dODDS and ENDS

Join the the Autodesk Virtual Event

Join us for the Autodesk Virtual Event on March 29, 2012. See how Autodesk BIM solutions are transforming the building and construction industries.

With tight budgets, project complexity, and short timelines, the building and construction industry is under pressure. It’s time to move forward or risk falling behind. Building Information Modeling (BIM) and new technologies are changing what’s possible. With our latest software releases, Autodesk^® helps you lead the way in transforming your business now and into the future.

This year’s event features sessions from Autodesk executives, as well as building and construction experts, including:

• Review of Strategic Initiatives for Autodesk by Carl Bass, Amar Hanspal, and Lynn Allen
• Building a Better Architecture Business with BIM, by Joy Stark
• BIM for Building Engineering, by Sarah Hodges
• Implementing BIM in Construction, by Anthony Governanti

Register now: http://experience.autodesk.com/build/

"Ask Jason" Now Live on the Autodesk Construction Resource Center!

The doctor is IN: Now you can send me your questions about Autodesk construction products right from the Autodesk Construction Resource Center, on the new Ask Jason (actual link: www.autodesk.com/askjason) page.

Just choose your topic (if you don't see your topic in the drop-down list, choose "other" and enter your own topic), and submit your question. I'll do my best to answer your question within a week. Over time, I'll also post the most frequently asked questions to the Ask Jason page so you can quickly browse the knowledge base for answers to your most pressing issues. I'll also try to post topics to the blog as well!

If you need more in-depth technical support questions on any of our products, the page also features a direct link to Autodesk Services & Support.

Looking forward to receiving your questions from the Ask Jason page!

Civil 3D and QTO - The Quick How To Guide

I know I seem to spend most of my time talking about the vertical industry, so why not give the horizontal world a little love? Well, the relationship between Civil 3D and QTO has been around for a while but many may not have know about or may not know the process. So how about a Quick How to Guide for getting from C3D into QTO? Sound like fun? OK then, lets get started! This is post is meant to get you started and not show you all the tricks... Feel free to explore!

Start with a Civil 3D drawing or model. It can contain just about anything as you can assign the Civil 3D Pay Items to AutoCAD blocks as well as Civil 3D objects.

 Open the QTO Manager located on the Analyze Tab.

Once the QTO Manager Opens Click on the "Save" icon and select Open Pay Item File.  

This will open the Pay Item File selection box. From here you should be able to locate a Pay Item file. I like using CSV files since they are simple to build and easy to load.

From here select ok and it will take you back to your QTO Manager.

Here is a really quick CSV Pay Item file if anyone needs one to get started with: Download QTO-Complete

Begin selecting items that you want to assign your pay items to, I usually select 1 item and then use the Select Similar tool to grab all the corresponding items. Once you have them selected go to the QTO Manager (you will want to leave it open anyway) and Right-click on the items you want to assign the Pay Items to. Select from the list. In this example I select a group of fire hydrants and attached the pay items to the Fire Hydrant category.

Notice that after you have assigned and item (if you hover over the item) it now shows that this items has an assigned Pay Item

Next step is to create the DWF file, either 2D if you only have 2D geometry or 3D if you have 3D surfaces as well. You also need to export your Catalog information from C3D so that QTO will have some sort of record to what you have assigned.  Save As Autodesk Takeoff Catalog. You will want this option if your working with QTO as it will allow you to import an ATT file right into QTO.

From here, use QTO as you normally would. Import your DWF files and your newly created catalog. Note, that with Pay Items assigned in QTO the Search Takeoff Tool works well to find the objects and get them assigned to the catalog.