FAR Demo Summary

Throughout the past 5 weeks CAD Enhancement Inc. has been presenting demos of the FAR (Family Automation Revit) Process which is a tool that automates the creation of Revit families. One of our intentions with the initial FAR demos was to obtain feedback from manufacturers and architects to improve this application to best meet your needs.

The concept of the FAR Process was well received resulting in outstanding feedback that is definitely having a positive influence in the outcome of the FAR Manager and the FAR Creator.

We wanted to share the following feedback and updates with you as a way to keep you informed of the progress we are making with FAR.

Feedback / Suggestions to create:

• Searching capabilities for existing Families (to be included in the 2nd Release of the FAR Manager)
• Shared Parameters (to be included in the 3rd Release of the FAR Manager)
• Ability to add Parameters (to be included in the 1st Release of the FAR Manager)
• Alphabetize Groupings and Parameters (to be included in the 1st Release of the FAR Manager)
• Ability to save Families or save Types (to be included in the 1st Release of the FAR Manager)
• Ability to add Types (to be included in the 1st Release of the FAR Manager)
• BIM Manager Tool Set (to be included in the 2nd Release of the FAR Manager).

Will Include ability to set the file directories
· Will include the ability to set-up the search tool
· Will include the ability to batch process the adding of Parameters

• Turn-key ability for manufacturers to create Revit families to market their Revit families where they see fit (available with the development of the FAR Creator and set-up of the FAR Manager)
• Available standard naming conventions (will be an ongoing process as we add content and receive additional feedback)
• Ability to state comments on a family from within the FAR Manager instead of only going to RevitCatalog website (to be included in the 1st Release of the FAR Manager)

Updates:

• The FAR Process has a Patent Pending status
• 1st Release of the FAR Manager is scheduled for the week of August 17th – 21st
• 2nd Release of the FAR Manager is scheduled for mid-September
• 3rd Release of the FAR Manager TBD (Fall 2009)

Thanks to all that have participated

Patrick K Johnson

Bridging the communication Gap between Architects and Manufacturers

In my development of the FAR process which includes a tool that allows the ability to create a Revit family automatically I have been taking a long look at the manufacturing modeling technique and comparing it to the architect modeling technique. It has become apparent to me there is a great need for the manufacturer to understand the method being used in Revit when considering a more seamless process to automating the creation of Revit families.

Obviously, the manufacturers first and foremost interest is to create and sell their product(s). Architects have stated “When a manufacturer provides their product data in a quality BIM format they can trust, and is user friendly as well as easily accessible, that product will be spec’ed more and in turn the manufacturer will sell more. “

This is a simple concept; however, the communication between the two industries and the passing of data between the manufacturers and architects is breaking down at a time in our economy when efficiencies should be at the utmost of importance. We need to work together to bridge this communication gap so everyone can benefit.

Sometimes having an understanding of the other industry is all that is required. For instance, reading the data compared to creating more rules would be more efficient. To emphasize this point I will share a personal example of how I changed my ideas about work planes when looking at them from another perspective. I was never a big fan of using work planes all over the model as I always preferred using faces to work from instead of creating work planes. However, I have discovered with proper modeling standards in place and a true understanding of the product, using work planes creates a cleaner and more workable model. It has become apparent to me when considering from the architect’s perspective, that the use of work planes in the correct position with correct labeling is extremely helpful in the extraction of data without the need for too many rules.

Share your comments.

Patrick K. Johnson

Interesting

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

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

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

Patrick Johnson

FAR Data - what is it

At this time we have a Patent Pending on the FAR (Family Automation Revit) Process including the FAR Data Set so I really cannot go into too much detail but will give you an overview of the intention for this data set.

To begin with, the FAR Data Set is at the core of our whole FAR Process.From the manufacturer’s perspective the FAR Data Set can be created whether the manufacturer is using Inventor, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Pro E, etc..... A manufacturer using software other than an Autodesk product really doesn’t have to purchase an Inventor or Revit seat to get their data out to the architect industry. Actually, a manufacturer using Inventor should not even have to purchase Revit.

My belief is that manufacturers are in business to produce quality products and should not have to worry about purchasing software and training personnel in Revit. On the flip side, manufacturers do need to worry about getting their product data out to architects, designers and engineers in the BIM world and we believe we have an effective solution to accomplish this with the FAR Process.

The following example shows the true power of what we are trying to accomplish using the FAR Data Set with manufacturers while providing quality data using the FAR Process. During one of our recent FAR demos we had a manufacturer ask if they were to set up a database of their product data, could they have ‘real time’ updates of their BIM data when an architect requests their product. Our response was obviously ‘Yes’ since automating the process to create the highest quality Revit families is one of the main intentions of the FAR process.

Architects or others using Revit families for BIM projects need to own the Revit software and will be using the FAR Manager within the FAR Process to automate the creation of Revit families from the FAR Data Set. Another advantage when using the FAR Process is the option to choose (before creating the family) the amount of detail from the FAR Data Set to be included in the family. Future enhancements we intend to develop after getting the Revit version of the FAR Process up to speed will be to use the FAR Data Set for Google SketchUp, AutoCAD, MicroStation, etc....

Contact us if you are interested in scheduling a demo of the FAR Process or if you have questions / comments to share.

Patrick Johnson

FAR Manager - what is it

With the FAR process we needed a method for architects to be able to download and use the FAR files as well as the Revit families stored on the RevitCatalog website which is the designated website created for the FAR process. To be able to accomplish this we decided to create a content manager interface as one of the features within the FAR Manager allowing the user to manage their families within their own file system.

The content manager feature has also added more value for the architects. Not only will the user be able to see the typical tree of their families but within that tree they will be able to pick the type that they want to be able to load and make adjustments to the parameters of that family within the type, instance and element properties - thus eliminating the need to do all of the required steps within Revit itself and loading unnecessary data.

We also gave the same look and feel to the property tabs as you find in Revit. The only difference is that we alphabetized the structure, both in parameter groupings and parameter names, making it a bit easier to find and locate the parameter in question. The option for the parameters to be shown with or without the grouping is another enhancement we’ve added.

Some additional functionalities you will be able to use within the FAR Manager include:

- Copy types (Add)

- Remove Types

- Add parameters

- Search for families both locally and from the web site

- Adjust parameters prior to loading and placing in project

- We are working on the viewing capability to display the 3D image of the selected family or type

We are currently providing webcast demonstrations of the FAR Manager. A typical FAR demo will take about an hour of your time. If you are interested in scheduling a demo or learning more about the FAR process please contact us.

View the video on the Far Manager showing importing Revit Family type into a project.

Patrick K Johnson