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Moving Toward

Mastery:Tips forBeginners

& Others

Also in this issue: CAD Manager:

The Long and Short of It

Inventor Sketching

Tips & Tricks

Linking a Revit

Project for MEP

February 2014AUGIWorldT h e O f f i c i a l P u b l i c a t i o n o f A u t o d e s k U s e r G r o u p I n t e r n a t i o n a l

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3/44February 2014 www.augiworld.com

contents

columns

10 15

3326

4 Editors Note

24 CAD Manager

AUGIWorld

6 AutoCAD Advice for the CAD Professional

Beginner

10 Revit Architecture Hardscape & Site

Topography for First Timers

15 AutoCAD ArchitectureDimensions in ADA

20 Revit StructureScope Boxes and Plan

Regions

26 InventorSketching Tips & Tricks

33 3ds MaxGame Assets Workflow

37 Revit MEPLinking a Revit Project for MEP

43 Inside Track
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www.augiworld. com

EditorsEditor-in-ChiefDavid Harrington - [email protected]

Copy EditorMarilyn Law - [email protected]

Layout EditorTim Varnau - [email protected]

Content Managers3ds Max - Brian ChapmanAutoCAD - Curt MorenoAutoCAD Architecture - Melinda HeavrinAutoCAD Civil 3D - Christopher FugittAutoCAD MEP - William CampbellCAD Manager - Mark KikerColumn: Inside Track - Lee AmbrosiusInventor - John EvansNavisworks - Michael SmithProduct Review - Lonnie CumptonRevit Architecture - Jay ZallanRevit MEP - Todd ShackelfordRevit Structure - Phil Russo

Advertising / Reprint Sales

Kate Morrical- [email protected] Management

President

David Harrington

Vice-President

R. Robert Bell

Treasurer

Desire Mackey

Secretary

Melanie Perry

Community Director

Kevin Merritt

AUGI Board of Directors

Shaun BryantTommy Holder

Kate Morrical

Michael Smith

Walt Sparling

Scott Wilcox

Publication InformationAUGIWorldmagazine is a benefit of specificAUGI membership plans. Direct magazinesubscriptions are not available. Please visithttp://www.augi.com/account/register to join or up-grade your membership to receiveAUGIWorldmagazine in print. To manage your AUGI membership andaddress, please visit http://www.augi.com/account. For all other magazine inquires please [email protected]

Published by:AUGIWorld is published by Autodesk User GroupInternational, Inc. AUGI makes no warranty for theuse of its products and assumes no responsibility forany errors which may appear in this publication nordoes it make a commitment to update the informatiocontained herein.

AUGIWorldis Copyright 2014 AUGI. No informa-tion in this magazine may be reproduced withoutexpressed written permission from AUGI.

All registered trademarks and trademarks included this magazine are held by their respective companieEvery attempt was made to include all trademarksand registered trademarks where indicated by theircompanies.

AUGIWorld (San Francisco, Calif.)

ISSN 2163-7547

Welcome, dear reader!

You have just opened another packed AUGIWorld magazine

and this time we have some extra goodies! We have been

making some refinements to our publication suite at AUGI

and will be bringing some favorites from HotNewsover into

prime time, in AUGIWorld.

Every month we try to theme out our content for AUGIWorld and this month some

of our content should give a lift to those budding Autodesk software users. And

other authors are again tackling some important issues in their respective areas ofexpertise. Ok, ready? Lets go!

We begin this month with some advice by Curt Moreno for the AutoCAD

professional whose career is just beginning. And then following in the AutoCAD

steps, our trainer Michael Beall shares a quick tip for making a hatch transparent in

AutoCAD.

Next we have a wonderful piece by Marcello Sgambelluri that explains creating

hardscape and site topographies in Revit Architecture 2014. Sticking with

the architecture tract, Melinda Heavrin explores dimensioning in AutoCAD

Architecture 2014.Moving on to other industries, we have Phil Russo laying out for our edification

how to use scope boxes and plan regions in Revit Structure 2014. And we welcome

to AUGIWorldour esteemed author Mark Kiker, who brings his CAD Manager

column to the publication. Hes got the long and short of itI must check this out

myself!

Going mechanical for a moment, Mike Tomas shows us his sketching tips and

tricks for Inventor 2014. And thats followed with an article from author Israel Uriel,

who demonstrates a game assets workflow in 3ds Max.

Moving on to our favorite acronym, MEP, odd Shackelford examines linking aproject in Revit MEP 2014. And we close out the issue with our monthly Inside

rack column by Lee Ambrosius who brings us news on Autodesk CAM 360, ally,

and Coins.

And with that we present to you the February 2014 issue of AUGIWorldmagazine.

Have you considered writing yet?

ake care,

David Harrington

Editors Note

FEBRUARY2014

AUGIWorld
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http://www.arcat.com

BIM LibraryARCAT has the most comprehensive collecon of BIM objectsyou will find, available free of charge and without registraon.

The ARCAT BIM Library is also accessible in the ARCAT app,

with eding capabilies in the AutoCAD 360 app.

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6/44www.augi.com February 20

AutoCAD 2014

PRO

DUCT

FOCUS

by: Curt Moren

So you have decided to get into the interestingworld of AutoCAD design and drafting?Perhaps you are a young person, just out ofthe traditional education path and want to

begin your first career. Perhaps you are a more matureperson graduating from a non-traditional education

path or you are just changing careers. Whatever your situation, acareer as a CAD professional can be creative and fulfilling.

While there are many different CAD packages and designdisciplines out there in the world, if you are reading this articlethen you are most likely working with the AutoCAD product fromAutodesk. Or perhaps your firm uses one of the many AutoCADplatform-based vertical products such as AutoCAD MEP orAutoCAD Civil 3D. Whatever the case, we are going to look atsome great pointers that every user new to the world of AutoCADand life as a CAD professional should know.

THE BASICSEach year brings a new version of AutoCAD that is a bit better,a bit more capable, and features a bit of new technology. Tesedays the list of features in vanilla AutoCAD is about two and ahalf miles long. From basic drawing tools to advanced rendering/lighting systems, AutoCADs features make it one of the mostcapable and versatile design applications in the world.

Approaching a program that has more than 1,700 differentcommands is enough to intimidate even the most hardcore geek.So how do beginners get their heads around the task at hand?Fortunately, there is no need to begin your CAD career workingwith 1,000 commands in order to tackle thousands of tasks.

Instead you just get a working set of 18 tools under your belt!

If you are asking yourself how it is that fewer than 20 tools can syou on your path to a productive and satisfying career, just takelook at the list.

Align Insert Plot

Arc Line Polyline

Circle Linetype Spell

DimLinear LTScale Style

Erase MLeader Trim

Extend Mtext XRef

Tis simple collection of commands can be brought together accomplish nearly all of the tasks that your new career may requiWhile you may find one or two more commands to be essential your new life, this collection makes for a fine starting point.

Te importance of the matt

is that you realize AutoCApresents an environment which there is a multitude tools, and methods in whithese tools can be used. Is tRECANGLE command faster method in which to creaa rectangle than using the LINor POLYLINE command? Y

but good foundation knowledge of the most basic commanensures that you are never caught at a loss to create the necessalinework to complete a drawing.

Advice for

the CADProfessional

Beginner

Figure 1
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AutoCAD 2014

BE THAT TYPE OF CAD PROFESSIONALIn my experience there is one facet of training that is sorelylacking in the skill set of most new CAD professionals. Tat isnot to say there are not many great and talented people joining theindustry every year. Still, the one skill that is often missing fromthe toolboxes of those new to the ranks is typing commands intothe Command Line.

Autodesk has made great efforts to standardize the layout andiconography of its user interfaces across the product catalog,but there is still no more efficient way to navigate the AutoCADcorridors than to know your commands in their written form. Ifyou doubt this logic, then simply take a moment and compare themethods of entering any given command. On the one hand youcould go to the ribbon, locate the correct panel in the correct tab,and then first search the correct icon and then possibly open aflyout menu to find your desired command. By comparison, youcould just type out a written command for something commonsuch as MEX, for example.

Of course, like any worthwhile skill, this dark art takes a bit ofpractice to master. First you must commit several of your favoriteAutoCAD commands to memory. Never fearAutoCAD helpswith this by providing the command line text at the bottom ofevery ribbon tooltip. Just hover over the icon for your chosentool and a tooltip will appear, giving you all manner of usefulinformation, including the commands written form!

Second, you should learn the most effective manner in which to typethese commands. Since I am right-handed, I have learned to typemy commands exclusively using my left hand while almost nevertaking my right hand off the mouse. Tis arrangement providesme with the maximum efficiency to enter my commands whilecontinuing to work my mouse. ry some different arrangementsand see what works best for you.

THE 4-COLOR MARKUP SYSTEMNow that you have collected your personal set of essential tools tohelp you produce your work and you are practicing to become moreefficient at creating your drawings, it is time to discuss another

key skill. In the life of every CAD professional a few markups willcome. One day I am going to put that into a fortune cookie becauseit is every bit as true as You will meet a tall stranger, except thatmine is useful.

As a CAD professional, working with architects, engineers,and designers will be a large part of your daily life. A commonpart of the discussion between design professionals and CADprofessionals are designs that evolve through iterations of markupspassed back and forth. Having a well-defined system of notationthat is used in a uniform manner can make this process far moreefficient and pleasant than it could be otherwise.

One common method of marking up drawings for exchangebetween designers and CAD professionals is the 4-Color MarkupSystem. In this system, notations are categorized into four distinctcolors, each one representing a specific type of notation, as follows. Red Linework or text items that should be added to the

drawing file. Green - Linework or text items that should be removed to the

drawing file. Blue Questions or comments to the drafter. Yellow Items that have been completed/checked.

While this color layout is fairly common, any combination of

colors can work in your office. Red is an almost universal colorfor revisions, but separating items that should be added or revisedfrom those that should be removed from the drawing will makethe iterative process of design more efficient and less maddening.Another interesting tip is for each CAD professional in your officeto have a signature color for use on completed/checked items. Forinstance, I have used purple highlighters as a signature color tomake identifying sheets that I had worked on as simple as noticingthere was purple ink on the page.

What matters most is that you apply whatever standard is used inyour office in a uniform way that respects the system that is alreadyestablished. Or, if a system is not in place, that you show initiative

and lead by example in bringing order to the chaos of the iterativedesign process.

LEARN TO KEEP LEARNINGWhether you are fresh from college, an occupational trainingprogram, or on-the-job training, you are probably relieved to bedone with the learning and eager to start your new career. It isan exciting time filled with an exciting new job and exciting newprojects. Still, to think that the part of your career where you learnnew skills has come and gone would be a mistake. Just like mostcareers that fall into the category of knowledge work, your careeras a CAD professional will involve a continuous process of training

and evolving your skill set.

Autodesk, and other CAD product developers, are in a continuouscycle of development that brings new releases. In the case ofAutodesk, new versions of AutoCAD and related products are

Figure 2

Figure 3

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AutoCAD 2014

PRO

DUCT

FOCUS

released each year. Each one bringing improved processes, newfeatures, and more powerful CAD engines. It may appear obviousthat keeping up with this constant change is important. You wouldthink so, wouldnt you?

Te reality of the matter is that the world economy is alwaysbecoming more competitive and this is no less true in the CADindustry than in any other. Terefore, it is imperative that you keepyour skills up to par in order to use the latest technology to its fullest.

Te simplest strategy to accomplish this is also, quite fortunately,the easiest. All you have to do is keep up with the releases. Dont letyears go by without improving your skills. With each new releasetake the time to learn the new features, adjust to the improvedfeatures, and always be on the lookout for improved workflowsand how they can apply to your chosen discipline. News on newreleases, features, training, and tips are as close as the nearestcomputer with an Internet connection. Developer websites, blogs,and video sites such as Youube are all treasure troves of traininginformation just waiting for your attention.

Developers spend millions of dollars a year creating in-productdocumentation such as tutorials, help systems, and, in manycases, new on-demand peer assistance methods that allow youto get help from developer-supported communities. Additionally,many developers, including Autodesk, offer official certificationprograms to provide industry-wide standards of achievement tonot only give merit to CAD professionals who achieve a certainlevel of skill, but also to give newcomers to the industry a target toaim for in terms of developing a well-rounded skill set.

From day one, your #1 job is not your jobit is to be in acontinuous training mode so you can do your job better!

TAMING THE WILD CAREERTinking about your job brings me to the last point that I believeevery CAD professional who is new to the industry should take toheartthinking about your career.

I have met too many CAD professionals who have gone to greatlengths to get the job they have. Tey have either gone to schooland incurred large debt to graduate with a 2- or 4-year degree orthey have put in hard work to learn these skills in addition to theirnormal workloads. Whatever course they have taken, it is usuallya dedicated and chosen one. And yet so many of them view their

position as a job and not a career.

Tey come to work and do their job just fine. Te problem isthat this mentality sets them up to do just thattheir jobforyears and years. On the surface that may seem like a good thing,but stability is not much comfort without advancement, andadvancement requires career-focused thinking. By all means,you should do your job and do it well. But you should also belooking to the future and thinking about where you would like tobe in 5 or 10 years. You should have a mind toward the skills andcertifications that will help you reach these new plateaus and thepath, however vague it may be, that will take you there.

oo many times I have heard one of two excuses on why people dnot put their all into the job they have now.

A. Tis is just the job I have now and when I find the perfejob/company, then I will give it my all, or

B. Tis is good enough. I just want to do my job.

In his book, So Good Tey Cant Ignore You: Why Skill rumPassion in the Quest for Work You Love, Cal Newport says thatcareer that is untamed can bring you into dangerous territory anboth of the above excuses are prime examples.

Do not allow your career to be untamed. reat your new career asCAD professional with the respect you would give a large, complpiece of machinery or a wild animal. Because, much like your necareer, both of these things can be marvelous and beautiful, bif they are not treated with the proper caution and an educatapproach, they can be very dangerous. Not treating your carewith caution and an educated approach can, at best, have you exactly the same spot doing the exact same work for 20 years. A

worst, you could lose your job.

CONCLUSIONYou have entered an exciting time in your life where your hard wois beginning to pay off. You are starting a new career where you caput your hard-earned skills to work and begin to contribute to tindustries that help craft the world we live in!

As a new CAD professional working with AutoCAD or one of vertical products, you are following in the steps of literally millioof men and women who have helped design some of the moimportant advances in history. Reflect on that as you sit down an

double click on the little red icon with the A shaped graphic. Yomouse links you to the pens, pencils, and quills that designed thfirst airplanes, cathedrals, and pyramids! Be excited when you stayour work and you will almost always be certain to work on moof the exciting things that your new life as a CAD professioncan offer.

Based in Houston, exas, Curt More-no is a CAD Coordinator for a civilengineering firm and the owner andeditor of the Kung Fu Drafter blog. Hebegan using AutoCAD with Release

10 and has spent the past 20+ yearsworking with various Autodesk prod-ucts including AutoCAD, Civil 3D,Map 3D, and SketchBook Designer.Curt is also a freelance content creator,featured Autodesk University speaker,and training content developer. In hisspare time Curt writes, games, andspends time with his dog and horses.

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AutoCAD 2014

And Heres How to

Make a HatchTransparent

Send to Front, Send to Back or ransparent? Dependingon what you want your final output to look like, you willwant to choose accordingly.

A transparent hatch is most readily experienced when using the

Solid hatch pattern, although any pattern can be used. In theillustration, the solid hatches are drawn on a layer with a colorassignment of Black with a transparency value of 50.

HOW TO ASSIGN HATCH

TRANSPARENCY

1. Set the desired layer to current, then launch the Hatchcommand to display the contextual Hatch tab.

2. For clarity purposes, set the Pattern type to Solid.

3. Te Hatch ransparency slider is really clunky, so simply entera transparency value. Te higher the number, the easier it is tosee through the hatch.

4. In the illustration, the hatch on the left side has the DrawOrder as Send to Back. Te hatch on the right side has theDraw Order as Bring to Front. Te properties for the furnitureand text are the same on both sides.

MAJOR MEMO: When plotting a drawing with transparencies,be sure to check the box in the Plot dialog box to Plotransparency. (Otherwise, youre going to have a very wet plotand need another toner cartridge right away.)

Michael E. Beall (B. Arch.) won the AU2013 Speaker Award for Hands-on Labsand is an Autodesk Authorized Author.He is the owner of CAD rainer Guy,LLC in Shelbyville, KY and has been pre-senting onsite CAD training around theplanet since 1982. Contact him anytime [email protected], on LinkedInat www.linkedin.com/in/cadtrainerguy/orgive him a call at 502.500.2267.
http://www.augiworld.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/cadtrainerguy/http://www.linkedin.com/in/cadtrainerguy/mailto:[email protected]://www.augiworld.com/

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Revit Architecture 2014

PRO

DUCT

FOCUS

by: Marcello Sgambellu

Hardscape &Site Topographyfor First Timers

Are you a beginner in Autodesk Revit?Are you a beginner at using the topomodeling tools in Revit? Are you abeginner at using methods to create

hardscape elements that follow site topographyexactly? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you area beginner in regards to the material covered in this article and youneed to read on! If you answered no, read on as wellthis articlemay just illustrate that there is more out there to know.

SITE TOPOGRAPHY: A LOVE/HATE

RELATIONSHIPI first thought that the site topography modeling tools in Revitwere clunky compared to other Revit modeling tools, but overtime I learned to respect them. Its not that they are clunky; they

just use a different set of rules so it is understandable that someRevit users do not like them.

I have also heard, and once believed, that it was frustrating workingwith site topo elements because they do not like to interact withother elements. I hope this article will help you appreciate the site

topography tools and give you a better understanding and betttools and methods to work with site topography.

o do this correctly, the methods presented include modeling animporting elements that are used only for the creation of othelements. Tese are called sacrificial elements or guide entitiebecause their sole purpose is to be used as temporary aids in tmodeling and creation of other final elements.

PARKING LOT THAT WILLDYNAMICALLY ADJUSTIn this example we will explore how to create a parking lot that when it is moved it will dynamically adjust to the shape the topography or it will automatically adjust if the topographyadjusted.

1. Create any topo and locate the shape and size of the parking l2. Go to the site plango to the Site ab> Split Region. Dra

a rectangular boundary as shown in Figure 1 to represent textents of the parking lot. Te final boundary is shown Figure 1.

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3. Go back to the default 3D view and select the split surfaceelement, which is now a separate topography element.

4. Isolate and export that new split topography element as a dwg.Make sure not to export all the temporarily hidden elements.Save the file exported dwg file.

5. Undo the split surface command (or merge the surfaces) sothat there is no hole in the site topography element. Insertthe newly exported dwg as origin to origin, level orient to view,in the project environment. It is also a good idea to change thecolor to black and white so the mesh lines are easier to see asshown in Figure 2.

6. Te dwg insert should line up perfectly with the sitetopography element. You know you have it in the rightlocation when there are many mesh lines that show up in thesame location as the topo, as in Figure 2.

7. Build entourage familiesbuild the guides and place thefamilies.

Yes, I said entourage families. You will use entourage families tohost the path geometry. Why do this? Entourage families and afew others (I prefer entourage families) are the ONLY familiesthat host to site topography (at this time). Meaning when youplace an entourage family on a site topo it will follow the site topoeven if the family is moved. Terefore, if you host the entire lotto entourage families and the entourage families are hosted tothe topo, then when the entourage families move the lot movesas wellall the while following the topo surface. Also, if the site

topo were to change, then the lot that is hosted on the entouragefamilies will also change!

o build an entourage family that is usable, simply open theentourage family titled Van then delete everything and go tothe left elevation view. Add a vertical model line that starts at theorigin of the family and extends straight up. Place a parameter onthe height and call the parameter H.

Although making a parameter out of the height is not required, Iprefer to do it so in the future I am able to adjust the height of mypath in the z direction as shown in Figure 3. Finally, change thesettings of the family to be always vertical. Tis will make surethat the family line always points up. Save the file and load it intothe project.

Te only reason that you imported the dwg into the projectenvironment was so the entourage families have a guide orsomething to click or snap to. Otherwise these families will not

snap to topography.

Add one entourage family and array the rest as shown in Figure 4.In this example there were 44 arrayed families in the long directionand 11 in the short direction of the parking lot as shown. Tenumber of families you place is entirely up to you; however, themore families, the more adaptable the parking lot will be when it isplaced on undulating topography.

Figure 1: Parking lot location

Figure 2: Parking lot imported dwg

Figure 3: Parking lot dwg

Figure 4: Parking lot entourage

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8. Build the rig

Host the nodes of the splines that will make up the parking lotsurface to the entourage line families that you just placed in theprevious step.

Simply host a point anywhere along each lineit doesnt matterwhere, as long as they get hosted (as shown in Figure 5), then makea spline thru points. Select all the splines (as reference lines) andselect make form. Note: It is easier if you isolate the entouragefamilies when doing this step.

9. When that is completed, select all the nodes and make aparameter to set the relative location of the nodes to thebottom of the line or equal to 0.

10. Build the parking lot by simply activating the Roof by Facecommand and select the mass surface. Te new road should

look like Figure 6.

11. Te fun part is to now move the lot out of its currentlocation from the flat part below the helical path and watchit dynamically adjust to the topo surface. o do this, go to a3D top view and simply select all the entourage families thatare being used to host the splines. I found it helpful to placeall the families in a group. Move the entourage families and

watch what happens. Te results are shown in Figure 7. Tparking lot and site were used to illustrate an extreme exampof a topo shape and in common practice you will not likely sa parking lot need to take this final shape.

HOW TO MODEL HELICAL SITE TOPOIn this section you will be creating a helical mountain. o creaa mountain out of the topo tools you first have to create a guidfamily.1. Create a new project with a simply flat topo element.2. Start an in-place mass.3. Place a circle at the base of the project and use the grids of t

project as a guide.4. Break the circle into two semi-circles as shown in Figure 8.

5. Select each semi-circle and click create form.6. Simply grab the top end of the extruded half cylinder no

and drag to desired height. Behold, a helix in Revit as showin Figure 9.

Figure 5: Parking entourage with hosted nodes

Figure 7: Parking lot adjusting to topo

Figure 8: Create two semi-circles

Figure 6: Parking lot with mass rig

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7. Instead of dividing the edges, simply draw a curve along eachedge using the Spline Tru Points command and the followsurface option turned on. Isolate the edges one at a time andexport them to a dwg file as shown in Figure 9.

8. Import each edge of the helical path separately so that younow have two dwg files.

9. Select the topography element, select edit surface, and selectCreate from Import. Select one of the imported dwgs and youshould see the topo be modified to follow the helical edge.Repeat for the other edge as shown in steps 1, 2, and 3 inFigure 10.

SOIL AROUND A RETAINING WALLIn this section you will be shaping existing topo around the nearand far side of a retaining wall.

1. Open your existing project or create a topo surface and aconcrete retaining wall.

2. Create a new in-place mass and simply draw a curve where

you would like the top of the soil to be located on the upperportion of the wall at the face of wall. Do the same for thelower portion of the soil. You should have two mass curvesthat are shown in Figure 11.

Figure 9: A helix in Revit

Figure 10: Selection steps for helix

Figure 11: Top of soil at high and low locations

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PRO

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Note: Te divided nodes are used as a guide to place the toposurface nodes and they must be lined up horizontally in orderto create the effect of the continuous topo surface being attwo elevations.

3. o ensure that the divided nodes on each curve lines uphorizontally you will need to locate the nodes via theintersect divided node command. o use this, you haveto draw gridlines (or named reference lines) at equal planspacing. A good rule of thumb is to make at least 12 divisions/gridlines. Once the gridlines are placed at equal spacing, selecteach curve separately and select the divide path command andselect intersect and select the gridlines. Te final divided nodelocation should look similar to Figure 12.

4. Now that the divided nodes are in place, its time to placethe topo points on top of the divided nodes. o modify thetopo, simply change to a top-down view in 3D and edit thetopo and place points at each divided node. Change to a 3Dside view and move the nodes vertically, in elevation, to thedivided node.

5. Finish the topo and a section through your topo should looksimilar to Figure 13.

Note: In order for the soil to be retained at a different elevation on

each side of the wall, the topo surface has to be hidden within theconcrete wall.

Marcello Sgambelluri is the BIM Di-rector at John A. Martin & Associ-ates Structural Engineers in Los An-geles, California. He has been usingAutodesk products for more than 15years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max,and Revit. Marcello is heavily de-voted to helping advance the use and

knowledge of BIM solutions within theAEC community. He is well knownfor modeling elements and creatingworkflows that others have thought notpossible. He also frequently presentsat Autodesk University and at TeRevit echnology Conference where hehas been voted the top-rated speakertwo years in a row at both conferences.He has worked on many well-knownprojects in the past including the WaltDisney Concert Hall in Los Angeles,the Stata Center at MI, and the om

Bradley International erminal Ex-pansion at Los Angeles InternationalAirport. Marcello received B.S. andM.S. degrees in Civil Engineering andis a licensed Civil and Structural En-gineer. He can be reached via email:[email protected], witter:@marcellosgamb, or at his blog site:www.therevitcomplex.blogspot.com

Figure 12: Divided node and topo point locations

Figure 13: Section thru retaining wall
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AutoCAD Architecture 2014by: Melinda Heavrin

Dimensioning is simply the process ofadding measurement annotation to adrawing. Dimensions can be createdfor a variety of object types in many

orientations. Te basic types of dimensioningare Linear, Radial, Angular, Ordinate, and Arc Length. Lineardimensions can be horizontal, vertical, aligned, rotated, baseline,or continued (chained).

With more than 70 dimensioning-oriented settings in the

Dimension Styles Manager, you can control nearly every aspect ofthe appearance of dimensions. If you save your dimension stylesin a drawing template (dwt) file, they will be available every timeyou start a new drawing. o simplify drawing organization anddimension scaling, it is recommended that you create dimensionson layouts rather than in model space.

In addition to traditional AutoCAD dimensioning, AutoCADArchitecture provides more intelligent and automated AECDimension objects. Toughtful creation of AEC dimensionstyles can greatly improve productivity during the constructiondocuments phase of a project. Another benefit of AEC dimensionstyles is that as AEC objects, they can be controlled with the

AutoCAD Architecture display system and can be scale-dependent. Te same AEC dimension can be used for any numberof scales in the drawing.

Dimensions can be associative, non-associative, or exploded.Dimension associativity defines the relationship betweengeometric objects and the dimensions that give their distance andangles. Tere are three types of associativity between geometricobjects and dimensions.

Associative dimensions automatically adjust their locations,orientations, and measurement values when the geometricobjects associated with them are modified. Tese are createdwhen the DIMASSOC system variable is set to 2.

Non-associative dimensions are selected and modified withthe geometry they measure. Non-associative dimensions donot change when the geometric objects they measure aremodified. Tese are created when the DIMASSOC systemvariable is set to 1.

Exploded dimensions contain a collection of separate objects,rather than a single dimension object. Tese are created whenthe DIMASSOC system variable is set to 0.

Dimensionsin ACA

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AutoCAD Architecture 2014

PRO

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FOCUS

A dimension is considered partially associative when only oneend of the dimension is associated with a geometric object. Youcan use the DIMREASSOCIAE command to reassociate non-associative dimensions. Dimensions associated to model drawingviews may lose their associativity if the drawing is opened and re-saved in a pre-2012 release of AutoCAD.

CREATE A DIMENSION STYLEA dimension style is a named collection of dimension settings thatcontrols the appearance of dimensions, such as arrowhead style,text location, and lateral tolerances. You can create dimensionstyles to specify the format of dimensions quickly and to ensurethat dimensions conform to industry or project standards.

When you create a dimension, it uses the settings ofthe current dimension style. If you change a setting in a dimensionstyle, all dimensions in the drawing that use the style updateautomatically. You can create dimension substyles that use specifiedsettings for different types of dimensions. You can override adimension style with dimension settings that deviate from the

current dimension style.

o create a dimension style, begin by clicking the Home tab onthe ribbon, Annotation panel, then select Dimension Style. In theDimension Style Manager, click New. In the Create New DimensionStyle dialog box, enter a name for the new dimension style and clickContinue. In the New Dimension Style dialog box (Figure 1), clickeach tab and make any changes for the new dimension style. ClickOK and then Close to exit the Dimension Style Manager.

DYNAMIC DIMENSIONSWhen you use grips to change the dimension or angle of anobject, temporary dimension objects show you the changes youare making. You can use Dynamic Input to enter a precise value

instead of moving a grip. Tis is active by default and selectinggrip displays a text box in which you can enter the desired valufor the associated dimension or angle. Click Dynamic Input on tapplication status bar to toggle this off. Tree types of dynamdimensions display on grips.

1. Focal dimensions display highlighted in a white rectangulbox. If you type a value while a dynamic dimension is focusethe edit box is displayed at the dimension text location.

2. Editable dimensions display based on the drafting settinyou specify. If you press AB while a dynamic dimensiois focused, the dimension focus shifts forward to the needitable dimension.

3. Non-editable dimensions display in black text. Tedimensions typically display the current value of a properthat you can modify with a grip.

You can apply different settings, such as the color of the dynamdimension text box, on the Dynamic Input tab in the DraftinSettings dialog box (see Figure 2). You can select the color of gri

and the dynamic dimension linetype on the AEC Editor tab Options. It is important to note that when a dimension edit bis displayed, pressing Enter sets the value of the property that yoare editing and ends the grip operation. Pressing ab sets the valuchanges the focused dimension, and continues the same griediting operation.

AEC DIMENSIONSIn AutoCAD Architecture, you can dimension object poinspecified in the AEC dimension style, points on objects pickein the drawing, or user-specified points in the drawing. AEdimensions associated with objects update when the objechanges. User-specified points are not associative and have to bchanged manually if necessary. An AEC dimension can contaboth associative and non-associative points. For example, you ccreate an AEC dimension that dimensions a wall, a multi-vieblock representing a floor drain, and user-specified points selectanywhere in the drawing.

Figure 1: New dimension style

Figure 2: Dynamic input appearance

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When you select an AEC dimension, various grips are displayed.You can use the grips to add and remove dimension points,move dimension chains, change the offset of extension linesand override wall component dimensions. When dimensioningwall components, you have the option of using the center of thecomponent or either side as the dimension point. You can alsodimension wall components according to their structural function.Grips for the individual component dimension points allow you tooverride style-defined dimension points on walls to accommodatespecial cases. Te dimension values in an AEC dimension arecalculated from the actual current dimensions of associatedobjects. You can override a value with a manually inserted value.

Te AEC dimension style defines objects to dimension in theAEC dimension and the display of the AEC dimension. You cancreate and edit AEC dimension styles, import and export AECdimension styles between drawings, and purge AEC dimensionstyles that are not in use. When you create, purge, import, export,or edit styles, you access the Style Manager. Te Style Managerprovides a central location in AutoCAD Architecture where you

can work with styles from multiple drawings and templates.

You can create an AEC dimension tool from any AEC dimensionstyle. You can drag the style from the Style Manager onto atool palette. You can then specify default settings for any AECdimensions created from the tool. o create an AEC dimension,begin by clicking the Annotate tab on the ribbon, Dimensionspanel (see Figure 3), and select one of the available dimension toolsthere. Select the objects or points you want to dimension and pressEnter. Click where you want to insert the AEC dimension.

Tere are a few best practices for AEC Dimension Styles to keepin mind.

Make your dimension styles scale-dependent where possibleby using different AutoCAD dimension styles with differentsettings for Overall Scale. By changing display configurations,you can use a different display representation for dimensionstyles that adjusts to different scales and detail levels.

It is not necessary to store AEC Dimension styles or theAutoCAD dimension styles on which they are dependent fordisplay in the template drawing. Instead, you can use the toolproperties to import them as needed from a style library.

If you have configured the Dimension and ype parametersof your wall style components, you should take advantage of

this in the AEC Dimensions Content settings for the WallWidth dimension parameters by specifying From Style orStructural from Style.

DIMENSIONING A PROJECTIn the documentation phase of a project, you create detaileddimensions of objects. AEC dimensions can be attached to

objects in a drawing or to objects in an external reference. Youcan dimension objects in source drawings such as elements orconstructs, or you can dimension them in higher-level drawingssuch as views or sheets.

Begin by opening the project drawing in which to add a dimension.Tis may not be the drawing in which the object to be dimensionedis located. It may be a drawing that references the object. Open thetool palette that you want to use and select an AEC dimensiontool. On the Properties palette, expand Basic General and select astyle. In the drawing area, select the objects to dimension and pressEnter. Specify the position of the new dimension.

If you want to insert the dimension group parallel to orperpendicular to the dimensioned object, then drag the cursorin the desired direction and click in the drawing at the desiredinsertion point.

If you want to insert the dimension group at a specifiedrotation, then enter r (Rotation) on the command line andpress Enter. Ten enter a rotation angle, press enter, and clickin the drawing at the desired insertion point.

If you want to insert the dimension group aligned parallel toan object other than the dimensioned object, enter a (Align)on the command line and press Enter. Ten select the objectin which to align the dimension group. Press Enter and click

in the drawing at the desired insertion point.

CONVERTING AUTOCAD DIMENSION

TO AN AEC DIMENSIONFor each AutoCAD dimension point, a non-associative AECdimension point is created. Te resulting AEC dimension hasthe properties of the AEC dimension tool you select. You can editthese properties after creating the AEC dimension.

o do this, open the tool palette you want to use, right-click anAEC dimension tool, and click Apply ool Properties to, thenselect AutoCAD Dimension (see Figure 4). Select the AutoCAD

Figure 3: Dimension panel

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dimensions and press Enter. Specify the position of the AECdimension by clicking the desired position in the drawing. TeAEC dimension can be placed above or below the object. Drag themouse to set the direction of the dimension. Te extension linesare drawn into the opposite direction.

It is important to note that the angle you specify here is calculatedin relation to the UCS and not to the dimensioned object.

When prompted to erase the original AutoCAD dimension,press Enter to keep the AutoCAD dimension or enter y (Yes)to erase it. If you selected only one AutoCAD dimension, thenthe new AEC dimension is inserted at the same position as theAutoCAD dimension. If you selected more than one AutoCADdimension, then the new AEC dimension is inserted accordingto your specifications.

MODIFYING DIMENSION TEXTAfter you create a dimension, you can move, rotate, or replace thedimension text. You can move the text to a new location or backto its home position, which is the position defined by the currentdimension style. You can move dimension text to the left, right, orcenter along the dimension line or to any position inside or outsidethe extension lines. A quick and simple way to do this is by usinggrips. If you move text up or down, the current vertical alignmentof the text relative to the dimension line is not changed, so thedimension and extension lines are modified accordingly.

Hover over a dimension text grip to quickly access the following

functionality: Stretch Tis is the default grip behavior. If the text ispositioned on the dimension line, Stretch moves the dimensionline farther away or closer to the object being dimensioned. Ifthe text is positioned away from the dimension line, with or

without a leader, Stretch moves the text without moving thdimension line.

Move with Dim Line Positions text on the dimension liand moves the dimension line farther away or closer to tobject being dimensioned.

Move ext Only Positions the dimension text withomoving the dimension line.

Move with Leader Positions the dimension text with

leader line to the dimension line. Above Dim Line Positions the dimension text abo

the dimension line (left of the dimension line for verticdimensions).

Center Vertically Positions the dimension text so tdimension line cuts through the vertical center of the text.

Reset ext Position Positions the dimension text back to default position based on the active dimension style.

Clicking on an AEC dimension brings up the AEC Dimensiotab on the ribbon, which allows for many editing capabiliti(see Figure 5). If you wish to return the dimension text back

its original location, select the dimension text, hover over the tegrip, and click Reset ext Position.

CONCLUSIONDimensioning in AutoCAD Architecture contains mancapabilities to ensure quality, accurate measurements within yodrawing. Tere is a lot you can do with dimensions, so take a feminutes to sit down and explore all the capabilities. You may surprised at all you can do!

Melinda Heavrin is a CAD Coordi-nator & Facility Planner for Norton

Healthcare in Louisville, Kentucky. Shehas been using AutoCAD Architecturesince release 2000. Melinda can bereached for comments and questions [email protected].

Figure 4: Convert to AEC dimension

Figure 5: Modify dimension
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Revit Structure 2014

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ScopeBoxesand PlanRegions

In this article we are going to look at twotools in Autodesk Revit Structure that helpwith consistency and visibility in your RevitStructure model. Te first is the Scope Box tool

and how scope boxes relate to your datum elementsin your model. Te second one is a plan region and how it helpswith plan view visibility.

SCOPE BOXDatum elements such as levels and grids associate themselvesto scope boxes. Tis gives the user control over visibility andconsistent placement of these elements.

When you have a datum element such as a level or grid selecteyou can assign a scope box to those elements in the properties bas shown in Figure 2 below.

by: Philip Russ

Figure 1: Scope box tool Figure 2: Assigning a scope box to a datum element

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Once your datum elements are associated to a scope box you canadjust the size of the scope box and the datum element followsalong. Te datum elements must cross the scope box; if the scopebox is adjusted and does not cross the datum element you will getan error like the one shown in Figure 3 below.

Scope boxes are created in a plan view and can be associated toany related views in the project. With a scope box selected, youcan name it appropriately and access the visibility control of otherviews to display the scope box and associated datum elements.

When working in the 3D modeling environment, you may need todisplay some framing that is located outside your view range for aparticular plan.

Figure 5 shows the Scope Box Views Visible dialog box that allowsusers to make the scope box visible in other associated views in theproject. Tis is useful not only to display the datum elements, butalso to keep them consistent from the associated scope box.

PLAN REGIONWhen working in the 3D modeling environment, you may needto display some framing that is located outside your view range for

Figure 3: Scope box error

Figure 4: Scope box visibility access

Figure 6: Plan region tool

Figure 5: Visibility control of scope box

When working in the 3D modelingenvironment, you may need to display

some framing that is located outsideyour view range for a particular plan.

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a particular plan. Instead of making another floor framing plan toshow this, you can use a plan region to have a custom view rangefor just one area in your plan.

Figure 7 shows an area that has some beams connected to thecolumns shown. However, the beams are not being displayedbecause they are above the view range. If the view range is adjustedfor the entire view to accommodate showing these beams, you maylose other structural members in the view. So in a case such as thiswhere you need to display this framing to avoid creating an entirenew floor framing plan, a plan region is ideal.

Once you activate the plan region tool, your model is grayed outand you are in a sketch mode to outline the area for which youwant to adjust the view range.

Select your plan region after you complete the sketch. You cadjust the view range in the Properties box. Tis adjustment wonly affect the visibility of the area defined by the plan region anwill leave the rest of your framing plan the same.

Figure 10 shows the resultdisplaying the beams that were nvisible with the standard view range assigned to the floor framinplan. Tis technique is ideal for showing mezzanine areas.

SUMMARYTe scope box and plan region tools should be part of your everydworkflow when developing your construction documents.

Philip Russo began with AutoCADversion 2.5 in 1986. Trough the yearshe has held positions in the CAD in-dustry as CAD Draftsmen, CADManager, Sr, Applications Engineer,and is a Certified Autodesk Instruc-tor. Lately Phils focus has been on theimplementation of standard practicesfor the Revit platform. He currently

holds the position of Corporate BIMApplications Manager at OBrien &Gere Limited, an engineering firm lo-cated in Syracuse, New York. Phil canbe reached [email protected]

Figure 7: Columns shown, but beams out of view range

Figure 8: Sketch view range

Figure 9: Plan region view range

Figure 10: Plan region results
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CAD Manager

COLUMN

The Longand Shortof It

In life and in work there are those who play thelong game and those who play the short game.If you are unfamiliar with these terms, you maywant to think about golf.

In golf, the long game is the drive from the tee. More distanceis what you want. Distance with trajectoryhit the ball longand straight (or with purposeful hooks and slices). he nextshot may be from the fairway and you still need distance, butwant to avoid obstacles, such as water and sand, which mightcause problems. With these kinds of shots, you look at how

you might set yourself up for success and make the shogame work.

Te short game is near the green, where chipping, pitching, anputting take over. Finesse and accuracy are crucial in these efforReading the undulations of the green and having just enoustroke to get to the hole, but not far beyond. With these strokyou look at being effective within several yards or feet of the pin

You have to be proficient at both of these approaches to get bettat golf. Being good at only one will not advance your prowess o

by: Mark Kike

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CAD Manager

the links. ake too many shots to get to the green and no matterhow good you are with a putter, the strokes add up. Get to thegreen quickly and then blow the shorter shots and the game goesout the window. Golf is not an easy game to master. And lest youthink I am good at it, I must confess that I have played only oncein the last 20 years.

I am not a golfer, but I am a manager. Te two may have more incommon than you think. Lets move to the work world and seehow this applies to technology management. You need to know

when to play the long game and when to play the short game withtechnology so that you are maximizing your effectiveness.

Playing the long game with CAD Management can be equatedto other slogans that might help with understanding. Slow andsteady wins the race. Inch by inch, everythings a cinch. Lose thebattle, but win the war. All of these reflect taking a longer view atthe overall goal and moving forward in measured steps.

Tose who play the long game take a much longer look ateverything they attempt to do. Tey are looking farther downthe line than others. Tey are planning for the long haul. When

they start a planning process they look beyond the initial rolloutto the problems that may be encountered further on. Tey thinkof deployment, management, and maintenance. Tey know thattodays efficiency upgrades might be lost as the software stretchesinto the future.

When working with people comes into play, they look toward theend of the effort even from the beginning. Tey are making progresseven when it looks like they are stalled or moving backwards. Inmeetings and discussions, they seek to move the effort forwardeven against resistance. Tey see that even a small stride forward, asmall compromise by others, is still progress.

Playing a short game has its slogans, also. Strike while the iron ishot. When opportunities knocks, open the door. Tere is no timelike the present. All of these emphasize the need to move forwardquickly to capitalize on a good thing.

Short game players want to get moving quickly and seek early winsso that others can see progress. Tey start moving and adjust asthey go. Tey know that taking too long to define the next movemay cripple their efforts. Tey make course corrections on the fly.

In a nutshell, you need to plan for the long game and execute forthe short game.

Make your plans taking everything into account and stretch yourthinking out as far as you can. Tink about Plan B before you startexecuting Plan A. Get as much input as you can and ponder youroptions. Tink long and hard, and then think again. Get it all onpaper and have others review it.

Ten execute for the short game. Move as quickly as possible.Before others take away the opportunities, maximize them. Movepast the planning and into the execution phase as soon as youcan. Stop talking and start doing. If you are going to fail, fail fast,

and recover faster. Generate energy and keep the energy high.Create a sense of urgency so that others catch the feeling and startmoving faster.

When working with others you may need to balance their effortsby working the other side. If they appear to be working the longgame, then you may need to employ short game tactics. If they aremoving with short game speed, you may need to slow things downa little with some long game thinking. Be nimble and adjust as yousee others working without balance.

Dont get caught in one rut or the other. If you are a short game

player then force yourself to plan more. If you tend toward extendedplanning periods, then start your actions and tasks a little sooner,prior to completing the planning phases.

By employing the long and short game methods you can masterthe CAD Management arena by planning well and executingwith excellence.

Mark Kiker has more than 25 yearsof hands-on experience with technol-ogy. He is fully versed in every area ofmanagement from deployment plan-

ning, installation, and configurationto training and strategic planning. Asan internationally known speaker andwriter, he is a returning speaker atAutodesk University since 1996.Mark is currently serving as Direc-tor of I for SIAech, a non-profitpublic charter high school focused ondropout recovery. He maintains twoblog sites, www.caddmanager.comandwww.bimmanager.com.

In a nutshell, you need toplan for the long game and

execute for the short game.
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Inventor 2014

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by: Mike Thoma

A

t Autodesk University 2013, I wasfortunate to be selected to present fourclasses. Te class that had the bestreaction and the most interaction was the

class I presented on Auotdesk Inventor Sketching. Ipresented this class in a tips & tricks style, which went over well.After all, who doesnt love to learn new things to shave some timeoff common, day-to-day activities?

[Te class was MA1743 Sketching with Autodesk Inventor forthose who want to look it up on the Autodesk University website.]

Before I dive into the content, the first question always asked is,Where did you get all of these tips, tricks, and suggestions?

First would be from my 14+ years of using Inventor. A personpicks up a lot by just using the software for that length of time.

Teres an old saying: Its not what you know, its who you know.But with Inventor, its really both. Im always on the lookout forany step that will reduce the time or amount of work needed toget things done. Ive gained significant insight by watching othersusing the software, across multiple industries.

I would love to give credit to each and every person from whomI was able to get a little nugget of information; unfortunately, Ihave forgotten most of the sources. However, here are some of mycurrent favorite places from which to get information on usingInventor to its fullest:

Autodesk Knowledge Network (AKN) Replaces tAutodesk Wiki

Design and Motion (Scott Moyse and John Evans) EDCF Publishing: Autodesk Inventor ips & ricks CAD Geek Speak Blog Paul Munford (aka the CAD Setter Out) Inventor From the renches (Curtis Waguespack) Autodesk Digital Prototyping Blog IMAGINi Manufacturing Solutions Blog (Mark Flayler)

Without further delay, here are the top tips and tricks fromy presentation.

WORKING WITH SKETCH PLANESQuickly Creating an Offset Workplane

Sketching Tips

& Tricks

Figure 1

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Inventor 2014

You can generate an offset workplane with a sketch on it inone step. With the Create Sketch command active, drag off thedesired face and you will be prompted for the offset distance forthe workplane.Sketches Used to Define Work FeaturesSketch geometry, especially lines, can provide an easier method forcreating difficult-to-locate work features.

For an example, look at Ben Curtins example Inventor Holes at aCompound Angle on theata CAD Geek Speak blog

Project Flat Pattern

Te Inventor Help feature defines this command as Unfolds adisjointed face or faces into the sketch plane.

Project Flat Pattern is great for the situations where you dontneed the overhead and advanced options of the Sheet MetalUnfold/Refold featuresjust wanting to reference existinggeometry edges.

CREATING GEOMETRYDynamic InputDynamic Input is a way of working with sketch geometry thatwas originally introduced in AutoCAD, but has been availablein the sketch environment for the past few releases of Inventor. Itprovides a Heads-Up Display (HUD) interface near the cursor tohelp you keep your focus in the sketching area.

Input boxes will appear as you are creating 2D geometry showingtransitional dimensional information about your geometry and itallows you to define the size of the object as you are creating it,evening creating the dimension.

A key aspect of working with Dynamic Input is the AB keytoggles between the various options, whereas ENER will acceptthe sizes.

Values entered become dimensions when accepted [disablePersistent Dimensions if you dont want dimensions created].Dimensions are only created on the inputs for which you entereda value.

Some Tings Work Like AutoCADTere are many time-savers in Inventor that mimic AutoCAD, ina good way. Anything, big or small, that saves time is a good thing,as even the little time-savers over a day or week can add up.

Just like AutoCAD, the spacebar repeats the last command. Just like AutoCAD, when drawing a line you can right-click

and close the line. Similar to how with AutoCAD polylines you can switch

between arcs and lines in the same command, you can, withinInventor, drag in the line command to create an arc.

Sketching LinesWhen sketching lines there are some press-and-hold options togenerate constrained lines or temporarily switch into a tangent arccreation mode.

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 3

Figure 5
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Inventor 2014

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If you press-and-hold off the end of any point, Inventor willgenerate a tangent arc from that point.

If you press-and-hold and drag away from a line or arc,Inventor will create a perpendicular line.

If you press-and-hold and drag tangent-like from an arc orcircle, you will create a tangent line. If you continue to press-and-hold as you create the line you can snap tangent at theother end as well.

Use Split to Adjust Geometry

We can use the Split feature to take a line or other curve and divideit into two or more sections.

When geometry is broken apart using the Split feature thegeometry remains constrained, meaning it is a great method togenerate construction geometry or to create points to snap to.

ext in the Sketch Environmentext can be added to any sketch and then embossed or extrudto add features to your model. Tis can be used to generate thinsuch as part numbers, dates, place of manufacture, brand nameand logos stamped, engraved, or etched into the component.

Sketched text can include model parameters, meaning that as thparameters update so does the text. Te location of the text cabe parametrically positioned by the insertion point or the text bcan be enabled, providing more fine-tuned positioning.

Geometry ext functions similarly, but will conform the text to

selected objectfor example, wrapping the text to an arc.

Make Project Geometry Work for YouBy default, when you project geometry from one part into anothit is made adaptive and remains linked to the other componen

While it is adaptive and associated with the other componenyou cannot make changes to the project geometry because it wupdate as the other component changes.

You can override this behaviour by holding CRL while you aprojecting geometry. Te geometry will be projected fixed in plaopposed to adaptive.

Adaptivity has its pros and cons and can be a very powerftool when you intend to use it. Unfortunately, the defaubehaviour makes it too easy to accidently or inadvertently mathings adaptive.

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You can disable the Cross part geometry projection options in theApplication Options (Assembly tab) to flip the default behaviour.With these options disabled, youd have to hold CRL whenprojecting geometry to make it adaptive.

If you havent done so yet, I highly recommend disabling the twoCross part geometry project options so you do not accidentally

create adaptive, cross-part associative geometry.

When geometry is projected from another component but notmade adaptive, Inventor applies fix constraints to ground thecomponent in place. You could Show Constraints and delete allthe fix constraints, but there is a faster way. Select all the geometryyou want to be free so you can dimension or constrain, then right-click and select Remove Fix Constraints. Tis will remove all fixconstraints on the selected geometry.

CONSTRAINTS & DIMENSIONSConstraints control the geometric relationships, such as parallel ortangent, between sketch entities.

Always Follow the KISS Rule(Keep It Simple, Stupid!) Stability before size. Add constraints and then add dimensions.

Consider accepting the default dimensions if you are expectingbig changes to the size of your sketch geometry. o helpavoid sketch flipping issues, change the smaller dimensionvalues first, then move on to the larger ones. Remember thatthe first dimension sets the scale of the sketch.

Use geometric constraints as much as possible. Applyconstraints first, then dimension, which is more efficient andreduces the clutter. Constraints typically represent the things

that are assumed on a drawing when not dimensioned. Be lazy and keep it simple. Tere is a fine line between

efficiency and laziness: Dont try to be everything to everyonewith one sketch. Instead of making one sketch to be used forevery feature in the model, follow one of the golden rules ofsketching: KISSone sketch per feature.

Only create in the sketch what you can work with easily. Temoment sketching becomes work to fully constrain, yoursketch is too complicated.

Fillets. Tese are best as features and should be avoided in thesketchthe same is true with chamfers, mirroring, and mostpatterns. Tese types of sketch elements over-complicate thesketch and are better controlled as features. [Why are thesetools there, then? You may run into rare cases where you haveto use them.]

Fully constrain your sketches! o quote Curtis Waguespack,Te importance of fully constraining your sketches inInventor cannot be overstated. o make the behaviour ofyour Autodesk Inventor sketches more predictable, constrainyour sketch to the Origin (0,0,0).

Bonus ip: You can have Inventor auto-project the originpoint by enabling Auto project part origin on sketch create[ools>Application options>Sketch tab]. Be careful with fixconstraintsyou should never need more than one.

Horizontal and Vertical AlignmentTe horizontal and vertical constraints can be used to alignpoints either horizontally or vertically. Te center point shown inFigure 12 is constrained so that it lines up horizontally with themidpoint of the vertical line and vertically with the midpoint of thehorizontal line. Te circle will remain constrained to these pointseven as the rectangle changes in size.

Make Automatic (Inferred) Constraints Work for YouConstraints are automatically applied as you sketch, but you canmake this work in your favour. Tis auto-constraining is referredto as constraint inference. What Inventor infers is dependenton the existing geometry, the type of object you are creating, theConstraint Options, and if Constraint Persistence is enabled.

You can adjust the geometry from which the auto-constraintis being inferred by hovering (rubbing) over another object. Forexample, if your new line is snapping parallel (without exiting the

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line) you can hover over a line 90 degrees to it and your new linewill now snap perpendicular.

If your new geometry is inferring constraints in a fashion you donot want, you can hold CRL as you sketch and no constraints(except for coincident) will be automatically created. You can thenadd the constraints of your liking. Additionally, you can disableConstraint Persistence on the Constrain Panel flyout.

Constraint Options (available on the Constrain flyout) controlwhich constraints will be inferred during sketching.

Use Degree of Freedom to Find Under-Constrained GeometryUse Degree of Freedom to help find unconstrained, partiallyconstrained, or fully constrained geometry. Te easiest method to

access is via the right-click menu Show All Degrees of FreedomTe DOF symbols will update as you constrain your geometry.

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Dimension SmartlyCenter lines can be used to create Revolved Sketch Dimensions,which is a great way to dimension revolved parts such as Shafts.

You can create tangent dimensions if you know where to pick(keep moving until you see the icon change).

Save a step and build more intelligence by naming your parameterson the fly.

Use Sketches and Sketch Points to Build Hole PatternsAny point in the sketch can be used as a hole center (not just holecenters) and you can quickly change points to hole centers byselecting the points and adjusting their format.

Tere are many opportunities where using rectangles, polygons,and/or offset can create the basis of hole patterns more easily,smarter, or in cases where the hole pattern is non-rectangular or

non-circular.

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SKETCH BLOCKSSimilar to AutoCAD, blocks allow for the grouping of objects intoa singular rigid shape. But this isnt AutoCAD. Why should I usesketch blocks?

In some situations, especially with a lot of geometry, it iseasier to move and rotate portions or the entire sketch by firstgrouping it as a block and completing the operation on thesingle block entity.

Sketch blocks provide a great mechanism to test functionbefore fit and form, even using the part sketch in an assembly.

Sketch blocks are the basis for the Layout feature to generatean assembly and parts.

Creating a block with Inventor is similar to creating blocks in

AutoCAD: You specify the name, objects, and insertion point.[Te insertion point is the point where the block is inserted whenplaced into your sketch.]

Note: AutoCAD Blocks can be easily translated into InventorSketch Blocks as well.

Te block instances will appear with the sketch, and the blockdefinitions will be listed at the top of the browser.Blocks can be constrained as any other 2D Sketch object usingthe Constraints (Horizontal, Colinear, Coincident, etc.) andDimensions.

Mike Tomas was honored as theMost Distinguished Graduate fromCAD/CAM Engineering echnol-ogy at SIAS, Kelsey Campus. Heis a specialist in the manufacturingindustry with strong knowledge on theAutodesk mechanical products supple-mented with a solid understanding of

document management, hardware,networking, and other Autodesk tech-nologies. He is now the echnical Ser-vices Manager for Prairie Machine &Parts and is responsible for overseeingthe engineering departments technicaloperations and the departments stra-tegic technical growth. Mike recentlystarted contributing to Design & Mo-tion (www.designandmotion.net) andcan be found on twitter (@aurbis).

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http://www.augi.com/http://www.designandmotion.net/http://www.designandmotion.net/http://www.augi.com/

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3ds Max 2014by: Israel Uriel

In this tutorial, I will show you an overview of aworkflow for creating game assets ready to usein the CryEngine SDK.

Te main focus of the tutorial is to discuss every steprequired to model, unwrap, bake, texture, and export a game assetusing 3ds Max tools and CryEngine plug-ins.

Software used: 3ds Max 2014, Photoshop CC, CryEngine 3

Te first step is to get the reference images required before startingto model. Get as much information about the asset you can.Sketches of your own creations are great as well.

For this tutorial I choose a plasticade type barricade asset. Now itstime to organize the process:1. Getting References: blueprints, sketches of the model

2. Modeling Process: high poly and low poly

3. Unwrapping process

4. Baking Process: normal map

5. exture Process: diffuse, AO, and specular

6. Exporting Process: textures, objects, and collisions

7. esting Process: using CryEngine

Game AssetsWorkflow

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MODELING PROCESSWe are going to use two versions of our assetthehigh poly version and the low poly version of the model,which is the one we are going to export.

Te high poly is the detailed version of our model; thepolygon count is higher. Te low poly version is less

detailed and has less polygon density. When we talkabout game assets, we focus on the low poly versionbecause a game engine has to render tons of objects andthere is usually a polygon budget to care about if wewant a scene to render at a high frame rate.

In Figure 1, we have both meshes of the samemodel. Remember to name the meshes to identifythem properly.

ip: Use the Viewport statistics to control the density of your lowpoly meshpress Hotkey 7.

You can see the differences in the polygon count between bothmeshes, the high poly mesh has better quality over the lowpoly, which is okay. Later we will do the normal bake overthe low poly to get the details we lost.

UNWRAP PROCESSIn order to paint over the mesh, we need to unfold theseams of itmake it a decal sheet, a 2D template where

we will start the painting texture process. Unwrapping amesh can be an overwhelming task, but dont worryonceyou practice the process you will be able to do it faster.

Unwrapping the low poly mesh:1. Use a checker texture to identify stretching UVs2. Apply UVW Unwrap Modifier3. Unwrap

ip: Te checker texture will help you by showing where thetexture is stretching and also will help with normalizing the texels.

In Figure 2, you can see how the texture is finished. You can havariations of your UVs layoutjust make sure it is normalized.

BAKING PROCESSOnce we have the unwrap layout and both versions the mesh, it is time to start baking the normal. 3ds Moffers an option to allow us to bake the normal. Normmaps add the details of the high poly mesh that wmissed when we created the low poly mesh.o start the baking process in 3ds Max we need to:1. prepare the meshes, move them, and

them correctly.2. Select your game model, the low poly mesh, a

apply the projection modifier.3. on the projection modifier options, under Referen

Geometry, pick the High Poly Mesh.4. adjust the cage if needed. It is required to wrap tentire model.

ip: Sometimes it is better to reset the cage and increase tamount 0.1.

Figure 1: Low poly and high poly meshes

Figure 2: Unwrapping phase

Figure 3: Baking process 01

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Once you are done adjusting the cage, it is time to proceed tosetting up the Renderoexture feature.

1. Select the low poly mesh and open Renderoexture(shortcut 0), or Rendering - Renderoexture.

2. Select the output directory of the baked maps.3. In Render Settings, enable Global Supersampler to Max 2.5

(see Figure 4).

4. In Projection Mapping, enable and choose projection.5. In Projection Options, pick up the face tangent under Normal

Map Space.6. In Mapping Coordinates, SubObjects, pick up Use Existing

Channel.7. In Output, select ADD and add normalsMap and pick up the

size 1024 x 1024.8. Choose file name and type. I prefer to use GA extensions.9. Render.

Note: You can see the results in the output directory. If the rendershows red color of some of the parts it means that you are requiredto adjust the cage because some rays are missing. Te same happensif you got a wave-like effect on your normal.

When the baking is done you will have to edit the normal mapusing Photoshop. Just clean up any artifacts or holes produced inthe baking process. Use the NVIDIA Normal Map filter plug-inin Photoshop to get more control over your normal map.

ip: NDO plug-in for Photoshop is another great tool forenhancing your normal maps.

TEXTURE PROCESSDiffuse, specular, and normal maps are used most often to createthe game assets. Sometimes other maps such as ambient occlusion,height map, cavity map, and others are used to create more detailsover the model. For the purpose of this workflow, we are going touse only the diffuse, specular, and normal maps.

Use Photoshop to do the textures. Diffuse texture is the colorof the object; the specular texture has the shininess values of

the object (the more white, the more shiny). For example, metalwill be whiter and normal maps that were already done fake thelightening of bumps, creating more details over our objects.

Save your map as .DDS or .GA. GA is heavier, while .dds ismore optimized; .DDS is preferable.

EXPORTING PROCESSFor exporting, we are going to use CryEngine tools for 3ds Max.At the end of this article you will find the links to download andinstall the tools needed in the workflow. Remember to properlyname the objects, materials, and exported files.

extures: Use Crytek shader and put the textures on each mapslot of the material. Use Material sub/Object for the purpose.Material id 1 for the render mesh and material id 2 for the proxy(collisions), assign the materials id on each object corresponding

to its id. Another thing to consider is to open theCryEngine before you export the materials.

Objects: Create a dummy object and move it to position0,0,0 and attach the low poly mesh to it. Place the lowpoly mesh above the grid. You will have to attach thecollisions to the mesh and the mesh to the dummy.

Figure 4: Setting up RenderToTexture

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Collisions: Create primitives to surround the low polymesh and name as $physics_proxy_01 in incremental ifyou use more than one.

ip: Use Crytiff plug-in for Photoshop to save thematerials properly.

Note: It is important that you create a new folder in thegameSDK Directory.

For example:C:\Cryengine\GameSDK\Objects\StreetAssets.

TESTING THE ASSET IN

CRYENGINE EDITORFinally, open the CryEngine Editor, test it in any level, and when

the level is opened press M to browse the materials, search for thematerial you just created, and configure them.

You should see three materials slots: For proxy (tname of the collision material) choose shader, Ndraw. And in the main material (assigned to the lopoly material): Shader: Illum Surface ype: Te one that represents the obje

such as plastic or metal. extures Maps: Assign your textures on each ma

slot of the type of map you have created.

Now, go to Brush, then place your model. You nowould be able to test it.

Te main goal of this tutorial is to show you a workflow f

creating game assets for CryEngine. Some tips and tricks appearand I really hope you take the best from it. Te link below hinformation of how to set up the CryEngine in 3ds Max anPhotoshop. Feel free to email comments and suggestionsId lito hear from you.

http://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Getting+Starte

Israel Uriel is a CG freelance art-ist from Mexico. He studied SystemsEngineering at Te echnological In-stitute of Higher Education of Mon-terrey. After working as a freelancerweb designer, Israel dedicated histime and effort to follow his passionas a 3d artist. He is passionate abouthard surfaces advanced modeling andgame asset creation. Contact him [email protected].

Figure 5: Exporting process

Figure 6: Testing process
http://www.augi.com/http://c/Cryengine/GameSDK/Objects/Streethttp://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Getting+Startedmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://freesdk.crydev.net/display/SDKDOC3/Getting+Startedhttp://c/Cryengine/GameSDK/Objects/Streethttp://www.augi.com/

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Revit MEP 2014by: Todd Shackelford

Using Autodesk Revit for MEP can bedaunting on its own. Leveraging worksharing and file linking to fully utilizethe power of Revit can make the whole

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