Arch | Tech

Call for Art

2012-01-22T21:29:00.006-05:00

Hey all.
It's that time of the year again - we're on the hunt for new cover art for next year's Mastering Revit and Revit Essentials books.

Think you've got what it takes to make the cover shot?

'cause here's the thing - our publisher was looking to shake it up a bit and gave us these two covers as ways of 'trying something new'. The first one I kinda get. But the 2nd one - am I supposed to be the goose? I'm just not seeing it.

So, help us help you help us. What we're looking for is a rendering of a Revit project (the rendering doesn't have to be done in Revit). Something you or your firm created that you'd let us use for the cover of the book.

Please email your submissions to masteringrevit@architecture-tech.com for consideration. Two really important points:

Don't send high-res images suitable for publication (yet). Just send medium-res PNGs and JPGs for now for review.
If accepted, you (or someone with the appropriate authority) will need to sign a waver allowing the images to be published. Then we'll resolve where to send/upload the high-res images.

What's in it for you? Fame. Glory. International distribution. Plus a free copy of the book with your art on it! We've gotten some great renderings for the last two years. We're hoping to see some more this year.

Effective User Groups, Part 1

2012-01-19T23:45:00.001-05:00

I’ve been thinking about sharing my user group experiences for some time now and an email came in asking me about just such information. (How do you approach businesses or individuals to attend and then speak at the meetings? How do secure sponsors for venues and food? How do you deal with topics specifically geared towards a particular discipline without losing the rest of your members?…) Needless to say, I am taking the initiative to write about the evolution of the New York City Revit Users Group.

In a series of posts, I’ll discuss the following topics:

Getting a group started
Organizing topics and speakers
Meeting locations
Group websites
Sponsors
A/V technology

I hope you will find my opinions interesting and I welcome comments about your experiences.

Getting a Group Started

There’s quite a bit of a story leading up to April 2006 that I now realize will have to be yet another series of posts on my journey with BIM. That said, I was 2 years into implementing Revit on World Trade Center Tower One at SOM and each of the New York area Autodesk resellers were starting to ramp up their own Revit user groups. As I recall, there were at least two – maybe three – separate groups and they all wanted me to speak at their events at one time or another. I thought, "there has to be a better way.”

Lesson #1: By the people, for the people

Users don’t need to sell anything. There…I said it. I have the utmost respect for the VAR’s (value-added resellers) and trainers with whom I’ve collaborated in my career, but (in my opinion) they don’t have that grassroots, real world, in the trenches, battle-scarred approach to the tools. Whether a VAR has an agenda or not, I frequently get that feeling when I attend a VAR-organized user group. We’ll talk more about sponsorship later…

The first step in creating a successful user group is finding some local people in your industry who share the same passion. Look at your current or most recent project team, consultants, contractors…did you make some new friends as you worked through the last all-night deadline? Get together for lunch a few times and you might have the seedlings for a user group!

Back in 2006, we didn’t have Twitter or Facebook, so getting the word out about new user groups was either by word of mouth or mass e-mailings (but you had to know your recipients first!). And websites were pretty expensive back then…if GoDaddy.com was around, you sure couldn’t buy a site for $9.99 and be up and running in a matter of minutes.

Today, you can create a group presence for free on Facebook with just about everything you’d need to get a group going. More on technology in a forthcoming post…

Lesson #2: Maintain regular meetings

Research has shown that the leading cause of user group death is apathy. OK, that’s my own observation, but I’ve seen it happen. Even if you just get together and have a roundtable discussion about BIM standards, it’s still a meeting and your attendees will come to expect the next regularly scheduled meeting.

Organizing Speakers and Topics

So, what’s the magic formula for finding interesting speakers and topics? Sorry, there isn’t one. In the early days, we did two things: spoke about our own experiences; and had VAR trainers give how-to lectures. The best advice I can give to new organizers is to network, network, and then network some more. I’ve met so many people at events like Autodesk University and those connections inevitably lead to memorable guest appearances for our group.

Lesson #3: Get help

We have been conducting regular monthly meetings for almost 5 years and with over 770 registered members, we only recently have achieved 10 volunteers on our advisory board. The overwhelming majority of user group attendees just want to receive content – not participate in creating the content. The best thing our group did was to assign vice presidents (those who were the most active and available to co-organize the meetings), and create an advisory board of members who just wanted to help contribute topic ideas and perhaps suggest some contact connections for guest speakers. The burden shouldn’t rest squarely on one person.

Lesson #4: Lock in dates for guests early

When you are speaking to potential guest speakers, try to get them to commit to a date far in advance. They may not know what their schedules look like two months or more ahead, but they will know when they have agreed to present at your group.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series, coming soon…

Event: BIM in Modular and Prefab Construction

2012-01-18T13:10:00.001-05:00

As the president of the New York City Revit Users Group (nyc-rug.com), James organizes monthly meetings around various BIM-related topics. The January 2012 meeting featured guest speaker Ian Atkins who shared some of his real-world experience in applying BIM to modular and prefabricated construction.
UPDATE:
Unfortunately, Kullman requested that the recording of the NYC RUG presentation be removed and we have complied. Please stay connected with our group for future topics and check out recordings from other meetings on our Vimeo group: http://vimeo.com/groups/revitusers

Preview of M-SIX's VEO™ Platform

2012-01-09T20:48:00.001-05:00

I’ve had a lot of requests for more information about our soon to be launched VEO™ platform and apps. With this in mind, I’m delighted to share a link to our "VEO™ Video Preview" available from M-SIX's company page:

http://tinyurl.com/8yu5g62

Since we'll be using Linkedin to communicate with our followers, we hope you click the ‘Follow M-SIX’ link and stay tuned!
All the best!
Phil

Stone Mountain | RTC North America

2012-01-09T18:42:00.001-05:00

Exclusive alumni registration for RTC North America ends this Friday (1/13/12). If you attended RTC in Huntington Beach last year - check your inbox for the special registration link. Only four days left!

I did. I spent $40 on a lightbulb

2012-01-05T06:42:00.001-05:00

But you have to believe, it's the best light bulb ever. I mean ever. The picture doesn't do it justice, really. You have to consider - what is one looking for in a light bulb? Well, there's LIGHT, but there's also a quality to that light. Which is why when you go to buy your spouse jewelry for a holiday gift they always have halogen lights. Those make things sparkle the best. Or why hospitals or offices have always been associated with fluorescent lighting. Cool, economical, and slightly institutional.

But in your home, you want the nice, warm glow of an incandescent. Downside is, if you live in California, they're illegal and if you're sustainable in any way, you don't buy them.

That's where LEDs come in. 10x more the life of a CFL and NOW, FINALLY, in the same light spectrum as an incandescent. I bought one of these for christmas and I have to say, I'm having a hard time telling it from a regular incandescent bulb. Plus, it's got a 25,000 hour life expectancy.

[UPDATE:]
25,000 hours of light from this bulb.
I can run it 8 hours a day for over 8 years before it burns out.
it uses 4.8x less energy than one incandescent.

60x24/1000*.22 (MO) = 32 cents (one incandescent for 24 hours)
60x25,000 / 1000 *.22 = $330 (one incandescent for 25,000 hours)

$68.75 for 25,000 hours of an LED bulb.
$330 for 25,000 hours of an incandescent (not counting replacement costs)

Mind = Blown

2012-01-03T17:52:00.001-05:00

CloudOn: Your iPad, Microsoft Office and Dropbox.

Integrated.

Start here.

Update: Seems that they're not taking on any new customers. No reasons given buy I wouldn't be surprised if the response was a bit overwhelming yesterday. If you downloaded the app you can still register an account (even if you didn't create one by yesterday's cutoff).

The process to get signed up is really straightforward. Launch the app to be taken to the home screen. Select the option to Create an Account.

Next, type in your email address and a password for your account.

Then you'll be given the opportunity to Add your Dropbox account. If you don't have one, I'd strongly suggest you check it out. Cloud storage and shared folders. Mac, Windows, Linux. 2GB free.

If you already have a Dropbox account, just add the email address and password associated to the account.

That's about it. Now it'll log in.

Once you're logged in, everything is pretty straightforward. You can see all your Dropbox folders (and there's options to change this from a list to a folder or grid display).

You can also create new folders as well as create new World, Excel or Powerpoint files. You can only view and edit these three file types. It'll be interesting to see if CloudOn adds photo-editing tools in the future.

I tested opening an existing Word document. CloudOn opened the docx file just fine. I was able edit the document (including image cropping tools).

Here's a screen shot of the text editing features. Standard ribbon, keyboard and function keys.

In conclusion:

Pros: Very useful. Not as responsive as you can imagine. Fat fingers will struggle a bit with the smaller icons.

Cons: Autosave. I can't figure out how to turn it off. Closing the file seems to automatically save your work. Sure - you can "undo-undo-undo…" just to be sure. But I prefer to be able to deliberately save (or not) when I'm done with a file.

Overall: It's free. It's useful. It works. And it let's me work inside my cloud, rather than restrict me to Apple's, Microsoft's or Google's internet cul-de-sacs.

Thesaurus fun, part one

2012-01-03T11:14:00.001-05:00

It’s good practice to keep your mind sharp by focusing on something other than BIM. In cleaning up my desk drawers and old files, I have stumbled upon some brain teasers and funny memos collected in the earlier years of my career. I’ll share them with you in this and future posts.

The following phrases are well-known sayings that have been ‘translated’ using more elaborate words. See if you can figure out what they mean. (Hint: #1 is ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star.’)

Scintillate, scintillate, diminutive asteroid.
Members of an avian species of identical plumage congregate.
Surveillance should precede saltation.
Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.
It is fruitless to become lachrymose over precipitately departed lacteal fluid.
Freedom from incrustations of grime is contiguous to rectitude.
The stylus is more potent than the claymore.
It is fruitless to attempt to indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.
Eschew the implement of correction and vitiate the scion.
The temperature of the aqueous content of an unremittingly ogled saucepan does not reach 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.
Where there are visible vapors having their prevalence in ignited carbonaceous materials there is conflagration.
Sorting on the part of mendicants must be interdicted.

New books in the new year

2011-12-29T11:31:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having a good holiday, getting rested, and recuperating from a lot of fun. We, on the other hand, are using some holiday slow time to work through some new changes to Mastering Revit and Revit Essentials for the new year. Some exciting stuff!

I wanted to drop a quick note and tell you to follow us on Facebook (or keep checking the blog) as we're soon going to be doing some give aways for the new year.

Happy Holidays!

Wonder Twin Powers Activate

2011-12-22T06:49:00.000-05:00

Like Madonna but hate bluegrass?

Like Bluegrass but hate Madonna?

Now you can have the best of both worlds!

Who'd a thunk? More about the Packway Handle band here. Oh yeah - bonus - listen closely to the last ten seconds (very carefully).

Don't like Bluegrass or Madonna? Careful…this song's addictive!

Last Minute Gift Idea

2011-12-21T10:22:00.001-05:00

Whether you’re celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah this time of year, consider this for the architect or designer in your life…

Both Mastering Revit Architecture 2012 and Revit Architecture 2012 Essentials are still on sale from most online retailers and in your local book store. They are also available in the iTunes Store (Mastering/Essentials) and on Amazon for the Kindle (Mastering/Essentials). There are some really great prices available now…(check out Mastering on iTunes!)

‘Mastering’ is the perennial best seller that takes the casual Revit user above and beyond the basics into Jedi status. This is much more than a ‘picks and clicks’ book – it includes so much insight into the reasons and workflows for using various tools and settings.

‘Essentials’ is a new venture for the Mastering author team. It is designed for an academic or training environment and is targeted for beginners who have had little or no experience with Revit. Each chapter contains detailed step-by-step exercises that can be used in 90 minute lessons. Various chapters can be combined to create a customized 3-day training program to get yourself, your students, or your employees up to speed with Revit Architecture.

It's That Time Of Year (Again)

2011-12-16T12:17:00.001-05:00

Intolerant people accusing intolerant people of being intolerant. Fortunately we have Mr. Hankey to remind us all to try and get along and bake cookies. Enjoy!

We used to celebrate Festivus. But the annual "Airing of Grievances" got to be too damn much. Not to mention that scotch and pumpkin pie is a dangerous mixture before demonstrating "Feats of Strength".

Lose the Battle, Win the War

2011-12-13T15:12:00.002-05:00

I'm with George. Those Twilight books are a menace. Milly (12) says the books are full of "romance and intrigue...but little more". Yet she can't put them down.

Protect the fluffy kittens

2011-12-12T02:47:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been frustrated when people say "ATM machine" or "department of redundancy department?" I feel your pain. Since the building industry has adopted the acronym BIM, it has generated a new phenomenon...the "BIM model." If you're reading this and thinking to yourself, 'hey, what's wrong with that?' then perhaps you mean to say 'building information model model?' Some of my friends and colleagues have suggested that saying 'BIM model' implies the verb interpretation of BIM so you get 'building information modeling model,' but I think that's a thin argument.

In an attempt to relieve some of our pain and mental anguish, some of us have taken to social media channels to clarify this sampling of techno-speak. John Tocci, Jr (@tocci2) tweeted: "Every time someone says 'BIM model' a fluffy kitten dies.' Being a big fan of dramatic statements as a vehicle to get a point across, I shared this theory during my presentation at the Washington, DC BIMForum and it seems to have gone viral. Check out the hashtag #fluffy_kittens.

The 'fluffy kitten' theory has even expanded beyond the borders of 'BIM model' into the realm of Levels of Development or LOD. Jim Bedrick now evokes the kitten theory when someone refers to an 'LOD### model.' This will be a full topic I'll discuss in a future post, but let's just say Jim gets equally upset with this as he does with 'BIM model!' Other folks such as Dan Russell from Sundt Construction prefer to apply a more positive spin to the kitten theory. Instead of 'killing kittens,' Dan says that every time someone says 'BIM model,' a coyote gets lunch!

Now, before you go out to the next BIM conference and start heckling the speaker by meowing every time he or she says...that phrase...let me explain a better solution to the problem. As an involved member of the National BIM Standard-US project committee, I have been a staunch supporter of the definition of standard terminology for industry BIM uses. Although BIM uses, workflows and information exchanges have been under specific development by buildingSMART international for quite some time, definitions were published in Penn State University's BIM Execution Planning Guidelines (bim.psu.edu). Without describing this effort in too much detail in this post, I encourage you to become familiar with these definitions.

Instead of abusing the redundant term 'BIM model,' perhaps we could start using some of the following terms:

Design Authoring model
Energy Analysis model
Existing Conditions model
3D Coordination model:

Discipline Design Model
Aggregated Design Model
Trade Fabrication Model
Aggregated Fabrication Model

Of course, the industry is gradually starting to look at model servers to support collaboration and information exchange, so these ‘model’ terms may be short-lived. In the meantime, do the world a favor and help protect our fuzzy, little feline friends...don't say 'BIM model.'

RTC USA Prospectus Released

2011-12-09T15:19:00.001-05:00

The exhibitor and sponsor prospectus went out last night around 11pm on the east coast. If your company didn't get the email, please click the above image or this link to download the PDF. Then get back to me ASAP.

And in other news, registration links open soon. First 100 "early birds'" get last years pricing.

Come on Wes! Get those links going…James' and Eddy's mouse button fingers are poised!

Performance-Based Design at NYCRUG

2011-12-06T17:33:00.001-05:00

The next meeting of the New York City Revit Users Group will feature Matt Jezyk and Zach Kron from Autodesk. They will be speaking about advanced form finding techniques in Revit and Vasari that are connected to performance analysis work flows. If you’ve seen Zach’s blog at buildz.blogspot.com or his class at Autodesk University with William Lopez Campo, you’ll know you’re in for a treat!

When: Weds December 14 at 6:00 pm

Complete details can be found at nyc-rug.com, or you can register for the free webcast!

BIM Content for Revit

2011-12-03T10:10:00.001-05:00

This post contains a listing of known websites hosting content for Revit. We’ll try to keep this post updated as sites change or new ones are created. This information was partially compiled from Mario Guttman’s AU 2011 class “Revit Family Counseling” (visit Mario’s own site whitefeet.com for custom Revit tools).

Manufacturer’s Content

Autodesk Seek – content aggregated by Autodesk; contains default Revit families as well as manufacturer-specific content, low to moderate quality control; content in a variety of formats, search can filter for specific formats; free, no registration required.

ARCAT – generic and manufacturer-specific content; modeled by ARCAT, high quality control; free, no registration required.

bimstore – manufacturer-specific content; modeled by bimstore, high quality control; free, registration required for downloading content.

SmartBIM – manufacturer-specific content; modeled by SmartBIM, high quality control; free, no registration required.

Sweets – manufacturer-specific content, modeled by manufacturers, quality control unknown; various formats, can’t filter by format type; free, registration required for download; much of the 3D content is in SketchUp format.

RevitComponents – manufacturer-specific and general content, mostly modeled by site author; quality control unknown; free, registration not required.

ArcXL – Revit and CAD details (2D); drafted by ArcXL, quality control unknown; free, registration required for download.

Content for Sale

Broutek – buy and download content; purchase content credit packs which range from $32 to $60 per credit; content custom made by request/payment.

PinnacleCAD – custom content creation for fee; samples available.

Yellowbryk – premade Revit content and custom content services.

RevitBay – premade Revit content.

FormFonts – subscription site with a variety of content and formats, can’t filter for specific formats

TurboSquid – variety of general content; high quality. (Hyperlink will direct to Revit content)

ArchVision RPC – wide variety of rendered entourage; high quality.

Community Content

RevitCity – downloadable user content, no quality control; free, registration required for downloading content.

RevitForum – downloadable user content, no quality control; free, registration required for downloading content.

Project Sauron

2011-12-02T21:45:00.000-05:00

AU2011 was wonderfully successful. Quite a few people have been asking about M-SIX and VEO™. Unfortunately, unless you attended one of our closed door presentations, I can't go into any detail at the moment.

However, I can say this:

When you're building the world's first truly integrated, collaborative and cloud-based platform for the design, construction and operation of building and infrastructure…not just any dataset will do.

-Mort

Making More $$$ in Tough Times - AB2340

2011-11-28T12:36:00.001-05:00

PDF Download: http://tinyurl.com/bsoyp2l

iPad Download: http://tinyurl.com/87d8w39

Please enjoy and feel free to leave comments.

Up, Up and Away

2011-11-11T17:10:00.001-05:00

Update!

2011-11-08T19:58:00.002-05:00

Calling All Abstracts!

2011-11-04T15:27:00.001-04:00

Great Location:

EVERGREEN MARRIOTT CONFERENCE RESORT
STONE MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA

Dates:

THURSDAY 28 – SATURDAY 30 JUNE, 2012

Abstracts Due:

WEDNESDAY 30th NOVEMBER 2011

Links to Abstract Submission:

HERE

One More Thing (™)

2011-11-01T22:21:00.001-04:00

Building Pumpkins

2011-11-01T14:29:00.001-04:00

Zach Kron has done it again! His annual “Parametric Pumpking Carving” contest has drawn out the absolute best in Revit modeling ability. Check out the winners posted on the Buildz blog:

http://buildz.blogspot.com/2011/10/happy-halloween-iii.html

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T15:53:00.002-04:00

Viva Las Vegas!

2011-10-25T10:37:00.001-04:00

Have you guys seen this!!??

3Dconnexion is offering a trip to Autodesk University in Las Vegas on Nov. 29 through Dec. 1. This includes airfare, accommodations and a SpacePilot PRO 3D mouse! But you have to register by midnight PDT on November 7, 2011.

To enter this drawing, please complete fill out the brief form over at 3Dconnexion.

Link here.

The winner will be contacted by email or phone on November 8, 2011 and will have 3 days to claim prize.

And if you get to go to AU 2011 compliments of 3Dconnexion via the link on this blog, you hereby agree to share the goodness by offering to have a drink with James, Eddy and Phil. Okay - this last paragraph is not found in the official terms and conditions of 3Dconnexion's offer, which can be found over here.

BIM+IPD Ensure Success at HOK New York

2011-10-14T09:39:00.001-04:00

The latest monthly meeting of the NYC Revit Users Group was a joint event with the NYC Metro BIM Group and featured a panel discussion about the use of BIM and Integrated Project Delivery for the relocation of HOK’s New York City office. We had a fantastic turnout and many fantastic questions to feed the dialogue. We chose a few key representatives of the project team as follows:

Architect/Owner – HOK; Jason Zoss
Engineer – Flack + Kurtz; Cheryl Massie, Frank Padilla and John Gerney
Construction Mgr – Structuretone; Arash Yaghoubi
Subcontractor – ABCO Peerless Sprinkler Corp.; Patrick Bowe

Here’s the recorded session (note that the formal presentation starts around 10 minutes into the recording):

We were also delighted to have attendees view the live webcast from the following locations: Boston, California, St. Louis, Chicago, Alaska, Egypt, Vancouver, New Jersey, Alabama, and Washington, DC! Watch for our upcoming meetings at http://nyc-rug.com

RIP Steve Jobs | 1955-2011

2011-10-06T09:11:00.003-04:00

How easy to criticize something. How difficult to make something. How much more difficult to make something beautiful and how uncommon to make a difference.

Interoperability is Cool

2011-10-06T09:11:00.001-04:00

Who says it’s not hip to be “OPEN?” Have a listen to this diddy and be sure to check out the new database of software with IFC import/export capabilities.

Autodesk in the cloud

2011-09-27T15:14:00.005-04:00

This is interesting, especially in the light of what's happening lately. Rumor has it that Dropbox turned down a $800M purchase bid by Apple earlier this year. Apple is releasing their own iCloud later this month (www.apple.com/icloud). Now it looks like Autodesk is getting in the game with a 1 GB option that will allow you to post and share files to their cloud offering.

What makes this really interesting to me is the race to host your data. Microsoft has a 25GB option, Amazon has one for 5GB. They're seemingly everywhere. Do you use one? Will you use ADSK's?

UPDATE: Just because this is important to me, it doesn't seem to work on a Mac. which is odd for a web-based platform. Maybe v1.2.

All The Right Enemies

2011-09-22T06:16:00.000-04:00

Good news from FLAT TIRES HQ: "All The Right Enemies" has been accepted by Pandora's Music Genome Project. Here's a list of the straight-up rock and roll goodness (all available here on iTunes):

Drink It Dry
Rock & Roll Weekend
All the Right Enemies
Trailer Daze
Pretty Lady
She's Alright
You're Gonna Like It
See See Rider
Fornication
Rag On
Carolina S**t Stomp

So to celebrate - here's a link to download the opening track "Drink It Dry" (NSFW).

Enjoy!!!

And as an added bonus Eddy will be pleased to know (as I was going to the post office anyway) I've gone ahead and dropped off my share of the signed contracts for Mastering Revit 2013. Here we go!

Job Opening

2011-09-19T10:58:00.001-04:00

Let's see if Netflix CEO Reed Hastings can make it out of the company before the screen door hits him.

Strike One: Raise prices too fast too soon and without believable explanation. Lose 1 million customers.
Strike Two: Walk away from negotiations with 1st run content provider Starz.
Strike Three: Further confuse your customers by splitting your business into separate content delivery models.

Result? Piss off your customers long enough and you'll eventually piss off your share holders that don't like watching their investments fall by nearly 50% in 8 weeks.

I predict more hemorrhaging is on the way. Usually the only thing that'll slow the bleeding it is announce the person that keeps driving into the ditch has been told to let go of the wheel and get out of the car.

Crashed and Burned

2011-09-17T12:20:00.001-04:00

I installed Bootcamp this week to get better Revit performance on some rather large files. I also installed an application to allow access to my OSX partition from Windows 7.

And in the process corrupted my OSX partition.

Carbon Copy Cloner saved it all and 24 hour later I'm up and running. I could have restored from a 2 week old Time Machine backup - but wasn't willing to lose two weeks of effort.

If you have a Mac - Carbon Copy Cloner rocks. Grab it.

And go ahead and grab Tinker Tool while you're at it. Great for showing access to all the hidden files and such.

Now's Your Chance

2011-09-05T10:22:00.010-04:00

Mark your calendars! The FLAT TIRES are headed to California for three days this week:

Thursday @ The Doll Hut in Anaheim
Friday @ Eli's Mile High Club in Oakland
Saturday @ The Shakedown Bar in San Diego

It was almost a year ago I had the fortune of seeing the FLAT TIRES at the Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte. The sound was awful - not because it was so loud, but because the building is built like a concrete bunker so the music bounces off everything. And about the only thing that could absorb the noise was the people in the room.

So I stood to the side of the stage - behind - the speakers. Playing loud is the easy part. But sincerity and skill are difficult to sustain. And I was blown away. Here's a broadcast cut of "Pretty Lady". No vocals. Listen carefully to the instrumentals:

The guitarist is equal parts Chuck Berry, Keith Richards and Johnny Ramone. The drummer tightly keeps time slightly ahead of everyone else (listen for the quick lead-in snare at the end of fourth measures) which anxiously drives the music forward. The bassist refuses to complicate matters yet plays tonal counterpoints to the drums, moving up and down the fretboard in minor arpeggios.

And the lead singer? It's something about the way he looks at the crowd.

You've probably seen this look before. It's the same kind of look your dad gave you when you were a kid and you had company for dinner and your mum tapped a big spoonful of somethingyoudontlike on your plate. You started to look up and say something about what you were and weren't going to eat. But your dad's eyes were already waiting for you with...that look.

And whatever it was on your plate? You ate it.

That look. The lead singer looks at the crowd with that look. It's the visual and lyrical equivalent of hurricane force winds surrounded on three sides by musical tornadoes.

Here's how it all comes together:

Needless to say - I hope to see you all in California. So put down the mouse and step away from the keyboard. And bring along a couple of friends as witnesses.

Because you can download the music. But you can't download the experience.

Thursday
Doll Hut
107 South Adams Street
Anaheim, CA 92802-1001
(714) 533-1286
Add to Calendar

The Doll Hut

Friday
Eli's Mile High Club
3629 Martin Luther King Jr Way
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 350-7818
Add to Calendar

Eli's Mile High

Saturday
Shakedown Bar
3048 Midway Dr
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 487-0373
Add to Calendar

Shakedown Bar

Love Sketching?

2011-08-30T14:27:00.002-04:00

Every BIM-guru I know starts by sketching rather than staring at a computer screen. Perhaps there something immediate and emotively satisfying about a sketchbook and pencil that is difficult to recreate. Even when faced with a bunch of parametric rules, it's wonderful to figure out a question with a pencil before you propose an answer with a bunch of reference points, lines and planes (and the odd paramatized void is still pretty useful, Mr. Jezyk). ;)

I'm not saying that I don't lovelovelove the fantastic Wacom display that I've been using in preparation for the next Mastering Revit book. It more a matter of portability.

So there's this. And I'm blown away:

Congrats Wacom for continuing to think outside of the box. While so many other companies are trying to ape the iPad, you guys come along and do something really original. Yes - there are other paper/pen input devices. But the addition of layers (!) and vectors (!) are going to allow designers far more flexibility than just capturing rough data - like being able to scale up a drawing with no loss in like quality.

And from the overview it looks to be Mac and PC compatible.

The bad news? Eddy's birthday has already passed for the year…so close!

Happy Friday, You Giant Cock

2011-08-26T12:29:00.008-04:00

One of these images is a photograph of Rob Charlton, Chief Executive of _space group.

The other is a Giant Cock.

I could really use your help figuring out which is which.

This past spring, we put a call out for images as possible covers for either the 2012 Essentials and Mastering books.

Our promise?

Finally (very important) - if one of the shiny new renderings you submit is selected for the cover art - expect some really cool piece of hardware, software, something to show up on your doorstep about the time our book hits the shelves (exactly what is to be determined...but we've got a few great ideas!).

So guess what happened?

The guy that submitted the image was the Project Manager. So we (finally) sent a shiny, new AppleTV to him as thanks. It arrived this week.

The Project Manager decided (in fairness) to give the shiny bit of Apple to someone else - the BIM Guy that actually rendered the image (coincidentally, on his own time and after a lot of hard work to prove that Revit could be used to create compelling visualizations - hey - point proven!).

So PM tells BIM guy that he's going on holiday and he'll leave the hardware on his desk for BIM guy to pick up.

BIM guy goes into work but can't find it. It's not on PM's desk. Where could it be?

Turned out that before BIM Guy could pick it up, Chief Executive got wind there was new Apple Goodness in the office, somewhat or somehow related to the Essentials cover. Chief Executive then informed the PM that the rendering used for the book was created by the company, therefore (insert giant illogical leap of reasoning here) the AppleTV didn't belong to him.

The AppleTV belonged to the company.

PM argued with the Chief Executive. It rightfully belonged to the PM and was a gift given to him. And he wanted it given to the BIM guy. BIM guy had worked for the company for the past seven years and would be leaving soon to start his PhD. PM wanted BIM guy to have it.

Chief Executive would not be convinced. The AppleTV belonged to the company. And to drive home the point, Chief Executive had the IT Department install the AppleTV in his office and hook it up to his iTunes account.

So this is where I'm confused. One of the images is Rob Charlton, Chief Executive of _space group, who has a shiny, new AppleTV in his Chief Executive office. The other is a picture of a giant cock.

Which is which?

Happy Friday, you Giant Cock.

One More Thing...

2011-08-25T09:28:00.001-04:00

Chin up dude. You drove an Aston Martin to work.

Back to School (2011)

2011-08-25T08:41:00.001-04:00

Update on the annual back to school photos!

2002 - Preschool

2003 - Kindergarten

2004 - First and Preschool

2005 - Second and Kindergarten

2006 - Forgot to take pictures - close enough. :)

2007 - Kindergarten, Second and Fourth

2008 - One, Three, Five

2009 - 2, 4, 6

2010 - Third, Fifth and Seventh

2011 - Fourth, Sixth and Eighth.

Last year of middle school for Harrison - and first year of middle school for Milly! Note to self: next year Harrison wears a different t-shirt!

Program Management Integrated with BIM

2011-08-24T11:35:00.001-04:00

The August 2011 meeting of the New York City Revit Users Group featured a presentation by Greg Schleusner of the firm-wide BIM leadership team at HOK. Greg demonstrates how the use of BIM-based program management tools such as dRofus can support and improve the project delivery process. The discussion focuses on the benefits of adequately documenting program requirements and then comparing those to an evolving design model.

NOTE: The featured presentation starts at about 12:00 into the recording.

Complete meeting recording from NYC RUG

Adventure Time

2011-08-16T06:53:00.000-04:00

I've had three calls in the last two days asking for names of experienced BIM managers looking for a change of scenery. I personally know the individuals hiring - they're offering interesting projects and above market compensation.

One of the positions is in India and salary includes accommodations as well as staff that will cook and clean for you.

If you're interested, please email me and don't forget to attach your resume.

All correspondence will be kept in confidence.

Friday Reprieve #34

2011-08-12T06:31:00.005-04:00

It's been a while. Been busy. Sorry. But have to share this short story. I think it says something about technology and the power of accurate information. I have a much longer thought on data integrity, but i'll save that one for later. In the meantime....

There was a knock on my door. My 15 year old daughter answered it and came back into the kitchen carrying a yellow bag.

D(aughter): Some guy gave me this bag. It has a yellow book in it. What is this?

Me: It's the Yellow Pages. We get those every year.

D: What's the Yellow pages? (remember, she's 15).

Me: It's what you're holding. Seriously. It's the Yellow Pages.

D: Seriously. what are the yellow pages?

Me: Ok, it's a book of all the local businesses and phone numbers. It's how we used to find a pizza delivery place or a restaurant or any other service. They give you one every year.

D: So, like google?

Me: Yes, like google. Open it up and look at it.

The first entry she flips to - and I'm not joking - is one called: Party and Clow Supplies. and has the number listed.

D: Dad, what is Clow? Is that something you do at parties? Like a verb? Do people Clow?

Me: I think it was supposed to be Clown supplies.

D: So, this is wrong and it's going to be wrong for a year and everyone looking for Party and Clown supplies will see this instead?

Me: Yes.

D: This thing sucks. Can I recycle it and just use Google?

Best Building Simulations?

2011-08-11T15:35:00.001-04:00

I just received a link to this video from Arch|Tech friend, David Light. All I can say is – wow.

The Leadenhall Building Animation

Creating Elliptical Walls In Revit

2011-08-05T14:42:00.016-04:00

Here's one way to get around making a series of walls in Revit that come Pretty Darn Close (TM) to being elliptical. But first, you need to take a moment and watch David Light's version:

What's deceptive about this (for those of you that don't know David) is that David has a foreign accent. This gives him a voice of certainty and moral authority that is unquestionable. I (on the other hand) have no such advantage. My accent is an annoying twang that starts in New Jersey and finishes in Charlotte, NC. And I talk to fast when I get excited.

That being said, I think I've figured out this solution. But rather than subject (get it..."subject"...as in British subject...as in USA=1, Britain=0...oh never mind) you to my voice, I've added a sound track courtesy of the FLAT TIRES:

And if this solution is to the satisfaction of the Revit community, David has agreed in to buy me a beer!

Let the voting begin!

DO THE TON!

2011-08-03T16:02:00.001-04:00

What at first glance looks rough and busted on the outside - but when you grind off the dirt and rust, it turns out to be something extraordinary and beautiful underneath - all because of an amazing group of artists?

The FLAT TIRES music!
An old CAFE RACER looking to be rebuilt from the ground up!

So it's only fitting that the Discover Channel series Cafe Racer is going to be showcasing music by the FLAT TIRES during the second season.

It all starts tonight from 9pm-10pm EST. More showtimes here:

http://www.caferacertv.com/airtimes-show-information/

I know? Crazy right? I mean, there's no way a guy like Autodesk CEO Carl Bass would ever listen to the FLAT TIRES. However, Carl really likes to build things. The ebony bench he designed and put on display at AU last year was really incredible.

So how do we get Carl Bass (or Lynn Allen for that matter) to ever listen to the FLAT TIRES? Well - when you can't get through the front door, climb in a side window. Or in the case of the FLAT TIRES - climb through the television.

We don't know exactly which episodes are going to showcase the music of the FLAT TIRES. But the producers have all their original singles as well as remastered broadcast cuts (no vocals) and word is they really dig it. And they've gone as far as put together a list of all the bands that will be showcased during this season over here: http://www.caferacertv.com/music/.

So sit back, tune in, pull the top off a cold one and enjoy!

Happy Birthday Eddy!!!

2011-08-01T15:53:00.003-04:00

Yeah - I know. I didn't say "Happy Birthday" to you yesterday when everyone else was saying it on Facebook. Next to Justine, you're my favorite hippy. You'll have to guess which image I was going to use (and didn't) when doing a search for "happy birthday" on Google images. Go ahead. Search.

In the meantime - here's a far less traditional but way more fun version of Happy Birthday. Looks like HNTB but Smells like Teen Spirit.

And speaking of musical videos, the FLAT TIRES have posted a new monthly single. Click, rip, mix, burn and share. Link here.

What else? Footage from the Milestone show with the Murder Junkies at the end of last April is getting posted on YouTube. You know how there's a "splash zone" that happens at Sea World, Blue Man Group and Gallagher? The FLAT TIRES have one too (0:15).

What? Nothing on BIM?

Patience.

Resistance is Futile

2011-07-25T07:52:00.001-04:00

Dear Anaheim, Oakland and San Diego,

Go ahead and install the deadbolts on your doors, buy extra ammo and stock up on PBR...while supplies last.

See you in Cali!

Generative Design and Parametric Structures

2011-07-08T13:33:00.001-04:00

The July 2011 meeting of the New York City Revit Users Group featured a presentation by Robert Otani, PE, LEED AP and Jonatan Schumacher from Thornton Tomasetti.

By creating a collaborative dialog with the designer at the conceptual phase, the architectural, engineering & fabrication models can be developed simultaneously from the same geometric reference model, allowing a holistic design process. Robert and Jonatan elaborate on this concept with case studies of actual project work with a variety of architectural firms.

Thornton Tomasetti (TT) is an internationally recognized engineering company whose computational geometry and automation team works at the forefront of advanced practices. TT utilizes a wide range of commercially available as well as customized digital tools and automation procedures to model, simulate, and optimize engineering projects of various scales worldwide.

Note: The TT presenters begin about 7 minutes into the recording.

Starting vs. Starting Over

2011-07-01T21:24:00.003-04:00

If you missed Autodesk CEO Carl Bass present his keynote at RTC USA you missed something wonderful.

First of all - he didn't wear of those wrap-around headsets. He leaned into the podium in a way that seemed to "ground" him (after having just descended from northern California) and began to present his case in a refreshing and relaxing manner.

Side note: on the topic of headsets, please allow me to say what everyone else is thinking: it's really hard to take anyone serious while they're wearing one. Madonna got really close and failed. Everyone else kinda looks like they escaped from a call center.

I'm trying...but I think my "come-hither" look is broken.

If only there were a rule of thumb. Well it turns out there is. When all else fails it pays to remember "WWJD": What Would Jobs Do.

Left Image: Look into my eyes...you need a new iPhone.

Right Image: Welcome to Olive Garden...table for two?

Second, Carl wasn't in a room of 1,000's of people, 1000's of feet away and on a giant screen. He was right there, in a room of 250 or so technology directors, managers and business owners. Was he "one of us"? No - don't kid yourself. As CEO of a +2billion company there's lot to be distracted about. But he was extremely gracious and approachable.

Finally, Carl's keynote was deeply sincere. He argued clearly and compellingly that we're rapidly entering an new age of computing and the implications for the design space are far reaching:

The cost of compute is racing to $0.00.
Computers are everywhere. There's even one in your pocket.
Connectivity used to be a differentiator. Now it's a commodity.

Three key words: Infinite, Ubiquitous and Connected.

During his presentation, Carl presented at two very compelling examples specific to the AEC space (there were many more). Project Neon from Autodesk Labs allows Revit files to be rendered in the cloud (where compute is fast and nearly free) while allowing the designer to continue working on their design in Revit. Another example was an extension of Ecotect that allow wickedly fast CFD analysis that is accurate within 2%. And while engineering purists may turn up their noses at less than four nines of accuracy, Carl believes (and most of us will agree) they're missing the point: there's no such thing as "exactly" right when the design hasn't settled down. So a very close answer today is far more useful than an exactly right answer two weeks from now.

I like to diagram things and I came away from the discussion with something like the image below (originally sketched on my iPad with SketchBook Pro - another great Autodesk tool). Here's a more polished version:

The flow of design data: Infinite, Ubiquitous, Connected

In the above scenario, everything thing flows from the design teams that author the data. Presently, the data flows to other desktop applications used by other domain experts. This workflow should be pretty familiar to most of us; we use tools like Revit, Inventor and Civil3D to initiate the design, be it building, content or site. And as the design is authored, it's being leveraged by other tools that complete and validate the design ecosystem.

For visualization, 3ds Max doesn't just render photo-realistically. It's used for material and geometry iteration - resulting in "emotive" visualization (with the addition of entourage that would quickly weigh down a Revit file).
For analysis, Ecotect is leverages the BIM data for multiple tasks in a single application as well as online resources that truthfully connect your project to a specific location and orientation.
To manage the project, Constructware allows the project team to centrally access project information from a web browser. This vastly improves version control, documentation, project communication and accountability.
Navisworks is a whole suite of products focused on resolving construction. Just being able to assemble all the different design files in one place is a hurdle in itself. But beyond that, the teams can resolve physical as well as time-based project clashes.
Finally - the building is going to be operated for many years. In this arena, I think ADSK would be the first to admit that there's no one right answer (or product) that has emerged. Some want to continue to leverage Navis for this role (after spending so much time aggregating the design data and geometry). Others want to leverage the initially authored design files (Revit) for this task. There's strong opinions on both sides.

I've just highlighted a few tasks and tools that fall into big arenas of design validation - so there's going to be lots of debate about the particulars. But while we may disagree on the tools and granularity, most of us probably recognize the process:

Author the design data with one set of tools
Validate the design data with another set of tools

But according to Carl, this familiar process has already started to change. Rather than move information from desktop to desktop, it'll move from desktop to cloud - where far more compute intensive resources wait to give us really useful answer as quickly as possible, at less cost, and without tying up the desktop.

So what's not to like?

Well first of all, it's something that I've been thinking about for a long time (not just after Carl's presentation). I've been thinking about this almost as soon as I began implementing Revit. And I'm not going to contradict Carl's well-considered presentation. He's on the right track.

However, I would like to tweak it slightly - in two key areas. A few blog posts ago I discussed how Revit (at least when it wasn't first released) wasn't the best at anything. But it excelled in two areas: design information was concurrent and it was integrated.

So the first tweak has to do with the notion of truly useful information being "Concurrent". I admit, the idea of concurrence is deeply tied to Carl's notion of "infinite" computing, so you might thing I'm being overly pedantic. But I think it's an important distinction that should get it's own bullet point (and since I'm only adding two bullet points they all still end up on one hand at the beginning of a presentation).

For information to be really useful, it has to arrive in as near-time or real-time as possible; this goes for news, pregnancy tests, stock quotes - and somewhere on this long list is design analysis. And the "compute" of analysis can happen really quickly in the cloud. But in practice, significant time gets dedicated to preparing the models for analysis. It's not unusual to spend days (and sometimes weeks) preparing models that eventually take a fraction of the time to analyze. Geometry has to be exported, uploaded, downloaded, cleaned up and simplified prior to analysis. And while this manual task is very important it's not often very interesting.

The second tweak has to do with the importance of "Integration". I'm the first to admit that Revit wasn't the best on a feature to feature comparison (and there's still room for improvement). But on the other hand, using Revit meant the design team wasn't running off in separate silos (CAD, Excel, Max, etc) to do important work. Revit allowed the design authoring team to work from the same version of the 'truth'.

So what's the next big inflection point? Well, I believe Carl is correct. The present paradigm involves moving lots of what's currently on the desktop to the cloud. And that's an important next step even if domains and tools are still "disconnected". Stuff can happen faster.

But I think the process is about to inverse. Here's a more polished version:

The bit flips: Concurrent Integration

If this reminds you of what happened with Revit, I don't think you'd be alone. In this scenario, the design geometry and data isn't being decoupled as it's sent to different domain experts for validation. Furthermore, the 'truthfulness' of any one result can be as concurrent as any other result since we're all working from the same version of the truth.

Separate plan, section, elevation schedule and documentation was once considered a viable business model for representing a building. But this is no longer the case as BIM represents what some believe to be the new "minimum standard of care" (just ask your doctor or lawyer friend of the implications of that term in the medical space). So now that BIM has reshaped our business in the realm of authoring design data, what keeps separate efforts of visualize, analyze, strategize, construct and manage from being similarly integrated?

If you're a successful, existing company, you don't just have to start. You have to start over. This is an incredibly important distinction.

Existing, separate tools and applications can't just "evolve" into a single toolset. And if you're a large, successful and established software company focused on the AEC space, you already have an existing toolset and org chart that develops, markets, sells, supports, etc. first in class tools that are (unfortunately) disconnected. The challenge isn't just starting. The challenge is starting over.

And starting over is nearly insurmountable due to cost and culture.

On the other hand, if you're a new company, starting over is a call to action! Fly the pirate flag! Existing customer dissatisfaction is like water in the desert. Every point of friction that is practically impossible to address within an old process is welcomed news to this new effort. It's an opportunity to not merely improve a bad process, but to make that bad process obsolete.

So integrate the design validation, construction and management space. That's just rendering existing processes obsolete. What's the real "blue ocean"?

There are three (and like more) incredibly valuable benefits in the AEC space when sum becomes greater than the parts.

First: Best of Breed. In the first diagram, the authoring tools tend to work really well from within a single ecosystem. Autodesk, Bentley, Graphisoft, etc. all have similar ecosystems to validate AEC design data. And those companies should rightfully look after their own interests first. But the second diagram illustrates a potentially agnostic environment where the design data from multiple platforms (maybe even different versions within the same platform) aggregate agnostically. And the AEC space is really, really hungry for best of breed solutions in the BIM space. And while everyone is busy trying to resolve standards for "interoperability" between design platforms, it doesn't seem like anyone has scratched the surface of agnostic integration in order to concurrently validate visualization, analysis, scheduling, construction and ultimately facility management.

Second: Multiuser Access. We've been alluding to this - but I think needs restating. The majority of these existing stand alone validation tools aren't multi-user environments. So it's very difficult for the team focused on design validation to compare results across presently siloed domains. In other words, my great construction sequence can't influence your emotive visualization. One person's energy analysis can't impact another persons clash detection. And it shouldn't be the job of one person to resolve construction sequencing anyway - the domains in charge of assembling the real building need to get to their part of the virtual building at the same time. And facility management? That data repository must contain geometry, data and be concurrently accessible by a very large group.

Third: Mass Customization. An agnostic platform for validating design data becomes the de-facto platform for developing a multitude of compelling, idiosyncratic but ultimately incredibly useful and valuable applications. Suppose you want to create an upstart analysis tool for a particular contractor in a particular city for a particular building type. That's mass customization - and at present it's nearly impossible in the AEC space. Where to begin? Which platform to choose? Which version? Which OS? But if there were a third way that allowed your team to leverage centralized, agnostic geometry and data?

And if that environment were Infinite, Ubiquitous and Connected - as well as Integrated and Concurrent?

Well, you wouldn't have invented a better way.

You'd have created an App Store for AEC. ;)

Monthly Single Posted

2011-06-30T07:22:00.000-04:00

July's monthly single has been posted! "GD Woman" is the title track from 2011's "Freeborn" CD. Rip. Mix. Burn. Share. Link. Just play it LOUD!

Download link at the bottom left: http://about.me/flattires

And yes - the highbrow among us may be go faint at the knees or scowl disapprovingly at the more base and visceral - but I've got news for ya:

In his day, Shakespearean theatre was considered to be melodramatic spectacle for the masses. So was Mozart.
Spend all your life sweating over a hot processor in the name of Architecture and you'll find there's no CTRL+Z on the side table next to your deathbed.
Pick up a guitar and try to make it sound like the first four bars (or any of the ripping solos) of this single. Don't forget call me when your fingers stop stinging.

And why do we love BIM? Because whatever lets you have a beer (or whatever your drink of choice) with friends at the end of the day is really what matters. Work harder - but work smarter. And laugh at all the rest.

Helping Shape the National BIM Standard

2011-06-28T21:56:00.001-04:00

One of my 'little' side projects has been getting involved in some efforts at the buildingSMART alliance. Last year I began by participating in a group project to standardize cost estimating through the use of BIM. As you can imagine, that's an extremely difficult problem to solve and our efforts continue. More recently, I was asked to become involved with the National BIM Standard project committee for the United States. Given my prior experience with corporate standards at SOM, I agreed to join.

Since joining, I have been named the Chair of the Design Work Group for NBIMS-US version 2. Yes...in case you didn't already know, version 1 was completed a few years ago and can be downloaded for free from the buildingSMART alliance website. While the first version consisted of almost 200 pages dedicated to introducing the work of the NBIMS committee and the scope of BIM, it did start to address some key concepts towards the standardization of this oft misunderstood paradigm.

Definition of BIM - Let's all agree on what "building information modeling" really means, shall we? NBIMS v1 describes it as "a product...a process...and a result."

Importance of Data Models - Quite a worthwhile chapter for the technologists among us, but this sets the stage for adopting the IFC data model. Notice I said 'data model' and not 'file format.' this will start to open the discussions concerning model servers instead of interoperability of proprietary file formats.

Capability Maturity Model (CMM) - This is one of my favorite parts of NBIMS; however, it is my opinion that the CMM needs some refinement. Our industry needs a leveling system for all stakeholders to gauge the completeness of a deliverable or a firm's ability to deliver expected services. Well, exactly what services are we talking about?...Standardized BIM use definitions have been submitted for consideration in NBIMS v2, but that's worthy of a dedicated discussion. There are many parts evolving from this concept that should help bring an 'apples to apples' approach to BIM delivery.

These are but a few of the items we are reviewing in the work of the four NBIMS work groups (Design, Assemble, Procure, Operate) along with the Implementation and Technical Sub-Committees. I'll be posting more about our progress and I encourage you to provide feedback.

You can also get involved in the NBIMS effort. While the official ballot phase for V2 has closed, you can submit a Blue Sky ballot. Any good idea can be submitted via a simple form - and you don't even have to be a buildingSMART alliance member! Please visit the balloting page for NBIMS to get involved and view the active ballots.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

"Time's up. Had your chance. Muffed it."

2011-06-28T06:55:00.000-04:00

Cudos to whoever posts the source of title of the blog post. Hint: It's a movie that first inspired my love for technology and design at the age of three! It's the story of one man that can design, build and dream. And in the end he gets the hot girl with the foreign accent and gruff father-in-law (that turns out to be a soft grandfather).

Oh shit...the parallels are scary.

Anyway - I didn't want to post all these pictures yesterday since it was Monday and if you're didn't go to RTC you were already depressed enough. But now that it's Tuesday - here goes.

Breakfast at Manhattan Beach (I went out a bit early).

Ghetty Museum

Stair Porn. Thanks Richard.

Dana Point. Ritz Carlton. Design by WATG.

Alex's Bar. Long Beach. Hoping to book a show for the FLAT TIRES.

LA Farmers Market. The only sincere space in the city limits. Jim Balding has never been here.

Joe McQueen (left) from "Confessions of a Superhero". Watch it. Netflix.

Converted water tower. Huntington Beach. Call 374-6157 to rent / lease.

Dana Point. Early morning mist.

On to RTCUSA...

Carl's keynote was fantastic. Ubiquitous | Infinite | Connected

Great exhibitors and sponsors. From 3D printing to cloud computing.

Lunch served in the exhibition space. Enjoyed in open sea breezes.

Friday night BBQ in the center lawn.

Saturday night gala dinner and awards. Sheve Shell doesn't just dress the part. We have proof.

And upon arriving home? Yes. I love showtunes. And flowers. And BIM.

That's BIM...with an "I". Hey - how was I to know that Simon Whitbread booked us a room at a 'gay friendly' hotel in west Hollywood (prior to RTC USA)? Anyway the staff was really friendly and probably thought we made a lovely couple.

Sorry if you missed RTC USA. Fantastic classes - very strong and experienced knowledgebase. Relaxed atmosphere. All the Exhibitors, Reviteers and Revit Factory Workers that you want to meet at AU were there. The concern now is that RTC will grow too fast and lose the intimacy. But we still have room for growth. Start making plans to attend in 2012. Location TBD but probably on the east coast.

Over all? RTC is a great compliment to AU. Meeting just once a year just isn't enough - stuff changes so quickly. Meeting twice a year helps us all keep our heads up to see what's next while dogding what's more flash than substance.

And come June 2012 maybe Eddy and James will bless us with their presence. ;)

Time Is Running Out

2011-06-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Do you make the decisions that your company ultimately implements? Do those decisions effect dozens (if not hundreds) of people and projects?

Are you essential to the success of your business?

Have you registered for RTC North America?

http://www.revitconference.com.au/rtc2011us/index.htm

Online registration ends a week from today. Friday. 6/17/11. Or 17/06/11 if your from the northern most part of North America.

If you have or you haven't registered, it usually comes down to two the same two things:

Time
Money

Interesting, eh? The same two reasons are given either attend or not. It's always about Time and Money.

If you've been told you don't have the time and money to attend the next step is to ask yourself, "Why?" Business slow? Resources strained? How did you and your business get there? Have you and your teams all been kept your head down and waiting for the rough weather to pass? How's that working out?

How will not attending improve your present business situation?

Because a week and a half from now, hundreds of people - technology directors, BIM managers, contractors, owners, industry leaders and solution developers - are going to meet in Huntington Beach for 3 1/2 days. We're going to discuss Revit 2012. Best Practices. Elegant Solutions. We're going to share first hand experience of leveraging the broadest BIM ecosystem in unique and innovative ways that improve our business process. And we're going to be able to talk directly with many of the companies that actually create the technologies, platforms and applications that help us work more efficiently and effectively.

How will RTC go? The good news is that if it's only a shadow of the conference in Australia, it's going to be amazing.

The bad news? Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to repeat all we discussed, learned and agreed upon in all the minutea and serindipity of being there, feet under the table, wide-eyed and in the moment. And to make matters worse, we're going to go back to our offices and push the pedal down even farther, leveraging those 3 1/2 days of concentrated effort as much as possible. And for the next 6 months or so (till AU 2012) we're going to benefit from an enormous head start.

If you're there - RTC represents a gathering of your fierest, most loyal and dedicated allies.

If you're not there - we're your competition. And unfortunately you're name is going to come up. And while your presence would have added much to the conversation - your absense is going to speak volumes.

Because if you're so very valuable to your business that you're not able to put aside just 2 business days out of the next 6 months to hone and sharpen the skills it takes to be at your most effective...I have news for you.

You're not valuable.

You're stuck.

Here's What We're Gonna Do

2011-06-11T14:01:00.001-04:00

Get up on my stage one more time...

Times are tough. So here's what we're gonna do.

The first of every month the FLAT TIRES are going to put up a single. Could be a song from one of their albums. Might be a live video from a recent show. Full fidelity. Not some crappy low-bandwith MP3.

You'll be able to download the single for a month. It's yours. Rip. Mix. Burn.

Pass along the link to your friends. It's theirs. Rip. Mix. Burn. And so on.

Play it loud. You'll find this music is specially formulated to overcome that annoying "OON-THA-OON-THA-OON-THA" from the nearest neon-wrapped rice wagon as you wait for the light to change at your local intersection.

At the end of the month, that single goes away and we'll put up another. And then another. And another.

Shampoo, rinse, repeat.

And if you can't wait thirty days for the next single to roll around, right-click on the track in iTunes, select "Show Artist Profile" and it'll take you right to the iTunes store.

Oh Steve Jobs, we beseech thee...

So let's kickoff June 2011: Carolina S**t Stomp. Courtesy of the FLAT TIRES. Hickory, NC's finest. Established 2004.

It's the kind of music your preacher warned you about it. Not cause he doesn't like it, mind you. It's because that woman that he's running around with on the side likes it waaaay too much.

Revit In The Classroom

2011-06-09T09:50:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, one of the chapters in "Beyond" section in Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012 is focused on using Revit in higher education. This past year, we had the pleasure of working with Singapore Polytechnic.

Founded in 1954, Singapore Polytechnic is the first polytechnic in Singapore that offered 3-year diploma courses. Today, there are 49 diploma programs ranging from architecture, arts and humanities, business, design, engineering to health sciences. There are 1,500 staff and 16,000 students housed in a unique green campus, which has been architecturally designed with landscaped courtyards.

Singapore Polytechnic offers Diploma in Architecture from the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. The School also offers courses in landscape architecture, civil engineering, facilities management and water technology. Each academic year 120 students enroll in the first year of the three year Diploma in Architecture (DARCH) program. The DARCH curriculum focuses on the integration design with technology and students are exposed to the real-world in a simulated office environment.

The School believes that BIM an important part of challenging the creativity of the students into innovative architectural solutions. In order to formalize the integration of BIM into the curriculum, a pilot program was introduced in 2010 for final year students of the fall 2009 / spring 2010 class. A year later, the DARCH course now requires students to be able to conceptualize design ideas and develop into workable design schemes with details using BIM.

The results? Check out chapter 23 in Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012. But this is the age of the internet, right? You want to see something now!!!

Well, you're in luck. Until your book arrives, the Mastering Revit Team has started a YouTube Channel located at http://www.youtube.com/MasteringRevit. And please subscribe in order to be notified when new stuff is posted.

We're not exactly sure how we're going to use the YouTube Channel after today, but for a start we've uploaded 10 videos (over 7 gigs!) highlighting Singapore Polytechnic and the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. Take a moment and check out the videos. The students have worked incredibly hard and we're really pleased and grateful to have highlighted their work in this year's book.

What's next for the YouTube Channel? Well, James and I have super-embarrassing video from AU 2010 of Eddy crying Twitter Tears into a tumbler of absinthe right after getting caught "sexting" a number of world famous architects. So we could post that stuff.

Hold on a minute! It's not what you think.

You see, in Eddy's lexicon, "sexting" refers to soliciting and receiving numerous and explicit texts messages and images highlighting the environmental benefits of "Semiarid Xeriscaping".

"Blah blah blah sob sob drink sob people should really think before they act so they can save the planet one drop of water at a time and I was just trying to do my part to make the world a better place sob sob drink...."

So it's not what you think (thank goodness). But on the other hand, you can't begin to imagine the size of the carbon footprint created by flying across the country to drink absinthe in the middle of the desert. Pretty explicit and disturbing stuff. Fortunately, the dry air and alcohol does a great job of numbing away the nagging irony.

Partly Cloudy

2011-06-03T09:36:00.001-04:00

Well, there's a lot of buzz over the "cloud" at the moment. Apple has even got all the fanboys wetting themselves like puppies with excitement over Monday's announcement. So before Steve throws the switch on his patented "Reality Distortion Field" I thought it best to inoculate you from all the hype coming next Monday. There's a couple of options (related to Apple) and a couple of implications (for the AEC space).

Option 1: If all Apple is doing is allowing you to get to the stuff you already have - your music, videos, books, etc., all the time, where ever you are...I'm not going to be that excited. In this sense, the "cloud" is just a data center (or maybe a bunch of data centers) at the ready to distribute your stuff. And their distribution must still pass through my data provider - and that's a significant pinch point from a mobility standpoint.

Another reason I'm not that excited about Option 1 is that I don't just want to get to my stuff. And Pandora is already great for that if it's music. And Netflix is great for that if it's video. And Amazon is great for that if it's books. And Dropbox is great for hosting stuff I already own and want to access across multiple devices. But I don't want to have to go out and pay retail for all this stuff just to put it into the "cloud" so I can get to it all the time. In this case the cloud is just allowing me to get to the stuff I already know about.

What's more interesting? When the cloud helps me get to stuff that I don't already know about, which leads to Option 2.

Option 2: Apple is going head to head with the likes of Netflix and Pandora and Amazon and Dropbox and is allowing their customers to access all these proprietary catalogs of data (probably for a subscription based fee). That'd freak people out. That'd be disruptive and interesting. Except they still have to deal with the pinch point of mobile data providers. Unless Steve Jobs' "One More Thing" is that he's bought AT&T and is planning publicly execute the former CEO with a brushed aluminum and bamboo guillotine designed by Jon Ives during Monday's keynote. So just to be on the safe side, I'm investing in popcorn futures.

Yes - that last bit sound's like a crazy idea. But not really. If you listen to Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History", executing the CEO of AT&T for years of horrible customer service, monopolistic lethargism and lack of innovation would be pretty tame from a historical standpoint. But then again, Dan's not a real historian. He's really more of a faaaaan.

So let's recap:

Cloud #1: Get to the stuff I already know about and own? Meh.

Cloud #2: Get to the stuff I don't already know about or own? Disruptive and interesting.

The reason that I'd be interested in Option 2 is because I already pay for Netflix and Pandora and Dropbox and spend lots at Amazon (and the kids like the local library if only for the selection of manga). I'm a happy customer and pay monthly fees for each of those individual services and actually want them to succeed as businesses. So Apple is going to have to do something very, very interesting to convince me to move away from those guys (and not just compete on price). Vertical integration of books, movies, music and ubiquitous access? Hmmm.

Anyway - this is a lead-in to thoughts on the "cloud" in the AEC space. Lots of different companies are getting excited because their solutions are "in the cloud". And I suppose there's some advantages like ubiquitous access and lots of compute resources when you need them. But here's the problem:

If you're doing something stupid - doing it faster isn't innovation.

Moving the desktop to the cloud is an interesting evolution. It's a meaningful start. But it's not really a revolution of process if all those desktop applications are still disconnected, decoupled and fragmented. Really just more of an evolution of location than real innovation.

The challenge in the AEC space isn't that we don't have amazing standalone tools and processes. The challenge is that nothing really talks to anything else. All of us in the 1) Design to 2) Manufacture to 3) Construction to 4) Ownership domains are working from separate versions of the truth. Here's just a brief lists of some fundamental tasks that presently occur as separate and distinct efforts:

Design: Emotive Visualization, Analysis, Iteration (Materials, Geometry, Lighting)
Manufacturing: Level of Detail, Materials, Time to Market
Construction: Assemblage, Critical Path Scheduling (Geometry, Proximity, Activity), Quantities
Ownership: Infrastructure, Asset and Facility Management,

Once again, there are lots of standalone applications that help resolve the above issues. But good information also has to be timely. The "correct" answer doesn't help if it's two weeks late and based on old information. And the butterfly effects across domains remains a matter of error prone, expensive, time-consuming and often uninteresting manual coordination. The implication of "correct" answers (in one domain and disconnected toolset) aren't able to be weighed against the realities of other domains in anything close to real-time. We might think we're staring wide-eyed at integrated processes - but in reality we're closer to staring down paper towel tubes at our own design problems.

So perhaps the biggest challenge is the lack of real integration means that agnostic, "best of breed" solutions (particularly in the design arena) continues to evade us in the AEC BIM space. Technology evolves. What are you going to do when the next "Revit" comes along? Will you have painted your business into a corner by betting on a single software ecosystem? Will you force your other partners in the design space to all speak the same "language" (vendor, application, version, operating system, etc.) before they can do business with you?

Good luck. Today's heresies have a way of becoming tomorrow's dogma.

So let's recap:

Option 1: Put all these decoupled AEC applications and processes in the cloud where they remain broken and fragmented? Meh.

Option 2: Vertically integrate presently disconnected AEC applications and processes in the cloud where multiple stakeholders (designers, manufacturers, builders and owners) can simultaneously access the same version of the "truth" about a building? Disruptive and interesting.

What if we were able to leverage the cloud to simultaneously visualize and analyze design iteration with a real-world level of detail while someone else schedules the assemblages and yet another predicts what the designs will cost to own, manage and operate? Is this just too farfetched? Or to paraphrase that crazy evil guy from Lord of the Rings:

"One BIM to rule them all, One BIM to find them, One BIM to bring them all and in the cloudness bind them."

Kinda sounds like what Steve Jobs is planning for iTunes. In which case Robin Capper is going to be seriously annoyed. But it would be kinda funny in a Seinfeld episode kind of way. You see, Robin has all this trouble with iTunes, and he's from New Zealand...which is where they filmed the Lord of the....oh never mind.

But seriously - whatever happened to that crazy evil guy?

Time is Money

2011-05-31T12:48:00.001-04:00

How's that rollout of Revit 2012 going?

Figured out Revit Server?

How about all the other stuff in the 2012 release?

New Features?
New Functionality?
Best Practices?
Latest and Greatest BIM-centric Technologies?

Well, there's at least two options:

First, you read everything you can get your hands on (after hours of course) and dig around AUGI and other forums. Make sure that you get up to speed on any idiosyncrasies and gotchas. Then when you're really sure you're sure of how things work - or don't - you start to roll out Revit 2012. And let's suppose you're managing an office of 30 Revit users and your trial and error process takes about 3 months.

30 Revit users. 30 billable hours a week. 12 weeks. $100 a billable hour. That's about $1million dollars.

Or?

Second, you register for RTC North America and get up to speed NOW. Learn from those already using it (many of them since before it was in beta). Ask a lot of questions. Get a lot of answers. Then go back to your office and start rolling out Revit 2012 ASAP - confidently - not accidentally.

And because time is money, your attendance at RTC North America is going to set the office back about $3k (registration, flights, etc) and two business days (Wednesday night through Saturday night) of concentrated effort.

So let's put this into perspective. For an investment of $3k you can have a positive impact on $1million in billable work over the next three months (or longer). In other words, 0.2% (that's right - two-tenths of one percent) of three months billable work as an investment to increase productivity.

$3,000 out of $1,000,000.

So register today. And if your manager still isn't convinced that you should attend and keeps telling you there's "no budget", well there's always option number three: pay your own way.

And when you get there - pass along your resume to the office leaders and technology managers that are running their businesses so well that they insist their BIM managers attend RTC North America. Because time is money. And success isn't an accident.

And those guys are hiring.

Hasa Diga Eebowai!

2011-05-20T11:25:00.006-04:00

Check out the insightful Terry Gross / NPR interview with Matt Parker and Trey Stone (of South Park fame) on their creative process while developing Broadway's "Book of Mormon". In contrast to taking about a week to completely write, animate and produce an episode of South Park, their Broadway production took the better part of the last 7 years.

Most surprisingly? It's not two cynical hours of bashing either religion (broadly) or Mormonism (specifically).

Leave it to Parker and Stone to so successfully swim against the mainstream cultural current. The show isn't about "religion". It's about having the faith to be illogically optimistic and hopeful in spite of all apparent realities. So I guess it is about religion. Or teenagers. :)

I've downloaded the original cast recording on iTunes. Great stuff. On the down side? Justine is probably going to insist I start watching "Glee".

Imaginaaaaaaation

2011-05-20T09:33:00.002-04:00

What if you could travel back to a time where you had no limits on your imagination?

Like when you were a kid. And you drew like this:

But then you grew up and spent the better part of your life learning to draw like this:

But what if when you grew up, you kept going? Like this:

If you haven't heard about "The Monster Engine" stop what you doing and check it out:

Really wonderful stuff about the power of imagination.

Or as Sponge Bob says, "Imaginaaaaaaation".

So are you going to keep staring at your cream colored cubicle walls or what?

Sloppy Seconds

2011-05-10T13:55:00.001-04:00

Wasn't I just saying how it'd be interesting if Apple bought Viber and how established companies frequently grow through acquisition rather than innovation?

And today there's this: Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion.

My advice? Put down the keyboard and slowly, quietly step back and move away from Microsoft stock.

Microsoft Market Cap: $215 billion. On the surface they only paid about 25 times their market cap for Skype. And I really like Skype. Use it all the time. I'm one of of 663 million Skype users. Out of 663 million users? 145-170 million use it monthly. How many are paying customers? 8.8 million.

So Microsoft paid nearly $1000 per paying Skype customer.

But Skype had $860 million in revenue last year. Minus expenses? Profit of $264 million. Minus Skype's $866 million in debt? Skype is still $422 million in the hole.

So suppose that Skype had continued on and in another two years, doubled their customer base and paid off their debt and generated and annual profit of $500 million dollars by the start of year three (not an unreasonable scenario). And suppose in three years time Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype, a company (hypothetically) generating a clear annual profit of $500 million?

Then Microsoft paid 17x times Skype's annual earnings for Skype. And even if Microsoft is able to double Skype's annual revenue every year for the next 7 years, they'll have just begun to pay off this acquisition.

And 7 years in internet-years is a really, really long time. 7 years ago, Microsoft's market cap was over $300 billion. Now it's about 2/3 that amount.

So why do I think this doesn't bode well for MSFT? Because Microsoft would pay $8.5 billion of their hard earned cash (well, yours - if you're a stockholder) to acquire Skype rather than innovate on their own. In other words, they're now paying a premium to push the pedal down and try to catch up.

Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 - after having designed the iOS, hardware, and App Store ecosystem.

Microsoft?

Didn't have a "Plan A"
Doesn't have the culture to innovate in the VOIP / mobile phone space
Conclusion: Unlikely to have the force of will to implement this acquisition

Pull up a chair. When existing companies consciously decide that there's is going to be a culture of acquisition of expensive, established and unprofitable technologies in order to stay "competitive", the future gets foggy really fast. Because it's not about acquisition, or innovation. It's about something even more important. Companies can acquire technology. They can even hire away great talent at a premium.

But you can't buy relevance.

Please Give Me Another Chance! I Can Change!

2011-05-09T17:37:00.000-04:00

The last post resulted in quite a few well reasoned comments and even three phone calls (one international). It seems that I've struck a chord. Three questions repeatedly arose:

What are you working on?
Why makes you think existing software company X/Y/Z isn't working on a disruptive solution to collaborate across domains?
What about standards across platforms?

Thoughts:

First: I didn't claim to be working on anything. But if I was, it'd have to meet the following criteria:

It wouldn't be another Revit. Revit's amazing. What's the point?
It'd have to be about something unique, significant and as meaningful as Revit is to the design space
It have to be fun. Like the latest Flat Tires show (shameless plug).

Second: Because existing software company X/Y/Z creates evolutionary, not revolutionary technology. Why? Because Distribution trumps Disruption.

I can see you're confused. You think it's a conspiracy. Software company X/Y/Z have unlimited resources. Millions of monkeys. Shiny typewriters. Barrels of beer.

Well, you're wrong (and you like conspiracy theories). Please allow me to explain.

Imagine you're the CEO of successful software company with a few thousand employees. That means you've got thousands of mouths too feed, mortgages to make and braces to insure. And then there's shareholders. Shareholders are worse than customers. Because if you miss a quarterly market projection by a even a few cents (over or under - they don't care) and millions of dollars in shareholder value is going to disappear. Customers are stuck - it's hard to transition to new software. But share holders can sell your stock and buy another in a day. Which makes the share price go down even further. And it can all happen before lunch.

It's also incredibly likely that your imaginary company has a few flagship products, and even a stable of applications based on that those products. And if you've been around a while (10 years or more), there's probably a developer network that further increases the value and market share of your flagship product.

But in software years, a decade is a really long time. And after a decade, what your flagship products do is going to being overshadowed by what they don't. Cracks are going to appear. And the rest of technology has evolved to the point that the questions your software once answered (successfully) have now created new questions - which your software can't answer. It's now become obvious that something else is necessary.

This is called an "Inflection Point". Decision time. What do you do? Jettison the past and embrace the future or duct tape the present and hold on for a few more years? Do you put all your geniuses together and figure out how to create the "Next Big Thing (TM)" or hog tie the tiller and ride out the coming storm?

Here's some real-world possibilities:

-----------------

Possibility #1: You're a smart CEO and you've already planned ahead. Knowing this day would eventually come, you've got another bigger, better, faster solution in the wings. For the past few years, a team of developers (quietly and outside of the public eye) has been working on the NBT (Next Big Thing) which you're ready to unveil at the appropriate time.

What could possibly go wrong?

Doing this is really, really expensive. It means funding a team of people to develop, test and maintain software that the market is not going to be able to use for a long time. But you can't let this new solution get too finished because if it's too "done" it'll be very complex. And without important customer input your new solution can evolve in a very wrong direction.

Note: it does (very, very rarely). One recent example was when Apple admitted OSX had been long ago ported to Intel hardware. But even this this was an evolution of their existing operating system (OSX). Not another OS entirely (like the transition from OS9 to OSX).

You've pissed off your customers. You need customer input to develop this stealth product. But word will get out; customers will talk. Whispers of this really cool thing that is being worked on. Way better than what you can get on the street. Customers will ask (a few will beg and ply you with alcohol) to help test it - but you won't be able to let them. Because those customers will inevitably tell your other customers. And so on. Until you need a team of people to support customers you shouldn't have using a tool that doesn't exist and they're not paying to use.

No developers want to work on it. Not the best and the brightest anyway. It won't have any customers. It's not generating revenue. It sucks resources from existing successful (even if technically "inferior") products that the best and brightest do want to work on. In other words, the developing team that works on this NBT are leeches. And the moment the market takes a downturn, all those developers are going to be on the chopping block. What will you do? You'll put the code on a shelf, tell HR to tell the developing team to pack their desks and go home. Maybe you'll get back to their efforts when the market improves.

And what about those recently laid off developers? The last entry at the top of their collective resume is a product that no one has heard of, never got to market, has no customers and generated no revenue. Lovely.

Conclusion: You've spent a bunch of shareholder money on an expensive "what if" insurance policy that's likely never to be successful. Start polishing your resume. Being a CEO is a bit like being captain on the bridge of a Klingon destroyer. If someone "kills" you (by creating uncertainty in your leadership) they get your old office chair while it's still warm and covered in blood.

-----------------

Possibility #2: You see the writing on the wall. Duct taping an existing flagship tool together for more than the next few years isn't viable. And if you wait much longer, your competitor (existing software company Y or Z) might come to market with a compellingly better product. So after numerous (as in months) of internal meetings and hand wringing you decide to take the plunge and signal to the market that your presently available solution is old and busted, and a new solution is being developed that is nice and shiny. Old and busted vs. nice and shiny.

What could possibly go wrong?

Stop reading this and head over to Wikipedia. You need to learn about something called the "Osborne Effect".

Re-read Possibility #1. You're still certain that this time it'll be different?

Start to build a team to build the Next Big Thing (TM). Let's see, who are you going to put on the short list to staff the NBT? You want the best and brightest, right? Except they don't all work on one team. They're a bit spread out and work for different project managers. And those project managers really like having their "hypo" team members on their teams ("hypo" for "high preforming"). So you're going to upset quite a few project managers to build this new team (as well as upset their existing projects). Okay - so why not hire from the outside? Turns out this is really difficult as well:

This new team will take weeks (if not months) to get up to speed, get over their quirks and become productive.
If they're already productive, happy hypos - they're already busy. Some of them are working at existing software company Y or Z. But some are living off previous winnings (through acquisitions). Neither hypo have to do anything they're not interested in. So if you're going to hire them away it will come at a premium (at least 30%) to get them to agree to let go of their present good thing to (hopefully) land on their feet at your new NBT. So you give them a way above market offer. And they submit their tell their boss they're going to resign and immediately get an increase in salary above what you're offering them to stay put. So you'll have to offer more.
When you hire from the outside at a premium, word will get out and it'll build resentment among your existing employees. You know - your existing hypos who've been busting their arses for years for $X and along comes shiny new guy at $X+.

And then there's sales. Your new product is going to build resentment within your existing sales channels because it's adding friction to their sales efforts. Your NBT is intentionally meant to create obsolescence of a successful, flagship product. Now your efforts to create the NBT is making the difficult and stressful jobs of hundreds of sales people (and channel partners) even more difficult.

One last thing: you've just upset the vast majority of your existing customers. What?! Yup. That right. Because while a small percentage of your existing customers might be really excited about this new/amazing/incredible project being developed - a lot of people (including outside developers that make a living building tools that work with your existing product) have spent a life time mastering your present technology. They've built up status and expertise and careers in the process. And now your new efforts will level the playing field.

Conclusion: Creating obsolescence is practically untenable within an established company. You're disrupting lives across your organization. You're building friction in your sales engine. You're upsetting your customers. And possibly your share holders.

Note: it does rarely happen. Steve Jobs did it with the original Macintosh. He sucked away the best and brightest and lots of resources from other successful products to develop a new personal computer. He flew a pirate flag (literally) and loved it. But had the Macintosh not been successful, the pejorative term "Macintosh" would have ended up a Wikipedia entry along the lines of "Osborne Effect".

But in the back of your mind you also know that if you don't create the NBT your company won't survive in the long term, which will really piss of everybody...especially share holders. If only there were another way!

-----------------

Possibility #3: Growth through acquisition. Although incredibly difficult, Developing disruptive technologies (see #1 and #2) is actually the easy part (just not within an established organization like existing software company X/Y/Z). There's no shortage of great ideas. You know what's really tough? Distribution:

Planning
Engineering
Testing
Support
Sales
Consulting
Marketing
Education
Legal
Human Resources
And on and on an on.

Startups are lean and mean. They're not big teams. Big teams add friction. But since startups are small and agile, covering that list above is really hard. But we've already established that you're running a successful software company. You've got already got the Distribution part in place! You offer the market stability. You've been around a decade or more - so you've earned the market's respect and seal of approval. You've got what every lean and agile startup envies: and entire sales and marketing engine of resources ready to completely overwhelm the market with the NBT.

So you wait. And you put away a giant nest egg of cash and stock options built up over the years from selling your flagship products. Then you wait a bit more.

Eventually the NBT will come along. A team of scrappy entrepreneurs, eking a living out of a bit of venture capital, working 80+ hours a week will introduce something that is incredibly and overwhelmingly elegant in concept and use (even if a bit rough around the edges). The scrappy developers seldom see their families. They're full of energy, focus and know that if they're not successful - there's no safety net. There's none of, "it's ok...try harder next time now go home and have a nice weekend and I'll see you on Monday morning." It's do or die. For this team, every new customer success story is a cause for celebration because it represents their survival! So when their product - a demonstrably and compellingly better one - comes along, you wait a bit to see how the market responds. And you're careful to watch the mindshare as well as market share:

Are their customers enthusiastic about this new technology?
Is the product overwhelmingly compellingly better? Is it unique?
Are you getting tired of hearing about this product during conference calls?
Is this new product starting to gain mindshare and create buzz?
Are you actually starting to lose market share?

If so, position yourself to acquire this new technology. Pull out the checkbook. Done. This solves the hiring process and getting new teams to gel together issue (they've likely been together for years). Yes, it'll piss off some of your existing employees. But an acquisition is fast and quick; what's done is done. As wounds go - it'll heal nicely. Your existing employees will eventually get over it (many have come through acquisitions themselves). And a few will even position themselves to manage the new hires and teams.

And why will Scrappy Startup (TM) allow themselves to be acquired?

Because while they'll have have developed a great new tool, they'll have limited resources in with regard to the distributive aspects of creating a business. They've got an uphill battle. You've got market access and seal of approval.

Conclusion: This is not cynical. This is not conspiratorial. It's math. How much will it cost to develop a new disruptive platform inside an existing organization? Millions of dollars - easily. Just to fly 12 people to a third location for a week long meeting can cost $30k! If you're not careful you'll spend a $1million / year in meetings alone!

The cost of developing a new technology in a cushy, established company? Figure $1million per year for 5 employees working on a new product in an existing company (salary and overhead).

50 people = $10million / year. They ploddingly work on the product for a few years and you bring it to market. And what if it flops? Or underwhelms? Or get's eclipsed by the agile efforts of a Scrappy Startup? And in the process, you've had years of endless meetings, diverted resources from successful flagship products, disrupted your business and pissed off your existing customers (and shareholders).

Remember that bit about Klingon space captains?

And that's today's lesson: Big things eat little things.

But every once in a while, fast things eat slow things. ;)

==========

Third? Up Next: Standards? We Don't Need No Stinking Standards

Why Can't We Be Friends?

2011-05-03T15:30:00.000-04:00

Hi. Glad you're home. Long day? Sorry to hear. You may want to sit down for the next bit. I've poured you a cold one. Take off your shoes. Relax. You said some things and I said some things which is really difficult for both of us to talk about. And we need to talk. It's not you, it's me. It's not that we've grown apart. It's not that I've been thinking about seeing someone else. Well, sort of. And I really want to be friends. We can be friends, right? Take another sip and I'll explain. There's something I need to confess...

When Revit was released over 10 years ago - it wasn't the best at anything. More than 10 years later, it's still not the best at anything. But again, this really isn't the point. Revit isn't supposed to be the best at anything.

When I demonstrated Revit during sales presentations, people were very quick to raise the numerous objections:

3DMax was a better tool for modeling
VIZ was a better tool for rendering
AutoCAD was a better for detailing and documentation
Excel was a better for creating spreadsheets and schedules

And you know what? They were right. And they still right. Compared feature to feature, Revit can't compete with those kinds of tools. And even though Revit has evolved a lot in terms of functionality - those other tools have evolved as well.

But what many failed (or didn't want) to understand was the value proposition of Revit was about the sum being greater than the parts. So while, over the last 10 years, Revit has significantly evolved from a feature comparison point of view, none of those individually superior tools could (or has) become an integrated design solution.

This difference can't be overstated: what Revit afforded was not a superior set of individual features. Rather, Revit offered:

Overwhelming simplification of choice
Ease of use over complexity
Integration over fragmentation
Compelling advantage of concurrent information

10 years later, Revit remains the gold standard for integrating design to documentation. Yes, there are some rumblings at Bentley and Graphisoft...even Dassault. But a decade later, no one has yet managed a close second. Which is why (full disclosure) I remain a very bullish Autodesk investor. Because if you want to build a building, and you've hired someone to design it, you'd better hope that Revit is a significant part of the toolset.

So why the cold beer, slippered feet and relaxing iTunes? Well, I'm trying to let you down gently. Like I said, it's not you. It's me. I'll continue...

Revit has integrated the process of design to documentation. But BIM is a much larger ecosystem. And although Revit represents the integration of design, the ecosystem of BIM; the processes between designer, manufacturer, builder and owner - remains incredibly fragmented. Of course the individual tools used in those domains have evolved over the last 10 years; meaningful and valuable functionality at the application level has been created.

But as we've all observed with the success of Revit, it's not merely about the features or functionality of individual applications - it's about ease of use and integration. It's the integration between domains that has yet to be addressed. Here are a just a few of the the present challenges:

Exported and decoupled data
Distinct tools for designers, manufacturers, builders and owners
Lack of collaborative, concurrent access to project information
Bridging Intent (Design) with Content (Fabrication)

In other worlds, while individual tools may be sufficient, their combined use is untenable in terms of integration. Applications create silos. Exported data means that the everyone is working in separate versions of the truth; empirical information differs from emotive visualization. Efforts to analyze and resolve construction is distinct from ongoing design iteration. And by the time someone gets the "right" answer they're usually exactly wrong because the design has moved on to a new idea.

Collaboration and Integration - the real promise of BIM - remains elusive and little more than a concept.

So what's to be done? Pick one tool (many have suggested Revit) and evolve it into an all encompassing Design, Manufacturing, Construction and Owner toolset? I don't think so. None of the tools that surpassed Revit in functionality could have evolved into Revit. Or had any one of them evolved, their evolution would have been indistinguishable from simply (if only it were that "simple") starting over.

So I don't believe that Revit is capable of evolving beyond it's designed intent as a tool to resolve coordinated documentation. Yes - Revit creates valuable data which is useful outside of the Revit ecosystem. And other data can be brought into Revit (usually geometric context). But Revit isn't the center of this ecosystem of geometry and data; it seems to orbit other applications (Navis, ProjectWise, etc) that in turn attempt to integrate data across domains.

Those of us that have worked on some of the largest and most complex BIM projects in the world know the challenges of trying to integrate design across multiple BIM platforms, applications and domains that presently exist. What to do if you're using Revit for the Architectural design, but the best curtain wall consultant in the world uses Catia? What if the structural engineer uses Tekla but the MEP engineer is well-versed Mechanical Desktop? What if the best Interiors consultant is incredibly lyrical with ArchiCAD? Should we realistically expect everyone to stop thinking in their language of expertise and speak one language?

So what is really at the center of this BIM universe? Should we honestly expect real collaboration and integration across domains? Is it reasonable to expect our software and technology partners to create collaborating and integrating "best of breed" solutions?

I'm convinced that it can be done. But the challenges to discovering, developing, selling, marketing and implementing such a solution isn't merely technical. There are deeply dividing cultural barriers.

And this is why we've grown apart. And I've noticed you're on your third beer and getting a bit sleepy. And it's not you. It's me. Let me tuck this blanket around your feet. That's better...

After 10 years, I think we can admit that it's unlikely to ever expect all the world's designers (and more) to agree use a single design tool. But at the same time it seem even more unlikely to expect any of our existing technology partners (Autodesk, Bentley, etc.) to create a unifying process or platform which, at a minimum allows:

Agnostic Aggregation
Multi-user / Multi-platform / Multi-OS
Concurrent Information - both Geometry and Data
Compute Intensive

The standards are settling; the technologies exist. So what challenges remain for our established technology partners? Only the challenge of dedicating the resources (money, people and time) to create a new, unifying technology which will eventually perceived as undermining and starving their successful, existing products. And if such a technology existed, it would also allow their customers to be able look over the fence and consider other platforms (present and future) made useful by such a development.

Christensen called it "The Innovators Dilemma".

Or as someone once explained to me:

"It's culturally untenable for an existing company to develop disruptive technology."

In other words, while it takes an incredible force of will to deliberately make successful technologies obsolete, it's even more difficult to do so from within the company that created the technologies you're trying to make obsolete. Not to mention that the first efforts at integrating technologies may not even complete feature for feature with the individual technologies being replaced!

But once again, Revit usurped Max, Viz and AutoCAD not because it was the best at anything, but because was the best at everything. Sum vs. Parts.

So if we're we're ever to help realize the promise of BIM - the collaboration and integration across multiple platforms and domains, I'm convinced we'd better plan on getting started somewhere...else.

Sleep. Dream sweet dreams...

=====

Up next: Give Me A Second Chance! I Can Change!!!

Pencil's Down

2011-05-02T07:15:00.001-04:00

"Talk about unhealthy communication: a hospital uses GE call systems for patients, Philips Emergin as an electronic interface for notifications, Cisco wireless to connect communications devices within the hospital and Siemens for its main phone system.

Enter an iPhone pilot program for nurses, which helps them monitor patients and communicate with each other quickly across all of those platforms."

So starts a brief article over at Cult of Mac that discusses a pilot program to integrate the fragmentation that has evolved in the medical space.

It's a scenerio that we're all very familiar with in the AEC industry. Revit remains the de facto standard for integrating much of the design. But the overall process seems uncomfortably fragmented. We still have to get the right information to the contractor - and then again to the owner. Along the way, we use one platform to design, another to render, others to provide critical analysis, followed by more tools to resolve construction, and then I suppose something else entirely to help manage the completed building.

Starting this week, I'll begin a series of blog posts (about one or two per week) to discuss some of the challenges we all still face after a decade of BIM. Should we really expect to overcome the fragmentation that has evolved in the AEC space? What happens if we do?

Pros? Cons?

Hopes? Fears?

Comments? Suggestions?

He's Still Building Blue Boxes

2011-04-28T10:01:00.001-04:00

Before the iPhone came along, there was this thing called the Blue Box. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the first digital version and made quite a bit of money selling them to university students. Because if you had a Blue Box - you could make long distance calls to anyone in the world...for free.

In other words - Steve Job got his start by creating technology that was ripping off AT&T.

Did I mention that Blue Boxes were illegal?

Fast forward a couple of decades. Got an iPhone? Know someone else with an iPhone? Did you know that if both of you have Viber you can call each other over Wi-Fi or your 3G data plan? Viber uses your iPhone's data (rather than cellular) plan to make phone calls to other iPhones. Once you download and install the free app you authenticate your cell number associated to your phone, which then nicely syncs your contacts and indicates anyone that already uses Viber.

Viber to Viber calls are free. You'll pay only for data.

Why use Viber? Data is data, baby. But your phone company charges you widely varying rates based on the data type. For example:

Text Plan: If you're paying 10 cents for 160 text characters that's roughly $650/MB. That's over $600,000/GB.
Cell Plan: $60 for 15 hours (900 minutes). Of course this doesn't include roaming and international calls.
Data Plan: $25 for 2GB. Over 50 hours of talk time (at 3MB/minute).
Wi-Fi: Nearly ubiquitous. And frequently free. And nobody is going to notice a 1MB/minute hit to their network while you talk to your friend around the corner (or world).

Wouldn't it be interesting if Apple bought Viber and bundled it into every iPhone? Many have suggested that Apple wants to enter the cell phone provider market. But I don't think they'll do this by entering the present cellular playing field. What's more likely (and interesting) is Apple disrupting the cellular market by entering VOIP and bundling the technology with every iPhone sold.

But in the meantime, it seems like Steve's still in the business of building Blue Boxes. It's called the iPhone. And AT&T can't do a damn thing about it.

Mi Viaje a Santiago

2011-04-20T12:06:00.001-04:00

I recently returned from a trip to Santiago, Chile during which I shared my experiences with BIM. It was quite an extraordinary journey that I have documented on Life@HOK. Read more about it…

Happy Monday

2011-04-17T19:00:00.002-04:00

Are you sitting at your desk, staring at your screen and already asking yourself how you came to be surrounded by a sea of soul sucking cubicles?

A few weeks ago, a very dear friend who (like us all) periodically struggles to juggle family, career and other commitments was told by a superior that he could either have a successful career or a family - not both. The frank implication of the message was that he needed to jettison his family if he was going to move up the corporate ladder. While the message seems rather blunt, it's strangely familiar. For those of us who have studied Architecture it's not the first time we've heard it.Architecture school requires an extraordinary commitment of time, and this often comes at the expense of other relationships and experiences. As we work countless hours in studio surrounded by equally dedicated classmates, we indirectly learn that it's not just appropriate - but even noble to "suffer" for our art. And then we finish our studies, hopeful and full of expectation believing that through our creative passions we will eventually improve the order of things. But as is often the case, deeply creative people soon find themselves at odds with the kinds of organizations that employ them:

"A large organization’s first order of business is the preservation of the organization. From my experience this is frequently believed to be accomplished by developing rigid structures, dependable formulas and a bias that favors loyalty over competence."

- Steve Byram via Theoryhaus

You may not yet know what deeply inspires you, but knowing what doesn't is an important start; identifying restrictions is an important part of any design process. Yet learning to say "no" is something very difficult if you're a passionate, creative person that is driven by the innate desire to preform (regardless of compensation).

Bottom Line? Keep doing what you're doing and the most you'll ever accomplish is becoming that guy down the hall in the corner office. And then you'll die. And your kids will follow in your footsteps. And they'll wash, rinse and repeat with your grand kids...ad nauseum.

So unless you really dream of becoming that guy down the hall, you'll eventually have to GTFO. So then what? What if you had enough resources to do anything, but not enough to do nothing?

What would you really believe in?

Sorry to dump this on you on a Monday. I didn't want to spoil the weekend.

Friday Reprieve #33

2011-04-15T07:40:00.001-04:00

We're done!

over 1500 pages
2 books
OMG. I can't believe it's over.A few quick words:
man, it's a lot of work, but thank you, so much, to our team, especially Liz, Laurene, Dick, Dassi, Tony, Adam, and of course the perpetual con-man, Willem. you guys are the best.

For some happy, I'd like to introduce you to Christoph Niemann.
he's a hoot. After all this work, I certainly need a bit of something light.

California Dreaming

2011-04-06T09:58:00.000-04:00

FYI! Having quickly reached the "early bird" limit for attendees of Revit Technology Conference this year in Huntington Beach, CA early bird registration will close as of this Monday, 4 April (midnight PST). So far registrations have been received from 17 States across the USA as well as several other countries.Interestingly, over 80% of registrations received have been from outside of California (including international registrations). So mark your calendars, book your flights early and let's get together to teach, share and support:

Carl Bass, President and CEO of Autodesk, is providing the Keynote Address.
Paul Doherty, Senior Vice President of Screampoint, is providing the Closing Address.
Top Speakers from around the world including 7 authors on Revit and BIM related books
The Conference Program can be viewed here along with other information of interest.

For all of you that have already registered, thank you for your support! For the rest of you, keep in mind these three important points:

RTC is keenly focused. We're deliberately concentrating on BIM and related AEC technologies!

BIM isn't just one technology. It takes an ecosystem of customers, developers and exhibitors to make it all work!

Time is money! RTC is incredibly complimentary to Autodesk University. And because Autodesk historically releases new software in the spring of each year, RTC is strategically timed to help you get up to speed quickly as possible - then share your success with others this December in Las Vegas!

Early bird registration ends Monday (and what you'll save could cover your airfare!). So sign up today and we'll see you in Huntington Beach this June!

FLAT TIRES @ BONNAROO!!!

2011-04-04T19:05:00.013-04:00

Everyone - please help us out! The FLAT TIRES are working their asses off and trying to get to the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, TN from June 9th-12th.

By clicking on this link and downloading the FLAT TIRES song "Pretty Lady", we'll be ranked according to the number of votes received. Only two bands - selected from the TOP EIGHT - will get to play at the festival. Voting ends April 15th so don't wait!So you've never heard the FLAT TIRES????!!!! Click the image below to download "Pretty Lady" by the FLAT TIRES!!!!

You can also help by going to the FLAT TIRES Official Facebook page and click "Like".

Please Twitter, Blog, Email the link (http://tinyurl.com/5w5p2ef) to your friends.

Keep trying till you get through - servers are really, really busy.

If the FLAT TIRES get selected to play at Bonnaroo I give you my word I'll bring them to Vegas during AU!!!! :)

Revit 2012 - New Features

2011-03-29T17:01:00.001-04:00

Hey, guess what? A post (or rather a link to a post) that has nothing to do with anything that's not about Revit.

David Light did a bang up job here documenting the new features coming to a workstation near you with Revit 2012.

Sucker Punch

2011-03-25T07:13:00.000-04:00

Get out of the office early and go see Sucker Punch today. It's an original screenplay by Zack Snyder (IMDB link here), the same director behind such hits as 300, Watchman and presently tasked with directing Superman: Man of Steel.

Tell your boss you're doing it for research because 1) You need to be inspired and 2) Revit was used to design the sets and you're tired of hearing people of less experience and force of will tell you what "Revit can't do". ;)

Here's a detail of a rail car that's had it's roof blown off. According to Bryan (IMDB link here) this was accomplished via Revit's phasing capability.

Pretty. Damn. Cool.

Many of the sets in Sucker Punch were designed in Revit. James, Eddy and I were incredibly fortunate to (once again) discuss with Bryan Sutton the many unique processes he used to design Sucker Punch and Tron II for this year's Mastering Revit 2012 book.

The amazing images of those projects will go a long way to convince people of the power of using Revit as a design through production tool. And if the pictures don't convince a doubting someone to implement Revit and you're done with trying to rationally appeal to their sense of intellect, keep in mind the book weighs around 5 pounds. You could just hit them in the head with it, thus appealing to their sense of fear.

If you're in Australia for RTC 2011 I'll be going into some detail about how Revit was used on both projects (and more) during the session on Revit for Film and Stage. So please consider signing up for the class if you're attending. Last year's session on film and stage at RTC 2010 and the subsequent showing of the Watchman film resulted in one of the most uniquely themed awards I've ever witnessed.

Let's just say you had to be there. :)

Announcing.....Stuff

2011-03-23T11:38:00.007-04:00

So, it seems whenever we (as a blog) do announcements we seem to always show the three of us, James, Phil, Eddy, in some fashion that's not who we really are but somehow embodies the concepts of who we might be. So, as the heading states, I have some stuff to announce and to do that, I was looking for some imagery of the conceptual version of 'us'.

I found this one - the Three Musketeers. Not so much for the obvious references but the un-obvious references. Two specifically. First off - well there's really 4 of them in this photo (Willem, that can be you on the right). And mainly because one of them is Charlie Sheen who at times can act like one of the key authors of this blog.

Hint: it's not me.

Then I came across this: Three's Company. You can figure out yourself who I was picturing as a a character for each of us. (Hint: James used to be blonde and Phil still wears a gold chain).

With that done, Autodesk yesterday announced the release of Revit 2012. You all knew it was coming, but now it's officially out there. It's got some great new features that I'm personally very excited about - but haven't been able to discuss until today. The worksharing features alone will be well worth the pain of the upgrade. With that messy 2010 a thing of the past, they've been pulling out the stops to make some really great changes.

With the new release of the software comes the announcement of the new books. We've revised Mastering Revit Architecture for the 2012 release in all of it's 1157 pages. We've got some great new content in there as well addressing conceptual modeling and analysis, some of the new tools like assemblies and parts. We've also received some excellent contributions this year. Don Rudder has updated the Revit API work from last year, we have some new stuff on Revit in the classroom, Revit for Film and Stage now features work from the new Tron movie and Kelly Cone contributed some work on some very high level parametrics. All great stuff. You can find it here (with the new cover art) on Amazon and here on Barnes and Noble. One of the best things we got for this book was a great foreword by none other than Anthony Hauck - the Product Design Manger for Revit itself.

We're also introducing a new book called Revit Architecture Essentials 2012. Full color, 400 pages, 3-4 days of all the core ingredients you need to know to learn Revit and be a functioning team player. This is not for Revit Masters, but for Revit Beginners. Check out our 'final' cover (after much cajoling).

Anyway, we've worked very hard on all 1544 pages and we're oh so happy that the books will be hitting bookshelves in a matter of a few short weeks. Thanks to all for your contributions and support. And thanks to Mr. Roper for unclogging the drain.

Unfrigginbelieveable!!!

2011-03-22T06:22:00.001-04:00

I think I'm gonna send Lynn Allen a t-shirt and CD to celebrate!

It's official! The punk rock band the FLAT TIRES and their album "Freeborn" that I had the honor of producing last fall has been put into rotation on Pandora! Here's a link to their station for your listening pleasure :) Headphones apply. NSFW.

Jeezzus I love working for start ups! And these four guys from Hickory, NC are definitely some diamonds in the rough. Since last fall the crowds are getting larger, louder and in most cases drunker. Long story short - word is getting out. These guys are a hellfirehonkeypunkrocknroll force to be reckoned with. You know that bar from the Blues Brothers where the band had to play behind chicken wire? That's nothing...last week at their show in Cleveland they played behind a chain link fence. I guess the show went pretty well since they left the door open.

I can't imagine how hard it would would have been just a few years ago for a band to get noticed. The process of booking shows, get radio airplay, trying to get your music stocked at a traditional retailer (where people could actually find it) would have been an incredibly manual, time consuming process. Yet in a few years, what would have taken weeks (or months) now takes moments, and other efforts have become altogether obsolete.

So what's next? More mid-west shows are coming up fast over the next few weeks. First, they'll be heading up to Pittsburgh, PA on Saturday, the 2nd of April courtesy of the 31st Street Pub.

The following Friday night they'll be in Hammond, Indiana courtesy of the 5th Amendment (formerly Eli's Pub). So if you're in the Chicago area (ahem...Mark Schmeding...cough ;) leave work a bit early and get outta town. The show is being put together by an incredibly talented local tattoo artist that also created the poster for the show.

For Saturday the 9th, the band will head west to Fort Wayne, Indiana to play at the Brass Rail. Then back to North Carolina on Sunday. Back to work Monday morning.

And if you happen to see Lynn Allen rocking out and wearing a Flat Tires t-shirt, don't even begin to think you can face her in a mosh pit. She's tougher than you ever know. :)

RTC North America - LIVE!

2011-03-21T08:10:00.013-04:00

Good news everyone! Registration is now open for the Revit Technology Conference being held this spring in Huntington Beach, California from Thursday, June 23th till Saturday, June 25th.

http://www.revitconference.com.au/rtc2011us/index.htm

Why will you attend? Because time is money!
1. RTC is keenley focused on BIM and the ecosystem that is BIM.
2. RTC is held less than 8 weeks after new software launches (based on historic release cycles)!

We're not competing with AU! Heck - even Autodesk CEO Carl Bass will be attending. He's the keynote speaker!So where does RTC fit within the AU / BIM / Autodesk Universe?

On one hand - AU is a much larger conference that is rightfully focused on the business of Autodesk. This is really great, because Autodesk has a lot of stuff to show it's customers and only a week to do it.

On the other hand - RTC is keenly focused on the ecosystem of BIM and highly complimentary to Autodesk's BIM focus customers. But more importantly, RTC is nimble enough to be held on the heels of new software releases (not 8 months later).

This is why RTC is strategically focused for those of us that have to constantly manage teams and technology, as well as the business side of client and project management. We're the ones that are staying up late at night seeking out the best practices, tips and techniques to keep our teams and businesses up and running as smoothly as possible! And we don't have 8 months to find out the latest and greatest information that is essential to our business!

So select the link above and get started to:

Check out the incredibly well-rounded schedule!

Check out the awesome venue!

Check out the high caliber speakers!

And no...your eyes don't deceive you. That's right...we've got Steve Shell!!!

Carl Bass and Steve Shell?! In the same room?! In the same universe?! Areyoufrigginkiddingme!?

So get signed up - stay connected!

LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

See you at RTC 2011!

Ecosystems vs Technologies

2011-03-15T11:22:00.017-04:00

Technology graveyards are littered with amazing stuff that didn't survive because of two really important dynamics:1. Time to market: By the time your well-intentioned and nearly comparable product arrives - the other guy has already created a well-established paradigm. In the process they've captured important first to market mindshare. Your hopefully competitive technology will constantly be compared to the first to market and established paradigm. And if your solution is not overwhelmingly and compellingly better - it'll be viewed as mediocre and fail.

The first iPod wasn't a technology breakthrough. It was basically a 5gb(!) hard-drive and lightweight OS. The screen was crap. But it captured people's imagination and the learning curve was really, really shallow. But most importantly, it was 2001. By the time MFST brought the Zune to market it was just over 5 years later. By this time the market had already had bought into the "carry a bunch of songs in your pocket" paradigm with other products - and Apple customers were overall pretty satisfied.

So why would a customer "upgrade" to a comparable technology with no compelling event? They won't. So what compelling event moved people away from the iPod? Less than a year later the iPhone launched (2007). So while MSFT was making this thing to carry a much of stuff in your pocket, AAPL let you carry the internet in your pocket. The iPhone was a compelling event, indicating that Apple is about the only company that can make Apple's technology obsolete.

Note: Making another company's technology obsolete is an incredibly hard, uphill battle. But having the leadership force-of-will to make your own technology obsolete? This is incredibly rare. Microsoft had great technology, but Apple had great vision.

Lesson: Don't wait till your technology is perfected. Get it to market before it's ready. Then push your team to rapidly release updates and improvements ahead of expectations. Before a color screen. Before copy/paste.

2. Lack of ecosystem: Does your new technology do something really cool? BFD. Your great technology will fail in the market if your competition has incredibly well-honed, integrated and elegant distribution because their sum is greater than your parts. Zune Marketplace? Well, sure - as you would expect, there's stuff to buy, watch or listen to on your Zune from an online store.

ZZZzzzz...It's not enough to evolve new models of delivery around old models of content. You have to create revolutionary models of delivery around new models of content. Microsoft was doing the first and Apple was doing the second.

By 2006, Microsoft was trying to create ecosystems around existing media ecosystems: TV, Music, etc. But Apple had already well-established distribution around some amazing and compelling content: podcasts (along with the old stuff). So while MFST was making something old to do something old, APPL was humming along creating something new to do something new.

All of the conventional content that could be brought to you by MSFT wasn't nearly as interesting as an episode of TikiBarTV (here's the very first episode from 2005). When Tiki Bar TV first started out, it had really pretty poor production and sounded like the mic was in the corner of the room at the bottom of a metal trashcan. But it was damn funny. And it had Lala.

Microsoft Zune + Regularly Scheduled Programming vs. iPod + Lala? No contest.

Lessson: Don't be satisfied to do an old thing a new way. Rather than fight over existing marketshare, create new markets and force others to compete on your terms.

So that's your lesson for today: if you build a better mousetrap the world won't beat a path to your door. You have to capture mind-share and create new modes of distribution for your new idea.

What happens to the mouse once it's caught? Can I share mouse-catching ideas with other mouse catchers? Who would I rather watch dance in a mouse suit? Steve Balmer or Lala?

No contest.

Friday Reprieve #32

2011-03-10T21:53:00.003-05:00

Wow! What a ride! Writing two books at the same time + the 10 hr day job + family leaves very little time for fun. or beer. Thankfully we're at the stage in the books now where we're finishing up some final reviews, and getting ready to print. It's very exciting - Mastering Revit 2011 was translated in India, Germany, and the UK (they use weird words like 'lift' and 'torch' and the beer is warm). The Revit Essentials book will soon be translated into Portuguese for sale in Brazil. Do you know what that means? It means that somehow Phil will be able to mold young minds in several countries. Hide your kids.

This also means we're working feverishly on book covers. We received some great content through the blog and we're sorting through some cover options with the publisher. You might have seen this one online at amazon.com:

If you did, we're sorry. We're sorry that first, we didn't tell anyone that we'd selected cover art (which we haven't yet) and we're also sorry that anyone would have to look at a cover that bad. I can only hope (and pray) that:

- someone was still drunk from Fat Tuesday when this was laid out

- they had lost a bet

- it's some sort of computer generated cover art and no human would have ever produced this.

As you might be able to tell, it rubbed me a bit wrong and I DID stop putting coke in my rum. It also sent me on a quest for the worst book covers imaginable. There's some pretty bad stuff out there in the world. Like this:

Nice that they got someone from every gender and race to be in the pic, but they're all talking to the blonde, white kid. No one outside of 1986 can be cool with acid washed jeans. Sorry. Then there's this one:

Moment of Truth! for real!! Note the branding on the side 'Intimate Moments'. I wonder if the story is that discrete....

Then, there's this one:

I..... I, uh...... well, I don't quite know where to begin. Funny thing is, this book has a huge cult following and almost a 5 star review on amazon.com. Ok, one more. How can you say no to a book about all the characters William Shatner ever played, come to life!

I'm sure it's a gripping story that is hard to put down. New Revit Essentials art coming soon. Maybe it will feature Shatner.

LEED Silver

2011-03-08T22:05:00.002-05:00

Subject: 1626 Jefferson

Eddy,

I have a certificate to mail to you for the above referenced project but, we do not have a physical address on file.

Please provide your address and I will make sure the certificate is mailed.

Thank you,

This is the email I received to close out my LEED paperwork. It's a testament to how this process went. Thankfully, they figured out the address was in the subject line of the email they wrote (not to mention on all the paperwork and they visited the house several times). With all that said, the lovely, oversized certificate arrived today.

Earl Grey...Hot

2011-03-08T08:44:00.006-05:00

It was just a matter of time. Is there a CMYK equivalent in the Food Pyramid?
Really interesting article on the research going into food printing.
"Honey, the Soylent Green cartridge is nearly empty and the guests will be here in less than an hour!"

Authoring Team

2011-03-01T07:59:00.005-05:00

We're so close to being done with the next Mastering Revit book. It's been a long and winding road, so I thought I'd take a moment and recall some of the finer authoring achievements over the past few months.

Initial planning for the content took place in Vegas at Autodesk University 2010. James (left) wore his favorite shirt. We didn't mind the colors, but Eddy (right) begged him not to roll up the sleeves. I was just dumbfounded that Eddy could grow a goatee. I didn't think he was capable of facial hair.

As New Year rolled around, deadline pressures mounted. James lost the beard but insisted on the "I'llkickyourassallthewaytothefarendofLongIsland" sideburns when I dared to suggest authoring was "fun". I like James, but I'm afraid of him when he's pissed off.

By January, let's just say we had to wear uniforms. Our publisher was getting a bit anxious about meeting deadlines for two books about the same time and after some trumped up charges were pressed we found ourselves "sequestered". Note to self: always read the contractual fine print.

James picked up a nicotine habit to calm domestic related nerves. Eddy took one for the team. Me? I'm smiling. Let's just say our cell mate will never again giggle when we say "Family Editor" or "Reload Latest". It turns out that last year's Mastering Revit book tucked in the end of a pillowcase is a weapon not to be reckoned with.

As February rolled around, Eddy was back on the rum and Coke. Not that we missed our uniforms and former "room mates" but it beats yard work around the house. James begged us to help with his gardening and we all chipped in. Eddy's pissed that all the hydroponics are putting his electric bill through the roof.

Speaking of roofs, the very next day Eddy installed a 1kW photovoltaic system on the roof of the trailer and got the whole thing LEED certified (and then wouldn't shut up about it). It seems silly to me - turning sunlight into electricity just to turn it back into artificial sunlight. But James recons it's better in the long run cause otherwise my cats keep getting into his "gardening".

Everything was fine till the editor showed us "finished and approved" cover art for the Revit Essentials book; cover art that we didn't approve and what we all agreed looked like what comes out of a cat that's eaten way too much from James' indoor garden.

At this point, Eddy freaked said something about what he was going to do with the business end of the rake he was holding, which kind of freaked me out. Eddy is supposed to be the calm one - and now I found myself trying to talk down both James and Eddy. In the end, some really great cover art was selected by the three of us and Eddy settled down. But I wouldn't be surprised if packs his rake for Vegas this year.

Wow - was this the best day ever. After spending months writing the book we find out - after the fact and at the last possible moment - that we have to go back and make sure that there's all this extra stuff added to the book for certification purposes. Did I mention that a lot of the content the publisher wanted added had been previously edited out in order to make some bean counter with a spread sheet happy by keeping the book below a target page count? I said something about fire-ready-aim and James said something about being surrounded by f*&tards and needing to work in his garden and Eddy stopped adding Coke to his rum.

But in the end, it all came together. We've finished all the writing and now it's just editing, choosing cover and center art. And my new eye wear prescription finally arrived.

We're all really amazed how much James polished up after selling his first "harvest" (which pays way more than writing books anyway). You can't see all the nicotine patches covering his back, but we're glad he's going to try to quit smoking (again). Eddy's went back to adding Coke to his rum, but as you can see - he's kind of melancholy. Since I help James cover his back with the nicotine patches, Eddy has to take them off.

Did I mention that I'd love to write a Family Editor book? Come on James...it'll be fun!

She's Not Evil

2011-02-23T16:21:00.013-05:00

So I'm trying to install Revit on a new Parallels VM but the dang thing won't recognize the DVD player on OSX. And I really need this install domino to tip over in order to allow a lot of other amazing and really cool stuff to happen.

Meanwhile, we're having some landscaping done in the back yard. This involves bringing in some dirt, some rocks and a bobcat (the mechanical kind, smart-tard).

But moving of said dirt has thus caused there to be dust (we've not had rain in Charlotte for a few weeks). So this afternoon our neighbor...okay...the person that lives next to us...shows up at the front door to inform me that her house and car are "ruined" and demanding, "Who's going to take care of it? Who's going to pay for all of this!? Why should I pay for this!? I used to have really nice windows but now they're all ruined!"

I willingly admit, at this point there was a lot of parametric and bi-directional yelling.

But for the record, I did not say she was **evil**.

Update: This video has been removed at request of someone with a great deal of authority and ability to make my life quite miserable when I dare disobey a direct order. Details here.

In the place of the previous video I offer this flash back to yesteryear (with a twist). It's a FLAT TIRES Mystery Video! Who is the mysterious CAVE MAN!?

More LEED

2011-02-21T15:04:00.005-05:00

So, big round of applause goes out to my contractor, Jamie Jefferies for all of his help and hardwork helping me do the LEED-thing. He's a hell of a guy. It was an exploration for the both of us to do on a residence. As a 'thank you' (besides the bottle of scotch) he'd asked for a plaque to commemorate the event. So, dutifully, now that I've got my colors, a whole new opportunity for consumerism has opened it's doors to me. It's what I imagine it's like being in fraternity. Now that you're in, you get the unique privilege to buy all of the swag they offer only to club members.

Personally, I thought it would be pretty reasonable but I honestly have to say, after shopping at the 'store' most of the stuff is $500-$1000 or more. That flag up there? $940. Yowch!

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

2011-02-18T13:03:00.010-05:00

Yeah yeah...Steve Jobs.

But on closer inspection (look directly above Steve):

That's Carol Bartz (CEO of Yahoo; formerly CEO of Autodesk).

If I'm not mistaken she's chatting with Steve in this image. Can't help but wonder if they mentioned AutoCAD on the Mac. :) As much as I love Revit, I'm blown away by this recent effort of Autodesk. Apple has come a long way since R12 AutoCAD (the last native release available for the Mac). Seems both Autodesk and Apple are playing well to each others strengths.

Images courtesy of the White House Flickr stream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/5454952553/in/photostream/

Friday Reprieve #31

2011-02-18T06:39:00.002-05:00

Sometime in the last 5-8 years, my generation (GenX) went from being the group who drew toilet details to the group who became the managers of our demographic. Somehow in that switch that sassy / tongue-in-cheek sense of humor began to show through in everything from magazine ads to television shows to, well, internet humor.

Today, I present you Apple H2O.I always love a good apple spoof. And I especially always love anything from someecards. make sure to click the image so you can read the text in all it's glory.

Congrats!! On....something......

2011-02-15T22:47:00.006-05:00

honestly, I think this image says it all. I spent the last two years, almost to the day chasing this dream and I've finally achieved it and I feel somehow empty. My home is officially LEED Silver. First house in Kansas City, MO at 1236 sq ft. I received this illustrious award in the form of an email which also notified me that for an additional fee, I could purchase a lexan plaque to commemorate the event. Know anything about lexan? It's a petroleum product. Kinda defeats the purpose. Would I recommend it to a client? No way. Not unless it was something they felt strongly in getting. Would I still design sustainably? Absolutely. It's about making smart decisions, it's not about the USGBC.

But if your glass is 1/2 full, my home uses 1/2 the energy of a regular Missouri home, 1/2 the water, has flooring that dates to 1890, and, well, it's home.

Last Call for Covers

2011-02-13T14:52:00.025-05:00

No...not music covers. Book covers, silly.

One down and one to go. We've already selected the cover art for Revit Essentials. More to follow about that cover but it's really fantastic and yet again not from a firm in the US (last years cover hailed from Australia).

The deadline to targeting Mastering Revit is quickly approaching. In other words - we'll probably have to decide by the end of this week! So if you'd like to have your Revit efforts considered for the cover of Mastering Revit please email your submissions to masteringrevit@architecture-tech.com. Once again, there are two really important points:

Don't send high-res images suitable for publication (yet). Just send medium-res PNGs and JPGs for review (and ppplease don't email bandwidth choking BMP files).
If accepted, you (or someone with the appropriate authority) will need to sign a waver allowing the image to be published. Then we'll resolve where to send/upload the high-res image.

But speaking of music covers, the Flat Tires, only play an occasional cover. And speaking of the Flat Tires (couldn't resist) they're playing next Saturday (2/19) less than an hour from Chicago. And since you've finally recovered your car from the city's storage yard after wisely abandoning it along Lake Shore Drive during the recent freak snowstorm - you can drive! :)

The occasion is Ruff House Tattoos 11th Annual Art Show and Party. Think you've got artistic skills? We'll - it's one thing to casually sketch out an idea on a piece of trace paper and another thing entirely to believe you've got what it takes to permanently ink another human being. You'll wonder how you were ever considered a candidate for a degree in architecture after checking out some of the talented work by the owner and staff of Ruff House Tattoos. Their Annual Party and Art Show is rumored quite legendary and not to be missed.

So head on over to The Modern Post in Schererville, Indiana next Saturday. The address and other details are below via Facebook link. The first person to take a photo of themselves with front man Clint Harrison and email it to me (he doesn't usually bite and anyway he's up to date on his shots) get's a complimentary copy of either Mastering Revit or Revit Essentials - up to you!

Want to win both books? Bonus points if you're the first person to send me a picture of yourself, Clint and Mark Schmieding. Long story! :)

Columbus, Ohio

2011-01-29T18:09:00.036-05:00

Flat Tires show are coming in fast and furious. This one is in Columbus, OH on May 14th and is courtesy of the Road Devils Car Club. More details on Facebook.

I'm also really starting to like About.Me. It's becoming the defacto place to start; everything links from there. One stop:

All part of the master plan to get these guys to Kansas City, MO/KS.

I realize the music is too high-brow for the local community, but that's beside the point.

I miss Eddy.

Friday Reprieve #30

2011-01-28T06:01:00.005-05:00

EVERYONE WANTS TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING.

Let's take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? I want to give you a brief history of documentation in Architecture in the 21st century in Kansas City, MO. I think there's a direct correlation between information DATA within our industry, how accessible it is, and how we do our documents. To help demonstrate this, I offer the following history of building:

The Nelson Atkins Museum. Built 1931. 23 sheets in the drawing set.

Kansas City Power and Light. Built 1933. 46 sheets in the drawing set.

jump forward a bit.

One Kansas City Place. Built circa 1980s. 80 sheets architectural. Done in CAD.

Kansas City IRS Processing Facility. Built 2001. 300+ sheets in the set. Done in Revit.

National Security Campus. Built 2011. 2000+ sheets in the set. Done in Revit.

what does that mean? to me, it means once we went to CAD we were able to draft really really fast so we made a lot more drawings. Once we had a self-organizing drawing set, we were able to produce even more information. So, why not? make it. people want it, right?

With over 2000 sheets you get to the point of information overload. I mean really, how many flashing details do you need? Where the last century was lead by a quest for information our current century faces the problem of too much information. We don't need resources to find stuff, we need resources to sort and analyze information in new ways. Heck, Revit is a relational database after all.

How is this a Reprieve?

I found a guy out of Britton who deals in information visualization. So much of it is out there, but David McCandless is an absolute artist when it comes to taking a wide array of information and showing you seemingly unrelated facts in a new way:

EVERY COUNTRY IS THE BEST AT SOMETHING. enjoy. stimulates mind and vision.

St. Patrick's Day

2011-01-27T13:44:00.013-05:00

Any Revit users in Raleigh, NC? St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. And if you're within 100 miles of Raleigh, North Carolina you'll definitely want show up for some punkabillyhonkystomp courtesy of The DIVEbar.

The Flat Tires are going to be pulling the tab off their new CD "Freeborn". You'll probably want to get it ahead of time so you know when to scream along. It's available via Rusty Knuckles (if you want the kewl digipack and poster) and iTunes (if you please please please gotta have it now).

One more thing...here's the official link on Facebook for the event. And if show up and somehow prove to me that you use Revit - I'll buy your first beer!

FYI - this is a FREE show. But 21+ only.

Sorry kids!

Update: I created the above poster for the Raleigh, NC show earlier today while the kids did their homework a few feet away from me at the kitchen table. Way too much fun!! The image is from the first show I saw the Flat Tires play in Charlotte, NC.

Calling All Covers...Again! :)

2011-01-25T07:26:00.012-05:00

Last fall, Eddy, James and I were really fortunate after the release of Mastering Revit 2011. Sybex (taking the human form of our editor, Willem) asked the three of us about doing an intro book for Revit.

An intro book? PuuullleeeezzzzZZzzZzzzzzZZZzzz...... ;)

But after a few days, the idea of writing an introduction to Revit became really interesting. In some ways it's easy to pick through Revit and focus on the "hard" stuff; the hard stuff stands out. But there are still a lot of people out there that want to get up to speed on Revit and learn the ropes. Yet they see all these complicated Revit projects and geometry and techniques and as you can imagine it can seem really intimidating. Where should someone start with Revit - an application that's been available for over 10 years?

Imagine you're given 3-4 days to get a co-worker up to speed using Revit. Ask yourself: What would you focus on if someone you knew needed be comfortable, confident and productive using Revit? Surprisingly, it's a pretty tough thing to do! Where do you start? Suppose you've been using Revit for more than a few years...and now you need to back up and explain the basics. It's not an easy task! You wouldn't want to get caught up in too much minutia - but you would want to cover enough detail to be relevant and interesting.

Well, you'd just want to cover the "essense" of Revit.

From the very beginning, Eddy, James and I spent a lot time trying to figure out what to leave out of this book. And even after those chapters were written (and, ahem...perfected), found out that page counts for quite a few chapters were still to high! - by a couple hundred pages - What do you take out? What is the essense of Revit?

Consider the Pebble, Grasshopper.

In other words, help someone understand the basics of Revit within the context of productive workflow - but without being overly prescriptive. Help someone understand some really useful techniques - but don't make it too complicated. And at the end of each lesson - give this co-worker an indication of how to take their use of Revit to the next level.

Inspire someone, taking care that you don't intimidate them.

And that's what we really believe we've done: Revit Essentials. Or something like that...we're not exactly sure about the exact title. But along with the new MARA book, it's our current project. Apparently it's even going to have a cover!

And this is where you all can help us out...again! :)

If you'd like to see your Revit efforts on the cover of Revit Essentials please email your submissions to masteringrevit@architecture-tech.com for consideration. Once again, there are two really important points:

Don't send high-res images suitable for publication (yet). Just send medium-res PNGs and JPGs for now for review (and ppplease don't email bandwidth choking BMP files).
If accepted, you (or someone with the appropriate authority) will need to sign a waver allowing the image to be published. Then we'll resolve where to send/upload the high-res image.

And once again - if one of the shiny new renderings you submit is selected for the cover - you should expect some really cool piece of hardware, software, something to show up on your doorstep about the time our book hits the shelves (exactly what is to be determined...but we've got a few really great ideas). Consider it a sign of our appreciation. Oh yeah - and to top it off you'll be able to show lesser mortals your work on the cover of a really cool book...forever!!!

Friday Reprieve #29

2011-01-21T06:01:00.002-05:00

What people do with their free time never ceases to amaze me. My older daughter knits voraciously. My younger daughter talks to anyone within ear shot. Phil produces country / punk bands.

This is a pretty cool waste of time from PrimaxStudio. What is the scale of the universe?

Give it a second to load and move the slider to the left or the right at the bottom. There's a lot of 'stuff' out there in a wide range of sizes.

In Stores Now!

2011-01-17T14:56:00.010-05:00

"Freeborn" is third Flat Tires album in four years. There's a lot of new work and a few live versions from previous efforts. Clint, Bryon, Jeremy and Scott work incredibly hard at daytime jobs and then get in a van and drive 1600 miles between a Friday afternoon and a Sunday night.

CD here.
iTunes here.
YouTube here.

Definitely old school. Definitely NSFW (double check your headphones are plugged in first).

Booking east coast shows and headed west.

Latest efforts have involved getting social media firing on all cylinders. A big part of that is getting all the events moved over from MySpace, which has been imploding over the past few months to Facebook (here's the link to their official page) so there's on calendar for coordinating show/date/location.

Email for bookings: flattires_rock@yahoo.com. They like to be booked out at least 2-3 month in advance.

Would love to get these guys to Japan, New Zealand and Australia. Probably headed to Europe first. Old Zealand awaits!

Friday Reprieve #28

2011-01-14T03:59:00.000-05:00

Sustainability, meet religion. Religion, meet sustainability.

I grew up with italian catholics in St. Louis. That meant to me, that I did several things in life that I just thought everyone did:

- play soccer as a child

- eat fried ravioli

- bury a statue of St. Joseph head down in the front yard when you're trying to sell a house

This last one - I have no idea where that tradition began, but as a kid, I always wondered how many statues I'd find in the front yards of older homes if I was able to dig it all up. I mean, what happened to olde Joe? Did people just leave him there? It was all a bit odd to me.

Fortunately, I can now solve that problem and relieve any guilt I might have of permanently leaving a saint in my front yard. Meet Eco Joe - the biodegradable, earth-friendly St. Joseph meant to sell your home, then quietly decompose.

Bury one of these buddies in your yard, pop that sign in, and you can casually enjoy the rest of your weekend drinking Bush beer and eating fried raviolis on the Hill.

There's More To Life Than Architecture

2011-01-12T10:48:00.005-05:00

Does anyone know the history of this? From the titleblock it was originally issued 5/1/78 and last updated 3/15/10. R.J. Dinino? F. Roemhild? F. Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?

I think I'm going to print it out and frame it.

Select the image above or here to download.

Pandora

2011-01-05T07:05:00.001-05:00

Pandora has officially accepted the Flat Tires album "Payin' Dues...Again" to their Music Genome Project!

More info here about the Flat Tires on Pandora.

And here's a station on Pandora where you can follow this genre.

What's next? Well, "Freeborn" is being pressed now and set for offical release the 22nd of February. And thanks to their Rusty Knuckles label, will be available via a variety of sources.

Including (drumroll) Target!

Once released, I'm sure Freeborn will be added to Pandora as well.

This is fantastic news for Clint and the rest of the guys who've worked incredibly hard to get this far and have yet to signs of slowing down!

Calling All Covers

2011-01-03T19:37:00.015-05:00

Hi Everyone! Can you believe that it's already that time of year again?! Eddy, James and I have already started (honest, Willem) to dig deeply into the next Mastering Revit book. Which means we're reaching out to the viewing audience for gallery art (the glossy section in the center of the book) as well as cover art (really cool image that goes on the cover...like the one above).

Do you think you've got what it takes?

Please email your submissions to masteringrevit@architecture-tech.com for consideration. Two really important points:

Don't send high-res images suitable for publication (yet). Just send medium-res PNGs and JPGs for now for review (and ppplease don't email bandwidth choking BMP files).
If accepted, you (or someone with the appropriate authority) will need to sign a waver allowing the images to be published. Then we'll resolve where to send/upload the high-res images.

Finally (very important) - if one of the shiny new renderings you submit is selected for the cover art - expect some really cool piece of hardware, software, something to show up on your doorstep about the time our book hits the shelves (exactly what is to be determined...but we've got a few great ideas!). Consider it a sign of our appreciation. Oh yeah - and to top it off you'll be able to show lesser mortals your work on the cover of a really cool book...forever!!!

Care for a hint to make the cover? Look at last years cover at the top of this post. Notice that it's not overly busy or completely covering the cover. In other words, there's still room for a title, the authors names, the publisher, seal of approval, etc. I strongly suspect that the selected image is going to have these same important qualities.

As for the internal gallery - don't just send bird's eye views using really exaggerated camera angles. :) Break it up! Interiors, exteriors, section boxes, exploded views, real-time materials as well as renderings...all make for great viewing!

Ready, set, email!!!

Don't Blame Revit

2010-12-28T17:10:00.011-05:00

Revit is just a tool. It'll let you do silly things.

Questions of the Day:

Does great design require intelligent intervention?
Is great design an accident?
What are the odds of creating statistical randomness through mere chance?
To honestly bake from scratch must you start by creating the universe?

Christmas Comes Early

2010-12-21T10:55:00.006-05:00

AOL acquires About.Me four days after official launch. Undisclosed sum.
More links and info here.
Congrats About.me team!

Happy Holidays

2010-12-17T21:51:00.005-05:00

It's a great visual storyboard.

Enjoy.

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/

2 Shot'a Punk Rock 1 Shot'a Shine

2010-12-17T17:03:00.028-05:00

If you were in Jr. High school in the 70's, there was all this music called disco. It was white-collar, over-produced, over-hyped and over-here (thanks Australia). But in the midst of all this incredibly popular music the needle took a violent swing in the opposite direction.

Bands like the Ramones, Bad Brains, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, The Clash took the style over substance and injected incredible amounts of energetic angst. Overnight, disco was dead and raucous rock and roll was back in. Yeah - disco hung around for another 5 years, but it was the kind of music your recently divorced mother's new boyfriend liked. Wanker.

And while few of these punk and hard-core/rock bands became commercially successful, they worked incredible hard and as a result influenced music for decades. Once again, rock and roll wasn't something used to sell cars. It was something that was supposed to piss off your neighbors, your teachers and your mother's new boyfriend.

So here we are again. 2010. IMO rock music has been incredibly bland for the last 10 years or so. U2 sounds nearly as whiny as REM.

Here's what's popular right now. As a (for the most part) self-taught musician that started playing piano at six, then picked up brass and strings over the next 15 years it unnerves me that kids would rather pretend to play popular music (ala "Rock Band") than actually learn to tune a guitar. It's an irony hasn't gone unnoticed. Just watch the first 2 minutes.

Where's the present day musicianship?? Who's playing the instruments on these pop records? You wouldn't know, because it's all the cult of personality about the lead singer. Just like disco. Here we are again. Mark my words:

When the children of movie stars release instantly successful rap and hip-hop records free of hard-earned and poorly payed dues, it's time to look somewhere else.

So between Disney Radio and pre-pubescent, auto-tuned boy/girl bands and first-name-only solo acts that are far too warm, well-fed - I recon the needle is about to swing. Really, really hard.

There's hope over the horizon. Hard working, blue-collar, cold-weather and dry knuckes kind of hope. Jack White is leading the rock and blues charge with his ex-wife. Old Crow Medicine Show is the standard bearer for the Bluegrass revival and selling out venues in Europe. Hank Williams III is giving his granddaddy something to get drunk to and sing along for a change.

And from the end of a dirt road in Hickory, North Carolina comes 3 guys and a lead singer that wields pipe wrenches and cans of PBR like Odin's hammer. And I recon these guys are going to help swing the needle.

This is from 2007.

And this is from 2010.

These guys have been ripping up the east coast for the last 5 years and now they're starting to head inland. Leading the way is another collection of original and live tracks that goes to press today. In the next few weeks it'll all be available from distro and iTunes. The cover looks something like this:

And the back looks something like this:

They're called "crazy eyes" people. So don't stand too close to the stage. Not unless you want to get knocked over by a flying bottle or sprayed with beer. You think I'm kidding? NSFW.

See you at SXSW. Maybe even AU 2011. And hopefully a lot sooner. If there's a venue in your town (or country) where you think these guys should play - let me know. And when you decide to see them when they pass through your town, I recon you shouldn't wear your good shoes.

Seriously.

What What What???!!!

2010-12-16T23:58:00.004-05:00

Xmas Lights? ZZZzzz.... Synchronized music? Yawnnn....

Whatwhatwhat?! Rollercoasters?

Okay...now that I've got your attention - enjoy! :)

About Me

2010-12-16T18:53:00.011-05:00

A new web site about.me is poking its head out of the ground. The UI is very elegant and I can imagine this taking off pretty quickly. I've already registered for myself (and each of my kids). Many of the posted profiles are a little too "Glamor Shots + Internet" from the look of things but don't let this distract you. I think there's a lot of potential.

Where's the value? You're able to track your recent and historical profile views and statistics as well as understand your "reach" based on Twitter, Linkedin, etc. There are also some tools to help you promote and extend that reach as well. As an option, you can allow people to contact you via email. But while their return address will be shown to you, your email address is hidden from them. Very nice feature.

Not Facebook.
Not Twitter.
Not Linkedin.
Not Blogger.

Overall, a really great website to gather all of your pointers and links in one place. Like having your own personal splash page.

about.me/philread