Tip: Batch Rename your DYN Files Prior to Upgrading to Dynamo 0.9.1 or 1.0

Luke Johnson

As you are probably aware, when moving from Dynamo 0.9 to 0.9.1 you lose backward compatibility… in other words, you can’t open 0.9.1 files in 0.9 or earlier.

backwardcompat.png

Before taking that step up to 0.9.1 and beyond, you may wish to apply a filename suffix to all of your DYN files, so you are reminded of this issue when you open a DYN. I have a single folder with subfolders containing most of my DYN files, and I added the suffix (082) to all of them at once with this method:

Install Advanced Renamer.

Add the Directory that holds all your dyn files:

add%2Bfolder.png

Then add a suffix to the filename:

Now, you basically have an inplace backup of files. When you open one of these dyns in 0.9.1 or newer, just remember that you should Save As in Dynamo, and then newly saved file will not be open-able in 0.9 or earlier.

At some point in the future you can then remove or upgrade all of these ‘older’ Dynamo files.

Latest News from Archvision (including Detail Warehouse available on Revit App Store)

Luke Johnson

Archvision has a great reputation for providing quality Entourage RPC content and extensions to Revit, historically to assist you in creating more impressive presentation images and renderings. More recently, they have branched out to focus more on being a BIM content leader, including the development and release of their DETAIL WAREHOUSE app and content. This has been improved with recent updates, including the provision of DWG versions of this detail library.

A couple of months ago, Archvision partnered with AXYZ Design to now provide more high quality 3D people as part of the RPCs available to Archvision users (but purchased under a separate license). The official name of this product is “AXYZ Design 3D Human Characters Collections”.

For more information on the AXYZ partnership, DETAIL WAREHOUSE App Store release, and DWG availability, please see links, images and embedded press releases below.

AXYZ Partnership

axyzdesignxarchvision.png

AXYZ_render_people.png

AXYZ Press release:

Detail Warehouse on App Store

Get it here:

appstorebutton1.jpg                 appstorebutton2.jpg
Press release:

Detail Warehouse in DWG Format

Press release:

Better Tekla IFC Export Settings for Revit Coordination

Luke Johnson

Tekla has issued an XML file containing preset IFC settings for export to Revit, specifically for Coordination. In some cases, this may already be available on your system, but in other regions you may have to install it manually.

Here’s how:

  1. Download the zipped XML at this link.
  2. Unzip the XML into this folder on all PC’s running Tekla Structures:
    C:\TeklaStructures\*version*\Environments\australasia\system
    Note: you may need to adjust the above path to suit your Region
  3. Once this file is included in the folder mentioned above it will be available in all projects. When the user goes to File – Export – IFC they will have a pre-saved setting named “RevitCoordination”. The user simply Loads that setting and exports the parts needed.

  4. This “RevitCoordination” setting also is setup to export additional property sets for Design Workflow data that is entered into the member properties (ie. Beam, Column etc.) in Tekla Structures.


More information at:
CUSTOMER QUESTIONS: What’s the best settings to use when sending Structural BIM to Revit Architecture?
and
Tekla Revit BIM workflow example | Tekla User Assistance

Moving your Windows Temp folder so that Revit doesn’t Fill Up Your SSD with Temporary Files

Luke Johnson

Do you have a problem with your SSD getting maxed out by a bloated TEMP directory (%temp%) ? In Revit, you might have an issue with revittemp_ files, particularly if you are using massive federated models with lots of Revit links…

Maybe this is an ‘edge case’, but I’ve tweeted about this issue a couple of times:

Three big Revit instances. The revittemp files in %temp% folder cause disk space problems, even with 512gb SSD. pic.twitter.com/A0dpL6ca0u

— Luke Johnson (@lukeyjohnson) January 20, 2016

To stop this problem from affecting your main, system SSD hard drive disk space, you can move your Windows Temp directory. Here’s how:

Go to This PC, Properties:

temp1.png

Go to Advanced system settings:

temp2.png

Go to Advanced tab, Environment Variables:

temp3.png

Then for TEMP and TMP, edit the path:

temp4.png

And input a location on a larger, secondary hard drive:

temp5.png

Here are the same screenshots for TMP:

temp6.png

 

temp7.png

Then, restart your computer:

temp8.png

After restart, you should see files showing up in the new TEMP directory:

temp9.png

And when you open Revit file with links, you may see the revittemp_ files starting to appear:

temp10.png

Autodesk Revit 2015 Update Release 12 Direct Download Links

Luke Johnson

Wow, Revit 2015 is really going for the ‘most updates’ record!

update12-1798399

Autodesk Revit 2015 R2 Update Release 12
Autodesk Revit 2015 R2 Update Release 12 Readme

R2 Download link:
http://up.autodesk.com/2015/RVT/Autodesk_Revit_2015_R2-x64_Update12.exe

New build number for Revit 2015 R2:
20160120_0715

Enhancements list should (eventually) be live at:
http://revit.downloads.autodesk.com/download/2015RVT_RTM/UR12/Enhancements_List_RVT_2015_UR12_forR2.pdf

non R2 download link:
http://up.autodesk.com/2015/RVT/Autodesk_Revit_2015-x64_Update12.exe

A note on C4R Update 9 and Revit 2015 Update 12:
Users of A360 Collaboration for Revit may experience an error on Revit startup if they install the Revit 2015 R2 Update Release 12 but not the corresponding A360 Collaboration for Revit update, version 2015.9.
The error dialog will reference the following: File name: ‘Autodesk.RevitServer.Versioning.Client,…..

  • To continue using A360 Collaboration for Revit, close all sessions of Revit, then download and install the Collaboration 2015.9 update and restart Revit.
  • To stop using A360 Collaboration for Revit, uninstall this program via the Programs and Features functionality of the Windows Control Panel.

Two Ways to Solve the “Can’t edit the element until ‘problemUser’ resaves the element to central…” Revit Worksharing Issue

Luke Johnson

I’m sure you have probably seen this message before:
Can’t edit the element until ‘problemUser’ resaves the element to central and relinquishes it and you Reload Latest

This may be caused by one of your team members not syncing with Central, and then experiencing a crash, or just logging out and going home. Before you send off an angry email, perhaps you could use one of these methods to get rid of the element locks and keep being productive. Method 1 is a bit more disruptive to a large team, while Method 2 is a bit more ‘hacky’. Important: Both methods will mean that ‘problemUser‘ has lost their work and will have to redo it.

So, maybe Method 0 is ‘call problemUser on the phone’ and see if they want to come back into the office to try and sync their work back to Central… but if that isn’t an option, you may have to use one of these methods:

Method 1 – Recreating the Central File:

  1. Notify all team members to Sync with Central and Close Revit
  2. Make a copy of your current Central file and _backup folder and put it somewhere for safekeeping
  3. Detach from Central
  4. Save As Central – overwrite the same file
  5. Notify your team members to open the model again, using ‘Create New Local’ tickbox

method1.png

Method 2 – Using a Known User Name to Relinquish Element locks

First, make a note of the user name that has the lock. In the image below, it is ‘rds check3‘:

c1.png

Open a new Revit instance and set that as the user name in Options:

c2.png

Open the model normally (Create New Local) under that user name, and immediately click ‘Relinquish All Mine’…

c3.png

… and then Synchronize with Central. The element locks should now be gone.

c5.png

In one of the other model instances (ie. your own user name), you can now Sync with Central… (or Reload Latest)

c6.png

… and you can successfully modify the element that was previously locked.

c7.png

As usual, the best idea is to do What Revit Wants and Sync with Central regularly so that lost work is minimized.