Daily Occurrence

In-Between

Anthony — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:25:25 +0000

For those of you who haven’t heard, I am currently seeking employment.

If you would like to contact me to discuss any opportunities, consider me interested.
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Default View Template

Anthony — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:49:45 +0000

I’m posting this here because the answer proved difficult to find. In Revit, when you apply a view template to a view, there is an option to make that the default view template for all subsequently created views of the same type. This is done by checking the box in the lower left corner of the Apply View Template dialog to ‘Apply automatically to new views of same type’. To change the default after it is set, just select a different view template and check the box.

Show Hidden Lines Tip

Anthony — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:15:40 +0000

The ‘Show Hidden Lines’ tool in Revit is great, but it currently has a frustrating flaw. You can only select objects to show as hidden if they are *partially* obscured. If they are fully obscured by the object you want them to show through, they cannot be selected as objects to show as hidden lines. The ‘good’ news is that once they are set to show, it’s ok to fully obscure them after the fact. So, to get around this limitation, you have two options that I can find. You can first move one of the objects so you can see part of the hidden one, use the tool, then move it back. If moving isn’t ideal (due to constraints, etc.) you can temporarily switch the view to wireframe and use the tool. Unfortunately wireframe can get a bit messy, but I guess we just do what we have to in this case. #wedogreatworkaroundhere

Tip o’ the Mornin’ to Ya!

Anthony — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:40:15 +0000

When you are keynoting your project and find an element that has no keynote value associated with its type, don’t despair! And don’t resort to using a User Keynote. If you tag it with Element Keynote, the Revit keynote dialog box will appear. When you select the keynote from the list, it not only sets the keynote tag value, but it adds it to the element’s type as well. I really like this. +5 points to Revit!

Missing Dialog Box

Anthony — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:43:09 +0000

I’m actually posting this as a simple timesaver for myself. This is a question that comes up all the time, so don’t feel bad that it’s happening to you. .-) Instead of typing it out each time, now I’ll be able to just link back to here.

A regular occurrence is that often times a dialog box, window, or palette will apparently fail to launch. Most often, this is because it actually opened, but is off the screen. This can happen a lot when alternating between single- and multi-monitor setups, though I’ve seen it happen in otherwise stable environments also. The most common victim of this, in my experience, is the AutoCAD Design Center. Without any further ado, here is the magic code to get it back on screen:

Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A-B-A-[SELECT]-[START] (Just kidding. But if you don’t know that one, you should.)

Here it is for real:

Hold the ALT keyboard button and tap the Spacebar. Then tap the ‘M’ key (for Move). Then tap a directional arrow key (doesn’t matter which one). Then move the mouse and the dialog box should snap to the mouse.

Topo in Section Cut – Bug?

Anthony — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:49:56 +0000

My standard when viewing a building section is to view *only* what the section line is cutting through – not the elements beyond. For this reason, after placing the section in plan view, I drag the bounding box line that represents the far clip offset really close (technical term) to the section line. I don’t see a way to set it to a distance of zero, so I just zoom in and eyeball it (technical term that comes from using Revit). The problem this causes is that where the section cuts through a toposurface the cut fill will not display.

When I increased the far clip offset to 1″ the cut pattern became visible. It turns invisible when the far clip offset is set to any value smaller than 0.89″ in fact. This seems to me to be a bug with the toposurface entity, since none of the other cut patterns in the model behave this way – they are consistently visible. Hopefully this tip will save somebody some time. I won’t say how much time it would have saved me because it’s just too darn embarrassing.

I’ve Fallen, and I Can’t Get Up!

Anthony — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:49:29 +0000

One of the goals of this blog is to document my journey through learning Revit, and one of this project’s exercises provided some good inspiration. (We’re in CDs now, but this was from schematic – I’m just now getting around to posting.)

I needed to create a trellis, and I decided to make it parametric, and face based. Since it was in fact my first shot at a parametric family, there was a decent learning curve. It took some time to get all my reference planes placed, named and flexing properly. I placed my geometry (even needed some nested families), and everything looked great. It wasn’t until I tried to place it on a wall in my project that I realized my mistake:

Apparently that un-deletable object at the bottom of the Generic Model face based template *is* the face to which the family is oriented. My family would have worked fine if I were attaching it to a horizontal surface, but I wanted it to attach to walls so I decided to rotate what I could in the family and re-create the rest. The good news? Work always goes faster the second time around. .-)

Outta My Way! (Interference)

Anthony — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:54:04 +0000

Some would call this a workaround. Well, it is.

AutoCAD Architecture wall objects allow Interference Conditions. I use this feature to show my wall boundary being cut by recessed fire extinguisher cabinets. The block I use for the cabinets includes a mass element, which is what cuts the wall. A problem arises when attempting to use more than one fire extinguisher on a single wall. Apparently there is a rule with Interference Conditions that a single item cannot be attached to a wall more than once. Even though each instance of the block has a unique handle, the mass elements within each block all are technically the same object.

This leaves two options:

1.) Break the wall into two separate walls.

2.) Create a duplicate block definition, and make sure to copy the mass element so its handle is different from the original.

Either choice should work fine, but I chose to create a new block because I didn’t want to break the wall. Plus, I now have an extra block ready to use next time I encounter the same problem.

Waste and Sadness

Anthony — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:09:42 +0000

The recent change in the way the Autodesk discussion groups are accessed is a complete and total waste. I said I would give it a fair shake, and I have. As someone I respect said, “A wasted day in your life is more than a crime.” Well, I’ve wasted enough of my time. I’ve taken a look at a forum system I use occasionally, and the difference in usability is staggering. It would waste even more time to go through a point-by-point comparison, but I feel I can safely say that:

This is to this

This is to this.

If you like your critiques to be a bit more detailed, head on over to blog nauseam, where Steve Johnson lays it out decently.

As a final point, major kudos to the Lithium marketing team – you’re doing it right.

Shark Jumping

Anthony — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:38:29 +0000

Here is my general Autodesk rant of the day.

I used to really like the Autodesk forums. I enjoyed knowing that I had input that would help others, and having a place to go where I could get answers when I couldn’t figure something out on my own. Well, with the discontinuation of NNTP access we are stuck with the “new and improved” web version. I think

the poll option of ‘disastrous’ that Steve Johnson offers sums it up nicely. Of course,I am still using the forum and giving it a fair shot at proving itself. The first problem is that the features continuously disappoint. The second problem is that I will have to go on using them anyway because I don’t really have any good options.

Let’s explore the other options, shall we?

F1.

I’m even willing to forgive the fact that there hasn’t been a decent user manual since AutoCAD R14. The new online helps falls horribly short of its mark of providing help. (Hmmm, a thought just occurred to me. Maybe it met its mark, and it’s just that the development team for that ‘feature’ have really low standards.) I used to be able to answer a good majority of my questions by searching the help file. Search hardly works at all in the online version. It seems they would rather you browse categorically than search. Hopefully the topics are categorized the way I think they should be.

Reseller tech support.

The fine folks at CAD Masters are quite knowledgeable, and they are friendly enough that I would feel bad calling them 15 times a day with every little question. Maybe I should start calling Autodesk Subscription Support?

3rd-Part Texts.

The ‘Mastering’ books by Paul Aubin have probably been the most helpful resource over the years aside from the forums. The only problem here is that no text can be fully exhaustive and there will always be a specific condition or question that simply requires an expert on hand to offer wisdom.

I am in the process of learning Revit Architecture, and this change couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time for me. So yeah, I’ll continue to trudge on in the forums, but only because they are still a resource I need to excel in my learning at this stage of my career.