Courses offered at Best of Destination Desktop

Revit Architecture can assist us with conceptual design at early stage of the design process. The massing tools help create 3D massing elements, and building maker can then convert various shapes of masses into building components. By using massing and building maker, we accomplish conceptual design which is indispensable to architects who want to create unusual and complicated shapes for their building models.

 Conceptual design at early stage of design process
 Massing tools: sweeps, extrusions, blends, blend sweeps, and revolves
 Building Maker: roof by face, wall by face, and curtain system by face

The new Survey functionality in Civil 3D 2010 has made using it a must for all users. Anyone who imports point data from external sources will want to see this. We'll look at the new import capabilities, new point coding. If you have or haven't seen "Automatic Base Map creation" in the past, you'll love the new power of Survey

 Import survey data
 Import events
 Linework code sets
 Process linework
 Share points

AutoCAD has been around for a long time. Yet simply using AutoCAD every day does not necessarily make you more productive. You may not realize it, but old habits, bad habits, and inefficient commands and techniques may be robbing you of productivity. You'll become more productive by eliminating clicks and picks -- period! In this session, you'll learn how to tap into AutoCAD secrets that banish repetitive steps and tasks. After this session, you'll walk away with productivity-enhancing knowledge that you'll be able to apply immediately regardless of the AutoCAD release you use.

 Automate drawing and system setup with profiles, workspaces and scripts
 Create the look of hand drafted prints and plot with visual styles
 Reduce the need to zoom by maximizing your views with enhanced zooming tools
 Automate design processes with simple action macros
 Eliminate construction lines forever with tracking tools
 Create flexible block alternatives with groups

We'll introduce you to the new "intersection object" in Civil 3D 2010. Yes, you can have Civil build your dynamic intersection from two alignments and profiles.

 overview of the intersection object
 different design scenarios
 new profile locking in intersections
 dynamic offset alignments
 curb return profiles

Productivity through program has never been a friendly nor intuitive process. Whether using LISP, VBA or Menus and Macros if you didn't get the right syntax, it didn't work. Now since AutoCAD 2009 you can easily build custom macros simply by using AutoCAD. In this session we'll cover how to record your most common repetitive tasks into one custom command eliminating repetitive tasks forever!

 The what and why of the action recorder
 Loading and playing existing macros
 Creating action macros that automate the creation of geometry
 Creating action macros that modify geometry
 Creating action macros that perform drawing utility and maintenance
 Secrets, tips and warnings ensuring successful and effective macros

Most projects are made up of at least two Revit files: a site and the building that goes on that site. Shared locations use a common coordinate system that allows us to create a relationship between the files that only needs to be managed in one file but can be updated at any time. In this class we will link the multiple building files to the site and position the buildings accordingly. In turn, we will link the site to each building file and see the benefits of shared locations.

Aren't corridor objects great? They can update with our design changes and are wonderful for creating finished ground surfaces, calculating volumes, and other tasks. But what about how they look? How can we control their appearance? How do we control the large amount of link, shape, marker, and feature line styles? How do we set things up so they will automatically label section information? How do we create code sets to speed up 3D viewing? Come to this class and all of these things will be revealed! Code sets can increase your productivity and accuracy with a few very simple steps. Put them in your template so they are available to all users.

 Create custom codes for links and marked points
 Create and apply material area fill styles
 Work with code set styles
 Apply code set label styles for sections
 Increase 3D viewing speed
 Control layer and appearance of feature lines

The Curtain Wall tools will be investigated thoroughly, including a demonstration about custom mullions, panels and custom curved types.

 Curtain Wall Doors - Yes, they have their own!
 In-fill Panels - Glass or another material?
 Mullion Grids - Mastering placement
 Mullions - Assigning sizes and shapes

Since the early days of AutoCAD, users and companies have struggled with maintaining standards and managing their block libraries. After all, having a company block library on a network drive and using a layer standard is great, but it's hard to make sure people use the right block and put the text on the correct layer. This class will address the easiest and most effective methods for managing existing blocks, dynamic blocks and geometry creation to ensure that the correct color, layer, and linetype are used. You'll also learn the secret of how to create, display, and manage shared palettes securely as an enterprise solution for your company standards for AutoCAD 2004 to AutoCAD 2010 users!

 Understanding the what and why of tool palettes
 Controlling the display of palettes and tools
 Creating your own palettes and tools
 Creating enterprise palettes to maintain standards
 Demand loading enterprise palettes and anchored palette roll-up speeds

Conditional subassemblies allow you to create assemblies which can solve more than one situation at a time. Create assemblies which behave differently depending on the conditions they encounter. The functionality allows the user to solve complicated corridor challenges with less assembly and region creation.

 Creating and examining conditional subassemblies
 Applying conditions to corridors
 Sharing assemblies among users

Using the plans, sections, elevations and details, students will learn about the tools available for detailing and how they can be used to document the design.

 Detail Components Library
 Aligning and Locking
 Keynoting
 Material Tagging
 Annotation Text

Blocks are the oldest form of reusable content known to AutoCAD® users. Although the concept remains unchanged, there have been recent major developments that make Blocks more powerful. Dynamic Blocks have added a new level of power and complexity that is not easily mastered. Discover how the grip and action features of Dynamic Blocks will increase your efficiency and productivity. You will not only learn how to build new Dynamic Blocks, but also how to apply the new ideas of geometric and dimensional constraints to the existing Block libraries you use in AutoCAD everyday for instant productivity gains.

 Using the Block Editor to create and edit block geometry
 Adding parameters and actions to create dynamic blocks
 Adding and using geometric and dimensional constraints
 Applying block troubleshooting techniques

Do you own a copy of Map but don't use it? Want to move Civil 3D data directly into a different GIS format? We'll examine working with data from various sources and different ways on importing them. Then we'll also look at different ways of sharing the data we create. All using the Map functionality built into Civil 3D!!

 Access Geospatial data from other sources
 Label and work with geospatial data
 Modify and save data back to its' original format
 Export Civil 3D data to other formats

When you think of parametrics and constraints between objects, most people think of using Autodesk Inventor. Now we have the same powerful ability to add geometric and dimensional constraints in AutoCAD 2010. This class covers how to identify constrained geometry in AutoCAD and how to determine the best opportunities to add intelligence to the geometry in your drawings. You’ll also learn how to define geometric relationships between entities, objects and within Dynamic Blocks. Now you can create drawings that are easier to maintain with greater control over the drawing content. This beginning level class is intended for AutoCAD users and professionals from any industry with no experience using other parametric drawing packages.

 Identify constrained geometry in AutoCAD
 Identify opportunities to add intelligence to the geometry in your drawings
 Define geometric relationships between entities in your drawing
 Define geometric relationships between entities in Dynamic Blocks

An in-depth look at materials in Revit will be followed by some rendering and finally an FBX export to 3ds Max Design.