Revit Architecture 2012 Update 2 is out!

September 23, 2011 by Leave a comment

Revit Architecture 2012 has an update! We’re now at Update 2 and there’s a pretty big enhancement list to this update, from improving stability to fixing API issues. The Autodesk page to download the update is here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=16841348

If you have any existing deployment images, you can go to deployment image location where you’ll find a folder called TOOLS. Open that folder and click on the shortcut to CREATE & MODIFY… to add the service pack to your image. As for those workstations with Revit already installed, the only way is to manually install them… unless you have SCCM, which is another beast in itself.

Filed under Autodesk, BIM Solutions Tagged with , , ,

Adaptive Components 01: Test-drive on an everyday Irregular Window Family

September 22, 2011 by Leave a comment

This excercise is a simple demonstration of the power of Adaptive Components to aid quick and easy design studies (including quantification) using Revit without going through the process of creating intricate, documentation-grade component families for them. Use this simple tutorial as the basis of creating your own non-standard components or, as an introduction to Adaptive Components.

Read more of this post

Let’s take an example of a regular wall type in Revit Architecture 2012.
To add an irregular-shaped opening, one would have to edit the profile of the wall and sketch the outline of the opening. The opening by face does not work on walls and the Wall-Opening Tool restricts you to rectangular openings.

Filed under Autodesk, Uncategorized

‘Secret’ Settings: Changing Image Sizes in Navisworks Clash Detection Reports

September 19, 2011 by Leave a comment

 If you found yourself looking at a default Clash Report and wondered “well, I am really interested in figuring out where exactly the clash is located and the only thing that would give me the best shot at locating the clash is the Image in the report.”

Unfortunately, a look at the ‘Options’ editor does not give us any clues as to how we would go about increasing the size of the image in question.

A few months ago, I happened to attend the opening meeting of the New York City Navisworks Users Group (http://www.meetup.com/NYC-Navisworks/) where one of the technical folks from Autodesk let us in on the ‘Secret’ settings of Navisworks.

 The ‘Secret’ Settings are accessed by holding the Shift button down whilst clicking on the ‘Options’ Button. The resultant ‘Options’ Editor will look  a little different….

Obviously, there are more ‘Options’ here. On investigating another solution, I found I was supposed to look under Registry>Current User>Clash Detection>Reports for the image-size setting. I could not find this at all.

So what was I missing?

Knowing how finicky software can be, I ran a test clash to generate a report (using HTML tabular format) and then tried the ‘Secret’ Options yet again. This time the option to modify the size of the image in the clash report (in pixels) appeared.

WARNING: Some of the settings affect the windows registry. A colleague of mine had to repair the Navisworks installation after a couple of wrong moves. So, proceed with extreme caution – there is a reason why these settings are ‘secret’.

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Softlocks are just as tough and annoying as hardlocks!

September 14, 2011 by 1 Comment

“The security system (softlock license manager) is not functioning or improperly installed. “

Yes, you can reformat your machine and make this error message go away. Your support guy might also suggest a full uninstall of all Autodesk software. Of course there is always another way 

Softlock License Manager Errors were typically seen with the older version of AutoCAD products (releases older than 2008) and the typical cause of the error was restricted permissions on licensing folder or some corruption with the license file. We’ve been seeing this also with 2012 software, especially software coming from new Building Design Suite. The standalone license file locations are here:

On Vista or Windows 7:

  • C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet\adskflex_00691b00_tsf.data
  • C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet\adskflex_00691b00_tsf.data.backup

On Windows XP:

  • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\FLEXnet\adskflex_00691b00_tsf.data
  • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\FLEXnet\adskflex_00691b00_tsf.data.backup

These files are encrypted files and basically keep activation information.  Please try giving Everyone full control permissions to the folder and move adskflex data files you find there to another folder (e.g. Desktop). If that didn’t work, just delete the files. Can’t delete the files? That means that the service that requires those files are still in use. Go to the services.msc and look for “FLEXnet Licensing Service” and “FLEXnet Licensing Service 64″. Start the service, then STOP the service – in that order. Once those services are stopped, delete those two files and start the services up again. Start AutoCAD and VOOOOOOILA!!

Filed under AutoCAD Solutions, Autodesk, BIM Solutions, Miscellaneous Solutions, Solutions Tagged with , , ,

Top 10 Reasons You Can’t See an Element in Revit

September 14, 2011 by Leave a comment

People who are new to Revit are always having issues seeing everything in a project view.  I guess it’s the AutoCAD mentality that is so hard to shake at first!  Anyway, over time I’ve seen and heard plenty of suggestions on what a user should or should not do to “expose” missing elements, but the following Top 10 Reasons is the most comprehensive check list I’ve seen.  In my opinion, every Revit newbie should have a copy of this list posted to their cubicle wall until it all becomes second nature.

Note this is actually a repost from the CAD Shack,  so kudos go out to Todd Shackelford for putting the list together and sharing with the masses!

  1. Is the correct Workset being used?
  2. Is the view range set correctly to see the particular element?
  3. Is the object hosted on an incorrect surface like a floor instead of a ceiling?
  4. Is there a filter applied to the view that is causing the element to be hidden?
  5. Is the detail level of the view set correctly?  Some families are set not to show at Coarse.
  6. Try using the “Reveal Hidden Elements” tool in the view control bar.
  7. Is there a plan region in the view?
  8. Is the view “Discipline” set correctly?
  9. Is the element in the correct phase and is an appropriate phase filter set in the view to make it visible?
  10. Is the element part of a design option and perhaps that isn’t the current option for that particular view?

Also note, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a pretty good place to start.  Feel free to post comments of other valuable suggestions you’ve found as well.  I’d love to see this list grow over time if need be.  Cheers!

Filed under Autodesk, BIM Solutions, Solutions Tagged with , ,

AutoCAD MEP 2012 – Crosshairs Disappear

September 13, 2011 by 4 Comments

As I was reading my daily dose of AUGI Forum threads today, I came across this post and thought I would share.  The gist of it is this…

In AutoCAD MEP 2012, the user loses his crosshairs in the drawing window routinely.  The Windows “pointer” still works, and he can select AutoCAD menu items, or type in the Command Line, but the pointer totally disappears in the graphics area.  Sometimes this will happen when switching from AutoCAD to another active window, and other times when switching from one drawing to another.  Interestingly, the crosshairs will show correctly in one drawing, but not the other, and will only reappear after the user closes out of the suspect drawing and reopens it!

How weird is that?

For comparison sake, the user’s PC includes the Windows 7 64-bit OS, 12GB of RAM, and an ATI 4800HD graphics card with 512MB of RAM.  He’s also using a Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 and all graphics card and mouse drivers are current.  Not too shabby by any means!

What really caught my attention was the fact that the user feels like this issue started after installing the latest AutoCAD Service Pack.  Say what?!?  Hmm, I feel like there is a theme from my posts this week, but I digress…

The moral of this story is that the user was smart enough to reach out to Autodesk, and guess what?  This is a known issue!  However, they haven’t yet been able to identify the root of the problem because of the very nature of the random behavior.  It should go without saying that if Autodesk can’t reproduce the issue, they can’t fix it, so they need your help.

If you or anyone you know is experiencing this issue, please contact Autodesk Support and report it!

You may also want to post your experience on the AUGI forum thread http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=133037#post1142258 as Autodesk does monitor the forums.

Filed under AutoCAD Solutions, Autodesk, MEP Engineering Solutions, Solutions Tagged with , , , ,

Memories of the past decade

September 12, 2011 by Leave a comment

Monday September 12th.

10 years ago I had just started a new job after having been a Consultant with my own business for the previous decade plus. I was in the process of settling in when I heard about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center and like you thought it must have been a small twin engine job or something like that.

My job was to move 60 people from a randomly customized AutoCAD 14 to a consistent use of Architectural Desktop 3.3. We then moved to the 2005 and 2007 versions, along with Revit 8.1. From there I landed with Microsol Resources, one of the most amazing resellers I have ever worked with, and trust me, I’ve worked with them all as a consultant. I have watched both AutoCAD Architecture and Revit Architecture mature, while watching the advance of products like Navisworks, Showcase, 3DS Max Design, and so much more. Use of the internet to extend processing power and connectivity continues at a steady pace as well.

In the years ahead, I can only imagine where virtualization will lead us. Clearly we will eventually move to more interactive devices such as tablets, and eventually to working virtually in the model itself. So just imagine where we are today in relationship to 2001, and imagine where we shall be in 2021. Hang on. The fun part of the ride is going to continue….

Filed under Uncategorized

eTransmit for Revit 2012

September 12, 2011 by 2 Comments

In case you missed it, an eTransmit feature was released for all Revit 2012 products by Autodesk Labs back on June 28, 2o11.

If you’re a long-time AutoCAD user, you already know that this old Pack-N-Go Bonus Tool “zips” up all of the files associated with a drawing, including Xrefs, Images, Fonts, etc. and places them in a single, easy-to-transfer, ZIP file.  Most “in-the-know” AutoCAD users love this utility and use it regularly.  Are you one of ‘em?  If not, you should be!

Well, now Revit 2012 users have the same option…woohoo!  Among other things, this utility will be useful for sending deliverables to clients, consultants, and project partners, but it can also be used for internal archives, model cleanup, and sharing models between disciplines.  You can read more about it and download the tool on the Autodesk Labs website.  Be sure to read the known issues document beforehand.

By the way, for best results, install the Revit 2012 Web Update 1 first.  See my previous post on the Latest Autodesk 2012 Service Packs for more on that!

Filed under Autodesk, BIM Solutions, Solutions Tagged with , , , , , ,

If Project Sparks makes a Revit model is it still a Building Information Model?

September 9, 2011 by Leave a comment

What functionality does Autodesk’s Project Spark have? One of my favorite Revit expert & blogger, David Light, posted a great description of Project Spark and listed all of the things one cannot do; Project Spark – quick overview. In this post I’d like to explain what it can do. One can create RVT projects and RFA families. The most important item to discuss before we get started is the file version difference. One cannot open a RVT created in Project Sparks in the current 2012 version of Revit, it’s a newer format RVT. If you try to open a 2012 RVT into Sparks you will be stopped by a dialog offering to link the RVT instead. It will temporarily upgrade the RVT to be viewed within Project Spark. When Spark becomes a full-fledged product, then interoperability with the Revit family of products would certainly be considered.

Project Spark cannot open a 2012 RVT, you can link instead

 With Project Spark one can create levels, grids, walls, doors, windows, floors, rooms and areas. We can do simplified phasing,what time is it? One can create all of the major Revit elements and some Structural elements . . . . but not a single massing object. We can create curtain walls but not massing so, no curtain systems. Remember the day of curtain system by lines? Where did that disappear to? We may not need curtain system by lines in our current version of Revit, but it sure would be nice in Project Spark. Back to what can be created. Almost all types of families other than the massing and pattern based families can be created and will be compatible with the other versions of Revit in the future. We all agree this is where Sparks’s future can shine, allowing content creators to create without purchasing the full version. I’m sure we’re all wondering what will a simplified version of Revit cost.

The main question I am posing to the AEC community is; “Can Project Spark create a proper Building Information Model. Are these tools enough? Project Spark offers designers the ability to create a very rich information model. We can create commercial, residential, interiors and any conceivable form of architecture. Can we create the same quality of space that we can create using a full version of Revit? It seems so. In summary, Project Spark could truly make a mark on the industry if it graduates from the labs. We shall see. How will you use it?

Give it a try then come back and leave your comments.

Filed under Autodesk Tagged with

Latest Autodesk 2012 Service Packs

September 9, 2011 by 2 Comments

In case you aren’t paying attention, Autodesk has released Service Packs (SP) for quite a few of the 2012 products in recent weeks.  Yesterday (September 8, 2011) a SP was released for all the Navisworks products:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=17757207&linkID=10382102

This patch will update the entire Navis family in one swoop…Freedom, Manage, and Simulate.  Interestingly, the Autodesk website lists 2011 as the product this SP is for, but I assure you it is not.  I’m sure it won’t be long before someone at Autodesk figures it out and updates the error.

Meanwhile, the AutoCAD 2012 SP1 was published on September 1, 2011 and can be found here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=17692441&linkID=9240618

Note the AutoCAD-based vertical products (AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD MEP, AutoCAD Map 3D, and AutoCAD Civil 3D) are not yet available, but I’ll be waiting/watching and update you when they are out.

For the BIM folks, the entire suite of Revit products were updated in June 2011.  See below for a link to each flavor:

Revit Architecture 2012

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=16841348

Revit MEP 2012

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=16840621

Revit Structure 2012

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=16840966

Once you install these updates, your Build should be listed as:

20110622_0930(x64)
Update Release 1

Obviously your Build listing will be slightly different if you don’t have a 64-bit Operating System, but who in their right mind is using Revit 2012 on an old 32-bit machine anyway, right?

Filed under AutoCAD Solutions, Autodesk, BIM Solutions, Solutions Tagged with , , ,

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