Calgary BIM Community meetings resume September 22

After the summer break the Calgary BIM Community will resume its regular meetings at the Calgary downtown public library on September 22. For more information please visit their website, and be sure to check out the cBIMc Facebook Page.

Time: 6-8 PM
Date: September 22, 2011
Location: Calgary Downtown Public Library, Meeting Room 1
615 Macleod Trail SE Calgary, Alberta

Project Storm is here!

Autodesk has announced an interesting technology preview for Revit Structure called Project Storm. Storm is an extension that provides Engineers with the ability to perform cloud based structural analysis directly from a Revit Model with the same analysis engine that powers Robot.

Autodesk Labs description:

Project Storm for Autodesk Revit Structure is a technology preview that provides cloud-based structural analysis to structural engineers as a part of the BIM process. With Project Storm, engineers and designers can extend design models from Revit Structure to the cloud for structural analysis from directly within Revit Structure. Results can then be visualized and explored within Revit Structure and disruptions to work flows are minimized by performing analysis in the cloud as users continue to design.

For more informaiton; Autodesk Labs Program Manager Scott Sheppard has posted an article about Project Storm that includes a good overview and work flow examples. There is also a good post about Storm at the  BIM Apps blog.

 For more information and to try out Project Storm for yourself please visit the Autodesk Labs Project Storm website

Generative Design and Parametric Structures

At the July New York Revit Users Group meeting, Robert Otani, PE, LEED AP and Jonatan Schumacher with Structural Engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti hsoted an interesting presentation titled 'Generative Design and Parametric Structures' that looked at the strategies and tools Thornton Tomasetti is developing to engage the Architectural, Structural and Fabrication teams at an early conceptual design phase and allow for a holistic, collaborative design process.

By creating a collaborative dialog with the designer at the conceptual phase, the architectural, engineering & fabrication models can be developed simultaneously from the same geometric reference model, allowing a holistic design process. Robert and Jonatan elaborate on this concept with case studies of actual project work with a variety of architectural firms.
-James Vandezande
All Things Revit

The Generative Design and Parametric Structures presentation starts at about 7 minutes into the recording

Generative Design and Parametric Structures with Thornton Tomasetti from James Vandezande on Vimeo.

BIM ALBERTA SYMPOSIUM 2011

In September, Calgary and Edmonton will be hosting the inaugural BIM Alberta symposium. The symposium will focus on BIM and how it has already changed the automotive, aerospace and theme park industries and how BIM will affect the construction industry

Speakers include Retired Ford CEO James J. Padilla, Walt Disney Imagineerings Rajesh Agrawal and CG Vision's David Bozell and Tim Beckman.

For more information please visit the BIM Alberta Symposium website
 

Date: September 28 

Location: Edmonton Expo Centre
7300 116 Avenue Northwest
Edmonton, AB T5J 2N5 
 

Date: September 29
Location: Calgary Deerfoot Inn and Casino
1000 11500 - 35 Street SE
Calgary, AB T2Z 3W4

Revit, Vasari meet Project Nucleus

Project Nucleus is an interesting program that has been around for a while now.  I wanted to do a quick post to bring it to the attention of our readers. Nucleus is a technology preview from Autodesk that integrates the Nucleus simulation engine from Maya into Revit and Project Vasari. It allows designers to experiment with "form-finding" by simulating a wide range of physical phenomena in real time such as gravity, wind and collisions, generating free form shapes that would be just about impossible otherwise.

Head on over to the labs graduate page to try out Project Nucleus for yourself

-The current technology preview will expire on December 31, 2011

If you would like more info I have included a few videos demonstrating Nucleus from both Autodesk and Zach Kron after the jump...

FM:Systems Announces Support for Autodesk Revit 2012 Products

FM:Systems

With yet another step in the right direction the industry moves to better integrate operations into the tetralogy of BIM.  FM:Systems has announced support for Revit Architecture 2012 and MEP 2012 with its FM:Interact Workplace Management Suite.

“With our Revit integration, maintenance professionals can now use FM:Interact to quickly create an inventory of building equipment and even start planning maintenance before commissioning the new building.” 

Read the full press release here

123D SCULPT - Digitally Sculpt Clay

For just a little bit of Friday fun checkout 123D Sculpt. A great program that lets you digitally sculpt clay to make all sorts of 3D creations on your Ipad. Essentially, 123D sculpt might be compared to a toned down, fun version of Mudbox. I wonder if this is what modeling in Revit will be like next year?

Get it for yourself, free for a limited time at the App Store here

For News, updates, tips and tricks visit 123d Sculpt News

For an indepth review visit Shaan Hurley's blog here

CSA brings ISO energy management standard to Canada

Please visit the two links below for more information regarding the CSA announcment of the Canadian ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems Standard – the world’s first standard global energy management system
 
From the CSA Website:
CAN/CSA-ISO 50001:11 | Energy Efficiency | ShopCSA

Canadian Manufacturing article Article Here:
CSA brings ISO energy management standard to Canada | Canadian Manufacturing

Project Galileo has graduated to Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler

In what must be record time, the wildly popular conceptual design software preview Project Galileo, has graduated from the labs to become the next generation of Urban planning and 3d BIM software called Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler.

Description from the Autodesk Website:

Autodesk® Infrastructure Modeler conceptual design software is the next generation of Autodesk® LandXplorer® Studio Professional software, designed to help civil engineering, transportation, and urban planning professionals create, evaluate, and communicate infrastructure proposals. Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler can help drive stakeholder buy-in and inform decision making with visually rich proposals for transportation, land, water, or energy infrastructure projects. And users can share proposed infrastructure models to give designers a head start. 

Here are a few videos about creating a model, evaluating conceptual designs and communicating using a model: