Beware the P2P service orbitnet.exe (P2P service of Orbit Downloader)

Luke Johnson

Orbit Downloader recently brought our LAN to a halt.  Where we should have been getting 2.2 mbps, we were getting 0.15 mbps.  I eventually performed an isolation test along with some bandwidth tests.  As soon as the offending PC was plugged into the LAN, the internet speed immediately dropped for all LAN users.  Very nasty.

To turn it off, open Orb preferences and untick this box:

Alternatively, just uninstall Orbit altogether.

Rattling the Act-gsac-use nest over linked libraries

Luke Johnson

It wouldn’t be a BIM blog post without inventing some obscure, never-to-be-used again abbreviation would it?  In this case, actGSACuse stands for ‘active Graphisoft ArchiCAD users‘.

I tweeted this image last Friday (from ArchiCAD 10, file:///C:/Program Files/Graphisoft/ArchiCAD 10/Help/Files/01_Configuration.2.24.html):

The tweet:

This sparked an animated discussion on Twitter that essentially boils down to this:
is it better to have all project components (ArchiCAD libraries, Revit families) living in the project, or is it better to have them residing in a central server location where they are regularly updated and reloaded?

Personally, I believe there are pros and cons to each method.  I think an important consideration is Control — if the library is Linked (ArchiCAD), do you have control over the program to say “hey, don’t overwrite this component, I like it the way it is.”  Similarly, if the components are all residing in a single project file (Revit), it would be nice to have the ability to one-click reload all updated families from a central Family RFA storage location.  I recall requesting this feature under some NDA project, but as yet, Revit can not do this without an add-in getting involved.

Along the lines of this discussion, I have created a new topic at BIMdebates:
BIMdebates: A central, live and linked component Library is better than static components in residing in a Project file

Why was I looking at an ArchiCAD 10 help file, you may rightly ask?  I was trying to upgrade an ArchiCAD 7.0 file and then export to IFC2x3.  However, I couldn’t open it directly in ArchiCAD 16, so I had to open it in ArchiCAD 10 first.  I then wanted to embed the libraries, but I think embedded libraries first came to ArchiCAD in version 14?  So I basically had to open in ArchiCAD 10, save, then open in ArchiCAD 16, then embed libraries.  Then play around with IFC2x3 settings to make things come to Revit ok.  I haven’t even looked at trying to open / upgrade / convert Plotmaker PMK files yet…

These PMK files are circa-2002.  Upon trying to open them in ArchiCAD 16, I get:
“You can only open files created by PlotMaker 3.0 or later.”

Tried same process in ArchiCAD 10 – same message.

AU2012 – the year AU became a twitterfest

Luke Johnson

Here it is – my little collection of AU2012 goodies.  Images, videos, cool quotes (and don’t forget the tweets!) – everything from the last couple of weeks that I thought was worth posting is here.  Enjoy!

Labs
To open up to as large an audience as possible, there’s no NDA – Autodesk Labs is wide-open to the public
via
#AU2012 Why Autodesk has a Labs – It is Alive in the Lab

AU Virtual 2012
Most of my experience with AU2012 was either through Virtual or Twitter.  Having viewed a few sessions, here are some things I found interesting:
The Reality of the Cloud – “you can’t protect what you don’t have line of sight” to

Class catalog preview at:
http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=au_virtual_class_catalog_preview

And if you want to try downloading some videos from AU Virtual (scroll down to EDIT2):
How to download videos from AU2012 and AUTV without a download link ( RTMP FLV from ooyala )

Everyone is a designer

Revit Multi-touch

Class Ratings by #ukbimcrew
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0Al7ldXLDcyOadFZlM3hpazZHQXVJV0JXSmE4VGZqTGc&pli=1

Revit 2014 features discussed
I also attended the AEC Futures session today to give us a preview of what’s coming in Revit 2014. Unfortunately we are under NDA for that, so I’ll not be giving anything away. I eagerly await the forthcoming release.
via
AU Wrap Up

Fusion 360
Looks interesting… some more info at:
BIMopedia Online – Benjamin Malone
Models can be uploaded from Revit, Rhino, ArchiCAD you name it – with synchornised results far more accurate than what we are acheiving at the moment. We have been promised a fully interoperable and extremely accurate product to product exchange. Sounds very exciting, and about time too. This promises to be the first truly open BIM platform…

Riverbed bug
Well to my surprise I get a email from one of my Revit users asking why objects are not showing up!
Didn’t think this would happen with Revit! (how naive!).
So we will now evaluate a new pdf driver!
Anyone else ever had this issue with pdf’s?

We are testing a couple projects using Revit Server and have had a couple error messages stating that “This Operation could not be Completed”, after asking around at AU I found out that there appears to be a known issue between Riverbed and Revit Server (wish I had known about it earlier…). anyway apparently the guys at Riverbed are working on a solution, in the mean time I have to look for a work around!
The Revit Jedi: AU and Known and Unknow Issues.

Autodesk Expert Elite program launched at AU
AutodeskCare, Many are called, but few are chosen. Have you met…

Autodesk – Autodesk Expert Elite

Autodesk Expert Elite Terms of Service

Tweets: 

Aaron Maller @Twiceroadsfool
@lukeyjohnson @62TV175 @BigBadBIM @RobertYori @lonniecumpton
I have a 1.2GB file, runs on 8GB. Have a 200mb file that requires 12GB.

Jason Rostar @jrostar
Note: Students are dirt cheap existing condition modelers via @BrianSkripac

aaronmaller.com/BeckFiles/AU20…CM-2593, going Mobile with Revit Server- Handout
 Retweeted by Luke Johnson

Details

3d

aaronmaller.com/BeckFiles/AU20…FM2589 Handout (tomorrow, 130, Point Cloud to FM class)
 Retweeted by Luke Johnson

How to determine if a Family is In-Place or not

Luke Johnson

Here is an easy way:

  1. Install Case Add-in Manager
  2. Using the Add-in Manager, install Batch Export Family RFA’s tool (I am running v2012.11.13.0)
  3. Open a Revit project and run the tool
  4. After families have been exported, you will be presented with an error message that tells you which families are in-place (see below).

NOTE:  The Case exporter also creates folders for each Category as it exports.  Nice.

This was in response to:

First steps in auditing a Revit model

Luke Johnson

A couple of concise tweets from some Revit legends:

New Case App – access to any parameter from any category & pass it to a target parameter

Luke Johnson

I think this was previously called DataSlider.  To get it, just close Revit and Vasari and open your Case Add-in Manager (it may want to update itself).  Then tick the Migrate Parameter to Parameter box and Install/Update checked.

From their website:
CASE APPS Migrate Parameter
Have you ever needed to schedule an item of data that Revit would not let you? This is a common hurdle for many and now there’s a free tool that you can use to get around this. Common uses include migrating Wall Base Constraint Element Names (Levels) into a schedulable parameter. I’m sure you guys will find lots of uses for this one.

 

David hinted at this a little while back:
Revit: Can’t schedule wall constraint – part 2

How to download videos from AU2012 and AUTV without a download link ( RTMP FLV from ooyala )

Luke Johnson
  1. Download and install StreamTransport (I am running version 1.0.2.2171)
  2. Browse to a specific video and start streaming it in Internet Explorer
  3. Mouse over the video, click Share, and then Copy Url
  4. In Internet Explorer, open a new blank tab and close all other tabs
  5. Delete your Browser Cache (gears, Internet Options, Delete… make sure Temporary Internet Files and Cookies are ticked)
  6. Open StreamTransport and paste the URL
  7. The player should load.  Click to start playing.
  8. StreamTransport will detect the video source URL.  Click Download in the lower right corner and choose a location / filename.
  9. To be certain you get it all, you will probably have to wait for the video to stop playing to ensure the download is complete.

EDIT3 try using rtmpdump version 2.5, with the rtmpsrv method

EDIT Another, slightly more complicated option is RTMPDumpHelper with RTMPDump toolkit. 
Choose the rtmpsrv.exe option.

EDIT2 After having more problems (the ooyala host used by AU2012 is particularly resistant to downloading methods), I used Coojah 6 with Firefox 3.5 portable after installing portable flash.xpi manually and running both Coojar and Firefox as Administrator and then downloading with Blader.  All of this happened in a VirtualBox for safety.
Can’t download video from http://www.telegraph.co.uk – Google Groups

Revit Hard Crash when Opening File, now what?

Luke Johnson

I recently tried to open an RVT project in Revit, and Revit 2013 with web Update 2 would just hard crash (no error report or anything).

What to do?

I copied the RVT to C:TEMP – still no go.

So perhaps a linked import with saved Absolute Path is causing the issue?

I disabled my LAN adapter, then opened the file from C:TEMP again (with Audit checked) – and it opened!

Next step – resave the file to its network location.

Then, one by one, reload links.  Reloaded all RVT links ok.  Save.  Now for the DWG links.  They all loaded ok too!

Save, close the file and re-open.  No problems now.

It would seem that the Audit was able to correct something, but Revit wanted itself to be isolated from the network.

In conclusion, disabling your network adapter may allow you to open a file that is causing a hard crash in Revit.

EDIT – interestingly, opening the RVT in an NDA related product showed a ‘dimensions no longer parallel’ error message.

Automatic and Manual Railing Support locations in Revit 2013

Luke Johnson

In Revit 2013, with Component Railings, you can unpin certain elements and modify them.  For example, you can unpin a selected component Railing (Top Rail Type or Hand Rail Type) and swap it out for a different type.  Similarly, you can unpin and swap out posts.  However, you can also MOVE component posts after you unpin them.  Some of this functionality is beginning to resemble Curtain Walls…

A word on terminology: pre-2013 we had Balusters. These appeared as a top level element under the Railings category in the Project Browser. In Edit Family mode, the Family Category and Parameters dialog did not tell you ‘this is a Baluster’. You could look in the Properties Palette and it would say Family: Balusters. In Revit 2013, the above condition still exists for Balusters (backward compatibility). However, the new component Posts are termed “Supports” and Supports is a proper sub-category of Railings (properties in Family Editor shows Family: Supports). Confused yet? If you want to dig a little deeper, check out the diagram on this page.

Ok, back to unpinning the posts (supports)–

What you need:

  1. A 2013 Handrail Type with Supports set to Fixed Number
  2. A Supports family applied to the above type

What you do:

  1. Draw the railing
  2. The fixed number of posts will be auto spaced along each segment of Railing
  3. Select each post, unpin it and then either Drag (with mouse) or Nudge (with arrow keys) into position.

I have created a Supports family which allows resizing at both top and bottom –  so I can create new types for various situations, unpin and then swap.

For a crash course in Revit 2013 component railings, check out:
Revit 2013 railings – almost 7 months old, but have you used them?