Thanks to my wonderful wife, Aida Gonzalez, for all the love and support she has given me this year while I worked all these odd hours writing this book. A wonderful photographer, she also took my photo! Thanks also to Sally, Dylan and Janice, and Josie and Steve. This is also for my grandson, Josh, so he knows that anything is possible if you are willing to work hard and really want it to happen. And as always I thank my mom, Estelle, for her constant and wise support.

I want to thank my colleagues David and Jamie for their great effort over these last six months in creating this text. There was no blueprint to follow since no other books on this subject have been published, but our combined creative forces made it happen.

I want to thank all my valued colleagues at Brandow & Johnston for supporting me through this venture. I want especially to thank Gabriel Lopez and Gautam Shenoy for their talented assistance in preparing the glossy color insert pages. I also want to thank our friend Paul Anderson for his assistance in preparation of the first chapter. And thanks to my colleague Ken Gebhart for letting me use his house model.

Thanks to Nicolas Mangon for helping create the last five amazing years, and to all the dedicated, imaginative crew at Revit Structure in Waltham. They are true revolutionaries in our field.

This whole venture also has to give a nod to the people at our publisher, Wiley, who gave us the chance and provided great professional editors who have helped us to craft a first-rate text.

—Thomas S. Weir

To my wife, Katie: I can't thank you enough for giving me the support I needed and for always being there to provide encouragement. A lot of things have been put on hold and my "to do list" has gotten quite large. I also want to thank my daughter, Avery, and son, Layton, for understanding why Dad was always so busy. I hope that someday this book along with my other journeys will inspire you to attempt things you didn't think were possible. Never have the "I can't do it" attitude.

Thanks to my fellow authors Tom and David for giving your time to help make this all a success. I have enjoyed working with both of you as well as strengthening our relationship in the process.

Thanks to Ericksen Roed and Associates for supporting me throughout my writing efforts and our Revit Structure user base for challenging me every day as well as maintaining great attitudes. You are the ones who help keep me motivated and encourage me to learn more.

Thanks to the Revit Structure team (the Factory). There are too many names to mention, but you have all listened to my comments and have provided support when I needed it.

Thanks to the AUGI forum community, and those who blog, for creating such a great source of information. It is great to see so many people sharing as well as expanding their knowledge.

Thanks to the entire Wiley team; you have been great to work with. I appreciated your comments and suggestions, and because of you I have become a better writer.

And finally, thanks to all of the other authors out there who are able to take the time to juggle their careers and family time as they author a book or any other form of literature. Doing this now for the second time has truly made me realize the sacrifices that are made to pull it all off.

This book has been another great experience.

—Jamie D. Richardson

I don't know how she did it, but my wife, Carla, surpassed my last book in the level of support and encouragement she provided this time around. She is the best wife a part-time author could possibly have! Once again, I need to thank all the kids for allowing me the time to write: Candy, Nicky, Kara, Ricky, Kaitlin, Kaylee, Krista, and Christopher. I am so happy I now have time to go into the pool! And as always I thank my dad, John, who even though he hasn't been here for over 14 years is still an inspiration for me to write about what I know.

To my fellow authors, Tom and Jamie, it once again has been a pleasant experience. To your credit it has been less challenging than before! Thanks for coming back for round two!

To my fellow coworkers at Walter P. Moore, thank you. I am the first to admit that what I know is because of the people I work with and the projects I work on. I am grateful to share the skills and knowledge I have gained while working with you all. Thanks again, Steve, you really helped me out a lot!

To Autodesk and the Revit Structure team, thank you. Your constant efforts to provide a solution to the structural field give us much to write about. It is fun modeling buildings and using your software to do it! Thank you again, Nicolas and Wai, for your support and answers.

To Willem Knibbe, our publisher, thank you for coming back for a revision to the book. Without your advocacy none of this would be possible. Special thanks to Tom Cirtin for your aid and assistance in polishing our gems!

—David J. Harrington