In this session, we’ll look at ideal workflows for using Revit software, and how to avoid key time-wasting traps, as discovered the hard way by an experienced Revit software-using mechanical engineer. We’ll examine opportunities for fundamental changes to overall workflow, as well as how to improve current methods. Emerging features such as Insight 360 software are shown as a great opportunity for engineers and architects to collaborate during initial design stages and to calculate heating and cooling loads. You’ll receive advice about how to control level of detail and coordination, particularly at early design stages. We’ll also give some specific technical tips and tricks to help engineers get the most out of their Revit software systems and spaces. This is a follow-up to the 2013 class on improving efficiency by using Revit MEP software for mechanical calculations. This session features Revit MEP. AIA Approved

Revit®-based software is recognized as a building design tool for architectural, structural, plumbing and HVAC. At Whitman, Requardt & Associates, our water and wastewater engineers and designers saw the benefits others were experiencing by using Revit and decided to take Revit to the next level—for use designing large-diameter pipe used in water and wastewater process plants. With only AutoCAD® software 2D experience, the switch to Revit identified changes that were needed within our design process and workflow. These changes ultimately led to a better coordinated design for our clients, and Revit is now the tool of choice for many water and wastewater projects. In this class, I demonstrate how engineers and designers in the water and wastewater disciplines at Whitman, Requardt & Associates made use of Revit for more than plumbing.

With rapid growth in technology—especially in manufacturing processes—coordination between designers, engineers, and shop-floor CNC (computer numerical control) programmers is a challenging scenario. Manufacturers cannot always make designs created by designers and engineers, and they send the designs back to the design team for modification in the part model. Additionally, sometimes the right tools may not be available on the shop floor. To overcome these problems, designers and engineers should obtain a basic knowledge of CNC programming and CNC-code generation, which could reduce the time to market and enhance the company's return on investment. This class covers the steps involved in importing the CAD Model into Inventor HSM integrated CAM Solution for Inventor 2015 software. This process reduces the errors involved during importation and further enables designers and engineers to generate CNC codes and set up models for manufacturability. We will also discuss workflow regarding sending the codes to a machine.

Sundt Construction faced a difficult site work package that included landfill remediation. During the project pursuit, Sundt defined a new process to generate volumetric comparisons from UAS-captured data; align with the project coordinate system; and produce an engineered report. This reduced the risk of over excavation, enabled everyone on the team to see how earthwork progressed, and captured construction progress in a meaningful way. Calculating quantities in Civil 3D software produced accurate quantities and an intuitive visual, and enabled the flexibility required to track 6 different quantity types. This class will discuss the process used to bring new value through these construction technologies and demonstrate the process of generating the data.

Autodesk Inventor software can be used to save time, money, and scrap in manufacturing. Successfully manufacturing a product is not only about the final product, it also includes how you get there. In this class, we will show you how to use Inventor to work backwards to develop all the process steps of manufacturing a part. You first design the finished part you need, then use iParts and iLogic to engineer all the steps that are needed to get from a block of steel to a finished part. We will show you a workflow that takes advantage of the associative abilities of the "i" tools. As your finished product evolves, all of the production steps change as well. This workflow enables you to develop documentation for inspection, fabrication, work holding, fixturing, and machining 3D models of each progression. You can use stress analysis of parts in process to ensure that the process won't damage the final product. We will also offer tips and tricks that will help manufacturing engineers incorporate Inventor on the shop floor.

With Revit software and Advance Steel software, structural engineers have tools available to enable them to take their designs past construction documents and into fabrication and construction. Construction schedules are faster, integrated project delivery is more common, and the Who, How, and When of structural shops drawings and fabrication models are changing. This presentation will show how US-based structural engineers who already create their design models and drawings with Revit software can use this same software to create shops drawings from their fabrication models for rebar, precast, and structural steel, and also create concrete lift drawings. Attendees will learn why these services are offered, how engineers can offer them, and best practices to follow to offer Building Information Modeling (BIM)-based structural shop drawings. This session features Revit Structure and Advance Steel. AIA Approved

Did you realize there was a Job Processor with your Vault data management software? Do you know what it does and what it is capable of? Come and join me in exploring this magical beast. Find out what it can do—and with the help of a third party, witness what it can really extend too. This class will use real-world examples to show you how to automate some of the laborious and time-consuming exercises that you, or your CAD drafter, do on a daily basis. This session features Vault Professional and Inventor Professional.

How do designers' and engineers' models have an impact on machining and manufacturing? This class explores topics that need consideration throughout the design and engineering phase of each new project, including feature selection and issues surrounding modeling with parts versus assemblies.

RPA (robotic process automation) is growing fast. RPA is mimicking the repetitive human activities with software robots. Almost 25-30% of every project has repetitive tasks that are done by engineers, designers, and modelers, including data copying from Microsoft Excel to a software, headers and footers for drawings, drawing info extraction, conversions, analysis, and so on. For some of these activities we use plug-ins, programs like Dynamo software, coding like VBA, .NET, and Forge. But these are specific to each software and work for a specific task. In this session, I'm going to introduce an innovative solution using RPA that works with most Autodesk software, including AutoCAD software, Civil 3D software, Revit software, and Navisworks software. You will see RPA in action preparing inputs, transferring data between different sources, performing analysis, extracting data, filing data, generating reports, and much more, aiming to automate your business processes. Join this exciting session to learn about RPA and its application with Autodesk products.

This class covers the use of Revit Structure software in a workflow designed to share the engineer's model directly with a fabricator for downstream use. It is a natural step to be able to take models to the next level by using them in a digital review process, and this class will show how paper-based shop drawing review can be minimized, if not altogether eliminated. We will present a case study that describes how a digital shop model approval process was used in lieu of the traditional paper shop drawing process, and we will see the value experienced on the project. This class will also touch on best practices and limitations, and it will show attendees how to create a checklist that will enable a project to utilize models as part of the shop drawing review process.

Out of the box, the Vault job processor is a great way to keep your data updated. The job processor can update visualization files, create PDF files, and synchronize properties. The job processor also has many limitations. This course will show you how to hack your job processor through custom jobs to enable more-granular control of your design automation tools. Learn how to create a custom job-processor job, interact with the jobs by setting priorities for different job types, query the job queue, and add or remove jobs to the queue. With this additional functionality, you'll be able handle different types of files separately and take control of your Vault.

Primetals Technologies is facing big challenges: more projects, faster design and engineering requirements, and more-complex projects—as well as task splitting throughout international teams, and everything needing to be handled by the same number of designers and engineers. To address these challenges, Primetals decided to implement Vault software, and many benefits have been realized. The design and engineering process are more streamlined; process and loading times are much faster (by more than 30%); and annoying activities like searching and reworking have been minimized. Plus, users can work immediately with Vault without extensive training, and they love the system. In short, designers and engineers no longer struggle with time-consuming, inefficient activities, and instead work on the things they love: designing and engineering.

Are you new to CNC? In 90 minutes you will understand what you need to know to start cutting parts.

Through our embedment in a team of 700-plus structural and MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) engineers and technicians in our London office, within a worldwide company pool of over 10 times that, we have digested the core components of what a Structural Team needs to know to push the Building Information Modeling (BIM) boundaries to the next level, from embedding data to linking analysis and design models; from quantification to sustainability dashboards; from 3D rebar to Advance Steel software implementation; from Revit software templates to enhanced Revit software content; and from IFC output to model reviewing and verification. And with interoperability at the heart of it all. Arup Group Limited is one of the world's premier engineering design consultancies with over 12,000 staff in 90 countries worldwide, and this class will demonstrate our structural workflows across the globe. We will share what we’ve learned on our BIM journey, and how it is benefitting our daily creative process.

This class covers the use of Revit Structure software in a workflow designed to share the engineer's model directly with a fabricator for downstream use. Being able to take models to the next level by using them in a digital review process is a natural step, and this class shows how paper-based shop drawing review can be minimized, if not altogether eliminated. We present a case study describing how a digital shop model approval process was used in lieu of the traditional paper shop drawing process along with the value experienced for the project. This class also touches on best practices and limitations and shows attendees how to create a checklist that enables a project to use models as part of the shop drawing review process.

This class will show you how to use Google Earth™ to import GIS information using AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk® Revit® software. Autodesk Revit and Autodesk® Ecotect® Analysis software will be used to properly analyze, place, and orient the design of the building. Autodesk® Revit® MEP and Autodesk® Revit® Structure software will be used to design the energy analysis and cost analysis for the class. Upon completion of any structural-related building within Autodesk Revit, an energy analysis template will be used to track all electrical and heating costs for the owner’s operational use. A second template will dictate the cost of building construction using Autodesk Revit and Autodesk® Navisworks® software. Upon completion of the Revit 3D model and cost analysis templates, Autodesk Navisworks will be used to simulate the IDP construction process. The audience will see documentation on how 3D IDP is integrated, from the Civil GIS phase to the construction and bidding phase.

In this class we will present the process of integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM) in order to manage the electrical design of a building project—what we call, “BIMelec.” We will present how different companies benefit from integrating the BIMelec process into their electrical design, and we’ll explain the workflow that enabled the realization of several electrical building projects.

Estimating and understanding costs is paramount to the success of any project. This course will show how to use Process Analysis 360 software to model your manufacturing processes, test various options, and generate associated costs for capital equipment, energy, labor, consumables, and waste.

The challenges we face in our industry revolve around saving time and money. Traditional methods of design engineering do not embrace the technological evolution of CAD software. There's a better workflow, and the software is already available to seamlessly integrate design drafters, engineers, and steel detailers into one model. I will walk you through the lifecycle of one of our projects with the use of Revit software and Advance Steel detailing software, of designers working with detailers, to produce fabrication drawings without producing a single structural design drawing.

Revit families were created to communicate with each other; we can push or gather data via their connectors, which lets us create some very powerful families and schedules. Using this data, we can coordinate across disciplines and decrease errors and design time. Mechanical can input values and provide electrical with the necessary information to properly design their systems with minimum effort. Parameters can be viewed as discreet bits of information you plug in to your equipment to populate your schedule-an arduous, tedious task. But if you look at how all those bits of data can affect all the other bits of data, and you can get them talking to each other, you'll have a useful design tool. Since engineering is chock-full of formulas, we'll look at how we can use these formulas to drive our parameters and streamline the design process. We'll look at how mechanical elements push data upstream to help calculate electrical loads.