit Architecture 2011. Now, don’t get me wrong…the editing process isn’t for the faint-hearted or those with weak intestinal fortitude.  Last night was a long night of writer’s block and a complete redeux on one chapter’s development edits - “but then, in the midst of my preparations for hari kari, it came to me”…the throngs of gurus and wizards in the global Revit community!  We continue to seek your input to make this tome the best source of valuable Revit knowledge to date. 

From my desk so far, I have drafted Templates and Standards, Working with Consultants (Revit-to-Revit), and Interoperability: Working Multiplatform.  The next few chapters on my plate cover complex modeling of Walls, Curtain Walls, Floors and Roofs.  As the outlining process is just beginning for me, I’d love to hear suggestions from any of our readers.  If you have some frustrations, success stories or even some wicked cool samples, please drop us an email at:

masteringrevit AT architecture-tech.com

Thanks Dave!

It was exactly nine years ago today I started my first day of work at a start-up-that-would in Waltham, Mass.

Want to know what's scarier than finally working up enough courage to ask your wife if it'd be okay to go to work for a little known (and much maligned by the mainstream) technology start up?

When she immediately replies, "Well - you love technology and architecture and you're convinced this software is the future. So you have to do this. Because if you don't, you'll never know what could have been."

And if you guys think Revit is cool, wait till you see what's behind curtain number two. Cause in a little while, things are going to get very, very interesting. I'll put it this way: if your first impression of Revit created a definable sense of well-it's-about-time joy, this is gonna restore your sense of child-like wonder.

Seriously. :)

Don't Push That Button

Especially if your iPhone is unlocked (via DevTeam|Pwnage or GeoHot|Blackra1n) - it'll kill your unlock and jailbreak.

You have been warned.

Think Different

Spot the difference.

Wrong - it's not that different. ;)

Quoth Du Jour:

"Man isn't a noble savage, he's an ignoble savage. He is irrational, brutal, weak, silly, unable to be objective about anything where his own interests are involved—that about sums it up."

- Stanley Kubrick

Game On

So, the three of us are feverishly working, slaving away on content for the 2011 Mastering book. Phil was working it so hard that his laptop flickered out into nothingness. It blew a gasket. Or a video card, depending on your point of view. Regardless, he still managed to pound out 56 illustrious pages on Stairs and Railings. A must read for any Revit aficionado.


While we might be self-stylized gurus, we do recognize that we don't know it all. (although we'd never admit that publicly). So to you, the four readers of this blog, we offer the following contest:

We'd like your best Revit tip. If you voted Obama, think of this as a socialist outreach to better humanity through a collection for the common good. If you read 'Going Rogue' and not for irony, think of it as us trying to get free sh*t out of you.

Here's the deal: For the month of February, email your best Revit tip to MasteringRevit@architecture-tech.com. If we use your tip in the book, we'll give you props for it (so make sure to include a name, firm name, and blog if you have any of those). And the absolute best tip gets a free copy of the book. Signed by Phil in red ink - just like Marlyn Monroe.

Careful With Predictions

Like this one about the iPod.
Or this one about the iPhone.

The iPad is an answer to a lot of questions that people haven't asked. Never mind the tech blinded savvy cynic end users that want the next heavy processor ram battery brick portable multitasking workstation and as a result see the glass as (less than) half-full because the iPad sucks at being that kind of computer. A hundred years ago, these sorts scoffed at motor-cars because they wanted better horses. And these sorts will scoff at people who "lemming-like" stand in uberlines to buy an iPad.

Well, they'll scoff until they're compelled to buy one next Christmas for their wives, kids and their kid's grandparents.

The iPad isn't a computer. Nor do think it's designed to be one (any more than the iPod and iPhone). Rather, it's a complimenting - not a competing - device. It's something else. And this is important if you're Apple (or an Apple shareholder) and in the business of selling hardware. Apple isn't asking their users to choose another computer. Their asking their customers (and more importantly - a lot of new customers) to approach the internet from another point of view. So I suspect when people finally get to experience one - they'll realize it's not a computer and not meant to be. But it won't matter. It's something else that's very compelling. And they'll probably want one.

I think it's a vertical integration of a lot of devices: handheld gaming, DVD players, web browsing and email, etc.

I think it'll be popular with kids; look for books, homework, painting/drawing, school and learning focused apps and movies in the backs of minivans.

I think it'll be popular with teenagers as a collaborating, communicating device at home and school; media, music, video, Facebook, blogging, idea sharing, idea presenting, note taking and beats the heck out of carrying around a backpack full of books. And because it'll be a compelling status symbol.

I think it'll be popular with parents and their parents. People who don't want or need another laptop. But still want to be able to "get to their stuff".

I think it'll be popular with grandparents that don't want or need a net book - but want a rich, portable, user friendly, media web based experience. Plenty of on-board storage and plenty more in the cloud.

I think it'll be popular with road warriors: email, reading, podcasts, video, note taking, ideating, twittering and presenting.

I think it'll be popular with developers that want to create cloud-based thin clients and purpose focused tools.

I think it'll be popular with Apple share holders.

The iPad isn't a computer. Nor is the iPod. Nor is the iPhone. And no one else is making anything like it. And like the iPod and iPhone - other people will try. And just about the time they get it right (maybe...ahem...Google Android...cough) Apple will have come along and redefined the paradigm.

That's my prediction.

it's not easy being green

Interesting article on green space in city parks. Based on a recent study, some of those green spaces actually produce more carbon than they offset. Sadly, various city maintenance practices of mowing (fossil-fuel powered mowers), irrigation (fresh water sources), and fertilizer make for a very large carbon footprint.
While the use of green lawn care can be seen as extreme by some, why is sustainability such a hard nut for people to crack? However, there are plenty of surrounding buildings in an urban landscape that can be used to catch and hold water for irrigation and composting all the leaves, grass clippings and sticks would make for good fertilizer. Simply adding grass doesn't = green.

Mining for Gold

To catch you up:
I found a house needing major renovation in December of 2008. Designed it over the winter, officially purchased it Jan 27th, 2009, began work Feb 1, moved in June. 1236 sq ft, 2 story brick. We wanted to go LEED for Homes, which was out of beta and new to the market in January 2009. So begins our journey:

While we’ve been living in the house now for about 6 months, we’re still working with the USGBC on our LEED paperwork. And by ‘working with them’ I mean ‘arguing with them’. We are down to only a few remaining points and we’re in a solid Silver category. The goal was to see how far into LEED we could get without spending any extra $$ beyond the design. Now, honestly didn’t make that 100% - we had to spend a bit of cash on LEED fees, but it’s been fairly minor. If you’re not familiar with LEED for Homes, there’s a number of self-promotional points you can get. There’s a point for putting a sign in your yard stating you’re a LEED home, there’s a point for education, there are points for other silly things (IMHO) that help LEED promote and don’t do much for the environment. At this point, I’ve managed to design and build and move into the house in ½ the time it’s taken to work on LEED. I can’t imagine going to a client and stating that the design will cost you X, and LEED for Homes will be X*2.

So, our latest debacle is LEED Credit SS 2.1: No Invasive Plants. Let me quote you the entire requirement: “No invasive plants. Introduce no invasive plant species into the landscape.” Seems pretty easy, no? We didn’t do any landscaping (beyond a plan) so I figured this pre-req was a no-brainer. Let me share my recent conversation with LEED:

LEED: You still haven’t shown documentation for SS2.1

Eddy: I haven’t performed any landscaping. Logic would assume that since there was no landscaping – not even any land disturbance, there are no invasive plants introduced into the site.

LEED: We need to see documentation that is required.
Eddy: In reading SS 2.1 it only states No Invasive Plants and doesn’t state anything about any documentation.

LEED: We can’t award the pre-req without documentation.

Eddy: The pre-req doesn’t list any documentation. It is 2 sentences long. I have no idea what to provide to prove that I didn’t do anything. Can I submit a log of spending some time on the couch in lieu of gardening?

LEED: We are requiring a list of invasive plants for your area.

Eddy: Where is that required? I don’t see it listed anywhere.

LEED: I just told you.

Eddy: via email response: http://www.easywildflowers.com/invasive.htm

Lightning Fast Robot Hand

Robotic construction?...maybe.  Really cool?...definitely!

Tweeted by my friend Ajmal over at core.form-ula, this is an amazing look at the progress in robotics at the Ishikawa Komuro Lab in Tokyo.  Watch as a robot hand can throw or dribble a ball, toss a cell phone in the air and catch it with precision and tie knots in a rope.

High-Speed Robot Hand