Book of the Month: Location-Based Management for Construction

A book about a better way to Schedule and Control construction projects.
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On the lecture I am following about Schedule Management we've been taught so far only CPM (Critical Path Methodology) and PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique). These are the mainstream methodologies nowadays to schedule and control projects. These methodolies could be described as "activity-based" methodologies.

Because a possible job opportunity I was asked to get into an alternative way of Scheduling projects. What it is known as Location-Based Management Systems (LBMS). To learn about this there are many sources online, but the best way is with no doubt with this month's "Book of the Month". "Location Based Management for Construction. Planning, Schedulling and Control" by Kenley and Seppännen is the new "Bible" to learn about Location Based Techniques.

or or

The idea behind Location based techniques is that they allow a better continuity of tasks, they let you see if different crews would interfere with each other and allow you to get forecasts of the project evolution (based on controlling and reviewing project status) and to see if deadlines will be achieved or not. LBMS are also very much related to techniques such as Model Based Estimates (Quantity Estimations from BIM Models) and Virtual Construction Techniques.

The book is not only good to learn about LBMS, but it also gives a good introduction to Critical Path Method (CPM), Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), the Arrow Diagram Method (ADM), Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) and other mainstream Schedulling techniques. It is expensive, but half the way though it I think it is worth every Dollar/Euro you invested in it.



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MS Office: Collaborate using Google Docs

Use Google Docs collaboration features from your MS Office desktop interface.
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Collaboration is one of the key words in my opinion to improve efficiency. It might be collaboration between team members in the same office, collaboration between members of the same company sitting in different locations or collaboration between consultants to produce common documents.

Collaboration is not only important when we talk about producing drawings or models or BIM. It is also very important when producing documents where more than one stakeholder has to contribute in their production. I am talking about spreadsheets with area calculations or word documents containing technical specifications and so on.

Google Docs is a collaboration tool by Google that allows this sort of multi-party edit and sharing of documents. It can handle spreadsheets, word documents and presentations. In the business environment though, MS Office is the leader in creating this sort of documents, so many might not want to use Google Docs to share their docs because they are used to the better functionality and editing features of the Microsoft proprietary software package. But soon this might change.

There is a new tool to use the best of both platforms. It is called OffiSync and it is intended to allow you to use MS Office desktop programs to create and edit your documents and to use Google Doc sharing and collaboration features to share them and edit them together with your collaborators. See the intro video below.


OffiSync can be downloaded here. There is a free version and a Premium one with different level of features. Try it. Better collaboration is the future.

via Geeks.cat


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AutoCAD: Know the properties of a Nested Object

What is the layer of an Object in an Xref? Does it use color byLayer? List the properties of a Nested Object with this easy to use command.
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If you need to know the layer of a nested object (to switch off that layer for instance) or other of its properties, you might want to use the XLIST command.
This command allows you to see the Object Type, the Block Name (in case the object is neted in a Block), the layer, the Color and the Linetype properties. The image below is an example of the results of using the XLIST command.


The command can also be called on the command line bar, using the -XLIST version. LazyDrafter reported recently that this helps when having very long XREF or Layer names, as the dialog box is sometimes too small to allow you to see the layer name complete.

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Revit Basics: 3D Orbit with Scroll Wheel

3D Orbit in Revit can be done like in AutoCAD... don't panic!!
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Ok, this is another tip many might consider dumb, but since I am learning slowly I am sure there will be people learning like me. It is about using the 3D view and rotating it easily to visualize your model.

At first, I got pretty frustrated when I though I would have to use the View Cube to rotate a 3D view. The View Cube has some nice features that will be explained soon, but rotating the view its not its best one. It works, but being on the edge of the scree makes it a bit uncomfortable. Luckily, I remembered how you can 3D Orbit in AutoCAD and thought: "it must work here too, it's also Autodesk's software". And it does.

Simply press the Shift button and the central mouse button (scroll wheel) and move your mouse. You'll be able to Orbit your model better than using the View Cube. Dumb tip?


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SketchUp Plugins: Better Unfold Tool - Flattery

A new Free Plugin to unfold your Model in SketchUp.
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Some time ago I posted about the Unfold Tool Plugin for SketchUp. Recently I found out throught the Daily CathUp that Pumpkinpirate has released a better Unfold tool called Flattery. I set myself to try it and produced this quick video about it.


The Plugin an be downloaded through the Pumpkinpirate website. Great Job.


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Potoshop: CS5 New Feature - Content-Aware Fill

An amazing new feature that will be available in the new CS5 version.
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Ever wanted to erase some element from a picture using photoshop? Depending on the image, this might take ages, because the background might be very complicated to duplicate. Adobe is announcing an amazing new feature called Content-Aware Fill that apparently makes this a piece of cake. See the video below...It even seems to good to be true...


To read more about the new features of Potoshop CS5 go to the PCWorld Article about it. Photoshop CS5 can be preordered at Adobe.com, it will ship around mid-May 2010.


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SketchUp Plugins: Make your Model 3D-Print-Ready

A Plugin to help you turn your models into STL files ready for 3D Printing
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With the evolution of 3D printing technology, 3D Printing is becoming more and more common during the design process. To get good results with 3D printing we need to be sure that our model is ready for it. Sketchup is a great design tool, but you will agree with me that sometimes a model might get quite messy if we are not paying too much attention to the way we model.

CADSpan has a free plugin to convert your model into what is called a "water tight" model. Water tight models are needed for the 3D printers to be able to produce the physical model in one piece. The Plugin also eliminates duplicated and overlapping faces. It basically cleans up the model and lets you export it to the STL file format system that's the standard. See the video below by CADSpan.


The Plugin can be found at the CADSpan website. There is a Free and a Pro Version of it.


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BIM and Real Time Sense-Making

The importance of Real Time Data to imporve efficiency.
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I just stumbled upon this post and video from Jeff Jonas from IBM.



I think it is important for the construction industry to keep track of these new methods and ideas being developed by other industries. BIM, as a process, can help implement in the Project Life Cycle what Jeff Calls "Real Time Sense-Making". No more having the MEP engineer working on an old outdated version of the project, no more calculating costs on lasts months design. If we manage to achieve a full collaborative process, we will be able to share the information right away and be much more efficient.

The process might take a while, I recently talked to my cousin who just finished a big project in Germany, (one of the first projects done entirely with Revit in his company) and he told me that they found a out of limitations and performance problems due to the size of the project. At his office, apparently they found that over 5000 square meters, Revit still has problem handling files (even with 16Gbs of Ram and 64bit machines). For better performance, they had to split the files. The whole BIM idea of ONE central model with all the info was then broken by hardware/software constraints.

I guess it is just about time that computers will be able to handle almost any project size, detailing will be easier and more features an functionality will be added to BIM software packages. By then, Architects, Engineers and Contractors must be already familiar with BIM as a process, because those who don't will be left behind.


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Le Corbusier and SketchUp

Le Corbu recommends SketchUp...
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This is just a silly funny piece of work put together by Paul from Viewsion (Sketchup Ireland blog) to promote the use of SketchUp. I thought it was funny enought to share it here. Enjoy




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Autodesk Products: Poll Results

Just want to share the results of the Poll i recently asked you to answer.
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I recently asked everyone to answer a quick poll to see what software where you using. Although the results are surely a bit bias, since having here more posts about AutoCAD means certainly more AutoCAD users on the site, this are the results in case anyone is interested. Plain AutoCAD wins overwhelmingly over other software products by Autodesk.



Hopefully more and more people will jump on the BIM kart soon, and hopefully too they will show up at CAD-Addict once in a while, as a goal, I'll repeat this Poll every 6 months or so to see if there is any evolution both on the usage of Software and on the reader base of this website. Thanks to all those 58 who took the time to vote, and those who sent me their feedback per email after the poll was closed.


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SketchUp Plugins: TIG Extrusion Tools

A full set of Tools to execute diferent extrusion operations in SketchUp
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I recently posted on some Plugins by TIG:

ExtrudeEdgesbyFace.rb,
ExtrudeEdgesByLathe.rb,
EstrudeEdgesByEdges.rb,
ExtrudeEdgesByRails.rb and
ExtrudeEdgesByLoft.rb.

These are part of a more complete set of Plugins by TIG that contains very other useful tools. The ones detailed here are the ones I found more useful (because I needed to use them), but the others are quite handy too. Installing the full set of tools from here, will add a Toolbar to SketchUp that will allow you to easy access all the Plugins on this set.



Alternatively, you can access them going to Plugins --> Extrusion Tools.

The Plugin Set can be downloaded here.

If you are new to SketchUp chek here to know how to Install SketchUp Plugins.


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SketchUp Plugins: 4D Construction Simulation Plugins

Two Plugins to link Sketchup models with schedules and simulate the construction process
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I was looking around for Plugins to use in sketchup to easily simulate the construction process. I am following a schedule management class, and would like to do a bit more than just the schedule part, but try to link it with a visualization of the construction model based on a simple SketchUp model. I came across two three plugins that seem to do the trick.

The first one, and the only free one, is called onTime5D. On the video below you can see a very brief preview of its functionality. The plugin seems to be in process of development, you can follow up on this on the author's website.



The first second one is called xD Virtual Builder, developed by D-Studio. It can be found at their website: www.4dvirtualbuilder.com. I tried it a bit, but didn't have the time to properly test it. As described in the features, it allows you to import schedule files in xml format from MS Project, Primavera and Asta Powerproject. You can check the Getting Started Tips, and take a look at the video below to get an overview of the Program. Unfortunately, it is not free, there is a free trial, but the cheapest version (without XML import) sells at $59.



The second third one is called Synchro Project Cosntructor. It is not just a Plugin for SketchUp but a full Scheduling and Project Controlling Tool. This is the reason why it is much more expensive, over $800. Nevertheless, it allows to import SketchUp Files and to then use its features to create a 4D simulation of the construction process. It imports MS Project and Primavera Files and seems more complete (it has to for the price!). Find more info on the Product Website and on the following video.


Any insights on these Plugins? Do you know of any free Plugin to create 4D simulations in SketchUp based on Schedules? Please share!


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