Procad

Established over 20 years ago, Procad has become the leading provider of 3D design and engineering software solutions to the Irish market. As Ireland’s first Autodesk Platinum Partner we have built a strong reputation in the areas of manufacturing, building and data management.  

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BIM Ireland

Autodesk BIM 360 connects people, data and workflows throughout the building construction lifecycle to save time, reduce risk, & mitigate errors in construction projects. Procad is the leading BIM provider throughout Ireland, offering free BIM Consultation’s to get you started on your BIM journey.

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Revit Course

This online Revit course takes participants through the basics of Revit Architecture Essentials, to a point where candidates are competent using its commands and tools.

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What is Revit Architecture? A Brief Tutorial for Beginners

Traditionally we are used to seeing buildings designed in 2D but with the introduction of BIM (Building Information Modelling) in the early 2000’s, 2D drawings have taken a backseat over the preferred 3D modelling of BIM. As of 2019 BIM is mandatory in large public sector projects in Ireland but in saying that it has taken over as the main method of design in a lot of architectural practices. Revit is a BIM software that makes designing, planning and constructing a building a seamless process between multiple disciplines in the construction industry.

From concept to handover, building models are now being completed in Revit. There are some very intuitive conceptual massing tools built into the software to enable Architects to flesh out ideas on screen, continue to take these concepts from early design stages through to construction all the way to handover. The conceptual design tools allow a designer to place a conceptual mass on a specific site in order to get a grasp on how the proposed building will affect the surrounding environment and existing buildings. Sites can be linked directly from a CAD survey providing said survey contains elevation points; from this an accurate topography can be generated on which any new building can be positioned. Site locations can be pinpointed using world coordinates or an address which gives the ability to provide accurate sun/light studies which aid any designer when orientating and streamlining their design on a specific site.

The user interface includes a properties dialog and a project browser. The properties dialog holds all information available about every element in the model. For example, if you click on a wall, you will find all information about this wall in the properties dialog including the level it is hosted on, the height and wall type. You can also edit the wall type from here. The project browser does exactly as it says, it lets you browse the project, every view, schedule, sheet and family are discoverable from this browser.

In previous Cad solutions we drew in 2D using simple lines to represent foundations, walls, roofs, pipes and wires. With Revit we can draw what we want to see. It is no longer necessary to draw a 2D line and have an expectation that the person reading your drawing has access to sections and elevations. In Revit you draw a wall, with a make-up specific to your needs, it has a height, length and a width.

On screen you can still draw the wall in 2D but with the click of a button the 3D version is shown. Revit is far more intuitive than any 2D software that has been available for the Architectural industry to date. Elevations are also easily set up and viewed by double clicking on the elevation marker in plan view. This will take you directly to the elevation view without you having to draw it separately.

As a designer you are trained to see 2D objects in their 3D form but, think of your client who wants to see an end result and isn’t concerned with a series of single lines, arcs and text. In the past we spent endless hours collaborating with artists or investing time and money learning new computer software to produce an artist’s impression or artistic visualisation of a proposed building. By designing in Revit, you can produce a realistic rendered image in just a few clicks and furthermore by using cloud-based rendering you can produce realistic rendered stereo panoramas (click on the rendered image below for link to stereo panorama) which can be rotated and viewed using your computer screen or VR goggles.

Revit operability is dependent on using families. If you are an AutoCAD user, you will know what a block is; put simply families are Revit’s version of blocks. From walls to windows, doors, stairs, fixtures and fittings; each of these items have common parameters which can be modified to fit your projects specification. Instead of drawing an individual door each time, you just insert a door into a host wall from the library to suit your needs. They can be modified in height, width, material and even design to your own specification. Every building element in Revit is parametric, which means each element has characteristics that can help in defining or classifying it. Simply put parameters are formulas embedded into a Revit family that control all its properties, including structure, materials and dimensions.

Revit comes complete with a library full of prepopulated families. These families cross a broad spectrum from Annotations to doors, furniture, site and structural elements to windows and everything in between. However, if you are looking to specify a particular fixture to, let’s say a kitchen, and you have the manufacturers’ part number; it has become increasingly likely that you can request a BIM model of the item from the manufacturer, and they will be able to furnish you with a downloadable family. It is in their interest to be able to provide models of their products so they can be shown in 3D models. Many manufacturers already have comprehensive model libraries already available for download.

It is possible to alter existing families to suit your own specification. A window may be specified as an aluminium window frame in your project but the window family available to you classifies it as wood, you can change the material parameter from wood to aluminium by changing the material, this will also alter the thermal property value which can be useful if creating an energy analysis within Revit for use throughout the design stage of your building to facilitate efficient design. Any new family created or altered by you will become part of your project with its own parameters that can be quantified.

One of the most painstaking parts of creating a construction package for any Architect is the formulation of schedules and quantities. With Revit this has become as simple as a few clicks of a mouse button. Every element that makes up the building can be scheduled or quantified. If the element has a category e.g., wall, windows, floor, roof, pipes and rooms, a schedule can be generated with different fields which include quantity, height, cost and manufacturer. Legends are also possible in a few short clicks.

Revit supports collaboration between a multitude of different disciplines. The main focus industries are Architects, structural engineers, mechanical & electrical engineers, contractors and designers. There is a full tab on the user interface dedicated to collaboration. From the collaborate tool which allows multiple team members to work on a project simultaneously to the copy/monitor tool which allows monitoring of any linked file so that if one team alters or changes their design, any other team with the file linked will be notified so they can change their design accordingly. There is also a very handy interference check which identifies invalid intersections between elements of different types whether within a project or between the host model and linked files. For example, a pipe running straight through a structural beam or a wall, without an opening, will be highlighted.

Finally, no drawing can be issued without a title block. All firms have their own title blocks which can easily been drawn up in Revit and placed in your template library for use in every project. Populating a sheet is as easy as drag and drop. Scales can be changed to suit and many different scales can be used on each sheet. Schedules can also be dropped on to a sheet and adjusted to fit.

In conclusion, Revit is an intelligent piece of software that is of huge benefit to any architectural practice who want to streamline their design process and collaborate with other design teams cohesively. It removes a lot of the mundane repetitive tasks that designers encounter on a daily basis; not to mention the fact that the margin for error is greatly reduced.

Check out our various Revit training courses to get you started on your journey.

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AutoCAD Courses Have an Important Part to Play

AutoCAD is a powerful CAD software helping professionals create with specialised features and libraries for mechanical design, architecture and 3D mapping.

Each toolset allows you to:

Automate the creation of annotations, layers and properties with AutoCAD

Easily create details and views from 3D models, to simply generate schedules, lists and tables.

Create rules-driven workflows to enforce standards throughout the design process.

Track updates of associated views, and other content as designs change.

As a result of AutoCAD’s industry-specific functionality it’s widely used by construction professionals, architects, and engineers. One of its key features is that it gives you the freedom and flexibility to work on projects wherever and whenever suits you. Luckily for you, Procad’s AutoCAD training courses are as flexible as the software itself. 

Training Courses Customised to your AutoCAD needs

 As a certified Autodesk Platinum reseller and authorised training centre, Procad offers both public courses and customised courses tailored to your AutoCAD needs. With offices in Limerick & Dublin, we’d be delighted to welcome you at either of our training centres. We also understand our customer’s hectic schedules, so we can also come to your office, or if none of the above suit, you can even join us online.

We offer plenty of options when it comes to training courses because AutoCAD courses have an important part to play in our customers successes. The better equipped our customers are with the specialised features and libraries of AutoCAD, the better the results they can get from the software.

On an AutoCAD course our Autodesk certified instructors will take participants through the software’s features, from the essentials for new users, to more advanced features for users looking to maximise the software’s capabilities.

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BIM Ireland

Procad is the leading BIM Ireland provider throughout Ireland, offering free BIM Consultation’s to get you started on your BIM journey.

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BIM360

BIM 360 supports informed decision-making throughout the project lifecycle for project, design, and construction teams. BIM 360 connects your teams and data in real-time, empowering project members to anticipate, optimize, and manage all aspects of project performance.

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Autocad

Speed up your work with specialized features & libraries for mechanical design, architecture, 3D mapping, and more while working in a familiar AutoCAD interface.

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Autodesk Revit 2022 — Top Tips to Reduce Family File Size

The creation of Autodesk Revit Families can be a complicated task. A Revit family can be highly detailed, or it can be very basic. The key when creating these Autodesk Revit families is finding that balance whereby the family is showing a certain level of detail that is required for the project and is not over detailed and will eventually lead to the family effecting the project itself. One of the major factors which impacts a project is the Family file size.

One key aspect to note is that a well-constructed Revit family that has multiple parameters (Fig 1.1) and reference lines driving the different sizes of a specific family and that has a file size of 3/4MB or more can often perform better than a family where its file size is 600KB. The best way of determining this is by testing, the safest way to test a Revit family is by inputting hundreds of instances of the family into an existing project and start to move around elements, change the detail of the views, open the 3D view and rotate around specific elements and see if the projects speed has been reduced if so then the family file will need to be reviewed and the family file size will need to be reduced.

Here are some of the best ways to reduce the file size of a Revit Family

1. Use only Autodesk Revit geometry – This means not to use SAT Files, Step Files or AutoCAD 3D models etc. Unfortunately, these file types make Revit files heavy and increases the file size of the Revit Family.

2. Incorporate family nesting with the Revit Family. This means if geometry is being used more than once, don’t array it a multiply, nest it.

3. Check for any duplications within the Autodesk Revit family and the nested families if they are being used.

4. Use voids and the void command sparingly, by using voids this increases the size of the family more than the geometry

5.  Avoid using groups in a Revit Family

6. Purge the family and nested families within it.

7. Remove elements and any items that are not being used in the Family

8. Remove any referenced files or images i.e., SAT, Step, AutoCAD, png etc

9. Once the Revit Family has been created, compact the family. This can be done by clicking on “Save As” and selecting the compact tick box

10. If all the above haven’t helped reduce your file size enough to make a difference back in the Revit Project and you decide that you want to reduce it further, you can load the family into a project and then save it out from the project file. The reason why doing this reduces the file size is because the Revit Family stores previous history if they have been used for a long time, exporting out the family purges the family of all this unnecessary information.

To arrange a free demo or for more information please contact Procad – Autodesk Platinum Partner and preferred reseller.

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Autodesk Fusion 360 is a cloud-based CAD/CAM tool for collaborative product development. It combines industrial and mechanical design, simulation, collaboration, and machining in a single package.

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BIM 360 is Autodesk’s cloud platform for AEC project delivery and construction management that supports informed decision making throughout the project lifecycle, helping to lead to more predictable and profitable outcomes.

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Autodesk BIM 360 connects people, data and workflows throughout the building construction lifecycle to save time, reduce risk, & mitigate errors in construction projects.

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Autodesk Vault enables workgroups to improve productivity and provide faster design cycle times by making it easier to create and share Digital Prototyping information.

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Check out our many public training courses for Revit, we can also offer customised Revit Courses tailored to your needs. Contact us today to book your Revit Course!

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Autodesk Fusion 360 is a cloud-based CAD/CAM tool for collaborative product development. It combines industrial and mechanical design, simulation, collaboration, and machining in a single package.

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Autodesk Inventor delivers much-requested enhancements and continues to provide the professional-grade 3-dimensional mechanical design and engineering tools you demand.

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Autodesk Vault enables workgroups to improve productivity and provide faster design cycle times by making it easier to create and share Digital Prototyping information.

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With new features and enhancements, Autodesk Revit software for BIM supports multidisciplinary teams throughout the project lifecycle more effectively than ever.