Resuming a partial extraction of large archive set (RAR etc) using 7-zip commandline

Luke Johnson

Let’s say you get half way through extracting a very large (like 15gb) archive and for some reason the extraction fails.  For example, the BDSP 2013 media I downloaded had one RPC file corrupt, and the Adesk extractor failed to push through that problem.

7-zip is not only more robust, you can also “resume” a failed extraction attempt by using some switches:
-aos (skips files already there)
-y (prompts yes to every question)

The whole command looks something like this:
7z x {archive_name_and_path} -o{target dir} -aos -y

Purging View Templates …

Luke Johnson

… is not easy.  Revit prefers that you don’t clog up your drawing with View Templates rather than trying to clean them out later.  You can use various methods to transfer just one Template from project to project, such as this example.

I would assume there is an add-in somewhere that finds unused View Templates and allows you to delete them, but it must be done manually with vanilla Revit.

Further reading:
Deleting a View Template – WikiHelp

View Filters & View Templates – Revit

Revit Beginners: Additive Views vs. Subtractive Views

Purging Unused Views – Sheets | BD Mackey Consulting | The Revit Geek Blog

Switching from AHCI mode back to IDE mode with Windows 7 – avoid the blue screen

Luke Johnson

Using Windows 7, you can switch the BIOS disk management from AHCI to IDE or IDE to AHCI without reinstalling the OS.  However, you need to reset 4 registry “START” keys to 0 before rebooting and changing the BIOS setting.  If you don’t change these settings first, you will get repeated blue screens…

Some more info:

1) I assume u have installed Windows Vista or Windows 7 with AHCI set from BIOS !

2) [Add keys from 3 if they don’t exist)

3) Now the manually regedit part Go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_System_CurrentControlSet_Services_Msahci

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_System_CurrentControlSet_Services_iaStor

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_System_CurrentControlSet_Services_iaStorV

And in thease three keys in the right pan u will find a key named “START” change at all three (Msahci,iaStor,iaStorV) values from 0 To 1

Now navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE_System_CurrentControlSet_Services_PciIde

,then change the start value to “0”

4) Now u are allmost done , restart your computer/laptop , and go to Bios and set from AHCI to IDE !!! , save settings in Bios and restart

via
Solved Switch AHCI TO IDE (Tutorial HowTo) !!!

Render Settings for Revit

Luke Johnson

Great render settings to use a starting point – see below.

Render Settings – good quality but much faster to render

Image Precision = 4
Reflections = 2
Refractions = 4
Blurred Reflections = 1
Blurred Refractions = 1
Soft Shadows = OFF
Indirect Illumination = 1
Indirect Smoothness = 1
Indirect Bounces =4
Daylight Portals = OFF

Soft Shadows
Custom
Lighting = 2am
Sky = No Clouds
Exposure = 2-2.5

Clay Render
Custom
New Phase Filter
Materials = Clay
Lighting = 2am
Sky = No Clouds
Background Style = Colour – White
Exposure = 2-2.5

Exposure Settings – realistic and impressive
Custom
Exposure Value = 12.5
Highlights = 0.06
Mid Tones = 0.5
Shadows = 0.2
White Point = 7500
Saturation = 1.1 – Variable

via
BIM Day Out // Tom de Plater

EDIT
More detailed info at:
Revit Rendering – Revit Tutorials Online

Switching Navisworks from Standalone to Networked License

Luke Johnson

Let’s say you installed a standalone trial using BDSU media, and you are trying to switch to Networked license of Navisworks.  Can it be done?

One possible method:
If you did it by making a Deployment you can modify the deployment and then running the setup again will modify your installation
If you have a manual trial install. it might that placing a LICPATH.LIC file in C:Program FilesAutodeskNavisworks Manage 2013 might do the trick
This file is nothing but an ASCII file that points to your license server

SERVER yourserver.domain 27000
USE_SERVER
via
How to convert Standalone to Network – Autodesk Discussion Groups

Do you have a better suggestion?  Feel free to comment…

Other ideas for switching standalone to network licenses for AutoCAD products can be derived from:
http://blog.microsolresources.com/2014/04/29/how-to-change-license-type-in-autocad-2015

Some reading:
Solution for Inventor
Prior to the 2012 release we did not provide license switching at runtime. You had to uninstall the product and reinstall it with the appropriate license.
For the 2012 release products, the solution described here has only an effect on the licensing method for the individual Inventor product. If Inventor is installed as part of a suite (Factory Design Suite or Product Design suite), the other products in the suite, except AutoCAD, do not have a mechanism for runtime license switching and will continue using the license method used at install time. Below are three example scenarios.
For the 2013 release products and beyond, this solution is both valid for the individual Inventor and Inventor LT product and for Inventor and Inventor LT installed as part of a suite.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAutodeskNavisworks Manage x6410.0AdLM]
“Type”=dword:00000002

Other info:

Aligning Point Clouds without known coordinates

Luke Johnson

Not a great position to be in (having point clouds with different coordinate systems and no known common point), but here is some code that may help:
andymiller/FeatureBasedAlignment · GitHub

From GibHub:
The goal is to accurately register two point clouds created from different image spectrums (e.g. visual to infrared), in different coordinate systems of different scales.
…
Current approach is: 
– Take two point clouds 
 – Estimate normals for each point 
– Find FPFH Features for each point 
– Find likely correspondences between two models (based on FPFH) 
– Use top features to estimate scale, 
 – Run RANSAC to estimate transformation, and eliminate correspondences 
– Use remaining correspondences to run ICP for finer alignment

Making Shared Parameters hidden in Projects

Luke Johnson

In the Shared Parameter .txt file (the one in use in your office or project, as per Revit parameter settings), there is a visibility switch at the end of the line for each parameter.

Set it as follows:
1 for visible
0 for invisible

Make sure you don’t load this parameter into Family or Project until after you have set the desired parameter to 0 for invisible and saved the text file.

In other words:

  1. Create the new SP
  2. Edit the text file and change the switch to 0
  3. Add the Parameter to the applicable Family, Project or both

These hidden SPs can still be scheduled and tagged in the Project, you just can’t “see” the parameter entry.

This method could be useful for simplifying the presentation or “interface” of families, or perhaps even for concealing calculations and formulas that never require user input.

Nice, Smooth Fonts

Luke Johnson

If Cleartype is not really working for you (perhaps you are having compatibility issues with Google Chrome and Windows XP 64 bit), then you could try replacing the font renderer with free MacType.

Download from here:
MacTypeInstaller_2012_1022_0.exe – mactype – MacType 1.2012.1022.0 – Ultimate font Rasterizer for Windows – Google Project Hosting

It has lots of different modes and options – but you can use it to selectively replace the font renderer for a single process in “standalone loading” mode.

The result is quite impressive…