BIM Management: LOD's, PxP's, and changing modeling culture.

The Dilema

If you haven't read this Blog post on Resolving the LOD Dilemma (Elizabeth Chodosh) you should.   When I was a BIM Consultant previously I ran into this challenge many times with clients trying to execute BIM PxP's.  The process of going through a Model Matrix and marrying up the model progression with the PxP, the project value's / value maps have significant value in the planning stage (as long as the planning was done).  I found most times these documents (PxP, LOD Matrix) were just a way to settle the contract and that the A-E-C firms had no clue on how they were to execute on these.  I’ve spent a great deal of time evaluating and understanding the process, psychology and realities of this concept working with several clients.   If you read the recent post on EpicBIM: “Can we Execute the BIM Execution Plan?” you probably agree with most these challenges and are trying to weed through them to find a solution.  

Defining a BIM

So the real question is How can we define a BIM?

• What is the owners Expectations? Chances are they were BIM Washed, can you map out their expectations with the Value Maps?
• How do they propose the BIM be used and what effort reward balance is there?  A clearly defined purpose can assist us in mapping out what is modeled, when and what costs are outside traditional scope of work. 
• The final ? is once we define a BIM, how do I know I'm meeting my deliverables? (RE: M3) Does the matrix translate into the culture.
• Traditional deliverables vs. enhanced.  Do we have examples for the client to illustrate additional effort to get substantial reward.  (Value added propositions)
• Federated Models, who is responsible for; Design Model, Construction Model, Fabricated Model, etc.

Real Value vs. Perceived Value
The real value comes from how we transition from the table / PxP to the process.  We have to ask ourselves things like; "What does LOD 300 look like for these elements?"; "Should I be modeling this now?", or even "When should I be modeling this?".    These questions are valid and should be asked throughout the modeling lifecyle.  In my Autodesk University Unconference 4 years ago "Should we ever stop modeling in Revit?"  I posed the aforementioned question to Reviteer's and I got mixed reviews.  I had some say they model everything, some say they didn't but had no map of what, when etc.  For the most part this argument is still going on.  If your trying to make profits for your shareholders and meet client expectations, you establish clear concise, and realistic goals (SMART goals).  If you want to be promoted, you establish and accomplish these goals.   The challenge with the LOD's is that many times the LOD matrix is broken up into fragments coded to be specific for estimators to follow and others that use the data downstream, this is especially true for the AIA E202 / Consensus doc's.  Elizabeth Chodosh’s discussion about the challenge in the industry speaks to the points discussed at the San Antonio BIM Forum technical sub-forum.  She validated many of the points I believe are wrong with the execution of BIM contracts.  Mostly was the consensus between the AIA and AGC between the below definitions. 

LOD Defined
Two new important Definitions:

-        Level of Detail (LODetail) – i.e. what it looks like, the graphics, special relationships, {i.e. location, place holder, dimension (space), etc.}

-        Level of Development (LODevelopment) – How much it has been through, what’s needed, etc. {Shapes Engineered, Final locations, buildable, specified, etc.}

Are these two definitions new, NO?  Should we call them LOD² (Squared) I believe this clarification just allows us to be specific, not vague as to what determine to do in reference to; project requirements, client values, defined obstacles, and specified model strategies and utilization.   Cannon utilizes a IMG (Integrated Model guidelines), great concept.  I don’t think this is a template or a checklist exactly but a process derived from the PxP.  In construction we have BMP (Best Management Practices) &/or M&P's (Methods and Procedures)  Whatever the case, the paradigm has changed, it has been disrupted and no mater of complaining will make us go back.  We must establish a communication plan that effectively communicates goals, objectives and turns them into results (i.e. values) that deliver the contract as agreed.  I've seen clients avoid BIM on future projects because the Contractor didn't deliver what was promised and still got paid somehow.

The new M3 (Minimum Modeling Matrix) released by the USACE is much more simplified in how it breaks down its Minimum Modeling requirements and definitions.  A further exploration of this will be forth coming. 

Content Challenges

We also need to solve the problem of Content LOD's and / or the lack of following standards in content.   As for Revit, Autodesk created the Revit Model Content Style Guide as a basic standard for creating content.  Most of this was to create minimum standards for placing content on Autodesk Seek.  However some MFG's (Manufacturers) are not posting to Autodesk Seek to save a buck and have also avoided following these standards / guidelines.  In addition to the guide there are other resources to help Create BIM-Ready Product Models and establish the appropriate level of Metadata.

Quality Ruberic?
It is imperative that we in the AECO industry need demand Quality content, in addition we need reach out to vendors and manufacturers to establish the appropriate LODetail for each LODevelopment or how they propose we use LOD’s.   Many of them were sold the BIM wash that if they made content we would specify the content in our projects.  Although this may be the case for some, if the content is garbage and we have to build our own the chances are we will not use your content.  Many times Architects and Engineers will build their own Place Holder (PH) content separate from the MFG because the content bloats the model and is not necessary even for <LOD300.  So in keeping with the theme of Epic BIM, could we not agree that we need both levels of content for different LOD’s at least until the systems can handle MFG detailed components?  Or maybe the answer is in IFC's? Ok enough with the laughs, scoffs and tisk tisk's, it always seams that when you resort to this your now just deflecting.  Building to a standard is not a deflection but neither is building to the lowest common denominator.  The industry needs to allow a standards to have the ability for more data information exchange not less.  It just needs to be defined, simple and flexible. 

Direction
So where do we go from here?  If you’re a real BIM Manager your head is has been in a constant hemorrhage.  Especially recently with the new release of USACE Templates, M3's, PxP's, "Attachment F" Etc.  We have PxP’s, M3’s, Value Mapping, COBie, NBIM’s, Training, Re-training, content development, project management, business development, helping management manage expectations and avoid BIM wash.   Well at least in regards to LOD² we need to focus on effective communication.  At the end of the day it comes down to leadership and accountability.  In the end don't all things come down to leadership and accountability? (Let's not get into politics ok)  Like with construction safety / productivity, what we meter is what is followed, PROJECT CONTROLS are important.  If we continue to allow garbage and a lack of results, will we expect anything different?

In the spirit of colleagues at @EpicBIM of keeping it simple here are a few suggestions:

·        Seek first to Understand: Engineers (Architects) work with your technicians to establish appropriate LOD²s and requirements for graphics for each critical systems.

·        Establish a process or some fancy wizard that takes your PxP and establishes a checklist for your BIM Coordinator to follow.   This is not a template, recipe etc.  These are unique instructions for them to meter, control, check, they are your BIM Police, you are their captain.

·        Establish Graphical Proto-types of different systems configuration, break down the LOD’s graphically, I found it best to create sub-templates of these different systems, drawn like a real project.  We drank our own BIM Kool-Aid and modeled one of our own buildings for FM, Samples, and training purposes.  This allows you to document and test assumptions beforehand and establish competency before people get into a project.  It is also a good bucket to store the different related tools.   You don’t want to test things in your project anyways, it is always good to have a “Dirty files”. 

·        Controls, controls, and real leadership - In project coordination meetings, have BIM Coordinators run checks against these LOD²s to see that they are on track to deliver and are achieving results with the PxP Strategies.  It is ok to have challenges; if you were not, you probably are not doing real BIM.  The important thing is to adjust, accommodate and cut each other a little slack.  Every professional is at a different level and finding a way to get people that are excelling put into mentoring capacity will help develop their skills and those that need the experience. 

·        Manage owner expectations – Chances are that your client has either been BIM washed or has very little reality as to what the real capabilities of BIM are and what values that can truly be attained.  I am looking forward to the Fall 2012 BIM Forum discussion on BIM LOD Caveat Empetor: Let the Owner be aware of the BIM LOD they ask for!

Keep moving forward . . .
This is not a comprehensive list but a work in progress.  As we go through this journey together know that you are not alone.  Look forward to additional clarification coming in the future.  Follow Jim Vandezande blog and look out for update on a new LOD Catalogue.  Don’t ever be satisfied that you know it all.  In order to achieve the Zen of BIM and become a BIM Guru you must go through the WTF stage of BIM not once, not twice but over and over.  But like going to the gym, after a while you are conditioned to act and not react to the project circumstances you will face today and tomorrow drawing on the experiences of yesterday.

Comments welcome!

J

Getting Revit Training

Before you go out and get Revit Architecture training consider doing the simple Getting Started Training.  This tutorial was created for Revit SPARK (Think of this as Revit LT) but was created In previous releases of Revit (2010) you would find this in the help files now Autodesk is utilizing the WIKI for Revit help file the new location is located here:  http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Spark/enu/TP_1.0/Help/0000-Getting_0

After doing these tutorials your going to have a good start to engaging a consult to get started and begin asking the correct questions.

If you need one I know several qualified companies that do high impact quality training.

Autodesk University

AU 2011.....so its that time of year.  If your an industry leader in CAD, BIM, GIS, PLM, etc. you have to be there.  With just a few weeks away you you may be a little anxious for the intense learning.  My recommendation, get extra rest over the holiday because your brain is gonna need it.  If your a BIM enthusiast your sure to be looking forward to the many sessions and collaboration moments that you have already read about or have previously experienced. 

Where to start?  Hands on labs, lecture, or seminar?  Or maybe join a industry panel or my favorite, a unconference.  Whichever you choose, you will want to come back over and over year after year.  Thank goodness for the online access to recorded classes.  So unless you registered in the first 2 weeks you will be unable to attend my hands-on lab or unconference session.  So if you want, show up anyways, my last lab we filled up the room with an extra 30 people and the unconference was standing room only.  If you do attend the lab, don't forget to download the whitepaper and data set.  They wont allow you to enter the lab until it has already began.

To get the most out of AU dont forget the main keynote on Tuesday morning, then hurry on over to my lab: Tips and Tricks to Model Complex Roof Shapes: From Autodesk® Revit® Architecture to Revit Structure which begins at 10 am or visit my unconference session at 5 pm on Extending BIM Uses in Construction Safety: Beyond Safety as a By-Product of BIM other great presenters are Jim Balding, Eddie Krygiel and Phil Reid to name a few.

Finally, you can' t leave AU without getting certified.  Both AIA (for attending specific classes) and Autodesk certification for Associate and Professional, all you have to do is pass.  This is vital as it says to the industry that you not only claim to know Revit, AutoCad Civil 3D and vanilla AutoCAD. Even have a try at some of the new certification.

Thanks for listening to my self plug and hope you enjoy.

Jeremiah

Design Technology Managers Conference

First Annual Design Technology Management Conference

Being a CAD, BIM or Technology Manager usually didn't come as a career choice and may have been accidental. Either way because you were the company tech GURU you now have to know everything and don't have the power to do so. At Autodesk University this year kicked off the first annual Design Technology Managers Conference. The focus was to provide an avenue to learn from other Technology Managers while attending structured classes, unconference, and open collaboration. See link for more information.

To Tweet or not to Compete!

To provide an incentive for all to share and participate they created a little competition. Top honors were free passes to AU2011. There were 2 competitions one for Teams producing the most meaningful Tweets. The second were for teams writing a GURU Brief.

Since my team bailed on me I thought it be fair that I still submit a GURU Brief. Consider how you would answers these questions. As it turned out many of my experiences as a CAD / BIM Manager before becoming a BIM Technologies Specialist had fully prepared me to answer these questions with deliberate and poignant thought.

Are you self professed Technology GURU?

GURU Brief must answer the following questions:

(Must be to the point and "brief", like a legal document)

1. 
   
   What key principles would you pass along to someone taking over your job?


2. What actions would you recommend to better manage software implementations?


3. What actions would you recommend to improve CAD performance and reduce costs?


4. What actions would you recommend to better transition to BIM?

The 1st place winning GURU Brief (Posted by Jeremiah Bowles):
As a technology manager you will be required to do many tasks.
• Organization is essential
• Put first things first, understand which priorities are most important.
• Remove technology boundaries, to envision the ideal.
Software Implementations take serious planning.
•Asses technology usage and strategies
•Plan ways and resources to manage software, people and education
•Execute plan while metering success.
Improve user performance and reduce costs
•research is key
•evaluate risk, costs and opportunities
•hold people accountable and make realistic goals.
To transition to BIM
• Don't bite off more than you can chew. Develop a crawl, walk, run strategies for each piece of software.
•Outline metrics of success.
•phased integration
•create a budget and timeline, and stick to it.
•think win win
•Be a team member and encourage participation and highlight rewards and possitive outcomes.
•Have a post mortem at ea. Phase & fix problems before moving on to the next phase.

What will you contribute to the design industry to make it better?

Please comment below!

Jeremiah

12 TIPS FOR EFFICIENT CONCEPTUAL MASSING

Recently, I was featured in the AUGI AEC EDGE Magazine, Summer 2010 Edition. Following is my article entitled "12 Tips for Efficient Conceptual Massing." You can also click on the image above which will take you directly to the current issue in the enhanced interactive online format. If you enjoy this article and want to know more feel free to contact me to discuss a customized business assessment and I can help you decide if these tools are right for you.

Many of the most compelling reasons to use Revit for Building Information Modeling are to solve the building issues earlier in the design process. Many early adopters of Revit saw Revit as tool to capture the concept of the building in early design and were not so focused on creating a construction drawings set. These early adopters captured what I call the “essence of BIM” by providing the needed information to expedite decision making. These adopters also experienced the promised productivity that BIM can provide to an already tight schedule.

Over the years one of the most compelling and underutilized tools in Revit Architecture have been the Conceptual Massing tools (aka building maker tools). For some Architecture firms these tools are a boon to providing a streamlined workflow that reduces restarts and provides their clients with a good foundation in early design. I have found that these tools can provide greater value than just massing and visualization when applied in a strategic method. To some Architectural firms these techniques don’t require a full rework of workflow as they may be using Rhino, Sketch Up, and AutoCAD in massing applications. Although they may have the limited success of these tools they have not fully realized the full potential of reducing restarts, redraw and contain the valuable information provided by Revit’s BIM offering.

Another advantage is that Architecture firms that are using the Conceptual Massing have noticed their clients feel that their preliminary designs resemble a building and not just a colored cartoon set (which actually may be desired). The Architects have shared that the Conceptual Massing workflow has actually delivered on BIM’s promise of increased productivity and has helped solve building problems in early design without binding their designers’ hands.

MASS TEMPLATE AND SETUP
The conceptual mass tools work with specific building Element Tools. We begin by creating a “New Conceptual Mass” from the start-up screen. The New Conceptual Mass is a new family that was previously only available as an in place mass when drawn in the project environment. After the mass object (usually the shape of a building) is drawn we load the mass family into the project where we can associate specific objects to the mass’ shape, more specifically the faces.
See Screencast Here

Figure 01:CONCEPTUAL MASSING TOOLS

These objects are restricted to four building maker tools: Walls by Face, Roof by Face, & Floor by Face; this includes Storefront or curtain glazing but is restricted to rectilinear (i.e. vertical forms) See Figure 2

Figure 02:Revit Project Tools

1-CONSTRUCTS & PARAMETERS
When starting a mass there are 2 primary constructs already set up and one level grid. These reference planes are usually pinned so if your project extends beyond these boundaries make sure you temporarily unpin them to extend them beyond the project like a traditional family as this will aid you in locking down geometry but don’t forget to re-pin these reference planes as we want our family to maintain an origin once we place it in a project. Use reference planes to define common points vertically, especially when trying to align your scanned napkin sketches into place. Once you have these sketches in place, make sure to pin these down also.

See Screencast Here


2-FORM CREATION STRATEGIES
Forms are created with a combination of Model Lines, Reference Lines, & Points and the form creation tools. When creating a form you simply pick a work plane and start drawing model lines that represent the faces you want to create.

Loft Forms
Creating a loft form starts by creating an extrusion then adding a profile to it by selecting the form. As we add profiles we can twist and turn the form but these create b-splines also called NURBS. These forms can be rationalized now through rationalization and custom patterns. If you don’t want to create curvilinear forms and want to have planar forms you have two options.

See Screencast Here

The first option is to add an edge to opposite corners and then later add the profile. This acts like a bed sheet, forms will sway like a spline until you pinch in between at two ends.

See Screencast Here

The second option is to host a new form on top of the initial extrusion and treat these as two separate extrusions.

Figure 03:Lofted forms: spline, with edges, and stack/join

Sweeps
Creating a sweep form requires a path and profile, this can also include a swept blend. The secret to a sweep form is to create points on a line and create the profile on the work plane of point (note: this work will be perpendicular to the alignment including arcs and splines)Figure 04:Sweeps & Blends

Blends
Creating a blend form is similar to a loft and a sweep but both ends have different profiles. The process is similar in that you have a path and 2 point hosted on that path with different profiles. This allows for us to have one form blend into another.

See Screencast Here

Complex NURBS (including parameter controls)
Creating a spline through points is done by placing at least 3 points and selecting the spline tool. This tool is great for creating revolve forms and also creating NURBS and wave like faces. These forms are easy to create but if you want to exercise control over the points after the form is created you will need to draw with reference lines or change the properties of your model lines to be reference lines by selecting the “is a reference” checkbox. Now when you add a parameter to the point through these splines you can parametrically control the behavior of the spline as it is being driven by the points.

See Screencast Here

Figure 05:NURBS with Parameterized Points

Those of you that may have used massing before may have noticed that there is no more curtain panel by two points. Now you will need to build a mass or a face to create these curtain elements. This is a much better solution as I can continue to edit and manipulate the form.

See Screencast Here

Manipulating points, faces and lines requires a selection of the units and then using the gizmo to manipulate the points. See Figure 06 for outline of tools.

Figure 06: NURBS with Parameterized Points

3-VOIDS & SOLID TO VOID CONVERSIONS
Creating void forms is fairly simple and only requires a polygon and selecting create form, this will create a void form which will subtract any solid that it comes in contact with. Voids however are difficult to control and don’t mix well with multiple solids. I like to create my solid form and manipulate this into place and then change the solid to a void. This will allow me to select the geometry I want to cut rather than relying on the void’s hosting. This also helps to maintain independence from the hosted work plane or face.

See Screencast Here

4-CUTTING AND JOINING ELEMENTS
If drawing the walls in 2d could tell the full story we wouldn’t draw building elevations, interior elevations, and building sections. Many times are building shape and construction is very complex. If we could draw in Revit every building element editing every wall profile, we would spend hours drawing something I could draw in a mass very easily. Furthermore if we drew this in 2d we would find ourselves calculating, checking and rechecking our sections to see if what we drew in elevation matched what we drew in sections and plans, never mind if we needed to change something. This is where I like using cutting & joining elements to assist in form creation. You will need to create the forms, whether solid or void and use the cut & join tools to make these edits. Now in Revit 2011 we can cut out solid forms from other solid forms making it easier to separate buildings with different materials.

See Screencast Here

Figure 07:Cutting & Joining Mass & Project

5- SHOULD I DELETE THE MASS
Many times I am on a site visit with a customer or prospective customer who is playing with massing and they draw their form and quickly delete the mass element. I had one case where the client had deleted the form, and a few days later were having issues. Having a form turned off visibly is a lot easier than redrawing an element from scratch. It’s also sometimes easier to edit the mass than it is to edit the wall. We do massing to create complex forms and also edit them later as the drawing advances.

6- SOLID FORM EDITING TECHNIQUES
There are also forms that Revit tools can’t create without edits. When creating a roof I can do a profile extrusion but I can’t change the outline shape of that extrusion. This can be done by creating an in place mass form, preferably a void, and void out the material that we don’t need.
See Screencast Here

The massing environment is usually not the best environment to created sloped roofs; especially those roofs that resemble residential or resort style roofs. My best practice is to bring my mass in, add walls then do a roof by footprint using those walls; as the walls change in my mass, so should my roof shape in the project.

7- WHEN TO STOP MASSING & USE PROJECT EDITS
One of the biggest complaints I get from modelers is that no design tool can do everything; this may be true but with most programs and is true with the conceptual mass also. Although the conceptual massing can’t do everything, once in the project there are several tools that can clean up the drawing and actually make it look like a building with character not just walls with a painted surface.

The first area where the project tools work better than attempting to mass is using the roof by footprint. This tool will calculate the roof pitches and intersects based on the walls that are selected. I typically recommend using this tool for pitched roofs for almost all pitched roof instances.

When modeling a building I have seen many hours waste modeling extruded foam shapes, wall reveals and trim profiles. As these could be modeled in the conceptual massing family it would be best to create these either as wall sweeps / reveals or gutters and take advantage of the profile family to reduce the amount of times you redraw a individual profile. This also reduces the redraw for later design as these can be re-used as part of the elevations and details. These synergies are advantageous as there is no miscommunication to the client of the designer’s intent moving forward into design development.

See Screencast Here

Although this may not be obvious, I have seen people model individual curtain wall or storefront mullions in other design programs. They say that this isn’t time consuming but when compared to using the Revit project tools for curtain walls / storefront walls the time saved for layout alone are saved even when learning these tools for the first time.

See Screencast Here

The other embellishments can be addressed by creating simple place holder geometry for standard shapes using Revit Families; these objects include: Lintels, Corbels, Quoins, Keystones, Pediments, Surrounds, & Vents etc. There are other tools handled by system families including: Gutters, Cornice, & Soffits. http://www.screencast.com/t/NmI5ZjlhNTUt These tools not only help in placing these but can be scheduled for rough quantity take off. The last component that should be placed in a project is columns. These include: architectural columns, pilasters, piers, and capitals. Capitals can be nested into a typical column family to allow flexibility to the designer when swapping between column types.

Figure 08:STOP MASSING; USE PROJECT TOOLS – Sweeps, Reveals, Model in place

8- FORM REITERATION & DISOLVE
The greatest thing about Revit has always been the ability to revise, reiterate and manage change. As we know our designers are always taking an idea and developing it further. One of the biggest critiques of the new massing tools in Revit 2010 was the inability to revise a form once it was created. In Revit 2011 they have allowed us to edit the original model lines and dissolve the make-up of the form. Included with this is also a work plane viewer, this viewer option allows us to have a view (where one may not exist) perpendicular to view to create a detailed and accurate edit of the shape.

See Screencast Here

9- SKETCHUP USES & CHALLENGES
One of the biggest obstacles for designers is that they are a creature of habit or ease. Whether a designer is still using bumwad and colored pencils or a combination of AutoCAD & SketchUp they can easily integrate these tools into a Revit workflow. Some Designers are importing their preliminary forms into Revit conceptual massing and others are taking the Revit project via AutoCAD export into SketchUp to “make it sketchy”. I also recommend using Autodesk Impressions to keep things sketchy and loose also, this tool is a hidden gem and is a Subscription Entitlement.

If you are able to scan a bumwad sketch this can be easily inserted into the different level views and scaled up or down to make the drawing to scale. Make sure to pin these down in the views, mostly so you don’t accidentally select them. After you place these images, begin tracing the major shell elements and begin to create your exterior mass form.

If you are using SketchUp you need to understand that you are not modeling solids but are creating faces. These faces can be imported into the Revit mass family and then imported into the project to use the wall by face and roof by face. Because you are not working with a solid form Revit can’t break up the mass by floor levels. The other limitations with SketchUp stem from the fact that the forms created are not solids but faces so you are unable to create schedules and do rough QTO. Also when changes are made to the SketchUp model we are unable to update to face as the faces are unintelligent. Similar to the rules for over modeling the mass forms in Revit be careful not to over model your SketchUp form.

10- PRESENTATION DRAWINGS
Outside of exporting your project to SketchUp or printing your project views to PDF and then adding color in Photoshop most studios should seriously explore the new visualization offerings with Revit Architecture 2011. In 2011, Autodesk added 2 new visual styles to our views. The most impressive of these visualization styles is the realistic views. These views are like partially render the project and allow ambient occlusion (i.e. realistic material mapping). This tool with a combination of the sun path tools can provide realistic and accurate sun studies. Another impressive tool is the ability to take background photo images and place them inside the background of your rendering images. http://www.screencast.com/t/MzM0ZDcxMDU If these fixes are not enough you can always use the FBX export to Autodesk 3ds Max Design for extreme photorealistic images and walk through animations.

Figure 09:Renderings with background images

One of the final tricks is to use a combination of paint and split face to “paint” on generic walls your materials. This trick is quick but doesn’t provide that accurate of a presentation and presents similar to other design products.

See Screencast Here

11- SCHEDULES AND QTO
One most commonly forgotten aspect of BIM is the I or rather the Information, sometimes I call this the intelligence of BIM. Most times designers that favor a specific product for their design tool or technique will talk about the speed of laying out design as if this were the only aspect of conceptual design that was important. This superficial assessment usually doesn’t take into account the other nuances happening in the project; including: Programming, estimating, 2d plan creation, and validation of the program against client expectations. When you add all these variables together you will see a more comprehensive view of what is being done in early design and that it’s not all about the Building & the Model that the model Intelligence is a major factor. See figure 7 for examples.

First take advantage of the Mass Schedule this schedule can provide baseline information about a project including: gross floor area, gross surface area and gross volume. Another Schedule is the Floor Area Mass Schedules; this schedule includes more detailed information including floor perimeter, floor area, floor volume, & exterior surface area. We can further tap into other parameters like wall material take-off or floor material take off by creating additional schedules. One important step is to finish drawing in the interior partitions. These are important, especially if you want to take advantage of validating the building program. I have taught some clients to even create program validation formulas using conditional formatting. This Room schedule can be used to validate when we are out of specification. Another tool is Autodesk Quantity Take Off (QTO). This tool is a Construction Managers friend as it works with BIM models, CAD drawings and scanned images including PDF.

Figure 10:Preliminary Design Data

12-ENERGY ANALYSIS IN EARLY DESIGN
One last area that should not be ignored is how to leverage our early design data for sustainability. This is where I believe Revit and other Autodesk tools have a significant advantage over the competition. You will need to complete your building by drawing the interior walls and laying out a rough ceiling grid. Your building model can then be exported to Autodesk Green Build Studio (GBS), now in 2011 an included entitlement to Revit Architecture & Revit MEP. With a little preparation you can take your rough model into GBS and gather rich information about your buildings energy usage based on location, building type and the data found in your building model. These calculations may not be engineer accurate but are a good baseline to start. GBS also lists possible alternative energy potentials based on your area that you can explore. Another tool is Autodesk Ecotect; this tool is something that goes beyond GBS into day lighting and detailed energy analysis. See your local reseller for more information on this tool and Ecotect.

One other tool in Revit is the sun path tool; this tool is similar to the Ecotect tool except that we can directly manipulate the sun based on date and time directly in the Revit environment. This can aid in developing passive solar design and validate where shadows are cast to value engineer canopies, roof overhangs and sun baffles. These also can provide to be a valuable presentation tool to have tangible content rich graphics that simulate sun studies. These tools can be valuable assets and can help you to differentiate yourselves from the competition.

See Screencast Here

CONCERNS, CONSEQUENCES, COMPARISON & CONCLUSIONS
These techniques are but a good start to understanding Revit Conceptual Massing. I don’t recommend walking in to your lead designer and slapping this article on his desk and tell him he’s doing it all wrong, remember to have a bit of tact. When working with an Architect be sensitive to the ego and that you may very well be moving his cheese. Don’t compare or criticize his tools, just provide him with a new set of tools, rules and a little bit of vision. I would focus on developing a solid conceptual template. The biggest reason most companies don’t undertake doing conceptual massing is that they are worried their designers can’t use the program or are so addicted to their other tools that they are not willing to change. To address this I removed most of the barriers that would cause confusion or challenge the designers. One technique is by creating flexible families that are not too specific. Another is to teach them to place components as place holders and coordinate with them to create the actual content they need. Eventually they will feel more comfortable as you create more content for them to use that isn’t so overwhelming.

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I hope you find a lot of useful information, tips, and tools.

Feel free to contact me to see how I can help you best leverage BIM.