A Year in Review, plus Top 2020 Posts on BIM Chapters

As this crazy year comes to a close I thought I would write a short post on the year that was 2020, the top ten posts, and mention a few of my favorites...

Before the top 10, here are a few of my personal favorites:

• End of a Chapter - My Last Week at LHB, June 16, 2020
• New Chapter - Lake|Flato Architects, June 23, 2020
• I Moved to Texas!, August 14, 2020
• My Visit with Renowned Architect David Salmela, July 17, 2020

Keep reading to learn more...

Off Topic - A Week Off and a Day of Photography

I am super grateful that Lake|Flato gave everyone the week off, this week.

And, like any good television show, what do you do on one of your days off, but spend it with a co-worker:) Today's post is about a day of photography with Steven Campbell.

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Autodesk Expert Elite 'Social Butterfly' Award:)

This past Autodesk University, I found out I won an award within the Autodesk Expert Elite program... as a social media standout:) A quick share on that in today's post.

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Happy Holidays from Lake|Flato

Lake|Flato sent out an annual holiday greeting this week, which I thought I would share here as well!

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New Dynamo and Grasshopper Book for Revit by Marcello Sgambelluri

My friend Marcello Sgambelluri just published a book, Dynamo and Grasshopper for Revit. I bought a copy, and just received it in the mail over the weekend! Learn about this new book in today's post.

A great gift idea for an architect, building engineer, or designers!

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Yulio Supports 360 Video

Yulio now supports 360 video... today's post is about that and includes a sample of Lake|Flato's office in San Antonio, Texas.

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Content Management - Hive by CTC Software

I recently had the opportunity to write an Autodesk University 2020 sponsored article on content management in AEC for CTC Software. Today's post talks about that and a little on my history with CTC Software.

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Enscape Offline Content

Enscape now allows their assets to be saved offline, which speeds up the preview display significantly. Today's post shows you how this is done, and what the cons are.

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My Online Courses - Lighting, Energy, MEP, Visualization

Keen on learning something new to close out a crazy year? Or, perhaps you are looking for a professional development item to add to your annual goals for next year?

I have four reasonably priced online courses you can start working on right away!

• Lighting analysis ($120 ea)
• Energy Optimization ($99)
• MEP for Remodels and Alternates ($99)
• Visualization using Revit and Enscape ($99)

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Calculating Light Levels for LED Strip Lights in ElumTools

The use of LED strip lights, or light tape, have come a long way in recent years, and can often provide primary lighting that may need to be calculated. Today's post shows how this can be accomplished with the professional lighting add-in for Revit called ElumTools. I will show how accurate calculations can be achieved with, and without, manufacturer provided photometry.

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Enscape Blog Post - Shaping a New Future with Real-Time Visualization

My latest Enscape blog post is live! Lean about it in today's post.

The future has challenges but with great minds and tools we can overcome them. The entire architectural eco-system, from client, to architect, to engineers, to contractors and manufacturers, must continue to build knowledge, leverage tools, and be leaders in change if we hope to move the needle on important issues such as climate change and urbanization, just two of many that could be discussed. 

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Autodesk Revit November 2020 Roadmap Update

Autodesk updated their public roadmap, showing what they are working on for Revit. This update also includes a new Trello board, which I am slightly confused about. Todays posts is about that and how to get involved in their beta program.

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Hot off the Press! New Lake|Flato Book Just Released - Nature | Place | Craft | Restraint

Exciting news... available now at your local bookstore and online, our newest book is hot off the press!

Lake|Flato
Nature | Place | Craft | Restraint

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My Autodesk Interview for AU - About Next-Gen Energy Analysis!

I am excited to share a pre-recorded interview I did with Autodesk about their next-gen energy analysis and total carbon tools, which is now featured at Digital Autodesk University 2020 happening this week! As the Director of Design Technology at Lake|Flato Architects, I am part of a select group of customers beta testing these new tools.

Today's post is about that interview and Autodesk's deep-dive video piece on sustainability lead by Lynelle Cameron, VP, Sustainability and CEO, Foundation | Autodesk.

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Now Hiring: Design Performance Intern at Lake|Flato Architects

Update: Please note that this position if now filled.

We have an amazing opportunity in our group at Lake|Flato Architects. The Design Performance group is looking for an intern who will work remotely!

Know anyone who’s really passionate about sustainable design? Send them our way —we’re looking for a forward-thinking, energetic Design Performance Intern to join Lake|Flato remotely.

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AIA New Orleans Symposium - Day 2 Follow Up

This week, I presented on early energy modeling via the AIA New Orleans 2030 Committee's RISING: Symposium for Climate & Equity. In today's posts I will share a few slides from that presentation.

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Lighting Design and Real-Time Rendering at the University of Minnesota - Fall 2020

Yesterday, from 1,200 miles (1,931 kilometers) away, I once again had the good fortune to present to Professor Abimbola O. Asojo's  students at the University of Minnesota. I covered lighting analysis using the Autodesk Revit add-in ElumTools by Lighting Analysts, Inc. I also spent some time on real-time rendering using Enscape!

With the everyone's permission... I took this screenshot:)

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AU 2020 - Record Registrations and its Free

This year, due to the 2020 pandemic, Autodesk University will be virtual and consolidated to a single event... and it will be Free!

This has already resulted in record registrations. Today's post is about AU 2020 and how it will work next week.

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Recommended Action for Autodesk 3ds Max Users

Autodesk announced an important 'recommended action' related to a vulnerability in 3DS Max that should be address ASAP for anyone using it...

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AIA New Orleans Event Next Week - RISING: Symposium for Climate and Equity

I will be presenting on early energy modeling next week via the AIA New Orleans 2030 Committee's RISING: Symposium for Climate & Equity. Learn more about that, including details on how to sign up.

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Enscape 2.9 Released Today!

The wait is over... and I am not talking about the US election results... the new version of Enscape has been released today!

Today's post is all about Enscape 2.9.

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Decouple Revit Wall Layers for Vertical Offset

The layers in a Revit wall assembly have the ability to be unlocked so they can be adjusted vertically, apart from their adjacent layers.

Notice the two examples below, where the brick extends down to a brick ledge. Or, the wall studs continue to the structure above but the gypsum board stops just above the finished ceiling.

Learn all about this in today's post.

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Webinar - Maximizing Building Performance via Computational Design

While attending the Advancing Computational Building Design conference yesterday, which continues today, I learned about an interesting webinar coming up by WSP that I thought I would share here...

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Early Energy Modeling Presentation at UTSA - Yesterday

Yesterday I had the good fortune of presenting to architecture students at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). This was a great opportunity to share knowledge with a local architecture program... as I am the Director of Design Technology at Lake | Flato Architects in San Antonio, Texas.

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Glazing and Orientation Study in Autodesk Insight

Last week I did a quick study, using Revit + Insight, to highlight the pEUI sensitivity to orientation, emphasized by only having glazing on the east side of the building.

I also drastically adjusted the glazing performance within the Revit model, effectively adjusting the BIM Setting in Insight, which confirmed that is not required due to the ability to test inputs analytically within Insight.

Finally, I modeled three different sun shades to see how this would affect the results.

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Digital Construction Week - Webinar - How to Use Real-Time Visualizations Throughout the Entire Architectural Workflow

Next month I will be presenting on Enscape via the popular European Digital Construction Week's virtual 'DCW CONNECT FRINGE SERIES' online event.

I am excited to share some of my knowledge around architectural visualization gained over the years as an educator, author, blogger and Director of Design Technology at Lake|Flato Architects.

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DBEI Membership - Finally!

I finally got around to becoming a Digital Build Environment Institute (DBEI) member! With changing jobs, getting a house ready to sell and moving across the country I had been out of the loop on the DBEI actives during the pandemic. Today's post is about this program!

Looks like James Vandezande, CTO at HOK, had the same inclination as we signed up just two hours apart yesterday as seen in the image above!

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Desktop Connector Issue - Roll back advised

A quick heads up to watch out for a bad version of the Autodesk Desktop Connector... plus info on how to find the current installer and how to find who might have a bad, or out dated, version!

FYI: Desktop Connector is installed on computers when using BIM 360 Design to work on Revit models in the cloud.

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The New AIA 2030 DDx plus Lake Flato Stats

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) released a major update to its Design Data Exchange (DDx) platform this month. Today's post shares 'what's new' and a graph showing ten year's of progress at Lake Flato, as an AIA 2030 Commitment signatory.

Be sure to sign up for one of two overview sessions the AIA is hosting via the links below.

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Reminder - Advancing Computational Design 2020 Conference - Virtual Event

This is a quick reminder about an upcoming event I will be participating in... Advancing Computational Design 2020 Conference.

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Enscape Blog Post: 5 Best Practices for Creating a Realistic Interior Rendering

Check out my latest Enscape blog post... 5 Best Practices for Creating a Realistic Interior Rendering.

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Free Online AIA San Antonio Event - Introduction to Zero Carbon

My colleague Kate Sector, LFA, LEED Green Associate, Design Performance Coordinator at Lake | Flato, will be presenting Introduction to Zero Carbon: Achieving Operational & Embodied Balance next week. She is also the regional LFA Ambassador

The event is free and attendees receive AIA and LFA continuing education credit..

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New Enscape Animated Assets Coming Soon - Sneak Peak Here.

The new features just keep rolling in from the Enscape team. This time, coming soon in version 2.9, we have animated assets. For example, the news can be playing on a television screen while passing by!

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View BIM 360 Issues in Revit

Marco Ramolla, Autodesk Product Manager and Product Owner BIM 360 Design Collaboration and Product Manager Revit Issue Add-in, announced a new add-in for Revit that shows the BIM 360 issues.

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Link to Recording: BIM After Dark - BIM After Dark - Live: Revit & Enscape 2.8: Design, Present, Collaborate w/Dan Stine (Episode 26)

A quick post to share the link to the YouTube live session last night with The Revit Kid,  Jeffrey A. Pinheiro!

keep reading for the link...

BIM After Dark - Live: Revit & Enscape 2.8: Design, Present, Collaborate w/Dan Stine (Episode 26)

I will be a guest on Jeffrey A. Pinheiro's The Revit Kid live YouTube 'happy hour' again this week. We will be talking Enscape 2.8 new features, but I will also drop a few of the new 2.9 features at the end!

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AIA 2030 By The Numbers - 2019 Report

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) just released their annual AIA 2030 Commitment report... today's post highlights the report and the Lake | Flato feature on how a firm can get started on the commitment.

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Autodesk Technology Preview - People Flow Toolkit

Autodesk has a Technology Preview, which is said to extend the path of travel tool and works with Revit 2020.2 and newer. I have not had a chance to try it yet, but have plenty of info for you to dig in and get started if this is of interest to you.

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ENSCAPE Blog Post - Meet Dan Stine:)

My friends at Enscape asked me to answer a few questions for a fun blog post, about me:)

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Vive Sync - Free VR Meetings by HTC

I had a great demo recently using HTC's new VR meeting platform, Vive Sync. It is a free VR meeting platform and supports various ways to communicate and share/review documents, like a PowerPoint presentation stored in OneDrive. Today's post is all about that!

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Adding a Pause in an Enscape Animation

Today's quick post highlights how you can add a pause to a video/animation within Enscape. The method involved stacking multiple keyframes in one location, similar to my previous post, Animate Time of Day from a Single Location in Enscape.

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Animate Time of Day from a Single Location in Enscape

Creating a video in Escape is very easy. But, as with any sophisticated program, there are a few tricks you might not be aware of that can make your presentations even better. Today, I will share the steps required to animate the time of day from a single location.

For more on creating videos with Enscape, see my blog post on their website: A Guide to Video Creation in Enscape. The following image is from that article.

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Advancing Computational Design 2020 Conference - Virtual Event

I will be participating in a panel discussion at the upcoming Advancing Computational Design 2020 Conference next month... today's post is about the conference and the session!

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NDSU - First Week of School - Fall 2020

In the midst of the 2020 global pandemic, another semester starts at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, ND. This is where I teach a graduate architecture and landscape architecture seminar on Building Information Modeling (BIM). Students have the option of attending in-person, as with most of their other classes, but since I am teaching remotely - from Texas - everyone is connecting individually via Zoom.

Fall 2020 Class via Zoom

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AU 2020 - My Selected Session on...

I will be presenting techniques to develop next level architectural visualizations using Revit and Enscape at Autodek's flagship conference, Autodesk University. Of course, the 2020 conference will be virtual this year... but, the plus side is the conference is free!

This will be my first AU representing Lake|Flato, as its Director of Design Technology!

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Inside the Factory Sessions - A New Video Series by Autodesk

Autodesk has started an interesting new video series looking under-the-hood and behind-the-scenes at their flagship architectural design product, Revit. This appears to be, in part, a response to an open letter to Autodesk, co-signed by several architecture firms in the UK, voicing their concerns about  rising costs and slowed architecture-specific tool development.

In this first episode they jump right into the deep end and talk about multi-threading, hardware, and performance in general!

"we want your models" for performance testing; Sasha Crotty, Sr. Product Manager, Revit Platform & Services at Autodesk

"for us, feedback is a gift" Harlan Brumm, Senior Product Manager - Architecture at Autodesk

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AIA Philly COTE Recordings - Environmental Design Tools

Per my post from about a week ago, AIA COTE Philly 2030 Working Group - Environmental Design Tools, I am following up to share the links to the recorded presentations.

Get an overview, in 20 minutes each, of the five main tools designed for architects to do early energy modeling; Sefaira, Cove.Tool, Insight, Climate Studio, and Rhino/Grasshopper/LadyBug/Honeybee.

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AIA Austin Design Excellence Conference - Reducing Embodied Carbon Session

AIA Austin Summer Conference is now...AIA Austin Design Excellence Conference!

Tomorrow, my colleague, Kate Sector, Design Performance Coordinator at Lake|Flato, will be presenting with Roderick Bates, Principal and Researcher at KieranTimberlake, on reducing embodied carbon. 

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AIA COTE Awards & Lake|Flato Winning Projects

Have you heard of the AIA COTE Top Ten Awards? Today's post offers a brief introduction to the award, some resources to develop the 10 metrics jurors look for. and a list of Lake|Flato's winning projects.

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I Moved to Texas!

Posts have been slow recently due to my recent move to Texas and ramping up in the new position as Director of Design Technology at Lake|Flato. Today's post shares a little about the move and transition!

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