AEC Tech News (#232)
23 Jul, 2008With BIM, Practice Makes Perfect
Covington Architects discovers that custom training lays the foundation for a successful transition to Revit.
Hindsight is 20/20. But then, you never know until you try. When Covington Hendrix Anderson Architects moved to building information modeling (BIM) using Autodesk's Revit Architecture in early 2007, the firm made the decision to adopt it company-wide. Resolved to start off right, management closed doors for a week so all employees could receive training.
The firm went through Revit basic training as a team, attending on-site training at the facilities of its technology partner, Avatech Solutions. The training familiarized staffers with basic Revit functionality and introduced them to the free online libraries of architectural components available for use in Revit models.
However, when employees returned to their production environment, specific details of real-world projects took a toll on staff productivity. Read more »


By Jerry Laiserin
For the past six years, building information modeling (BIM) has been hailed by designers and constructors of commercial and institutional buildings as a revolution in the construction business. Ironically, the world of stick-built, single-family detached dwellings on the U.S. market has long enjoyed many of the same benefits without all the hoopla. A large chunk of this market is served by local and regional homebuilders operating as integrated design–build organizations and turning out a few dozen homes or fewer per year.
These builders require software that includes many of the capabilities demanded by architects for design and modeling, plus the ability to easily produce plan sets for filing with building officials and coordination with subcontractors (such as plumbers and electricians). They also require that their tools provide unique capabilities for generation of framing plans, bills of material (BOMs), cut lists for lumber yard orders, and so on. Read more »

Mark Your Calendar: AEC Events
Pitney Bowes MapInfo Customer Forums
July 24–September 9, 2008
Various cities in Canada and the United States
Attendees will learn more about MapInfo Professional v9.5's newest features with live demos and Q&A sessions and also will be able to participate in a focus group with product managers and help provide direction for future features and functions. Read more »
For a complete list of CAD meetings, conferences, training sessions, and more, check out our calendar of events on Cadalyst.com.