buildz: Candy stripes for your facade
buildz: Candy stripes for your facade
“User Question: I have 3 types of panels I need to alternate across my building facade in vertical strips, a full spandrel, ventilation, and vision (all glass). How do I do this without manually changing all the panels?”
Find the answer on the link above! A great post from Zach Kron’s buildz blog here – Check it out and make sure you view the rest of his awesome posts as well.
Vasari tips and tricks
Vasari is an excellent tool for design analysis and conceptually massing and energy testing. Although your results are not accurate enough to use for construction purposes, it is a great tool to compare different design options in order to see the affects of the mass or building in relation to the surrounding environment. If you are unsure how to set up vasari for energy analysis, you can view an older post here which will take you through the process step by step.
In this post, I will share a few massing tips and tricks which I have picked up through using the software.
Adding and editing profiles:
Adding a profile to your mass can dramatically change how the mass or building will look as you can see in the image above. In order to add a profile, simply tab through your selections until you can pick the whole mass. Click on Add Profile in the ‘Form Element’ tab and select where on your mass you want the profile to be. Once the profile is added you wil be able to DRAG the profile in all directions to pinch and push the mass in certain ways, play around with this until you get your desired shape. The Vasari starter screen was created in this way – Check out the Vasari talk here explaining how this was achieved.
Adding Edges:
Edges or vertexes are also used in Vasari as a way to manipulate your mass or form. As you can see in the image above, you can begin to turn a very ordinary rectangular block, into an abstract and more interesting shape to work with. Each edge in a Vasari project is editable, it is also possible to add new or extra edges to your mass in the same way as a profile. You can play around with these until you achieve your desired result.
Using ‘X-Ray’ mode:
X-ray mode in Vasari is similar to wireframe mode in a program like Revit. The main difference is the X-Ray produces ‘nodes’ on every edge and profile we have created, this gives us even more freedom to play around with the shape of the mass and create something truly unique. With these 3 tools along with the standard massing tools, it is possible to create almost any shape that you would want a building to be.
Adding Levels:
If you are testing out high rise buildings in Vasari, you may have say 20 or 30 levels or floors in your building. A quick way to add all of these levels, rather than manually adding them is to hold down the CTRL key and drag the levels up to the next position. This will copy the level and allow you to create mass floors. Although this method would not be suitable if you need to use precise measurements, it is more than sufficient when testing out different design options for energy consumption / wind simulation etc.
If you are looking for more detailed instructions and help with Vasari, you can either get in contact with me below, or watch some of the Vasari talks – These are a weekly webinar / meeting explaining different aspects of Vasari, all the way from the introduction right up to advanced modeling techniques. Check out the Revit Wiki Help page here to view all the previously posted Vasari talks. I will be posting some tips on creating panels in my next post.
You may also wish to check out the tips & tricks section on the Vasari forums here.
Vasari Beta 2 is released
Does the BIM news ever end? New software, tools, addons left right and everywhere else. Very exciting times in the BIM / AEC industries. The latest news is the release of Vasari beta 2; main updates:
- Automatically sync files with Autodesk 360
- Solar radiation legend improvements
- Category filtering in dialogs
Vasari Beta 2 is out!Sync your models with Autodesk 360! autodeskvasari.com
— Autodesk Vasari (@autodeskvasari) November 28, 2012
Follow the link above for download and release information:
Conceptual massing and energy modeling now avail on iPad
Autodesk have jumped the gun in the conceptual modeling mobile device ‘race’, with the release of Autodesk FormIt. FormIt seems, at first glance like a cut down version of Vasari, where you are able to model basic geometry, set a location and run basic conceptual energy analysis on your mass directly from your iPad. The fun in this is that you get to feel like your actually modeling it with your hands rather than a mouse.
“Introducing Autodesk FormIt. the 1st Architectural Form Modeler for the iPad. FormIt is an intuitive, easy to use mass modeling application helping designers make informed decisions while accessing site & climate data. The building and site aware app allows designers to sketch proposed design options that can be compared with program requirements and then shared with the project team for continued collaboration through Autodesk® 360. – Available now on the Apple App Store”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-4MH64pnWw?rel=0%5DThis is quite a step up from the current modeling tools which are available on mobile devices. Although I can’t see people designing buildings and whole projects with this tool, it could certainly come in useful on site, and to test how specific geometry would perform in a specific location in relation to wind and solar analysis. I have not seen the app available on the App Store but I will post a link here as soon as it’s available.
Revit: Repeat and divide on buildz
If there is anyone out there following my blog that hasn’t seen this series of Revit vidoes from Zach Kron who runs the Buildz blog concerning the ‘Repeat and Divide’ functions in Revit / Vasari – I would strongly recommend you visit his blog and follow his video tutorials which you can find below. These videos continue to show the boundaries of Revit being pushed. Usually when people say: “You can’t do that in Revit” it’s not true, there’s almost always a work around!
Repeat and Divide: Part 1 – Curved panels
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POND315utnY?rel=0%5DRepeat and Divide: Part 2 – Unfolding
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLyIPnL9PFw?rel=0%5DRepeat and Divide: Part 3 – Slats and continuous slices
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg-KStl3wuk?rel=0%5DRepeat and Divide: Part 4 – Reactor
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umTSYgDir9s?rel=0%5DMore info and datasets can be found on the Buildz blog here
Rapid Energy Modeling
I found this series of interesting tutorials on YouTube posted by Simon Gillis from Autodesk on the Sustainable Toolbox YouTube channel. The videos focus on using 123D Catch to capture an existing building and create a mass out of the scan. Following on from this, it will then be possible to peform energy analysis on the mass to provide a good estimate of current energy conditions of the building. As well as the possibility to simulate future changes.
See how Autodesk tools such as 123D Catch and Revit/Vasari can be used to rapidly capture, model and analyse existing buildings in a process known as Rapid Energy Modelling:
The video has been split up in 12 parts, I have made a playlist of the videos to make it easier for you guys to view. Just head over to my YouTube channel or follow this link for direct access to the REM playlist. Many thanks to Autodesk and Sustainable Toolbox for explaining this process in great detail. Hope all my followers have a great weekend!
Vasari add-ins
FEATURED ADD-INS
Source:
http://labs.blogs.com/ http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/vasari/
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Parametric Sliders (NEW UPDATE) The Parameter Sliders add-in provides a graphical interface for flexing parameters defined in loaded and in-place families. This add-in is a Work in Progress (W.I.P.) and is a separate installer that works with Project Vasari 2.1. |
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Parameters from Image The Parameter from Image add-in is a tool for writing data from an image file to a curtain panel by pattern family in a divided surface. This add-in is a Work in Progress (W.I.P.) and is a separate installer that works with Vasari 2.1. |
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Automatically Update Export for Solar Radiation This WIP adds a check box to the Ecotect Solar Radiation tool to allow automatic update of an exported .csv file when analysis results are updated. |
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Dynamo for Vasari Build parametric functionality on top of Vasari with a graphical user interface. Autodesk has extended the open source effort of Ian Keough by adding some additional nodes and packaging it in an installer for Vasari to make it easier to get up and running. We have also provided some sample workflows. |
Project Vasari tutorial
Hey guys, hope you’ve all had a great weekend. Today I finally got round to writing and uploaded a short beginners tutorial to using Autodesk’s Project VasariV2.1. To view the tutorial click this text to be forwarded to the correct location.
Hope you all have a great week, and look forward to hearing some feedback!
If you haven’t already got a copy of Project Vasari click here to download from Autodesk labs.
Upcoming blog posts
Just a quick post to let you all know that I will be uploaing a starters guide to Project Vasari and Project Storm over the next few days. If you have not already experimented with them, I will be giving a simple tutorial to follow to get to grips with the programs. From what I have seen both programs are extremely user friendly, working in the Revit Architecture / Structure 2012 interfaces. Look forward to hearing some responses about how everyone else is getting on with Vasari and Storm, and to what practical uses they have been applied! Hope you all have a great day and report back tomorrow for more!
Ben Malone
romulosimionatto
BIMopedia 