Module 8 - Design Project Brief: Collaborative Modeling

Overview

In this assignment you’ll work together with other students to suggest improvements to the current design for a small mixed-use retail and office building. The focus of this assignment is on:

  • learning and practicing techniques for collaborative modeling
  • creating and publishing views that highlight your contribution to the shared model
  • comparing and highlighting the changes that you’ve made to the model

Getting Started

Models of the existing design for the mixed-use building have already been uploaded to Autodesk Construction Cloud (BIM 360) Documents for you to use.  Open and use the model associated with the day of the week that you choose to complete this assignment.

  • For example, if you choose to work on this assignment on Monday, open the Cloud Revit model at:
  • STANFORD BIM360 EDU-CEE > Fall 22 - CEE 120A_220A > Project Files > _Module 8 Projects >  Mixed Use Bldg - v2023 - Monday.rvt

  • If you choose to work on this assignment on another day of the week, open the Cloud Revit model with the name that matches the day you work on this assignment.

Design Approach

This assignment is all about learning to work collaboratively with other members of a project team through sharing a Cloud Revit model and highlighting your changes to the shared model.  So, there’s no specific design goal for your work.

Feel free to make any changes to the shared model that you’d suggest as improvements to the design.  You can:

  • change the existing walls, doors, windows, exterior or interior features
  • add interior walls or furniture to show tenant improvements to a space
  • add on to the existing building or add an adjacent structure
  • add site improvements around the building

The sky’s the limit!  The only guidelines are:

  • you should spend 10 to 20 minutes making suggested design changes -- no longer than that!!!
  • your changes should be visible / easily identifiable in a view that you will submit.

What’s Expected

Use Revit to Make Changes to the Cloud Revit Model

  1. Open the Cloud Revit model from Autodesk Construction Cloud that is associated with the day that you choose to complete this assignment.
  2. Model your suggested improvements to the design in the shared Revit model:
    1. Keep in mind that as you are working on your design, other class members will likely be working on their suggested improvements too.
    2. Remember to synchronize your work and reload the latest changes often. Note: Although the first submodule demonstrated how to create a new Cloud Revit model (so you'll know how to create one on your own), for the purposes of this assignment, you’ll just be making changes to an existing Cloud Revit model and synchronizing your changes to share them with other collaborators.
  3. If you run into any cases where other class members have an element checked out an element that you’d like to change, ask them to synchronize their work and relinquish the element when they are done with it (or wait a few minutes for them to synchronize their changes as they complete their work).
  4. Duplicate the default 3D view to create a new view that highlights the changes you’ve made to the shared design.
    1. Rename the new view to reflect your name -- for example, “Proposed Changes - Glenn”.
    2. You might want to hide elements or use the section box to cut away other elements that obscure the view of your design work.
    3. Use the Save Orientation and Lock View widget (at the bottom of the drawing area) to lock the camera position and prevent others from accidentally orbiting it.
    4. Take a screenshot (or File > Export > Images and Animations > Image ) to save an image file that you can post to the Notion submissions page.
  5. Add your new view to the list of views to be published for this shared model.
    1. Open the Publish Settings tool (Collaborate > Manage Models > Publish Settings).
    2. Add your new view to Set 1.
    3. Save and Close the Publish Settings dialog.
  6. Publish a new version of the shared model to Autodesk Construction Cloud.
    1. Synchronize Now to post your latest changes to the Cloud Revit model and relinquish all elements.
    2. Click the Home button on the Quick Access toolbar or press CTRL+D to access the Home Page.
    3. Open the Fall 22 - CEE 120A_220A project folder.
    4. Find your model in the list and publish the latest version (On the right, click [ … ], and click Publish Latest).

View the Cloud Revit Model and Compare Versions in the Autodesk Construction Cloud Web Interface

  1. Open the Cloud Revit model in the Autodesk Construction Cloud (BIM 360) Documents web interface.
    1. Go to: https://acc.autodesk.com
    2. Navigate to the folder containing the shared model that you worked on, for example: STANFORD BIM360 EDU-CEE > Fall 22 - CEE 120A_220A > Project Files > _Module 8 Projects > Mixed Use Bldg - v2023 - Monday.rvt
    3. Open the latest published version of this Cloud Revit model.
    4. Open the Sheet & Views tab, then select your newly published 3D view of the model.
  2. Compare published versions of the Cloud Revit model.
    1. Open the History tab, then select the version of the model that you published.
    2. Click the Compare button in the toolbar at the bottom of the model viewer area.
    3. Choose to compare the version that you uploaded with the prior version.
    4. Take a screenshot of the resulting screen, showing the elements added, removed and modified to post to the Notion submission page.

Sharing Your Project

Please follow the instructions in the Canvas assignment to share the two requested images of your suggested changes to the design in a posting on this linked Notion page. 

✏️Module 8 - Design Project Submissions: Collaborative Modeling

Be sure to include:

  • an image of the new 3D view you added to the shared model in Revit with a brief text annotation describing the changes.
  • the screenshot of the Autodesk Construction Cloud (BIM 360) Documents model viewer showing the comparison between the version that you published and the prior version.