The Revit Clinic

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.

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

Crash Accessing the Sun Settings Dialog

I wanted to bring up an issue I've seen reported a few times: sometimes Revit 2013 products will crash when accessing the Sun Settings dialog.

This will occur if the Sun Setting field for the view is blank in the Graphic Display Options dialog:

To resolve the crash you have two options:

1. You can update your 2013 installation to UR2, where the issue is resolved.
2. If you are unable to update to UR2 you can apply a view template to the view that has a value for the Sun Setting field, which will resolve the crashing.

 

Load as Group and Project Parameters

Load as Group gives you the ability to load a Revit project as a group into the current project. 

The project that you are loading (as a group) may contain various project parameters.  Revit determines whether a parameter will come along for the ride based on if that parameter is actually in use.   Two examples:

You have a typical unit .rvt project that contains walls, doors, furniture and casework objects.  There are project parameters for those categories as well as parameters for floors, windows and generic models.  When you load this project as a group the parameters for floors, windows and generic models are not loaded into the host project, because there are no matching objects of those categories (in the project you are loading as a group).

You have a typical floor layout .rvt that consists only of walls.  There are 10 project parameters for walls.  3 of the wall parameters contain no data for any wall instance.  You load this project as a group and note that only 7 parameters were loaded into the project.  All it takes is 1 wall instance to contain some parameter value for it to be loaded.

This way you won’t unnecessarily populate your project with hundreds of unused parameters, while still bringing any active parameters that contain data.

Windows 8 and Revit

With the release of Windows 8, we are getting many questions regarding support for Autodesk products in this new environment.

We have released the following Knowledge Base Document, which lists the Support Products in Windows 8, along with our policy regarding support.

Windows 8 Support for Autodesk products

NOTE: As mentioned in the document, it will be updated as new information becomes available, so make sure to check in every once in a while.

RSN.ini and File Extensions

As the RSN.ini provides the Revit application workstation  which Hosts are visible during file navigation, as well as determines which Hosts can be accessed through the Revit Server Administrator from an Admin Server, it is one of the more important files in the Revit Server Network.

We have seen that even though the RSN.ini is in the proper location, the workstation cannot see any Host Servers in the Revit Server Network, or the Admin Server cannot access Host Servers through Revit Server Admin.

In a few of these cases, the issue was that in certain environments, Windows hides the file extension for known file types, Text documents being one of them.

Therefore, a user may think they have created an RSN.ini file, when in reality they have created an RSN.ini.txt file, which Revit does not recognize.  

 

 

 

 
The fix is to make sure the Type for the RSN.ini says "Configuration" as in the screenshot above.

To have Windows show the file extensions go to Control Panel  > Folder Options > View > Advanced Settings then make sure "Hide extensions for known file types" is unchecked, as in the screenshot below:

Revit user-interface ribbon appears blank for some tabs

A few users have reported completely blank ribbon tabs while other tabs appear normal.

If this occurs the entire tab may look similar to the image below:

If you should run into this behavior there are a few recommendations to correct the display:

1.  Use the ‘Restore Down’ option or ‘Maximize’ depending on your current state to adjust the size of the Revit window.  This action should force a redraw \ re-size of all panels and typically corrects the ribbon:

2. Closing and re-opening Revit should also correct the display.

Why could this occur?  Under some situations having Revit on a second display, changing the display resolution mid-session, or returning from a print \ print preview could trigger this appearance.

Afterward it should appear as expected:

Multi-Segment Grids – Multiple Segments Visible in an Elevation \ Section View

For multi-segment grids you could potentially have several grid segments [of the same gridline] perpendicular to an elevation \ section view.  As with standard grids, when a datum element is perpendicular to the view by default it will display.

For example, if you have a multi-segment grid in plan similar to this shape the elevation view would display the following:

If you run into this scenario and do not want to show both grid segments you can utilize the View Properties > Far Clipping.  If the elevation \ section far clipping point terminates before the second perpendicular gridline it would not display in the view:

Datum Extents and Visibility

Revit 2013 \ 2012 Contextual Panels do not display or update

We’ve had a few users report missing panels or contextual panels one command behind in Revit 2012 and 2013.  The symptom looks similar to the image comparison below:

Revit 2013 – Incorrect Result

Notice on selection the expected contextual panels are not displayed.  See the image below for the expected result:

Revit 2013 – Expected Result

This behavior can be reproduced when Microsoft® .NET® 4.5 is installed.

If you are experiencing this behavior with Revit 2012 or 2013 there are 2 updates available:

Revit 2012

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

Revit 2013

Revit 2013 Update Release 2 Links

Glazing Appears Through Walls in Revit 2013

In Revit 2013 you may have found that your window glazing is appearing through walls in some of your view styles in 3D:

The cause of this issue is likely an out of date display driver. You can find the Certified/Recommended graphics card drivers for 2013 at the Certified Hardware page.