30 Kasım 2012 Cuma

BIM's band booms! (image)

To contact us Click HERE
from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

Automatic and Manual Railing Support locations in Revit 2013

To contact us Click HERE
In Revit 2013, with Component Railings, you can unpin certain elements and modify them.  For example, you can unpin a selected component Railing (Top Rail Type or Hand Rail Type) and swap it out for a different type.  Similarly, you can unpin and swap out posts.  However, you can also MOVE component posts after you unpin them.  Some of this functionality is beginning to resemble Curtain Walls...

A word on terminology: pre-2013 we had Balusters. These appeared as a top level element under the Railings category in the Project Browser. In Edit Family mode, the Family Category and Parameters dialog did not tell you 'this is a Baluster'. You could look in the Properties Palette and it would say Family: Balusters. In Revit 2013, the above condition still exists for Balusters (backward compatibility). However, the new component Posts are termed "Supports" and Supports is a proper sub-category of Railings (properties in Family Editor shows Family: Supports). Confused yet? If you want to dig a little deeper, check out the diagram on this page.

Ok, back to unpinning the posts (supports)--

What you need:
  1. A 2013 Handrail Type with Supports set to Fixed Number
  2. A Supports family applied to the above type
What you do:
  1. Draw the railing
  2. The fixed number of posts will be auto spaced along each segment of Railing
  3. Select each post, unpin it and then either Drag (with mouse) or Nudge (with arrow keys) into position.



I have created a Supports family which allows resizing at both top and bottom -  so I can create new types for various situations, unpin and then swap.


For a crash course in Revit 2013 component railings, check out:
Revit 2013 railings - almost 7 months old, but have you used them?

Desktop shortcuts disappear in Windows 7

To contact us Click HERE
desktop shortcuts disappear in Windows 7
Image source: Wikipedia
Two days ago, one of my friend asked me what is happening with his desktop shortcuts when he is going somewhere else with his laptop.
They are gone every time.



I don't have until now broken shortcuts on desktop so i never met this situation until now. I knew that Windows XP had an option for "runing desktop wizard..." to clear broken links for unused shortcuts. I thought Windows 7 has the same option.

Hmm, i've looked for it and i haven't found something similar with Windows XP. Then i searched on internet and in the first answers i did found the solution.

I put it here (first, because he will sure forget it after what will do the first time and to can come back here to remember :-) ), the solution for having trouble with keeping the temporarly broken shortcuts.

Solution (for Desktop shortcuts disappearing in Windows 7):

Windows 7, has a new system for managing operating system. It is called System Maintenance troubleshooter.
Once he detects a shortcut is broken, it is possible to delete it.

Usualy this performs a weekly maintenance of the operating system. The System Maintenance troubleshooter has two ways for problems:
- one is it fixes the problems automatically
- second it will report it through Action Center.

Usually, when there are more than 4 (four) broken shortcuts on the desktop, the System Maintenance troubleshooter, automatically removes all broken shortcuts from the desktop.

Broken link: 
"Broken shortcut" is a shortcut to a file, folder or drive that is not always available.
You may do a shortcut for your USB, for your external drive, or for network folder and after you disconnect it, if System Maintenance troubleshooter is in action, it will remove shortcuts to missing "objects".

There are two methods to deal with:

1. Remove all but 4 (four) broken shortcuts from your desktop

That means you shall keep on your desktop only top 4 broken shortcuts, and then will be ok. If there are more than 4 (four) broken shortcuts, then maintenance system will do his job, right? Will keep it clean, very clean. Like a conscientiously housekeeper that will try to do more than her best to clean the space around you and will clean your desk every morning, even if you told her to never touch that place. She really want to be "pro" :-). That's not always a bad thing. That only means you must be always careful with the things you need. Not just let them hang around. Even on your desktop.

Solution 1: A smart and very simple decision is to make a folder on your desktop and place there all the shortcuts you need. That means, the lady will not look through your drawers, she will only look on your desk(top). Now you are saved.


2. Disable the System Maintenance troubleshooter

However, if you insist to place them on the desk (desktop), then is only one solution:

Solution 2: Disable the System Maintenance troubleshooter.

!!! If you disable the System Maintenance troubleshooter, all the maintenance tasks that it performs will be disabled. So, if you care about the lady, and you don't want to "fire" her, pleaseee use Solution 1 ... :-)

How to disable the System Maintenance troubleshooter:

a) Click START --> Control Panel
b) Under System and Security, click Find and Fix problems.
c) On the left navigation panel, click Change Settings.
d) Set Computer Maintenance to Off.

Huh, so here you are. Solving that small, tiny, little but BIG problem.

Hoping is helpful, first for my buddy who will forget the first time advice, and how i know him, the second, the third... :-), so hopefuly he will not forget my site address to can solve his small problems without remembering how to do them.

Regards to all



Main link for this article: here at microsoft support area
_________________________
Level of knowledge: 1/5
_________________________
legend:
1 = normal user/beginner user
5 = it guy, webmaster, or whatever your best knowledge is in computer handling (not to carry them :-) )
2,3,4 = intermediate users (between browsing and opening a media player, until the ones who can play around with windows and programs that runs "in" it, like office, graphics or other software)

I will make a funny but accurate legend for every kind of user, but now it is first time and i wanted to be just a small guide to know how hard or easy it is to solve the problems.



DiggGoogle BookmarksredditMixxStumbleUponTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzDesignFloatDeliciousBlinkListFurl

29 Kasım 2012 Perşembe

BIM's band booms! (image)

To contact us Click HERE
from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

28 Kasım 2012 Çarşamba

BIM's band booms! (image)

To contact us Click HERE
from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

Using meshmixer to morph your Revit Topography

To contact us Click HERE
Yeah, Revit topo tools aren't that great.  Why don't we try exporting to a sculpting tool like meshmixer, and see if we can make it work?

Let's start with a simple Revit toposurface.


Export to Max by using Suite Workflows - 3ds Max Design Exterior Rendering

Once in Max, export selected (the toposurface) to OBJ using the Mudbox preset.

Open meshmixer (now at version 08).  File - Import the OBJ.  Start playing around with it, using the brush tools to smooth or warp the site.  You may need to 'scale' up your active tool by using the middle mouse button to see real results.

I added some body parts to the site:


Export to OBJ from meshmixer.

Back in Max, select the previous surface object.  Then Import, select the new OBJ you just made.



Now, export selected the new OBJ (with morphs) to a DWG file.

Import the DWG in Revit.  If you haven't gone too wild, you should be able to use Auto - Center to Center option effectively.


Finally, Revit won't like this import very much - it probably won't find points to make a surface.  You will need to round-trip this DWG import by exporting out to DWG from Revit and then importing it back in again.

The 'round tripped' import symbol can be used to generate the Toposurface, now morphed:




You may also be interested in:
Freeform and organic modelling from MeshMixer to 3ds Max to Revit

27 Kasım 2012 Salı

BIM's band booms! (image)

To contact us Click HERE
from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

The emerging power of Trimble Buildings

To contact us Click HERE
Check out the list of companies in the following quote:

Trimble Buildings and the Trimble DBO platform will initially combine technology from Trimble's former Building Construction Division with SketchUp, Tekla, Meridian Systems, WinEst, Plancal and Vico Software. These solutions combine together to provide the broadest and most sophisticated capabilities available within the AEC industry today.

via
Trimble� Buildings



Also more at:
Trimble News Release

26 Kasım 2012 Pazartesi

BIM's band booms! (image)

To contact us Click HERE
from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

Why Computers Sometimes Crash

To contact us Click HERE
This poem has done the email forward rounds for years, and has been incorrectly attributed to various authors.  It is in the style of Dr Seuss, but was authored by Gene Ziegler.  Here is the full version, from this link:

Bits Bytes Chips Clocks
Bits in bytes on chips in box.
Bytes with bits and chips with clocks.
Chips in box on ether-docks.

Chips with bits come. Chips with bytes come.
Chips with bits and bytes and clocks come.

Look, sir. Look, sir. read the book, sir.
Let's do tricks with bits and bytes, sir.
Let's do tricks with chips and clocks, sir.

First, I'll make a quick trick bit stack.
Then I'll make a quick trick byte stack.
You can make a quick trick chip stack.
You can make a quick trick clock stack.

And here's a new trick on the scene.
Bits in bytes for your machine.
Bytes in words to fill your screen.

Now we come to ticks and tocks, sir.
Try to say this by the clock, sir.

Clocks on chips tick.
Clocks on chips tock.
Eight byte bits tick.
Eight bit bytes tock.
Clocks on chips with eight bit bytes tick.
Chips with clocks and eight byte bits tock.

Here's an easy game to play.
Here's an easy thing to say....

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
and the address of the memory
makes your floppy disk abort
then the socket packet pocket
has an error to report!

If your cursor finds a menu item
followed by a dash,
and the double-clicking icon
puts your window in the trash,
and your data is corrupted cause
the index doesn't hash,
then your situation's hopeless,
and your system's gunna crash.

You can't say this? What a shame, sir!
We'll find you another game, sir.

If the label on the cable
on the table at your house
says the network is connected
to the button on your mouse,
but your packets want to tunnel
on another protocol,
that's repeatedly rejected
by the printer down the hall,
and your screen is all distorted
by the side-effects of gauss,
so your icons in the window
are as wavy as a souse,
then you may as well reboot
and go out with a bang,
cause as sure as I'm a poet,
the sucker's gunna hang!

When the copy of your floppy's
getting sloppy on the disk,
and the microcode instructions
cause unnecessary risc,
then you have to flash your memory
and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
quickly turn off your computer
and be sure to tell your mom!

via
http://web.archive.org/web/20070814042925/http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/elz1/clocktower/DrSeuss.html

More info at:
Plagiarized Poem - Why Computers Sometimes Crash! by Dr. Seuss

Revit Building Pads, Topography and phases

To contact us Click HERE
Basically, if you have one site toposurface, and you cut it with pads in different phases, then an 'outline' around every single pad appears in the creation phase of the toposurface (they affect the topo backwards in time).  It looks ugly ...  Additionally, there will be 'holes' cut in the toposurface for the pads.

I recently handled this by making a Design Option Set for Topography, then for each Stage / Building Option combination, I added the entire site Toposurface.  From here, I could use model groups to transfer pads between the different options / phases, while still retaining their size and position and editability.  It was a pain to set up, but once configured properly (with views etc), it seems to work ok.

The most 'logical' way to configure it would be:
  1. Make a Design Option Set
  2. Make an Option called 'Existing'.  Add your original / untouched site topography here.
  3. Duplicate the Option, call it Stage 1.
  4. Make all the Stage 1 pads, then group them.
  5. Duplicate Stage 1 topography option, call it stage 2 (the grouped pads will come through).  Add additional pads in Stage 2 option, then group Stage 2 pads and the Stage 1 pad group (forming a nested group.)
  6. Rinse and repeat
I never said being a Revit pro would be easy.



You can read about the problem at:
Re: Building pads don't seem to respect phases. - Autodesk Discussion Groups

Autodesk FormIt - Architectural Form Modeler for the iPad

To contact us Click HERE


FormIt is an intuitive, easy to use mass modeling application helping designers make informed decisions while accessing site and climate data. The building and site aware app allows designers to sketch proposed design options that can be compared with program requirements and then shared with the project team for continued collaboration through Autodesk® 360.

Available now on the Apple App Store.

(I can't find it on there, can you?)

25 Kasım 2012 Pazar

BIM's band booms! (image)

To contact us Click HERE
from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

24 Kasım 2012 Cumartesi

BIM's band booms! (image)

To contact us Click HERE
from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

23 Kasım 2012 Cuma

Recuva 1.44.778 application setup latest version

To contact us Click HERE



Recuva is a absolutely free  Windows application utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your system. This contains  files that removed  from the Recycle bin as well as pictures  and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even given  back files that have been deleted from your iPod, or by bugs, crashes and viruses!

Get application from here

Tags:-Recuva 1.44.778, Recuva 1.44.778 latest Recuva 1.44.778 ,latest restore tools,2013 restore tools


Posted in: APPLICATION,SYSTEM TOOLS

BIM's band booms! (image)

To contact us Click HERE
from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

View Selector hack

To contact us Click HERE
In Revit, certain view properties are not schedulable.  Additionally, you cannot change Visibility / Graphics through a schedule.  However, let's say you have a schedulable view property that allows you to form a group of a views that you would like to modify.  You can't use the Show option in a View List (to multi-select Views):

However, to multi-select views using a known property (in this simplistic and slightly pointless example, Phase), we can:
  1. Add a Text type Shared Parameter called View Selector to the View List, ticking 'Add to all elements in the Category'
  2. Now, a little complication - to modify this property, you will have to untick it from every applied View Template that would possibly impact the View List.  I grouped my Project Browser by View Template so I could quickly see the 'in-use' View Templates, then went View - Manage View Templates and unticked View Selector in each of these.  Once this is done, we can now drive the View Selector parameter through the View List schedule.


  3. Now go to the Type Properties of the Project Browser and make a new type called View Selector.  You can either use folders and set them to View Selector, or Filter by View Select = whatever.
  4. Finally, select a bunch of views in the Browser and then adjust the Property you want to edit.  This method allows you to  modify certain parameters that you couldn't get to from the View List itself.

Some of these parameters are View / Type specific (like Underlay for Plans).  When you multiselect them, Revit will tell you what the 'common' parameters are in the Properties Palette.

The following diagram gives you an idea which View Properties can be 'hacked into' using this multi-select method:




    22 Kasım 2012 Perşembe

    BIM's band booms! (image)

    To contact us Click HERE
    from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
    Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



    The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

    To rebuild a Shared Parameter file, use the Export option from Family or Project

    To contact us Click HERE
    In the Parameter Properties dialog, click Export.
    Note:  The Export option is not enabled if the selected parameter is already in the current shared parameter file.A message displays informing you that the shared parameter will be exported to the shared parameter file you set up in Step 1.


    Here is the rest of the how-to:
    Exporting Shared Parameters to a Shared Parameter File - WikiHelp

    21 Kasım 2012 Çarşamba

    BIM's band booms! (image)

    To contact us Click HERE
    from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
    Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



    The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

    A very quick trademark post

    To contact us Click HERE
    There has been lots of verbiage flying around the interwebs lately regarding the use of Autodesk trademarks in domain names.  I recently surrendered www.revitprofessionals.com (quite happily), in order to comply with Autodesk's Trademark Guidelines for Use.

    Additionally, David Light and I have been in discussion with Autodesk about blogs containing the Revit trademark at .blogspot.com

    Happily, Autodesk has allowed these .blogspot blogs to remain, provided we add a simple disclaimer:


    Again, I was quite happy to do this.

    Working in an architectural firm, I understand the need to protect intellectual property, and in Autodesk's case, its trademarks.

    I was a little saddened by the decision surrounding OpenRevitStandards (even this link will die soon).  However, I believe that David Fano will be able to re-host the site on some Autodesk-approved domain.  So I believe the OpenRevitStandards will live on, somehow and somewhere (perhaps rising from the ashes like AUGI).

    In any case, I would like to again take this opportunity to thank you all for continuing to support this blog, along with other awesome Revit blogs authored by the likes of David Light and Steve Stafford.

    EDIT: I think I said 'happy' and 'happily' too many times ...

    SHX font mapping for linked DWG files in Revit

    To contact us Click HERE
    "In Revit, the default font is Arial, for example, is therefore the DWG file represent fonts in Arial.
    The "shxfontmap.txt" is located at:
    C: \ Users \ \ AppData \ Roaming \ Autodesk \ Revit \ Autodesk Revit 2013
    First you should make a backup copy of "shxfontmap.txt" are created, they can then be opened with Notepad.
    Note: Please do not use software to edit the file, which could change the formatting of text, such as Word.

    At the end of the file is then added to "txt.shx Arial" or "Arial italic8.shx" added.

    After the names of the SHX once is "Tab" and then use the new font specified."


    via
    Google Translate
    of
    Autodesk BIM Blog - Darstellung von SHX Schriften f�r DWG Dateien anpassen - Revit Architecture/MEP/Structure 2013

    Revit and VEO, finally together again ...

    To contact us Click HERE
    Surely Revit integration with VEO will be a high priority, now that Autodesk are buying into VEO so heavily?

    Some of you may recall that VEO-LUX was once a Revit add-in application , and that Revit Architecture 2009 beta was codenamed VEO ... what a long path back to Revit it has taken!  Up to the clouds and back again ... but bringing all its collaborative goodness to the Revit world.

    via
    VEO News: Autodesk and M-SIX have partnered! Revit and VEO, finally together again ...

    20 Kasım 2012 Salı

    BIM's band booms! (image)

    To contact us Click HERE
    from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
    Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



    The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

    19 Kasım 2012 Pazartesi

    Plan ahead when making a family

    To contact us Click HERE
    Sometimes, putting a bit of thought and planning into your family design well lead to far better results than simply 'diving in there'.  The following post shows a list of such requirements.  Essentially, you write a 'brief' for your family, and then seek to meet the requirements of that brief.

    Example at this link

    However, at times I do things the complete wrong way about - like modelling them inplace, then converting them to component families and trying to figure out the origin and constraints later on - very messy and definitely not best_practice :-)

     

    Piping for Revit MEP Dummies (like Me)

    To contact us Click HERE
    1. Add two components with similar system connections (like Hydronic Supply)
    2. Select one of the components, and click the Piping button
    3. Ok to dialog, Edit System, use Add to add the other component.  Finish.
    4. Select one of the components, use the Generate Layout tool.  Click Edit Layout if you want to drag the lines around.
    5. Start adjust heights and paths of piping.
    Don't forget, you can set the View Discipline to Mechanical to get some in-built filtering to show something like this:


    Quick video from Wikihelp:


      (embedded JWPlayer)

      Read more at:
      Pipe - WikiHelp

      BIM's band booms! (image)

      To contact us Click HERE
      from "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss
      Seems like a few recent tweets agree:



      The real question is, who is Ben, and what exactly is he up to?

      16 Kasım 2012 Cuma

      How to reset the scale of an imported image to its original values

      To contact us Click HERE
      Once you have imported an image into Revit and then warped it (by unticking the Lock Proportions box and resizing it), then it is not immediately evident how you can reset it to 1:1 (its default X:Y state).  Even if you toggle the tick box, it doesn't reset the scale to be un-warped.

      Here is how you can do it:
      1. Select image and Edit Type
      2. Take note of the pixel sizes
      3. Directly set the image size using these values in the instance properties
      4. Tick the Lock Proportions box


      Also, did you notice that Revit records where the image was originally loaded from?  Even though there is no 'link' as such, this does allow you to find and edit the source image easily.

        Beware of Windows Update - nVidia Graphics Adapter WDDM1.1, Graphics Adapter WDDM1.2

        To contact us Click HERE
        Windows Update is pushing an Nvidia driver update package as an Important update now (they are usually offered as 'optional').  In my case, it was listed as:
        nVidia - Graphics Adapter WDDM1.1, Graphics Adapter WDDM1.2, Other hardware - NVIDIA Quadro FX 580

        I think this update is something that is aiming to align Windows 7 with Windows 8 DirectX 11 / 11.1.

        Most tech / IT people recommend against using Windows Update to update graphics drivers.  I'm not saying that it will definitely cause you a problem ... but its probably safer to use Autodesk certified drivers (select 'Graphics') at this stage.

        If you want to go ahead and install it, let us know how you fare with Revit :-)

        Further reading:
        View topic - Portions of DX 11.1 is being made available on Win 7 | Widescreen Gaming Forum

        Optional update in windows update is giving me a blue screen. - Windows 7 Forums

        M$ pushing nVida drivers as an 'Important' update...

         Windows Update, nVidia - Graphics Adapter WDDM1.1... - Guru3D.com Forums

        Is this Microsofts way of saying it's a new Nvidia driver?

        15 Kasım 2012 Perşembe

        3DCombine Lite 5.88

        To contact us Click HERE
        Description: 3DCombine allows you to create 3D photos and videos from 2D ones and output them in any 3D format you want.
        It comes with information on viewing different types of 3D image and a
        tutorial with sample photos to get you started. You don't need any special equipment or camera skills, if your pictures aren't perfect 3DCombine can correct them for you.

        Alternatively, use 3DCombine to manipulate and display existing 3D images including batch converting between 3D formats.

        Supported 3D Formats:
        • Anaglyph
        • Parallel
        • Interlaced
        • Above/Below 
        • DLP 3D
        • 8/9 Tile
        Supported Viewing Methods
        • OpenGL Quadbuffered
        • Anaglyph
        • Sync Doubled
        • Zalman 3D Monitor
        • Vuzix
        • Iz3D
        • Zeiss Video Eyewear

        Supported 3D Cameras
        • Fuji W1/W3 (images and video)
        • Panasonic 3D1
        • Sony Bloggie 3D
        Supported Operating Systems
        • Windows XP
        • Vista
        • Windows 7
        • Windows 8
        What's New in Version 5.8
        • -MPEG4 video output
        • -Higher quality 2D->3D video 
        • conversion
        • -Improved depthmap generation 
        • and 8/9 tile output
        • -Improved 3D image rotation
        • -Support for 3D1 and Bloggie 
        • Cameras

        14 Kasım 2012 Çarşamba

        Free utility that will sort all of your families by Category!

        To contact us Click HERE
        From time to time, I export all of the families in a project and add it to our Library as a 'snapshot' of where our families were at during that project.  However, Revit still does not export the families into folders by Category (there used to be an add-in that did this).

        Happily, a new free tool from Kiwi Codes will take a folder and then sort all of the RFAs into folders by Category for you!
        1. Download (need to submit email as per image below). 
          You can also download it from Autodesk Exchange. (direct link)
        2. Install
        3. Run from Revit
          I did a test run of this on about 200 families - it sorted them in a couple of minutes.  If you don't know how to export families from a Project, just go:

          1. File - Save As
          2. Library
          3. Family
          4. All families
          From their website:
          This tool takes all the families located in the specified folder and sub folders and organizes them into Category named folders in the target directory.
          via
          Family Categorizer | Products | Kiwi Codes Solutions Ltd

          Heads-up via
          Family Categorizer | AEC-APPS

          EDIT 2 - I have received confirmation from the Director of Kiwi Codes that the tool is "totally Free and not time locked ..."


          EDIT - While the website clearly states 'This tool is free' (see image above), I received the following by email:
          Thank you for your interest in Family Categorizer and downloading the 21 day trial. We hope that you see the benefits that Family Categorizer will bring to your business like others worldwide are reporting.