Free RSS to PDF automation

Luke Johnson

I previously posted about my large library of archived Revit blog posts.  I then got a request from Mr Stewart to shed some light on how I automate the RSS to PDF process.  It is a lengthy process, and I’m sure there are easier and better ways, but here is how I did it:

  1. Set up a dedicated Google alias, for Reader and Gmail
  2. Make a big RSS list in a specific folder in Reader.  Mine is shared here.  Share that feed folder from Reader.
  3. I then burnt this shared feed in Feedburner:
  4. Then, I subscribed to my own burnt feed via email (Gmail address from step 1), by using the Feedburner page here:
    http://feeds.feedburner.com/revitFeedsRssInGoogleReader
  5. I then installed and set up a portable Thunderbird profile, using my Gmail alias from step 1
  6. So now, Thunderbird was receiving daily email summaries of all Revit related blogs – I just had to get this info into a PDF somehow.  I used PDFCreator, due to its autonaming functionality.
  7. Install PDFCreator
  8. In Thunderbird options (Tools – Options – Config Editor), set PDFCreator as the default printer using print.print_printer.  Here are my printer settings in Thunderbird:

  9. Go into PDFCreator to set the Auto-save options:

  10. Now, back to Thunderbird.  Set up a filter like this

  11.  To auto-create the PDFs, just – Open Thunderbird, Get Mail, Tools – Run Filters on folder.  Once it is set up, it is very easy to use.

Here is an example of the kind of PDF output I get – link here.  The formatting is perhaps suboptimal, but most images are retained and the text can be indexed by a search program like Google Desktop.

Graham’s message:
Graham H Stewart BIM Associate at Ramboll UK
To: Luke Johnson
Date: July 11, 2012
 
Hi luke
Seen you blog regarding automation of rss feed via PDF
. Can you shed some light on this as I would like to know more

Cheers
G
#livefromitaly
Sent from LinkedIn for iPad

Another request I received was about how I sort and organise all the info I collect.  I will add some info on this later:

Plessey Mathews
Wow. Please share how you categorize the videos, the pdfs’s – by expertise level, by workflows… ? And what about videos for older versions PRE ribbon interface. Do you still keep them or weed them out. What front end do you use to access this information. Windows explorer would be overwhelming. Thank you. Now I am going to beg IT a NAS box for training videos.

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.