BLAUGI Blog of AUGI

AUGIWORLD October 2024 -- Customization Tips & Tricks

This month at AUGIWORLD, we dive into the newest and most helpful tips and tricks, all geared towards customization and making your life easier! Our authors give their own takes while also including a few extra pointers in the mix.

Take some good notes and we hope you enjoy this month’s issue!

In the October 2024 issue:

Invention, Innovation, and Improvement — Mark Kiker talks about the process of moving between being inventive, innovative, or improving a process or tool when you do something new, or in a new way. It may not seem like it matters, but he thinks you move between all three!

Role Playing in ACC — Certified Professional, Daniel Lench, emphasizes defining role-based permissions in Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC).

The Civil 3D Grading Optimization Extension: A Case Study — John Mayo talks about the Grading Optimization (GO) extension in Civil 3D and explains two examples of grading criteria would be minimum/maximum slopes in an area and a building floor elevation. GO works with simple polylines from your dwg file to derive a grading solution fast!

Bob’s BricsCAD Customization Journey — Rose Barfield talks about helping you learn how to get started, finishing the hollow first-time user “Bob” through his journey to customizing BricsCAD. From Confusion to satisfaction!

Civil 3D: Smooth Production Not Guaranteed — Victor Aguilar brings us the important production process aspect of always having neat and organized project files, and how that’s just the beginning.

AutoCAD: Pull/Push Viz States — Jack Foster shows you how to have a LOT of different visibility combinations without a Visibility State in a dynamic block.

CAD Managers: Are You Superman or Batman — Tom talks about growing up in the city with Superman and Batman, the world will always need a hero. Tom ties in how the world will never need CAD and CAD Managers one day because of AI.

Revit-lution: Unleashing the Power of Custom Templates — Jason Peckovitch expands on what constitutes a strong, continuously enhancing ‘living’ template file life.

Civil 3D: Project Explorer > Object Sets and Custom Reporting Tools — Shawn Herring takes us through Project Explorer and looks at the many reporting methods for creating tables and exporting reports!

AutoCAD: An Area That Still Needs Improvement — Paul Li shares with the AutoCAD community for free the Area Object Link (AOL) app. Since that time AOL has gone through a major upgrade to fulfill this area that still needs improvement. He will introduce these new features.

Inside Track: Part 2. Let’s Look at DiRoots! — Rina Sahay continues on from her article last month, and moves forward to explore some eye-catching features of the DiRoots set of add-ins!

AUGIWORLD October 2024 Issue Released!

AUGI HOTNEWS -- September 2024, Issue No. 256

Read the full issue—must be logged in to read our online version.

The full issue contains the below articles, plus sections — AUGI Forums (hot topics), Autodesk News (recent news relating to Autodesk), AUGI Volunteering (opportunities), AUGI Members’ Blogs…

• AUGI President’s Letter — September 2024
   
• Tech Manager — Find; Fix; Finish
   
• My “FAB 5” Features of Everyday Civil 3D Use
   
• AutoCAD: Dialog Fun Facts > Get Ready, Set, Action!
   
• Restore Exploded Cogo Points with Civil 3D Dynamo

AUGIWORLD September 2024 -- 23rd Annual AUGI Salary Survey

This month at AUGIWORLD, it’s the most anticipated issue of the year… the Salary Survey! With this, our authors also get to choose their own topic to write about so stay tuned for some creative and new topics never seen here before!

Take some good notes and we hope you enjoy this month’s issue!

In the September 2024 issue:

AutoCAD: Not Just Software, a Way of Life — Mark Behrens dives into his life exploring AutoCAD and how he firmly believes that basic drafting board skills teach practices that last a lifetime of design!

Harnessing Revit’s Capabilities for Enhancing Design and Workflow Using Phasing on a Healthcare Project — Monica Fernendez explore the innovative application of Revit’s features beyond their standard applications to develop nine distinct drawing sets for an existing, multi-story healthcare facility!

My “FAB 5” Features of Everyday Civil 3D Use — Shawn Herring talks about his use of Civil 3D almost every day mostly for single family land development projects. He mentions how almost every project he starts, or potential project, begins with some sort of GIS data, either for boundaries or for topo, prior to sending out his survey crews to capture data.

How Can Integrating BIM with IoT Revolutionize Smart Construction Management? — Anna Montenegro talks about IoT basics/key benefits and how architects and engineers can automatically feed IoT data into BIM programs to automate design, construction, and management processes!

AutoCAD: Dialog Fun Facts > Get Ready, Set, Action! — Paul Li talks about how at the beginning of this year, he introduced an article titled Dialog Fun Facts. For him, the ability to program and layout custom dialog boxes in AutoCAD gave him a similar kind of excitement as watching the Summer Olympics. Now Paul is writing follow-up articles on this topic so he can pass this excitement to fellow AutoCAD users!

Correcting Yourself — Mark Kiker references his article last month about constructive criticism, but now what if you’re the one who needs correcting? How do you catch yourself drifting, going off track, or slipping? Mark explains some alarms or warnings that might help.

The Real Impact of AI in Engineering — Ghábor Imre Kovàcs succinctly explains different types of AI, their applications, and how they are transforming engineering practices.

The Importance of Industry Conferences — Jason Peckovitch talks about his time at the BIM Invitational Meetup and how he joined the organizers; Christopher Alexander, Michael Freiert, Robert Beckerbauer, their interns Cecilia and Aiden, as well as Beth Evanoo from HCM for dinner Sunday evening while letting us in on their “pregame” conversations that night.

Restore Exploded Cogo Points with Civil 3D Dynamo — Anton Huizinga shares how some questions trigger to take a deep dive into the subject while sharing his own questions such as: how (apart from requesting the original drawing) can you restore the symbols and elevation texts back into Cogo Points? Or, because the original objects are gone and unrecoverable, how to create new Cogo Points with the original location properties?

23rd Annual AUGI Salary Survey — Melanie Stone brings us our annual salary survey for AUGI and includes present and past percentage charts along with fun facts about AUGI’s salary survey!

Inside Track: Part 1. Let’s Look at DiRoots! — Rina Sahay steps away from the comfortable confines of her desktop to explore the world of plug-ins everywhere else, starting with DiRoots!

AUGIWORLD September 2024 Issue Released!

AUGI HOTNEWS -- August 2024, Issue No. 255

Read the full issue—must be logged in to read our online version.

The full issue contains the below articles, plus sections — AUGI Forums (hot topics), Autodesk News (recent news relating to Autodesk), AUGI Volunteering (opportunities), AUGI Members’ Blogs…

• Tech Manager — Budget Prep
   
• The Role of Civil 3D in Effective Change Management
   
• BIM Management: Content vs. People
   
• Mastering AutoCAD Layer Management

AUGIWORLD August 2024 -- Project, Software, and Staff Management

This month at AUGIWORLD, we’re taking a dive into the advice we wish we had when entering the world of Management. This area of work is arguably the most intricate, important, and tedious it gets as it runs all companies, softwares, and projects.

Take some good notes and we hope you enjoy this month’s issue!

In the August 2024 issue:

Constructive Correctives — Mark Kiker gives corrections to others saying that everyone needs to be corrected from time to time—but in order for others to take a correction as being constructive, you need to know how to deliver them.

The Role of Civil 3D in Effective Change Management — Shawn Herring discusses what Change Management really is in the world of civil engineering while taking a deep dive into ways Civil 3D currently helps in managing change, looking at several projects who underwent change management concerns and processes.

Managing Content Libraries in the AEC Industry — Jordan Bullock explores strategic approaches to enhancing folder structures, revitalizing content libraries through proactive updates, and employing robust communication strategies.

BIM Management: Content vs. People — Jason Peckovitch writes about how the AEC and BIM responsibilities often revolve around two main areas: content management and people management. He mentions how both play a crucial role in bridging the gap between technology and project execution.

Mastering AutoCAD Layer Management — Matthew Marrero breaks down the importance of layer management, the benefits it provides, and best practices to help you master this essential aspect of AutoCAD!

Revit 2025 Upgrades — Jonathan Massaro introduces the new version of Revit that Autodesk has released while going over the tasks to follow through with before rolling out the latest and greatest!

The Role of BIM Management in Streamlining Construction Projects — Kristina Youngblut talks about how BIM brings artificial intelligence to your project, fostering collaboration and integration like never before. She also states how the BIM process goes beyond design knowledge, incorporating expert technical skills to enhance project outcomes, and more!

AUGIWORLD August 2024 Issue Released!

AUGI HOTNEWS -- July 2024, Issue No. 254

Read the full issue—must be logged in to read our online version.

The full issue contains the below articles, plus sections — AUGI Forums (hot topics), Autodesk News (recent news relating to Autodesk), AUGI Volunteering (opportunities), AUGI Members’ Blogs…

• AUGI President’s Letter — July 2024
   
• Tech Manager — Making Tech Support Run like a Great Resort
   
• ComfyUI, Stable Diffusion, and 3ds Max
   
• AutoCAD Drawings & PDF Files: A Perfect Combination
   
• Essential Revit Add-ins for MEP Professionals

AUGIWORLD July 2024 -- 3rd Party Apps

This month at AUGIWORLD, our Authors give their personal takes on the most essential 3rd Party Apps and Softwares they use on a daily basis, including ones to always keep in mind for when needed.

Take some good notes and we hope you enjoy this month’s issue!

In the July 2024 issue:

ComfyUI, Stable Diffusion, and 3ds Max — Brian Chapman introduces how newer AI technology is used with 3ds Max to generate some interesting content!

Manager Myopia — Mark Kiker talks about dealing with his Myopia in the workplace and how to be more about the informal and the mindset or framework that must be in place to make sure that you are balancing the tyranny of the urgent, while also keeping in mind the need of having a view of the broader scopes and longer timelines. Mark also takes a quick look at how we can encourage ourselves to have a better view into the distance.

AutoCAD Drawings & PDF Files: A Perfect Combination — Mark Behrens talks about his life as a CAD designer, always looking to save time on his work. Mark points out that PDF files and their proper handling can make a designer more efficient and accurate, saying that they too often get overlooked, resulting in extra time and work. He says to always check online, and not just the vendor’s website, for a PDF manual or cut sheet before you invest too much time and start from scratch on a project!

Essential Revit Add-ins for MEP Professionals — Jason Peckovitch showcases how these add-ins help with his everyday workflows as a BIM Manager while also shouting out our own Inside Track articles here at AUGIWORLD!

BricsCAD® The Guide to Change Management — Craig Swearingen and Grant Dott talk about their daily experience assisting clients that are transitioning to and implementing BricsCAD®. They then share common practices that can be applied by your organization to any scenario, with a particular focus on those implementing CAD software.

BricsCAD® Design Solutions With Industry-Leading Applications — Craig Swearingen shares his article on a couple of applications that have truly made their mark, continue to gain traction, and demonstrate the diversity of how working with BricsCAD can assist with your design solutions.

Different Teams, Same Project: Collaboration in AEC Design — Kristina Youngblut talks about prioritizing the principles of communication, collaboration, and coordination which enables a brighter future for the AEC industry together.

Inside Track: More Revit Add-Ins That Live On My Screen — Rina Sahay continues her series of diving into what Add-ins make up her Revit UI including: CTC Management, CTC Tools for Revit, CTC Productivity, and Imaginit Utilities!

AUGIWORLD July 2024 Issue Released!