IMAGINiT Technologies Support Blog

Revit: What is your Revit build number?

Your build number is how you will know that you may or may not have a web update for your Revit software.  So how you go about finding this is a slight mystery to some.

With your software open, look up in the upper right hand corner.  You will see a question mark with a tiny black arrow.  If you click on the black arrow you will get a dropdown menu from there click on "About".  In the About dialog box you will see the build number in the upper right hand corner.

Don't know where to even begin to find the current build number for an update?  Read the "Update Enhancement List" typically found along with the updates and read me files.

 

Error 1327 Unknown drive letter (ie U:\ F:\ etc)during install / uninstall

This error can occur if Explorer folders get set in the Windows Registry to another drive letter.

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Warning
Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. At the very least, you should back up any valued data on the computer before making changes to the registry.
If you do damage your system, you may be able to repair the registry or restore it to the same version you were using when you last successfully started your computer. Otherwise, you must reinstall Windows. When you reinstall your system, you may lose any changes that have been made, such as Service Pack upgrades, which you must reinstall separately. For information about restoring the registry to a previous version please see Microsoft.com
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1.) Hold down the Windows Logo key + R in Windows 7 or start->Run in Windows XP
2.) Type regedit and select OK
3.) Follow path Hkey_CurrentUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
4.) On the left select Shell Folders and then look into the right Pane. look through these paths and see if any paths are not set to C:\ if there are paths that are set to something other than C:\ change them to C:\ and then exit the Registry
5.) Now make your attempt to uninstall or install.

 

Maya Entertainment Suite: The request code you entered is not valid. Try again (Error 3)

There is an issue with the Maya Authorization. In order to get this to work when we have this issue we must

1.) Uninstall all Autodesk Products. This includes the hidden folder under c:\Program Data\Autodesk\ADLM
2.) reinstall but only install Mudbox
3.) Authorize Mudbox
4.) Now install the other products they should already be Authorized through Mudbox

Revit: How to Create a Stepped Foundation

There are several ways to create the stepped portion of the foundation, but this method doesn’t require us to create a new component family, nor do I need to do an in place family.  For this method we are going to use the wall tool and edit profile.

So, you have a stepped foundation similar to the one below.  To accomplish the step on the bottom of the wall, we have edited the profile of the wall, drawing in the new lines to represent the step.  Using the wall foundation tool ensures that the foundation follows the step, but it does not automatically fill the void.  We are going to use a wall to fix that.

Start with a Foundation wall, edit and duplicate, name the new wall Foundation-the width of the footing, Edit the structure and change the thickness to the width of the footing.  Ok out of all dialog boxes.

Go into a plan view where you can see the steps, setting the view to wireframe helps.  Now we are going to draw the new wall, location line is set to wall center line, and draw the wall along the center of the foundation wall from the step out the height of the step times two.  So in my example the step is 2’-0” so the wall will be drawn 4’-0” long. 

Now go to a view where you can see this in elevation.  Use the align tool to line up the bottom and top of the footing.  Once that is done, select the wall and edit the profile. 

This will take you into sketch mode.  Adjust the footing as shown below.

Use the join geometry tool to make this look like one piece.  When using the join tool select the foundation first and then the wall piece we added.  It should look like the image below.

This piece can be copied around the model and adjusted and joined as needed.

Preparing for Drafting in Revit

I often hear people say that Revit doesn’t do drafting…this of course is not the case.  Revit does have drafting tools; however, the drafting process is a bit different than those of you coming from AutoCAD are accustomed to.  To make the transition to drafting in Revit a bit more comfortable I have outlined below some items that should make the transition a bit easier.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have your template in place before you start using Revit as your source of generating production drawings.  Having your fill patterns (hatch),  filled regions, line patterns and line styles created and ready to use will make drafting easier and it will also maintain standards between projects.  Pre-loading and building the most common detail components and repeating details will also assist in this process.

All drafting items will be located on the Annotation tab, however many of them are created on the Manage tab under Additional Settings.

So let’s take a look at the differences, and similarities in drafting between Revit and AutoCAD.

Line styles in Revit could be looked at as the equivalent of layers in AutoCAD.  In the line style in Revit you define a color, pen weight and pattern to assign to it.  When you go to draw a line, you specify a line style from the type selector rather than specifying a layer as you would in AutoCAD.

Line patterns are created inside of Revit, which means it isn’t something I can load from a .lin file like I would in AutoCAD.  The line patterns are a series of dashes, dots and spaces.  One thing to be aware of in Revit is that we cannot have letters or symbols in a line style, so if you have some line types in AutoCAD that utilize this type of line we will have to go about this differently in Revit.

Fill Patterns can be created in two ways, one by creating a simple pattern, or by accessing a .pat file.  Depending on which template you start with there are a small number of predefined fill patterns to choose from for either a drafting pattern or a model pattern.  Drafting patterns represent materials in symbolic form, which means it looks the same no matter what scale you are at.  Model patterns are an actual representation, which means they remain their actual size no matter what scale you switch to.  Additionally, model patterns can be rotated, moved or aligned and dimensioned to.

You can create a model pattern from any drafting pattern by adding the following line of text to the file between the pattern name and the first line of numbers.  I usually do a save as and append the pattern name with _mdl

*fillname, fill description

;%TYPE=MODEL

0,0,0,0

More information about drafting and model patterns can be found in the Revit wiki:

Detail components are the equivalent of 2d blocks in AutoCAD.  They are a view specific orientation of an object; so for example, you would have three different detail components to represent a piece of dimensional lumber: a section view, plan view and elevation view.  Even though these are 2d elements, most are still parametric, meaning that you can build one item and it can be many different sizes.

In the screen shot below you can see what is available from the detail components folder in the Wood Framing folder

Repeating Details are detail components that are arrayed parametrically.  These are also a system family, so to generate additional types you will need to edit and duplicate an existing one and modify accocrdingly.   Repeating details are used for things that have a set pattern like CMU or metal deck.  To create the new pattern, specify the detail component you want to use and modify the parameters as needed.  Below is an example of the type properties of a repeating detail.  Repeating details are for strait line segments only.



General recommendations:

• Name your line styles and line patterns in a fashion that is descriptive enough to be recognizable to the users.   When I create templates for clients that have an established naming convention, I recreate it in Revit.
• Create a drafting view with all of the line styles on it and their names so they have something to reference while they are getting used to Revit.
• Keep all custom content in a separate folder from the out of the box content.
• Organize content folders in a similar fashion to the out of the box content, but add more sub folders if needed to make it easier to find items.
  • My one deviation from this might be the detail component folder if you are not familiar with CSI formatting

Words of Wisdom:

Drafting in Revit is not any more difficult that it is in AutoCAD, the difference is having an understanding of how the tools work in Revit, and knowing where to find the content.

Why do I get out of license errors -4 AutoCAD 2012

If you are using a Network Version of AutoCAD with a previous use license then you have to make sure to only use one version at a time on the same machine. If you use 2012 and launch it 2 times it will use 1 license. However if you use a previous use (2009, 2010, 2011) and use 2012 on the same machine then it will use 2 licenses and you can run out of licenses you may think should be available

Stealing back a network license from someone that is away from their desk!

Ok, this is really easy, but you may need help from the person that takes care of your license manager.

You can create an options file (See http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS83137) that will reclaim an unused, inactive or stuck license.  Say Bob has AutoCAD (or Inventor or Revit or...) running and they take off for a donut run without closing out of AutoCAD.  Meanwhile, you try to run AutoCAD but it says all licenses are in use (that dirty rat!).

Enter the reclaimer.  TIMEOUTALL

TIMEOUTALL will reclaim any "inactive" Autodesk license.  There are 3 steps involved.

1. Create an options file using a pure ascii editor (notepad works perfectly), with TIMEOUTALL 900 (the number is in seconds)as the only line in it.  RENAME the Options file to adskflex.opt
2. Put the Options file in the same folder as the license file.
3. Run the license manager (LMTools) and click Reread on the "Start/Stop/reread" tab.

900 (seconds) is the smallest number you can use and it is equivelent to 15 minutes.

So, after 15 minutes it will reclaim that AutoCAD license as long as none of the following happens.

1. If the person moves the mouse.
2. If there is a dialog box open (i.e. the Plot dialog)
3. There is a command active.  Say you start the line command and it's asking for a point.  The command is active so it won't allow you to reclaim the license.

How do you know when it's been reclaimed?

Open the debug log file on the license manager machine, if it shows these 2 key words then it is working and it reclaimed the license.  "IN" and "(INACTIVE)"

 for example:
12:13:22 (adskflex) IN: "65100BLDSYS_F" jeff@sprimary  (INACTIVE)
12:13:22 (adskflex) IN: "85734BLDSYS_2012_0F" jeff@sprimary  (INACTIVE)

This is the only way to really know.  When the person comes back and moves the mouse it will automatically ask for a license.  If one is available the program continues to run.  If one is not available, the person is prompted to save their work.  Safe and Easy!

There is one word of warning.  Do not implement this if anyone is running any of the 2010 versions of Revit (Architecture, Structure or MEP), unless you implement the following Autodesk tecnical solution first.  See http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS14309812

 

Revit: Trying to add symbolic lines to light fixtures for floor plan view

There are certain instances where you would want to show symbolic lines or line work to represent the light fixtures on the ceiling in a floor plan view. 

Method 1:

Convert the existing lines in the light family to model lines. This way the line work for the light fixture will show up in your plan view.  You do this by selecting on the light fixture family in the ceiling plan view then clicking on Edit Family from the ribbon.  In the family editor change your view to the floor plan view so you can see the symbolic line work.

You might want to turn off all of the annotation that might be blocking linework.  To do this type VV on your keyboard to bring up the Visibility Graphics dialog box.  Click on the Annotation Categories tab and then uncheck Show annotation categories in this view. 

When you select on the Symbolic lines in your drawing, you will see a contextual tab on the ribbon called Modify|Lines, you can now select on the Convert Lines command to convert.

Model lines would then show up in plan view as well as your 3D and various other views. You can adjust what view these lines show up by going to properties and changing the way the model lines will show up.

Method 2:

You can duplicate the plan view.

Set the underlay to, for instance, level 1 and then set the underlay orientation to Reflective ceiling plan. There will be things that will show up which you will have to turn off in Visibility Graphics that you don't want to see.

IMAGINiT Revit Utilities: Customize the Content Browser Settings

Issue:  You want to change where the Content Browser is pointing to.

You can modify this by changing the ContentBrowser.config file located in C:/ProgramData/IMAGINIT Technologies/IMAGINIT Utilities for Revit 2012

Open the config file, and in the highlighted area below, type in a new URL or set it to a network drive on your server if you prefer.  Make sure to include the quotation marks at the beginning and the end.

Save and close the file.  In Revit, start the Content Browser utility to verify the path is working.

Revit: How to Change the Scale of a Fill Pattern

You have a fill pattern created from a .pat file, and you want to change the scale of the pattern. This is possible provided you have the original .pat file to work with.  If you have the file, the following process will walk you through how to change the scale.  This process works for both drafting and model hatch patterns.

Go to the Mange tab, Additional Settings, Fill Patterns

 

Select the pattern you want to modify, and select Edit.  From the Modify Pattern Properties dialog select import and browse to the location of the pat file and select it.

Once the file is selected you will be able to change the scale.   If you change the scale and all you see is an X over the preview, this means the scale is not valid.  This is generally a trial and error process.  Generally the scale is 1, but it can be any value, including a fraction.  I would recommend that you append the name of the file with the scale so you know what you have tried before.