News and Announcements

Revit User Group – San Francisco – October 11 Postponed
Webcast: Engineering the Freedom Tower – October 5
AutoCAD for Architects Webcasts

Autodesk Building Systems – Electrical Engineering Focus
Scheduling Improvements in Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007

News and Announcements

Ideate, Inc. Named Gold Co-Host Sponsor at Autodesk University 2006
Ideate, Inc. is among a select group of value added resellers to be accepted as a Gold Co-Host Sponsor at Autodesk University 2006 in Las Vegas, NV. As a Gold sponsor, Ideate will have a significant presence at the annual four day event, including a Help Desk and Meet and Greet reception at the Venetian.

Autodesk University (AU), the premier Autodesk learning and networking event, is now in its 14th year. AU is designed to provide Autodesk customers with the best value for their time and money. The conference schedule is finely tuned to combine training and networking with high-touch selling opportunities and just-for-fun activities.  Each year, customers report (98% satisfaction rating) gaining new skills and industry contact that help them stay a step ahead of the competition.

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Ideate, Inc.’s Lisa Mansbridge Given Shooting Star Award
Autodesk announced Lisa Mansbridge of Ideate, Inc. as a recipient of their quarterly Shooting Star Award during their Q2 North American Channel Wrap-Up call on Thursday, August 31st.  Lisa has worked in the Autodesk reseller channel for eight years in a variety of capacities. She currently acts as Ideate’s manager of product procurement and is often the liaison between Autodesk and the client. 

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Autodesk Announces Intention to Acquire Robobat
Autodesk has announced its intention to acquire Robobat, a software company headquartered in France and Poland, which develops software for structural design, analysis, and steel and concrete detailing. Autodesk and Robobat share a vision for building information modeling (BIM) and the use of information technology for structural engineering. Over the past several years, we have partnered to integrate Robobat ROBOT Millennium with Autodesk® Revit® Structure software, and Robobat has been developing software that integrates with other Autodesk products for many years.

This acquisition is part of Autodesk’s strategic plan for structural engineering and, once this transaction closes, Autodesk is looking forward to growing both the Robobat AutoCAD® software-based RCAD products (steel and concrete detailing) and the industry-leading Robobat analysis software together with Autodesk Revit Structure into an increasingly complete set of well-integrated solutions for structural engineering.

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Revit User Group – San Francisco – October 11 Postponed
Ideate had scheduled the next SFRUG meeting for October 11th, but will unfortunately need to postpone it to a future date. Our staff is busily training customers and no other speaker has stepped forward to present. We NEED YOUR HELP! We request that firms who attend the SFRUG consider offering a presentation or topic to the group. It may be along the lines of “tips and tricks learned” or “work flow challenge” or “showcase of work,” or another topic that the group would find valuable. We need your participation to make this a true dialog and learning experience between users.

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Webcast: Engineering the Freedom Tower – October 5
Hear from the structural engineering firm WSP Cantor Seinuk and the MEP engineering firm Jaros Baum & Bolles about how they are bringing the Freedom Tower to life using Autodesk® Revit® Structure and Autodesk® Revit® Systems software applications.

Please join the project engineers for a live webcast showcasing their collaborative efforts. You’ll see the model of the 1,776-foot tower take shape and learn how the Autodesk® Revit® platform is allowing the engineering firms to work simultaneously on the building model, improving design coordination.

Date and time: Thursday, October 5, 9:00-10:00 a.m. PDT

Actions: Register

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AutoCAD® for Architects Webcasts
Amy Fietkau is back to showcase even more of the great benefits of Autodesk® Architectural Desktop, the software we call "AutoCAD for Architects." You've asked questions about the topics that interest you, and in response, Amy's offering a brand-new, free series!

Objects of Your Affection – Thursday, October 19, at 10:00 a.m. PDT
Quickly add objects such as doors and windows, and easily resize or remove them to reduce pre-design time. Amy shows you how in this free webcast.

Compare, and Compare Alike – Tuesday, November 14, at 10:00 a.m. PDT
In this webcast, you will learn about the Drawing Compare feature in Autodesk Architectural Desktop software, which allows you to see and compare different versions of drawing files.

Actions: Register

To review on-demand webcasts, go to: www.autodesk.com/a4a

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Save up to 40% When Upgrading Retired Autodesk Software
Still using an old release of AutoCAD? Didn't make the retirement upgrade date deadline? Well now is your chance to get the latest release of AutoCAD and save a lot of money while doing so. If you have a license of AutoCAD 14, 2000, 2000i, 2002, or any of the Autodesk software that was based off of these versions, you can get the latest release of the Autodesk software at a 40% savings when purchased with the first year of Autodesk subscription, or 35% off without subscription. For AutoCAD users you can even go directly to a vertical product, like ADT, Revit Building, or Revit Series. This also applies to some of the other software. Don't wait, call Ideate now to discuss the option that best fits your needs. See the list below for all of the eligible software.

Architectural Software Eligible for this Promotion:
AutoCAD 14, 2000, 2000i, 2002
Architectural Desktop 1, 2, 2i, 3, 3.3
Raster Design 3
VIZ 2, 3, 3i
3ds max 3, 4

To see a complete list of qualifying software (Civil and Manufacturing) click here

Promotion Expires: October 31, 2006
more info | 888.662.7238

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Save up to 15% When Upgrading AutoCAD 2004-based Software
Autodesk recently announced the retirement of AutoCAD® 2004, AutoCAD 2004-based products, and Autodesk Inventor® Series 8. Autodesk will discontinue support for AutoCAD® 2004, AutoCAD 2004-based software and Autodesk Inventor® Series 8 on March 15, 2007.  Now is the best time to upgrade your software to the latest release. Upgrade before July 31, 2006, and save up to 15%!

Software Eligible for this Promotion:
AutoCAD 2004
AutoCAD Electrical 2004
AutoCAD Mechanical 2004
Architectural Desktop 2004
Civil Design 2004
Inventor Series 8
Land Desktop 2004
Map 2004
Raster Design 2004
Survey 2004
VIZ 2004

Promotion Expires: October 31, 2006
more info | 888.662.7238

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Upgrade Autodesk Architectural Desktop and Get a New License of Autodesk® Revit Building at Over 50% Off
Are you ready to move to Autodesk Revit Building but still working on projects in Autodesk Architectural Desktop? Get the edge with Autodesk Revit Building—the most advanced software specifically designed for building information modeling. And now, with the Rev It Up Promotion, Autodesk Architectural Desktop customers can get Autodesk Revit Building at a huge discount!

Promotion Expires: October 31, 2006
more info | 888.662.7238

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Save $200 Off Revit and Building Systems Training
Customers who purchase any Autodesk Revit or Autodesk Building Systems software and one of Ideate's related training classes, can save $200 off of the training.

Qualifying software purchases include:
Autodesk Revit Building
Autodesk AutoCAD Revit Series—Building
Autodesk Revit Structure
Autodesk AutoCAD Revit Series—Structure
Autodesk Building Systems
Autodesk AutoCAD Revit Series—Systems Plus
Rev It Up for Architectural Desktop Promotion

Promotion Expires: October 31, 2006
more info | 888.662.7238

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AutoCAD LT Crossgrade Promotion Launched August 1st
Starting August 1, 2006, qualified AutoCAD LT® software customers can take advantage of the AutoCAD LT Crossgrade Promotion. For US$1,995 (SRP), AutoCAD LT 2004, 2005, and 2006 customers can trade up to a select industry-specific solution or to AutoCAD® 2007. This promotion runs August 1, 2006 through January 19, 2007. This offer is available to the following categories of customers who own AutoCAD LT 2004, 2005, or 2006 (AutoCAD LT 2007 customers are not eligible for this promotion):

• Commercial customers in the U.S. Autodesk Strategic Accounts in the U.S.
• U.S. Government (Federal/State/Local) accounts purchasing via DLT

Education customers are not eligible to participate in this promotion.Qualified AutoCAD LT customers can crossgrade to any of the following participating products for US$1,995 (SRP):

• Autodesk® Revit® Building 9
  Autodesk® Revit® Structure 3
  Autodesk® Building Systems 2007
  Autodesk® Architectural Desktop
  AutoCAD® 2007
• Call for other options…..

Promotion Expires: January 19, 2007
more info | 888.662.7238

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Autodesk® Building Systems – Electrical Engineering Focus

1. You can draw a polyline and convert that object into a wire. This is useful if you want to draw a wire connecting two electrical devices and the typical choices you have don’t quite work the way you want them to. You can also us the Home Run tag where all you need to do is highlight the homerun and the text for panel and circuit are automatically inserted.

2. Within this circuit manager you can drop circuits (their loads) between panels I have already specified. You can change the breaker to; let’s say a 30A breaker instead of the default 20A breaker. So if you have two panels you can drag and drop their loads between panels through the circuit manager.

3. Once you have my information inputted and my objects placed (lights and receptacles), I can generate a panel schedule. The panel schedule contains demand load, actual load, wire specified, and length of wire, volt drop information and lots of information that would make any engineer happy. I can even use a default ABS Excel panel schedule that includes all the formulas needed to get the correct information. All I need to do is browse to and specify the drawing and then click on the button to create schedule. I can input information manually into the Excel schedule as well.

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Scheduling Improvements in Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007

Table Title Override
With schedules in Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007, you can override the title specified on the style for each instance that uses that style.

List Definition
Addition of a List Definition in Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2007 now allows you to pre-specify a list of properties that can be reused in any manual property eliminating the tedious need of repeated data entry.

Anchor Property
Addition of a new ‘Anchor Property Definition’ now allows an object to retrieve data from the object it is anchored to. For example, a door can retrieve the fire rating from the wall in which it is inserted (anchored) into.

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