Dear [customer first name],

Welcome to the February issue of Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) News, the newsletter designed for professionals in architecture, building and civil engineering and construction.

In this issue, we have details on Autodesk’s recent acquisition in Europe to beef up its BIM portfolio and the launch of our 2nd Design Competition in Malaysia. We also explore the trend of building BIM-based libraries of products and flip through the diary pages of a Revit^® user. As always, we’ll share some useful tips & tricks from our resident experts.

If you would like to share your comments on how we can improve this newsletter, please send them to asean.marketing@mail.autodesk.com.

Happy Reading!

The AEC News Editorial Team

Community
Diary of a Revit User: Moving Forward - January 2008
The year 2007 was a pivotal one for Revit diarist Paul Loreto. An important decision, an ambitious endeavor, and a valuable learning experience resulted in an unwavering commitment to Revit and a promising future. Check out his riveting post the Autodesk User Group International site.

Focus on
Building Product Manufacturers creating BIM-based libraries
This month's "1-2-3 Revit" column examines the growing trend of product manufacturers that are creating BIM-based libraries for their own product lines and looking to increase the specification of their products by enabling designers to easily incorporate their products in building information models.

Read more about this trend here in an article by Rick Rundell, director of product marketing for Autodesk Building Solutions as he shows how one company provides tools and libraries that enable designers to easily integrate manufacturers' products in their building information models.

Tips and Techniques
Tip 1: Unravelling AutoCAD's CUI - What is the CUI, and how do you change workspaces?
The handy tip is provided by Lynn Allen a Cadalyst columnist and worldwide Autodesk Technical Evangelist with over 20 years of experience with Autodesk software.

Tip 2: The Civil Side – Lot Grading with Feature Lines
This handy tip was provided by Melanie Santer, application engineer with U.S. CAD, Inc.

Tip 3: Using an Invisible Model Line in Revit for objects that exist above a cut plane
The handy tip is provided by Steve, Forum Manager for the AUGI Revit Community Forums and member of the AUGI Board of Directors.

General News
Autodesk Completes Acquisition of Robobat
Autodesk reports that its acquisition of Robobat supports the company's vision for building information modelling (BIM) and will enable Autodesk to develop structural analysis and detailing solutions that leverage the information at the heart of BIM, from design to fabrication. See here for more details on the acquisition.

Autodesk Design Competition 2008
Autodesk, together with the Department of Polytechnic & Community College Education (EPCCE), Ministry of Higher Education and Design Technology Alliance (M) Sdn Bhd are pleased to announce its 2nd Autodesk Design Competition offered to the education sector. This competition is sponsored by HP and valid only in Malaysia.

For the Building Category, the competition seeks to procure quality and diverse designs for a community centre in Desa Permai Indah. Participants are required to design a community centre that is in keeping with the traditional culture and values enjoyed by the residents of Desa Permai Indah. Read more about the competition here.

Exploring Civil 3D Labels
This month's "CAD Clinic: Civil 3D" installment concentrates on exploring label styles, labelling multiple occurrences, and discussing pipe network structure labels and label sets. Phillip Zimmerman, Senior Applications Engineer with IMAGINiT Technologies and author takes a close look at these aspects of labelling and also includes a section on complex objects in his “CAD Clinic” column.

Subscription News
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To access these tools, please visit the Subscription Centre www.autodesk.com/subscriptionlogin. Don’t have a login? Please email us at ap.subscriptions@autodesk.com for your login details.

Customer Success
TTT Architects

"An architect should create a project in reality and not just on drawings. It is their responsibility to produce a perfect design along with complete design documentation that has accurate information to support and execute the project successfully. Revit Architecture provides this support to architects, which helps them fulfill these two task."
Trung Khanh Tran, AIA International Project Director, TTT Architects

Find out how TTT Architects uses Revit^® Architecture software to improve design quality, make better decisions, and win new business.

Brandow & Johnston Associates

"At Brandow & Johnston Associates we have a long history of designing some of the most challenging structures in Southern California. With the advent of Revit Structure software, and utilizing the techniques of building information modeling, we find significant advantages in our ability to navigate through the design process. Our final product is completed more efficiently and with better coordination."
Thomas Weir, CAD Manager, Brandow & Johnston Associates

Click here to learn how they utilised Revit Architecture to automatically coordinate between views and spend more time on the design process to expedite delivery to the client in an easy to explain, 3D format.

industry Events
Autodesk University 2007 highlights

For the AEC industry, a lot of buzz during AU 2007 centered around building information modelling and its role in sustainable design at. The event drew a crowd of around 10,000 at the Venetian in Las Vegas, November 26-30. Click on the event report here to find out what you missed out on.