Automating Revit Families with FAR

We are developing a unique software tool which automates the creation of Revit families and calling it FAR (Family Automation Revit). I am recommending that manufacturers take this into consideration to ensure they are maintaining the integrity of their products while providing the most accurate product data to architects who are using their products in their building designs.
FAR is being developed with the intention of benefiting both Manufacturers and Architects.

These are the benefits I see for Manufacturers to use FAR:

• The Manufacturer will maintain control of the Revit families with assurance their product specifications are accurate.
• The same file will be able to create an automated Revit family in either inches (US Standard) or metric.
• There will be no need to maintain Revit Families as it can be an automated process.
• No staff will be required on Revit – if individual families need to be created – see CAD Enhancement ‘CAD on demand’ service.
• Using FAR will ease the process of making adjustments for product changes.
• Using FAR will create a simple customization solution for easy, quick and accurate Revit families to Architects for configurable products.
• This tool can be developed for accessibility to customers and prospects via the Manufacturer’s website.

These are the benefits I see for Architects who have access to use FAR:

• Manufacturers using FAR will provide approved Revit families assuring product data accuracy compared to what is found on various websites on the Internet.
• Architects can receive clean Revit files – no importing / exporting overhead in their project files.
• Architects will finally have control to select the level of detail of a Revit family.
• Creating Revit families using FAR will be more efficient and will improve productivity as there is no need to re-create an inaccurate Revit family.
• There should be no need to manage Revit files created by companies using FAR.
• Architects will have accessibility to accurate data which is crucial to designing a better building.
• FAR will allow Architects to use the efficiencies of the BIM (Building Information Modeling) platform as it was intended to be used.
  
  Let me know your thoughts about FAR.

Creating DXF Check-in

Are you a manufacturer that needs to provide data for your vendors or your own shop to use for fabrication purposes?

It is one thing to send the drawing, but being able to send the data that substantiates the drawing using a DXF file is where the end user discovers they can cut their engineering time and the realization is made that sending a DXF file is more usable and cost effective for them.

The DXF can consist of flats for sheet metal fabricators to bring into their software for CNC Operations to punch, laser, water jet, etc. What the Vault and Product Stream (Vault Manufacturing) allows you to do is to have the DXF created during the check-in process. This way you can be assured the DXF always matches up to the latest check-in file within the Vault.

As long as you have a driver that can create PDFs, you can use this same process to automatically create PDF files during check-in.
This process can occur without the users even knowing that it is being done. Another advantage of using this process is that while the automation of creating a DXF or PDF is occurring during check-in you are assured of the files being the most ‘up to date’ and matching the last version of the checked-in file.


Patrick K. Johnson

Press Release: CAD Enhancement Introduces Family Automation Revit® Program

Woodbury, MN – March 25, 2009 – CAD Enhancement, Inc., a Minnesota-based CAD and consulting firm, introduced today its new Family Automation Revit® (FAR) Program. The FAR program is a software development process that automates the creation of Revit families for manufacturers of building and architectural products. Using the FAR program, CAD Enhancement helps manufacturers maintain the integrity of their products while providing the most accurate product data to architects for use in any Autodesk® Revit® software.

"As adoption of the Revit platform continues to grow, we realized that a managed process for migrating CAD data into parametric Revit families would yield benefit both for manufacturers and the thousands of Revit users specifying products," commented Pat Johnson, President of CAD Enhancement, Inc. "Access to accurate and useful content continues to be one of the greatest needs for Revit users."

The FAR program affords manufacturers the ability to provide accurate, regularly updated content to architects without the need for on-staff Revit expertise. Likewise, the architects using products of the FAR program enjoy clean files with no need for importing, converting, or managing manufacturer libraries in-house.

To learn more about using the FAR program to publish your products in a usable Revit form, visit www.cadenhancement.com/FAR/.

About CAD Enhancement, Inc:
CEI "thinks outside the line" to deliver cutting edge CAD solutions using the latest in .NET programming and parametric design solutions. Services include CAD practices optimization, automation, migration, outsourced drafting and data management. CEI is certified both as a member of the Autodesk Developer Network and as a Microsoft Certified Windows Application Developer.

Managing Revit Families

Another problem that manufacturers will experience by having the Revit families for their products available on various websites is the management of their product data. What I mean here is that when manufacturers provide their product data and Revit families to the world on websites, other than their own company websites, they increase the chances of losing control and credibility for their product(s).

Losing control:
As manufacturers allow their product data to be made available on the websites providing libraries of Revit Families and the end users start storing that data on their servers, how can you manage any product upgrades and changes to make sure those changes are captured on the end users project files?

First: I really believe that manufacturers control their data by having the end users come to their own company website and have the family dropped into the project file thus eliminating the need for the end user to store the Revit family. If the end user decides to store it in their servers - they need to know of the possibility that the product can change.

Second: I also believe that one parameter which should be added to a Revit family is a ‘revision/version of the product’ that is being used. This would be a good way to make sure the building product manufacturer knows what is out there as well as for the end users to feel confident that the Revit family they are using is what they desired and has not changed, as it would be confirmed it is the most recent revision/version of the Revit family created.

Third: Another feature that should be added to a manufacturer’s own company website providing their product data in Revit families is the capability to allow the end user to request the amount of detail for a Revit family. Each project and/or end user may have different requirements for the amount of detail needed per family. At this time I have not seen any websites offering this option.

These are just a few comments regarding the management of Revit families. In the near future I will adding more detailed commentary.
Feel free to comment and give us your ideas and concerns with Revit families on the Web.

Thanks.

Patrick Johnson

Nested Dynamic Blocks

Nested Dynamic Blocks

Since dynamic blocks have become available, it has changed how you create, manage and use blocks within your drawings. It also has some limitations that need to be dealt with.

Creating Dynamic Blocks: There is a lot of data out there for creating dynamic blocks and I do not want to become redundant on this issue. Just searching dynamic blocks will point you to quite a bit of information on creating dynamic blocks.

Managing Dynamic Blocks: The creation of dynamic blocks can help with the reduction of files in your block library –which is good. Some of the managing of these blocks now turns to the creation and what is inside these blocks. How complex do you make a block before making another block? Making a dynamic block too complex has its own issues when it comes to managing these blocks, the time to create, the time to make changes, and the amount of time for the user to select and make changes to the parameters.

Limitations of Dynamic Blocks: The one limitation of dynamic blocks is the ability to nest dynamic blocks. Right now if you were to nest dynamic blocks would require the user to explode each level to make changes to the buried dynamic blocks. This really defeats the purpose of dynamic blocks. This is why I created the BlockEdit+ tool to allow the user to make changes to the buried dynamic blocks and keep the integrity of the block itself.

The creation of nested dynamic blocks allows you to create more complex blocks that I believe are easier to manage from a creation point, not to mention the ability to reuse these nested blocks in other blocks – thus you are not recreating geometry.

There are other limitations of dynamic blocks when dealing with nested blocks, that I believe scare users including the idea that users will lose their dynamic properties under certain situations without warning, not to mention the ability to change the nested properties. However, with a little planning and understanding of how you want to use them in your drawing you can take what is out of the box and make it even more powerful and greater potential. Currently our BlockEdit+ tool handles a dynamic block with nested dynamic blocks.

Imagine the ability to have a nested dynamic block within a standard block. The potential is the limitation of your imagination and the ability to manage your drawings.

I look forward to your comments.

"Think Outside the Line"

At CAD Enhancement, we're experts at a lot of things: CAD drafting, implementation, even programming with the latest .NET platform. But most of all, we are experts in making your business run better through whatever means necessary to optimize the way you use CAD and other related technology.

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CAD Enhancement, Inc. customizes all major Autodesk platforms—AutoCAD, Revit, and Inventor—to meet the unique needs of your company. No project is too big or too small.

• Revit Consulting
You could be missing out on market share by not having your products available in the latest Revit® platform. Let CAD Enhancement transform your CAD data into designer-friendly Revit® "Families."
Contact us about automatically creating Revit Families

• Inventor Consulting
Make the most of your investment in the powerful Inventor platform. CAD Enhancement, Inc. helps companies transition from CAD—including legacy 3D platforms like Mechanical Desktop—to true Parametric Modeling. We offer project support, design/drafting support, pilot project management, and extensive customization.

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Whether moving to a new CAD platform or considering a transition from a 2D into a 3D environment, let CEI deliver an objective perspective on ROI analysis. We will work to understand your business, then offer honest advice on technology changes that may, or may not, be prudent for your business.

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