Revit 2016 Update 5

This morning Autodesk Desktop Application (AdA) worked and let me know that an update is available for Revit 2016, Update Release 5 ... and in my case for R2.

AdA installed the update for me. I didn't find any evidence of it on the public facing Autodesk pages but it was listed among the updates I could download from my account management panel at Autodesk, after signing in. Hopefully you'll find AdA works for you too. If you've got to download it to deploy it for your firm then I'd visit the manage portal to download it there.

Hold Off Warning Rescinded

Kyle wrote in a more recent reply:

The Cloud Worksharing reliability issue associated with the Revit 2016 UR4 update has been resolved. The issue was resolved on the service itself, so no updates to the downloadable files were required.

Teams are encouraged to download and install the latest update, as it contains valuable enhancements to reliability and workflow.

Hold off on Revit 2016 Update Release 4

If you are using Revit 2016 and Collaboration for Revit (C4R) then you'll want to hold off installing the most recent update. Kyle shared the following in a post at RFO.

We have identified a compatibility issue with the latest Revit 2016 UR4 update, which is causing degraded Sync with Central (SWC) reliability for those that installed it. We have confirmed this issue internally, and are working to resolve the issue within our services.

Teams are advised to defer installing the latest Revit 2016 UR4 until we have resolved the matter on the Cloud Worksharing service. We apologize for the disruption this may be causing, and are urgently working to resolve the matter.

Update Releases and Color Fill Background Processing

I was reading recently (in a couple forums) about a problem with background processing and views using Color Fills. Autodesk acknowledged the issue and they've just issued an update for called Revit 2016 R2 Update 1, and there is an Update Release 11 available now for Revit 2015.

In the release notes they reference color fills when closing a document that uses them. That doesn't sound like the issue I read about specifically. Those seemed related to printing views that have a color fill applied but maybe that's a minor difference from the code's perspective. Hopefully this update does resolve the issue they were having. It did seem that users could avoid it (the background processing error) if they were careful to save their project, close Revit and restart it before attempting to print those views.

Download Revit 2016 R2 Update 1
Revit 2016 R2 Update 1 - Release Notes

Download Revit 2015 Update Release 11
Revit 2015 Update Release 11 - Release Notes

If you have Autodesk Application Manager installed, and if you'd like to see if it will let you acquire the updates, you can try a right-click on the icon in the system tray and choose Check Now.

Revit 2016 R2 is Available and Update Release 10 for Revit 2015

When I wrote about Revit Sunrise earlier I hinted that we might see a repeat of last year when Revit Sundial was followed by Revit 2015 R2. That's come true today.

You can CHECK OUT some VIDEOS about what is new in this subscription customer only release.

These are the features they've chosen to provide videos for:

• Draw Visible Elements Only (performance)
• Global Parameters
• Family Element Visibility Setting (Family Editor)
• Thermal Zoning (Analysis)
• Enhanced Revit Links
• Cancel Multi Sheet Print or Export
• View Filter UI Improvements
• Revision Enhancement
• Isolate Solids/Voids with Filter Tool (Family Editor)
• Per User RVT Link Unload
• Improved Project Browser
• Name Reference Plane
• Autodesk Raytracer
• Railing Preview
• View Underlay and Orientation Improvements (descriptive language)
• Enabled Copy Paste in Perspective Views
• Choice to Select Wall Join Type (behavior) during Wall Creation
• Fabrication Part Modeling Enhancement
• Electrical Design Enhancements
• Mechanical Design Enhancements

There is also a Update Release 10 for Revit 2015. For what it is worth, the Autodesk Application Manager is two for two now. It let me know about the last web update (service pack) and it let me know about both 2016 R2 and 2015's Update Release 10. That's encouraging, certainly better than my experience with it in the past.

Revit 2015 Release Update 5 and Terminology

Autodesk released another update for Revit 2015 yesterday, it was formally announced via The Revit Clinic and tweeted. THIS PDF is the published list of things that this update, as well as past updates, have dealt with. I hesitated to post this yesterday because I was a bit confused by what I read at the links below.

Revit 2015 UR5
Revit Arch 2015 UR5
Revit MEP 2015 UR5
Revit Struct 2015 UR5
Revit LT 2015 UR5

For many years an update meant a fresh installation, replacing the previous installed version. This eventually changed in favor of updates that could be applied to an existing installation of Revit. That meant a smaller file to download (usually) and it could be installed (or deployed) more easily. For many of those earlier years we just referred to these updates by their build number, as in, "What build do you have?" We still have a build number to reference.

More recently they began including the phrase Update Release and a number. For Revit 2015 it was easy, through Update Releases 1-3, until Revit 2015 R2 became available, introducing new terminology. The R2 release, which delivers brand new features, is only available to customers who have active subscription accounts. As it happens R2 also includes things that an Update Release would include, as such installing R2 meant we were technically installing Update Release 4 at the same time. For customers that don't have an active subscription it is necessary to make Update Release 4 available to them too.

Distinctly different from R2, an Update Release fixes things within the existing product. It does not provide new features. These shouldn't be confused with a Hotfix, though having a similar intention, which tends to repair a relatively tiny part of the software. They are both delivered via a download from the Autodesk site too. We should be alerted to them becoming available via the Communication Center and/or the Autodesk Application Manager (if deployed/enabled).

In contrast, the R2 release does provide new features that we might normally expect to be delivered as part of a brand new yearly release. In this case it was delivered as part of our subscription benefits, only to those with valid subscriptions in place. It also does not incur a file format change as we see with the yearly releases. As we've seen in the past it could have been delivered as Revit 2015.1 instead. Language and terminology is fun!

Such was the confusion initially that The Revit Clinic offered up a post called What is the Difference between Revit 2015 R2 and Revit 2015 UR2? As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I found myself confused when I visited the download pages for Update Release 5. This section seems to suggest there is a separate update to download via the Subscription site?

Note: If you are an Autodesk Subscription Customer and have installed Autodesk Revit 2015 R2, please install Autodesk Revit 2015 Update Release 5 for R2. Refer to the Autodesk Revit 2015 R2 subscription download page.

If you follow the link they provide it brings you (if you log in) to the original Revit 2015 R2 subscription download page. There is no mention of a special Release 5 update for R2. I wouldn't have been as confused if it said what I now believe it really meant: "If you haven't installed Revit 2015 R2 yet you can download it via this link".

I gambled and downloaded the update for Revit 2015 (first link above). My Revit is delivered as part of the Building Design Suite and I was able to apply this update successfully. In the past it was necessary to download a unique BDS delivered version of Revit 2015 updates. In this case they appear to have dispensed with that subtlety.

To summarize I believe this is accurate - see if you can stay with me:

• Original release of Revit 2015 for which they have provided Update Releases 1-5.
• New Release of Revit 2015 R2 which is available to subscription customers only, to which Update Release 5 also applies.
• Update Release 4 became available at the same time as R2 was introduced but it was necessary to provide a separate update for customers that were not eligible for Revit 2015 R2.
• If you installed R2 you also received Update Release 4.
• If you install Update Release 5 today you also incorporate all previous Update Releases.

It is not clear to me at the moment if there is a different build number when Revit 2015 R2 and Update Release 5 are installed as compared with Revit 2015 installed and Update Release 5 applied. I'd expect a different build number since Revit 2015 R2 has features that are not part of Revit 2015. Shall we compare build numbers? Mine is in the image above, R2 installed with Update Release 5.

As always, be sure to carefully read through the Readme documentation provided at each download page. Clear as mud? I sure hope so!