The Revit Clinic

Revit Subscription Advantage Pack Hotfix Available

A new hotfix was released today for anyone running the Revit Architecture 2010 Subscription Advantage Build # 20090925_1815.

After applying the Subscription Advantage Pack for Revit Architecture 2010, the structural settings dialog is no longer accessible.  The included hotfix will resolve this issue. 

I have included both the technical solution with additional information as well as a link to the hotfix below:

Structural Settings dialog is not accessible after applying Revit Architecture 2010 Subscription Advantage Pack

Hotfix - Revit subscription advantage pack structural settings dialog

New HotFix Available

A new Wall hotfix has been posted.  This hot fix applies to Revit Architecture, Structure, and MEP and addresses a issue that causes a crash when modifying or deleting walls. 

Files are included to fix Update Release 2 or the Subscription Advantage Pack, so make sure you download and install the correct files.

Also, make sure to go over the readme files included.  

Hotfix - Crash when modifying walls update 2 & subscription advantage pack release

Recessed Can Light Fixtures not Casting Light in Rendering

At one point or another you may have found yourself troubleshooting light fixtures that were not casting light in a rendering.  More often than not these may have been recessed can light fixtures.

Before we get into the 2 approaches for troubleshooting light fixtures, I want to pass along a technical solution which includes items to verify for rendering issues:

Rendering or material appears black

The most common cause for a recessed can rendering issue is a floor object directly above the ceiling object.  Because the light fixtures are hosted on the ceiling, they will cut an opening in the ceiling.  They will not cut an opening in the separate floor object.

If the floor object is close to the recessed can, and overlapping the geometry, the light source definition will be buried inside the floor.  Because of this no light will be cast when the scene is rendered.

There are 2 approaches below for this scenario:

1.  Temporarily hide the floor object if it is not visible in the scene

The easiest approach would be to temporarily hide the floor object.  If the ceiling object covers it in the view, simply turning it off would remove the obstruction.

2.  Create voids in the floor around the recessed can light fixture

By creating an in-place component void extrusion, and cutting the void out of the floor object, we can create an opening around the recessed can fixture.  This will ensure there is no obstruction for the light source and will render the scene as expected.