Marcello is at it again & won "The Baddest" category at Buildz...
Hit the image as always!!!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Perception, Breakthrough, Success & Help The LARUG Part
The October 2011 Los Angeles Revit Users Group meeting was a bit monumental
First we are seeing more & more new members who are jumping into this BIM thing (The inevitability is indisputable and we say welcome & it will be hard work but well worth it).
The newest member of LARUG is, coincidentally enough, Pär Sjöblom; a colleague when we worked with the Landry Design Group. There we had the pleasure to work with some great people, on only the best residential projects imaginable... can you say 50,000+ SF houses? WOW, it still blows me away that those are still called homes... "Single Family Resorts" is more apt :-)
Anyhow, I challenged Pär that since he is the newest member we would like him to give a presentation to the group within a year... There are always new people to BIM & Revit and his sharing his recent experiences will help the next generation of users greatly...
Yes, the elliptical rotunda (and the whole house) was one of my projects at LDG... OK ego aside...
Secondly I wanted this to be a trans-formative meeting; we assembled a great cast of Reviteurs to provide experienced help on questions submitted; plus I wanted to get the point across that you never know where there is gold hiding.
WTF do I mean? Well we filter a lot out of our surroundings and at times that is necessary but when trying to figure something out those filters and prejudices, preconceived notions & thoughts that "Oh I know how to do that" or "I don't know how to do that", etc. can really hinder us...even the best of us...
To get the ball rolling I gave an example from my son; who when trying to backup his iPod was having trouble finding the "backup" button...
He went to the correct spot but since he didn't 'expect' it there he overlooked it ("I can't find it Dad")... I asked him to go back to the same fly-out and read to me everything he saw only this time start from the bottom & read up.
...I wanted to have him look with a new perspective, to see things for what they are, rather than based on 'experience' or belief, etc. There are many ways to get ourselves to see things clearly but if we don't try... Well, as Wayne Gretzky said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
...OK, the first thing my son said, without even reading the word "backup" was..."Oh I see it now"...
We spoke about the fact that as humans we use a limited 'perceptual set' and he immediately understood that he was filtering out the exact thing he was trying to find...all because of his thoughts...
Why? because his internal conversation was "I can't Find It"; so once he broke free of that dialog by changing his focus from "finding it" to simply "reading from the bottom/up" the button magically appeared, where once it was apparently not!!! Voilà: Transformation!!!
As people we must learn to not take anything anyone says at face value (even yourself!!!), verify everything and then still keep an open mind...If we listen or act from a 'position' then we will limit ourselves...that is what I tried to begin to break down in the group...SO...
To drive home the point of perspective/filters I gave a visual example of how our thoughts, judgements & prejudices color what we will allow in...
I was wearing black dress shoes, nice blue jeans, a black button-up/collared shirt & a black suit jacket...
I asked the group to give me one or two word answers to what style of clothes they felt I was wearing... "business casual" & "professional" were cited...GREAT SO FAR...
so I asked if they were listening to me as if I were a professional & they agreed...HERE COMES THE CURVE BALL...
I removed my jacket to reveal that my shirt was sleeveless; exposing the large tattoos on each of my biceps & upper arms...
I immediately appeared more biker than business & even though it was just seconds ago you could feel their attitudes changing...
I asked if they'd listen to this guy any differently than the one in the suit & they started to see what I was getting at...THIS IS WHERE THE TRANSFORMATION HIT... Nothing about "me" changed, only their perceptions of "me", whatever was going to be presented would not change due to my clothing, only their filtering/judgement/viewpoints... I asked that they listen from a new place: they (we) should listen from a non-judgmental, open space...no preconceived notions about anything... Just Open.
We briefly spoke about how there is no difference in a person or the value of what they say due to clothes, etc. Only in our willingness to believe them... The only difference was their filters, judgements & viewpoints... This is a fundamental flaw in humans!!! How many people get taken for billions of dollars by people who appear 'acceptable' or how many mass murderers have 'seemed' like the nice person next door... A LOT.
If perception is reality we must re-align our perception to allow real truths in, not prejudicial-truths.
Do not listen to clothes. Do not listen to how people 'appear'...(listen to people's words & actions)
Do not listen from your own points of view (you'll never truly learn new ideas)
Simply OTFU.
I explained:
If we let our inner conversations go then we will be open to the success that's right in front of us...hiding in plain sight: at all times! If you fail in an attempt (at something) keep trying until you find success: PERIOD. Never give up. These are big parts of what separates greatness from the average: Who do you want to be: Average or Great?
On To The Real Help!!! More Transformation for all (click me!!!)
First we are seeing more & more new members who are jumping into this BIM thing (The inevitability is indisputable and we say welcome & it will be hard work but well worth it).The newest member of LARUG is, coincidentally enough, Pär Sjöblom; a colleague when we worked with the Landry Design Group. There we had the pleasure to work with some great people, on only the best residential projects imaginable... can you say 50,000+ SF houses? WOW, it still blows me away that those are still called homes... "Single Family Resorts" is more apt :-)
Anyhow, I challenged Pär that since he is the newest member we would like him to give a presentation to the group within a year... There are always new people to BIM & Revit and his sharing his recent experiences will help the next generation of users greatly...
Yes, the elliptical rotunda (and the whole house) was one of my projects at LDG... OK ego aside...
Secondly I wanted this to be a trans-formative meeting; we assembled a great cast of Reviteurs to provide experienced help on questions submitted; plus I wanted to get the point across that you never know where there is gold hiding.
WTF do I mean? Well we filter a lot out of our surroundings and at times that is necessary but when trying to figure something out those filters and prejudices, preconceived notions & thoughts that "Oh I know how to do that" or "I don't know how to do that", etc. can really hinder us...even the best of us...
To get the ball rolling I gave an example from my son; who when trying to backup his iPod was having trouble finding the "backup" button...
He went to the correct spot but since he didn't 'expect' it there he overlooked it ("I can't find it Dad")... I asked him to go back to the same fly-out and read to me everything he saw only this time start from the bottom & read up.
...I wanted to have him look with a new perspective, to see things for what they are, rather than based on 'experience' or belief, etc. There are many ways to get ourselves to see things clearly but if we don't try... Well, as Wayne Gretzky said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
...OK, the first thing my son said, without even reading the word "backup" was..."Oh I see it now"...
We spoke about the fact that as humans we use a limited 'perceptual set' and he immediately understood that he was filtering out the exact thing he was trying to find...all because of his thoughts...
Why? because his internal conversation was "I can't Find It"; so once he broke free of that dialog by changing his focus from "finding it" to simply "reading from the bottom/up" the button magically appeared, where once it was apparently not!!! Voilà: Transformation!!!
As people we must learn to not take anything anyone says at face value (even yourself!!!), verify everything and then still keep an open mind...If we listen or act from a 'position' then we will limit ourselves...that is what I tried to begin to break down in the group...SO...
To drive home the point of perspective/filters I gave a visual example of how our thoughts, judgements & prejudices color what we will allow in...
I was wearing black dress shoes, nice blue jeans, a black button-up/collared shirt & a black suit jacket...
I asked the group to give me one or two word answers to what style of clothes they felt I was wearing... "business casual" & "professional" were cited...GREAT SO FAR...
so I asked if they were listening to me as if I were a professional & they agreed...HERE COMES THE CURVE BALL...
I removed my jacket to reveal that my shirt was sleeveless; exposing the large tattoos on each of my biceps & upper arms...
I immediately appeared more biker than business & even though it was just seconds ago you could feel their attitudes changing...
I asked if they'd listen to this guy any differently than the one in the suit & they started to see what I was getting at...THIS IS WHERE THE TRANSFORMATION HIT... Nothing about "me" changed, only their perceptions of "me", whatever was going to be presented would not change due to my clothing, only their filtering/judgement/viewpoints... I asked that they listen from a new place: they (we) should listen from a non-judgmental, open space...no preconceived notions about anything... Just Open.
We briefly spoke about how there is no difference in a person or the value of what they say due to clothes, etc. Only in our willingness to believe them... The only difference was their filters, judgements & viewpoints... This is a fundamental flaw in humans!!! How many people get taken for billions of dollars by people who appear 'acceptable' or how many mass murderers have 'seemed' like the nice person next door... A LOT.
If perception is reality we must re-align our perception to allow real truths in, not prejudicial-truths.
Do not listen to clothes. Do not listen to how people 'appear'...(listen to people's words & actions)
Do not listen from your own points of view (you'll never truly learn new ideas)
Simply OTFU.
I explained:
If we let our inner conversations go then we will be open to the success that's right in front of us...hiding in plain sight: at all times! If you fail in an attempt (at something) keep trying until you find success: PERIOD. Never give up. These are big parts of what separates greatness from the average: Who do you want to be: Average or Great?
A very special LARUG Thanks goes out to Robb, Scott, Bill, Vince & everyone at Océ for hosting this great event, we really dug the space & we'll be back!!!
Small Lot Subdivision Architects Los Angeles
LARUG member Jennifer Storey (current President of the NEOrug) thought this may be interesting to us... check it out!!! Thanks Jennifer!!!As always the image links directly...
Friday, October 7, 2011
LARUG October 2011 Meeting Information & Invitation
There's a lot to read but we feel it'll be well worth it!!!Do you need BIM & Revit Help for a Project or Family or Workflow? If so, this will be the meeting for you!!!
· Does BIM make your head spin?
· Do you have a Revit Question or Headache…?
· Do you have Revit Family &/or Project that has Issues…?
· Do you want to know the best way to do something (in Revit preferrably)?
· Do you think Wide Format Color Printing costs too much for CD sets?
Well, to get these & other questions answered you have three things to do:
1) Come to the October LARUG meeting
2) Send files to get Revit help
3) Send files to Print
Presentations
First off:
Océ will give a brief (15 minute or so) highlight of new printing technology that dramatically reduces the costs of color printing and opens it up to BIM CD use cases; it prints on any media, even Tyvek for nearly indestructible prints!!!
Then LARUG is at it:
This will be an unprecedented meeting, where you will be able to get sage advice (and real working solutions to your questions & on your files!!!), from some of the most qualified AEC Reviteurs & BIM Authorities with Revit for Architecture, MEP, Structural Engineering or Construction.
Jay B Zallan
BIM Director
Perkowitz+Ruth Architects & Studio111
Troy Gates
Design Technologies Manager
Mazzetti Nash Lipsey Burch
Thomas Weir
Master Modeler
Thornton Tomasetti
Thornton Tomasetti
Joe Mendez
Senior Applications Administrator
RTKL
Elisa de Dios
BIM Manager / Production Coordinator
AC Martin
Steve Stafford
CEO & Revit Consultant
AEC Advantage, Inc.
Cody Nowak
Technical Specialist
BIMworks
Other Possible Panelists:
Scott D Davis
Technical Specialist
Autodesk, Inc.
Jim Balding
CEO & Revit Consultant
The ANT Group
So if you want to participate (actively) then follow these steps…
File Pre-requisites
PLEASE FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES SO WE CAN MANAGE THE FILES & GET YOU WHAT YOU NEED J.
1) Detach any Central Files!!!
2) Use the following naming convention for all files sent:
· Use your own full name in “modified sentence case”, followed by an Underscore, then the Item’s name in “Modified Sentence Case”, per the examples below… For the question files add the word “Question” at the end; for files to be printed put “Print” at the end.
File Name Examples
File to have printed: Your Name _ Rendering_ Print.pdf
Revit Family File: Your Name_ Awesome Table.rfa
Revit Family: Your Name_Awesome Table_Question.docx
Revit Project File: Your Name _Awesome Project.rvt
Revit Project: Your Name_Awesome Project _Question.docx
Sending Your Files to have Printed by Oce:
1) Send or Bring files to have Océ print them on the new Océ Colorwave Wide Format Color Printer (at no cost to you)
a. Copy your files (named per examples above) to the following Océ FTP site, with “Windows Explorer” only.
1) Start “Windows Explorer” -basically open any window, (DO NOT use any web browsers as they will NOT work properly, or at all)
2) On the address bar of Windows Explorer copy/paste in: ftp://tss.oceusa.com/incoming/LARUG Files/
a. If you are not prompted with a login window then Click on
b. On the login box enter the following (hit F5 if you did not see the login screen)
· Username is: ocecustomer (all lowercase)
· Password is: Customer1st (Mixed case)
If Copy/Paste doesn’t work just type in the Username & Password manually.
Sending Your Files to Get LARUG’s Revit Help
Copy your files (named per examples above) to the following FTP site with “Windows Explorer” only.
1) Start “Windows Explorer” -basically open any window, (DO NOT use any web browsers as they will NOT work properly, or at all)
2) On the address bar of Windows Explorer copy/paste in: ftp.prarchitects.com
a. If you are not prompted with a login window then Click on
b. On the login box enter the following (hit F5 if you did not see the login screen)
· Username is: LARUGOCTOBER (all CAPS)
· Password is: LARUGOACCESS (all CAPS)
If Copy/Paste doesn’t work just type in the Username & Password manually.
c. To get Revit file help you can bring them on a USB drive but those will be more difficult to deal with… so please send files if at all possible J
d. If you only have a Revit Question then you could send it as an email to the following email addresses: larug.president@gmail.com j.b.z.wmail@gmail.com Or even add a “comment” to your Evite response, but again, we’d prefer to get the questions sent in.
There you have it: you can get your questions answered, project issues solved (if possible J) and get some free prints… Not a bad evening, if you ask us; so we hope to see you there!!!
Day & Date
October 2011 Los Angeles Revit Users Group Meeting
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
At: Océ
1055 West 7th Street, 1st floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Did we mention that Océ will be providing awesome food??? We requested BBQ!!!
No beer allowed in the building but perhaps we’ll go out afterwords to bask in the warmth of both giving & receiving Revit help.
Parking
Parking in the building is available & free of charge, again, thanks to Océ
· Park in the building’s lot, hold onto your ticket, go thru the main floor lobby & into Océ (first floor), then the folks at Océ will give you another ticket to get out of the lot (don’t forget it).
Surrounding lots & street is available if you really need to pay; as always please read any/all signs posted and leave enough time to accommodate.
Why are we doing this?
The reason we are doing this is pretty simple: We want to help on real world projects and provide real solutions to real problems…Really.
Backstory
Jay, Troy, Elisa, Joe and some good friends got the inspiration to do this after the September LARUG meeting.
LARUG regular Steve Ziesing asked us a couple of questions & for one in particular there were several answers we offered individually; each correct in different situations & for different outcomes.
One of the answers though was best for his particular situation… TaDa…
We walked away talking about how cool that was and POOF: The Idea… “We should do that at the next LARUG… and maybe more”
So we decided that we will do an LARUG & take on questions & file & project issues to give our userbase the benefit of getting one of a kind support.
In Closing
We think this will be extremely useful & expect to have more indepth working sessions like this in the future and hope to see you there.
Special Thanks to @oce
…And… Scene.
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