Vasari Decisions...

In going to download Vasari 2.0, I noticed that Autodesk has been most insightful and continues to allow one to download v1.1 along with the new v2.0.

 Thank you!!! This is huge for companies who want to have the flexibility to continue to run v1.1 alongside projects still in Revit 2011 while they work on rolling out Revit 2012 and upgrading their projects to the new platform.



Vasari 1.1 is valid until August 15th, 2011.
Vasari 2.0 is valid until December 31st, 2011.

So happy to see Autodesk is serious about Vasari continuing in the labs!

The Life of Software Training Book/Manual

The life of a software training book/manual is so short lived. The person gets on the day of training, writes some notes in it and references it for a year or so while they get up to speed on the software. Then it goes on a shelf, under the desk or into the office library where it can sit undisturbed for years. During our recent "Clean your desk day" that I blogged about, we also worked on other parts of the office. We found some pretty old manuals. Titles such as "AutoCAD 2002", "Architectural Desktop 3.3", "Mastering Architectural Desktop 2005" and "Revit Architecture 2009 User Guide" were found collecting dust.

Is it time to stop printing books like this and simply reference digital forms of them?
I think so...

Is there still validity to printed forms of these books?
Maybe in a limited fashion, but we certainly don't need one at every desk in the office...

Project Vasari 2.0 - Ready for Download!

Just released today, it would appear that Vasari 2.0 is now available for download. Yeah!

David Light has released a great overview of the new features for 2.0 and can be found by clicking this link. Download can be found here: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/vasari/faqs/

Word of note, if you run with this version, it will only produce files that work with Revit 2012 products, not 2011. Most of you out there, won't be bothered by this, but for some it will be something to ponder before jumping on this release.

Clean Your Desk Day

Today was designated as an official cleaning day here in the Irvine office where I work. It was basically stated: "You clean for 2 hours and we feed you pizza lunch and root beer floats". I'd say that was a fair trade off.

Why can't other things work like that in life? Gotta get something done? Have someone buy you a pizza/root beer float lunch! So simple!

Final BIM Deliverables

There's a mouthful. Final BIM Deliverables.
What is it? Well that all depends on who you ask. A recent BIM standard provided by one of my companies clients spells this out very clearly. They list specific file format requirements, collaboration and coordination methods, data exchange methods, inclusion of specification data, links to programing database, uses of the BIM (such as for sustainability analysis, clash detection and more) and that not only will 2D printed drawings be part of the closeout documents, but so will the BIM. Why? They want to have it for their FM once the building is occupied.
Is this the future we've been preparing for when owners want all this in the contract?

A Few of My Favorite Blogs...

So, I've made a list at the right hand side of my blog with a list of blog I keep up with via RSS feeds to my inbox. I have found that without RSS feeds, I wouldn't be able to keep up with all the great info that keeps getting posted at these various sources. The list however is not complete and likely never will be. The number of BIM and/or Revit blogs continues to grow. Do you see a blog missing from the list that you feel should be added? If so, please post a comment and let me know!