Vault Integration with Revit 2012

Last week I spent a couple days starting to learn the ins and outs of Vault Collaboration 2012 and it’s integration with the AEC products for 2012.  This is the first iteration of Vault being integrated with the AEC products, so this is definitely a work in progress.  At this point, here’s how Vault works with the Revit family of products for 2012…

• Archival of Central files – This process doesn’t need to happen every time you sync to central, this really only needs to happen when you want to save a copy of the central for archival purposes. There are options that you can enable so that when you sync to central, Vault will make a detached copy inside Vault.  This is essentially taking the place of a manual Detach and Save-as when you need to archive a central file.
• Family Management – This is something I can see being very handy for many firms, but I think it still needs some work.  The concept here is that a “content manager” can set families to different statuses, thus allowing the end users to only see content that is say set to “Approved”.  So while families are being worked on and aren’t ready for prime-time, users won’t see them in Vault.  There is a search function that allows users to search for families based on many different things, which is nice.  But at this point, there isn’t the ability to search for parameters that already exist in the families themselves…this is where the improvement needs to come in.  Sure, you can tag a family inside of Vault with properties, but the ability to search the parameters would be a great addition. (Just like SmartBIM currently does)

 

Overall, I think the biggest benefit of Vault for Revit at this point would be the Family integration…but we’ll see where Vault goes in the future.  As I get more time to work with Vault and really get to dig into some work-flow pieces, I’ll definitely be posting more about this subject.

Copy Doors and Constrain

I’ve had a few people ask me recently why they can’t copy Doors from one wall to another.  I was surprised they couldn’t as I could without any issues.  But then something clicked…the Constrain checkbox.  Sure enough, if Constrain is checked, you can’t copy a Door outside of the wall it’s placed in.  So in order to copy the door from one wall to another by utilizing the Copy tool, just make sure the Constrain checkbox is unchecked.

Or, just utilize a right-click and Create Similar.

How Much RAM Should I Get

I get this question quite often from many people, whether they are looking to get a new computer or looking to make some updates to their current computer.  Here’s a little excerpt from the Revit  Model Performance Technical Note…

“Please keep in mind the amount of local machine RAM required is approximately 20 times the size of your compacted central project file.  Each linked file would apply to this total as well.”

What this really talks about is how much RAM is required to OPEN a Revit file.  So if you have a 100MB Revit file (I like easy math!), you’ll need 2GB of available RAM to open that file.  Got a 100MB Revit Structure file linked into the Arch file, better have 4GB of available RAM when you open the Arch file.  Notice, I’m not saying that you need “X” amount of installed RAM, it’s “X” amount of available RAM  to open a Revit file.

Because of this requirement, I’ve been recommending that people utilize a 64bit OS so you can get at least 6GB of RAM installed, but preferably 8GB of RAM.  Unless you are working on small projects and you’re Revit files are going to hover around 50MB or less, then you could get away with 4GB of RAM and potentially a 32bit OS.

Revit 2012 Products Availability

Now that the information is out about the new 2012 Autodesk products, the questions start coming up on when the 2012 products will be available. 

First things first, 2012 will be the same as 2011…it’s going to be available as a download for Subscription Customers unless you specify you want a disk.  So keep an eye out for an email from Autodesk Subscription (if you are a Subscription site manager for your company) as you’ll get your new serial number and notification that 2012 is available for download.

As for the date, the Revit 2012 products will probably be available around mid April based on the past few years.  Remember, this is not a 100% certainty and is purely a guess, Autodesk has the right to provide the download/ship the disks at a earlier or later timeframe.

Hope you enjoy the new 2012 products!

Revit Architecture 2012 New Features

Instead of just replicating the new features here, I’ll post a link to a great post by David Light over at his Revit Blog.  David did a GREAT job at covering the new features with some commentary….well done David!!

If you just want a quick list of the new features, here you go…

• Revit Server (Now Native inside Revit)
• Citrix Ready Release (Cloud based Revit??)
• Autodesk Vault Collaboration AEC
• Linking Improvements (Tag Rooms, Keynote, etc.)
• Worksharing Enhancements
• Improved DWG export fidelity
• Visualisation Enhancements
• 3d Tagging (Annotate a 3D View)
• Modelling Enhancements
• Performance
• Construction Modelling
• Massing enhancements
• Materials
• Point Cloud Support
• IFC

As time goes on, I’ll be posting more about the new features as well.