12/4/2008-1:00 pm - 2:30 pm RDDm:DelfrnD4103 IAEC)

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Revit® Architecture Work Together In Harmony

Jason Hickey - Integration Specialist, Autodesk

CV310-4

Face it. Sites need buildings, and buildings just don't just hover in space. Architects design buildings and engineers design the sites, but until now the two industries have been alienated from each other. This session will show how the two can truly work in harmony, and utilize data that they never could before. Join us to see exactly how Civil 3D and Revit Architecture can be used to create the Ultimate 3D site model!

About the Speaker:

Jason has more than 15 years of experience in the land surveying and civil engineering industry. He has worked as a surveyor, designer, CAD Manager, Applications Engineer, and Consultant. He has worked with Softdesk, Land Desktop, and Civil 3D since its inception. He is a co-author of Mastering Civil 3D and has contributed to many Autodesk Official Training Courseware titles. Jason is a popular AUGI CAD camp and AU presenter where he shares his knowledge and passion for helping companies get the most out of their technology investment. Jason currently helps Autodesk customers worldwide as a Civil Support Specialist in Autodesk product support.

Stay Connect with AU all year at www.autodeskuniversity.com

from Oirtio Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil "30 ahd""RevWArchltec"{ure Work Together in Harmony

Engineers and Architects - Bitter Enemies or Common Friends?

In recent times, Architects and Engineers were enemies, even though they were working

toward a common goal. The two have never truly gotten along- the Architect does not want to hear that his fancy design won't really work with the site that he wants, and the Engineer is typically reluctant to share data. Past projects have seen the Engineer modify the footprint of a building because the Architect neglected to include easements or setbacks in his design.

Other scenarios include the Architect moving the property line on a site to get the building he envisioned on the site. (These are both true stories, by the way.) Neither solution is a good one, but the lack of understanding and communication between the two industries has created a valley that is hard to overcome. However, recent changes in the two industries have brought about a paradigm shift of sorts, and we are seeing movements in both areas to work more closely together.

This paper has been written by two people- one from each industry. It is intended to provide a fresh look at the subject of data interoperability, and show that the unthinkable can happen. We can get along and coexist in a mutually beneficial relationship.

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From Dirt to Doors; Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Role-Playing- Not Just a Geeky Game

To define a good workflow between the Architect and the Engineer, we must first define the roles of each. Some of these roles may be interchangeable, but most are the responsibility of one or the other.

The Architect: Typically, the Architect is approached by the developer first. The developer shares his vision or need with the Architect, and the Architect begins a study to see if the project is feasible. The Architect will typically play the role of Project Coordinator, and it is his responsibility to make sure all phases of the project are completed by qualified individuals. The Architect will typically have an overall site concept, and share that with consultants. It is the responsibility of the consultant to make sure that the work performed fits the concept envisioned by the Architect. The Architect will often require the services of a Civil Engineer, Structural Engineer, HVAC Engineer, Interior Designer/ Land Surveyor, Electrical Engineer, Landscape Architect, Lighting Engineer, and many others to ensure project completion. These other individuals may all work for the same company, or they may be contracted out.

The Engineer: In the context of this paper, the term "Engineer" will refer to a Civil Engineer. The Engineer typically works for the Architect as a contractor. The engineer is responsible for the final site design, including site grading, utilities, building stakeout, environmental impact studies, geotechnical studies, and other areas. The Engineer has to follow the schedule of the Architect, and often has to deal with much iteration in the design process.

In the past, Architects and Engineers haven't worked together well. However, with new concepts such as 81M and Integrated Practice, the two are moving closer together as time goes by. In the future, we can expect to see the historical workflow shown on the following page change a bit, and become more of a parallel desiqn process rather than a step by step process.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

5

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Integrated Practice

One of the hottest key terms in our industry today is Integrated Practice. This term has been widely used by the AlA in the last two to three years.

What does it mean?

There are many sources that try to describe the concept behind integrated practice. A quick search on the internet will show them. The American Institute of Architects sees Integrated Practice as "a new vision for practice that will support and engage architects as designers, while expanding the value they can provide throughout the project lifecycle ... At the core of an integrated practice are fully collaborative, highly integrated, and productive teams composed of all project life-cycle stakeholders. Leveraging early the contributions of individual expertise, these teams will be guided by principles of true collaboration, open information sharing, team success tied to project success, shared risk and reward, value-based decision making, and utilization of full technological capabilities and support. The outcome will be the opportunity to design, build, and operate as effiCiently as possible."

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A simple layman's definition is that we all play well together, and this should begin at an earlier stage of the project. As an industry, we typically do not do this. We are not forthcoming with information and try to keep our knowledge to ourselves. We may ali be working for the same goal, but we do so by ourselves, not as a team. Team work means that we are playing together as a team, not as separate individuals.

Team Work

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Trust

To begin working towards integrated practice, we have to begin with trust. The nature of our business goes against this. Looking at the graph below helps explain where we are coming from and what we need to do to reach an integrated practice. To reach the Organic level, we must have a trusting relationship with our team. As this has been presented to others, the main concern expressed was over sharing information and documents that others could either use or change. There are, of courser liability issues that we face and need to be protected, but there comes a point where we have to trust the members of our team.

Level of Integrated Practice

"Not Much"

Incremental

Organic .

Traditional Owgs BIM -> Dwgs Shared BIM
FedEx Project Website Digital Docs Mgmt
FTPsites Digital Online Collaboration
E-mail Vis ualization CNe Fabrication
DWG exchange Ear1y Fabrication Digital FM What is 8IM?

There are conflicting definitions around which all claim to describe 81M. For example, some believe that B1M is nothing more than 3D, while others might understand it as simply data. Others claim that you can get 81M by simply adding some 3D modeling and some data to existing CAD platforms. What's missing from these interpretations is a vital concept-Computability.

• BIM:;c 3D

• BIM:F Data

• 81M :;c 3D + Data

• 81M ;::= Computable Bui/ding Information

81M equals computable building information. For example, just as a spreadsheet is a tool for thinking about numbers, software built on parametric building modeling technology is a tool for thinking about buildings. Spreadsheets manage numeric relationships without intervention,

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

freeing the user to study the problem at hand. Another way to look at this, is that a number in Microsoft Excel is computable while a number in Microsoft Word is not ("51/ is computable while "five" is not).

BIM extends this same notion to building design by means of purpose-built software. The Revit platform delivers its highest benefits because it is based on a parametric modeling technology, which uses a relational database together with a behavioral model to capture and present building information dynamically.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) - Integrated process built on coordinated, reliable information about a project from design through construction and operation

A pure BIM solution will not only understand relationships between building components like walls, doors, windows, etc ... but will transparently manage these relationships throughout the project regardless of form or model complexity. Computability is the essential ingredient of BIM as it enables Architects, Engineers and Designers to spend more time thinking about a building rather than managing relationships that make up a building.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Revit Architecture Overview

The Revit 2008 platform consists of three products. The illustration below illustrates each product and how it is related to the other.

Revit Architecture 2008 is the core product. It consists of all the tools architects need to complete their portion of the project. Revit Structure 2008 and Revit MEP 2008 are built on top of Revit Architecture 2008. Both Revit Structure and Revit MEP have majority of the tools Revit Architecture has plus industry specific tools to assist with their respective disciplines.

Revit Architecture software works the way you think. The innovative building design and documentation system helps you work naturally, design freely, and deliver efficiently. Purposebuilt for building information modeling (BIM), Revit Architecture mirrors the real world of buildings! so you work holistically, rather than with isolated elements such as floor plans, sections, and elevations. And with parametric change technology, any change you make is automatically coordinated everywhere in your project - model views! drawing sheets, schedules! sections, and plans - you name it. Design and documentation stay coordinated, consistent, and complete.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Site Tools inside of Revit

Revit offers quite a few site tools to assist in the BIM model. These tools offer a way for the Architect to place the building on a site for both presentational needs and design needs. Below are some of the site tools inside of Revit.

Property Lines

The property line tool inside of Revit allows the user to create property lines either by sketching lines or by inputting bearings and distances. Sketching is more likely used early in the project when exact bearings and distances are unknown. Once property line information is provided by either a surveyor the Engineer, he can input this into Revit by using the following dialog box.

Property tines

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Property lines can also be labeled. This is an automatic way of placing the bearing and distances on each line.

Topography

Topography inside of Revit can either be created or imported. The Topography tool inside of Revit includes a point tool that allows the user to pick points with assigned elevations to create topography. This can be done quickly, but not with much accuracy. This will allow the Architect to indicate the slope on the site but the Architect will struggle with making revised contours.

- A more accurate way of creating topography, is to import the

~T:~:ace I ~.~. ~.; ~,.~.~. ~~ information from the Engineers drawing file or point file. The

Architect can import/link the Engineer's drawing file in and extract the points from the file to build the topography. This can be done by using the Use Import Tool inside of the Topography tool.

-I- Finish Surface • Cancel surface

... Roof FI< Site Plj

11

: & Properties

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

The Contour label tool can be used to add labels to the contours. This is done by sketching a single line through the contours.

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I ___ -- 683'·0"

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______ - -i: -7 \

The Subregion tool can be used to create sub-reqions. These can be assigned different materials inside of Revit to indicate grass, dirt, asphalt, water or concrete. This will give the site plan color and denote separation within the topography.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Site Components and Parking

Tools also exist to add site components and parking. These tools will add elements such as landscaping, parking stripes, vehicles, benches, and lights. The program comes with a vast library of these elements. In addition to the library, there are multiple web sites that contain user created components that can be used. These tools work similarly to inserting blocks inside of a CAD program. The components can be copied, rotated and/or scheduled.

What the Architect Wants

Typically the Architect needs critical information at key points in the project. As the project progresses, this information will grow in the level of detail. Breaking this information down into project phases will help clarify the workflow and wants from the Architect.

The following is based on a typical relationship between an Architect and a Civil Engineer. All projects and relationships are different and the information may not apply to all projects.

During the schematic design phase, the Architect needs broad information such as property lines and major contours. It is during this stage that the Architect is working with the owners to determine if the site is suitable for the desired project. Many times the Architect will try to make this determination on his own without consulting with the Engineer. The Architect will use aerial photographs and existing surveys (if available) to extract this information. Google Earth is quickly becoming the main resource for the Architect to see how the site and surrounding areas are laid out.

The architect will quickly develop a presentation site plan to show schematic building footprlnt, property lines, roads, parkingr and adjacent buildings. This will be used to either sell or prove the project to owners, city officials, or to the public. Usually once the project is completed with this stage, an Engineer will be contracted to the project.

Typically the Architect plays the role of coordinator when it comes to working with all the external consultants. He will coordinate between Civil, Mechanicalr Plumbinq, and Electrical Engineers, to ensure that tie-ins are correct. This information will not necessarily be used in the architectural model but will be used to coordinate the discipllnes.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

The Architect will rely on the Engineer to provide accurate survey information for property lines, setbacks, easements, and contours. The Architect will replace the schematic site information that he developed on his own with the accurate information provided to him by the Engineer.

Finish floor information will be need as soon as the Engineer determines the appropriate elevation. The Architect works on an assumed project elevation, while the Engineer works with true elevations. The project elevations are typically set to 0' at the finish floor level of the ground floor.

As the project develops, the Architect will need spot grade elevations around the building. The Architect usually takes on the responsibility of ensuring that the grades la' around the perimeter of the building slope properly for both drainage and handicapped accessibility. He will indicate sidewalk slopes on his drawings from the door to the top or bottom of curbs.

Exporting from Revit into Civil 3D

Exporting the Revit model to an AutoCAD .dwg extension can be done by using the File ---+ Export ---+ CAD Format tool. Revit will export what your current view is showing. The view that you are trying to export needs to be adjusted to show only the elements that you are trying to export.

Exporting a floor plan, elevation, or section will create flat 2D drawing files when exported to a CAD Format. Exporting a 3D view in Revit will export 3D ASCI solids when exported to a CAD Format.

Engineers typically want the building foot print. Depending on the stage of the project, the Architect can export either their preliminary site plan, or just the building as a foot print. Exporting the preliminary site plan will give the Engineer all the information that has been gathered regarding the site.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

When exporting to .dwg's, Revit will place Revit elements on AutoCAD layers. You can customize these layers by going to File ~ Import! Export Settings ---> Export Layers DWG/DXF .... The default uses the AlA National CAD Layering Guidelines for layer names and colors. You can make changes to the layer names or colors and save them as a .txt file.

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Working inside of Civil 3D

It is the job of the Engineer to contact a Surveyor and have an existing boundary and topo created. This is what the Engineer will provide to the Architect, so that the Architect can ensure that the proposed site design fits within the confines of the property and does not encroach on any easements or rights-of-way. The Surveyor will go out collect the data that makes up the site, create the drawing, and then turn it over to the Engineer. It is from this drawing (shown below) that the Engineer will create his site design.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Next, the Engineer will take either the building and site layout, or just the building, and lay it atop the boundary and tope, making sure that it fits the true property lines, as shown below. If the Engineer notices no obvious issues with the site layout with respect to design, then he will begin designing the site.

Whereas the Architect takes care of drainage up to ten feet away from the building, the Engineer picks up where Architect leaves off and finalizes site drainage. He will perform a drainage analysis and determine where water should flow as it leaves the site, and design ponds if needed. Using such tools as the water drop feature and slope arrows inside Civil 3D, the Engineer can determine where best to place ponds, and with the pipes functionality, he can place drainage structures and pipes that drain to those ponds. He can use grading objects with predefined criteria such as depth and slopes as shown below, to create ponds and other criteria to generate things such as curbed islands.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

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Grading can be done in one of two ways- projection grading or feature line grading. Projection grading is useful for scenarios such as creating ponds, tying in to an existing surface at a given slope, or automated creation of curbed islands. Feature line grading is useful for setting elevations on the footprints of buildings and edges of pavement. The Elevation Editor is the interface used for modifying feature lines. In the following illustration! you can see the elevations set around the edges of pavement on the south side of the site that we're working on.

.4..1 EiS 0 Show grade breaks only

Station E1evanon Length Grade Ahead Grade Back I
s: 0+00.00 683.600' 40.23' 0.154% ..0.154%
.&. 0-HQ,23 683.662' 205.95' ..0.500% 0.500%
e 2+46.18 682.632' 205.95' 0.500% ..0.500%
A 4+52.13 683.662' 133.81' 1.000% -1.000%
U. 5+85,94 685.000' Once the grading has been completed, pipes can be drawn on the plan to route water to any detention areas. Since there are currently no hydraulic calculation tools within Civil 3D, you will have to use a third party method for sizing pipes. However, once the pipe design has been

18

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

created, it is relatively simple to add that design to the site. Using the Network Layout Tools toolbar, structures can be placed with pipes connecting them.

Network Leyout Tools - Storm

n . 0- i"':J .~ ~r 48 x 48 inch Rec!angu.... -iii"" -lill~ RCP-- - -----~ ! l~; ... I ~ : ~)

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Parts Lirt: Storm SeWEr Surface! FG COMPOSITE Alignment: <none>

Once the pipes are placed on the site, they can be viewed in plan view, in profile view, or in a 3D view. It is easy to see in the illustration below that the pipe network for this site is a true 3D network of pipes. Fitting in with the B1M concept, this pipe network can be checked against itself or against other pipe networks to determine if there are any interferences. This is a great time-saver from times past, when plan checkers would spend hours with a printed set of plans, a pencil, scale, and calculator in order to interpolate distances and inverts and determine if any pipes existed in an interference condition. And since these pipe networks are all 3D and spatially aware, you can use interference checks to determine not only pipes that collide, but also pipes that are too close in proximity to another pipe. The interference checker will put a marker on the screen in the areas of the interference, but will not repair or correct the interference -: it is still up to the engineer to decide which pipe needs to be moved and where to move it to.

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Once your site design is complete, it is now time to export the drawing to a format that can be imported into Revit.

Exporting from Civil 3D into Revit

The procedure for exporting a drawing for use in Revit is fairly straightforward. You simply save the drawing and close it (see, I told you it was simple!) The only thing you need to be aware of is Proxy Graphics. What are Proxy Graphics? The Civil 3D help file defines them in the following way:

Proxy graphics store the last viewed image of AutoCAD Civil 3D objects, which lets users view your drawing without modifying the original objects. Proxy graphics store only the display representation for the current active viewport.

We typically want to use Proxy Graphics when we want to share our drawing (which contains custom objects) with someone who doesn't have the same software package that we are using. An example would be showing Civil 3D contours in Revit. With some software, it is necessary to download an object enabler in order to see the custom objects, such as showing Civil 3D

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

objects in AutoCAD Architecture. However, Revit has the enabler built in, and can read the data contained within.

Why Not Just Allow Direct Access?

The entities that we create in Civil 3D have intelligence and data behind them. They are not just "dumb" lines, arcs, and text. As a result, they cannot be edited in a program that cannot understand that intelligence. These custom objects are often referred to as AECC Objects. Examples of AECC Objects are contours, surface triangles, slope arrows, feature lines, point objects, figures, parcels, profiles, corridors, cross sections, and pipe networks.

So How Do I Make SUre That The Architect Gets These Objects?

In order for the Architect to use your information in anything but a purely graphical manner, he needs access to these entities. For example, if he wants to create a Toposurface inside Rev it, he will need to create that Toposurface out of contours sent by the Engineer. To make sure this happens, it is simply a matter of changing the proxygraphics system variable to 1 and saving the drawing. It should be noted that the file size will increase with proxy graphics set to 1. This is because the program has to save not only the data within the drawinq, but the image of the objects. Because of this, the default setting for proxygraphics is O. It would be the best practice if you were to leave this set at 0, unless you needed to share the drawing with someone else that required the setting. The following two illustrations show an existing ground surface shown in Civil 3D and in Revit Architecture. As you can tell, it's hard to discern any difference between the two.

,I .

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Procedures to Import into Revit

Once the Engineer has created a topography/site plan in Civil 3D, that information can be imported into Revit. The workflow to and from Civil 3D and Revit has room for improvement. Knowing that all projects are different and workflows change, the following walks through a procedure to import a Civil 3D drawing into Revit and incorporate it into the BIM model.

Setting Up the Revit Site Model

Begin by starting a new Revit project based on your default template. We will use this Revit model to build our site and then link it into our building model. This appears to be the best approach, as opposed to creating the site model inside of the Revit model.

Begin working on this model by going into an elevation, and deleting all but two levels. Rename the remaining levels Finish Floor Elevation and Linked File Base. Change the Elevation of the Finish Floor Elevation level to the finish floor elevation that has been provided to you by the Engineer. Change the Elevation of the Linked File Base level to 0'· 0". The two levels need to be created because the Civil 3D file is based on the World Coordinate system in AutoCAD. It has a zero elevation and the contours are drawn at their actual elevation height. When we link in the file it will come in at zero elevation with the contours at their actual elevation. This will set up our Revit file so the Finish Floor Elevation is where it needs to be.

Finish Floor __ E_levation ~ 685'-Q"\J

Linked File Base __ _£~ 0' - Q"\J

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From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Highlight the level and go into the Properties of the level. Click on Edit/New to modify the Type Parameters. Change the Elevation Base parameter from Project to Shared. This will allow you to acquire the elevation from the Engineer's file.

Then go to (or create) a Site plan view in Project Browser, Go into the Properties of the view and set the Orientation to True North,

Importing the Civil 3D File

To begin the importing process, go to File ~ Import/Link ~ CAD Format, In the import dialog box I find the file to be imported. Set the settings in the dialog box as shown below .

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look tr.: ,I From Dir~ to Doors ~"'r~~-·""""--. i Uamt

\;;:U' _ ',I J eACKliP FILES

.: OlD

i ~ A,chBUIloIn9'·rvI-3DVI......,-{lD}.dwg I ~ bOllnd><y_topo_,,,,,·2.dwg

=,

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~ I2!J

. l: ---.~---- trt

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I H. name' boundary _lopo_rev2.dw9

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Colors: Invert

POSibO"'fl9: IAuto -By Slwed Coordinate. .1

slece at: [Levell ... ]

~~----------~

L' C""ent view only r

, ._

, I~lin!-.

Levers: ~ .1

Import units: IAuto-Oeted .... 1 ~Qt,D~~~;·.

COI'lCei J

W. Orient to VIew Qpen

TOO[S ~I

The Link checkbox will keep the Civil 3D file linked to the Revit model. This is similar to an External Reference in AutoCAD. Preserve Colors will bring the Civil 3D file in with color lines. It is easier to see the color lines in Revit so you know exactly which lines are part of the linked file. By using the By shared coordinates for the Positioning, the Revit model will

23

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

acquire the origin from the Civil 3D file so it has the same set of coordinates. Set Place at level to Linked File Base - the level we created earlier.

Revit will issue a couple of warnings about not having Shared Coordinates. This is okay, since we are about to tell Revit to acquire the coordinates from the Civil 3D file.

24

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Setting Coordinates and Assigning Finish Floor Elevation

Once the Linked file is loaded into Revit, go to Tools ---t Shared Coordinates ---t Acquire Coordinates and select the linked Civil 3D file as the Link.

Coordination Review Interference Check

Project POSition/Or ientation ~ , Publish Coordinates

~- - - . - ,_ -- -- ----~.--------~--- .. -------~~--

t, -.

Specify Coordinates <It a Point

~ I Report Shared Coordinates

Element Ids

Switch to an Elevation view. You will see the linked in contours with Revit's two level lines. Most architects work with an assumed project elevation. This allows them to have a finish floor elevation on their documents of 0'-0". If you want to modify this to use an assumed elevation, go to Tools ---t Shared Coordinates ---t Specify Coordinates at a Point, and pick the Finish Floor Elevation and set its elevation to 0'-0".

Relocate this project in Shared Coordinates by specifying known values at the point you selected. Currentprojl;(t will move relative to globally positioned linh,

Ne.-w Coordinstes

East/West: I ~

~====~ North/South:

~====::::::; Elevation: 'i 0' 0"

'--- _J

A!1g1e from Pl'ojl;(t North to True North

25

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Creating a Revit Topography

The linked in Civil 3D file will be used to create the Revit Toposurface. Revit will use layers inside the linked file to build the toposurface. To begin this process, switch to the Site Plan view. The linked Civil 3D file contains many layers. To determine which layers to use, highlight the linked file and use the Query tool on the options bar to query the contours on the linked file. Depending on the file, there may be more than one layer that makes up the contours. Once layers have been noted, we can begin the Toposurface tool.

IJliIiljlJll1l'if.li'!!r: 11m f) '., ." .':( :'t;~~'~~'~:"!!I"_~ -: ~'~H3
! Parameter
Type -,.
Bloc:kName .'-
Layel
Sty!eay - -'

LlIyel
( Delete II Hlde inYI~w I I OK I
In the Design bar, go to the Site tab. Select Toposurface -+ Use Imported -4 Import Instance. Then select the linked in Civil 3D file as the link. The Add Points from Selected Layers dialog box will appear. Clear all the layers except the ones that were found to have the contours.

·OC-TOPO-GRAD ~1 CheckAe
'OC-TOPO-GRAO-CUT II
'OC-TOPD-GRADFILL Checf_ NonE
.OC-TOPO-GRAD-FLIN I
.0 C-TOPD-GRAD-FLlN-G,ading Invert
,0 (-T DPO-GRAN"a"ng
:0 (-TOPO-GRID
DC-TDPO-LABEL-LOCAIION LINE
!OC-TOPO-LABL
10 C-1 OPO ·LABL-Aeriol l~
iElC.TOPD-MAJR
0 . -,
10C.TOPO·Parking Tie
DC-TOPO-PNTS
,oC-TOPO-Pond
:g~'~~~~'~~T tv
l.c r~__]

OK 11 Cancel ',,~; '_, I Help
.. On the design bar, select Finish Surface to complete the Toposurface. The Revlt toposurface can be seen by switching to a 3D view and shading the view with Shading with

26

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Edges. To see the Revit Toposurface more clearly, the linked Civil 3D file can be hidden by turning it off in Visibility /Graphics.

Site Settings

The Site Settings can be adjusted to change the increments between contours, the graphics of the contours, and the Elevation of the Poche Base. The poche will show up in elevation or section views. By default this is set to a -10'-0", but this is 10' below the project's zero elevation. To set this correctly, it needs to be changed to 10' below the Finish Floor Elevation. In the example shown, the Finish Floor Elevation is set to 685' so the Elevation of the Poche Base is set to 675'.

lns:erl 1 I Delele

COI-rIOI.AI Lere ulspl~>1

0Allnlelv.l~ ol. ~ Pa~';1l9 TlTougb Eevecon .0' 0" ---I

Add.'~na! Conlour1

Start .1 Stop I IncreMnt I R~ Type J Subcategory I"'

1 O' 0" ·1000' 0" I' O' . Multip~ V.lue. ~econd.ry Conto

L

PI(jperty [)61,~

Angl. (l_"p_'.~_' Unit,

. ~':2~e~~ h~~ ~.~ .z, ~gle.e: mir'Me$ sec~~~ __ l~l

OK l i c"ncel II ApplJ I [ Help

Linking the Revit Building Model into the Revit Site Model

To link in the Revit Building model, go to File ~ Import/Link ~ Revit File. Move the building up to the finish floor elevation in an elevation view. In plan view, rotate and move the building into the correct position. Click on the building link and go to the Properties. In Properties, pick on the Shared location Parameter. Select the radio button beside Publish the shared coordinates system of the current project and record it in "'f then select Reconcile. This will push the coordinate system out to the Revit building model, so when the Revit site model is linked into the building model it will come in at the correct location.

27

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Arch B"ld"lng M Inlemall Chango

Shared ccordoetes 01 the curren! pr.Dl€'"ct .and 'ATCh 8wldlng tv!' have not. been reconcied TIl~ ts a eee-nee opereuon

8 PublISh the shered coordmte '1"1 e m ct the cunenl p'OjeO and record ~ in 'Arch Bui!ding.rvt' Thl~ w~1 modlly aBnamed IOC'i'llIOfl~ 01 In. bnked model

o Acq ... re the .haled coor.:lmalo system ol1>.<th Buildll1ij. 'vi' and ,ecord" in the currenl protecl Thi, will mDOily the cement model and all named ioc;,tiom 01 other Irhd model:

AeCOId selected kcl;lance a!. being po~oned at Location

R eC'OOCilet~J I Cancel I [ Help

When saving the site model after reconciling the coordinates to the building model, this dialog box will appear to confirm that the building model will be modified, In this dialog box, select Save and OK. This will push the coordinates out to the building model.

OK j [ Cancel II Help

s eve modified Iocation'l" :b.'ch 6",ld...grvt'?

OpbOO! 058 ... 0

o Do not save. Inslantes-wi~ return to last saved :pDii1l:iom when ink model " reopened

At this point, the Revit site model can be enhanced by adding property lines, contour labels, sub-reqions, assigning materials to the reqions, adding parking components, and adding landscape components.

This procedure will allow you to create a Revit site plan from a Civil 3D file. The Civil 3D file is not in reality part of the BIM model, but it is used to create a site model that is part of the B1M model.

28

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Using Google Earth

Importing In from GoogJe Earth

Architects can use Google Earth in the preliminary design phase to show a conceptual site plan. Early on in the project, little information may be known about the site. A quick search on Google Earth can locate the site, and then with the Globe Link plug-in, Revit can import that image as a background. You can then create an image similar to the one below for a schematic presentation. The Globe Link plug-in is available for download to subscription customers. It will allow you to either import Google Earth images in or export your model out to Google Earth.

29

From Dirt 10 Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Export Out to Google Earth

The Globe Link plug-in will also allows you to export or publish out to Google Earth. To publish the model to Google Earth, you will need to have Google Earth opened in the background, and be in a 3D view inside of Revit.

e [Toofs! ~t!1rl9,_5_\ .. _rl_n_dD_W __ E_Jtt_en_5_jo_n~5_H_e___;lp,-- -,

External Tools ~ :

tt Worl: Plane
Deugn Options
I
~--j
I Spelhnq., F7
P1
Match MA
T,;;p"" 1,~r~· .. "lII.:
Lineworl LW
Show HIdden Lines
o . , .... __ .. , 1 I:.J~I .. . ~ -- - Revit Ixtenuons fot Revit Archit~dU!e 2009 Batch Print

Acquire from Google Earth

Pubhshto Google Earth t;;,

Import Google Earth File (KMllKIAZ), E:w:port Google Earth File (KI,1L/t:lAZ)

When using the Publish tool, you will have the option to choose which components you would like to publish.

I NLJ~b-;r- -'.,1.

,8

, r Parking

r: W.ILSw ee pt

,4

'R: Walls

1S

[JI Curtain Panels

54

\' Rev ee I,

T clal ~ of Element,

21

85

Mi'I:r!",gblJ1l()t~lJ(n

~J Publish elemeoo. et n:paJ.&te nodes

OK

Corm! I I He\>

30

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

A Word about Licensing

Most of us know Google Earth as a free download and one of many free services that Google provides. However, check the license agreement for using Google Earth data before attempting to use this in a corporate environment. You will find that the information is free, but for personal use only. Any business use requires the Google Earth Pro package, which is a for-purchase service. For more information regarding this, visit http://earth.google.com.

31

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Presentation Renderings

Presentation renderings can be created to give you the ultimate site plan. Renderings can be done in either Revit Architecture, Civil 3D, or exported out to a more powerful rendering program like 3DS Max. Below is a rendering of our project done in Revit Architecture. Even with little entourage added to it, it can make a powerful statement.

32

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

NavisWorks

Autodesk NavisWorks brings another option into creating your ultimate site plan. Autodesk NavisWorks is a 3D Project Review software that allows you to experience your design before it is real. Autodesk NavisWorks has built in tools for visualizing, simulating, sharing, and analyzing your design. You can create animation sequences and create 4D project scheduling that is tied to a project schedule.

l~"; C" .,. :·C

33

From Dirt to Doors: Making AutoCAD Civil 3D and Revit Architecture Work Together in Harmony

Conclusion

The ideas presented here are not the best-case scenarios for collaboration between the Engineer and the Architect. At this time, design data does not flow freely in both directions - if a change is made, the respective models do not dynamically update. However, we are entering a brave new world - one that sees Architects and Engineers behaving as illustrated below. If we can keep this relationship alive until the software solutions fully support our endeavors, then the day will come when we reach that Utopia of the site being linked to the building in a DYNAMIC environment.

34

AUGI

CAD Camp

AutoCAD@

Revit Architecture 2009

From Dirt to Doors - Creating the Ultimate Site Plan Michael Massey

53-3

Course Summary:

Let's face it, sites need buildings and buildings just don't hover in space. Architects design buildings and engineers design the sites, but until now the two industries have been somewhat alienated from each other. This session will show how the two can truly work in harmony and utilize data that they never could before. We'll cover how to link the Civil sites with Revit models, and even show how Google Earth can be used to publish the total design. Join us to see exactly how Revit Architecture can be used to create the ultimate 3D site model!

Instructor:

Mike has more than 15 years of experience as an architect working on various types of project. He is currently Vice President of Architectural Design Solutions for ALACAD, where he helps firms assess, plan and implement new technology. His knowledge and enthusiasm for AutoCAD products run deep, as he has been a user of AutoCAD since Release 9 and AutoCAD Architecture since its debut. He has also developed a deep appreciation for Revit. Mike is a contributing author for Autodesk Official Training Courseware and a repeated speaker at Autodesk University.

~AUGI

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Role-Playing- Not Just a Geeky Game

To define a good workflow between the Architect and the Engineer, we must first define the roles of each. Some of these roles may be interchangeable, but most are the responsibility of one or the other.

The Architect: Typically, the Architect is approached by the developer first. The developer shares his vision or need with the Architect, and the Architect begins a study to see if the project is feasible. The Architect will typically play the role of Project Coordinator, and it is his responsibility to make sure all phases of the project are completed by qualified individuals. The Architect will typically have an overall site concept, and share that with consultants. It is the responsibility of the consultant to make sure that the work performed fits the concept envisioned by the Architect. The Architect will often require the services of a Civil Engineer, Structural Engineer, HVAC Engineer, Interior Designer, Land Surveyor, Electrical Engineer, Landscape Architect, Lighting Engineer, and many others to ensure project completion. These other individuals may all work for the same company, or they may be contracted out.

The Engineer: In the context of this paper, the term "Engineer" will refer to a Civil Engineer. The Engineer typically works for the Architect as a contractor. The engineer is responsible for the final site design, including site grading, utilities, building stakeout, environmental impact studies, geotechnical studies, and other areas. The Engineer has to follow the schedule of the Architect, and often has to deal with much iteration in the design process.

In the past, Architects and Engineers haven't worked together well. However, with new concepts such as 81M and Integrated Practice, the two are moving closer together as time goes by. In the future, we can expect to see the historical workflow shown on the following page change a bit, and become more of a parallel design process rather than a step by step process.

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Copyright © AUGI CAD Camp 2008

3

Integrated Practice

One of the hottest key terms in our industry today is Integrated Practice. This term has been widely used by the AlA in the last two to three years.

What does it mean?

There are many sources that try to describe the concept behind integrated practice. A quick search on the internet will show them. The American Institute of Architects sees Integrated Practice as "a new vision for practice that will support and engage architects as designers, while expanding the value they can provide throughout the project lifecycle ... At the core of an integrated practice are fully collaborative, highly integrated, and productive teams composed of all project life-cycle stakeholders. Leveraging early the contributions of individual expertise, these teams will be guided by principles of true collaboration, open information sharing, team success tied to project success, shared risk and reward, value-based decision making, and utilization of full technological capabilities and support. The outcome will be the opportunity to design. build. and operate as efficiently as possible."

AIArehitect

Int"grated Practice, It'$ Not lust About the Technology

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A simple layman's definition is that we all play well together, and this should begin at an earlier stage of the project. As an industry, we typically do not do this. We are not forthcoming with information and try to keep our knowledge to ourselves. We may all be working for the same goal, but we do so by ourselves, not as a team. Team work means that we are playing together as a team, not as separate individuals.

Team Work

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Copyright © AUGI CAD Camp 2008

5

BIM extends this same notion to building design by means of purpose-built software. The Revit platform delivers its highest benefits because it is based on a parametric modeling technology, which uses a relational database together with a behavioral model to capture and present building information dynamically.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) - Integrated process built on coordinated, reliable information about a project from design through construction and operation

A pure BIM solution will not only understand relationships between building components like walls, doors, windows, etc ... but will transparently manage these relationships throughout the project regardless of form or model complexity. Computability is the essential ingredient of 81M as it enables Architects, Engineers and Designers to spend more time thinking about a building rather than managing relationships that make up a building.

Revit Architecture Overview

The Revit 200 platform consists of three products. The illustration below illustrates each product and how it is related to the other.

Revit Architecture 2009 is the core product. It consists of all the tools architects need to complete their portion of the project. Revit Structure 2009 and Revit MEP 2009 are built on top of Revit Architecture 2009. Both Revit Structure and Revit MEP have majority of the tools Revit Architecture has plus industry specific tools to assist with their respective disciplines.

~ Autodesk User Group International

~ www.AUGI.com

AUG I Copyright © AUGI CAD Camp 2008

7

Property lines can also be labeled. This is an automatic way of placing the bearing and distances on each line.

Topography

Topography inside of Revit can either be created or imported. The Topography tool inside of Revit includes a point tool that allows the user to pick points with assigned elevations to create topography. This can be done quickly, but not with much accuracy. This will allow the Architect to indicate the slope on the site but the Architect will struggle with making revised contours.

Toposurfate t? Modify

I~~- A more accurate way of creating topoqraphv, is to import the information from the Engineers drawing file or point file. The Architect can import/link the Engineer's drawing file in and extract the paints from the file to build the topography. This can be done by using the Use Import Tool inside of the Topography tool.

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Copyright © AUGI CAD Camp 2008

9

What the Architect Wants

Typically the Architect needs critical information at key points in the project. As the project progresses, this information will grow in the level of detail. Breaking this information down into project phases will help clarify the workflow and wants from the Architect.

The following is based on a typical relationship between an Architect and a Civil Engineer. All projects and relationships are different and the information may not apply to all projects.

During the schematic design phase, the Architect needs broad information such as property lines and major contours. It is during this stage that the Architect is working with the owners to determine if the site is suitable for the desired project. Many times the Architect will try to make this determination on his own without consulting with the Engineer. The Architect will use aerial photographs and existing surveys (if available) to extract this information. Google Earth is quickly becoming the main resource for the Architect to see how the site and surrounding areas are laid out.

The architect will quickly develop a presentation site plan to show schematic building footprint, property lines, roads, parking, and adjacent buildings. This will be used to either sell or prove the project to owners, city officials, or to the public. Usually once the project is completed with this stage, an Engineer will be contracted to the project.

Typically the Architect plays the role of coordinator when it comes to working with all the external consultants. He will coordinate between Civil, Mechanical, Plumbing, and Electrical Engineers to ensure that tie-ins are correct. This information will not necessarily be used in the architectural model but will be used to coordinate the disciplines.

The Architect will rely on the Engineer to provide accurate survey information for property lines, setbacks, easements, and contours. The Architect will replace the schematic site information that he developed on his own with the accurate information provided to him by the Engineer.

Finish floor information will be need as soon as the Engineer determines the appropriate elevation. The Architect works on an assumed project elevation, while the Engineer works with true elevations. The project elevations are typically set to 0' at the finish floor level of the ground floor.

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Copyright © AUGI CAD Camp 2008

11

Working Inside of Civil 3D

It is the job of the Engineer to contact a Surveyor and have an existing boundary and topo created. This is what the Engineer will provide to the Architect, so that the Architect can ensure that the proposed site design fits within the confines of the property and does not encroach on any easements or rights-of-way. The Surveyor will go out collect the data that makes up the site, create the drawing, and then turn it over to the Engineer. It is from this drawing (shown below) that the Engineer will create his site design.

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GJ:lAUGI

Autodesk User Group International www.AUGI.com

Copyright © AUGI CAD Camp 2008

13

Grading can be done in one of two ways- projection grading or feature line grading. Projection grading is useful for scenarios such as creating ponds, tying in to an existing surface at a given slope, or automated creation of curbed islands. Feature line grading is useful for setting elevations on the footprints of buildings and edges of pavement. The Elevation Editor is the interface used for modifying feature lines. In the following illustration, you can see the elevations set around the edges of pavement on the south side of the site that we're working on.

I ~ J ~ Et3 0 Show grade breaks only

Station l Elevation Length Grade Ahead Grade Back I
&. 0+00.00 683.600' -'10.23' 0.154% -0.154%
.&. 0+4{),23 683.662' 205.95' -0.500% 0,500%
0 2+46.18 682.632' 205.95' 0.500% -0.500%
.&. 4+52.13 683.662' 133.81' 1.000% -1.000%
a: 5+85.94 685.000'
I Once the grading has been completed, pipes can be drawn on the plan to route water to any detention areas. Since there are currently no hydraulic calculation tools within Civil 3D, you will have to use a third party method for sizing pipes. However, once the pipe design has been created, it is relatively simple to add that design to the site. Using the Network Layout Tools toolbar, structures can be placed with pipes connecting them.

Network Layout Tools- Storm

'n I gg I ? I {9 IUt 4Sx 4!l~~~hR~ct~~~u ... I ;:,2-iN:-RC-P----- -

[} GW~ --~ I [~ Tj ~ I ~ I D I ~

Parts List: Storm Sewer

Surface FG COMPOSITE

Alignment: <none>

Once the pipes are placed on the site, they can be viewed in plan view, in profile view, or in a 3D view. It is easy to see in the illustration below that the pipe network for this site is a true 3D network of pipes. Fitting in with the 81M concept, this pipe network can be checked against itself or against other pipe networks to determine if there are any interferences. This is a great time-saver from times past, when plan checkers would spend hours with a printed set of plans, a pencil, scale, and calculator in order to interpolate distances and inverts and determine if any pipes existed in an interference condition. And since these pipe networks are all 3D and spatially aware, you can use interference checks to determine not only pipes that collide, but also pipes that are too close in

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Copyright © AUGI CAD Camp 2008

15

object enabler in order to see the custom objects, such as showing Civil 3D objects in AutoCAD Architecture. However, Revit has the enabler built in, and can read the data contained within.

Why Not Just Allow Direct Access?

The entities that we create in Civil 3D have intelligence and data behind them. They are not just "dumb" lines, arcs, and text. As a result, they cannot be edited in a program that cannot understand that intelligence. These custom objects are often referred to as AECC Objects. Examples of AECC Objects are contours, surface triangles, slope arrows, feature lines, point objects, figures, parcels, profiles, corridors, cross sections, and pipe networks.

So How Do I Make Sure That The Architect Gets These Objects?

In order for the Architect to use your information in anything but a purely graphical manner, he needs access to these entities. For example, if he wants to create a Toposurface inside Revit, he will need to create that Toposurface out of contours sent by the Engineer. To make sure this happens, it is simply a matter of changing the proxygraphics system variable to 1 and saving the drawing. It should be noted that the file size will increase with proxygraphics set to 1. This is because the program has to save not only the data within the drawing, but the image of the objects. Because of this, the default setting for proxygraphics is O. It would be the best practice if you were to leave this set at 0, unless you needed to share the drawing with someone else that required the setting. The following two illustrations show an existing ground surface shown in Civil 3D and in Revit Architecture. As you can tell, it's hard to discern any difference between the two.

"

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Importing the Civil 3D File

To begin the importing process, go to File -+ Import/Link -+ CAD Format. In the import dialog box, find the file to be imported. Set the settings in the dialog box as shown below.

Qpen I l. Cancel

Dot. taken T.g~

T <Ptf!X~ '!Jew,,,,

PreView

, r"··-··-~······--··---·-·i~::=····-----·-·--

File name: boundary_tppoJev2.dwg lb"",,,",~,,,,,,,,,,,,!_j~ File. of type: ~Ri;(;~d~·g-) ---- .

[J Current view only

.. __ ...

Colors: Invert

Positioning: (Auto" 6y Shared Ccx>rdinates TI

Placeat:! c::.::Le....::.vel...:._l __ ~ --'T I

Layers: ! AU .. I

;:::::==:::::=;

Import unit.: l Aulo"Detect ... J I.OOO(I;JO~

~~J Orient to View

]!:]Link

The Link checkbox will keep the Civil 3D file linked to the Revit model. This is similar to an External Reference in AutoCAD. Preserve Colors will bring the Civil 3D file in with color lines. It is easier to see the color lines in Revit so you know exactly which lines are part of the linked file. By using the By shared coordinates for the Positioning, the Revit model will acquire the origin from the Civil 3D file so it has the same set of coordinates. Set Place at level to Linked File Base - the level we created earlier.

Revit will issue a couple of warnings about not having Shared Coordinates. This is okay, since we are about to tell Revit to acquire the coordinates from the Civil 3D file.

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Creating a Revit Topography

The linked in Civil 3D file will be used to create the Revit Toposurface. Revit will use layers inside the linked file to build the toposurface. To begin this process, switch to the Site Plan view. The linked Civil 3D file contains many layers. To determine which layers to usel highlight the linked file and use the Query tool on the options bar to query the contours on the linked file. Depending on the file, there may be more than one layer that makes up the contours. Once layers have been noted, we can begin the Toposurface tool.

,----_D_el_ele _ _,11 Hide'", view

OK J

Type j.-,,: ~Blo~ck7Na~me------------~l:}

L;,yer '"1:, .>~

Fsty=le-=By ---l'-jl"~

Parameter

';_:f_

Layer

In the Design bar, go to the Site tab. Select Toposurface - Use Imported - Import Instance. Then select the linked in Civil 3D file as the link. The Add Points from Selected Layers dialog box will appear. Clear all the layers except the ones that were found to have the contours.

Invert

------:;;_-: I Check All

~===~

Check None

DC·TDPOGRAD OC·TOPOGRAD·CUT DC·TOPO.(iRAD-FILL DC·TOPO·GRAD·FLlN

DC· T OPO ·GRAD·FLlNGrading OC·TOPD·GRAD·Grading OC·TOPO·GRID DC·TOPOLABEL·LOCATION LINE DC·TOPO·LABl

DC· TOPO·LABL·Aeliai El c TOPO-MAlR

EI OC·TDPO·Palking Tie

DC· TOPOf'NTS

DOOPO·Pond

DC· TOPO·Sile

V

~_~_._nn_n "_-n_. I'--~_]

OK l I Cancel I "~P') Help

On the design bar, select Finish Surface to complete the Toposurface. The Revit toposurface can be seen by switching to a 3D view and shading the view with Shading with Edges. To see the Revit Toposurface more clearly, the linked Civil 3D file can be hidden by turning it off in

Visibility IGraphics.

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Arch Building,Iv(: Inlolnal L ,Change ..

I Shared coordnetes of the couent project and 'Arch Bu~ding.rvt' have not been reconciled. This is a one-time operation

o Publish the shared coordinate system of the current prcject and record it in 'Arch Building.rvt' . This wll modify all named locations of the 6nked model.

o Aequo. the shared coordinate system of 'Arch BuildingJvl' and record it·;n the « .. rent proiect. This will modify the current model end all named locations of other linked-models.

Record se'ected instance lis being positioned .t location-

Reconcilei)j I Cancel I ! Help

When saving the site model after reconciling the coordinates to the building model, this dialog box will appear to confirm that the building model will be modified. In this dialog box, select Save and OK. This will push the coordinates out to the building model.

OK _ j I C.ncel II Help

Save modified locations n 'Arch Build,ngNt?

Options G) Save

o Do not save. lnstarces will return to la,t saved PO~10M when link mode) is reopened

o Do nat save. Relain positions and make <Not Shared)

At this point, the Revit site model can be enhanced by adding property lines, contour labels, subregions, assigning materials to the regions, adding parking components, and adding landscape components.

This procedure will allow you to create a Revit site plan from a Civil 3D file. The Civil 3D file is not in reality part of the B1M model, but it is used to create a site model that is part of the B1M model.

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Export Out to Google Earth

The Globe Link plug-in will also allows you to export or publish out to Google Earth. To publish the model to Google Earth, you will need to have Google Earth opened in the background, and be in a 3D view inside of Revit.

- 3D View: {30U

Window Exter15iom.

F7

'Nork Plane

Design Options

Spelllnq.,

Match

l.inework

Show Hidden Lines

Batch Print

Acquire from Gooqle Earth

Publish to Goo qle Earth ~

Import Google Earth File (K~>ll/KMZ) Export Gooqle Earth File (KtlllL/KMZ)

~ Revit Extensions for Revit Architecture 2009

MA

LVI

When using the Publish tool, you will have the option to choose which components you would like to publish.

~AUGI

Cal.goO •• ,O Publish

Pleese select categories to putili;h

Category Name Number

11/;; .... .fijj'.. .:ii. i

lLI P.rki_rl_~____ ~_~~___ I

~;.:.~t~----~--------lis--------· = i

f:~: ~~~~~E_------~---J

! Cl ! Reveals 3

T otel Amounl 01 Elerrente

85

M-anage Infccmatian

I,ll Publish elements es seperele nndes

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Presentation Renderings

Presentation renderings can be created to give you the ultimate site plan. Renderings can be done in either Revit Architecture, Civil 3D, or exported out to a more powerful rendering program like 3DS Max. Below is a rendering of our project done in Revit Architecture. Even with little entourage added to it, it can make a powerful statement.

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Conclusion

The ideas presented here are not the best-case scenarios for collaboration between the Engineer and the Architect. At this time, design data does not flow freely in both directions - if a change is made, the respective models do not dynamically update. However, we are entering a brave new world - one that sees Architects and Engineers behaving as illustrated below. If we can keep this relationship alive until the software solutions fully support our endeavors, then the day will come when we reach that Utopia of the site being linked to the building in a DYNAMIC environment.

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