My New Enscape Blog Post - Enscape panoramas meet Chaos Cloud

Sharing a blog post I recently updated for Enscape... 

Enscape panoramas meet Chaos Cloud: Virtual tours, collaboration, and VR at Lake Flato

I used the Lake Flato office remodel project to show how Chaos Cloud now handles the heavy lifting: hosting panorama tours, adding hotspots and floor plans, collecting feedback, and even running immersive VR sessions on a Quest 3—no additional platform or licenses required.

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RTO Revit Speed Test 2026 Update

Thanks to Aaron Maller, the RFO Revit Benchmark tool has been updated for Revit 2026. This script runs several Revit-related tests on a computer and provides a "score" that can be used to easily compare hardware configurations.

As a Dell Pro Precision Ambassador, it only makes sense to test the hardware I have using this industry benchmark:)

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Reflection: Three Years on AIA COTE Leadership Group (2023–2025)

When I accepted a three-year appointment to the national American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment Leadership Group (AIA COTE LG) for 2023–2025, I hoped I could contribute in a practical way—bridging design performance, technology, policy, and communication so more firms (and more projects) can move from sustainability “intent” to sustainability outcomes. (AIA Community Hub)

Looking back, this term was a whirlwind of working group calls, writing and review cycles, conference planning, cross-committee coordination, and the kind of collaboration that reminds you why COTE matters: it’s a community of people who keep showing up—because the stakes are real, and because the profession can do more.

This post is my personal recap of the work, the people, and the moments I’ll carry forward.

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New Enscape Blog Post - Enscape for SketchUp 2026 is now available, plus Save as External Model is back

Just published on the Chaos blog — “Enscape for SketchUp 2026 is now available, plus Save as External Model is back” — a must-read if you use SketchUp + Enscape. The update to Enscape 4.13 brings full compatibility with SketchUp 2026, plus the long-awaited return of the “Save as External Model” feature. That means you can offload heavy components into linked external .skp files, keeping your main SketchUp file lightweight and responsive, while still getting full-fidelity renders in Enscape.

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My Autodesk Design Performance course at NDSU

Congrats to my NDSU graduate architecture student, Micah Wood, for completing the Autodesk course I created, Design Performance and Sustainability with Autodesk Forma, Revit, and Insight. Congrat Micah!

I gave my students a "choose your own adventure" option for the last three weeks of the semester, and Micah decided to take the design performance route!

By the way, Micah is also the President of the NDSU chapter of AIAS.

Learn more about the course here: https://www.autodesk.com/learn/ondemand/course/design-performance-and-sustainability-with-autodesk-forma-revit-and-insight 

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Lighting design professionals: check out my Revit & ElumTools training https://bit.ly/3NJjhCVn

Watch Out Adobe... Affinity is Free!

In case you haven't heard, a major competitor to Adobe, which several AEC firms I know of have previously switched to at a fraction of the cost, is now totally free. And not only that, they announced this with a brand new version that appears to be amazing.

Affinity is totally free.

Also, on a slight tangent, I share some of the tools many of us use that now take advantage of your GPU (including Affinity).

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Texas Society of Architects (TxA) 2025 Conference on Architecture Recap

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend and present at the annual Texas Society of Architects (TxA) conference, hosted in Dallas, Texas.

It was another great TxA conference. In this post, I will share some of my experiences and highlight events and sessions:)

Selfie with keynote speaker Carol Ross Barney

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