DWG XREF Follow Up

 A year ago I wrote about XREF DWG files showing up in Revit even when they are assigned to Overlay vs Attached. It hasn't been resolved, meaning Revit is still doing it, no change...

Shortly after writing the post we arrived at our "solution", to assign all Xrefs (in AutoCAD/Civil 3D) to a unique layer(s) and turn that layer(s) off in Revit (via View Templates usually). This way the extra layers of the xrefs do not show up even though Revit is technically ready and willing to show them.

Troubleshooting - Start an Email or Forum Post

I find it helpful to resolve an issue by starting to write an email or forum post (or a blog post) to ask for help or complain about it. Trying to write an explanation for what is happening so someone else might be able to help me focuses my thoughts. Very often I find it isn't necessary to finish writing.

The answer presents itself during the writing.

Next time you're puzzling over something, consider writing down what you think is wrong and the solution may arrive as you type.

Worth mentioning that a short break can also help a lot. Grab a beverage, talk to someone else, or stretch your legs; or all the above. The change gives you chance to work on the problem in the background of your attention.

Revit 2017 - Text and Character Map Use

I mentioned the other day that a user had shared with me some difficulty using symbols from Character Map (charmap). Autodesk has written a Knowledge Base article about. Hopefully the first service pack (Update Release...whatever they call it this time around) will fix it.

Read the article at Autodesk.

If you'd like to watch an Autodesk Screencast video and the thread at the Autodesk Community Revit forums CLICK ME.

Fwiw, in my testing I'm not having any difficulty with inserting symbols via the ALT codes or copy/paste. There must be a bit more subtlety to the issue.

Revit 2016 Missing Content after Installation

If you've installed Revit and then found your library was empty you're not alone. I haven't figured out who is to blame for this yet because the people I've encountered with this problem so far haven't been very computer savvy, haven't been able to recall what they did during installation or they didn't install it themselves. When the Revit installation is underway it is important to select which content is installed. I suspect that this is either overlooked or something has prevented that task from being completed. During installation it is important to make sure you visit this section.

The content is a separate section below the Revit application itself. It is important to review the settings lurking within the Content section too.

Assuming that was done then we should find the content installed in the default location or where we decided to put the content ourselves. This is the default location with individual sub-folders within it for each unique library you've selected:

C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT 2016\Libraries\US Imperial or US Metric etc

Still no content in this location, or the one you chose instead?

Revit downloads the content libraries you've selected to install so perhaps this task is being blocked by anti-virus, user permissions or internet access/restrictions? That's quite a conundrum for many people.

Making it a little more difficult, when you visit a related help document at Autodesk's Knowledge Network it describes the situation for 2015 and tells us to use the Control Panel Add/Remove feature. Fair enough for 2015 but for 2016 I find no such option for Content, despite the article specifically claiming it is similar for 2016. In fact I don't find such an option for 2015 either on my computer. FWIW, I only see an entry for Autodesk Content Service.

RAND IMAGINiT has made some of the content available via a blog post of theirs. It might help to try downloading it from their FTP site.

Autodesk Seek also hosts Revit content including its own library. If you visit the site, at the bottom of the page they have links for each disciplines library.

While I can download specific families and templates from that location I don't see an easy way to just download the entire library. They used to provide a page where we could just browse for and download a library bundle, for any of the localised versions too. I've not found its equal yet.

Revit Version and Build History

Philip and Luke both mentioned this on their blogs so I'm just echoing their mentions of this recent development. Autodesk put together a list of versions and builds going back to Revit 2012.

It's important to keep everyone that works on the same Revit project(s) on the same version/build, perhaps this will help?

It was fun discussing (while talking to a friend on the phone) the version/build/service pack/update naming yesterday, he'd missed the recent Update Release 1 for 2016 R2...damn it gets confusing.

Autodesk Hardware Selection Support Site

This site was created with the intention to make it easier to make sure our computer and graphic card choices are supported by Autodesk's software. Unfortunately the site has died...with 2014 version support or at the very least, the appearance of a lack of support for 2015/16 versions.

It's time to update it?!?

Structural Column Preview does not Show

Daniel Stine shared this situation with me the other day. It may be familiar to you too?

Revit has a glitch in how it deals with the structural column preview (i.e. outline of structural member relative to the cursor) during placement. Working with Autodesk Support, the problem comes into play when the Levels are “Moved” vertically (the problem kicks in after a certain distance – not sure what the magic number is yet).

These are the steps he described that will (should) reproduce the problem using the out of the box (OOTB) structural template.

• Open the structural template
• Switch to elevation (or section)
• Select the levels and move them up 100’
• Switch to the level 1 plan view
• Try placing a structural column
• The preview (i.e. outline of structural member) should not be visible but it it will appear after placing the first one

Dan also mentioned:

In testing this, the problem does not occur when using the Relocate Project tool and changing the Levels to use the Elevation Base parameter setting: Survey Point. We submitted this to Autodesk and support has passed it on to development for a closer look. This is one of those little annoying things for our staff.

Technical Support

Recently a question popped up at AUGI stating the "Worksharing Does Not Work". Several people replied and then the original poster casually mentioned that maybe Dropbox wasn't passing the data back and forth quickly enough. I replied with:

Funny how something major like using Dropbox isn't mentioned at the outset If you'd included that tidbit that would have changed the conversation considerably. When people ask for help in a forum it really helps to provide lots of clues, it's a bit like a detective novel. We need clues to figure out who did it.

YES it takes quite awhile for a files (larger the longer) to upload to Dropbox and then replicate elsewhere. If you plan to do real work using Dropbox you'd better be careful. It is very easy to borrow something that another person has already borrowed because of the latency between upload and replication. When that happens whoever was second or third will lose, lose everything they did because Revit will not let you synchronize your work at all. Your "invalid Schema" error is indicating that the file was not intact when Revit tried to open it. This will happen if the file isn't completely replicated or uploaded.

Dropbox does not know anything about the relationships between our files or that Revit is attempting to communicate between central and local files. It just copies bit for bit from here to there and there. This means that it is all together too easy for Dropbox to kill the relationship unwittingly.

If you can be certain that no two users are actively working on the project concurrently then there is much less risk. That would be something like a "follow the sun" workflow where someone in Europe works on the file until someone in the USA joins as the European's day winds down and the American stops works as the Australian begins and so on. Concurrent workers with files on Dropbox is a love story heading for heartbreak.

If you find yourself asking a question in a forum or sending me an email be sure to offer lots of clues. When we take our car to the mechanic they usually ask for clues. They aren't likely to tell you, "No, don't tell me what's wrong, let me guess!" Ditto for your doctor. You know the old joke, "Hey Doc, it hurts when I do this!" "Well don't do that!" Reworked it's, "Hey Doc, it hurts when I use Dropbox for worksharing!" "Well don't use Dropbox for worksharing!" :)

Cheeky Devil - Support Requests

When Revit crashes it will often generate a dialog prompting you to provide some information about what might have caused the crash and a way to contact you if they need to. In the past I wrote about a cheeky response I used once about the computer I was using not having enough memory. In that post I encouraged Autodesk to put enough RAM into their software so I don't have to worry about it.

I was working with Camtasia the other night and I thought of this cheeky support request.

Dear Autodesk,

I recently purchased a high quality microphone to use with my computer. Now when I open Revit it doesn't acknowledge this microphone at all even though other programs do. Camtasia works great with it. I've checked all the settings I can find but nothing seems to resolve the problem.

Here's the thing, I spent a lot of money for this microphone. I should be able to talk to Revit and tell it what I want it do instead of having to use this silly mouse all the time. If Revit isn't going to recognize it and do what I say then I think you should refund the money I spent on this microphone. The microphone works fine so it isn't fair to return it to the manufacturer.

It's just your software that isn't working properly!!

Is there a service pack, hotfix or patch I can download? If not, please let me know how soon I can expect this to be fixed, thank you!!

Application Development - Building a Case for It

I was approached by Mike Shell recently. Since he is interested in developing a software application intended to support viewing Revit models via a 3D PDF Converter his need is a bit broader than just my opinion. He needs interest from bigger organizations than mine.

He is seeking statements from firms that support his business plan. Here's one of two sample letters he provided:

To Mr. Michael Schell or to whom it may concern,

Our firm uses Autodesk Revit for our architectural and 3D CAD design needs. We are currently using another product for viewing and illustration for sharing our model requirements and for printing documents, but not aware of 3D PDF format, for printing or illustrating our models.

If this product is available I would be interested in purchasing the product, if the value was in the $________ price range. It would be valuable for us to be able to distribute our 3D Revit designs in a neutral 3D format like PDF… since the Adobe viewer is free and everyone has it already on their PC.

Integration of 3D views within the construction set as the next step in the evolution of construction drawings would be beneficial. Having an Adobe 3D PDF that a contractor can use during the construction phase would further enhance our communication with the clients.

Sincerely Yours,

Your Name

If you and/or your firm are interested in learning more contact him via EMAIL. He's also hoping you'll provide such a letter to demonstrate how interested you are, and thereby demonstrating overall interest in the project.

Autodesk Graphics Hardware Site

The Revit Clinic shared a link to Without a Net which has a post about a new site dedicated to help customers find graphics card/driver information.

http://www.autodesk.com/graphics-hardware

I tried it and guess what... "no information found". Oh well...that's the story of my graphics card life! ;) Revit also tells me my current driver is "too new", so that's good right? It's either "too old" or "too new". Is there a "just right" message??

Revit Lifeline

Please pardon a little shameless self-promotion.

I've created a new support option that I'm hoping proves useful. I decided to call it Revit Lifeline. It is intended to be an option for the common user that doesn't have a large firm or EyeTee staff devoted to him/her. So that means small firm or sole practitioner. It can also fit in a larger firm's scope of support services as an overflow option. My hope is to be available as a resource when I'm not otherwise engaged. If it proves successful and demand suggests expansion, which would be excellent, then increasing the time that the Lifeline is ON would be a priority. To accomplish that I'd have to be able to support more hands-on-deck to be a Lifeline.

To find out more you can visit the Revit Lifeline site which is a page on my just revamped AEC Advantage site. I also have a Revit OpEd sub-page dedicated to it. Just take a look at the upper right corner of the sidebar.

When you visit the site looking for help just check to see if the Lifeline is ON.

Then follow the instructions on the site. Here's to having Lifelines!

BIM Support Survey and Blogger Profile

I posted a notice about a BIM support survey that Jason wanted to do back on February 24, 2010. He has since wrapped up the survey and written it up in a fourteen page report. He really did a nice job putting it together and it is well worth your time to download it and check it out.

Who is Jason Grant?
Jason is the BIM Specialist at Payette in Boston, MA. His experience includes over 14 years in the architecture field, 5 years of Revit use on 62 projects at Colin Smith Architecture and 2 years managing Revit implementation, training, standards, API and content development at Payette. With his Revit experience including Healthcare, Labs, Commercial, Mixed-Use and Residential, he understands the challenges that both small and large projects face while utilizing and implementing Revit. Jason is also Co-Founder and Advisor to the Boston Revit Users Group with 200+ members, Co-Founder and Co-Leader of the BLUR Group (BIM Leaders Utilizing Revit), author for AUGI | AEC EDGE and an avid blogger on BIM and Architecture.

Off Topic - Unhelpful Help and the Cheeky Devil

Tonight I was working on a PC with only 2 GB of RAM and I started getting warning messages about having too little memory. I saved the file naturally but purposely pushed my luck. I made Revit keep working with less and less RAM until it finally choked, sputtered and gasped..."seeya!". I got the nice message from Autodesk asking me to submit a problem report, like this one.

I knew exactly what was wrong but I was feeling cheeky. I wrote the following (not exactly, I don't remember exactly what I wrote earlier):

Dear Autodesk,

My computer crashed tonight because it was running out of memory. Why don't you provide enough memory for your software. When I bought it I assumed that it had enough memory. You guys make the software after all, can't you put enough memory in when you make it? Please make sure the next time you send me the software that it has enough memory, I'm trying to get my work done and have enough trouble with my own memory.

Thanks!

I'm imagining the poor technical support person that reads the report when it comes in. It probably will be something like this, "Hey Harlan!! Check out this trouble report! This guy thinks that the software comes with its own memory and is complaining that we don't ship enough with Revit, haha!! What a knucklehead! Oh, wait...the email address says it's from Steve Stafford. Definitely a knucklehead! Guess we can toss this one eh?"

I'm sure I'll get a polite formal response letting me know that they appreciate my concerns and will keep it under advisement and thanks for filing my report. "They help us make the product better." What will be unsaid is, "Until guys like you submit cheeky crank support cases." ...as you were!

Solar Radiation Preview - Web Update 2 Supported

I mentioned this earlier and they have opted to provide support for the recent Web Update #2 for Revit. Read all about it!