BatteryInfoView shows detailed battery information for laptops and netbooks

Luke Johnson

Displayed battery information includes the battery name, manufacture name, serial number, manufacture date, power state (charging/discharging), current battery capacity, full charged capacity, voltage, charge/discharge rate, and more…

Download at
BatteryInfoView – View battery information on laptops / netbooks

Original heads-up via
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2011/09/06/view-laptop-or-netbook-battery-information-with-batteryinfoview/

Unacceptable list separator when loading Family Types FIX

Luke Johnson

I received the ‘Unacceptable list separator’ error while trying to:

  • load a family from file into a project, and
  • load types into the family from a Type Catalog.

I assumed the problem was to do with Type Catalog.  The family I was trying to load was from the ‘Australia’ default content – 

AustraliaStructuralFramingSteelCHS-Circular Hollow Sections (AS 1163).rfa

To fix this issue I followed these steps:

  1. Open the Family
  2. Export the Types to a Type Catalog file.  The exported Type Catalog should only include one type, but the syntax should be correct…
  3. Open the exported Type Catalog in Excel – as a comma-delimited file
  4. Open the ORIGINAL Type Catalog in Excel – as a comma-delimited file
  5. Copy the fields from the ‘Original’ default Type Catalog into your new ‘fixed’ Type Catalog (there may be more columns in the ‘fixed’ version, just Auto-Fill the other fields as necessary)
  6. In Excel, save the ‘fixed’ version as:
    Other Formats – CSV (MS-DOS)
  7. After closing the file, rename it so that .TXT is its extension.
  8. Use this fixed Type Catalog to load all of the types into the opened Family.

Defrag from the Command-Line for More Complete Control

Luke Johnson

/X
Perform free-space consolidation. Free-space consolidation is useful if you need to shrink a volume, and it can reduce fragmentation of future files.

/T
Track an operation already in progress on the specified volume.

/H
Run the operation at normal priority instead of the default low priority. Specify this option if a computer is not otherwise in use.

/M
Defragment multiple volumes simultaneously, in parallel. This is primarily useful for computers that can access multiple disks simultaneously, such as those using SCSI- or SATA-based disks rather than disks with an IDE interface. 

via
Defrag from the Command-Line for More Complete Control

Search all the major Revit Forums at once

Luke Johnson

I have created a Google Custom Search page that searches through the major Revit forums.  Check it out at:

Revit Forum Search

As of 5 September 2011, the custom search includes these sites:
http://revitclinic.com/
http://www.forums.revitzone.com/
http://revitinfo.com/
http://forums.autodesk.com/
http://www.revitcity.com/
http://www.revitforum.org/
http://forums.augi.com/

For example, let’s say you search for ‘Slanted Walls’ – you would quickly get results from Revit Forum, Revitcity, AUGI and Revit Clinic all in one list.  Give it a try!

Let me know if you think there is some other Forum that should be added.

What Revit Wants: Revit Forum Search

Create 3D PDF files from Autodesk Revit for free

Luke Johnson

The steps below show how to do it using the i-model plugin (you may also want to look at converting a 3D DWF straight to a 3D PDF):

  1. Close Revit
  2. Download and install i-model plug-in for Revit (you will have to register)
  3. Download and install Bentley View
  4. Open a Revit project
  5. Open a 3D view
  6. In the Ribbon, go to Bentley – Publish as i-model
  7. Open the i-model DGN in Bentley View
  8. File – Print to PDF
  9. Tick ‘Print to 3D’
  10. Click Printer button
  11. Choose a place to save your file
  12. Open the 3D PDF in Adobe Reader
  13. Have fun navigating your Revit model inside a 3D PDF file.

ftp link>

If you’re looking to buy Autodesk software, try finding it here with special deals.

Create duplicates in Edit Group mode – workaround

Luke Johnson

Do you get annoyed by the warning:

Can’t create duplicates in Edit Group mode.

If you are editing a group, and want to make a Duplicate of something, simply scroll to the item in the
Project Browser – right-click – Duplicate.

EDIT (added 5 Dec 2011):

In other words, this tip allows you to create a new Family Type in Edit Group mode. You may get annoyed when you aren’t allowed to make new Family Types when you are in Edit Group mode and Revit just keeps telling you:
Can’t create duplicates in Edit Group mode.

Just use the Project Browser instead – scroll down to the family in question, right click on a Type and Duplicate.  Revit will let you do this, even while in Edit Group mode.

Adaptive Components, Russian Style

Luke Johnson

During the lesson here is an example of such light tent structures, we learn how to create adaptive components. The main feature of both the tents and adaptive components is their ability to adapt to their surroundings.

via
Google Translate of post

Here is a Google Translate into English of the PDF Text

Some other links:
Alexei Borisov blog

Link to original PDF

Here is a link to the Russian Autodesk communities page:
Revit 2012 – Адаптивные компоненты

Here is a link to the issuu page:
Адаптивные компоненты