AutoNews CAD-BIM Monthly Newsletter – December 2024
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Enhancing Design Coordination in AEC Projects with BIM Collaborate Pro
In the world of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC), the importance of seamless coordination across various design functions and disciplines cannot be overstated. Properly aligned workflows can transform project outcomes, significantly improving efficiency and minimizing the need for multiple design iterations. With advanced tools like BIM Collaborate Pro, an Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) product, design coordination has entered a new era, enabling projects to be managed with greater precision, security, and traceability. The following video explores how BIM Collaborate Pro facilitates this coordination process, ensuring that every discipline can collaborate seamlessly while enhancing project quality. Watch it now to see how advanced design coordination can transform AEC project workflows.
The Impact of Defined Review Processes
A well-structured review process through design coordination is key to achieving large efficiency gains. Establishing this process at both the company and project levels is critical for effective collaboration, ensuring that every discipline adheres to project standards and procedures from the beginning. This approach enables various teams, each contributing their specialized expertise, to work cohesively within a shared framework. As a result, it reduces rework and streamlines the journey toward the final design.
Project-Level Coordination: Efficient Sharing and Collaboration
Large-scale construction projects often involve multiple companies, each contributing specialized data for their respective design disciplines. Effective project-level coordination facilitates this collaboration by enabling secure data sharing among these companies. This involves creating a robust environment where each discipline can exchange information with stakeholders while also managing their internal data-sharing needs.
Using BIM Collaborate Pro, companies can create a shared coordination space specifically for this purpose. The shared coordination space acts as a controlled environment where design data can be securely shared and managed, enhancing both security and traceability. Additionally, the platform’s clash detection features enable teams to identify and resolve potential issues early on, ensuring a smoother path to project completion.
Company-Level Coordination: Leveraging Internal Collaboration
Within each company, design disciplines need a collaborative framework to refine their designs and optimize quality before sharing with other project stakeholders. BIM Collaborate Pro allows companies to set up dedicated coordination spaces, where teams can run internal clash checks and coordinate data among internal disciplines, such as architectural, structural, and MEP. By using live connections for data sharing, these internal teams can ensure that each design aspect aligns well before it is integrated at the project level.
The Role of Project Templates and Permissions
Setting up a project within ACC often starts with the use of project templates. These templates store critical project parameters, standards, and member permissions, allowing for consistent setup across projects. By defining permissions at a folder level, project administrators can control access based on team roles, ensuring that collaborators only interact with the data they need. This security-first approach is crucial for maintaining control over sensitive project information.
“The refined standard project management folder structure and templates intuitively caused project participants to explore the use of all available modules, reducing management by email and spreadsheets.”
– Ann Blanchard, Senior Project Manager, Arcadis
Flexibility and Adaptability in Coordination Spaces
Every construction project evolves, and the BIM Collaborate Pro coordination spaces are designed to adapt to these changes. For example, new coordination spaces can be added, and existing ones can be adjusted by modifying content folders, enabling clash detection, or even renaming the spaces as project needs shift. This flexibility ensures that the coordination setup remains relevant and useful throughout the project lifecycle.
Enhancing Interdisciplinary Collaboration with Defined Workflows
Design collaboration workflows within the Autodesk Construction Cloud streamline data sharing across companies. Here’s how it works. Once a design team—say the structural team—creates a data package, it is shared along a project timeline. The MEP team, working within the same environment, can then explore this structural data. If they find it necessary for their designs, they “consume” the data, bringing it into their own data structures to inform their design decisions. This shared workflow not only enhances coordination, but also maintains a record of interactions, ensuring traceable and reliable data exchanges.
Issue Tracking and Resolution with BIM Collaborate Pro
Effective issue management is vital in collaborative projects. When clashes or concerns arise, they can be tracked and resolved within Autodesk Construction Cloud. For example, if a clash is detected between structural and MEP data, an issue is raised and assigned to the relevant team, with responsible members and response timelines prepopulated via templates. This structured approach enables team members to address issues promptly, redesign as needed, and re-share updated models, keeping all stakeholders informed throughout the resolution process.
Driving Efficiency with Advanced Coordination Tools
BIM Collaborate Pro, paired with the AEC Collection, empowers design and construction teams to elevate operational efficiency through advanced workflows. By enabling coordinated, flexible, and secure project environments, these tools help teams work more effectively, reduce rework, and ultimately deliver better project outcomes.
Incorporating design coordination with BIM Collaborate Pro into your projects can streamline your team’s workflows, minimize costly errors, and enable more efficient project delivery. With coordination at both company and project levels, teams are set up for success from day one.
The Best Way to Get BIM Collaborate Pro
If you’re new to Autodesk or want to get this software today, our team at Robotech can help. We offer comprehensive entry-level basics training, and we sell Autodesk software directly to companies across the country. We are a gold partner of Autodesk, and we’ll ensure your team is fully set up and comfortable with the software before we consider the job “done”.
We have a few Autodesk packages that we offer, and we can provide a free trial for you to test it before you buy. Within a few minutes, you’ll see how helpful this software is in maintaining your healthcare compliance accreditation.
Revit Tips: Setting Up Phases in Revit for Renovation Projects
Phasing in Revit is an essential tool for projects that involve renovation or construction in stages. This feature allows you to differentiate between existing, demolished, and new construction elements within a project. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through how to set up and use phasing effectively for a simple renovation project.
Tutorial Objectives:
– Understand the basics of Revit phasing.
– Set up phases in a Revit project.
– Assign elements to different phases (Existing, Demolished, New).
– Adjust phase filters to control the visibility of elements in views.
– Create a phase-specific view (Existing Plan, Demolition Plan, New Construction Plan).
Step 1: Understanding Phases in Revit
Revit uses phases to manage different stages of a project’s lifecycle. By default, Revit includes two phases:
– Existing: Represents the current state before any new work begins.
– New Construction: Represents elements that are added during the project.
You can add more phases if needed (e.g., “Demolition”), but in most renovation projects, these two are sufficient.
Step 2: Setting Up Phases in Your Project
- Open your Revit project.
- Go to the Manage tab on the ribbon and click on Phases.
- In the Phases dialog box, you will see two default phases: Existing and New Construction.
- You can add more phases by clicking Insert if your project requires it (e.g., adding a “Demolition” phase).
Step 3: Assigning Phases to Elements
Every element in Revit can be assigned a specific phase:
- Select an element in your project (e.g., a wall).
- In the Properties palette, find the Phasing section.
- Set the Phase Created property. For existing elements, set it to Existing.
- For new elements, set the Phase Created to New Construction.
- If an element needs to be demolished, set Phase Created to Existing and Phase Demolished to New Construction.
Step 4: Using Phase Filters in Views
Phase filters control the display of elements based on their phase status:
- Select a floor plan view (e.g., “Level 1”).
- In the Properties palette, find the Phase and Phase Filter settings.
– Phase: Set this to the phase you want the view to represent (e.g., “Existing” or “New Construction”).
– Phase Filter: Choose a filter like Show All, Show New, or Show Demo based on what you want to display.
- Try switching between different phase filters to see how the elements change visibility.
Step 5: Creating Phase-Specific Views
To effectively communicate your renovation project, set up separate views for each phase:
- Duplicate your floor plan view (Right-click the view > Duplicate View > Duplicate).
- Rename the views according to the phase (e.g., “Level 1 – Existing,” “Level 1 – Demolition,” “Level 1 – New Construction”).
- Set the Phase and Phase Filter properties for each view:
– For Existing views, set the Phase to “Existing” and the Phase Filter to Show Complete.
– For Demolition views, set the Phase to “New Construction” and the Phase Filter to Show Demo.
– For New Construction views, set the Phase to “New Construction” and the Phase Filter to Show New.
Step 6: Annotating Phase Views
- Add tags, dimensions, and annotations as needed in each view.
- Ensure that demolished elements are properly indicated with a dashed line or other visual style (controlled by the Phase Filter settings).
Step 7: Creating a Phase Schedule (Optional)
You can also create schedules that list elements based on their phase:
- Go to the View tab and click on Schedules > Schedule/Quantities.
- Choose a category (e.g., Walls) and click OK.
- In the Schedule Properties dialog, add the field Phase Created.
- Use filters to separate existing, demolished, and new elements.
Tips:
– Use graphics overrides in the Phases dialog to customize how different phases appear (e.g., existing elements in gray, demolished in dashed lines).
– Check the Phase Filter settings carefully, as they control what elements are visible in each view.
Interested in learning more Revit content?
Use BIM to Make the Most out of Your Metal Building Designs
Architecture tools have come a long way since the days of pencils and paper blueprints. Still, some of the field’s most advanced and helpful resources remain underutilized. If you want to make the most of your 3D metal building designs, you should use building information modeling (BIM).
BIM software offers a suite of tools for creating, refining and sharing digital building designs and other project information. This extensive functionality offers several benefits over more conventional approaches to architecture, especially when you know how to use them to their fullest.
Photo by Nao Triponez
Benefits of BIM in 3D Metal Building Design
Metal building projects can be challenging and expensive, but BIM tools make it easier. Here is a look at some of this technology’s most significant advantages.
Fewer Mistakes
One of the most critical features of any BIM solution is clash detection. This technology automatically recognizes and highlights errors so you can address them before starting the construction process. Considering how large projects can have between 2,000 and 3,000 clashes, that can save a lot of time and money.
Some structures may take up more room than they seem at first, making them impractical or impossible in practice. Alternatively, some designs may block entry from needed machines during later parts of construction. BIM clash detection lets you find and fix these mistakes before they arise, preventing costly rework.
These features can also detect “4D” or workflow clashes like scheduling conflicts. That way, you can avoid complications later on when they’re harder to fix.
Optimizing Building Designs
BIM can also improve 3D metal building design by improving project visibility. This software lets you view plans from multiple angles, run simulations and easily compare alternatives. This level of insight enables you to find the best way forward for your specific project.
Having an easily accessible view of all the materials in a project can help make more informed decisions, too. For example, aluminum is one-third the weight of steel and more corrosion-resistant, but steel is stronger, making them ideal for different applications. With BIM, you can look at how each would impact your metal building design to optimize your project.
These optimizations apply to project workflows as well. BIM models provide a consolidated view of all relevant project information, helping schedule teams across various phases more efficiently.
Easier Collaboration
Another benefit of BIM is it enables more collaboration on your metal building projects. Because these tools are entirely digital, you can send them to collaborators via a simple file attachment in an email. Some cloud-based platforms may even let multiple parties simultaneously access and modify BIM models.
This remote access and sharing lets you work with other stakeholders regardless of where you are. Because everyone will be working off the same file, it also helps minimize confusion. Many of the most common project management problems arise from miscommunication and a lack of clarity, so these collaborative features are essential.
In the design phase, this collaboration lets everyone offer their expertise in the areas they’re most experienced. In later stages, it helps avoid conflict by providing a single source of truth for the project.
Streamlined Project Timelines
These advantages work together to produce another valuable benefit — shorter project timelines. The construction sector is notorious for running behind schedule, with 85.5% of large-scale projects finishing late, often by at least two months. BIM’s clash detection and collaboration tools can reverse that trend.
Rework is a common source of delays and BIM prevents it through clash detection. When you fix these clashes before the construction phase, you minimize the risk of an unexpected setback arising and taking time to undo them. Avoiding workflow clashes further reduces timelines.
Using BIM models as a single, easily accessible source of truth helps, too. When everyone involved uses these resources, it’s easier to stay on the same page and prevent miscommunication. Teams will finish faster as a result, boosting client relationships and minimizing costs.
Making the Most of BIM
It’s hard to ignore BIM’s potential in 3D metal building design. If you want to experience that potential to its fullest, here are some steps and considerations to keep in mind.
First, define what you want from your BIM software, then look for solutions that meet those goals. Keep compatibility with other apps you use in mind. The same goes for any sources you use for ready-made 3D BIM models. Only use content from companies that meet the highest industry standards to avoid complications down the road.
Look for a solution with cloud support. If it runs on the cloud, it’ll be easier to share models with remote collaborators or access them remotely. This accessibility will help further improve communication and project timelines.
While BIM will save money in the long run, upfront costs are the most common barrier to BIM adoption today. You can minimize these concerns through slow, thoughtful implementation. Start with a relatively simple solution, using it on projects with the most potential to improve. As you learn to use it and start to reap its benefits, you can hire more professionals to use it and buy more extensions for the software.
BIM Revolutionizes 3D Metal Building Design
BIM is a crucial tool for 3D metal building design, especially given frequent delays and high costs. When you know how to benefit from these tools, you can use them effectively.
As with any new tool, it can take time to get used to BIM. However, if you start today, you can boost your organization’s performance and ensure success in the future.
Collaboration paves the way for digital transformation of transportation
- Momentum and money spur state Departments of Transportation to invest in digital project delivery.
- Granular, interoperable, accessible data is the key to unlocking a completely new way of working in transportation.
- New interoperability between Civil 3D and AASHTOWare Project is the latest example of Autodesk’s leadership in transportation infrastructure with organizations like AASHTO and Infotech.
Digital transformation has the power to connect data across the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry.
Many of the world’s infrastructure systems were constructed for the population and climate of the mid-20th century and are well past their prime. In the United States, much of our infrastructure dates back to the 1960s and 1970s and was designed and built using what are now outdated design, construction, and project management methods.
To modernize our infrastructure, we must modernize the engineering and construction industry itself with digitized workflows that enable better collaboration and seamless flow of data throughout the project lifecycle. We call this process digital project delivery. We are excited to work with states and the transportation technology ecosystem to make this monumental shift.
Advancing interoperability for better project outcomes
Digital transformation is about to accelerate for the government agencies that design, build, and maintain our nation’s transportation infrastructure through a new joint effort between Autodesk, Infotech, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Montana Department of Transportation (Montana DOT). Initiated by Montana DOT, this collaboration underscores the agency’s commitment to embrace innovative technologies and enhance efficiency in the management and development of transportation systems.
Together, we’re enabling interoperability between Autodesk Civil 3D and AASHTO’s construction contract solution, AASHTOWare Project, with the help of Infotech, the official AASHTOWare Project contractor. The interoperability will enable digital project delivery from design and documentation to estimation and asset management. Departments of Transportation (DOT) across the United States and Ministries of Transportation in Canada will soon have access to it.
“With state transportation agencies in full pursuit of digital transformation, we’re excited to continue our work with Autodesk and provide an interoperable solution to those organizations,” said Chad Schafer, Chief Revenue Officer, Infotech. “This integration will help bridge the gaps in data and workflow between departments to ensure successful digital project delivery.”
Autodesk Civil 3D is civil engineering design software that supports BIM (Building Information Modeling) with integrated features to improve drafting, design, and construction documentation.
The interoperability couldn’t come at a better time. Momentum and money are finally on the side of the state agencies that are responsible for our transportation infrastructure. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will make a once-in-a-generation investment of $350 billion in highway programs through 2026. This includes the largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system 67 years ago.
The need for new infrastructure is urgent, with 1 in 5 miles of highways and major roads, and 45,000 bridges in the US alone in poor condition. State DOTs and the industry have more reasons than ever to transform the way transportation infrastructure projects are designed, built, operated, and maintained.
In a significant move, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), has established the Project Delivery Collaboration Center (PDCC), which is envisioned to be a Project Manager’s portal from project creation through final design, giving them visibility to details including, but not limited to, their project portfolio (two-week look ahead), cost (budget), dashboards and reviews. PennDOT has chosen to use Autodesk Construction Cloud as the primary tool for the PDCC. This decision, made with an agnostic approach, underscores a commitment to ensure compatibility and optimal performance across a broad spectrum of platforms, workflows, and systems.
Making data work for you
Data remains an untapped asset in engineering and construction, with consulting firm FMI reporting 96% of all data captured by the industry goes unused. But that’s about to change. The United States government is calling on state DOTs to use digital technologies such as cloud-based workflows, Building Information Modeling (BIM), GIS mapping systems, rapid construction, and digital project delivery.
States can compete for grants from the Federal Highway Administration’s Advanced Digital Construction Management Systems (ADCMS) Program to invest in technology that boosts productivity, manages complexity and cost, and delivers massive infrastructure projects quickly and safely. This ADCMS program will award $85 million in grants, showing a significant federal commitment to digital transformation.
At Autodesk, we believe that granular, interoperable, and accessible data is the key to unlocking digital transformation and driving a completely new way of working for engineering and construction teams. We simplified data management and collaboration by putting all our engineering and construction data in one location, Autodesk Docs, a common data environment that is open, secure, and accessible. Civil 3D is connected to Docs, supports BIM, and is integrated with GIS.
The new AASHTOWare Project integration closes a workflow gap by enabling state DOTs to take quantities directly from Civil 3D without error-prone and time-consuming manual entry. They can use GIS information in design, push the design information to project execution with AASHTOWare Project, pull actual quantities back to as-builts, and push data back into GIS for asset management.
“Interoperability between Civil 3D and AASHTOWare Project will help us connect our design phase to our field construction operations. It will save time, save costs, and ultimately, enable us to be more accountable to the taxpayers who fund our transportation projects,” said Patrick Lane, Digital Delivery Project Manager for the Montana Department of Transportation.
Granular, interoperable, accessible data is the key to unlocking a completely new way of working in transportation.
Advocating for the future of infrastructure
Autodesk is more than a technology vendor. We’re advocating for digital project delivery at the state and federal level. And we’re supporting states’ efforts to advance digital delivery for transportation projects. For example, the California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, is using Autodesk Connectors for ArcGIS to develop workflows between data sources to improve project delivery, and the agency recently received funding in the first round of FHWA’s ADCMS grants.
We also understand that states urgently need digitally skilled workers to successfully undertake digital transformation. So, we’re helping our partners empower current workers to be confident using the latest tools. And we’re working with DOT leaders and state engineering schools to make sure their graduates are ready for the digital future.
We’re here to help states deliver on this once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform how our nation connects communities and moves goods, people, and services.
From Autodesk: Upcoming 2024 trends in the Built Environment
Adoption of AI in the industry
Over the last ten years, Autodesk have integrated features into their product lineup to enhance customers’ creativity, automate repetitive tasks, and offer predictive insights through powerful analytics. “In 2024 and beyond, these capabilities will enable design and planning to become more effective, efficient, and better informed,” says Amy Bunszel. “For example, Autodesk Forma’s Rapid Operational Energy Analysis allows designers to understand how factors such as a building’s geometry and wall construction types will affect its predicted energy use–all during early stage design. Autodesk AI technology will help deliver better and more sustainable results for all.”
The expansion of Building Information Modeling (BIM) within construction is intricately connected to the upcoming fusion with AI. Despite its solid presence in design and engineering, BIM’s growing acceptance in construction is pivotal for optimizing AI in the industry. By serving as visual databases, BIM models gather abundant data from various construction phases, fortifying customer datasets and enabling more profound insights through AI.
Predictions for Emerging Tech in 2024
The utilization of emerging technologies like digital twins and virtual reality is gaining momentum in the construction sector. Digital twins are proving increasingly beneficial for owners and facility managers, offering support in areas such as remote asset management, predictive maintenance, and long-term asset planning. In response to the growing need for remote collaboration, Autodesk has introduced Workshop XR, a virtual reality workspace facilitating design reviews and issue identification before construction commences. This shift toward virtual reality explores enjoyable and efficient approaches to work, potentially shaping the future of work.
Construction firms are also exploring operational opportunities post-build, with digital twins providing rich data for informed decision-making by creating a comprehensive record from initial design to the completed structure. Additionally, augmented and virtual reality enhance the early evaluation of architectural outcomes during design reviews.
Read the full article from Autodesk: “2024 trends in the built environment: What to anticipate across AI, sustainability, and labor”, Amy Bunszel & Jim Lynch
