In my opinion, this keynote manager, developed by Steven Faust at Emc2 Architects, is how keynoting should have been in Revit from the start.  By making the program “save as you go”, Steve has been able to allow multiple users to work on the same keynote file simultaneously.  Also, features like keyboard shortcuts, spell check, and a built in text search make managing keynotes easier than ever.  This program takes the mystery out of keynotes so that the end user doesn’t need to worry about the syntax of the text file.  The program makes it much easier for project managers, who aren’t familiar with the .txt file syntax, to make corrections to keynotes, and for BIM managers to create keynote templates that are readily available through the interface.

The one problem the program doesn’t solve is the need to reload the keynote file in the Revit project for the changes to take effect.

You can download the Keynote Manager from Emc2.  For the latest on the Emc2 Keynote Manager, see this thread on the AUGI forums.

Screen shot of the main window

The edit dialog, accessed with the keyboard shortcut “e”, allows you to automatically change the text case to upper case, lower case, title case, or sentance case!

Keynote Editor

The keynotes menu allows you to add, copy, edit and insert keynotes. The ability to automatically add the next sequential keynote simply by hitting “s” on the keyboard is a great feature.

Keynotes Menu

Right clicking on a keynote allows full access to case changes as well as being able to print just one keynote branch.

Context Menu

The settings dialog allows cad managers to set the location of master keynote files that can be used as seeds for new projects. You are also able to set other program defaults.

Settings Dialog

Steve has done an excellent job creating this help dialog. By reading these few pages you are able to get started using the full capabilities of this program very quickly.

Help Menu Dialog

The current list of features includes:

• Allows viewing of keynote files in a stacked tree view rather than a very long list.
  • Display font and color can be changed to match custom standards.
• Allows you to easily add, edit, copy or delete individual keynotes and their descriptions.
  • Supports automatic sequencing of new keynotes.
  • Keynotes can be added in bulk from an existing file.
• Allows printing of all keynotes, visible keynotes only, or a single branch of keynotes.
• Includes a “find” function that allows you to search for keynotes by any text contained in the description.
• Supports automatic casing of keynotes (or the option to turn off automatic casing).
  • Includes settings for automatically changing keynotes to upper case, lower case, or title case.
  • Includes tools to change individual keynotes, or all keynotes to upper, lower, or title case.
• Master keynote files can be defined (as many as desired).
  • New keynote files can be created using any defined master as a template.
  • A warning will be issued if a master keynote file is selected for editing.
• Allows multiple users to work on the same keynote file.
• Contains a spell check function
  • Will search for Revit dictionaries as well as a user dictionary. Optional user dictionary is included in the zip file download.
• Automatically creates up to 10 backups on each user’s computer of each text file edited.
• Most commands are available via top menu, right click, or keyboard shortcut.
• Keynote Manager remembers its size and position from session to session.
• Includes optional system for reporting bugs or improvement ideas to Emc2.

The modeling was all done with SketchUp.  As I did with my previous animation each piece was modeled and then converted to an Artlantis Object.  This allows each piece to be animated.

I tried animation just about everything in this clip.  Besides some very complex paths, objects are rotaing and pausing in their motion.  The clouds, sun paths, and water all all being animated.

In order to create the wave effect I animated the water material to change wave size over time.  This allowed the movement at the beginning of the sequence.

There is definetly room for improvment.  Not being able to animate the infinite ground plane was a problem, and the cloud animations are not as smooth as I would like.

This animation was reduced for putting on the web, the full resolution animation was rendered with the following parameters:

• Frame count: 625 frames
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Anti-aliasing: Low
• Radiosity: Low
• Render Time: 29:36:16

The background audio created with samples from www.freesound.org.
Additional software used: Adobe Photoshop and Premiere

A recent surprise on his blog, a few days ago, was the release of a basic script for performing a batch render in Revit 2009 and Revit 2010.  Using the script feels like you’re doing some weird voodoo but it gives me hope that we will soon have this capability available to the masses with an easy interface.  I don’t think Zach is a trained programmer so even though the script is a bit tricky to use I have to applaud his being able to put something like this together.

If there are any programmer/Revit users out there I would encourage you to take Zach’s script to the next level… or maybe Autodesk can include this function in Revit 2011?  Hint Hint.

Download Zach’s Revit Batch Render Script and give it a try!

You can download the file directly (rac2010-ui.zip) or use it online.

Screensot of RAC2010 Where Is My Command