blads blog

The current edition of AUGIWorld August 2011 - The Collaboration Issue has been released earlier today and yours truly has had the honour & privilege to provide the photo cover, taken during my trip to Canada & Alaska, earlier this year. Cover Image: Sinclair Centre Arcade,Vancouver, BC, Canada.  Photo copyright  © 2011–Bill Adams You can read the issue online or download a PDF version 

Earlier this week I was reminded that its " Between The Lines' blog " 8th birthday it would be totally remiss of me not to provide another "cake" to celebrate this great blog… Enjoy your virtual "cake" Shaan & Happy 8th Birthday "Between The Lines"  May you have many many more :)

RUGSA would like to invite you to the upcoming RUGSA meeting.  Details on the meeting are below. And thankyou to everyone who completed the survey. The responses are very valuable and will inform the format and content of future meetings. As always it’s also been great to see a lot of interest in the BLOG, remember you can follow us on  facebook  and  twitter  for more up to date announcements on local REVIT issues Next RUGSA Meeting: Date: Wednesday the 7 th  of September Time: 4:30pm – 6:00pm Venue: AIA, 100 Finders St, Adelaide RSVP:  revitugsa@gmail.com Agenda: Content, Content, Content. Building Content Sharing Content Getting Content This meeting will address all your questions about REVIT Families. Watch presentations from actual users on how they have dealt with the dilemmas associated with REVIT Families Plus bring your questions and issues for discussion with your peers Hope to see you there.

Ago after my glorious holiday away during May-June, my doctors advised on a recent routine blood test, an slightly elevated calcium levels were present… this gave cause for concern thinking it was most likely an enlarged parathyroid gland… So, late June-early July off I go to get an ultrasound scan of my neck, which revealed no enlarged parathyroid however it picked up another lump… Now I needed a CT scan which the preparation can mess with my diabetic meds – just all I need… so off I go to have this CT scan and then the drama begins… Now mid July, my local GP refers me to a specialist who doesn’t tell me the test results but she wants to review the scan with others before discussing options with me…   At that stage I was advised I had Stage 3 Lymphoma. I got jack of that approach and contacted another specialist via my GP who thought that approach was just plain stupid and promptly scheduled a biopsy of the lump which was wedged between my carotid artery ...

A great article on Revit Worksets by fellow reviteer Scott C. BIMbyScottC: Setting Up Worksets : "I had this in my notes for working with worksets... I may have pulled it from another blog if so please let me know so I can give credit whe…" Scott also has great articles on Revit Design Options - a must read

Yes its that time of the year once again and the Voting Booth is officially open and will remain so until close of business July 24th.  This year, two good friends of mine, James Surano and Jennifer Loftfield needs our assistance. James, is seeking re-election for the ENnie Awards Judge and Jennifer is seeking one of judging spots  this year as well.  Both need our support   and your votes… So just what  are the ENnie Awards, you ask?  The easiest way to describe the ennie awards is as the people's choice awards to table top RPGs. You can read James' application  here  and similarly, Jennifer's  here And most importantly, vote for them here I've voted... have you :)

I 'm slowly getting back into blogging after our glorious holiday in Canada & Alaska…  During a recent Revit Fundamentals Training course, I'd like to remind all that IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit 2012 are now available on their website and in their client portal - a facility for  IMAGINiT’s Autodesk Subscription and Support clients. IMAGINiT Utilities for Revit 2012 supports only Revit 2012 products however they do also offer versions for Revit 2010 and Revit 2011.  New for 2012 include… ViewSetup  Cover all the levels, phases and types of views you want with information presented to you in the ViewSetup utility in a grid, you can easily generate dozens to hundreds of new views with ease.  DWFPlus  Create DWF files with more BIM information - whether augmenting parameter data in 2D and 3D, adding hyperlinks, or creating new viewpoints to highlight content, DWFPlus will make your DWFs into the deliverables you expect from Revit.  Tran...

Revit Users Group of SA cordially invite you to attend the next upcoming meeting When: Wednesday 6th July 2011 Where: AIA, 100 Flinders Street, Adelaide Time: 4:30pm - 6:00pm Please email your RSVP attendance to revitugsa@gmail.com Hope to see you there :) Don't forget you can follow RUGSA on Facebook & Twitter

Autodesk have released a  Revit Add-In Hotfix… In  continuing effort to provide high quality products, Autodesk has released this hotfix which provides an update to the Revit Vault add-in. The README file highlights how to install this hotfix and other important information regarding this update. When using Revit with the add-in for Vault, occasionally the program will suddenly terminate during some vault operations.  An error message may be seen containing the text, "Revit encountered a System.AccessViolationException". Published date:  2011-May-02  ID:  DL1697152 Applies to: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2012 Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2012 Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2012 Autodesk® Vault Collaboration 2012 Autodesk® Vault Professional 2012 Autodesk® Vault Workgroup 2012   A download able zip and read-me files can be accessed via the website link here...

in Honour of Star Wars day here in Australia… May 4th Be With You...

A good friend of mine, Shaun Bryant has recently released his latest single.  You can download his new single here…  3AM In The Morning is the title track from Shaun's forthcoming debut album due for release late summer/fall 2011. …and I'm in listed in the final credits for providing the photo of the NYC night skyline 

Thoroughly enjoyed another great ride yesterday from Glenelg North (aka "the Coast") along the length of Adelaide's River Torrens Linear Path bike track through the city and up to Athelstone (aka "the Hills).  Mind you I was rather surprised I had the cross the river on this bridge - an un-nerving feeling travelling across this with your bike…  The hills and the headwind slowed me down a bit but thoroughly enjoyable...    … til next ride share the road :)

Partway through BDAQ's/Ecospecifier's sustainable green building course. Thoroughly enjoying it... Thought provoking... Now will be practicing the 5 fingers of Restorative Sustainability - reduce, reuse, recycle, repair & restore.

Wow! What a night to remember!!! But definitely not what you're all thinking.  A group of us were celebrating a friend's Mum's 80th Birthday this evening were a vast majority of the group had travelled from Melbourne just for this occasion.  Having read the advertising "blurb" of the Snooty Fox Restaurant, located in North Adelaide (see below), it was thought that this would be an ideal place to celebrate in … The Snooty Fox Restaurant is a charming venue for your breakfast, lunch or dinner. Whether it be a romantic occasion, for business or pleasure. Sit "under the vines" and enjoy the decadent surrounds of this colonial-inspired retreat. A memorable experience awaits. You will appreciate the value, style and service when dining in theSnooty Fox. I must say it certainly was memorable…  After having pre-dinner drinks at the bar, we where pointed in the direction of our table for the evening, and it was quite picturesque sitting "under the vine...

I'm just putting in some last minutes changes to documents in readiness for tomorrow's start to the 2011 BDA / James Hardie National Conference .  This year's conference features presentations from Lynn Allen , Autodesk Technical Evangelist (sponsored by IMAGINiT Technologies), Mark Kiker , AUGI Executive Director and UK Sustainable Architect and AUGI member, Elrond Burrell  and a plethora of other great presenters… See you in the Barossa Valley!!!

Scanning the interwebz this morning, I found Steve Stafford's  comment on Facebook regarding the Keynote Manager for Revit has been updated.  A great review of the product can be found on Jay Z's blog "Fear and Loathing in a CAD vs. BIM World" You can download the free Keynote manager from Revolution Design .

Had another great ride this morning… getting back into the swing of things after "knee incident".  Really loving this iPhone app "BikeBrainLite"  

OK, so I haven't really posted much this year, as it sorta got messy late January when whilst out enjoying my Sunday morning bike rides, a motorist decided to lend a "not-so-helping hand" and gave me nudge which resulted in road vs. me = road won…   It would've been nice if they'd stop to make sure I was still breathing…. Thankfully some other cyclists came to my aid who checked me out just to make sure I roughly knew where I was… Apart from some major skin scraps on my left side, I had also damaged my left knee. To cut cut a long storey short, I had minor knee surgery just over 1 month ago and improving every day, with returning to cycling 2 weeks taking it fairly easy. I returned to my Sunday morning bike rides once again, although mainly been sticking to bike tracks.   Last Sunday I ventured out with my new iPhone along with an "app" to map out and give me some stats on my rides.  Up until now, I sort of guessed how far I had ridden ...

Earlier this this morning I was fortunate to view the webcast of Autodesk's 2012 Suite of Products (thankfully it was on a time suitable for us aussies :) ) #ADSK2012 In case you missed it an archived version can be found here…  The new Autodesk Building Design Suite will be available in three editions: Standard, Premium and Ultimate Standard   (includes) AutoCAD 2012 AutoCAD Architecture 2012 AutoCAD MEP 2012 AutoCAD Structural Detailing 2012 Autodesk Showcase 2012 Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2012 Premium   (adds to Standard) Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012 Autodesk Revit MEP 2012 Autodesk Revit Structure 2012 Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012 Ultimate   (adds to Premium and Standard) Autodesk Navisworks Manage 2012 Autodesk Quantity Takeoff 2012 Autodesk Inventor 2012 Delivered by a USB Key… Since then a plethora of information has appeared on the web - certainly one of the best reviews on Revit 2012, is David Light's blog - great wo...

Happy New Year everyone…  As one of the organising committee, it is with much pleasure to all invite all Building Designers to attend the upcoming  Building Designers Australia’s National Conference and Design Awards evening to be held in the Novotel Barossa Valley Resort 7-9 April 2011. This will be a very eco-focused conference and will incorporate activities to celebrate the BDA movement being 50 years young in 2011. The conference program will include plenary sessions highlighting current technical and policy innovations with concurrent sessions covering energy efficiency, BIM and other trade related informational sessions. We trust that besides partaking in the conference you will have the time to experience the relaxed atmosphere of one of Australia's premier wine districts, the Barossa Valley and the surrounds. More details and the Conference Registration brochure can be found on the conference website - found here