AUGIWorld Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 22) book with samples out of the deal. This is an investment all the way around. Of course there is online training that is free. If you HAVE to do this, then do it. It is not going to be as good as a live training class with an instructor. As the director of the AUGI Training Program (ATP), I am telling you that this type of training is a supplement to real training from an individual who is standing right there. As I said, training comes in many forms. If you don’t have a budget for it, then you don’t. It’s a pretty simple analogy. In that case then I recommend you go out and buy the book (http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Revit-Structure-2009/) and take an ATP class. I promise, I’ll be right there in both options. days it is getting more and more difficult to do so. Not just with Revit, but with any application. For a graphics card, it would be nice to have a 512 card, but 256 will be sufficient. In conclusion Third-party software Hardware Simply put, BIM is a memory hog! You need relatively good gear. 2GB of RAM is not going to be sufficient. At least, not for the good-sized projects. I recommend that you have 4GB of RAM and a 4GB processor. Yes, the best. If this is not doable, then 3GB of RAM will suffice. This is a simple analogy: The better the gear, the better the performance. This is technology. In the early 2000s you could scrape by with the minimum requirements, but these Revit Structure works with quite a few third-party analysis applications. RISA and RAM are the two big ones. You need to go to your vendor’s website and type Revit Structure into the search form. From there, you will be told if there is a set of drivers which will enable export/import of a Revit model. When you obtain these drivers, they are to be installed, and Revit Structure will have a new function in the Tools menu. This looks great on paper. As I type this I shake my head because of the frustration in actually relying on this function. It is shaky at best. Although Autodesk is striving to improve this functionality, as it stands, it lacks a smooth transition. Although you can provide a back-and-forth relationship with whatever analysis application you have, be careful. Some items may not import or export as expected. What I DO expect, however, is for there to be some advances in this functionality in the near future. The intent of this article is not to scare, or to alarm, but to lay out the importance of knowing what’s coming and to prompt people to start setting the stage. With all the hype, it does seem that all you need to do is buy the software and you are going to produce these marvelous drawings and be fully integrated “out of the box.” You can’t do that. But there is a reason BIM and Revit are replacing the conventional methods we currently use. The process of BIM is quite compelling and can really improve the way you put out jobs. But you need to be prepared, and ready for the challenge. Eric Wing lives in Syracuse, New York. He has been teaching AutoCAD and Autodesk products for a decade. He has been in the construction and engineering field for 17 years. Eric is the president and founder of SLUG (Syracuse Local User Group) and director of the AUGI Training Program (ATP). He writes regularly for AUGIWorld magazine and AUGI HotNews. Eric has co-written Mastering Revit Structure, which will be released at the end of 2008. 22 w w w. A U G I . c o m http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Revit-Structure-2009/ http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Revit-Structure-2009/ http://www.terrainondemand.com/autodesk/ http://www.augi.com
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