Synergis Engineering Design Solutions

How to Print a Layer List in AutoCAD

Posted by synergiscad on May 22, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: autocad layers, AutoCAD tips, LA command, layer list, list of my layers, printing cad, printing layers. Leave a Comment

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Bill McKown, Synergis Solutions Engineer:

Something happened to me yesterday…

I was asked by a user: How can I print layers out so I can see all my layer names and what is on/off and frozen/thawed. My first reaction was like: Oh I have an old LISP routine that I used to use for that back in the day. Well, long story short, I couldn’t find it anyway.

Then I thought I’d issue the -LA command to call up the layer list on the text screen, and copy and paste it into word. (oh, it gets even uglier- see below).

—————— ———– —————— ———— ————

“0″ on -P 4 (cyan) “Continuous” Default

“A-Anno-Scrn” off -P 250 “Continuous” 0.250 mm.

“A-CLGN-SUSP” off -P 11 “HIDDEN2″ 0.000 mm.

“A-CLNG-DIMS” off -P 4 (cyan) “Continuous” Default

Then I thought wonder if the Layers dialog box could be copied and pasted into word, that looked even worse still, see below!

kUsed	A-CLGN-SUSP	False	False	False	11	HIDDEN2	LineWeight000	True
kUsed	A-CLNG-DIMS	False	False	False	cyan	Continuous	ByLineWeightDefault	True
kUsed	A-CLNG-PATT	False	False	False	red	Continuous	ByLineWeightDefault	True
kUsed	A-CLNG-SUSP	True	False	False	11	HIDDEN2	ByLineWeightDefault	True
kUsed	A-CLNG-TEXT	False	False	False	green	Continuous	ByLineWeightDefault	True

Then I thought I’d try to paste it into MS Excel, and Yes- finally Success! (see below)

So to produce a really nice layer list:

Open up the Layer Properties dialog.
Highlight the layer you want or all of the layers (CTRL-A) .
Copy the layers to the clipboard (CTRL-C)
Open up Excel and paste from the clipboard (CTRL-V)

So the moral of the story is don’t give up, after a few false starts you’ll figure it out!

… and so if you’re out tonight don’t forget, if you’re on your bike, wear white…

Cheers,
Bill

Bill McKown is Synergis’ Visualization expert. Having joined the company in 2011, his prior employment involved CAD design, 3D renderings for both architectural and interior design projects, and training and supporting for all the products associate with these. Bill has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Arts in Education and additional certifications in Computer Animation and Autodesk solutions.

See some of Bill’s other posts:

Technology, Trends and Innovation – Bill Griffin at SU13

Posted by synergiscad on May 21, 2013

Posted in: Manufacturing, PLM, Simulation, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk event, autodesk training, manufacturing event, simulation training, Synergis University. Leave a Comment

Bill Griffin, Autodesk Vice President of Worldwide Manufacturing and Channel Sales, will be presenting a special session aimed for managers and directors to learn about the changing trends of the Manufacturing Industry. He will cover topics like using cloud applications to expedite your design process, simulation to reduce costs and time to market and much more.

Find out more about SU13 at the events site, www.synergisu.com. There are only 15 days until SU – register today!

If you are already registered, you can log into your RegOnline account and change your agenda at any time.

Autodesk InfraWorks – Create the Future Now

Posted by synergiscad on May 20, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Education, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk infraworks, civil 3d, civil design, infrastructure design, infrastructure suite, land development. Leave a Comment

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Jesse Evans, Synergis Civil Solutions Engineer:
Introduction

InfraWorks is a tool for winning proposals, graphically telling a story, and start to understand design complications before the actual engineering begins. It uses the same data types that can be imported (or exported) into Civil 3D or Map3D. So, as you generate your InfraWorks model, you’re actually gathering essential and important information early in the process. Also, InfraWorks allows a direct data exchange using the .IMX format.

History

InfraWorks really fills the niche a lot of firms have been looking for. At first, Civil 3D was the design and the graphic display tool firms used. Although Civil 3D can produce nice renderings, it’s limited on size. Meaning, it would be difficult to create a whole city worth of information and render it as well. Furthermore, Civil 3D is an engineering tool, it’s main objective is to create very precise plans with very accurate information (pipe inverts and surface elevations…). Second, Autodesk released the tool “Export to Civil View for 3ds Max Design.” This was a great function and allowed high-end renderings for 3D models. The problem with this solution was the complexity of learning a second software program (3Ds Max) or hiring a graphic artist to help in this area. Beyond that issue, there is no coordinate system within 3Ds Max and results in a disconnect between GIS data and the 3Ds model.

Why InfraWorks

First of all, InfraWorks directly importes GIS information in its native format, along with many other data types. Second, it does and will automatically assign coordinate systems to the project. With this coordinate system automatically assigned, the sun’s placement and shadows studies are automatically computed and no extra effort is needed. Different GIS coordinates are automatically transformed and aligned to match the parent model. When importing GIS information (.shp and .sdf), instead of single lines or outlines, Infraworks converts this data into realistic objects; representing graphic roads and water bodies. Infraworks also makes it simple to add moving clouds, sun sets, wind speed, and wind direction; which are all just a click of a button.

Conclusion

So in the end, Infraworks does not provide the precision of Civil 3D. Nor so, does it provide the highest rendering capabilities, such as 3Ds Max. But it’s a easy to learn tool, that merges the best of both worlds into one creative model that provides a visual story for conveying your design intent.

-Jesse

Check out Jesse’s other posts:

Civil 3D Survey – Knowing its History May Help Your Future

BIM – It’s as Easy as 1, 2, 3

Jesse specializes in Infrastructure (Civil/GIS) as a Synergis Solutions Engineer, and brings a spectrum of industry experience with him to Synergis. He has his associate’s degree in Architectural Design, a certification in AutoCAD Release 14 (R14), and is also a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). First introduced to Autodesk products in 1997, he became State certified and began using R14 in the manufacturing industry to design parts for Boeing airplanes. After returning to school and obtaining his Associates Degree in Architectural Design, Jesse was employed by a consulting engineering firm as a Technical Civil Engineering Designer. As a Civil Designer, he developed skills in Civil 3D, Land Desktop Development (LDT), Map 3D, Raster Design, and Survey. He has worked on many different levels of land development and survey projects, from hospitals to highways, rivers to residential, schools to subdivisions. With over 10 years of experience using Autodesk Products, Jesse considers learning the best way to build confidence and a brighter future. He firmly believes that understanding the Autodesk solutions can help anybody produce faster, have greater precision, and be more valuable on the market.

You can still win a pair of passes to SU13!

If you want to attend Synergis Univeristy on June 5th for free, you can go to our Facebook page now and enter to win 2 passes for you and a colleague. Don’t worry, if you already paid and are the winner, you can pass your free passes on, be refunded for the cost, or attend next year for free.

Entries will be open until May 24th at midnight, and the randomly chosen winner will be notified on May 27.

And while you are on our Facebook page, check out our student competition entries. The Top Three projects for this year’s competition were posted to Facebook for public voting. You can determine who wins cash. The students are all invited to present their projects in the Teaching the Innovators of Tomorrow. See below.

SU13 is less than 3 weeks away and we are still receiving sessions from presenters. Here are some of the new and updated sessions available…

New Sessions:

Teaching the Innovators of Tomorrow

New lunch session featuring Glenn Goldman, from NJIT and student presenters who entered our Synergis Student Competitions.

MEP Fabrication

Learn how the fabrication content allows you to tie into industry standard labor and material cost catalogs to render instantaneous bids with the Autodesk portfolio of MEP Fabrication Design. We will demonstrate converting a Revit model to a fabrication ready model as well… read more.

Revit MEP – A Deeper Dive

Do you know where all the energy metadata for a Revit MEP project is stored, or how to use it to really dial in a project to real world conditions, and how to easily set that up with the built in data hierarchy structure? Join us for an hour to get exposed to that and more as we take a deeper look into Revit MEP’s true capabilities.

How do YOU compare to these savvy companies using data and document management?

Join us as we look into data and document management and how it is leveraged in many industries to achieve measureable results and efficiencies. Learn more about how successful companies are learning to manage their most valuable digital assets.

Updated Sessions:

Introducing Kaleidoscope… Look at Your Business from a Different Perspective

The time of this session has changed to a lunch session. There will be limited seating, so if you are interested in learning more about the services we offer to keep you and your business ahead, please register or change your agenda now. (If you were already registered before it was moved to lunch, you are already scheduled for it and you can choose another session for your open slot in the schedule.)

Remember: If you already registered, you can go back into your account at any time to choose a new session to update your agenda.

Have questions? Contact us via email or phone (800.836.5440).

Synergis Earns Autodesk Civil Infrastructure Specialization

Posted by synergiscad on May 16, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk awards, autodesk experts, autodesk platinum, autodesk specialized, civil design consultant. Leave a Comment

QUAKERTOWN, Pennsylvania, May 14, 2013—Synergis Technologies, Inc. today announced that it has earned the new Autodesk Civil Infrastructure Specialization designation for value added resellers from Autodesk, Inc., a world leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. As an Autodesk Specialized Partner Synergis has shown that they have made significant investment in their people, they have a solid business plan specific to their specialization area, they have customer references, and that they can provide offer a high level of expertise and support to customers in the civil industry.

The new Autodesk Partner Specializations enable value added resellers to highlight and brand their expertise in delivering services in key industry areas. By completing the required curriculum and training, as well as meeting required levels of service and standards set by Autodesk, Synergis demonstrates through their strong customer service and support in sales what it means to be a trusted adviser to Autodesk customers throughout the world.

“We were implementing Autodesk Suites and rolling-out Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D companywide when we were awarded a large project,” said Dale Kruelle, Corporate CAD Manager for McTish, Kunkel & Associates. “With the need to meet deadlines in conjunction with the roll-out, we looked to our Autodesk Partner, Synergis, to assist in developing this initiative and deploying the technology in our corporate office. Synergis provided onsite consulting and integration of their engineers into our project team for immediate support and technical expertise.”

“We continue to partner with Synergis on an ongoing basis for technical support and mentoring, allowing us to best utilize the latest technologies and meet deadlines and customer expectations. Most recently, the Synergis applications engineer on site was able to quickly recognize some flaws in our CAD workflow and implement a solution that increased productivity. Synergis is a trusted partner, keeping us informed of industry trends, such as using BIM for bridge projects, and helping reduce risks for our business,” added Mr. Kruelle.

About Synergis Engineering Design Solutions

Synergis Engineering Design Solutions, a division of Synergis Technologies, Inc., provides customers solutions to make them more productive, competitive, and profitable.

Synergis is among the most elite of the Autodesk Value Added Resellers and holds privileged recognition as an Autodesk Platinum Partner, Autodesk’s highest level of certification, for the expertise, training and services it provides for the manufacturing, AEC and education communities; Autodesk Consulting Specialized Partner; and Autodesk Authorized Training Center (ATC). Companies in these industries turn to Synergis for Autodesk software, and the highest quality training, professional services, and support available to help them stay ahead. For more information on Synergis Engineering Design Solutions, visit http://www.synergis.com or call 800-836- 5440.

# # #

© 2013 Synergis Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved Autodesk and ATC are registered trademarks or trademark of Autodesk, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Autodesk Backburner Set-Up

Posted by synergiscad on May 10, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3ds max rendering, autodesk backburner, backburner render, more cpu, network rendering, render farm. 1 comment

Previous tip newly posted on May 10, 2013 by Bill McKown, Synergis Solutions Engineer:

What is Backburner?

Backburner is a free software that comes with 3ds Max that allows you to render either animations or single renderings across a network. It allows you to take advantage of the CPU power of many PC’s on your network to accomplish the task of rendering a single image or many images. A user can render an image by automatically breaking it up into smaller parts and divvying up the work to many PC’s to work on instead of just one.

Why do I need this?

A small animation at HD quality can take a very long time to render. A typical HD rendered frame may be 1280×720 resolution, an may take from a few minutes to several hours to render but since every second of animation requires 30 frames (ie. 30 fps) you can see that when you multiply the rendered frame time by 30 for each second of animation the time it takes to render the complete animation increases very fast. Just as a single high resolution still image may require 5000×4000 pixels and take a single PC 8 hours or more to render. By dividing up the image or animation you can considerably cut down the overall time it takes to render. You can also load up the render queue with alternate views, materials, or multiple render passes. You can also render to this using other Autodesk products like Maya, and composite, etc. Presently Autodesk Cloud has restricted 3ds Max users from rendering directly to the Autodesk cloud for free, although there are several other Cloud rendering services available just not for free.

Overview of how it works:

Backburner consists of the Backburner Manager, Backburner Monitor, and Backburner Servers (or render nodes).

Backburner Manager:

A small executable program that runs on a PC on the network, it can be run on any PC on the network including a render node, although it’s not advised. This software receives render jobs from the client, which it then distributes to the render nodes on the network. The Backburner Manager maintains status information about its network of Backburner servers. It also maintains a database of submitted, active, and completed jobs. If a render node (server) fails it also will redirect the failed servers’ job to another available server.

Backburner Monitor:

A small program that can be run on any PC on the network to see and control the Queue of jobs in the manager. this can be run on any PC on the network and there is also a web based version available.

Render Nodes:

A Render node is a PC that runs (Backburner server) a network version of 3ds Max, and actually renders a job. Only CPU and RAM are used from this PC, a high-end graphics card is not needed nor is a monitor even needed.

Network Folders:

You need to setup a common area so all Backburner servers can load the map textures from. You also need a common area that Backburner can write out files to. Setup a Shared network folder to work from on a network drive. There will be 2 main folders the first will be named Textures, this will have many sub-directories containing the maps and material libraries. The second folder will be named Renderoutput, this will be where all network rendered files are written to. Assign these drive letters T: (Textures) and R: (Renderoutput), this makes it easier on a network that may be 10 directories deep to not have to use the entire name in each file mapping. Each PC that is running Backburner Server must have Read-Write access to these folders! Continue Reading

Using Parts in Autodesk® Revit®

Posted by synergiscad on May 6, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Government, Training Center. Tagged: how to revit, onsite training, revit documentation, revit parts, revit tips, revit training. Leave a Comment

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Bill Knittle, Synergis Building Solutions Engineer:

The line between design and construction is blurring at an accelerated rate due in part to the model-based driven process of BIM. The leading adopters of BIM are now the contractors. Models created in the design space for the purpose of creating fully coordinated and consistent bid documents are now influencing the construction of buildings.

As designers, we tend to skirt around the miniscule details of a building project while contractors tend to focus and ponder on them. For example, designers would look at a paneled wall as a simple hatch pattern conveying the aesthetic intent of the overall panel arrangement while a contractor would look at each individual panel, how it would be fabricated, in what sequence it would be installed, etc…

Traditionally, contractors would need to redraw the information conveyed in the bid documents for the purposes of sequencing, assembling, and documenting the building for the construction. This would require countless hours of trades-people collaborating over how to make the design a reality. With a model-based delivery the process can be made more efficient, dramatically productive, and higher in quality. Re-purposing the existing models created by the design professionals is replacing the old and tired method of yesterday.

One way we can do this is found right inside of Revit^®. Take a single building element modeled for design and convert it into something useful for construction. System families like a wall can be converted into Parts. The Parts can then be further sub-divided into many Parts. Each Part instance can be quantified, tagged, and scheduled. The Parts themselves are dependent children of the original parent element thus maintaining intent and providing constructability.

Parts were introduced to us in release 2012 in order to begin bridging the chasm between the designers and constructors as well as, strengthen communication and understanding. Parts can be created from any layered assembly in Revit^® such as a wall, floor, ceiling, and roof. Each layer of the Assembly will become an individual Part. Each Part can then be modified or divided into several Parts to more accurately reflect the real world components.

The process begins by selecting the wall, floor, ceiling, or roof and choosing the Create Parts command. The active view of the element will automatically switch to displaying the Parts and hide the Original. The Parts Visibility parameter enables the view to display only Parts, Original, or Both.

Once the Parts are exposed, each one can be independently selected and modified further. The selected Part can be Divided or Excluded. Dividing the Part simply segments the original Part while Exclude hides the Part from view and project schedules. Two or more Parts can also be merged together.

Dividing the Part places it into an editing mode whereby you can manually sketch split lines or select intersecting references such as levels, grids, reference planes, and all the above. The editor also allows separate Parts to be added to or removed from the current division.

When sketching the split lines, you can set the Work Plane to sketch the split lines on. The Work Plane can be a named reference, a selected geometric surface, or a line. The division can be given a distance to gap the Parts as well as, specify whether or not to use a loaded division profile to use along the split lines. When a division profile is selected, additional parameters become available. These parameters allow you to further manipulate the behavior of the split. Division profiles can be created and loaded into the project for use. Continue Reading

Autodesk Homestyler (aka Project Dragonfly) is Now a Mobile App

Posted by synergiscad on May 2, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education. Tagged: designing rooms, furniture placement, interior design, visualization, visulaize yur designs. Leave a Comment

Autodesk® Homestyler® is now available as a mobile app to anyone for free. Previously, Homestyler was Project Dragonfly on Autodesk Labs, offered as a free download on your PC. Autodesk has now released that product as a free Mobile App.

With Homestyler, you can use your own designs to arrange furniture, wall hangings, rugs, lighting fixtures, and more to find your perfect style to fit your space whether it is a small New York City loft or a large ranch in the country.

Get Inspired:

You can use the Design Stream to browse others work and empty spaces, and you can use those as a template and change the contents as you desire. You can also share your design options with friends and family on Facebook and email to get feedback.

Get Connected:

With Autodesk Homestyler you can even find professional designers in your area that have similar ideas, so you can ask for feedback, ask specific questions, or hire a professional if you start getting in over your head.

Check out more information on Autodesk Homestyler’s page.

Download it for PC or mobile device.

Homestyler “How To” Guide.

AutoCAD 2014: Overview of New and Updated Features

Posted by synergiscad on May 1, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing. Tagged: 3d cad, AutoCAD 2014, Autodesk 2014, New AutoCAD. 2 comments

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Bill McKown, Synergis AutoCAD and Visualization Solutions Engineer:

Two weeks ago AutoCAD 2014 was released. As always I downloaded it and installed it immediately with much anticipation. I downloaded the install software (about 3.65 GB) and it installed flawlessly in about 30 minutes to about 1.86 GB on my hard disk drive.

There are a few install options: a network License manager, Autodesk CAD manager tools, and Autodesk content service, and Autodesk Recap.

The first thing you’ll notice is the new splash screen graphics, which appear to be a very cool looking organic high tech medical device, but I really have no idea what it is. The software installed flawlessly on the 10 new laptops I was prepping for a class. However AutoCAD choked on the migration from 2013 on my home PC, requiring a reinstall. So what exactly is new and improved in AutoCAD 2014?

First of all I should mention that the 2013 drawing file will be compatible with 2014. So a 2014 file will open with AutoCAD 2013 if needed.

It seems like many of the changes to AutoCAD 2014 are fixes and improvements that the average user might not notice. So here it is my incomplete list of new features.

New Autodesk Recap (ships with AutoCAD) is Photogrammetry software allows a user to automatically convert multiple photographs into a 3d model mesh and use the photographs as texture maps. Available on 360 accounts. Stay tuned for a blog on just this software!
Updated: Security features to combat the growing list of AutoCAD targeted malware.
New: Geo-Location allowing the drawing to be linked to maps like Google earth. However this is only available to 360 accounts.
Design Feed, is a way to communicate with people about your drawings by tagging the drawing and posting comments. It allows real time chatting, this feature was adding from ACAD-WS. It also allows including images from your mobile device, but to use this you must be logged in to 360 and have the drawing shared on the cloud.
Command prompt update: Customizable Auto Correct. Spell a command wrong and it offers alternatives. These command line improvements will slow down the response time, so if you tend to type your commands you may find this annoying and want to turn this feature off. I was typing PU and hitting for the purge command, and it keep going into the pan command, because it couldn’t keep up.
Command prompt update: Synonym Lookup. So If you type a command it doesn’t recognize it provides some alternatives. Like “round” will return “Fillet”, or “Transmit” would return “Etransmit”.
Command prompt update: Find user layer names and block names. While typing the name of layer, a the command prompt will try to set that layer current.
A New File Tab which resides under the ribbon menu allows easy opening, closing and switching of drawings. Making this more like Internet Explorer 9, Firefox or Chrome browsers.
A new “Merge selected layer(s) to…” Option now appears as a right click in the layer properties dialog box. Allowing merging of layers to combine into other layers.
Some Xref enhancements such as being able to right click on the attach button and change pathing options.
Windows 8 is now supported so touch screen ribbon menu has been added.
Update: The Arc Command now allows you to force the arc in the CW direction. So a Start, Center, End Arc can be drawn clockwise by holding down the CTRL key.
I’m told that enhancements to the screen graphics, viewport improvements have been made but I haven’t really noticed much change. Perhaps if I was doing graphic intensive 3d or rendering in AutoCAD I’d notice.
Hatch methods are remembered so if you use the select object method to define your boundary, it will use the previous method next time you hatch.
Single line text justification is now “sticky”. Your previous justification is remembered and becomes the default next time you use single line text.

Now admittedly this is not a complete list of new options, but I have covered the biggies. The Recap software that now ships with AutoCAD is the one thing that I found to be very cool. The technology is the amalgamation of a few technologies, and software ought and developed by Autodesk.

A few years ago Autodesk acquired a company named Real Viz. RealViz had 2 products that were particularly good. The first was Stitcher which allowed multiple overlapping photographs to be merged into one large panoramic view with the perspective fixed, and the color corrected across all of the stitched photos.

After a release or two under the AutoDesk label Stitcher disappeared and a similar software appeared named PhotoFly on Autodesk Labs. The second software was named RealViz imageModeler and also disappeared and re-appeared on AutoDesk labs as Catch 123. This “Photogrammetry” software allowed a user to take multiple photographs of a 3d object and it converted it into a mesh model and took the photographs and applied them as a texture map back onto the model. Now Recap allows this same kind of functionality plus the addition of point cloud captures from a variety of 3d scanning devices.

Looking forward, AutoCAD 2015: If you’ve got a wish list, we want to hear it so we can pass it on. Contact us or go to the AUGI site to put your requests in.

Cheers,
Bill

See some of Bill’s other posts:

Vote Now for Your Favorite Student Design!

Posted by synergiscad on April 30, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Government. Tagged: architecture competitions, building students, Montgomery High, palisades, Revit designs, student architecture, Susquehannock. Leave a Comment

We received 29 projects this year for the Annual Synergis Architecture Competition. It was challenging to choose just three to post, but our team of engineers finally decided. All of these schools are invited to attend Synergis University on June 5 and present their projects to local employers and educators from all over. And cash is always good, so we offer $1,000 to the winning team and $500 to the second place team.

And the top three (in aphabetical order) are:

Montgomery High School

Students: Jeremy Bilotti & Sean O’Mara

Instructor: Tim Leicht

Montgomery High School always brings great work to the competition. I was told that the students believed they had to do better than their winning peers last year. Their project is worked out in three phases so that owners could build and add on as budgets are allocated. Check out the project.

Palisades High School

Students: Jon Anton & Reed Spangenberg

Instructors: Chris Willman & Cathy Beck

This pair offered many visualizations to better portray the activites and space. They have many creative ideas and design knowledge. Check out their project here.

Susquehannock High School

Students: Alexandra Weaver & Katie Steines

Instructor: James Rayburn

This team really explored details in each room focusing on creating attractive, eye-catching rooms that encourage learning and imagination. Check out their project here.

Congratulations to these three teams for making it this far!

Now it’s your turn!

Vote now for the project you like the best, by going to the Synergis Facebook page and like the one you want to win!

See the official Guidelines for this year’s competition here.

Revit Video Tip: How to Build Your Own Roof Truss Families

Posted by synergiscad on April 25, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Training Center. Tagged: custom roof truss, how to make a truss, revit training, revit tutorials, roof in revit. 3 comments

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Bill Knittle, Synergis Building Solutions Engineer:

Today I am posting my latest video, Building Your Own Roof Truss Families. Creating your own custom Roof Truss Family will save you time over the internal Truss tool. This video covers the benefits and the workflow to creating your own Roof Truss Family in Revit.

Let us know if there are any other tips you need to reduce your clicks and your time in design, so you can stay ahead.

Thanks,
Bill

See some of Bill’s other posts:

Bill has a four year Architectural Engineering degree from the University of Hartford. He has accumulated over seven years of industry experience at George J. Donovan AIA & Associates of Bedminster. During that time he managed the company’s CAD standards and mentored his colleagues while providing design, documentation, and in some cases, management services on a variety of architectural projects. Some of his most notable projects include the adaptive reuse of a two vacant structures into usable facilities. The first was an empty factory into leasable office condominiums and the second was the conversion of a dilapidated 81 year old silk mill into a local bank’s administration building. For the past five years at Synergis, Bill has been training, supporting, and implementing the Building Solutions offered from Autodesk, primarily the Revit applications. His accomplishments include many certifications which include AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit Architecture. He is also an Implementation Certified Expert for Revit Architecture and Structure. Bill’s latest achievement was acquiring the MEP Systems Specialist certification from Autodesk which has propelled Synergis as a Platinum Service Provider. Bill’s interactions with customers have provided him with constant challenges that lead him to think outside the box. As a result, he has authored several technical solutions for publications which include AEC Bytes and Cadalyst as well as, produced several tips and tricks videos for the Synergis Website and You Tube channel. He enjoys consulting with a many different Architectural or Engineering firms struggling to implement the BIM process using the Revit application. Bill has been certified many times on Autodesk products, including Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, AutoCAD , and AutoCAD Architecture.

Revit Tech Tip 29: Dealing with Fussy Electrical Circuits

Posted by synergiscad on April 24, 2013

Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Bill Knittle, Synergis Building Solutions Engineer:

Today I wanted to talk about those frustration electrical circuits. Here is a quick video to help you out when you are dealing with finicky electrical circuits.

I hope it helps. Let us know what you are running into and I can address is in another post. Tune in tomorrow for a video on Building Your own Roof Truss Families which will save you time AND picks and clicks.

Thanks,

Bill

See some of Bill’s other posts:

Revit Video Tip 28: How to Fix Leader Shoulder Issues on Tags

Posted by synergiscad on April 23, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, MEP Systems Engineering, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk revit, leader shoulder problem, leader tag issues, revit how to, revit training, revit tutorials. Leave a Comment

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Bill Knittle, Synergis Building Solutions Engineer:

This week I have 3 new videos for you in the Revit series we have on our YouTube Channel. The first one, I am posting today is something we hear about a lot, Leader Shoulder Issues on Tags. This quick video will help you correct those issues in less time and frustration…

I hope that quick video was helpful. If it wasn’t let us know what your issue is and I can make a video about it.

See me again tomorrow for another quick tip on fussy electrical circuits.

Thanks,

Bill

See some of Bill’s other posts:

Registration is Open for SU2013!

Posted by synergiscad on April 19, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, MEP Systems Engineering, PLM, Simulation, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk events, civil design, inventor training, learning event, revit training, Synergis University. Leave a Comment

Synergis University is our biggest technology event of the year. If you have not been to SU in previous years, you need to attend this year. We bring our Synergis Solutions Engineers together with Autodesk experts and industry professionals, to bring you the industry trends, tips and tricks, and Autodesk solutions that will help you get ahead and stay ahead in your industry.

Presenters:

On our Synergis team alone, we have centuries of Autodesk knowledge. Add to that Autodesk experts and local industry professionals and customers, and we have a full house of technical and workflow process professionals all focused on moving your business ahead.

By popular request, we will have Lynn Allen, Autodesk Evangelist, present the keynote on “Autodesk 360 – Embrace the Cloud”. She will also present “60 AutoCAD tips in 60 Minutes”, a must see if you are working in AutoCAD.

See all the presenters.

Sessions:

The sessions are packed with information that will help you improve your design process, and also feature classes by job type. Under each session you will be able to see who will benefit most from it. So if you are a manager, we won’t send you to picks and clicks.

Multi-industry tracks means that you are getting content that is aimed at your industry, or choose sessions from the general track to learn about information pertinent to all design professionals, managers, and engineers.

Sessions are being added, and you can go back into your registration and change your schedule at any time.

See all the sessions. See the schedule.

Bonus: By attending SU2013, you will be entered for a free pass to Autodesk University in December*. So register now and you could be going to Las Vegas in December.

See photos from last year on the SU site.

*Winner is responsible for all travel, food, entertainment, etc.

Center Of Gravity Sanity for Inventor Assemblies

Posted by synergiscad on April 15, 2013

Posted in: Education, Factory, Manufacturing. Tagged: advanced inventor training, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk inventor training, finding the center of gravity, inventor training, machinery design. Leave a Comment

Posted April 15, 2013 by Jim Swain, Synergis Project Manager for Manufacturing Solutions:

I had a case recently where a customer had a complex assembly, made up of several different subassemblies. The center of gravity location that Inventor displayed just didn’t make sense. It just didn’t pass the “sanity check”.

Diving into the assembly I found that the cause was pretty simple, and in hindsight fairly obvious: one of the subassemblies was tagged as Reference in the Bill of Materials.

Changing the subassembly to Default shifts the Center of gravity to a more reasonable location:

So, while there are very good reasons to have subassemblies flagged as reference at the bills of materials level for modeling and costing purposes be aware that to get good center of gravity information you will have to temporarily shift them to Default, then shift them back when you are done.

Be VERY careful if you are displaying the center of gravity in a drawing, as changing the BOM state will change the view’s size and any dimensions placed to the assembly’s center of gravity marker, as shown here:

So, if your center of gravity locations don’t quite seem to make sense in an assembly – check the bill of material structure for the various components.

Until next time,

Jim

Jim is Synergis’ Project Manager for Manufacturing Solutions and has been with Synergis since 1997. Prior to joining Synergis he worked in the consumer electronics and automotive industries as a design engineer, a test engineer, and as a CAD administrator. He has also taught design classes at the college level. Jim’s broad knowledge base helps him to understand customers’ problems and offer appropriate solutions. Jim earned BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University. Jim is a certified Inventor Expert, having been in the first group of people to take and pass the Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert Exam at Autodesk University in 2003. He has also presented classes at Autodesk University since 2003. Email Jim with a question or request.

See Jim’s other posts:

Falcon Goes Further - Autodesk Labs Project Falcon Overview

Pinewood Derby in Inventor

Non-Native File Types Available with Autodesk Inventor 2013

Posted by synergiscad on April 9, 2013

Posted in: Education, Factory, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk inventor tip, Inventor file types, inventor to solidworks, non-native autodesk files, solidworks to inventor, what inventor files types. Leave a Comment

Posted April 9, 2013 by Robert Reid, Synergis Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

Q: What is a non-native Inventor file?
A: Any file that is created outside the Inventor Software.

Q: What are some of the most common file types?
A: Let’s look at the 3 most common and then I will list out the files Inventor can open.

IGES Files: .ige, .iges, .igs

Initial Graphics Exchange Specification is a file format which defines a vendor neutral data format that allows the digital exchange of information across Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) Systems. Data is stored in the American Standard Code For Information Exchange (ASCII), which is a character-encoding scheme that represents text in computers, communication devices, and other devices that use text. The ASCII text-based format can be used to save or export vector data, store wireframe models, surface or solid object representations, circuit diagrams, and other objects. The IGES format was introduced in 1979.

SAT Files: .sat (versions 4.0 – 7.0)

Standard Acis Text stores Three-Dimensional(3d) geometry information in a standard text file; used for exchanging 3D data between multiple 3D CAD software programs. SAT files are stored in the ASCII text format, and may also be saved in a binary format using the .SAB file format. ACIS, is the International Association for Computing and Information System, which provides a global forum for industry and education to interact with one another, the latest developments in the fields of computer, information sciences.

STEP Files: .stp, .ste, .step

Standard for the Exchange of Product Data, is an ISO standard exchange format; used for representing Three-Dimensional (3D) data in a format that can be recognized across multiple CAD Software Programs. STEP files also use the ASCII text-based format. Continue Reading

Autodesk Subscription: Not just a guaranteed annual upgrade.

Posted by synergiscad on April 8, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, MEP Systems Engineering. Tagged: autocad license, autodesk contract, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk licensing, autodesk revit, autodesk subscription. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Melissa Kelly, Synergis Sales Support Representative:

We all know the value of maintaining your subscription. It helps you to avoid the pain of paying for a new version each time you upgrade. Especially with the new Autodesk upgrade pricing, Autodesk Subscription benefits are imperative in order to keep up with ever-changing technology. You also have the option to continue using previous versions as needed. But what else can this contract do for you? And how can it help you manage your assets?

Manage your assets: Most obvious to those who work with this benefit is the easy management of seeing all your assets in one place, and being able to download as you need them (system crash, anyone?).

Before any action can be taken, you need to log into your personal Subscription Center using your user ID and password.

Once logged in, a whole world of options is opened up for you.

Previous Version Use and Downloads: Would you like to download a 2012 version of AutoCAD? Easy! Simply click on the “Downloads” link and choose your software and version options. (Note that you will need to install the Download Manager before your first download.)

Do you need a 2008 version to accommodate a client who hasn’t upgraded? Still not a problem. Although the standard download options do not include a version this old, you are able to request a previous version license from Autodesk.

Online Tutorials and Trainng: Interested in checking out the enhanced features of the newest release? Looking for some pointers on how to use the newer versions? Get access to self-help content from the “Training” link. It’s time to start exploring your options!

Subscription Access Levels: There are several access levels within the center. It starts with the Contract Manager, who has access to all the assets within the Subscription. There is also a Subscription Coordinator, whose access is limited to the specific serial numbers assigned by the Contract Manager. You can do this under Contract Administration.

Contract Adminstration: From this tab, you can control access to the Subscription Center for all your system users. This includes giving users other than the Subscription Coordinator full or modified access to benefits. For instance, you can give them the ability to download any of the software on your subscription or just to the E-learing pages.

You can get a full report of your subscription assets in Contract Administration. This includes the number of seats per license and their product keys. You can also view the deployment (standalone or networked) and the name of the Subscription Coordinator. This view is also helpful for checking the group names assigned to your assets (if you use this optional designation).

See a tutorial on Contract Adminsitration.

Home Use Licenses: Do you have users who whould benefit from the option to work from home? As part of your Autodesk Subscription, you can obtain home use licenses for the users who need them. The link to request this option is also within the Contract Administration portal.

Autodesk 360: Autodesk Subscription also increases the value of Autodesk 360 for Suites customers. With a Design Suite Subscription, users are given more storage space and Autodesk credits for rendering, simulating and analysis in the Autodesk cloud-based platform for virtually unlimited computing power without bogging down your hardware. Autodesk 360 increases your productivity with collaboration and mobile tools. Learn more.

This is just a taste of what Autodesk Subscription has to offer you. It looks like it’s an even better value than you thought, doesn’t it?

Learn more about Autodesk Subscription on the Autodesk Site or a through a short Autodesk Guide.

Synergis is always here to help you, too. Any questions about the center, and all of your other Autodesk benefits, feel free to contact us and we can walk you through it.

Thanks,

Melissa K.

Avoid Drawing Template Style Conflicts (Inventor 2013)

Posted by synergiscad on April 4, 2013

Posted in: Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk Inventor, error style conflict, how to use, inventor experts, inventor style conflict, inventor training, merging styles, mixing styles. Leave a Comment

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Robert Reid, Synergis Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

When working in Inventor 2013, Drawing Styles are changed or Modified and are not properly saved, the Style Conflict dialog box will appear when opening a new drawing template. The following step-by-step workflow will show you how to avoid style conflicts.

Error: Style Conflict

Note: A copy of the design data folder should always be saved or backed-up immediately following any install of Inventor software!

Back-Up Design Data Folder prior to attempting.
SAVE & Close any Inventor Files that are open.
Open Projects Editor:
Change the “Use Style Library” from Read-Only to Read-Write:
Click Save. Click Done. Close the Projects Editor:
Open your Default Drawing Template:
At this point, you can open the Styles Editor by going to the Manage Tab, and on the Styles and Standards Panel, click Styles Editor to open:
Make all necessary changes to the current default template.
In the Styles and Standard Editor, Click the Style Standard you use, click on Available Styles and UN-Check the Styles you do not use. Click Save. Click Done to Close the Styles and Standard Editor.
On the Styles and Standards Panel, click Save.
In the Save Styles to Style Library, click yes to all, click OK.
Click Yes in the Overwrite Style Library Information:
Click on the BIG I (Application Settings) in the upper left hand corner, click on Save As, then Save Copy As Template:
Overwrite the existing template, click Save:
Click Yes in the Confirm Save As:
Close the Current Drawing that is opened, do not save. Instead, change the Project File back to Read-Only:

Click Save, click Done. You can now open a New Template with No Style Conflicts.

I hope that helps prevent some future frustration. Let us know what errors are popping up for you and we will tell you how to prevent it. Use the comments below or email us.

Thanks,
-Bob

See some of Bob’s previous posts:

Robert Reid graduated from Middlesex College in New Jersey with a Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. With over 25 years of Industrial Machine Design, including Wire Drawing Machinery, Plastic Processing Machinery, & Packaging Machinery, Robert has held various positions within the workforce, including, Manager of Engineering; Sheet Extrusion Dept, Manager of Engineering, Chief Design Engineer. He is currently an Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert.

What’s New in Autodesk 2014?

Posted by synergiscad on April 1, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, MEP Systems Engineering. Tagged: Autodesk 2014, Autodesk 360, autodesk raster, Autodesk revap, new features in Autodesk. Leave a Comment

The new Autodesk line-up is focused on helping you innovate by bringing the cloud and desktop together to create a seamless workflow that allows you to communicate, share and design with teams located anywhere. In addition, Autodesk in improving the value of the Design Suites by making it easier to create 3d designs from both laser scans and digital photos. Incorporate products or the environment, even if you do not have the design documentation. Here are some of the other new features for 2014.

Increased Value for Economical Access: Autodesk Suites

The Autodesk Suites have always been the most economical way to access Autodesk tools and each year the value of the Suites is made sweeter. Here are some of the benefits of accessing the Autodesk Suites for 2014:

Autodesk AutoCAD Design Suite

Autodesk Recap (more info below) included in all editions
AutoCAD Raster Design (more info below) included in all editions

Autodesk Building Design Suite

Autodesk Recap (more info below) included in all editions
AutoCAD Raster Design (more info below) included in all editions
Access to Autodesk Green Building Studio and energy analysis in Standard edition
InfraWorks 2014 and Optimization for Inventor cloud service in the Ultimate edition

Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite Continue Reading

Last Friday March 3ds Max Tip: How to Map a Decal on a Material

Posted by synergiscad on March 29, 2013

Posted in: Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3ds max tips, Autodesk 3ds Max, decal mapping, tutorials, using blends, visualize. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Bill McKown, Visualization Solutions Engineer:

The fifth Friday of the month and as promised here is that video on how to map a decal on a material using a Composite Layer with a mask and various blend modes in 3ds Max.

I hope you find the Friday videos helpful. If you missed any of this month’s 3ds Max video posts, they are right here:

March 1 – How to Use the Scene State Manager
March 8 – How to Use the Material Editor
March 15 – How to Use the Shape Merge
March 22 – How to Use Ambient Occlusions

Let us know what features you struggle with and I will make a video out of it. Email us.

Happy Friday!

-Bill

Bill is Synergis’ Visualization expert. Having joined the company in 2011, his prior employment involved CAD design, 3D renderings for both architectural and interior design projects, and training and supporting for all the products associate with these. Bill has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Arts in Education and additional certifications in Computer Animation and Autodesk solutions.

How to Convert AutoCAD Blocks to a Civil 3D Point File in 10 Steps

Posted by synergiscad on March 26, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Education, Training Center. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Nikki Szymanski, Civil Solutions Engineer:

Points in Civil 3D are blocks you need to extract to create a point file. Here I will go over the steps to get this done so you can move your work from AutoCAD to Civil 3D.

1. On the Ribbon go to the “Insert” tab and select Extract Data

2. When the Data Extraction box comes up, accept default – Create a new data extraction. Click next.

Save file as *****.dxe Continue Reading

How to Use the Replace Model Reference Feature in Autodesk Inventor

Posted by synergiscad on March 25, 2013

Posted in: Education, Factory, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk Inventor, design accelerator, how to replace part in all drawings, replace references, update references. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Robert Reid, Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

Replace Model Reference is a feature that was introduced in the Autodesk Inventor 2011 release. This feature allows the end user to dramatically speed up the production of drawings of similar parts by replacing the base model in the drawing, allowing Inventor to recreate all views for the new model.

The Workflow for Replace Model Reference is as Follows:

On the ribbon, click Manage tab, Modify panel, Replace Model Reference.
The Replace Model Reference dialog box opens and lists all the top-level model references contained in the drawing.
Click the reference model to replace. The Select new model command enables, so you can browse for a new model to replace the original model reference.

Note: You can replace a model only with the same type of model. Replace IPT with IPT, IAM with IAM, and IPN with IPN.

When you select a view that does not include a flat pattern, that view is deleted. Similarly, when a presentation does not contain the same explosion name as the original file, the model is deleted.

Example of a step-by-step workflow to use the Replace Model Reference Feature:

Design Scenario:

You are designing 2 components of a machine that are complex in nature, but very similar in design! You need to create both Part Models along with 2 matching drawings.

The example below will be 2 Roll Journals for a Plastic Sheet Extrusion Application where the journals are almost identical in design, except that one is longer for the mounting of a Helical Gear. You have spent a fair amount of time in the Design of the first Journal, and its corresponding drawing. You now need to duplicate the first Journal, and create its corresponding drawing. So in the end, you now have 2 part models which are almost identical, and each has its own drawing

1) I have Created the First Part Model of the “Left Journal”:

2) I then take that First Part Model of the Journal, “Save Copy As” and rename it. Modify the New Journal as required, to create the Second Journal: Continue Reading

Friday 3ds Max Video Tip: How to Use the Scene State Manager

Posted by synergiscad on March 22, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3ds max tips, 3ds max tutorials, mapping a decal. 1 comment

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Bill McKown, Synergis Visualization Solutions Engineer:

Happy Friday again! I know I promised a tip on Mapping a Decal, however, the video ran into some technical snags so I am offering you this one and will try to update the how to map a decal for next week.

This week we have a a brief video on how to save and restore various scene states. We explore usings different materials, lights, cameras and even different renderers.

I hope that helps you some. Stay tuned for one more video for one more Friday next week.

Happy Friday!
-Bill

See some of Bill’s other posts:

Project Chronicle Captures

Posted by synergiscad on March 19, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, MEP Systems Engineering, PLM, Simulation, Training Center. Leave a Comment

Posted on Land Development Engineering, by Kevin Spear, PE, Synergis Solutions Engineer:

Project Chronicle, if you don’t know, is an Autodesk Lab solution to capturing video workflows in your Autodesk app of choice. I’ve been using this for some time now and realized I hadn’t shared about it…

Anyway, while doing my weekly blog reading, The CAD Geek reminded me of how great this little gem is with his recent write up.

By the way, it’s a completely free app! You can find a gallery of posted Chronicles @ chronicle.autodesk.com.

Go check it out and use it share your knowledge with your company, user group or the world!

Project Chronicle Captures is original content from Land Development Engineering, a blog by Kevin Spear, PE.

Need help with your workflows, or training new hires on your workfow? Contact us, we can help.

800-836-5440

Email us.

www.synergis.com

Using Inventor Region Properties and Cross Section Analysis for Physical Properties

Posted by synergiscad on March 18, 2013

Posted in: Education, Factory, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: calculate physical properties, design tricks, how to, inventor design accelerators, Inventor design tips, inventor tips, regional property calculate. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Robert Reid, Synergis Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

Two seldom used measuring tools found within the Autodesk Inventor software is the “Region Properties,” and “Cross-Section Analysis.” These measuring tools can be found in both the part environment, and also the assembly environment.

In the assembly environment, the part must be active. Both tools can be used to calculate the Physical Properties (Centroid, Moments of Inertia, and so on).

The purpose of the Region Properties tool is to evaluate the area, perimeter, and the Area Moment of Inertia properties of sketch loops. All measurements are taken from the sketch coordinate system.

When the Calculate button is clicked after the selection of geometry within the Region Properties dialogue box, the following is automatically calculated:

Area and Perimeter: provides cumulative area and perimeter values if multiple sketch loops are selected.
Centroid Location: displays the X and Y distances from Sketch origin to Centroid.
Inertial with respect to Sketch Origin: provides Inertia Tensor and Polar Moment with respect to the sketch origin.
Area Moments of Inertia with respect to Principal Axes: provides Principal Moments, Polar Moment, Rotation about Z Axis, and Radii of Gyration, with respect to the Principal Axes

Region Properties:

You’ve created a small built-up section of three structural steel members, and two holes have been added to the upper plate. You want to create a section thru the first hole, and have the Inventor 2013 software calculate the Region Properties thru this section. Without using the Inventor 2013 software, manual calculations can be time consuming and labor intensive to calculate each structural member and add them together to find the Moment of Inertia (Ix or Iy), Polar Moment of Inertia (J) or Radius of Gyration (r).

Let’s take a look at the following part example: Continue Reading

Friday’s Tip: How to Use the Material Editor in 3ds Max – Video

Posted by synergiscad on March 15, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3ds max help, 3ds max tips, how to use material, materials editor, materials libraries. 5 comments

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Bill McKown, Synergis Visualization Solutions Engineer:

Another happy Friday and March is halfway over. Bring on Spring!

This week I am going to show you how to use the Material Editor interface to apply materials to objects. In this video you will see the materials, libraries and maps attached to each material. This is very important is getting the right look for whatever you are designing.

See the video…

Tune in next week when I will discuss How to Map a Decal on a Material using a Composite Layer.

Happy Friday!
-Bill

See some of Bill’s other posts:

Penn State Students and Faculty Explain “Why Revit?”

Posted by synergiscad on March 14, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education. Tagged: BIM, incorporating bim, learn bim, penn state architecture, student architecture, students use revit, teaching BIM, teaching revit, using bim. Leave a Comment

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture posted a video about Penn State and Autodesk Revit. The main reason for the school to use Revit? It allows all building majors to coordinate and collaborate, including Architecture Design, Architecture Engineering, MEP and more. It also allows them to use Building Information Modeling. The immediate update on the whole model when a change is made creates more instantaneous collaboration, and starting in 3D eliminates the need to transfer information from a drawing to a model.

Revit is smarter than a regular CAD program, developed with the entire building life-cycle in mind, it allows all parts to come together with less clashes and errors on site. Check out this short video on why Revit for Integrated Design…

ACSA Autodesk Revit from ACSA Video on Vimeo.

Have a question about Revit or software for Education? Contact us, we cover all that. In fact, Penn State is one of our clients.

Email us.

Call us at 800.836.5440.

See our website: www.synergis.com

Fully Cooked Project Template in Civil 3D

Posted by synergiscad on March 13, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Education, Training Center. Tagged: civil 3D template, create a civil 3d, create a project template, customize project templates, customizing templates. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Kevin Spear, PE, Synergis Civil Solutions Engineer on Land Development Engineering:

We’ve all seen project templates in Civil 3D that come pre-installed. There are a few folders to help organize drawings. Typically, you would create a new DWG, save it into one of those folders and start adding content. Maybe you then have to make a data shortcut. No create another file, make more content, and maybe add the data shortcut. Continue this until you have the full set of construction documents. Just this process of building a new set of project files can take at least a few days to complete.

But. What if you had a template based on a specific project type where most, if not all of the drawings, data shortcuts and xref’s were already established? Can’t be done you say? Read on doubter of efficiency…

Kevin Spear joined Synergis with over 20 years’ experience as a civil engineer. Most recently he worked for Kling Stubbins. Kevin has a lot of experience with Civil 3D, all the way up through the current release, having been a Senior Applications Engineer with another Autodesk reseller and part of the Autodesk beta program. In his time at Synergis he is using his expertise to provide training, technical support, and consulting services to Civil 3D, Map 3D, and Revit Structure customers.

Have questions or need help? Contact us by email, phone (800.836.5440) or see our website.

How to Edit Wall Types with Revit Architecture

Posted by synergiscad on March 12, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk revit, complex wall, compound wall, editing wall types, Revit, Revit Architecture, wall family types, wall structure. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Curt Egli, Building Solutions Engineer:

How many times have you looked at a wall type you are using in Revit and said to yourself “that is so cool. I wish I could make one of those”? Or perhaps “oooo, that wall is nearly like the wall I want to use in my project, but not quite right”? Well let’s look through the steps you might take to make that wall of your dreams.

First thing to understand is that Revit has 3 flavors when it comes to kinds of elements:

“In-Place Families”: elements you can edit while working within your Revit project for use as one-offs; a one-of-a-kind element unique to a project.
“Loadable Families”: These you can create from scratch, edit and save within Revit’s Family Editor. As the name implies, you can later load those elements into your project for reuse by you, your family and friends.
“System Families”: This third variety within Revit cannot be created from scratch – probably because of its truly awesome behavior written into those families by the programming geniuses at Autodesk. I’m talking about behavior like a wall that will open up to accommodate a door and heal itself when we move that door further down the wall.

But, do not despair! Even though mere mortals cannot create a wall from scratch since it is indeed one of the System Family variety, we can take a wall type Autodesk included in Revit and make all sorts of changes to it to our little heart’s desires. Layers of materials, sweeps, reveals, vertical splits between materials, etc. And then save that new wall type for our use and reuse.

Let me walk you through the series of steps with this linked video, so you too can feel the awesomeness of wall creation. Alright, let’s do this!

Let me know what other elements you need help learning and I will be happy to share the how-to tips to get it done. Email us or see our website.

Talk with you soon,

-Curt

Curt joined Synergis in 2011 as a Solutions Engineer for the AEC Building side with over 20 years of industry experience and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Architecture as well as a BFA in Interior Design and Planning. He has software expertise in nearly all the Autodesk architectural software having spent much of his career with Autodesk as a Technical Account Manager, and prior to this working in the AEC and Utilities industries.

Curt recorded webcasts in September The Business Value of BIM and BIM in the Cloud that have been highly viewed. Check them out.

Synergis-F1 Competition: The Winners Are:

Posted by synergiscad on March 11, 2013

Posted in: Education, Manufacturing, Simulation. Tagged: cash awards, derby cars, F1 in PA, F1 in Schools, mechanical engineering, race cars, Synergis Competitions. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Christina Smith:

For the last three years, Synergis has been supporting the F1 in Schools students by offering an opportunity to enter their design portfolios to us for our engineers to review for strictly design. By design, they look at how the students designed, evaluated and validated their cars. Not all teams that were in the challenge entered as it requires the design portfolio to be complete a full week ahead of time which can be another challenge alone. We presented the awards this past Saturday, at the regional F1 Regional Pennsylvania Championship at Robert Morris University.

And the Winners Are…

Third Place

The Screaming Eagles
South Park High School

Prize: Opportunity to present and attend at Synergis University.

Screaming Eagles – South Park High School

This team has been together for 7 years and it shows in their work. Their presentation of design was well thought out and the graphics and marketing was exceptional. At the championship, they had an eye-catching display with multiple iPads to explain the design process and tell more about the team. In addition they also had several versions of the car on built-in shelves.

Our engineers liked most that they used of the Free Autodesk Labs app, Project Falcon (an addition to Inventor) to simulate and test the force effects on their design.

Second Place

Rush International
Wilson West Middle School

Prize: $500 and the opportunity to present at Synergis University.

This was Rush’s first year competing and even though they started later than most teams, they placed First for Middle Schools on Saturday. Their excitement was contagious as Michael Bean, (CFO) introduced me to Jasper den Otter,(CFO). Mike Bean later told me they were a little nervous when they were racing a high school team, but the other car turned out to be under weight, so when weight increased, it also slowed down. You can see team members in this picture making some adjustments to their own car between races.

Why did our engineers like their project? They used the simulation tools inside Inventor to test the design, before building the prototypes. This is a practice that most manufacturers are using to cut down on costs and on time to market.

First Place

Lunar Racing
Pine-Richland High School

Prize: $1,000 and the opportunity to present at Synergis University.

Lunar Racing had very impressive design portfolio. They used In addition to simulating their designs before creating a physical model, they also created rendered eye-catching images of their designs. Visualization is a step in the workflow that enables stakeholders and future buyers a photo-realistic view of a product before its produced. It is easier on the eyes than a 2D drawing and more confident design decisions can be made early in the process, creating less time and material waste in physical prototypes.

About the F1 Challenge:

If you don’t know about the F1 challenge, it is open to high schools and middle schools and focuses on inspiring students to learn more about engineering. The challenge is not just the design or racing of the cars however. The students are required to run like a business. They are required to find sponsors to cover the costs of all expenses, find mentors and consultants, and create a marketing and business plan, in addition to designing and manufacturing their product (the car). Most teams have members that focus on design, and others are CEO, CFO, Graphic Artist, etc., but many students told me that each person does all roles as needed. You can tell in the portfolios, displays, graphics and more that they learned to share ideas and workload, which are additional communication and collaboration skills that are benefit any profession they choose. Learn more and visit the F1 Challenge Website.

This year was the first year I attended and I was amazed by the displays the teams had created. The displays entertained with music, iPads showing websites, videos and pictures of their projects, flashy lighting, rotating car displays and some offered give-away items like key-chains the team made.

In addition to knowing design, I was surprised to find that they also created Facebook pages, websites, and marketing QR codes. They were truly incorporating the latest practices in both design and marketing that successful businesses are using today. It was inspirational to see the excitement in sharing their designs, and the journey that led them to the competition on Saturday.

See the pictures below…

We look forward to the upcoming Student Architecture Competition Designs! We will be posting the Top Three on Facebook and letting you vote!

www.synergis.com

Friday 3ds Max Tip: Using Shape Merge to Mend 2D Elements to 3D Designs

Posted by synergiscad on March 8, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3D visualization, 3ds max design, Autodesk 3ds Max, how to render. 6 comments

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Bill McKown, Visualization Solutions Engineer:

Here’s another tip for another Friday. We receive a lot of questions about merging some 2D elements into 3D designs. For example, if you wanted to add lettering to a tire like below. Shape Merge projects a 2D elements (the tire’s lettering) onto a 3D element (the tire), and cuts the mesh so it can be further modeled or materials can be added to the lettering.

In this week’s video, I will walk you through the Shape Merge:

I hope this short video helps you get creative and explore the capabilities of Max. Come back next week and I will have another Friday Max tip ready!

Happy Visualizing,
Bill M.

See some of Bill’s other posts:

What is a Civil 3D Traverse?

Posted by synergiscad on March 6, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Training Center. Tagged: bridges in civil 3d, civil 3d traverse, civil design, civil engineering, using a closed loop. 1 comment

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Nikki Szymanski, Civil Solutions Engineer:

Recently, a client came to me and was confused about the traverse in Civil 3D. In the dictionary, traverse (noun) is defined as something that crosses, obstructs, or thwarts; obstacle.

In Civil 3D a traverse is used by surveyors in the field as a series of established stations tied together by angle and distance.

There are different types of traverse depending on what is needed. Let me explain each one a little so you know when and where to use which:

Closed Loop

A closed loop starts with a known point and ends at the same known point. This point has been previously determined before setting up a survey in the field. This is the most common type used in the field. This may be used for boundaries, woods, and ponds.

Closed Connected

A closed connection starts with a known point and ends with a known point. These points have been previously determined before setting up a survey in the field. This is the second most commonly used type of traverse.

Open

An open traverse starts with a known point, but ends with an unknown point. This traverse extends long distances without the opportunity for the checking the accuravy of the on-going work. Useful as a control for preliminary and construction surveys for highways, roads, pipelines and electricity transmission lines. This is the least common in the field.

I hope this helps you decide which you need to use. If you have any questions about Civil 3D or civil engineering workflow, let me know or visit our website.

Thank you,
Nikki

Nikki Szymanski joined Synergis in 2012 as a Civil Solutions Engineer. Her expertise spans civil, electrical, mechanical, and structural drafting with over 20 years of industry experience and extensive education on the Autodesk solutions. Most recent to joining Synergis, Nikki spent seven years focused on land development and water and wastewater management.

www.synergis.com

Factory Layout for Owners and Integrators

Posted by synergiscad on March 5, 2013

Posted in: Factory, Government, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk Inventor, factory design, factory design webcast, factory equipment manufacturers, factory layout design, factory owner, factory test drive. Leave a Comment

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Robert Baylor, Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

Since the release of Autodesk® Factory Design Suite, customers and end users alike have had some basic questions about the suite. In March, I will be hosting a live webcast and a hands-on test drive so I wanted to overview who the suite helps and why, and of course how it addresses concerns for the entire organization.

For this discussion, I am going to focus on two groups.

Factory Owners
System Integrators / Machine & Equipment Builders

Before we go over the common business needs from each point of view and how the Factory Design Suite solution can address each one, let’s review the Autodesk developer’s intent, in their words:

Autodesk® Factory Design Suite is an interoperable 2D and 3D factory layout and optimization solution built specifically to help you design and communicate the most efficient layout by creating a digital model of your factory. It enhances AutoCAD® and Autodesk® Inventor® software with exclusive access to interoperable layout workflows and factory-specific content to help improve your design efficiency, accuracy, and communication.

Autodesk® Factory Design Suite is targeted to help manufacturers, machine builders, and engineering service provider’s better design and optimize layouts of machine lines or entire manufacturing facilities in order to:

Win more business— Help decision makers visualize layout proposals in 3D instead of multilayered 2D drawings

Meet compressed project schedules—Move from 2D conceptual layout, to factory model, to creating a 3D virtual fly-through much faster than traditional 2D layout methods

Adapt to changing business requirements —A factory focused solution enables you to try different layout scenarios digitally to transform facility layout liabilities into ‘lean’ profit-generating assets and take advantage of modern laser-scanning workflows

Collaborate more effectively with suppliers and partners—Reduce installation risks by analyzing the digital factory model for clashes and space constraints digitally, before they become problems onsite

See the full Autodesk Factory Design Suite Brochure.

That’s a great Autodesk overview, but let’s look at specific factory concerns from two business perspectives – factory owners and then equipment builders/systems integrators.

Factory Owners

This particular group has some common business challenges that face owners and the workflow addresses these:

Challenge #1: Cleary communicating your layout ideas with internal and external stakeholders.

The Factory Design Suite offers a 3D environment that allows you to drop and drag your components to enable stakeholders to see all the possibilities in a matter of minutes. With the additional visualization tools, you will bring your factory to life through interactive 3D walkthroughs, so you can make confident & accurate decisions earlier in the design process.

Challenge #2: Effectively detect clashes, and identify space constraints, in the 2D layout.

A complete set of 3D tools makes identify clashes & space constraints before the real equipment is commissioned on the factory floor. Using a single Factory model, you can detect interferences and even simulate the installation of equipment, to save time on errors during equipment installation.

Challenge #3: Spending too much time manually creating & updating plan views and section drawings of the layout.

Automatically generate plan views & section views of the layout which are always associative and do not need manual updates. Autodesk Factory Design Suite allows you to automatically create 2D plan views and section drawings from your 3D models, these drawings are always associative, so if the 3D model changes the 2D documentation is always up to date.

Challenge #4: Spending too much time manually doing tape measurements to capture the as-built state of the facility.

Virtually eliminate the time involved in doing manual tape measurements to capture the as-built state of the factory. Autodesk Factory Design Suite provides support for laser scanning workflows which allows you to design your layout directly in context of the as-built state of the facility.

Challenge #5: Difficulty in designing and viewing large factory layouts in 2D/3D.

Use Factory Design Suite to aggregate 3D data from different CAD systems to bring together design, manufacturing and plant & supplier data into a single digital model, allowing all stakeholders to use the 3D model to validate the design, eliminating the need to maintain or have access to different CAD systems. Factory Suite is compatible with all major native design & laser scan file formats so data from various sources can be combined together to create a single digital model for review, regardless of size.

System Integrators / Machine & Equipment Builders

This particular group has some common business challenges. Let’s take a look and see how we can address them.

Challenge #1: Getting a competitive edge in winning bids.

Improve your win/bid ratio by being able to share layout proposals of your machines & equipment with your clients in 3D. Autodesk Factory Design Suite provides an easy to use, visual layout environment where you can drag and drop 3D factory models from a library on a floor plane allowing you to create compelling 3D layouts in a matter of minutes, significantly faster than 2D workflows.

Challenge #2: Differentiating from the competition with compelling sales tools.

Develop compelling interactive sales and marketing collateral that give you a competitive advantage in winning bids. Autodesk Factory Design Suite allows you to create compelling 3D visual layouts and fly throughs and walkthroughs of your machine layouts and share it with your clients. This enables you to clearly communicate your layout ideas in 3D and helps you to differentiate over someone who is communicating layout ideas in 2D.

Challenge #3: Spending too much time & effort in the pre-sales phase of creating bidding layouts.

Easily create pre-sales bidding layout proposals and react quickly to changing customer requirements. Autodesk Factory Design Suite provides a easy to use visual layout environment, where you can drag & drop 3D models of factory equipment on top of a floor and easily move them around to evaluate multiple what-if scenarios in a fraction of the time compared to traditional 2D workflows. The 3D Visual Layout enables you to automatically generate 2D plan views and section views for documentation which are always associative to the 3D layout.

Challenge #4: Running over budget & over schedule affects the bottom line revenue.

Improve the efficiency of your layout processes to boost your bottom line revenue. Autodesk Factory Design Suite delivers a compelling solution for 2D/3D layout of machines & factory equipment; it is purpose built layout solution to help users be more productive. It includes AutoCAD, thereby protecting your existing investment in DWG data and extends the workflow to enable users to easily create compelling 3D visual layouts.

Do you have other concerns I did not address? Please comment below or let me know and I will make sure to address it in the webcast on March 14^th. I will be live at 3 pm to show you the workflow in action. Questions are requested! See more below.

Interested in a hands-on experience? We are also hosting an Autodesk Factory Workflow Test Drive on March 28^th at a location of your choice of our training locations (see registration page for more details). Sign up now to attend for free.

Live Webcast: Factory Design Suite Workflow
Date: March 14, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Register or learn more…

Hands-On Test Drive: Factory Design Suite Workflow Experience
Date: March 28, 2013 at 9:00 am and choose you location (see registration)
Register or learn more…

Hope to ‘see’ you on the webcast and at the test drives.

- Bob

Bob has over 20 years experience in the engineering field specializing in machine and Sheet Metal design. His past roles included machine designer using various 2D and 3D Software packages, CAD support and training. Bob has spent the last 7 years as an applications engineer in the CAD/CAM industry. In this role Bob has extensive experience in evaluating the CAD/CAM and work flow requirements of manufacturing companies, and has led to his Autodesk Specialization in Factory Design solutions. Bob also has attained his MCSE certification from Microsoft.

See Bob’s article on Leveraging Factory Assets.

How to Use Pin Connections, Another Inventor Design Accelerator

Posted by synergiscad on March 4, 2013

Posted in: Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: designing pins, function design, inventor design accelerators, joining pins, manufacturing design, pinned connections. 3 comments

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Robert Reid, Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

This is a longer one, so if you need definitions for Functional Design or Design Acclerators, please see my previous entry, Inventor 2013 Design Accelerators – Functional Design…

The Pin Connection Design Accelerator is located on the Fasten Panel and calculates, designs, and performs strength checks of 5 pin joint types:

Securing pin loaded with shear
Cross pin loaded in a draw rod and a sleeve
Radial pin loaded with torque
Joint pin loaded with torque
Clevis Pin

Pins are designed without considering the effect of forcing into position. Stresses in shear, bending, and contact are evaluated.

Pins serve to make strong, detachable connections between 2 mechanical parts, to secure their positions accurately, and to eliminate transversal shifting forces. As a rule, standardized pins manufactured in a wide range of dimensions and designs are used.

Let’s take a look at each one.

Clevis Pin Component Generator:

In an assembly file, click on the Design Tab:

Click on the black arrow dropdown, and choose Clevis Pin:

Let’s Look at the Following Model:

Step 1 – Placement: We have 4 choices as far as placement of the clevis pin: Linear, Concentric, On a Point, or By Hole. In this example, we will choose Concentric:

We than choose the face to Start the Clevis Pin: Continue Reading

Friday Video: How to Use Ambient Occlusions in 3ds Max

Posted by synergiscad on March 1, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3ds Max tricks, lighting in 3ds Max, photo-realistic rendering, shadows in Max, show indirect lighting. 7 comments

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Bill McKown, Visualization Solutions Engineer:

What’s more fun than 5 weekends in one month? We don’t know. So to celebrate, I am posting a video on Autodesk 3ds Max each Friday in March.

The first one I am starting with is about Ambient Occlusion (or AO). AO is a “Fast Approximated” method of calculating “global illumination” or in layman’s terms, the way light radiates in real-life. It is sometimes called “Sky light” method. It’s not the shadows caused by direct light but the shadows caused by indirect (bounced) light.

Rather than using a ray trace or some accurate but slow way of calculating soft ground shadows, it approximates the way shadows cast on a cloudy day.

Renderers love this because of the speed! Play the video and see how quick the image can render.

I hope you enjoy it. Remember, I am adding another video each Friday this month, so subscribe in the upper right corner or bookmark this for next week.

Have a great weekend!

-Bill

See some of Bill’s other posts:

How did they do that?

Posted by synergiscad on February 27, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Education, Government, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 2012 infographic. Leave a Comment

Check out this awesome infographic shared from our friends at http://www.bestonlineengineeringdegree.com. What a year 2012 was!

See anything they missed? Let us know in the comments, we would love to hear your thoughts.

Source: Best Online Engineering Degree

SET’g the Stage in Autodesk® Navisworks®

Posted by synergiscad on February 26, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, MEP Systems Engineering, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk Navisworks, clash detection, how to, navisworks beginner, navisworks manage, navisworks simulate, sets in Navisworks. 4 comments

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Bill Knittle, Buildings Solutions Engineer:

One of our large mechanical contracting firms contacted us with issues concerning design coordination and construction sequencing of structural and MEP systems. The high-profile project they are working on needs to be fully coordinated in order to fabricate the MEP systems accurately to avoid clashes and validate the construction sequencing with other trades. Here’s one of the many tips I shared with them to help them stay organized and accurate.

SET’g the Stage in Autodesk^® Navisworks^®

Figure 1: Sets Window

If you are a novice to Autodesk® Navisworks® Simulate or Manage you may want to consider embracing one simple feature that will make organizing the elements of the aggregated building models into useful groups referred to as Sets. Navisworks® utilizes two different kinds of Sets. The first is a Selection Set. A Selection Set is a static grouping of elements in the model derived from a manual selection. The second is a Search Set. A Search Set is a dynamic group of elements in the model derived automatically by a search based on shared criteria. You can see in Figure 1, both are organized and managed in the Sets Window of the User Interface. Each Set can easily be identified in the Sets Window by their graphical symbol. Selection Sets are a Blue Square encapsulated by a circle. Search Sets are a smaller Blue Square accompanied by a pair of Binoculars.Search Sets have a huge advantage over Selection Sets due to their dynamic ability to adapt to the iterative nature of the building models over the lifecycle of the project. Selection Sets on the other hand, will need personal attention during each iteration to ensure that it’s properly updated.

Figure 2: Prior to Iteration

Figure 2 and 3 clearly indicate the difference between the two types of Sets. Notice that the static nature of the Selection Set ignores the two new purlins in the left model while the dynamic nature of the Search Set realizes that the two new purlins meet the shared criteria of the search. Thus, they automatically amended to the Search Set.

Figure 3: After Iteration

Search Sets also have the ability to be exported from one project and imported into others. Unfortunately Selection Sets cannot. This is a hugely beneficial when establishing company standards. Figure 4 shows exporting Search Sets from one project and Figure 5 shows importing them into another. Continue Reading

How to: Inventor’s Design Accelerator: Limits/Fits Mechanical Calculator

Posted by synergiscad on February 25, 2013

Posted in: Education, Manufacturing, MEP Systems Engineering, Training Center. Tagged: design mechnical, how to, inventor design acceleraotr, inventor tips, inventor tricks, manufacturing design. 6 comments

Posted February 25, 2013 by Robert Reid:

Designers often calculate and design a shaft-hole fit. This problem influences the properties of the final product and its price of manufacturing. Use the adaptable interface in Design Accelerator to design the ideal fit.

Limits and Fits are used to define tolerances for mating parts. Limits are most commonly used for cylindrical holes and shafts, but they can be used for any parts that fit together regardless of the geometry.

A limit is the upper and lower tolerance for a shaft or hole.

A fit consists of a pair of limits. There are three categories: clearance, transitional, and interference.

Clearance

The largest shaft is smaller than the smallest hole.
Large clearances are for relative motion.
- A shaft in a bushing
Small clearances are for a precise fit that can be assembled without tools.
- A shaft in a bushing

Transitional

Tolerance zones overlap.
- The largest shaft is larger than the smallest hole (interference).
- The smallest shaft is smaller than the largest hole (clearance).
Precise location that may require tools to assemble.
- Dowel pins in tooling to locate parts

Interference

The smallest shaft is larger than the largest hole.
Precise location that requires tools to assemble.
Parts do not come apart or move during use.
May require heating or cooling to assemble parts.
- A gear on a shaft

To access the Limits and Fits Mechanical Calculator, In the Assembly, click on the Design Tab:

Click the black down arrow on the Power Transmission Panel:

Click the black down arrow Next To Tolerance Calculator, and click on the Limits/Fits Calculator:

This opens the Limits and Fits Mechanical Calculator Dialogue Box:

Section 1, Conditions:

Determine the fit type for the Hole-basis system or the Shaft-basis system of fits. A similar fit is calculated automatically if the option is checked in the More Options area when the fit calculation system is changed. Continue Reading

New Courses Keep You Ahead

Posted by synergiscad on February 20, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk training, cad training, CFD training class, civil 3d training, design, new classes, new training, revit training, showcase training, software. 1 comment

Move beyond the fundamentals of your AutoCAD or 3D design knowledge to improve your workflow and save time. These new sessions are unique to Synergis and the only place in the region to gain some of these additional skills in an open enrollment environment. We limit our class size to 8 people to maximize the attention each student receives.

Check out our entire line of courses, or the new ones added:

Autodesk Simulation CFD 2013 Essentials
This unique class was developed to meet the needs of CAD professionals with all levels of expertise. As a foundation level class, this two-day training gives students a comprehensive experience with the Autodesk Simulation CFD software through hands-on exercises in working with a model, setting up the simulation, and investigating the results. By understanding what is going on inside the design in regard to airflow, liquid flow, heating, and cooling, engineers and designers can save significant time and money by simulating how the design performs without costly prototypes. Read more about the course or request a quote.

Autodesk Civil 3D: Hydraflow Essentials
This course will teach students how to use the Hydraflow software suite to design and route surface and subsurface stormwater management facilities, and design and analyze storm sewer pipe and inlet networks, culverts, channels, and weirs. More information.

Autodesk Civil 3D: Storm and Sanitary Analysis Fundamentals
New, by client demand, we are offering a Civil 3D course focused on Hydrology methods. You will walk through a hydrology and hydraulic study for typical land developments. By the end of the course you will be able to analyze the various rainfall events for a proposed site development and create the required reports for various agency submittals. More information.

Autodesk Showcase Essentials
Expand the ROI of your Autodesk Suite by learning to incorporate Autodesk Showcase into your design workflow. Showcase creates accurate, realistic imagery from 3D CAD data to communicate design intent and differentiate you from your competition. Learn more.

Want to learn more and can’t leave the office or your projects? No problem. Our engineers travel. They can come to your site and even help you work on your projects in a more customized way. Either way, you will receive focused attention from an experienced, industry professional.

If you cannot find a class that is fit for your needs, let us know. We know all about design and have developed training from implementation to collaborating with the entire eco-system of your design workflow.

Happy Designing…

Inventor Design Accelerator: How to Use the Press Fit Calculator

Posted by synergiscad on February 18, 2013

Posted in: Education, Government, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk Inventor, How to use design accelerators, press fit calculator, tip, trick, using inventor design accelerators. 5 comments

Post on February 18, 2013 by Robert Reid, Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

The use of the Press Fit Calculator enables the end-user to calculate elastic cylindrical co-axial pressure connections for compact or hollow shafts in either hot or cold state. The program calculates geometric parameters of the joint, minimal fit, standard or actual fit, and pressed-on parts material selection.

The calculation is only valid for press fits in which permanent deformations will not occur after the connection. The deformations do not include trueing of peaks and ridges on the surface texture.

This calculation is only valid for connections that are not loaded by outside pressure or are made from tubular parts with unlimited length. The parts are made from materials that behave according to Hooke’s law.

The calculation does not consider the influence of centrifugal forces, ribs, or other reinforcement parts or in parts where the temperature is distributed unevenly.

A press fit joint with unlimited length is a joint with the length that equals the diameter or greater. If it is shorter, the real contact pressure is greater than calculated. This calculation provides more safety against the press fit loosing.

Minimal interference is determined when securing the least required loading capacity of the press fits, together with other factors.

The maximum interference is determined without existing plastic deformation, according to the HMH plasticity condition (Huber, Misses, Hencky) together with other factors.

Pressing speed must be slow (about 3 mm/s ~ 0.12 in/s) while making the press fit. High speed reduces load capacity of the fit.

Calculated temperatures must be considered as minimum, because they do not consider temperature averaging during the pressing process, nor the hub cooling time after pulling it from the furnace, for example.

To access the Press Fit Calculator, in the assembly environment, click on the Design Tab:

On the Power Transmission Panel, click the black down arrow:

Click the black down arrow next to Tolerance Calculator, and click Press Fit Calculator:

The Press Fit dialogue box now opens:

In the following example, we will use a 10” lg. steel shaft, 30mm Dia., with a 12mm bore running the entire length. 2 AFBMA 30X62x18 bearing will be press on from both journal ends.

We will calculate the Force required to press the bearing on to they hit the journal end:

For this example, we will heat up the bearings, and cool the shaft down to achieve our press fit.

An interference H7/r9 fit will be used.

Section 1, Required Load: We are looking for the Required Force. Other option would be to Calculate for required torque. Basic Force to Start will be 500lbs.
Factor of Safety: 1.5

Section 2, Dimensions: We input our dimensions from our model!

Section 3, Limits/Fits: We can specify manually be checking the box and inputting data, or we can click on change, and use the Limit/Fits Calculator:
Click OK after choosing the desired Fits(Note, second value(r9) must be green)

Section 4, Advance: We can manually specify Assembly Clearance, Surface Smoothness, and clamping factors if known.

Section 5, Hub Material: We can accept the material from our model, or, click on the icon.
For additional materials, or by checking the box. Surface Texture
Can also be specified along with thermal expansion.

Section 6, Shaft Material: We can accept the material from our model, or, click the icon.
For additional Materials, or by checking the box. Surface Texture
Can also be specified along with thermal expansion.

Section 7, Temperature: We can specify either heating of the shaft, or heating of the hub.

Once all design criteria has been added, click Calculate!

We see our design is within compliance, also, we can read what our max/min force needed to drive the bearing up to the journal seat! Also, what temp our bearing should be heated too.

Download the tip in a convenient Whitepaper.

Happy Monday!

Robert Reid

(*This tip will work for either Autodesk Inventor 2012 or 2013 versions.)

Quick Tip for Hatch Display Trouble in Civil 3D

Posted by synergiscad on February 13, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk civil 3d hatch display, civil 3d error, civil 3d tip, civil 3d trick, how to. 1 comment

Posted February 11, 2013 by Nikki Szymanski, Civil Solutions Engineer:

A very popular topic that we run across is trouble with the Hatch Display. If you went through the tutorials, or if you skipped them, here is agreat outline that explains how to maneuver the hatch display.

I know its simple and provided in the software, and it is often overlooked. I hope this helps Let us know what tips you need to help you stay ahead.

-Nikki

Showcase your Inventor Files

Posted by synergiscad on February 12, 2013

Posted in: Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3D visualization, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Product Design Suite, Autodesk Showcase, digital prototyping, how to use showcase, photo-realistic rendering. 1 comment

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Gregg Reinhart, Mechanical Helpdesk Technician:

With the inception of the design suites, Inventor users have gained access to Autodesk Showcase as a resource for doing high-quality renderings of their Inventor models. In this post, I’d like to show you how the interoperability between the two programs allows you utilize the Inventor setup that automatically creates assets within Showcase to minimize any rework needed.

Starting with a simple assembly, I’ll walk you through the steps of setting up view representations and positional representations that will automatically be transferred into your Showcase file for use in making your renderings. The assembly below was created with all the solid parts set as the default material and appearance:

Setting up view representation within the model you will be able to assign new materials to the parts and save specific angles at which you want to view the model. To create a view representation, expand the “Representations” folder in the browser tree, and then expand the “View” node:

Right click on the “View” node and select “new”:

After creating a view representation which I called “Version 1,” click on each part in the assembly and use the appearance pull-down to assign a new color or texture to the part. Here I made the “floor” blue, glossy wall paint:

Continue this process until you assign all the parts a new color/texture and get something like this:

AutoCAD Electrical Tools You Should Use

Posted by synergiscad on February 11, 2013

Posted in: Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: autocad electrical tips, autocad electrical utilities, autodesk electrical, component cross reference, DIY, dwg audit, electrical design, how to, tricks. 1 comment

Posted February 11, 2013 by Todd Schmoock, Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

When working in AutoCAD Electrical there are several tools you should be using on a regular basis if you want projects to remain accurate. Many times people use AutoCAD Electrical and get frustrated when their projects do not run reports correctly, or do not seem to remember the links to components. Most of the time it is due to not knowing important tools that should be used that update, and correct, potential errors.

The DWG Audit Tool:

If you think your drawing has been corrupted by someone using standard AutoCAD tools on your AutoCAD Electrical drawing you will want to use the DWG Audit tool to clean it up. This happens when the AutoCAD Erase tool, or the keyboard delete key, was used on electrical components when the AutoCAD Electrical Delete Component tool should have been used. If you think you are having issues with wire numbers you should run the Project-Wide Utilities tool to remove the wire numbers from the drawing prior to running the DWG Audit tools, and then rerun the Wire Numbers tools to put them back on after everything has been cleaned up.

Utilities Tool:

In the Project-Wide Dialog box select the “Remove all wire numbers” option:
After removing the wire numbers run the DWG Audit tool. Then run the Wire Numbers tool to put the wire numbers back on the drawing.

Doing this procedure will insure you removed all the bogus wire numbers otherwise you would have to search the drawing looking for wire numbers that do not belong where they are.

Now that your drawing has been cleaned up you will have the confidence to run the Project-Wide Update or Retag tool.

Project-Wide Update or Retag tool:

After the dialog box opens select the three options in the upper left hand corner. Component Retag, Component Cross-Reference Update, and Wire Number and Signal Tag/Retag options.

You can run these updates on any, or all, of the drawings in the project. Additionally, you can run these tools individually, but it will save time running them together. If you need to run any of them individually they are located at the following locations:

Component Retag:

Component Cross-Reference Update:

Wire Number and Signal Tag/Retag:

Knowing the right tools to use to keep your drawings electrically smart will give you the confidence to run the update tools. The most common reason people cannot run the Project-Wide Update or Retag tool is because the drawings have been corrupted using the AutoCAD Erase tool, or the keyboard delete key, on electrical components when the AutoCAD Electrical Delete Component tool should have been used. Now that you know how to clean a drawing up you should have the confidence to run the Project-Wide Update or Retag tool.

Happy Monday!

Todd Schmoock

Todd has over 20 years experience in the mechanical engineering field. Ten years of this time was spent as a documentation specialist/designer at Honeywell, Inc. where he worked on several government contracts which required strict drafting and design documentation in accordance with government standards. Additional experience comes from working in the technical ceramic, elevator, and specialty gas industry designing equipment for each of these fields. Todd joined Synergis in 2003 as a Design Solutions Engineer where he began providing assistance to customers through training and consulting, helpdesk support, as well as providing pre-sales support. Todd was recently promoted to Director of Manufacturing Solutions.

Revit Tip: Worksharing between Revit and Revit LT

Posted by synergiscad on February 7, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, MEP Systems Engineering, Training Center. Tagged: autodesk revit, autodesk revit workshare, design collaboration, DIY, how to, revit lt, tip, trick, workshare space. 5 comments

Posted February 7, 2013 by Bill Knittle, Building Solution Engineer:

Are you a Revit user that would benefit from Workshare with Revit LT users, or vice versa? This video explains the workflow when collaborating in a Workshare enables project file.

Revit Tip #27: Worksharing between Revit and Revit LT

JavaScript required to play this video.

Let us know what other tips we can record to improve your workflow and collaboration.

Check out the rest of the Revit Tips on the Synergis YouTube Channel.

-Bill Knittle

For the past six years at Synergis, Bill Knittle has been training, supporting, and implementing the Building Solutions offered from Autodesk, which include AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and the Revit applications. Bill is a Revit Architecture 2008 Certified User and during this latest round of certification exams, he became an AutoCAD 2009, AutoCAD Architecture 2009, and Revit Architecture 2009 Certified Associate and Certified Professional. His interactions with customers have led him to author several technical articles for AEC Bytes and Cadalyst. Bill enjoys teaching and sharing his industry and technical knowledge.

Easy Fix: Civil 3D is Not Responding Between Model Tab and Layout Tabs…

Posted by synergiscad on February 6, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Government, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk Civil 3D, civil 3d layout tab, civil 3d model space, how to, tip, training, trick. 1 comment

Posted February 6, 2013, by Nikki Szymanski, Civil Solutions Engineer:

Something a lot of my clients have been seeing lately is trouble with switching between Model Tabs and Layout Tabs. This is an easy fix. Follow the steps to make life easier.

System Variables

1. Set the WHIPTHREAD to 3, this SV controls whether to use an additional processor to improve the speed of operations such as zoom, redraw or regenerate the drawing.

One thing to keep in mind, when multithreaded processing is used for redraw operations (value 2 or 3), the order of objects specified with the DRAWORDER command is not guaranteed to be preserved for display “but is preserved for plotting”.

Go to Options -> System tab, under Layout Regen Options and select “Cache model tab and all layouts”, click Apply and OK; or set the LAYOUTREGENCTL to 2.

This option regenerates the drawing the first time you switch to each tab, the display list is saved and regeneration is suppress when going back and forward between them…

I hope this tip helps. Having any Civil 3D troubles? Let us know and we will create a tip around it.

Thank you,
Nikki

Nikki Szymanski joined Synergis in 2012 as a Civil Solutions Engineer. Her expertise spans civil, electrical, mechanical, and structural drafting with over 20 years of industry experience and extensive education on the Autodesk soltuions. Most recent to joining Synergis, Nikki spent seven years focused on land develpment and water and wastewater management.

Things You Should Know When Installing AutoCAD Electrical

Posted by synergiscad on February 4, 2013

Posted in: Education, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk, change option, DIY, electrical design, engineering design, how to, install AutoCAD Electrical, manufacturing design, symbol libraries, technology, tips, tricks. 1 comment

February 4, 2013, posted by Todd Schmoock, Manufacturing Solutions Engeineer:

You are planning to install AutoCAD Electrical, but you are not sure how to configure the installation correctly. Most will simple click the install button only to find out you didn’t install all the features until after you installed the software and start using it. If you installed the software and you realized you have features missing you can always change the installation to include those missing features. For example, in Windows 7 you would go to the Control Panel>Programs and Features and select AutoCAD Electrical and select the Uninstall/Change option:
Then select the Add or Remove Features option:
To insure you install AutoCAD Electrical with the options you want during the initial install you want to make sure you select the “Click to open and configure” option at the installation screen:
Whether you are changing an installation configuration, or configuring the installation at the initial install the options are the same.

Selecting Manufacturer Content:
Once you are in the configure section you will have the ability to select what manufacturers you want to have available to pick from during your drawing creation. It is not recommended to use the Select All button since it will increase the size of the catalog database. If you know there are manufacturers you never use make sure they are not selected. However, if you are not sure, or use all manufacturers, click the Select All button. You can always remove vendor information later. The Manufacturer Content Selection looks as follows:
Selecting the Standard to Use:
In this next section you choose the standard your company uses when creating the drawings. Simply select the option button to the left of the appropriate standard:
Select Symbol Libraries:
In this next section you choose the libraries your company uses when creating the drawings. If you are not sure select them all by clicking the box to the left of the names. It will install project folders with drawings. Later you can delete them if you find you do not need them.
Select Features to Install:
Selecting the Custom option in this section allows you to install additional features a typical installation does not install by default. For example, in a typical installation the Express Tools are not installed so if you want them available you will want to do a custom install and check the option for Express Tools.
Service Packs:
The last section searches for service packs and gives you the option to download them so they can be installed during the software installation. You will need an internet connection if you plan on taking advantage of this option. If you already downloaded the service pack(s) there is a section allowing you to add them from a local or network drive. If you do not want to install service packs at this time select the “Do not include Service Pack(s)” option.
Install:
After configuring these options select the “Click to close and return to product list” to close the configuration options:
Now that you have completed the configuration section you just need click the “Install” button:
Installing AutoCAD Electrical is not difficult when you know to click the option to configure the installation. However, using the Add or Remove Features option can correct your install even if you did install it before realizing how to configure it. If you are not sure just install all options and after working with AutoCAD Electrical for a little while you can remove the content you do not need.

I hope these little tips help.

-Todd

Todd is a graduate of Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa. He has over 20 years experience in the mechanical engineering field. Ten years of this time was spent as a documentation specialist/designer at Honeywell, Inc. where he worked on several government contracts which required strict drafting and design documentation in accordance with government standards. Additional experience comes from working in the technical ceramic, elevator, and specialty gas industry designing equipment for each of these fields. Todd joined Synergis in 2003 as a Design Solutions Engineer where he began providing assistance to customers through training and consulting, helpdesk support, as well as providing pre-sales support. Todd was recently promoted to Director of Manufacturing Solutions.

Revit Tech Tip 26: Construction Modeling and Phasing

Posted by synergiscad on February 1, 2013

Posted in: Building, Education, Government, Training Center. 4 comments

February 1, 2013, post by Bill Knittle, Building Solutions Engineer:

With the Hurricane Sandy hitting the east coast this past year, we have a lot of customers doing more and more reconstruction. If you have a model of your structure already, you can easily demolish walls or parts so you can redesign and reconstruct. Here is a video to show the Revit Parts feature for disassembly.

I hope it is helpful. Feel free to let me know what projects you are working on and how we can help you stay ahead.

Thanks,
Bill

Bill has a four-year Architectural Engineering degree from the University of Hartford. He has accumulated over seven years of industry experience in the field of Architecture. During that time he helped design, document, and in some cases, manage a variety of residential, commercial, municipal, and institutional projects. Most notably, he received recognition for the adaptive reuse of a vacant factory into leasable office condominiums and a conversion of a dilapidated 81-year-old silk mill into a local bank’s administration building using sustainable design techniques. For the past four years at Synergis, Bill has been training, supporting, and implementing the Building Solutions offered from Autodesk, which include AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and the Revit applications. Bill is a Revit Architecture 2008 Certified User and during this latest round of certification exams, he became an AutoCAD 2009, AutoCAD Architecture 2009, and Revit Architecture 2009 Certified Associate and Certified Professional. His interactions with customers have led him to author several technical articles for AEC Bytes and Cadalyst. Bill enjoys teaching and sharing his industry and technical knowledge.

5 Tips for a Better Autodesk 3ds Max Workflow

Posted by synergiscad on January 31, 2013

Posted in: Building, Civil, Education, Factory, Government, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3ds max design, activeshade, autodesk visualization, how to, mentalray, rendering, scene states, state manager, tips tricks. 8 comments

January 31, 2013, posted by Bill McKown, Solutions Engineer:

Five Tips from the 3d Pixel Monkey:

1. Use Activeshade: If you use Mental-Ray as your renderer than setup Activeshade renderer to use iray when you setup lights and materials. This is an extremely fast GUI based renderer, so you can render lots of time quickly when you are working on tweaking the scene. ActiveShade allows the viewport to constantly update the render view as you work. I love this because most of my time is spend rendering, then adjusting the lights and materials, then re-rendering.

Go to the Rendering Menu tab (F10), and select Render Setup.
When the Render Setup Dialog opens select the Assign Renderer rollout, and select the button next to ActiveShade. Then select Nvidia iray from the Choose Renderer dialog box.
Now you’re setup to render continuously in that view, as you update objects (like move the lights, or change materials) this rendering view will update automatically.

2. Use Layers: Whatever you use 3ds Max to do, Architectural, Mechanical, Civil, Character Animation, etc. Organize you scene objects into layers. This helps with reducing screen clutter by allowing you to hide objects on the screen, like all of the Furniture in an Architectural scene. It also helps speed up rendering by shutting off the interior objects like Furniture when you render an exterior.

1. Click on the Manager Layers button at the top of the screen (see below). Use can also easily select objects or entire layers of objects thru the layers Dialog, and change objects onto other layers.

Autodesk Inventor Design Accelerator: Tolerance Calculator

Posted by synergiscad on January 30, 2013

Posted in: Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: 3d modeling, autodesk design, design accelerators, engineering design, functional design, how to, inventor design, product design, tips, tricks. 5 comments

January 30, 2013, post by Robert Reid, Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

The “Tolerance Calculator” helps the end user to perform calculations of closed linear dimension chains within the Part environment, or the Assembly environment. The calculator can work in the following two basic modes:

• Calculation of the resulting dimension including tolerances (check calculation):
Performs a check verifying correctness of design dimensions
• Calculation of tolerances of the closing chain element (design calculation)

Read the full tip.

In the following example, we will look at a simple shaft made up of 3 sections.
The 2 end journals are machined for positioning of bearings to be press-fitted up against the journals:

Using the “Tolerance Calculator” Tool, we want to find the Dimension and Tolerances of DIM “A” to ensure our bearing housings are located correctly.
To access the “Tolerance Calculator”:
In the Assembly environment, click the Design Tab:

Click the black down arrow on the Power Transmission Panel:

Click on “Tolerance Calculator: Continue Reading

Five Quick Tips for AutoCAD Civil 3D Grading

Posted by synergiscad on January 29, 2013

Posted in: Civil, Government, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk, civil 3d tips, civil engineering, civil survey, grading, how to, infrastructure design, software, technology, tricks. 1 comment

Januray 29, 2013, post by Nikki Szymanski, Civil Solutions Engineer:

As I go onsite to different clients, I come accross some tricks that not everyone uses, but could save you a lot of time. Here’s five that I often give to the firms I visit:

1. Extract Contours from a Surface: Use extract objects for surface.
Surface>Utilities> Extract objects for surface.

2. Remove break lines or points from a surface:
Surface properties>Definition tab> under operation type, remove from definition.

3. Leave your re-build automatic turned off. Then when you edit your surface you may re-build yourself so you may see the updates.

4. Always check your data: You will be able to see your elevations by checking the minimum elevation and the maximum elevation to make sure you don’t have a bust in your surface.
Surface properties>Statistics tab.

5. Simplify your surface: Eliminate some points to make your surface file more manageable.
Surface>Edit surface> Simplify surface. You can remove points, select a region and select the percentage of points to remove.

I hope these simple tricks help you be more productive. If you have any questions on features to improve your workflow, contact us and let us know.

Thanks,
Nikki

Nikki Szymanski joined Synergis in 2012 as a Civil Solutions Engineer. Her expertise spans civil, electrical, mechanical, and structural drafting with over 20 years of industry experience and extensive education on the Autodesk soltuions. Most recent to joining Synergis, Nikki spent seven years focused on land develpment and water and wastewater management.

Tips to Improve Inventor Assembly Performance: Suppress constraints and ground components

Posted by synergiscad on May 14, 2013

Posted in: Factory, Manufacturing, Training Center. Tagged: Autodesk tricks, inventor performance optimization, inventor simulation, simulate moving parts, tips on inventor. Leave a Comment

Posted May 14, 2013 by John Kavusak, Synergis Manufacturing Solutions Engineer:

One easy way to improve the performance of an assembly is to reduce the number of constraints Inventor needs to manage and calculate when performing an update. I understand that we need constraints to effectively position and control our assemblies, but once the components are positioned we can often suppress those constraints and ground the components to keep them in place.

Here are some instructions to perform this task easily.

Once your assembly is opened, you need to decide which constraints can be suppressed and which ones are needed. If you need to drive a constraint or show any type of motion in the model then you will want to keep the constraint. Any components that are static and do not move can be grounded and their constraints be suppressed. I tend not to delete them just in case I ever need to make a change to the offset or angle. I can then just unsuppress and unground the constraint to make my change.

Look at the model tree of the framework in the image below. Notice the long list of constraints in the model. None of these frame components would ever have motion, so this is a perfect place to suppress and ground.

Other components such as the LCD arm you may want to keep the constraints so you can animate how the model works.

The first this we want to do is ground all the components in that sub assembly. To do this we will edit the sub assembly. Next select all the components in the tree except the patterns. Then right click and select Grounded. If you have patterns in the tree you will also want to suppress the components of the first element only in each pattern.

Next switch to Modeling View.

You will now see a folder in the tree that says constraints (if you use imates you will see a folder for imates as well). Expand the constraints folder and select all the constraints. Finally right click on the selection and select suppress as shown below. If you use imates repeat these steps for the imate folder. If some of the constraints were already suppressed then you can either unselect them, or right click and suppress until they are all suppressed. At any time you can unsuppress individual constraints to make adjustments.

This subassembly will now update in a fraction of the time because there are no constraints to suppress. You may even want to create a Positional Representations to do this. You could have one Representation where the components are grounded and the constraints are suppressed, then have another Representation where the model has the constraints active and the components ungrounded.

You can continue to do this to other subassemblies until you get to the top level assembly. The more you suppress the faster the update. Also consider doing this on all your standard subassemblies. In the future when you use them these steps will already be completed

I hope this Tip has helped you with assembly model performance. Stay tuned for future tips and tricks.

Thank you,
John Kavusak

John Kavusak has worked at Synergis for over 6 years and is a Manufacturing Solutions Engineer focused on Inventor, iLogic, Showcase, Alias and Autodesk Data Management Solutoins. He has previos work experience as an IT and CAD Administrator and a Project Engineer. He is an Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional. He has over 15 years experience with AutoCAD, Mechanical Desktop, and Inventor. You can read more about John on LinkedIn.

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