Is There A Simpler Way To Check For Clashes In 3d Design Models?

As part of the overall project delivery process, it is increasingly becoming a requirement to deliver a clash resolved model. Why? Because determining the presence, location and severity of interferences within the digital environment is more simple and cost effective than trying to manage and fix issues as they arise during construction.

With an increased number of design models being created in 3D modelling applications, there are greater opportunities for managing this process in a more controlled environment. Whether you’re a specialist contractor, a lead architect, or a consultant offering a clash detection service, Navisworks Manage and Clash Detective provides you with the tools to check for clashes in your own model, or in a federated model of project files from multiple delivery teams.

Navisworks Manage and Clash Detective produce clash points and automatically generated reports, resulting in more productive review meetings with outcomes more readily reached and definitive calls to action.

Of course, finding clashes and producing reports is only one part of the story. There has to be processes, procedures and outcomeseginternal decisions or defined as contractual requirements.

Whether you are thinking about investing in Navisworks Manage to check your own project models for clashes, your clash detection is carried out by a third-party consultant, or whether you have already invested in Navisworks, there are many things you should be considering:

• What training courses are available?
• Is ongoing support available during initial adoption?
• Are we using Navisworks to its full potential?
• How do we formulate an effective clash detection strategy?
• How can we minimise the number of clashes reported?
• How can we effectively distribute the relevant information?
• Can someone else run this for us as a service?
• Are we receiving clash reports to the standard and level we expected?

I am sure you will have many other questions, but whatever your interest, Excitech have a team of experienced Application Specialists and Consultants to offer guidance, training and support.

Whilst the primary interest in Navisworks Manage is Clash Detective, Navisworks Manage also has a wide range of other tools to assist with tasks ranging from marking up views to visualisation, animation and quantification. 

If you are interested in finding out more about Clash Detection using Navisworks Manage or any of the topics raised here, then contact your Excitech Account Manager or visit our website to see training courses involving the use of Navisworks Manage and Clash Detective at:

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Autodesk-Navisworks-for-Construction-Management

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Autodesk-Navisworks-for-Lead-Designer

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses/Autodesk-Navisworks-Essentials

What’s New in Revit 2020 - Platform and Architecture Features

The new release of Revit includes a host of new features. In this blog I have outlined the features that relate to the overall Revit platform, specifically the Architectural discipline.

The functions have been grouped into Create, Optimize and Connect. Create relates to creating the model, Optimize for optimising workflows and the building analysis tools, and Connect relates to connecting both teams and products in the workflow.

Create

The only real feature that has been added to this group is the ability to model elliptical walls. Whilst this is something that has been incorporated from the user wish list, I don’t think it will be a widely used function. Building elliptical objects in the real world is difficult due to setting out problems and using a series of arcs to replicate an ellipse would be preferred.

The ability to schedule and tag the elevation of objects has also been included. This will allow users to automatically pick up on the height of objects placed in the model rather than having to use workarounds to get this height data into schedules and tagged on drawings. Although this will mostly be used by building services engineers, the ability to take this information from Casework and Furniture families will also prove useful to Architects and Interior Designers.

Finally, there has been some improvements to the Materials workflow. The Material Browser has the option for larger thumbnails to better inform the user of material appearance and new filter icons to for material classes to be more consistent with the general interface.

Optimisation

Several features have been added to the Optimisation group. A new ‘Path of Travel’ routing analysis feature will assist in plotting emergency exit routes through buildings.

Enhancements to the filters allowing ‘or’ rules to look at all parameters rather than just common ones and to check whether a parameter has a value or not will allow for much more complex and comprehensive filters for views.

The ability to include Scope Boxes in View Schedules and Copy/Paste Legend Views between multiple sheets will also add to the usability of Revit 2020.

Connect

The headline feature for the Connect group is the ability to import PDF files. This has been a long-requested feature and one that is very welcome. They are imported and managed as an image, although the option to enable snaps will allow us to use the vector data to measure and re-model from the PDF. This will help greatly with the refurbishment of existing buildings where drawings are only available in PDF format.

The SketchUp import has also been updated to support the latest SketchUp version.

The Revit 2020 release continues with the Revit evolution. No doubt there are still many features that we would like to see added or refined, but this is a positive step along the Revit development path.

Flow and Return Piping Systems in Revit MEP

I have been using and provide Revit MEP training for over 10years, and for most of that time when asked if it can create a flow and return piping system my answer has been no.

Contemplate a closed loop system made up of a boiler, a pump and several radiators. Revit will see this as 2 separate systems that would require a flow rate to be added to both the flow and return side of each radiator. As such we have two separate systems, and two sets of Mechanical Flow information where in reality this is a single flow and return system.

If the flow rates were to be removed or altered on either the flow side or the return side of 1 or more of the radiators, there would be either no data or inconsistent data when interrogating the system pipework. Referring to the first image below the flow rate has been removed from the return side of all radiators resulting in no values for that half of the system, but if we look at the flow side in the second image there is Mechanical Flow data.

Closed Loop Systems

The issue of treating this arrangement as a single flow and return systems in Revit MEP can be addressed using the Hydronics Networks feature, which was introduced in the 2018 release of Revit MEP. In the below image we see the option in Mechanical Settings to utilise the feature.

There are 2simple steps you need to take:

1. Set the system’s pump Classification to Pump in the family editor and load it back into your project.

2. From Mechanical Settings enable the option shown below.

What does our flow and return system look like now?

If we interrogate the same section of pipe as before we see that even though there is no flow rate value added to the return side of the radiator there is Mechanical Flow data in the properties.

If we look at the pump properties, we will see additional values for Calculated Flow and Calculated Pressure Drop for the complete flow and return system. Properties that were previously unavailable, without creating a pipe pressure loss report and adding the values together. 

Using this feature allows you to interrogate values in your flow and return system without the need for creating reports and adding values together repeatedly. It also means that you will not have to apply separate values to both the flow and return sides of your radiators (or whatever is in your closed loop system).

To learn more about Revit or Revit MEP, join us in one of our Revit training courses. During these courses you will have direct access to our trainers who will advise you of the best way to use the software, in the most efficient ways. View our website for a full list of available Revit training courses here.

Alternatively contact us directly and we willbe happy to discuss your specific needs with a bespoke Revit training course.

Office Relocation – “Should I Stay, or Should I Go?”

To get the eighties pop lyric references out of the way, and apologies in advance for the forwardness but “Darlin’ you got to let me know. Should I stay, or should I go?”

There were many theories about the exact meaning of The Clash’s infamous lyrics but it’s fair to say they spoke of a dysfunctional relationship and whether to end it, or not. In this, at last you might say, we come to the title of this blog and office relocation. Because, the relationship between businesses and their space portfolio can, at times, become somewhat dysfunctional.

Like any dysfunctional relationship the costs of the misalignment between the business requirement and the space provision can be both obvious and unseen. The result is often a breakup, “Go on now, go, walk out the door!” One too many pop references? Ok I’ll stop.

So, when the space an organisation owns does not match its needs then the two often part company. The process of moving is costly, time consuming and not one to be taken lightly. Planning and executing a large office move is something that our space and moves management software Excitech FM can assist with, but let’s hold that thought for now and rewind a bit.

Wouldn’t it be better if an organisation could avoid having to relocate all together? Or if a move was deemed to be essential then would it not make sense if the reasons for the move were better understood? To avoid entering into yet another portfolio relationship which was just as dysfunctional as the one you were trying to escape?

The precursor to any significant restructuring of a real estate portfolio should always be a full and detailed review of the organisation’s current space and how it is utilised. Only by undertaking this can they then know if there is a real need to change, what alternative resolutions there are, and if a move is essential then what requirement must the new property fulfil. An effective space management software can help you understand your organisations current space situation that little better and can even offer move scenario’s.

Excitech FM can be deployed on a long or short-term basis to help organisations evaluate their space and its utilisation. Helping them understand their requirements through accurate space reporting integrated with a number of utilisation monitoring approaches ranging from manual tablet-based surveys to automated sensor technology.

If the outcome is either internal movement of staff, a full office relocation or a combination of the two, then Excitech FM offers the tools to plan and manage these.

All too often organisations will make significant decisions around their property portfolio without access to accurate information about their current space and requirements because they may not have the right space management software in place. Often relocating or taking on real estate that is not really required simply because the symptoms of their current dysfunctional real estate relationship hide the best course of action.

Click here to find out more about Excitech FM, our space and moves management software.

Or contact us to discuss your space and moves challenges on:

01992 807 444 or marketing@excitech.co.uk

Even Older Super-spieslike 007 Can Learn New Technology

I laugh when I hear those earlier in their careers state that those more advanced in their careers find it difficult to move to new technologies and workflows,and that many don’t even want to, or are thought of as being displeased of adjusting the way they have always worked. This is unfortunately a common perception, and I am sure I made the same assumptions earlier in my career when I was moving from drawing boards to the new world of CAD.

But aren’t we referring to the same individuals who are now tied to their smartphones, use satellite navigation to get from place to place, buy products online and in many cases purchase the very latest technology available? At the age of 50, Daniel Craig is about to play James Bond 007 once again, which portrays a spy using the latest technology and the most advanced cars. Are cinema goers going to say that he is too old to learn any new technology provided by Q? Okay, I'm being slightly flippant,but my point is,we may assume that those further in their careers cannot, or will not, learn new technologies and workflows. This is simply wrong.

It’s well established in academic research that older workers are less likely to participate in training (Rosen and Jerdee 1976; Chiu, Chan, Snape and Redman 2001; Maurer 2001; Posthuma and Campion 2009). Ageism is considered very discriminatory but is still evident and can potentially have a negative impact on organisations. When management adopt a stereotypical view that older workers don’t need training or development opportunities, companies are less likely to invest in them. This will result in older workers become less confident in their training abilities, their skills rapidly become out-dated, and their productivity is adversely affected (Maurer 2001; Van Vianen, Dalhoeven and De Pater 2011).This doesn’t help anyone.I personally believe that another factor should also be considered; older workers benefit from years of experience based on equal measures of success andthe resolution of difficult challenges.In my experience, they will typically question things based on past experiences compared to those earlier in their career.

Research suggests that the age when companies consider investing in employee’s as less desirable is not 60 or 50, but actually just after your 40th birthday!There are different research results but typically it falls between 40 and 45 years of age. If you are at, or approaching 40,and reading this, do you feel that you’ve had less training and development opportunities? Or do you feel resistant to change, obstructive or unable to learn new technologies?

To further support this, the following study states that companies begin to invest less, including in terms of training and development opportunities,when workers reach the age of 45 years. The beginning of the final stage of the worker’s career (Schein 1978; Maurer 2001; Van Vianen, De Pater and Preenen 2009).People in the UK potentially work until the age of 67, which means there is 22 years of someone’s career that could be undeveloped and left behind. Let’s compare that to a University graduate entering the workforce at say 22 years of age who would potentially work for at least 47 years.They would still have 47% of their career ahead of them. How can that be the final stage?

I started this blog saying I laugh when I hear ageist views that those more advanced in their careers cannot learn new technologies. The 007 films, with DanielCraig, are based on a changing world where James Bond is considered out-dated and a dinosaur in a modern,constantly changing world, but of course he always succeeds and wins. In the real world of construction, we see constant reports of skills shortages, a need to keep expertise in the industry and of course individuals working for longer and having extended careers. At the same time, the Construction sector is embarking on rapid change, a digital transformation and change management process that is both disruptive and collaborative at the same time.Can we afford as an industry to allow one of our greatest resources to fall behind due to a lack of investment in training and support?

First of all,employees, you have many work years ahead and just think how much has changed in the last 10 or 20 years of your career.You need to maintain your knowledge of the latest technologies and workflows.With the increased importance of BIM, this hasn’t slowed up. Over the last few years we have watched the industry looking for understand of what BIM is beyond 3D modelling,and how it can help them. The best way to learn many of the aspects is to attend BIM training sessions.

Even if you’ve been using CAD or BIM systems for many years, you are probably working inefficiently not realising that the software has moved on and there are quicker ways to achieve your goals and deliver outputs.Quite often in our BIM training courses, delegates’feedback indicates this, which is provides real value and increased efficiency from attending a BIM training course.

Employers shouldn’t assume that mature employees aren’t capable of moving to new technologies.Encourage them to develop and pass on their vast amount of knowledge and experience to those newer in their careers.

One of my many mottos is “if something adds no value to you personally, for your organisation, for your projects or your customer, just don’t do it”.When it comes to investing in BIM training and support for those staff later in their careers I can only see a Win-Win for everyone. It allows employees to build upon or update existing skills and feel motivated,the organisation will benefit from increased productivity, the projects will benefit from staff who are able to apply years of industry experience and manage new technology assisted workflows, the Client will benefit from projects delivered at the highest standard

After everything I have discussed within this blog, consider me, the author. I’m a Principal Consultant at Excitech working towards joining the grey brigade and have worked for over 35 years in the construction sector. I have a passion for technology which has never faded; at home I convers with Amazon Alexa which controls my lighting with my voice, I use a robot vacuum cleaner, I'm a PS4 gamer, and I'm researching a PhD in Data Quality in Facility Management. My career has transcended Drawing Boards, CAD, 3D Modelling and BIM, and I will continue to look forward but knowing we can always learn from the past.

Excitech provides a wide range of BIM training courses from BIM Workshops, BIM Documentation writing retreats, COBie delivery course to specific technologies such as Revit, Navisworks, Civil 3D, and so on.

To give delegates an overall view of BIM, we offer a “BIM Workshops and Fundamentals, Processes and Procedures” training courses that are designed to provide a general understanding of the principles of BIM Level 2. During the training courses, delegates are guided through all BIM Level 2 standards, specifications and guidance in order to develop an understanding of what information should be managed, delivered and used throughout each project stage from design, into construction and finally during operation.

Select one of our BIM training courses or talk to us about your training needs: https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses?LocationIds=&SupplierIds=&IndustryIds=&ProductIds=&TrainingTypeIds=&OrderByScheduleValue=&OrderByValue=&PageNo=1&StartPrice=&EndPrice=&PageType=&SearchText=BIM&StartDate=&EndDate=

Is Your Business As Mobile As It Could Be?

No matter how well organised the file structure within your business is, one of the main issues with the organisation of data today is that most of it is inaccessible via your mobile devices.

With today’s rapid increase of mobile working, we should be able to view, mark-up, edit and approve documents on the go directly from the devices we use every day; our mobile phones.

Despite the fact that many people nowadays do not even own a desktop PC, mobility is something that many businesses are slow to adapt to.  

This thinking applies to all businesses today, but even more so within the construction sector. On average, around forty photos are taken on-site of a construction project. Whether these are images of snags, defects or simply views of the structure so far, most of these will be taken on a mobile device.

What happens to these images once you are back in the office however? In most cases, you’d have to plug your mobile device into your laptop and drop the images into a folder on a file server somewhere which is quite a long and manual process. Can you be sure that you or your colleagues could find them months later?

Imagine you could upload those photos directly to your engineering document management software from your mobile device, associate them with a project, and locate them based on the most minimal information you know about them from your mobile device whilst out on-site. Not only would this save huge amounts of time, it would also prevent difficulty when you or your colleagues are locating the images at a later date. 

This can all be achieved with engineering document management software like Excitech DOCS. Know who took the photos ow which month they were taken in? You could create a filter to view all photos taken within a particular month or by a certain person. 

In addition to searching for documents based on minimal information, our engineering document management software will also provide users with information about where the photos were taken using geolocation properties which are already embedded into photos taken with smartphones. For example this could prove useful if you have captured defects on-site where the location is unidentifieable from the photo alone. With Excitech DOCS you can view exactly where this photo was taken on a map.

You'll also be able to view all project emails filtered by company, contact or by project via all mobile platforms as they are helpfully converted from email form to PDF form for easy reading.

Excitech DOCS is a forward thinking and easy solution which allows you to view drawings, photos and emails all from a single source of truth. To learn more about our engineering document management software solution, please call us on 01992 807 444 or click on the button below.

Create a Formation Surface for a Platform in Civil 3D

Civil 3D has some powerful tools for earthworks, through the use of surfaces and grading objects. In the next few lines, we will use an example to illustrate a workflow for a common scenario.

In this example, we have a survey for the existing ground (EG) and we want to designa platform. We need to discard the upper layer of topsoil from the existing ground and there is also a minimum depth from the finished platform to underside that we must meet.Our goal is to combine this information to obtain a surface with the levels of the proposed formation, which will be the starting point for the fill to take place.

To obtain that surface, we need to select the minimum level from the Base of Platform and the EG less Topsoil surfaces. If we could take only the cut and isolate it from the fill between those two surfaces, we could get the proposed formation by combining the EG less Topsoil surface with the cut obtained as previously described.

There can be several approaches to tackle this problem, I summarise some of them:

1. Create a volume surface between Base of Platform and EG less Topsoil and Exclude elevations greater than 0 in Surface properties, therefore ending up with a surface with cut only. The problem with this approach is that this option cannot be used in the volume surface directly. You will need to extract the triangles from the volume surface (Surface contextual ribbon -> Extract from Surface -> Extract Objects) and then create a new surface from those triangles.

2. Draw polylines for the intersection of both surfaces (Base of Platform and EG less Topsoil) using theMinimum Distance Between Surfaces command (from the Civil 3D Ribbon, Analyse tab, Ground Data Panel (expanded)) and use the polylines that enclose fill areas as Hide boundaries.

3. Compute the intersection between both surfaces as above and create grading groups to complete the surface.

I am going to follow the third method, which allows accurate control of the slopes using grading objects. The step by step process is as follows:

Create a surface for the existing ground (EG) from the survey data.

Create an EG less Topsoil surface by pasting the EG surface into it and offsetting it vertically by the topsoil depth.

• Create a grading group for the platform, selecting EG less Topsoil as the target surface. You will also need to attach a surface to the grading group.

• Create a Base of Platform surface by offsetting the surface attached to the grading object by the minimum depth below platform.
• Compute the intersection between the Base of Platform and the EG less Topsoil surfaces using the Minimum Distance Between Surfaces command.

• Convert the polyline from the previous step into a feature line and complete the area in cut with another grading group (and an attached surface), targeting the EG surface this time. You will also need to place it in a different site, to avoid interaction with the top of the platform.

• The final step to get the finished proposed formation surface is to merge all of the surfaces together by pasting them into a new surface and applying boundaries accordingly. An additional grading object can be added to tie in the EG less Topsoil and the EG surfaces.

The final Proposed Formation surface looks like below in Civil 3D object viewer in our example.

How to Create a Christmas Reindeer With Autodesk Dynamo

I was in our office last week when our marketing team asked me to help them create an Excitech Christmas image to send to our customers using Revit.

After quite a bit of thought, I knew that Autodesk Dynamo would need to be involved to create something a bit more interesting than a gift-wrapped box with a red bow on top!

I hadrecently been looking at the Mesh Toolkit for Dynamo and after a bit of searching, I found a low poly model of a reindeer and tested this with the Mesh Toolkit. Here is how the reindeer appeared when imported into Autodesk Dynamo:  

The next stage was to add a little context and scale to the reindeer. The group below rotates and scales the mesh, and then turns the mesh edges into lines. This then leaves the 3D wireframe representation of the mesh model. 

The wireframe model is then passed into the group shown below to create a structural framing and to ensure the frames are set to centre. I created a custom CHS section with three materials that can have illumination set within the material. 

The second part of the script requires the randomisationof the materials that are applied to each structural section. The first two nodes collect all the structural framing members from the project and then the items are counted. Meanwhile, two materials are called by name and then cycled to generate the correct quantity. The list is then shuffled to randomise the order, and each structural member is then assigned the random material.

Finally, I created a topographic surface for the snow and added some RPC trees from the Revit library. Extra points were added to the surface to represent the appearance ofreindeer's footprints. 

The scenes were then rendered in the cloud using the Autodesk A360 rendering.

And there you have it, Excitech’s Christmas Reindeer created in Autodesk Dynamo. See it in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y97GyTmn54o

For more information about Autodesk Dynamo, visit our product page here or get in touch with us by calling 01992 807 444 or emailing marketing@excitech.co.uk

Convert AutoCAD Drawings To A Shapefile Format

AutoCAD is a great tool to edit and manipulate drawings, but sometimes we need to convert the information contained in AutoCAD drawings to a different format to study it from a different perspective. Being able to interoperate between different applications to take full advantage of their differing capabilities is essential and is part of what I cover in my CAD training courses.

An example of this is the shapefile format, which is used in Geographic Information System (GIS) software. GIS applications are used to edit and analyse spatial information and have many applications in fields like engineering, transport or telecommunications.

The MAPEXPORT commandserves that purpose, however is unfortunately not available in AutoCAD. In order to use it, you will need AutoCAD Map 3D or Civil 3D installed. This command is easy to follow but you need to be aware of the differentoptions  to include all the information needed in the shape files.

I will now take you step by step through a CAD training exercise where we export all the features from an AutoCAD drawing to a shapefile format.

First, type MAPEXPORT in the command line from AutoCAD Map 3D or Civil 3D. In the window that pops up, browse to the path in your computer where you want to store the shape files. Select ‘Shape Multiclass’ in the type drop-down and type a name for the folder that will contain the files. A new folder will be created with this name and the files generated will be stored in it. In this example we are going to call this folder ShapeFiles, as shown below:

You can also select an existing folder, but it is not recommendable because it may conflict with existing ones. You will receive a warning message if you try this, and will then give you the option to append the new files, overwrite existing ones that may exist with the same name or cancel this dialog to be able to change to a different folder.

In the next window, go to the Selection tab and click on the ‘Select all’ option to select all the objects contained in the drawing.

There are2 alternatives for manual selection. If you click on the first icon you can click on the objects in the drawing that you want to include. Clicking on the second icon will open the ‘Quick select’ window, where you can filter the different objects by their type and properties.

You can then add additional filters to your selection by selecting the layers or object classes that you want to include. Notice that an asterisk is included in the Layers field by default, which means that all the layers will be included in the filter.

On the Feature Class tab, select ‘Create multiple classesbased on a drawing object’.

If you want to include some particular attributes in the Shape files, this can be done by clicking on the ‘Select Attributes’ button and ticking the ones you are interested in.

Finally, go to the Options tab and tick ‘Treat closed polylines as polygons’. Other options available in this tab givesthe ability to convert coordinates to a different coordinate system, or to choose between 3D or 3D shape files, by clicking on the ‘Driver Options’ button.

If you click OK, a group of files will be created for each feature, as shown below:

You can now open these files directly in your GIS application or add them directly to the central directory of a ZIP archive. The latter makes it easier tosend the information to a third party if needed.

CAD training is an excellent way to brush up on your skills and provides more accurate and efficient ways of doing things on the software.

If you are looking for CAD training, take a look at our full range here.

https://www.excitech.co.uk/Services/Training/Training-Courses?LocationIds=&SupplierIds=&IndustryIds=&ProductIds=&TrainingTypeIds=&OrderByScheduleValue=&OrderByValue=&PageNo=1&StartPrice=&EndPrice=&PageType=&SearchText=CAD&StartDate=&EndDate=

Autodesk Autocad And Autocad Lt Cross Platform Licensing

With the AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2019 for Mac release coming much later in the year than the windows version, a common question I get asked is “why are there separate Windows and Mac version releases?”. This is with the understanding that AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT benefit from cross-platform licensing.

Cross platform licensing essentially lets you activate your CAD software on either Windows or Mac operating systems. This applies to versions 2013 or later and also supports subscriptions with multi-user access. Licences used on both Windows and Mac operating systems can pull from the same licences on the network licence server.

AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2019 for Windows was released back in March 2018, a full 9 months before the Mac version this month. This is generally due to additional development required to ensure AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT is up to standard, but there is also alignment of the new Mac version with new Mac operating system releases and patches.

This alone does not justify a separate release schedule, so the next point is related to honesty and ensuring customers know what they are actually buying. Let’s say you purchase your AutoCAD subscription immediately after the 2019 Windows release, its’s all branded 2019 and you are thrilled to use all the new tools available. You would be disappointed and feel mislead if upon reviewing your download options, 2018 was still the newest version available. Personal disappointment aside, CAD software features can significantly increase efficiency and productivity – they can also be essential for a specific project, so this may have large ramifications.

The final reason is related to the packaging changes made by Autodesk over the past year or so. It is worth noting that cross platform licensing only applies to the individual products, AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD – where these products are present in Suites or Collections, cross-platform licensing does not apply. So, AutoCAD LT as contained in the AutoCAD Revit LT Suite is only available for Windows. The most recent example of this is AutoCAD Including specialised toolsets. This version of AutoCAD contains all the specific industry toolsets (Architecture, MEP, Mechanical and more). As those specific toolsets are not available on Mac, it would be extremely misleading to sell this as a Mac compatible version.

As two completely differing operating systems, there is bound to be some differences, maybe not in what the software does, but likely in the way it does it.

Looking Back At Excitech’s Autodesk Training

I was thinking recently just how much has changed at Excitech since we first started delivering Autodesk Training Courses back in the 1980’s.

In those days, there were no laptops, no projection systems or big LCD screens. The trainer and a group of clients gathered around one of the client’s workstations – usually in the middle of a working office, which was far from ideal.

I recall turning up to my first training session, armed with a copy of the AutoCAD manual (the big one), a pad and a single A4 sheet of paper listing the topics I intended to cover during that session.I would simply turn up at a client site and share my knowledge.

Back then, things were a little easier for the Autodesk Training Centre; we pretty much just had AutoCAD and the Architectural add-on AEC to provide training on.

But even then, Autodesk were not standing still and soon started introducing more products to market which meant more products we needed to learn and provide training on. As well as AutoCAD, AutoCAD 3D and AutoLISP, there was AutoCAD AEC, AutoCAD AME (AutoCAD for engineers) and AutoShade (an early 3D rendering package) to get to grips with.

The course notes or training materials were created in-house by each training provider, so standards varied, but as the Autodesk Authorised Training Centre (ATC) network began to take shape, so did the standardisation of course material. I recall attending “training material focus groups” where syllabuses and the standardisation of training materials were discussed. As a result, Autodesk eventually started authoring their own unified range of courseware, for use in the ATC’s, and quality control began.

However, there was always the challenge of keeping these materials updated with each new release and getting them to market in time for the new product release.

Eventually, third party publishers such as Ascent and White Frog started producing Autodesk Training Materials. At the same time, various books started appearing on Amazon such as the excellent Civil 3D titles by Eric Chappell, which also provided excellent course materials. Indeed, training manual publication for the Autodesk Titles (Autodesk Official Courseware) has become an industry in its own right. This has been of massive benefit to ATC’s such as Excitech, as we simply could never create the variety and quantity of training course materials to support our 60 plus Autodesk Training Courses we offer.

Autodesk soon introduced an authorisation scheme for individual trainers, which then progressed to the Autodesk Certified Instructor (ACI) scheme. Today Autodesk police the standard of training closely, so that ATC’s as well as individual trainers can be de-authorised if quality targets, which are driven from the customer feedback, are not met.

Autodesk has driven the standards and professionalism of the ATC network, and this is seen as the reason for selecting an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre over a non-accredited training organisation.