The Revit Clinic

Being content with content…Configuring Revit Content Searching with Vault

This post is from guest contributor, Adam Peter.  As a Customer Success Engineer with Autodesk Adam provides data management expertise to Architectural, Engineering and Construction companies around the world.

You may perhaps be aware that Vault has an add-in with Revit and that new in 2014 is a feature that allows you to search for family files based on the parameters within that file.

Before you can take full advantage of the feature there is a little legwork that needs to be done first.

Step 1:  Download and install the Revit Plug-in for Vault Professional 2014.  This can be downloaded HERE.  Be mindful that this is installed on the Vault server and not the client.

Step 2:  Log into the ADMS console and right click on the vault of your choice.  From here select the “Revit Indexing Service” from the menu.

Step 3:  Within the ensuing dialog box select the “Yes, enable the Revit Indexing Service” button.

Step 4:  Wait for the indexing to take place.  It does take some time for the initial index to process depending on the amount of family files you’ve added to the Vault.  The task of indexing also works on a 20 minute heartbeat so when you add new content it may also take a few minutes to show up in the search dialog.

With the new feature installed and configured you can have peace of mind knowing that you can find any file, searching on all the parameters within!

Revisions & Keynotes & Worksets & Revit 2014

I want to update and elaborate on our previous post:

When Adding a Keynote Tag the User Borrows a Sheet Workset

For Revit 2013 or earlier there are 2 common scenarios where sheet view worksets can be borrowed working with keynotes or revisions.  The first was mentioned in the original post:

1. There is a sheet in the project A101.
2. Several project views have been placed on this sheet.
3. UserA is in one of the views that appear on sheet A101.  UserA has not opened or edited sheet A101 directly.
4. In this view UserA adds a keynote.
5. Because this view appears on sheet A101, Revit needs to borrow the view workset for sheet A101 to update keynote data.  There could also be a keynote legend on this sheet for example.
6. If UserB attempts to add a keynote to one of these views before UserA syncs with central & relinquishes they would receive the expected “Can’t edit the element until UserA…” message.

The second is applicable only for Revit 2012 \ 2013, where tagging linked model geometry with keynotes is possible:

1. There is a host model containing a Revit link.
2. Keynotes are added (in the host) attached to link geometry.
3. At some point the link geometry changes (such as deleting a wall) causing the keynote tag to become orphaned.
4. When a keynote tag is orphaned, it is removed from keynote legends when filtering by sheet.
5. The next user to create a new local file, or reload the link will load those changes (which orphans the keynote tag).  This in turn borrows every sheet view workset that tag previously appeared in.

For Revit 2013 or earlier the original post provides some additional information around this behavior.

For Revit 2014 keynote and revision functionality has been improved.  Sheet view worksets are no longer borrowed during the same process, which should give larger project teams additional flexibility (especially during documentation-heavy project phases).

Corruption in Revit LT 2014 project after upgrading from 2013.

The following is another great guest post from Product Support Specialist Lance Coffey.

We are starting to see a number of users reporting "Data in file is corrupt" error messages after upgrading a project to Revit LT 2014.

After some investigation, we have found that this can happen when saving an upgraded file on top of a previous version. The reason is that some of the prior version elements remain unchanged in the file, which then puts the project in a state which cannot be used by Revit LT, and when reopening the project, Revit LT will report data in the file is corrupt.

If this happens, recover a backup copy of the project before it was upgraded.

To avoid the issue, when upgrading a project in Revit LT 2014, use Save As to save to a new filename.

Once upgraded and saved to a new name, you can save the 2014 project normally.

Our developers are aware of this, and are currently working to address the issue.

Model Elements on View Worksets

Revit has 4 main categories for worksets:

User-Created
Families
Project Standards
Views

The only category directly accessible to users (to change the workset assignment) is User-Created.

In Revit 2013 or earlier you may occasionally notice a model element (such as a wall, door, family, etc.) on a View workset.  View worksets are not user selectable and are instead managed by Revit internally.  So how did this happen?  This could occur under the following scenario: 

1. The user selects and enters an edit mode for an element on a view workset.  Some examples include plan regions, detail groups, or filled regions
2. Instead of using ‘Finish Edit Mode’ or ‘Cancel Edit Mode’ the user instead clicks Undo to exit edit mode
3. Now back in the project, the user starts adding model elements, such as walls.  The walls are placed on the current View workset instead of the active User-Created workset (until the user opens the workset dialog or changes the active workset):

This behavior was improved in Revit 2014.  Using Undo to exit edit mode will correctly reset the active workset.

For earlier releases you can easily isolate elements that may be on an incorrect View workset and assign them to a specific User-Created workset.

First to isolate model elements on view worksets:

1. Create a new 3D View and turn on all categories in Visibility / Graphic Overrides
2. Set the view ‘Discipline’ to ‘Coordination’
3. In Visibility/Graphic Overrides > 'Worksets' tab, set every workset ‘Visibility Setting’ to ‘Hide’ > OK to close the dialog
4. Any element that is visible should be on view workset.  This makes it easy to identify inconsistencies in workset assignment

To move the elements to the desired User-Created workset:

1. Set the Active Workset to the workset you wish the model element onto
2. Cut to Clipboard
3. Paste Aligned to Same Place.  The model element should now be on the active workset.  If it worked correctly you should not see the element again until you adjust the Visibility / Graphic Overrides > Worksets tab, and set ‘Visibility Setting’ back to not use ‘Hide’

Revit 2014 Schedules Tips

I’ve included a few tips using some of the new schedules features from Revit 2014:

Formatting in your Project Template

Formatting for the schedule title \ header \ body section can be added in your Revit template file even if the schedule is not yet populated.  For example, if you wish to add shading to columns and headers; first select the column index (which highlights the entire column) and apply formatting:

Then you can select the headers or grouped headers and apply formatting:

You won’t technically see any of the column formatting until the schedule is populated with elements (since the columns don’t exist yet), but it’s a nice method to set this up ahead of time.  Start adding some walls in the project later and the schedule uses the formatting you initially set:

“Generic Table”

Want to create a simple “generic table” where you can insert text, parameters, shading, images, etc.?  Well you could use the Revit 2014 schedules title section…

First, create a new schedule and either choose a category you do not have in your project, or alternatively filter the schedule so nothing displays in the body section.

Then under the Schedule Properties > ‘Appearance’ tab, un-check ‘Show Headers’.  Now you unmerge the default title row and add additional rows, text, parameters, images, shading, etc.  And you still get the specific control to resize the column and row dimensions.

Two tips; First use the ‘Clear Cell’ tool to remove the default schedule view name.  You can then use that cell to enter any data you wish.  Second, set up your cell sizes before adding new rows.  The new rows will use the previous row for cell number, size and formatting:

Disclaimer: Keep in mind this isn’t perfect, but should be considered a creative use of the schedules title section.  No schedules were hurt (yet) during this process.

Generic Model Schedule – Volume

First of all Revit 2014 adds Generic Models as a scheduleable category.  While you could schedule generic model elements in Revit 2013 using a Multi-Category Schedule, you did not get the ‘Volume’ parameter (and you needed to creatively filter the schedule).  In Revit 2014 you can both create a generic model schedule and schedule the volume:

Last tip here; don’t forget to double-click on the schedule sheet instance to open the schedule view for editing!

Annotation in Revit Link has Shifted Location in Host Model

We have a previous post that discusses some troubleshooting approaches for missing annotation (from a linked model, in the host model):

Using Annotation from Linked Views & Troubleshooting Missing Annotation

In a related scenario you could potentially see the annotation from the linked model, but it appears at a slightly shifted location.  Similar to this example image:

By default the view (in the linked model) needs to be parallel to the host view, in order for the annotation to display.  However depending on your model size, placement, angle, etc. there could be a slight threshold where Revit will still display the annotation even if it is not technically parallel.  Usually this is very small (under 3/32” variance in the angle between the link and host view).

If this is the case you could potentially see the model geometry correctly but the annotation may display as shifted slightly in the view.  If so the following should help:

1. Use the Wall tool > ‘Pick Lines’ option to add a wall temporarily on the link (so there is a perpendicular reference in the host project).
2. Select the elevation > use the ‘Rotate’ option to rotate the elevation.  Ideally you want to rotate it away to the opposite side and then back so it will clearly snap perpendicular to the wall reference.
3. If the elevation still doesn’t appear correctly, try adding a new elevation to the same area.  The elevation should detect the temporary parallel wall you added.  After the elevation is created the reference wall can be deleted.

Revit 2012 Hotfix Available for .NET 4.5 Contextual Tab Behavior

For Revit 2012 users affected by Microsoft .NET 4.5, a hotfix is now available.  The original post describing this issue has also been updated:

Revit 2013 \ 2012 Contextual Panels do not display or update

The hotfix link is included below:

Hotfix - Autodesk Revit 2012 - Ribbon behavior due to .Net 4.5 installation

This hotfix corrects the behavior of the ribbon panels after .Net 4.5 is installed.

Make sure that Update Release 2 has been applied prior to adding the hotfix. Verify that the build number of Revit 2012 is 20110916_2132. If the build number is 20120126_0600, it indicates that Update Release 2 and the Memory Allocator Hotfix has been applied.

Crash when Right-Clicking or Creating a New Folder in the Open \ Save dialog

I wanted to describe a crash in Revit 2012 & 2013 that was resolved with the Revit 2013 Update Release 1 \ 2 that some users have reported:

The underlying cause is while in the Revit file navigation dialog (such as opening a file or doing a save-as) you do one of 2 things:

• Create a new folder (right-click > New > Folder)
• Right-click and then click ‘Cancel’ out of the file dialog

Revit could potentially crash with an unrecoverable error:

This was resolved as part of the Revit 2013 Update Release 1.  If you’ve ever experienced this behavior I would highly recommend confirming the Revit 2013 update release 2 has been installed (lots of other good improvements with the second release).  If you need the links they are available via our previous post:

Update Release 2 Available for Revit 2013 Products

Color Change in Revit 2012 after Updating Windows 7

For those installing recent optional Windows updates, you may have found that there are changes in Revit (Architecture/MEP/Structure) 2012. 

If you don't like the new color scheme, you can uninstall the update below, or disable Hardware Acceleration in the Revit Options.

Credit: Lance Coffey in Product Support

 

 

 

USACE Revit Templates

Our friends over in Autodesk Consulting have been busy helping the Corps create Revit Platform Templates to help increase adoption and improve delivery quality and consistency.  I thought it would be great to share this with our readers.  

Links to the templates are available from the Autodesk Building Owners page.  You can access them by clicking on that link and going down to bottom of the page.

Here is a little more detail on what this is all about:

The Process

The USACE and Autodesk collaborated to create a BIM Template Team consisting of seasoned CAD/BIM Managers with a working knowledge of Revit. Each member has specific disciplinary strengths and shared a draft working district specific Revit template with the team. Each of the district’s templates were critiqued and tested by the group, and by teams going through BIM Implementations. The feedback was debated and the group decided on revisions and enhancements that supported the intent, purpose and general needs of the USACE.

The Payoff

The upfront time and effort required to set up, configure, and coordinate a Revit project and environment, be can be minimized significantly by deploying a Revit template file (.rte). Revit templates will increase graphic and non graphic consistency across teams, districts and divisions. Templates will provide a team with a common starting point and will improve the overall USACE product and brand.