IMAGINiT Technologies Support Blog

"Allied product not found" error trying to install an Autodesk program...

You run the install and part way through the install you receive a dialog "Allied products not found" error.  You click Ok and it seems to continue going.  

We were trying to install AutoCAD 2014 from the Building Design Suite Premium 2014 media when we received that error.  Since there were other problems installing, he couldn't install the whole suite at once and was installing programs one at a time, that's when this error showed up.

To get around this problem on a clients machine we needed to run the Microsoft Fix It utility and uninstall AutoCAD 2014, which is what we were trying to Install.  But it didn't show up in Control Panel>Programs and Features in Win 7.  It didn't show up in Start>All Programs>Autodesk and it didn't show up in the Autodesk Uninstall Tool.  

MS FixIt to the Rescue!  

We ran the Microsoft Fix it utility and ...

Select that you have an install problem...

 

Scroll down and click "Run Now"

Click to "Detect Problem and let me select the fixes to apply"

Click "Uninstalling".  I like this one as it shows you everything the FixIt utility things may have been installed, even when you cannot see it anywhere (no shortcut icon, nothing in Programs and Features, etc...)

 

Now we wait a few....

 

Here's where it gets interesting...  The clients' machine had AutoCAD 2014 and the AutoCAD 2014 language pack listed, but it wasn't listed anywhere else you'd normally see it.  So, we selected the language pack and clicked next.  

It uninstalled the AutoCAD 2014 language pack and we ran the Fix it utility again to remove AutoCAD 2014.  After both were uninstalled, we started the install  and it went through just fine!

Thank you Microsoft for the Fixit Utility!

 

 

Printing Tip

If you are unable to print (or plot) things correctly (orientation, paper size, paper tray, speed, etc) from within the Autodesk program, then here's a troubleshooting tip to help figure it out.

Does it print correctly from the Windows drivers' "Print test page"?  If it does not, then it will not print correctly from Autodesk programs, or any other program.

Test using other programs, if they don't work neither will Autodesk programs.

 

Navisworks 2014 composite rules

Navisworks 2014 no longer has two of the composite rules.

This is because they have updated the clash feature in 2014 so it basically no longer needs these 2 rules. 

Clash Detective Changes
The Clash Detective clash algorithm was updated to allow for quicker identification of constructability issues. When multiple clashes are found between the same pair of composite objects, they will be treated as a single clash. Clashes between two parts of the same composite object will not be reported.
http://www.augi.com/library/navisworks-joins-the-material-family.

Revit 2013: Ribbons contextual and modify tabs issue

Here is the info about resetting the Revit interface. Before deleting or modifying anything always create a backup of it first.

Make sure your operating system is up to date as well as your graphics card.

Reset the UIState.dat file, it contains the information about the user interface. I would suggest to make a copy, then delete your UIState.dat file.
You can find UIState.dat file at the following location:
C:\Users\your user profile folder\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2013\UIState.dat
You will need to open Revit, close it and reopen it again to see the changes. A new UIState.dat file will be created during this process.

Another suggestion to try is to delete the Revit.ini file within that same folder C:\Users\Cherisse\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2013 and make a backup/copy then delete the Revit.ini file. 

ACAD/ACA/AMEP: Revision cloud arc length

The revision cloud arc length by default is set and will reset after you save the drawing and close it. To have a consistent revision cloud tool it is best to modify the revision tool on the tool palettes.

How to modify the Revision Cloud Tool on the tool palette:

 You can use the tool that is on the Documents palette on the Annotation tab. Make sure you right click on the tool and make a copy of it so you are not overwriting the out of box tool.

Or you can drag and drop a Revision cloud from the Content Browser. To open this just type CONTENTBROWSER at the command line.

Click on Documentation Tool Catalog - Imperial or Metric.

Click on the i-dropper icon and hold. The pen will fill up and then you can drag the curser over to the tool palette and release the left mouse button to add it to the tools.

To modify the arch length right click on the tool on the tool palette and click on properties.

Within the Tool Properties dialog box change the size of the "Arc Length"

Revit Structure Third Party Updater Error

If you are opening a structural file, or linking in a Revit Structure file that has used the REXExtensions, and your machine does not have them installed you will receive an error "Missing Third Party Updater" similar to the one below.

 

This message is popping up because someone working on the model has the Reinforcement extensions from subscription center installed. This message can be found in the help menu.

You can either move forward selecting either continue working with the file, in which case you would receive further warnings on this file and other files.  You could instead select: "Do not warn and continue working with the file".   Be aware that if you are getting this warning on a linked file you would need to open and save the link and select do not warn, doing this in the host file does not resolve the warning.

You can review this post on how to change the code of the updater so the message stops popping up.  

For a more in-depth discussion here is a great explanation from the Autodesk forums

Revit: Changing the Plan Representation of Planting Families

For those of you who need to produce a Landscape plan, our options for plantings is somewhat limited, but you can create some additional content by starting with the out of the box families.

I'm certain I am not alone in thinking this is not the most appealing plan representation for a tree or shrub.

Maybe you want something like this...

Well, either of these is easy to accomplish.

• Start by opening one of the out of the box tree families (I used trees for both since they seemed to scale better)
• Do a save as and give it a new name and save it into your custom content library
• Go to a plan view and select the plan representation and edit the family
• Edit the plan representation as desired, save it and load it into your family (make sure you are using symbolic lines)
• Select the existing RCP representation and swap it out for your new one.
• Rename and resize the types accordingly 

NOTE:    If you use a cad file, make sure you convert the lines to symbolic so that they don't show up in any view but a plan view.

It will automatically scale the new representation as you change between tree or shrub sizes.

Since you have to finalize the plant representation in a project to assign the appropriate RPC file, I would recommend that you create a sample project with all of your landscaping defined which you can then copy and paste content from there into your working project and it will bring the RPC definitions assigned to the plants with it.

Your AutoCAD 2014 Design Feed Palette doesn't update

In AutoCAD-based 2014 products the Autodesk 360 ribbon tab was introduced that has an option available to collaborate on a drawing with other users using Autodesk 360.

The Design Feed palette provides a way to post and reply to messages, which can include attached images, to colleagues and clients through Autodesk 360. The messages can be linked to locations and areas within the drawing, and can be accessed online by the people that you authorize.

 

 

If you notice that the Design Feed palette does not update immediately after you save a drawing in Autodesk® 360, then you can force it to update with a right-click on the Autodesk 360 icon, located on the Windows taskbar, and then select Sync Now.

For more information about the Design Feed Palette, see online Help topic for Design Feed Palette.

Revit 2014: Workshared Project Creates Log Folder

In Revit 2014 there is a known issue which in some cases creates a log folder in the central file folder, similar to how it creates a backup folder. This folder contains the users journal files.

So, for example you will see:

• CENTRALFILENAME_backup and
• CENTRALFILENAME_log

According to Autodesk, this is a known issue logged with our Development Group. Revit should not be doing this, and that folder can be deleted.

If you choose to leave the folder be aware that it can become quite large in size rather quickly.

If you have not already, please make sure you have Update release 2 for 2014 installed on your machine

You can access Update 2 from the following links below:

• Revit 2014
• Revit Architecture 2014
• Revit Structure 2014
• Revit MEP 2014
• Revit LT 2014

 As with any update, please consult the readme file and product enhancement list prior to installation.

Updates for Revit cannot be uninstalled.  Should you need to revert to its pre-updated state you will need to uninstall and reinstall the software. 

Note:

There is nothing in the Product Enhancement list for Update 2 that indicates that it resolves this issue.

How to resolve the AutoCAD Plant 3D error "Project has no BOM annotations defined"

In AutoCAD Plant 3D, when editing your Bill of Materials, if you attempt to create an Ortho BOM annotation and do not have a BOM annotation setup defined in your project, an error message displays: Project has no BOM annotations defined. A BOM annotation setup specifies a block with a BOM_ID attribute definition tag and applies to Pipe Run Components and Fasteners.

This can occur if you attempt to create a BOM annotation from a project that was created before the recently released Subscription Extension 2 was installed, but the message can also occur under other conditions.

To set up an Ortho BOM annotation see To create an Ortho BOM annotation (Project Setup) in the Plant 3D product help.

For context, see the screen captures below for setting up a BOM annotation in the Project Setup.