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Manfacturers data / BIM data

December 6, 2009 in AutoCAD, CAD, Revit


My last blog on CAD drawings and BIM returned some interesting comments from within my blog as well as from Linkedin Groups. It appears some were missing the point or not understanding it while some responses were building upon it. As a means to clarify my point I would like to take this discussion to the next level.

For the purpose of this blog, let’s consider the BIM data as representations of the manufacturer’s product data. In order for building manufacturers to be competitive they will most definitely have to be concerned with the BIM representation of their product data. But that is not all they are concerned with as they have the manufacturer’s representation of that data, not to mention marketing data such as cut sheets, shop drawings, etc.

  • Manufacturers Representations – There are a number of categories relating to data from the perspective within manufacturers’ walls but let’s just look at a few items:
  • Engineering data comes in all sorts of different methodology such as solid modeling, database driven and plain old 2D. This data is the life blood of the manufacturer, not only displaying current product line but being used to create new product (R&D). Actually, when I talk to manufacturers I like to draw a big circle and label it as the engine model from which everything is a derivative of this data.
  • Marketing data – Even though there are and can be more derivatives than just marketing data from an engine model, for this blog let’s look at the marketing data as data including BIM data and cut sheets or shop drawings.
  • BIM data is from a geometry point of view and should, for the most part, focus on providing the ‘foot print’ and ‘volume in space’ for the product. There are other concerns involving more detail that I will leave for another blog. The BIM data from the meta data perspective is also a key factor as it is really where manufacturers have to be cognizant in order to provide all the data necessary for their product, which includes pointers to cut sheets or shop drawings and specifications to name a few.

What I was trying to convey in my l last blog was that manufacturers will need to continue providing drawings of their products in a 2D fashion. This data will most likely take the form of a PDF file which will continue to provide the necessary detail and information that an architect or engineer needs. Again, this is something the BIM models do not provide other than by including a URL link to this data.
There are quite a few other derivatives we could talk about but the main point I want to emphasize is that all of the product data could be taken from the engine model, which is exactly what we are doing with the FAR Process - becoming a derivative of the engine model.

Patrick Johnson

Source: CAD Enhancement, Inc. – Manfacturers data / BIM data
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The Future of CAD with the World of BIM

November 7, 2009 in AutoCAD, CAD, Revit

As one of the fastest moving initiatives in the commercial industry, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an innovative approach to integrating the design, construction and management of a product.

  • Recent studies revealed:
    Over 50% of architects, engineers, contractors and owners are utilizing BIM at moderate levels or higher.
  • Architects are the heaviest users of BIM with 43% using it on more than 60% of their projects (that number is expected to grow throughout 2009).
  • 77% of BIM users are involved in at least a moderate number of green projects.
  • Half of the industry is using BIM or BIM-related tools today — a 75% increase in usage over the past two years.
  • 42% of non-users believe that BIM will be highly or very highly important to the industry in five years.
  • One in five users who formally measure ROI see returns above 50%, while 9% of users who
  • formally measure ROI see returns above 100%.

BIM (Building Information Modeling) is changing the world and has also created a burden for manufacturers to supply data to the architects in a different format. This does not mean manufacturers need to forget about the simpler CAD drawings they have been supplying in the past. There will always be a need for these drawings. Actually, in the BIM format, a manufacturer should be supplying a link to their CAD file (shop drawing) as a way of providing the information part of the ‘I’ in BIM

As a manufacturer you may be asking, ‘Why do we need to provide BIM data?’ The answer is simple, the world of architecture and design is changing and it is changing fast. Right now we have two states, Wisconsin and Texas, mandating that all their government projects must be a BIM format. Many architects are stating that your product(s) will not get specified unless you provide BIM data. I will also add that a properly developed BIM model will put a manufacturer’s product specifications in front of the architect, which in turn, greatly increases the chance of getting that product specified.

However – not all projects will be in BIM. You will have some architects that will not move to the BIM format, projects that will not demand it and there are all of the existing buildings that may have expansion plans and already have documentation in CAD formats. With the understanding that BIM is a new format that is here to stay, it’s important to acknowledge the need to provide CAD drawings and shop drawings will not be going away any time soon.

The following are links to information supporting the use of BIM by architects:

BIM adoption rate exceeds 80% among nation’s largest AEC firms

http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/ca6668193.html

SmartMarket Report on Building Information Modeling (BIM)

http://construction.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0249-296182_ITM_analytics

First Wisconsin, now Texas mandates BIM for state projects

http://www.bdcnetwork.com/blog/1340000734/post/1350047735.html

Patrick Johnson

Source: CAD Enhancement, Inc. – The Future of CAD with the World of BIM
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Far Creator

September 10, 2009 in AutoCAD, CAD, Revit

The FAR Process is built from 3 main components; the FAR Manager, the FAR Data and the FAR Creator. The FAR Creator is the piece of the puzzle for the Manufacturers that will take their product data whether it originates in Inventor, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Pro E, etc. in order to create the FAR Data set required to automate the creation of a Revit Family.

The FAR Creator really is not one application but a set of API’s that will be built for each Manufacturers, based on their software and their industry. The ultimate goal is to get the FAR Creator set up for the Manufacturer so they will not be dependent upon an outside provider for creating and maintaining their Revit families. Each Manufacturer will be able to use their own set of API’s to create the FAR Data necessary for automating the creation of their own Revit families using the FAR Process for custom and future product developments.

Another cost advantage with the FAR Process is that the FAR Creator allows the Manufacturer to have the ability for updating architect data automatically when changes are made to the engineering data – thus eliminating the need to manage multiple sets of data.

In addition, we feel one of the greatest advantages of the FAR Process for Manufacturers and Architects is found when working with customized product data. The FAR Creator allows the ability to create the FAR Data set for customized products for Architects automatically, thus eliminating the cost and reducing the amount of time for both the Manufacturer and the Architect to create this data.

The FAR Creator creates the data and automates the creation of the Revit Family to appear as if it were done manually. The FAR Process has the ability to automatically create an efficient, effective and high quality Revit family consistently, each and every time.

Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in seeing a demonstration of the FAR Process.

Patrick Johnson

Source: CAD Enhancement, Inc. – Far Creator
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Far Process and Manufacturing

September 10, 2009 in AutoCAD, CAD, Revit

As we started putting together the plan for the FAR project one objective we were trying to accomplish was to automate a process where Manufacturers could create Revit families without the investment of purchasing Revit software, training, and the staff to manage Revit. Our original plan was to create a way for the product data from the Manufacturer to be passed to the Architect who has the FAR Manager and Revit software so Architects could create the Revit family on their side automatically, since Manufacturers were focused on producing products instead of creating data.

For the past 6 weeks we have been presenting demos of the FAR process. Those initial demos were designed to get feedback from both Architects and Manufacturers. One item that we were hearing from the Manufacturers is the desire to create the Revit families themselves. The reason behind this was coming from the marketing side as they want the ability to decide where the Revit families reside in order to get the most exposure for their families and ultimately, their products. As a result of that feedback we are now offering the option for Manufacturers to implement the entire FAR process which includes both the FAR Manager and the FAR Creator to enable the capability for automating the creation of their own Revit families.

I think this was the beauty of these demos, not only did we obtain feedback regarding the concept of the FAR process but we also learned how companies plan on managing their architect data moving forward.

Again, I would like to thank everyone who participated in our initial demos of the FAR process and welcome other Architects and Manufacturers to contact us if interested in scheduling a FAR demo.

Patrick Johnson

Source: CAD Enhancement, Inc. – Far Process and Manufacturing
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Paper Space

September 10, 2009 in AutoCAD, CAD, Revit

When I look at Paper Space and when I talk to customers – I always say, “Think of Paper Space as a piece of paper.” As you start thinking of Paper Space in that way while setting up your standards and procedures correctly, Paper Space can become a way to print and/or publish your drawings without the need of opening up those tabs. We’ve actually been able to set up a customer so they never have the need to go into their drawings what so ever. Of course, not everyone will have that ability but I want to show you there are ways you can minimize the need.

To begin with you need to look at what is available to help you minimize or eliminate the need to open up the Paper Space tabs such as:

Fields – These are items that you point to in order to see data that you want to read. For example, you can point to the tab name for the sheet number. I actually like to point to properties in the custom properties within the file for filling in the Title Block. Using this data from the fields you start building consistency in your Title Block which also allows for quick changes, no matter how many sheets you have to work with. examble.

Layers – Generally speaking, you can control specifically what layers are frozen, thawed or on and off. An example of this is found in the view ports within each Paper Space object.There is more available to help minimize the need to open Paper Space tabs such as Annotative Text which can be applied to more complex drawings.

The point I want to emphasize is ‘Whatever you do is dependent upon your standards and setting up your templates correctly.’ Also, we have found that sometimes having an application in place helps with these matters. One small application we have developed and like to use is discussed in the blog Updating Sheet Numbers within Paper Space. We feel it becomes non-productive if you are doing work in Model Space which also creates a need to do work in the Paper Space object. With the proper setup you can minimize or eliminate the need to go into the Paper Space items to do any work.

Feel free to contact us with your questions and/or comments regarding Paper Space.

Patrick Johnson

Source: CAD Enhancement, Inc. – Paper Space
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Interesting

September 10, 2009 in AutoCAD, CAD, Revit

One of my last FAR demos was quite interesting. The gentleman suggested I should just create the content and sell it to Autodesk Seek so he could download it for free. It goes without saying, he was missing the point of what we are trying to do with the development of the FAR Process.

However, his comment got me thinking and recalling Autodesk’s last try at providing data in the ‘90′s. Does anyone remember PartSpec? I remember getting that CD and saying, ‘Right, like I am going to use this junk?’ and it was a complete utter failure. It is my opinion they began heading down the same path with the way they have started Autodesk Seek and how they are spending incredible amounts of money to clean it up. My hat is off to them for trying.

I’ve also been thinking, ‘Why is Autodesk spending so much money on this endeavor?’ I truly believe they are trying to monopolize the market in order to gain the market share, which in the end, they will be able to raise the price of their software – what do you think?

Patrick Johnson

Source: CAD Enhancement, Inc. – Interesting
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