What You Need To Know About SketchUp Layout

SketchUp is one of the most popular 3D modelling software solutions in the world.

Here are a few key facts:

• 33,500,000 Annual Activations
• Over 1,000,000,000 completed Projects using SketchUp
• 109,000 followers on Twitter
• 759,000 followers on Google +
• 370,000 likes on Facebook

An intuitive and quick to learn 3D conceptual design modelling platform, SketchUp enables more participation and collaboration across workflows.

However what is less known is the Layout tool in SketchUp and I’ve been asked many times recently “What is Layout, what does it do”?

LayOut is a tool for creating documentation from your SketchUp model and is part of the SketchUp Pro Suite.

Layout combines SketchUp models with text and 2D vector illustration to help you produce beautiful presentations, permit submittals, construction documents, and other dimensioned drawings. It allows you to produce professional drawing sets, provides powerful dimensioning, drawing and page layout tools to create working drawings and presentations from SketchUp models.

How it works

You start in SketchUp, draw your project and create scenes to show the different views. You can send the file to LayOut, add dimensions, labels, other text, photos and then export a PDF file to send to a client or use it to do a presentation on screen.

The dynamic link between the SketchUp model and the LayOut document means that any edits you make in your SketchUp model, will be reflected in the LayOut document. Drawings can also be exported as DWG/DXF files for use in any CAD program and you can combine dimensions, text, and graphics, add logos and title blocks to LayOut templates for brand consistency.

LayOut also has the ability to assign different drawing scales to SketchUp model views and dimension them without leaving LayOut and without using a separate CAD tool.

Drawings are dynamically linked to 3D models and SketchUp models are dynamically linked to your LayOut file so any changes you make in SketchUp are automatically reflected in your documents.

Lastly, you can link to files in the cloud via Dropbox, Google Drive or Trimble Connect.

  

A single LayOut document can be used for both printing and on-screen presentations as well as to create high-resolution large format prints which you can export as PDF files for onward distribution, or to present directly from the application... in 3D.

Explore LayOutby watching the videos below:
 

To learn more about SketchUp, please contact Excitech – https://www.excitech.co.uk/Products/SketchUp-Pro

Increase Virtual Memory to Boost Revit Performance

A critical factor in the speed and performance of your computer is the amount of Random Access Memory (RAM) that is installed.

Adding more RAM should improve the performance of Revit and your computer; however, even a computer with a fast CPU can run slowly without the proper amount of RAM.

If you have been working away and have received the following message below stating that your system is running low on virtual memory, then you are not alone, and there are several different solutions you can use to resolve this issue. Of course, upgrading your current RAM would be the obvious solution, but there is another temporary measure you can take that can prevent this message from appearing and even enhance the performance of your system.

This is a great procedure to follow when attempting to temporarily boost the performance of systems where Autodesk applications such as Revit is having difficulty importing or exporting geometry or handling larger assemblies. What this means is that it gives the operating system the extra room it needs to manoeuvre should it run out of physical memory. The Virtual Memory is not used until the Physical RAM in the system has been exhausted and the system requires somewhere to hold additional information. The following trick is carried out on Windows 7. This process can also be replicated for those using Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10.

First, determine how much memory (RAM) you have installed on your system. To find this out, right-click Computer, then click Properties. The amount of RAM installed and available is displayed in red as highlighted below:

Click the Start button, right-click Computer, and then click Properties..

In the left pane, click Advanced system settings.

On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings…

Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Virtual memory, click Change…

Finally, ensure that you clear the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box. Then under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change and select Custom size, type a new size in megabytes in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and select Set, and then click OK. As shown below:

IMPORTANT NOTE:

As a final note, just increasing the virtual memory does have some drawbacks. The disk has less space for other uses, since a larger portion of it is reserved for this swapping size, hence using so much memory means it will run much slower than only using the amount of physical RAM, but if you needed to increase (e.g. was crashing with out-of-memory warning message) then it may not crash anymore. The power consumption is another factor that may increase as a lot more disk access is happening, which tends to be less efficient than simply accessing the physical RAM, hence this may cause the disk to fail sooner due to more usage. In the long run, however it is important that you install the maximum allowed RAM by your computer’s motherboard, as a permanent fix to the underlining issue.

We hope you found this tip useful. Check back on our blog for more tips & tricks to keep you productive.

The Essentials Of Energy Management For Facilities Managers

It’s vital to monitor all aspects associated with energy management whether you’re operating a large or small organisation.

For an organisation, their first challenge is to assign responsibility for all aspects of energy management. This person or team will keep the estates energy usage in line with the organisations goals set by the directors.

 

The next piece of the puzzle is selecting the most appropriate Facilities Management sensors and software to provide full visibility of an estate and its energy usage. Having the right sensors and software in place helps the facilities team to easily gather data and evaluate usage, enabling them to optimise and utilise spending decisions to reduce unnecessary consumption and costs.

 

With an appropriate facilities management software in place, the next immediate challenge is to select an energy supplier and the correct tariff. Matching the tariff to the business usage can be difficult, and estimating future needs may require expert help. Your CAFM software will automatically record the estates energy usage, and will store historical data to identify the facilities trends. This enables the facilities management team to actively manage energy in real-time, identifying potential issues, implement corrective actions, and manage usage.

 

Once the CAFM solution is in place and the challenges are understood, implementing corrective action is the key to reducing usage, saving the environment and saving the organisation money. This can be done by establishing a behavioural awareness program to increase awareness when using energy on the job. Embedding an energy conscious culture is the quickest way to reduce usage. This can be introduced at site inductions, education schemes and training session provided by the organisation.

 

CAFM software like ARCHIBUS has demonstrated a reduction in energy usage of up to 5%, which represents a significant saving for any organisation.

Digitise The Construction Site

The BIM 360 Suite of cloud-based products offers a wide range of solutions to make design, construction and handover processes much more efficient.

BIM 360 Field is built for construction management processes such as managing quality, health and safety and commissioning which allows for easy information capture and review out on site. By utilising the cloud, project performance can be easily understood using intelligent reporting and dashboarding.  

We capture and distribute a large amount of data in construction on a daily basis including emails, drawings, specs, RAMS or health and safety information. This data lives in various locations in various formats such as PDFs, Word and Excel. BIM360 Field enables capture of this data in a digital format or database which can then be updated, reused, reported on and shared with the project team instantly.

For example, a site manager does their site walk, taking photos and notes of any issues they come across. They then go back to the site office and spend time transferring the photos from their phone onto their PC to begin the resolution process via email. The more time we can save removing tedious tasks, the more time can be spent out on site making sure that works are being carried out correctly and in a safe manner.

This type of thinking is nothing new, we use social media on a day-to-day basis in our personal lives to manage our communication (group chats), photos and videos. We upload a photo, tag people and they have instant access, we can then communicate with our friends and family around that particular photo. Manging data on site should work in exactly the same way. 

Moving to the cloud, capturing and re using data in new ways is the future of our industry and our world. Autodesk are at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence in construction and so the next generation of BIM 360 is now available for public beta-testing which combines what are currently separate modules (BIM 360 Glue, BIM 360 Field, Docs and Plan) into a unified platform. This opens up doors to a totally new way of working and integration with other systems, using their new platform built on Forge technology.

To learn more about BIM 360 Next Generation, please sign up to our BIM 360 newsletter.

Creating Custom Content using Pinnacle Series

Pinnacle Series is an interactive e-learning and productivity platform developed by Eagle Point Software that connects people to the answers they need, when they need them. From Autodesk-specific training to HR processes and procedures, this platform can support a plethora of content, tailored to your organisation’s needs. 

Our most recent Pinnacle Series webinar presented the software’s content creation capabilities, and featured Phil Sawyer, BIM and IT Director at architectural practice ADP, a proficient Pinnacle Series user who is using Pinnacle to drive their in-house skills training.

The webinar started with a presentation of the problems that this e-learning and productivity platform can help managers solve. Jeff Rouse, Content Development Manager at Eagle Point Software focused on three challenges that management staff are confronted with:

• Staff trying to complete work “their way”, often using incorrect methods
• Teaching staff to use the tools they have 
• Allowing staff to help themselves when encountering a problem, using vetted troubleshooting tools

The webinar started with a presentation of the problems that this e-learning and productivity platform can help managers solve. Jeff Rouse, Content Development Manager at Eagle Point Software focused on three challenges that management staff are confronted with:

• Staff trying to complete work “their way”, often using incorrect methods
• Teaching staff to use the tools they have
• Allowing staff to help themselves when encountering a problem, using vetted troubleshooting tools

Another aspect of Pinnacle Series that Jeff presented was the fact that content can be customised to suit the requirements and training needs of different departments. One Learning Path can focus on the Onboarding of New Employees and can include different courses from different departments (Technical, Sales etc.), whilst another could focus on the Fire Exit Procedure. This feature gives Content Managers a lot of flexibility in the way they build workflows for different types of employees.

Jeff’s presentation was followed by Phil Sawyer’s who spoke about how his company – ADP - uses Learning Paths to train staff. According to Phil, “Pinnacle Series is very good to train new people to use new software, allowing them to be productive very early on.” He also emphasised the ability to run quizzes which enable line managers to understand if employees are learning and retaining new information.

To learn more about this award-winning e-learning and productivity platform, please contact us.

To watch the webinar recording, please click on the image below.

Enabling Revit to produce BIM

There is often confusion around BIM and Revit, we often hear people saying, ‘This project is being done in BIM' but when we look a little further they often mean ‘This project is being done in Revit.’ The distinction between BIM and Revit is not clear to some.

Revit creates 3D models capable of holding real world information about the model. This information is a requirement for BIM. To produce BIM compliant models from Revit, you must first know what information you are required to deliver with your model.

Once you have this established, you need a strategy in place to populate the information and deliver it in the required format. In Revit, this will involve having Shared Parameters for the relevant information fields. Depending on the format required, the shared parameters may come from the Project Information Manager, or they may be industry standards such as COBie and NBS.

These parameters will need to be added to the Revit project when required or incorporated into your company Revit Project template.

There are also many plug-ins that can help automate this task. Ideate BIM Link, Autodesk COBie Extension, NBS Create, CTC BIM Suite to name but a few. A Dynamo graph could be configured to automate filling in some information directly, or to interface with Excel too.

Once we have an information rich model, we need to think about delivery. What format is required by the client: the native Revit model, an IFC file, an upload to a specific Common Data Environment system that will extract the information? Whichever it is, we need to plan for this and allow time to create the deliverable model.

The live, WIP Revit project will need purging, views and sheets stripped out, design options removed. The appropriate name and revision will need to be applied to the model and then issued out to the appropriate recipients in the agreed format.

In summary, using Revit to create Building Information Models is not difficult but does take planning. We need to be aware of what we’re required to deliver and have a strategy for populating the information. We have to allow for the time required to publish and share the models, this includes checking that the information is correct and approving the deliverables. 

Facilities Managers (FM) must be Engaged in the Pre-Design Process. How can CAFM Software Support?

Facilities managers (FM) must be engaged in the pre-design process

Far too often the facilities management team are not engaged with when an owner or occupier is specifying the EIR (Employer's Information Requirements) and AIR (Asset Information Requirements) for a new build. This is despite them having the greatest need for accurate buildings information at the end of the design process. This lack of involvement is leading to data being passed on in an unusable format, without the required level of detail and information, leading to costly and time consuming re-surveying of a building.

Is COBie the answer?

COBie is an international standard for building data exchange. Its most common use is in product data handover from construction to operations. Agreement to use the COBie format should theoretically stop these data issues arising.

If an FM is not engaged within the pre-design stage or does not fully understand the process, then they will not get the required columns populated in a format that they can easily import to their CAFM software.

How can software support?

Archibus facilities management software can import data directly from the design and construction model, which allows owners and occupiers to gather information above and beyond what has initially been specified. This however is not best practice, as key data may still not be captured in the model during the process, unless it is specified at the outset.

Facilities managers know what information they will need to manage a building throughout its lifetime. As more buildings are delivered through the BIM process, it becomes more apparent of the immense potential of the outputs available. To save a great deal of time and money, it is advised to involve these experts as early as possible in the specification process.

For more information about facilities management software, please visit our website http://www.excitech.co.uk/Solutions/CAFM-Software