Easy Keynoter

Phillip Miller, the brains behind the Family Browser and Kiwi Custom Solutions has a new offering called "Easy Keynoter". Here's what his new site page for the product has to say:

Easy Keynoter for Autodesk Revit 2015 is not just another glorified keynote text file editor. Easy Keynoter can do that plus so much more. The main features of Easy Keynoter are:

• Fully integrated into the Revit UI
• All Keynote data stored within a Database. No reliance on Revit reading txt files or the need to have intermediary xml files. This means that there are no issues of multiple users editing the keynotes at the same time as with other systems.
• Add Edit and remove keynote changes are reflected immediately in the Revit project. No need to manual Load/Reload operation from within the Revit UI
• Drag and Drop Keynotes from the Palette directly onto Revit Elements to keynote those elements.
• Super fast search function. Easy keynoter will display all search compliant keynotes in seconds. We have tested this on a keynote file with over 20,000 keynotes and the results displayed within 1 second.
• Easily Import/Export your existing old Keynote.txt files into and out of the Database.
• User management. Create user groups and assign who is allowed to add/edit/remove keynotes from the database.
• One Revit power user that has seen this product commented. “Mate, looks absolutly awesome, bring it on.”

Looking forward to checking it out!

CCTV Enhancement in Fuzor

I wrote about the Kalloc Studios product called Fuzor after seeing it at Autodesk University. I sat down with them at RTC in Melbourne and was really impressed with how much they've done since then (as in, "Oh! Did we tell you we've incorporated Clash Detection too?"). We chatted about a variety of things, one of which was security cameras.

I've worked with a few clients for whom security camera documentation is a big deal. I received an email this afternoon letting me know that they've got a cool addition they are eager to show me (and everyone) at RTC in Schaumburg next week, security camera features. Keep in mind that we sat down together less than two weeks ago and none of the below existed.

They've created three types of cameras so far: Small, Large and Dome.

You can switch between these types at will to achieve the look you want. They also have the option to choose black and white or color. Here's a sample screen shot. They've also taken notice of some important camera characteristics.

They've made it possible to save your current configurations as well as load previously saved configurations from the main Fuzor user interface. This is a sample dialog for selecting configurations.

That's a lot of ground to cover in two weeks!! If you think your firm could benefit from this sort of viewing and visualization enhancement then Fuzor's just presented another strong practical reason to check them out, ...and this is just a first pass, they'll be looking for feedback to make this a killer feature.

Revit INI Tweak and Properties Palette Apply Behavior

Courtesy of Aaron Maller the other day...

Aaron said, in a conversation about the Apply behavior of the Properties Palette:

You guys know you can edit that with a setting in the INI file, right?

He offered this explanation:

Within the [UserInterface] section of the Revit.ini (see image), add the line:

DisableMppAutoApply=1

When you move your mouse out of the Properties Palette Revit will no longer commit changes you make. They (the Factory) quietly changed the way this INI key worked, between versions 2013 and 2014. In 2013, if you did this you HAD to use the Apply button to commit your change(s). In 2014 moving your mouse out of the Properties Palette will NOT commit your change(s). When you CLICK in the viewport, or elsewhere, Revit then commits the changes. The same is true in 2015 too.

That's SUBTLE and NICE! Thanks for the tip Aaron!

Lock Down a Family

Projects that use Worksets have four kinds of worksets: User-Created, Project Standards, Families and Views.

User-Created worksets are the bookshelves we create to organize building elements logically (read How Many Worksets...). The other three are always there but ordinarily we can pretend they don't exist. Each family that is loaded into a project is assigned its own Family Workset. It happens quietly behind the scenes. We don't have to do anything at all.

Ordinarily we don't wittingly or intentionally interact with a Family Workset at all. For example, we can place hundreds of doors and not affect any doors's Family Workset. However, if we assign a value to a door's Type Comments parameter we'll find we are the Borrower of the door's Family Workset. Altering Type parameters affects the Borrower status of a family's workset.

Occasionally we find it desirable to lock-down some families. Users might get unruly and make changes we've agreed not to make without approval or someone can accidentally reload a family from the wrong library. I'm positive we can come up dozens of other examples.

We can deliberately become the Owner of any families we'd like to prevent users from altering significantly. Select the family workset and click the Editable button. Our username will appear in the Owner column. It's for this reason that most people create an alter ego like "Family Manager", "Model Manager", "Model Admin", or "Bubba"... you decide which is best. This alter ego only opens a local file when they need to deal with updating families or whatever other task they are reserving for certain roles.

This will prevent users from easily reloading and changing type parameters. They can still alter instance parameters. They can also move, swap the family for another with the Type Selector or even delete the family. There are still plenty of things that can go wrong. We've just made it a little bit harder to do a couple specific things wrong.

Be careful with Editing Requests, making them or granting them, when you lock-down worksets. Users can become the borrower unexpectedly, as THIS POST describes.

Sheet View in a Titleblock Family

Brian wrote to mention a quirky subtle situation that he thought I'd be inclined to write about.

Brian wrote:

Open a Titleblock family and then double click on the schedule in the project browser to open it in a separate view. With the schedule as the current view, close all the other active views. Notice that the view with the titlebock itself closes and now there’s no way to open it again, since it’s not listed in the Project Browser.

The subtle bit is that the view is still there in the project browser, it's just hiding under Sheets instead of Views where we'd expect to find it. It's that even more subtle dash listed beneath Sheets.

Yep, it's quirky enough for me.

Revit MEP - Copy to Clipboard and Paste Aligned

Face-Based families don't seem to like when we use Copy to Clipboard and Paste Aligned. Specifically they may go where we want but they don't report the correct elevation value. For example these two Air Terminals are reporting 18'-0" after I used Copy to Clipboard and then Paste Aligned to Selected Levels, choosing Level 2.

They ought to report 8'-0" since that's their actual elevation above the floor, their host ceiling's elevation. You can see they are reporting an elevation that is equal to the offset from Level 1, the host level of their original ceiling. Using the Edit Work Plane tool is little help unfortunately. I tried it but Revit doesn't change their elevation value, I assume because they are already hosted by the ceiling I picked. That made me think of trying to host them to something else temporarily. Then I used Edit Work Plane again to host them on the original ceiling, no joy.

I resorted to using the Pin Trick. I pinned them and then used the Pick New tool. When I picked the ceiling as the new host the terminals stay put, because they are pinned, and Revit now reports the correct elevation again.

Quirky is alive in Revit!

RTC and my Playlist

I don't recall whose session, or which event, it was that I first heard some music played while we all gathered in the room. I just remember thinking, I LIKE that! I've played music ever since then, before and after my sessions, if it was possible.

I just returned home from speaking at RTC in Melbourne. It was great, even if Melbourne was a bit damp! In keeping with other events, at least one person always asks me about the music I'm playing. I've chosen to use Joe Satriani's music as a prelude for the last couple years. His music is melodic, energetic, and mostly instrumental. I used his new album Unstoppable Momentum for my What's New... session. It features Vinny Colaiuta, one of my favorite drummers, as well as a bunch of other excellent musicians.

I used a shorter playlist for my other session "Grumble, Grumble, Snort". I knew I only had 15 minutes between the end of the previous session and the beginning of mine so I chose Jeff Beck's "Hammerhead" (a tribute to musician Jan Hammer and featuring Australia's own Tal Wilkenfeld on bass), Joe's "Jumpin' In" and "Can't Go Back" and finished with The Tubes "Mr. Hate". I figured we'd start off the session after hearing a "grumpy" sort of tune, to set the mood.

I don't know about you but music is always "on" in my head.

Use Spotify? Here's a LINK to the short Playlist

Revit 2015 - Parameters and View Titles

We can include any view parameter in view titles now. We can also create shared parameters and use them in our view title annotation. I was reminded by Lee Miller (a VP with HOK), while attending RTC in Melbourne this week, that this addition means they can include another language for the view name far more easily with this seemingly subtle change. It is a welcome change for anyone doing international work.

Insert using Auto-Center to Center

Whenever we insert a linked file we find that Revit is wired or biased to using Auto-Center to Center. It doesn't matter if we've just used another placement option Revit faithfully returns to its favorite.

The reason for this preference or bias stems from the reality that DWG files are a perfect storm of chaos that we cannot reliably expect that the elements in the file are located near the origin of the file. Floating Point math calculations rely on constraining the size of the world we work in to a practical scope so that calculations can be "accurate" enough to roughly 12 decimal places. Revit uses double precision which technically extends to 16 decimal places but it only displays 12.

When elements in the imported/linked file are very far from the file's origin then Revit's ability (of all CAD software by the way) to accurately display and describe information begins to suffer. The Revit development team is a bit more fussy about this than how other software confronts us with this concern. One visual clue that this is affecting your project is snap icons fail to appear directly on the element it is related to.

Using Auto-Center to Center is safer from the developer's mindset, protecting us from BadCAD and or ourselves.

Now we've been bringing this up for years, asking for Revit to remember what we've used before and/or letting us set which option we prefer. The good news, from my perspective, a recent conversation with someone at Autodesk has made me optimistic that we will get our way sooner than later.

Revit MEP - Choosing a Panel

This is a quick tip I picked up eavesdropping on a conversation with Martin Schmid (Autodesk). When you create a circuit and use Select Panel the list of panels in the drop-down on the Options Bar sorts the panels based on their proximity to your circuit's elements. That's pretty subtle and I never paid close enough attention to notice. I love subtle stuff!

Revit is Crashing

You're suffering with a file that is crashing on your computer. Have you attempted to work with/recover the file on a different computer? Doing so will help rule out the possibility that there is an issue with the PC you've been using.

Revit can be a grouchy bugger with too little RAM or an incompatible Video Card/driver. If you have very little RAM then it could be that Revit is running out of RAM before it can process the file properly during the save which can increase the RAM it requires to function. You can also try to disable the graphics options in the Options dialog > Graphics to see if that makes any difference.

I'd start by eliminating the PC itself, try to restore it using another. If that makes no difference then you need to consider the project file itself. Yet another thing to consider, linked files. You can move any linked files it is looking for to another folder temporarily so it can't find them to load them. If a link is really causing the problem then this file crashing is just a victim of a different problem. I've seen a link crashing the host several times in the past. It's a drag spending a lot of time trying to fix a file that didn't have a problem when a link really did.

In 2011 (my post about it) The Revit Clinic's Kathryn Langan wrote a post about a journal file parser she wrote.

That Thick Boundary on my Sheet

A conversation about our title block is inevitable when working through implementation. If we're going to produce a drawing we'll need one unless we've arrived at the day when a model is the only deliverable which, unless I've become Rip van Winkle and woke up twenty odd years in the future, isn't the norm yet.

One recurring theme is a thick boundary line. A polyline is often used for this in AutoCAD. Sorry, there is no equivalent element (AutoCAD polyline) in Revit, namely that a polyline's thickness can vary along it length. To replicate a thick boundary we need to use Revit's own lines to sketch thick lines. We also need to keep in mind that Revit's lines do not square off at the ends, an option that AutoCAD developers added to it in the past. Revit's developers designed it thinking that the tip of pens/pencils are round and when you sketch with a them you get rounded edges, consistent with "reality".

If we need a thick (or very thick) boundary with squared edges then we accomplish that with a Filled Region (solid black). It is sketched like two rectangles, inside and outside edges of the thick line, using a thin line. When the filled region is finished it will look just like a thick "line".

Hopefully the same result, just different technique.

Past its End

If you see this message, it's not a good message, sorry.

It is a database phrase for the file was not saved properly and the software can't figure out where the beginning and end of the file are correctly, which is a more complicated way to say the file is corrupted. When you get this error it could just be a one time thing. It might be an indication that there are network issues with latency which means that the saving process isn't able to complete reliably. If you get this error frequently it's time to have it checked closely to look for hardware problems.

If you are fortunate you'll be able to open and save a backup version of the project, you need to determine which kind you've got: Stand-alone or worksharing.

If your file is a stand-alone project there will be a project file like this: MyProject.rvt and additional files like this MyProject.0003.rvt, MyProject.0004.rvt and MyProject.0005.rvt. The extra four digits indicate they are backup files. Three additional backup files is the default. Revit writes over the oldest file, never using more than three files for a backup. This is something that can be changed but only when the file is saved initially or when you use Save As. Notice the Options button when you are in the Save dialog next time.

These backup files can be opened just like a regular project file. They represent the state of you project when you saved it, corresponding to the time stamp shown in the file properties. You'll need to use Save As when you do open the file because Revit will ask you if you really want to save a file, as a backup, using the backup file format.

If the project is using Worksets/Worksharing then there is a folder named something like MyProject_Backup. Revit stores all the backup history and data it needs to restore a file in there but you don't do anything with the files inside it directly. You need to open Revit, but don't bother to open a project file, and activate the Collaboration ribbon tab > click Restore Backup. You browse to the location of the project and select the project's backup folder. Revit opens a dialog that let's you choose from a history of saved versions you could choose to recover with.

You should use the Save As button. Pick an earlier version and click Save As. Save the file in a different folder temporarily. The resulting file is technically a local file that is expecting to connect to the central file that isn't working. Revit will ask you if you want to open the file, don't. You'll need to open the file using Detach from Central so that it breaks the relationship to the central.

In either case, hopefully Revit will be able to open the most recent backup file and you won't lose too much work. If the most recent file fails then try the next older version until you get the project open again. Save the file back into the correct project folder and carry on.

If you want more background on worksharing I've got a summary of posts I've written on the subject.

Starting my Project after Receiving a Model

From a Revit MEP or Structure perspective getting a project started, without delving into subtlety, should look something like this.

• Link the architecture model - Auto - Origin to Origin
• Examine an elevation - Make sure your levels match theirs (it's also helpful to get a better sense of the scope vertically)
• Use Copy/Monitor to create (levels you don't have) and watch the levels for coordination (optional but a good idea)
• Room Bounding (MEP) - The arch link has a Type Parameter called Room Bounding, this should be checked if/when you are using Spaces
• Create views for each level after you've made sure yours match theirs
• Repeat this for each discipline, HVAC, Plumbing etc...
• Phases between files should be mapped (same place as Room Bounding, and to truly work they need the same names too)
  
• If you need your own grids to adjust how your documents look - use Copy/Monitor to get a watched set of your own grids

As I alluded to in the beginning, there are other subtle things like worksets that can factor in as well, but assuming the above is all done, you're ready to start adding your own work.

Or We Could Do That

I read Bob Borson's blog post this morning and it made me think of a something that happened to me years ago.

Timmy and I were busy packing up our truck for yet another theater rigging installation in some other city in yet another state. I grabbed our Ramset gun and started checking our ammo. I saw that we were out of the smallest charges so I told Timmy that we'd need to stop by our local supplier to grab some more. He said he didn't think we'd need it. I replied, "What if we need to use it (Ramset gun) on wood?" He replied, "uh, Steve we could use a hammer?"

Yeah I suppose we could do that!

2014 Revit Technology Conference Plug

If you've been reading this blog for long you've probably heard of the Revit Technology Conference. It's blossomed from an event happening far away in Australia each year to an event that happens three times a year on three continents. I've been fortunate to be part of the crew that helps see that it does.

I'd like to encourage you to make it to RTC again this year. If you are already, Excellent! I look forward to seeing you there. If you can't, I'm disappointed, maybe next year. If you have friends, associates or anyone that you think would enjoy and benefit from attending RTC please pass along the good word to them. Let me know if you need some help telling them.

Below are the cursory details (click the links in the name for more info) for each event this year, Melbourne's RTC is NEXT WEEK!! RTC in Schaumburg, Il (near Chicago) is NEXT MONTH! If you feel like some royal treatment RTC Europe is being held in Dublin Castle. Something for everyone this year! See you there!?!

RTC Australasia 2014
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Venue: Pullman Melbourne Albert Park (same as VisCon)
Dates: May 29 (Thursday) - May 31 (Saturday), 2014

RTC DTS JUNE 2014 (Design Technology Summit)
(Invitation Only)
Location: Schaumburg, IL (Greater Chicago)
Venue: Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel (same at RTC NA)
Dates: June 16 (Monday) - June 17 (Tuesday), 2014

RTC North America 2014
Location: Schaumburg, IL (Greater Chicago)
Venue: Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel (same as RTC DTS II)
Dates: June 19 (Thursday) - June 21 (Saturday), 2014

RTC Europe 2014
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Venue: Dublin Castle
Dates: October 30 (Thursday) - November 1 (Saturday), 2014

Revit 2015 Tag Leader Snapping

Revit 2015 has changed how tags and their leaders behave. They are more similar to text and their leaders. Specifically Revit respects the length and position of the leader's shoulder. When we drag the tag, using the move/grip, the leader's shoulder stays intact, follows the tag.

In the past, Revit left the grip for the end of the shoulder in the original location and we had to move it, an extra step, to revise its position relative to the tag. Unfortunately I've noticed that tags don’t seem to snap into alignment with each other as well now.

You'll see in the video above that when I move the tag it doesn't see the other tags. I find it unfortunate and a bit ironic that I have to purposely move the shoulder away to get the tag to snap into alignment with another tag and then fix the shoulder.

Ironic since I have to use the extra step to get the snapping behavior I want, the extra step the new feature is suppose to eliminate. This could be limited to my computer and its graphics card and driver. I'm curious if others can confirm this is happening for them too.

2014 Revit OpEd

Revit 2015 Double Click Deactivate View

The new companion to double-click to activate a view on a sheet is pretty simple. Just double-click outside the extent of the viewport to deactivate it. Double-click to Activate View works on schedules too, it opens the schedule editing window. Hopefully it's pretty obvious that double-click to Deactivate View won't work, in reverse, on the schedule once you are editing.

By the way, it (double-click to Deactivate View) can't be turned off. There is an option to disable the Activate View behavior. If you happen to change it to Do Nothing. If you use right-click to Activate View you'll find that Double-click to Deactivate View works regardless.

Deactivate View just don't care.

2014 Revit OpEd

Deleting Spaces or Rooms in Schedules

Want to delete all the Spaces or Rooms you see in a schedule? Take these steps:

• Scroll the bottom of the schedule
• In one fluid sequence click to select the last row (left mouse button) and...
• Drag your cursor UP until it is over the ribbon (yes, beyond the schedule)
• Let go of the left button
• Click Delete

Revit will prompt with a total number of elements that will be deleted. It should match however many was listed in the grand total. Wherever you put your cursor in the schedule and drag up to the ribbon, Revit will let you delete all rooms from there to the top of the schedule even though it is off screen

If you try the same thing from the top down you only get as many rows as are visible in the schedule window.

2014 Revit OpEd

Stair Cut Mark Zigzag

There are two types of zigzag graphics that we can apply to stairs, single and double zigzag. It is a Type Parameter of a stair. When you click on the parameter (Cut Mark Type) to choose one or the other a little sneaky browse button appears.

You can't just switch from one to another, it's not a drop down list box. You have to open the properties of the zigzag type to choose it. If you do, don't be tempted to change the parameter Cut Line Type at the top of the list under the graphics group. If you do you'll be changing the graphic for the Type, not changing the type. To change the Type you've got to look at the top of the dialog and change the Type with the drop down list box there. If you don't pay attention here you'll end up making your single a double or your double a single. That could get confusing!

Here's a plan view of the pair in action: Single and Double Cut Mark.

It is also possible to edit the Stair Cut Mark types via the Project Browser under Families. It's a category listed under stairs.

If you elect to change the setting for Cut Line Extension here you may notice something weird. If you change the value for the single zigzag it will update immediately (when you close the Type Properties dialog) in the drawing window. Try to do the same for the double zigzag and nothing happens.

You can ensure immediate success if you only alter the settings via a Stair's Type Properties dialog. If you click the Edit Stairs button and then immediately click Finish Edit Mode it will force Revit to refresh the cut mark. It will also update if you close the project and open it again. There may be other conditions that will force it to regenerate the cut mark but I haven't stumbled into one yet.

The Stair Cut Mark is governed by Object Styles. There are separate sub-categories for Cut Marks and Cut Marks.

Here's the same stairs after messing around for a minute.

2014 Revit OpEd