“The Revit platform’s performance depends on the hardware environment provided for the software. The Revit platform team has assembled this collection of hardware requirements as researched by both internal development and our community of dedicated customers.

Many people on the Revit platform team from Quality Assurance, Development, Consulting and Product Management contributed to this document, but a number of recommendations arose from the community of Revit-based application users, who generously contributed their time and expertise to their peers in a number of forums, and urged Autodesk to help share their knowledge with an even wider audience.

As always, our thanks go to our customers, who are part of the team helping to improve the Revit platform with every release through their insightful comments and suggestions.

The Revit Platform Development Team”

Take a look at the PDF

From the Autodesk site

Upcoming Release of AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite to Include AutoCAD Architecture

The latest release of AutoCAD® Revit® Architecture Suite software is scheduled for shipping on September 15. This release expands the software applications that comprise the suite to include AutoCAD® 2009, AutoCAD® Architecture 2009, and Revit® Architecture 2009 under a single license. There are no changes to the features and functionality in the products themselves.

Autodesk is including AutoCAD Architecture 2009 software in the AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite 2009 product to make it easier and more cost-effective for AutoCAD Architecture customers to transition to building information modeling (BIM) using Revit Architecture software.

As part of their Autodesk® Subscription benefits, AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite 2009 subscription customers will automatically receive the release of AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite 2009 that includes AutoCAD Architecture software when it becomes available. Customers who are not on subscription will not be entitled to this benefit and will need to purchase subscription to gain access to the new product offering.

AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite is a Subscription Only product.

Chances are you already have a significant investment in AutoCAD® or AutoCAD® Architecture software, but you also want the competitive advantage of building information modeling (BIM). With AutoCAD® Revit® Architecture Suite software, migration is easy.

• Add a state-of-the-art BIM solution to your tried and true AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture software, and allow your project teams to choose the right tools for the job.
• Implement BIM using Revit® Architecture gradually, while not disrupting your existing AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture software projects.
• Reduce your license subscription fees by purchasing a single license that includes AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit Architecture.

more here…

Kyle Bernhardt of Autodesk wrote on his blog… under the heading of Required reading

Revit Platform 2009 Technical Notes – Direct from Autodesk

“it is a comprehensive paper that discusses best practices for optimal performance and productivity within the Revit 2009 family of products.  It is required reading for all Revit users interested to know this information straight from the Product Teams themselves.

It is the result of a comprehensive effort among the Designers, Developers, Quality Assurance, Consulting, Customer Success Engineers, and Product Managers, and we are excited to get this information straight to users.”

Some major topics that are discussed:

• Project Structuring
• Worksharing
• Linked Files
• Hardware Optimization
• Large Model Performance

He list where you can get it – but it used to be a subscription only location.  Now it is available to everyone.

Click here to see… Revit Platform 2009 Technical Notes

For more info – go to the AUGI thread that started this whole thing…

A new tool that went live on Autodesk Labs on July 10. The MEP Analysis Extension is a set of 25 utilities that MEP engineers can use to better understand how a building system will perform before it’s built. With these analysis capabilities, engineers can review the energy costs of the design and make changes to improve the performance of building systems and reduce its overall environmental impact.

Scott Davis of Autodesk then showed us the power of the Revit Building Maker.  Moving from shapes and masses to finished building components in minutes.  He show several methods of doing this.  He also showed some advance design tools that allow you to create swept blends and turn them into walls and curtain walls.  Exciting stuff.

Some of the questions that we worked through related to how to split the model to share between the three teams? Do we split it vertically or should we use some other logic (division of work, ease of use, legibility, file size)?  We found that sharing certain modeled components and views between three models can be difficult – possibly a Revit limitation.  We found that we would take the model to a point where the model – shell and core – is sharable.  What is more difficult to share later should be in the model sooner.  Families would be developed by dividing the work between the teams and then sharing between us all.

I am finding that the same issues are effecting other teams now in Revit.  It use to be that BIM pioneers where out there on their own.  The new frontier seems to now be teaming.  And this seems to be coming from the clients.  They are asking firms to team up.  I am not speaking of teaming with consultants from other disciplines, I mean other firms doing the same thing that you are.  It may be because the project is large or consists of multiple buildings, but you may soon be teaming up…

Have you been asked to team up with other firms on large projects?   Other firms that do the same design work as you?   Architects with Architects, Structural with Structural…

This is available in Revit Architecture 2009, Revit Structure 2009 and Revit MEP 2009

Here are a few links that might provide more info…

Mental Ray comparison to Accurender in Revit Architecture 2009

Revit 2009- two words- Mental Ray!

Which Autodesk products use the Mental Ray technology?

Rendering in Revit Architecture 2009

• Windows® XP Home, Professional and TabletPC (SP1 or SP2), Windows XP Professional x64 Edition,Windows Vista® 32 bit (Business, Premium and Ultimate), Windows Vista 64 bit (Business, Premium and Ultimate)
• Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.0 SP1 or later
• Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
• 1 GB RAM
• 1280 x 1024 monitor and display adapter capable of 24-bit color
• 3 GB free disk space
• MS-Mouse compliant
• Download and Installation from DVD

System Recommended:

• Windows XP Professional SP2 or later, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.0 SP1 or later
• Intel™ Core® 2 Duo 2.40GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
• 4 GB RAM
• 1280 x 1024 monitor and display adapter capable of 24-bit color.
• Dedicated video card with hardware support for OpenGL spec 1.3 or later
• 5 GB free disk space
• MS-Mouse compliant