It’s that time again. Yes football, not what we silly ‘mericans call soccer (and the rest of the known universe calls football).

Yes, I realize that not everyone across the globe is interested in our little Super Bowl coming up next weekend. On Sunday Feb 5th, the New England Patriots and the New York Giants face off in a rivalry that, while not as deep-rooted as the Red Sox/Yankees, should provide some real entertainment for those that watch for more than just the high-priced commercials. Why is all of this interesting? I present to you the Revit parametric football family.

Kelvin Tam, an architect in our Columbus office created a parametric family taking care of the variation in dimensions for NFL, NCAA and other organizations.  He used some very interesting tricks and techniques for building the complex forms of the laces, seams and logo. You can download the family for further deconstruction.

Grid Iron Gauntlet

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it? Anyone wish to tackle this complex form in the conceptual massing environment or Vasari? Feel free to DM me on Twitter and I will post the results here on gameday. Yes, if you use grasshopper/Rhino you may submit as well, I guess… wink, wink.

Download here: http://db.tt/aeDhZM9Y

Enjoy and have a good weekend.

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. What more is there to say?

Slingshot! for Revit!

The Proving Ground by Nathan Miller: Slingshot!… for Revit?.

This video features Matt Jezyk and Zach Kron from Autodesk speaking about using Revit and Vasari to implement ‘performance-based design’ techniques. Are you a pre-rational or post-rational modeler? Find out by watching:

Performance-Based Design with Revit from James Vandezande on Vimeo.

Note: I have been trying to convince the Seattle Revit Users Group to follow their lead and make videos public, rather than just members only. That is all I want in my stocking this year. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Via: What Revit Wants: Dont miss out on this! Matt Jezyk and Zach Kron on Performance-Based Design …

Reporting Families for Revit/Vasari…

Echoing the echo from Steve. Way cool. I think this needs to go into the Revit hall of fame. If there isn’t one yet, buildz will be the main attraction. The future will be panelized. Go Zach, go!

Revit OpEd: No Way! Way! Live Slices.

Thinking about this a bit more, you want a panel unwrapping tool? Remember an elevation is just a section that isn’t cutting anything. And that is totally excellent!

The folks at Autodesk Labs just keep the good stuff coming… It’s a merry gift-giving Autodesk holiday season. See below for the details on the updates to eTransmit for Revit. It now works with Revit Server, and helps you perform some model cleanup prior to putting consultants’ RVT links live into your workflow.

eTransmit for Revit Technology Preview 1.1 – BIM Apps.

Autodesk University 2011, Part 1: Surfing the Waves of Disruption | Cadalyst.

Feeling stuck as a CAD or Model Manager? Stepping up to the challenges that await you as a BIM Leader is a healthy change we can all take boldly.

Be proactive, not reactive

Leaders are important throughout an entire organization. Understanding that the role of a leader is to inspire, this can happen at all levels of an organization – not just the BIM Manager. You can be seen by your fellow project team members as much more than simply a model manager. As a project BIM Leader, you must demonstrate the ability to effectively lead strategy, not just technology for successful adoption of a true-BIM workflow. Be proactive, not reactive.

AU Leadership Forum

I moderated a discussion during the Leadership Forum in an unconference session at Autodesk University last week. The topic: Leading Change – Reinventing BIM Leadership from the Ground Up. Participation was rather lively, and many who attended approached me afterwards with kind words. For those who would like to see the summarized notes, helpfully taken by Jason Grant on his iPad using my favorite new app SoundNote, you may download them from the links below. The beauty of the aforementioned app is the notes are timestamped and associated with the audio. Now, audio recorded even with the best equipment in a large room renders less clear commentary, so I provide with hesitation. Use at your own risk.

LF8081 – Leading Change – Discussion Notes

LF8081 – Leading Change – Audio Recording

And, for those who have the SoundNote App: Download the data file directly to your iPad. 

For those who attended my class: that roast duck hasn’t landed yet, has it? Take action. The sea of change continues to bring waves of disruption.

For those of you lucky enough to own an iPad, or may soon own one after the holidays, you really should check out www.TouchFire.com

This transforms the iPad into a very functional laptop replacement (for some activities), without needing to lug around a separate Bluetooth keyboard or bulky case.

I met with founder Steve Isaac today in the Seattle office to get a feel for the prototype, and it’s amazingly responsive and fun to use. If you join the Kickstarter project in the next 4 days, your funding can count towards the pre-ordering of one of the first to roll off the assembly line!

Every year, Autodesk University occurs the week after Thanksgiving. For those of you who would like to take part in this exciting learning opportunity, you can attend virtually. Previews of online classes are available on November 15, and you can watch prior AU video courses or download handouts at anytime. Sign up for AU Virtual today and join thousands of your colleagues online November 29–30 for AU Virtual 2011! Choose to Sign In, using your Autodesk single sign-on account.

For those of you following me on Twitter who are not attending AU in person, let me apologize in advance for the ridiculous number of tweets you will see in about 30 days. Search for #AU2011 (the official hash-tag) if you care to follow the conversation.

Looking for a new trick?

Last week, Project Vasari saw a new update, fixing some features around importing SketchUp models, and an Add-In (ported from the Revit SDK samples) which used to be a bit challenging to deploy. Both are now plug and play ready. Go now and download the updated Vasari, and the newly available Add-In: Parameters from Image. With a gray-scale image of Mr. Jobs in hand, and some know-how, you could create a digital version of the famous sculpture using a Mass family and using the Curtain Wall Panels by Pattern feature.

For further inspiration and examples, take a look at the entries for the 3rd Annual Parametric Pumpkin Carving Contest on Buildz.

There’s some really great experimentation going on in those entries. My favorite is the one above, from the extraordinarily talented Marcello Sgambelluri, voted “The Baddest”. NBBJ’s own Kelvin Tam has an entry as well. Below is his take on a parametric face. Be sure to check out all the featured entries, and download them to take a look at their stringy-flesh insides. Enjoy!