Category: Uncategorized

Using the TAB key – inconsistency between Status Bar and Preselection

Luke Johnson

Using my laptop with Revit 2013 and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card, I came across an interesting bug.  Using the Tab key, nothing seemed to be working.  But this is what was actually happening – I would:

  1. Hover over something
  2. Press Tab key, pre-selection does not cycle (but Status bar is correct, showing next item under cursor)
  3. Press Tab key again, pre-selection shows item from step 2, but again, Status bar shows the correct (next) item.  Left-clicking will select the item shown in the Status bar, not the one that is pre-selected.

Obviously, the first port of call for these types of problems is Graphics Hardware.  And yes, I was using Hardware Acceleration, and yes, the Hardware had not been tested with Revit, as the Options dialog shows:

Simply turning off Hardware Acceleration fixed this issue, as it will for many graphic-related bugs and errors.

If you really, really want the nice Hardware-accelerated stuff in Revit 2013 and you are using suboptimal hardware, you will need to either:

  • look for better graphics drivers for your hardware (may not work anyway)
  • replace your graphics / video card with one that Revit Wants (very hard if you are using a laptop!)

Similarly:
RevitCity.com | Problem selecting glass using tab key

BIM finally starting to pay off for AEC firms ??

Luke Johnson

The more difficult question in light of this article would seem to be – how do you separate and distinguish your BIM revenue / ROI from that you would be producing as a simple CAD firm?

A couple of interesting quotes:
“BIM implementation has been a long-term effort and a considerable one,” says Phil Harrison, FAIA, LEED AP, CEO of Perkins+Will. The firm has overcome the technical and training issues and is now “focusing on innovations and efficiencies,” he says.

President Steven Straus says Glumac made “an enormous investment” in BIM training and software development. “BIM is a new technology that is improving coordination,” he says, “but the software is not ready for prime time.”

Read more / via:
BIM finally starting to pay off for AEC firms | Building Design Construction

Scale and Measure from Photographs in Revit

Luke Johnson

I rarely advertise for paid programs.  In this case, the program is still useful in Trial mode, so I’ll make an exception.

Basically, download the trial and install it.  Then open Help and go to Geometric rectification.  Follow the steps and guess what?  You can use a single photo of a building as a scaled, rectified background to help you model an existing elevation.

Unlike Photofly / 123D Catch, you don’t need a stack of images to make this happen, just one.

You can then use Export button to export a DXF file with a PNG linked in – all at the correct scale.  To bring this into Revit, I just drafted some lines in AutoCAD around the image frame in the DXF and exported those 4 lines to a DWG.  This was linked / imported into a Revit view.  Then, I placed the PNG in the same Revit view and used the 4 lines to scale the image appropriately.

The only real caveat with the Trial version is that it watermarks the image severely – but if you just want to use it as a reference, it is fine.

Download link:
Download

Company site:
Perspective Rectifier

Accepting a Primary Option results in Deletion of Drafting Views – explanation

Luke Johnson

I saw this tweet and I thought I would look into the problem:

I created a Drafting View and then applied a Secondary Option to its Visibility / Graphics:

Then I used the Design Option dialog to Accept Primary – and guess what:

So, even though Drafting Views theoretically can contain NO Model Elements and thus can’t display variances in relation to Design Options, IF an Option is selected in Visibility / Graphics, Revit will prompt you to delete the Drafting View when the selected Option is removed.

How can you get around it?  Just don’t tick the check box when the dialog comes up – the Drafting View will remain.

EDIT:  There are situations where the Checkbox will be ‘forced’.  In the example below, I created a Callout Drafting View from one Drafting View that had a Secondary Option applied.  Even though there was no Option set applied in the new Callout Drafting View V/G, the Callout Drafting View checkbox is still grayed out when Accepting Primary …

What is the PRC File Format? Used in 3D PDF …

Luke Johnson

It “is an accurate, highly compressible 3D data format optimized to store, load, and display various 3D data, metadata, assembly structure, graphics information and Product Manufacturing Information (PMI).  The PRC file format can be viewed within the free Adobe Reader when encapsulated with the Protable Document Format (PDF).  It can be stored within PDF as either accurate BREP geometry or tessellated data. Because of this, it can be extracted from a PDF for use years later in CAD, CAM, CAE systems.”

Read more, including the history of PRC development, at:
The PRC File Format
The most recent publically available, free for access documentation on the PRC format can be found here. NOTE: This version is the version submitted to ISO, and is behind the ISO Draft International Standard currently in circulation; this must be purchased from ISO here. The Consortium does not have the rights to reproduce ISO documentation.

RevitPythonShell in Action

Luke Johnson

I have previously posted about RevitPythonShell a number of times. In this post Dima Chiriacov gives a real-world example on using the shell to change the case of text.

There are quite a number of free add-ins which can easily change case too, like this one or this one (which also allows merging of text).

Read how to use RevitPythonShell at:
DP stuff: Convert Revit Text to Upper Case

Webinars on today – register quickly if you want to attend

Luke Johnson
2013 Building Design Suite Overview
Time:
10:00 AM – 10:45 AM AEST (25th July 2012)
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/437056550

Curtain Walls; application and design of systems
Time:
12:30 PM – 12:50 PM AEST (25th July 2012)
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/512899574

Autodesk Revit 2013 Materials Editor
Time:
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM AEST (25th July 2012)
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/978771838

When to Upgrade Revit and Adopt a new Revit version

Luke Johnson

Now that Update 1 for Revit 2013 is out, some of the larger firms will be deploying Revit 2013 for the first time across their corporation.  Some of the smaller firms perhaps started using the new version as soon as it became available – they can live with doing some updates on a PC-by-PC basis, and they can live with some minor crashes.

What does your firm do?

Most (IT & Project Teams) agree that they will wait until the first service pack…re-patching an installed release is disruptive. 
via
What is the Best Timeline for Upgrading Revit Software | Bradley BIM