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Happy Holidays from all of us at AVAware
Technologies
This year our
offices, including our technical support department, will be
operating at full capacity each and every business day during the
holiday season.
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December 12th, 2010 marks our 14th Birthday!
We've come a long way from our first DOS-based
CAD application. We'd like to thank all of our loyal customers and
vendors who've supported us along the way. AVAware
software is in use by hundreds of companies spanning three
different continents.
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New Catalog: K2
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K2 is the latest manufacturer created under
the Black & Decker Hardware & Home Improvement Group (BDHHI). Home
to other architectural opening hardware manufacturers including Baldwin
and Kwikset, the BDHHI Group spans five brands in total. The K2
brand represents premium design at a value price along with operational
excellence.
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History
The Black &
Decker Hardware & Home Improvement Group is part of the Stanley
Black & Decker family. Although only recently merged, both
companies individually date back over a hundred years, with a rich
history of innovation and quality products.
Frederick Stanley opened his small hinge and
wrought iron shop in 1843, while S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G.
Decker started a small shop in 1910. From similar beginnings, both
companies grew into industry giants, creating a renowned family of
brands. A century later, Black & Decker and Frederick Stanley
became Stanley Black & Decker, merging with the purpose of
delivering industry leading tools and solutions to all markets.
BDHHI created K2 as
the face of
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their commercial
hardware products. K2 was branded after the mountain of the same
name, the second highest peak in the world, because of what it
stands for; strength, durability and beauty.
Products
K2 commercial
hardware products include cylindrical and tubular levers, auxiliary
deadbolts, exit devices and door closers, with a suite of designs to
create “architecturally pleasing” hardware.
Contact us to Subscribe
If you wish to
subscribe to the K2 catalog, contact us at support@avaware.com, call us
directly, or download the catalog order form from our website.
Visit the K2 website
for more information about their products.
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K2 Deadbolt Cylinder
K2 Pinnacle
Lever Entry Set
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What BIM means to Us
What effect, if any, does BIM have on the architectural openings
industry?
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The last few weeks have brought some new and
interesting developments involving BIM, both in the news and
internally at AVAware.
As we mentioned in the November 2010 edition of
AVAwire,
BIM has become an extremely popular topic lately, and only
seems to gain more recognition each year. Just this year, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers began to require th
e use of BIM for all vertical military construction
projects.
The General Service
Administration (GSA) have used BIM based projects for some time,
with the requirement of AEC (Architecture, Engineering and
Construction) industries to produce BIM documents before any final
presentation, beginning in 2007.
It is clear that BIM based projects will only
grow in number as BIM continues to gain recognition on the
government level. As such, we have been reviewing how BIM impacts the architectural
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openings
industry, and how it can be leveraged with
AVAproject.
Our
preliminary research shows that while BIM documents contain a
significant amount of information, very little of this is specific
to door hardware or type.
Most
of the data contained in a BIM document is used to construct a
viewable model, and not to specify
hardware. |
In order to understand what data is contained in
a BIM document, we must first understand how a BIM model stores its
information. Every object in a BIM document, be it a wall, pipe,
duct or door, is stored as a line entry or in a tag. Tags can
specify relationships between objects in order to provide more
detail, such as the size and material of a pipe or duct. What we as
an industry are interested in are door tags; what information can we
pull out of them? Unfortunately, most of the data contained in a BIM
document is used to construct a viewable model, and not to specify
hardware. While size andplacement of an opening are
very clearly listed, there
is little
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Sample BIM Model
information
about the type of door and, based on the sample files we
have interrogated, no information about door hardware, elevations
or profiles.
BIM
is often viewed as the solution to many shortcomings of construction
planning and coordination; a file format that can carry all the
information about every component of a building. But where does this
information come from and who enters it into the BIM file? The BIM
format shows promise for the future, however at this point it does
not appear to be of much use for our industry.
These are our initial results from our investigation of
BIM documents - our analysis is still ongoing. We will keep our
customers and readers informed of any new
developments.
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AVAproject
Tip: Using Custom, Sample, and Auto-Generated Frame Elevations Effectively |
Elevation
generated by AVAproject |
Auto-Generated
Elevations
Auto-Generated elevations are
enabled by default, and are created by
AVAproject
when
no elevation is attached to an opening, but all other
required information has been entered. Auto-Generated
Elevations do not need to be drawn by the user and
instead are based off of the information entered for
openings.
Auto-Generated Elevations should be used
when the desired frame is a standard three sided frame and
door. For variations in door type, the door can be modified in
place, positioning various elements such as lite kits and
louvers.
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Custom
Elevations
Contrary to Auto-Generated
Elevations, Custom Elevations populate information into
columns based on a drawn elevation. Custom elevations
can be drawn by the user, or can be selected from a list
of sample elevations already shipped with
AVAproject.
Using Sample
Elevations
Sample Elevations are
AVAcad drawings which are
shipped with AVAproject
and
are ready to be used for opening(s) in the openings
schedule. When choosing an elevation for an entry in the
openings schedule, navigate to the sample elevations
path (by default, “C:/Program Files/AVAware/Sample
Elevations”, or for 64-bit operating systems,
“C:/Program Files (x86)/AVAware/ Sample Elevations”) on
your computer, and choose the elevation you wish to
attach. |
Sample
Elevation |
Creating Your Own
Elevations
Often an existing sample elevation
closely resembles the elevation you need to create, in which
case you can open a sample elevation with
AVAcad, modify it and save it as a new
elevation. If you need to create an Elevation that is not
included as a sample elevation, you can create your own custom
elevation with AVAcad.
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Creating a Custom Elevation using
AVAcad
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AVAproject Exports
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Most AVAproject users are
familiar with the AVAproject file
extension (.apj), as it is the
standard file extension to which AVAproject files are saved. For
your convenience and extensibility, we also provide several other
formats that your projects can be exported as. |
Text Export
The Text Export
outputs your project information into a text file organized into
logical sections which correspond with the way information is
entered into AVAproject.
Every line consists of tab delimited data,
making it easy for developers or third party software to
interpret.
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MDB Export
Our MDB
(Microsoft Access Database) export organizes
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your project data
into a relational database. These database files can be opened
with Microsoft Access directly, or by standard Windows database
components that are simple to use and well known by Windows software
developers, and makes for simple and efficient searching, grouping
and sorting.
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Access IT Export
Contract ERP (An AccessIT product) is a
powerful accounting and backend system for the architectural
openings industry.
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AVAproject 2010 includes a brand new
AccessIT export, dramatically improving the integration between the
two applications.
For more information
about AVAproject Exports, see our Data Connectivity Document.
Additionally, developers can download our Exports Sample
Package from our Website under “Downloads”.
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We welcome
any questions, comments or suggestions you may have. Please visit our
website for more information, or contact us directly at (416) 239-9099 |