Between the Walls

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 BOMA Standards Demo

Great short video showing the automated BOMA calculations in AutoCAD Architecture 2008 from Daryl Gregoire’s Learn ADT blog.

Chris

Autodesk Content Search alpha Technology Preview Now Alive and Free

Check out the newest tech preview posted on Autodesk Labs for content search.  Full story on Shaan’s ‘Between the Lines’ blog—click here.

Chris

RobiNZ CAD Blog: The power of a model, lets you forget!

This is great.  It’s nice to see a small example of technology becoming transparent.

RobiNZ CAD Blog: The power of a model, lets you forget!

Chris

AutoCAD Architecture 2008 'Welcome Screen' Survey

If you use AutoCAD Architecture 2008 please take a moment to complete the following survey on the Welcome Screen.

http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/d87cg2b328

This survey should only take at most 5 minutes of your time, and as always,
please be as honest as possible with your feedback.  We appreciate your
participation, and the results will help us improve the feature in future
releases.

Thank you for your time and continued support of AutoCAD Architecture.

Sincerely,

The AutoCAD Architecture Team

Calculate Areas from Spaces Using an Area Calculation Standard

A new first for the ‘Between the Walls’ blog—a guest writer.  Anna Oscarson, a member of our Quality Assurance team, put together the following on the new Space Calculation functionality added in AutoCAD Architecture 2008.  Thanks Anna!

— Chris

——-

In AutoCAD Architecture 2008 you can calculate the net, usable and gross area according to an area calculation standard defined for a drawing.

AutoCAD Architecture provides 4 predefined area calculation standards based on the rules of the BOMA, DIN, and SIS standards. In addition, a generic Basic standard is supplied.

The area calculation standards contain country or organization specific rules by which the spaces must be set up. The BOMA and DIN calculation standards are based on classifications, where the spaces needs to be classified in order to calculate each boundary's offsets. SIS partly uses classifications but it also uses zone attachment to calculate the usable areas. The Basic standard is more generic and calculates the offset boundaries depending on whether it has a space adjacency or not.

To see a quick demonstration how to calculate areas using area calculation standards please click the links below.

For more information please see the chapters in the AutoCAD Architecture 2008 User's Guide section for - Documentation - Spaces - Appendix 2: Predefined Area Calculation Standards."

Link to BOMA video

Link to SIS video

If you cannot see the video, then you will need to download the TechSmith (TSCC) Video Codec.

AutoCAD Architecture Achieves IFC 2x3 Certification

With AutoCAD Architecture 2008, native IFC import/export is provided.  The following Cadalyst article announces the certification at the IAI (Industry Alliance for Interoperability) workshop of IFC 2x3 certification.

Chris

Breaking Down the Walls: My Top Three New Features of AutoCAD Architecture 2008

"My Top Three New Features of AutoCAD Architecture 2008 - easy display control interface, annotation scale feature, and ability to match sheet layers to view” by Matt Dillon, Breaking Down the Walls

The Structuralist (Building Design): AutoCad Architecture 2008 - Review

“…after spending a few weeks with the new version I am very impressed.”

A nice review of AutoCAD Architecture 2008 in “The Structuralist” blog.  The Structuralist (Building Design): AutoCad Architecture 2008 - Review

AutoCAD Architecture 2008: Reduce Graphical Changes by At Least Half

Today I noticed a posting on the ADT 2007 discussion group where a user was trying to figure out how to accomplish a seemingly basic task: Show only the stud component  3 ½” stud with ½” gypsum board on either side.

In releases prior to AutoCAD Architecture 2008, this was a mysterious task to accomplish, requiring the user to click through several dialog boxes.  In the latest release, using the new Display tab found on the Properties Palette, this is hopefully now a more discoverable process with the added benefit of seeing changes immediately.

The following videos show the before and after for this specific scenario, which goes from 8 clicks to 4 clicks, but surely a less circuituous path!  Hey, even the AVI is half the size.

Old Display Modification Process (875 KB)

New 2008 Display Tab (451 KB)

Note: You may need the TechSmith tscc codec in order to view the above videos.

Chris