IMAGINiT Technologies Support Blog

How to Schedule all of the Structural Foundation Thicknesses in one Column

Co-contributor:  Chuck Jolin

Issue:  You want to be able to have the foundation thicknesses schedule under one common column.

Solution:  The Parameter Copy tool from the Imaginit Revit Utilities. 

Free to IMAGINiT's Autodesk Subscription clients via the Client Portal.

If you are familiar with structural foundations in Revit you know that each of the three different foundation types have their own parameter that controls the thickness.  Of these three parameters only the parameters for the wall foundation and the slab are scheduleable out of the box.  We can create a shared parameter in the isolated foundation and set it to be equal to the Thickness parameter, but we will still end up with three columns in our schedule.

Our schedule at this point looks something like the image below.  Three columns, telling us the same information, in three different locations.

We want to tie all of these different parameters to one common parameter.  In order to do this, you will need the Imaginit Revit Utilities installed.  These will show up on the Add Ins tab on the ribbon as shown below.

Once you have the updated Isolated Foundation with it's newly added shared parameter loaded into the project, we will have everything we need to map all of the individual parameters to the one common parameter for our schedule. 

Process:

• Add a shared project parameter named Common Thickness to your project or template with the following settings:

           

• Associated it to the project in the Parameter Properties dialog as shown below:

Now you are ready to map the parameters.

• Select one of the foundation types (not required, but I found it makes it easier)
• Select the Parameter Copy tool from the Add-ins tab.  You will see the following dialog
• Make sure Structural Foundations is highlighted, select Next
• From the dialog box shown below, select the parameter you want to copy from on the left and the parameter you want to copy to on the right.

           

• Select next, it will open a dialog that indicates that it was copied.


You will need to repeat this process three times for each of the three different parameter types from the various foundation types.

Now you can create a schedule that looks like this!

If you would like detailed instructions on this process please select the following link to download.  Download How to Schedule all of the Structural Foundation Thicknesses in one Column 

How to Add a Title Block Shared Parameter to the Project

You've created a custom, shared parameter in your title block, but when you load it into your project, you are unable to change the information.

In order for Revit to recognize the parameter in the project you must add it as a project parameter and assign it to a category.

Once the title block is loaded in the project (or preferably into the template) you must go through the following steps in order to activate the parameter.

Go to the Manage Tab and select Project Parameters

In the Project Parameters dialog that opens, select Add

Select Shared Parameter and click on the Select button

Select the appropriate parameter group and the parameter you want to add and OK

Back in the Parameter Properties dialog box, select the Group you want the parameter to fall under, and the category that this will apply to.

NOTE:  Set the category to Sheets if you want the parameter to be able to have a different value on each sheet.  If you want all the sheets to read the same date, select the Project Information category instead.

Now you will be able to select the parameter on the title block and update the information.

 

Revit Architecture 2012 Update 2

There is now a Revit Update 2 out for users to download and install. Here is how you are going to locate the update for your Revit product:

• Go to the Autodesk website hover over the Support menu and you will then see the Support sub-menu items. Click on Support & Documentation.

• From the Documentation & Online Help page you can click on the one of the links below the software name that you are search for or click on the link See All Products. I typically just click on Knowledge Base to get to the page for the software updates.

• Click on Data & Downloads from the left side of the screen.

• For the Revit updates you will need to select a language from the pull down.

• You will now be directed to the updates page. Make sure you read everything carefully especially the Reamme file and the Update Enhancement List. The update 2 does in fact have the update 1 already in it so if you have not installed update 1 you are ok.

 

 

 

 

Revit MEP 2012 Update 2

Revit MEP 2012 Update 2 is out and ready to download. Here is how you will find the update for your software.

• Go to the Autodesk website hover over the Support menu and you will then see the Support sub-menu items. Click on Support & Documentation.

• From the Documentation & Online Help page you can click on the one of the links below the software name that you are search for or click on the link See All Products. I typically just click on Knowledge Base to get to the page for the software updates.

• Click on Data & Downloads from the left side of the screen.

• For the Revit updates you will need to select a language from the pull down.

• You will now be directed to the updates page. Make sure you read everything carefully especially the Reamme file and the Update Enhancement List. The update 2 does in fact have the update 1 already in it so if you have not installed update 1 you are ok.

Autodesk Revit Structure 2012 Update 2

The Revit Structure 2012 Updates are available from the Autodesk website for download. Specify a language preference and it will direct you to the appropriate link.  It is important that all users install the updates.

You can apply this Update to Revit Structure 2012 running on all supported operating systems and languages.  Consult the readme file for installation instructions and additional details on the primary issues resolved by this update.  Make sure that you install the correct update (32-bit or 64-bit) for your software and operating system.

Update 2 Enhancement List

Important Note:
Updates are not a full install, they are using service pack technology similar to Autocad based products. 

Update 2 English– September 2011

                            Service Pack Readme(htm - 90Kb)

      Autodesk_Revit_Structure_2012-x86_Update-2 (exe - 250 MB)

      Autodesk_Revit_Structure_2012-x64_Update-2 (exe - 180 MB)

Note: The service pack can be applied to both the standalone and suite versions of Autodesk Revit Structure 2012.

      Autodesk_Revit_Structure_2012Update_2_Content (zip - 105 MB)

Note: The update release content is included within the update release executable; however the cabinet file can be used to manually update content posted to a shared location.

Gotta Get Back in Time… With a previous version in Autodesk Vault that is...

Even though Doc Brown invented time travel with a flux capacitor to go back in time, Autodesk Vault has an even easier way to allow users to go back in time and get a previous version of your CAD file and continue on with its lifecycle.  This process can be used if you accidently checked in a design file that you did not intend on using, or if you need to go back to a previous version and check back in an older version. 

Once in Vault click on the file you would like to get a Previous Version of and then select the History Tab to get the Version History.  Next right click on the file version you want and click on GET/CHECKOUT and you will notice it will give you the Version. 

In this example New Handle.ipt has 3 versions; I am going to download a previous version (version 2) to my working folder.

 

Now we have version 2 in our working folder, we have it downloaded but it is not checked out.  The trick we are going to use is we are going to check out the file but not download the latest version.  Right click on the main file in the Vault Grid and click on GET/CHECKOUT

This will bring up the Get / Checkout Dialog box.  Next click on the >> button at the bottom right and uncheck Download Files.  This will allow you to check out the file and keep the previous version and allow you to check in this previous version as the current version.

Revit Workshared File Won’t Open

You go to open your file and it is taking an excessive amount of time to open, or won’t open without crashing.  There are some things you can do in order to get into the file and clean it up.

If you are the only person having trouble opening the file

It could be a problem with your local file.  Try creating a new local file to see if this resolves the issue.

You need to do the following:

1.    Archive or delete your current local file and it’s backup folder

This is a critical step since we don’t want to pull information into our new local file from an old back up folder.

2.    Browse to the location of the Central file, verify that Create New Local is selected and on the drop down under open you can select specify to only open the worksets you need

  

3.    Make some changes to the model and verify that you can successfully synchronize with the central file.

If you can’t open the central file

There are several options for this one:

• Make the most up to date local file the new central file (See my Blog on Revit: Make a Local file the new Central File)
• Restore from a backup
• Or Detaching from central and creating a new central file:  (See my Blog on Revit Central File Maintenance)

Revit Central File Maintenance

Revit Central File Maintenance

Keeping the central file healthy is critical to keeping the project running smoothly and to avoid causing file corruption.  Below are best practices that need to be done routinely on the central file to keep it clean.  Routinely is going to depend on how active the project is.  The more active the project is, the more often it should be maintained.

1.    Have all users synchronize and save to central, make sure all worksets are relinquished, close the local files

2.    Have one user Open the Central file.  From the Open dialog box, clear the check box Create New Local, place a check in the boxes for Detach from Central and Audit (you will see a warning like below) 

3.    Select the Yes button from the Audit Warning dialog box and then click the Open button

4.    You will see the following Detach Model from Central dialog box, select Detach and preserve worksets

5.    This Step is CRITICAL:  Through windows explorer, Create a folder named ARCHIVE_DATE and move the original Central file and it’s back up folder into the newly created archive folder

6.    In Revit, go to the application menu  and click on Save as, Project and name it the same as the original Central file name and in the original location.

a.If you select options you will notice that Make this a Central Model after save and Compact are greyed out and pre-checked.

7.    After the file is properly saved, go to the Manage tab on the ribbon, click on the Purge Unused tool, and from the dialog box delete all or specify the items you want to delete then select OK

8.    Review and fix warnings, which can be found on the Manage tab.

a.  If the icon is grayed out, you have no warnings in your project, if the Warnings icon is not grayed out, you have items that may need to be fixed in the model.

 

b.  To fix the Warnings, select the Warning icon.

c.  In the Warnings dialog box, expand the warnings to review and resolve.

 

9.    Check to make sure that items are on the correct worksets

a.  I find the easiest way to do this is to go to a 3d view with everything visible and then turn off all but one workset.  For example, if I have the furniture workset on, and I see interior partitions, I know they need to be moved to the appropriate workset. Depending on how large your model is you may want to duplicate the 3d view and limit what you see with section boxes.

10.    Make sure worksets that do not need to be visible by default are set properly in the worksets dialog box

11.    Delete unnecessary views

12.    Verify that cad files are linked rather than inserted into the model (preferably current view only)

13.    On the Manage tab, Additional Settings, select Linestyles and if there are cad linestyles in there, delete if possible.

14.    Synchronize and modify settings

a.  Check everything that can be checked including compact.  You can add a comment if you like, this shows up in History under comments.

 
b.  After the save is complete, close the project

This Step is CRITICAL:  Before having users create new local files make sure they delete or archive/rename their old local files and their back up folder (we don’t want to risk pulling bad data from the old back up folder into our newly cleaned project!)

 

 

Revit Graphic Overrides

Revit Object Graphic Controls

When we consider all of the variables that can change the way elements look inside of Revit, you start to wonder what takes precedence.  Object Styles, overrides, phasing, filters; which one of these are in ultimate control?  Below I have outlined the hierarchy, but of course there are exceptions!

Hierarchy of graphic display of elements in a Non-Phased Project

Object Styles: Control the line color, style and pattern of elements globally in the project

Graphic overrides by element by view:  Will take precedence over object styles, view filters and visibility graphics overrides applied by category

View Filters:  Will take precedence over Phase Filters, but not if the element graphics have been overridden by element in the view.

Examples:

  
Hierarchy of graphic display of elements in a Phased Project

Object Styles:  Control the line color, style and pattern of elements globally in the project.(Excluding: phased views/elements, then it defaults to the phase graphic override settings and the phase settings for the view.)

Graphic overrides by element by view:  Will take precedence over object styles, view filters, visibility graphics overrides applied by category and phase filters.

View Filters:  Will take precedence over Phase Filters, but not if the element graphics have been overridden by element in the view.

Phase Filters:  Will take precedence over Object styles unless graphically modified by view filter or by element in the view.

Example: