RAM Online

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 Meeting: Digital Storytelling by Jim Robb

 Jim Robb has been providing visualization services for architects, interior designers and artists for 15 years. He has worked in AutoCAD ADT (Architecture), Revit and primarily 3ds Max. While Architecture and Revit do have rendering engines associated with the programs, there is usually much optimization needed for a typical model before decent results can be optioned from within these programs. 3rd Max has optimizing tools that can speed the process along.

Visualization is digital storytelling. Photo-realism is not needed all the time to tell the story of the design. Users should not rule out other methods or styles of rendering.

As usual, September’s meeting will be the last Wednesday of the month (Tonight!). Also as usual it will be in the 2nd floor conference room at the Human Services Building in the Henrico County Government Center in the West End off Parham Road.

No RSVP required. Please be our guest. Light dinner will be provided for all attendees. We look forwarto seeing everyone there.

CADD Micro will be hosting a TechTour featureing Lynn Allen this Wednesday in DC.  Donnie Gladfelter offers: 

 “I’m really excited about this TechTour since it’s squarely focused on making the most of Autodesk Suites. Nearly every session will feature the use of two-or-more pieces of software, and how such multi-product workflows can help designers become more productive.

We will be hosting a Richmond TechTour in October. That event will feature similar-but-different sessions (without our friends from Autodesk), but will remain focused on solutions-based classes.”

For more details:  http://www.caddmicro.com/cmi-tech-tour-august-2011/

At our July meeting Donnie Gladfelter walked us through a helpful list of his favorite non-CAD utilities.  Other members shared some of their own favorites.  Donnie’s list is below:

Screencasting

• Screenr: Free, no-install screencasting software.
• Jing: Free local-client screencasting & screencapture software. Includes private sharing of videos

Support

• Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder: Pre-installed with Windows. Press Start and enter PSR to use.
• Help Scout: Free e-mail based ticketing system.

Document Storage & Exchange

• Dropbox: 2GB of Free “cloud storage”. Share directories with anyone.
• Evernote: Keep notes, PDF’s, task list in a central, searchable location. MS Outlook integration makes for an excellent way to archive email.
• YouSendIt: Send large files, electronically sign documents, share folders with access permissions.

Web Conferencing

• Acrobat.com: Free one-to-one web conferencing.
• Skype: Instant messaging, video calling, and screen sharing.

Windows Utilities

• Bins: Add multiple applications to a single icon on the taskbar.
• Fences: Group desktop icons into categories; double-click for clean desktop.
• LastPass: Keeps a central, encrypted repository of your passwords.
• ZoomIt: Zoom into portions of your screen, sketch atop your screen during presentations.
• Google Calendar Sync: Sync your Outlook calendar with Google Calendar.

As usual, the June meeting will be the last Wednesday of the month (Tonight!).  Also as usual it will be in the 2nd floor conference room at the Human Services Building in the Henrico County Government Center in the West End off Parham Road.

This month’s topic will focus on compositing rendered models with photographs for Architectural projects.  Richard Claridge of Little Mountain Technologies will share his experience in this and related topics including camera matching, lens distortion correction, perspective correction and HDRI (high dynamic range imaging).  In his workflow models are usually taken from AutoCAD to Max to Photoshop with some special photographic utilities used along the way.

As usual, dinner will be provided for all attendees. We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Please join us at 5:30 tomorrow evening  in our usual location in the Board Room of the Human Service Building of the Henrico County Government Center at 8600 Dixon Powers Drive.  Tomorrow night’s topic:

Revit Visualization – Rendering Inside Revit

Richard E. Carter, Architectural Designer at Wiley|Wilson will be demonstrating methods for rendering scenes, adding and editing materials, adding backgrounds, setting image exposure adjustments, saving and exporting the rendering, and creating AVI walkthroughs.

Members and guests welcome.  Bring a friend.  Light food and beverage will be provided.

Please join at 5:30 tonight  in our usual location in the Board Room of the Human Service Building of the Henrico County Government Center at 8600 Dixon Powers Drive.  Tonight’s topic:

HC Yu and Associates will be presenting Family Planning. The first part will be a brief overview of Revit Families. This will encompass a description of how families are used in Revit, how they are created, and managed. The second part will show how to create a family from scratch, including parameters and connections. The third part of the presentation will focus on “super families”. This is adding design geometry and parameters to the family to make the families a powerful design tool.

Members and guests welcome.  Light food and beverage will be provided.

Our meeting on February 23^rd was well-attended.  We hope our new guests enjoyed the meeting.  Thank you to Matt McCarthy of HCYU for the demonstration of Navisworks applications.  Navisworks Manage was used to detect clashes between models brought in from Revit and other sources, while the free Navisworks Freedom viewer was used to review files exported from Manage.  Matt provided a good overview of program abilities and some helpful tips to avoid problems while generating useful clash reports.  Paul Kerill, also of HCYU, explained that use of clash detection reinforces precise modeling throughout the project team in addition to the more obvious benefit of avoiding physical conflicts during construction.  Navisworks Manage requires an investment of several thousands of dollars per license.  To assist companies that haven’t yet acquired these specialized tools and expertise, HCYU has added clash detection to their available suite of technical and professional services.

P.O. Box News:

The P.O. Box for RAM has been renewed.  The box was closed for a brief period of time and some mail might have been returned.  Rest assured, it is now operational.  Any membership applications or checks sent to it will be picked up by a board member before the next meeting.

As usual, the February meeting will be the last Wednesday of the month.  For this month that is the 23rd.  And as usual it will be in the 2nd floor conference room at the Human Services Building in the Henrico County Government Center in the West End off Parham Road.

This month John Morgan of HC Yu and Associates will be presenting “Collaborating using Navisworks”.  The first session will cover using the free software Navisworks Freedom Viewer. The second session will cover Navisworks Manage and will focus on generating, using, and sharing clash reports.

As usual, dinner will be provided for all attendees.  We look forward to seeing everyone there.

We had a great meeting to begin 2011.  It was primarily a business meeting where the present and future of RAM was discussed.  There were about a dozen in attendance.  Officers were voted on for 2011.  The results are as follows:

Rich Carter    President

John Morgan    Vice President

Cindy Chagnon-Mackenzie    Treasurer

Richard Claridge    Secretary

We also decided to remain independent and continue to foster our good relationships with the various resellers in the area.  Finally, we decided to have officers meetings monthly to help plan out the year.  We look forward to expanding both our membership and attendance in 2011.  We hope to see y’all there!