Converting an .exe into a .msp - Repost

Noce post from Revitit.com

You are doing an install and you want to convert the .exe SP into a .mps.

See the video here

Autodesk User Research - Call for Participation

We are looking for Architects, Drafters, Designers and CAD Managers who use Revit Architecture or other products to design stairs or railings, to participate in a usability study of some Autodesk software concepts. The sessions are approximately 90 minutes long. If you are interested in participating, please take a few minutes to fill in this short questionnaire. Participants who are a good match for our study will be contacted within a few days.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/stairs_railings

Your involvement helps make our products better.

Thanks,

The Autodesk User Experience Team

Howayda Affan
UX Recruiter
User Research
AEC Industry Group           


 

Revit OpEd: Revit MEP - Sanitary Venting and Fixture Units

Revit OpEd: Revit MEP - Sanitary Venting and Fixture Units: "Revit will push drainage/waste fixture units downstream to the end of the system. If three water closets are assigned four (4) waste fixture..."

Revit OpEd: Revit API - Getting Started

Revit OpEd: Revit API - Getting Started: "I keep meaning to do this myself. I was gathering information and happened to see a post at the Revit Forum asking the same question essenti..."

Revit OpEd: AUGI | AEC EDGE Fall 2010 Available

Revit OpEd: AUGI | AEC EDGE Fall 2010 Available: "The newest issue of AUGI | AEC EDGE, Fall 2010, is now available. There are high and low resolution pdf copies available now. I'm not sure..."

Revit OpEd: IDEATE BIM Link - Sneak Peek

Revit OpEd: IDEATE BIM Link - Sneak Peek: "I spoke with a couple folks at IDEATE the other day and they let me know about something they've been working hard on. It will become availa..."

Revit OpEd: Dept. of Events - New Books at BUGIE Next Week

Revit OpEd: Dept. of Events - New Books at BUGIE Next Week: "I will be making two copies of the new book available for the BIM User Group of Inland Empire (BUGIE) meeting next week, October 26, 2010. ..."

Revit OpEd: Dept. of Events - New Books at SCRUG Next Week

Revit OpEd: Dept. of Events - New Books at SCRUG Next Week: "I will be making two copies of the new book available for the South Coast Revit User Group (SCRUG) meeting next week, October 28, 2010. Ju..."

Workset Visibility in Revit 2011 - Inside the System

Workset Visibility in Revit 2011

From Inside the System

Has this ever happened to you?

"Frankly, I’m annoyed by having to turn on my workset every time I create a new view. "

When a workset is created, there is an option to make it not visible by default. If you've run into the scenario above, this box was unchecked when the workset was created.

One work-around is to create a new workset that is 'Visible in all views', and then delete the original workset. When you delete a workset that contains elements, you have to option to move those elements to another workset, so you can move them to the newly created workset. However, be aware that when you do this, those elements may be visible in views where they weren't previously visible (assuming their category is visible in those views). So, you may need to 'clean up' after yourself, to turn off the worksets where they're not needed.

New in 2011 is the ability to change your mind about the workset visibility default. In the worksets dialow, there is a new column titled 'Visible in all views' where you can toggle this setting.

This setting is then tied to the 'Use Global Setting' option in a view's visibility graphic overrides settings. The Global Setting will indicate Visible or Not Visible as appropriate. You also have the options of Show and Hide as in previous releases.

I have advised against unchecking the 'Visible in all views' option prior to 2011, because if a file had worksets marked as such, there was no way to turn on the worksets when linked into a host model. However, now with 2011, you have the ability to control the visiblity of worksets in linked files.

However, I would still advise to exercise judgement when making something not visible by default. Consider a scenario where roof drains are on a workset marked not visible in all views in the architectural model. The plumbing designer, not knowing any better, doesn't go looking for roof drains in toggled off worksets.. he just expects to see them if they exist in the project. IMO, it is better to have things visible, then turned off by the 'view owner' if/when not needed.

Better control of workset visibility, especially for linked files, is a great enhancement in Revit 2011.

Where is the ceiling?!!? Check the Underlay Orientation - Revit Clinic

Where is the ceiling?!!? Check the Underlay Orientation

from The Revit Clinic

Fewer things in life are more frustrating then when you think you have all the bases covered, and yet you’ve overlooked the obvious.

Here’s a real-life example: A friend of mine owned a lawn mower that would not start. So after doing a little research online (as he was not a small engine mechanic by trade), he performed some basic maintenance: cleaned fuel filter, carburetor and belts, checked the spark plug, and changed the oil. Satisfied that he did everything by the book, he put the mower back together and gave the pull-cord a yank. No dice. He tried again. Nothing. Getting frustrated, he started the tried-and-true method of kicking the mower. Still wouldn’t start. Finally, after calling the (inanimate) mower a slew of bad names and threatening the (lifeless) mower with certain harm and even permanent injury, I….umm..I mean, my friend thought, ‘Hmmm. I wonder if there’s enough gasoline in the tank’.

We all know how this story ends. Gas was added and mower started on the second try. Despite being so thorough, the obvious item (gas) was overlooked. My buddy felt kinda silly, but you can bet that will be one of the first things he’ll check next time.

The same principle applies to resolving issues in Revit. Sometimes, it’s the seemingly obvious things that we forget to check. One specific issue that has come up several times from Revit MEP users is the inability to see the ceiling grid in their ceiling plan views, particularly when the ceiling is on a linked model. In most of these cases, customers have done their due diligence and checked all the right things:

• Ceiling category is on in Visibility/Graphics
• Worksets are visible
• The view range settings are correct
• The view discipline is set properly
• The correct view template has been applied
• The linked model actually has a ceiling grid

Yet, after verifying all of this, the ceiling still does not appear. Frustrating. But, what is the one thing that these individuals often overlook? It is the Underlay Orientation setting in the view properties.

In Revit MEP, Underlay Orientation can be set to either Plan or Reflected Ceiling Plan. By default, this parameter is set to Plan when creating new reflected ceiling plan views. As long as it is set to Plan, the ceiling grid will not be visible. Seems so obvious, right? Well, not necessarily. With good reason, most users assume that applying a ceiling plan view template (i.e. Mechanical Ceiling), would cause the ceiling to appear. Unfortunately, Underlay Orientation is not controlled by a view template; it has to be manually changed in the view to Reflected Ceiling Plan. This is the part that is not so obvious, which is why I employed the formatting trifecta of bold, italics and underline to emphasize it (similar to: Mower needs gas to start!!!)

Here is a brief video illustrating this. In the video, you’ll note that new levels are copied/monitored from the link, and new reflected ceiling plans are created from these levels. However, no ceiling grid appears in the view. Applying the mechanical ceiling view template doesn’t work either. It’s not until the Underlay Orientation setting is changed in the properties window that the ceiling appears.

I hope that highlighting this not-so-obvious step will help our readers avoid the frustrating process of trying to do something as basic as displaying a ceiling grid in their Revit MEP project. At the very least, this knowledge might help you avoid acting like this guy. Screaming at inanimate, lifeless objects like Revit seldom works; it didn’t work for me……uhhhhh.…I mean….my friend.

Oh, and by the way, to answer your question: Yes, a wish request has been logged to have Underlay Orientation automatically set to Reflected Ceiling Plan when creating a reflected ceiling plan view.

Silenting installing Revit Add-ons

Working for an organization with multi offices, installing software can be a time consuming. I'm not IT, don't want to be IT, but making sure that everyone has functioning software is more often than not something a BIM or CAD Manager needs to attend to.

To minimize time someone has to spend installing software, I wanted to create a batch file to install Revit and then the add-ons. The only interaction I want to have to do for the install if to double click on a single file and walk away. Working with some of the talented people at Autodesk I have been able to create a batch file to install the main product and several add-ons for Revit. The add-ons, like worksharing monitor are the tricky ones to silently (no user interaction) to install.

To automate the install process, the first thing I did was create a network deployment. Autodesk's Help file provides some basic information on completing that task. For add-ons that are a standard .msi file, I used one of the following command lines to install the software in silent mode (thank you Anthony).

msiexec /i /quiet
msiexec /i /passive
msiexec /i /qn (No UI)
msiexec /i /qb (Basic UI)
msiexec /i /qr (Reduced UI)

I now could then make my batch file to install Revit. The following is the basic syntax for installing:

pushd \\network folder install location
RevitVersion.lnk (name of the network deployment shortcut)
msiexec /i addonname.msi /quiet

Below is the batch file that I created for our Revit Architecture 2011 64-bit install. Note that we store our add-ons in a different folder location so we don't need to have duplicate copies for 64 and 32-bit versions as well as Revit flavors. Comments are shown in itlaic

pushd \\adclic03\bim\Installs\RAC2011\64-bit\
RAC2011-64.lnk
popd (This resets the folder location)
pushd \\adclic03\bim\Installs\RAC2011\Additional add-ons\ (location for 2011 add-ons)
msiexec /i worksharingmonitor.msi /quiet (installs worksharing monitor)
msiexec /i globelink2011.msi /quiet (installs globe link)
msiexec /i 2011dblinksetup.msi /quiet (installs DB Link)

This has simplified the install procedures, but we must still install any add-ons that are an .EXE separately like the Revit Extensions. I'm sure there is a way to do that, just haven't found it yet.

There are of course other methods to install apps, like pushing thru Group Policy, but I don't have a means to perform that. If you have any suggestions or comments, let me know.

Revit OpEd: Dept. of Subtle - Moving Fields in a Schedule

Revit OpEd: Dept. of Subtle - Moving Fields in a Schedule: "As you probably already know, moving schedule fields around is limited to a Move Up and Move Down button in the Schedule properties dialog. ..."

Worksharing Monitor does not show any worksharing enabled projects open

Very Helpful article from the Revit Clinic on troubleshooting the Worksharing Monitor.

Revit Add-ons - DotSoft

I thought I would start a running list of add-on tools that I have used, come across or have been recommended to me by friends and colleagues.

DotSoft - Never used the tools and would be interested in any feedback anyone has who has used these tools.

DotSoft Welcomes You

Thank you for visiting our web site. DotSoft has began started porting our industry leading CAD productivity products to Revit. Our mission is to provide low cost solutions in the form of high quality software.

Excel2Revit

Overcomes the limits and problems associated with placement of Excel spreadsheets inside Revit. It creates and maintains DWG/DXF files of named ranges in Excel that are linked in Revit. The results are lines, fills and mtext that can plot without problems and are highly portable to others.

Word2Revit

Place Word documents into Revit projects. It creates and maintains DWG/DXF files of Word documents that are linked in Revit. You simply select your area of interest and click an icon to create the DWG file. The best part is that as changes are made in Word the DWG files are updated when the document is saved or closed.

Pdf2Revit

Converts PDF files to DWG/DXF which can be placed or linked in Revit. Using our conversion tool, if the PDF file contains vector geometry, it will result in highly usable polylines in CAD. Text annotations become text objects.

Video: Troubleshooting Product Stability in Revit

Published date: 2010-Mar-24 ID: TS13899709 Applies to: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2011 Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2010 Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2011 Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2010 Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2011 Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2010

Issue

You would like to know how to troubleshoot product crashes within Revit

Solution

In this video, we will discuss the common methods to troubleshoot and solve Product Stability issues and crashes with Revit products. It will discuss the types of crashes, how to identify them, and common things you can do to solve them.

Rendering processor core limit for Revit 2011 products

Published date: 2010-Mar-24 ID: TS14633072 Applies to: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2011 Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2011 Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2011

Issue

You would like to know if the 4 processor core limit is still in place when rendering in Revit® 2011 products.

Solution

Revit 2011 products no longer limit the rendering process to 4 cores as in Revit 2009 and 2010 products. Revit 2011 products can take advantage of the total number of processor cores on the workstation during rendering.

Clean uninstall of Autodesk Revit 2011 products

Published date: 2010-Apr-12 ID: TS14633513 Applies to: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2011 Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2011 Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2011

Issue

There may be circumstances where Autodesk Revit® 2011 products need to be removed from the workstation. The following process will ensure all residual files are properly removed as well.

Solution

To uninstall Revit 2011 products and remove any remnants from your system, use the following procedure. The end result is a clean system on which you can reinstall. Please ensure to backup any custom family or template files prior to following this procedure:

1. Log on as a Local System Administrator and disable any Antivirus programs.
   
   
2. In the Windows XP Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > remove the specific Revit 2011 product. For Windows Vista & Windows 7, Control Panel > Programs and Features > Uninstall.
   
   
3. In the Windows XP Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > remove the 3 Autodesk 2011 Material Libraries in the following order. For Windows Vista & Windows 7, Control Panel > Programs and Features > Uninstall:
   
   •Autodesk Material Library 2011 Medium Image Library
   •Autodesk Material Library 2011 Base Image Library
   •Autodesk Material Library 2011
   
   
4. After the product is uninstalled, use Windows Explorer to locate and delete the following folders as appropriate. For steps 3 & 4 substitute the product name below based on which Revit 2011 product you are uninstalling; all paths listed by default are for Revit Architecture 2011:

   
   Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 & RAC 2011
   Autodesk Revit Structure 2011 & RST 2011
   Autodesk Revit MEP 2011 & RME 2011

   Where %username% is present below substitute the current Windows login name.

   For Windows XP installations (32 and 64 bit):
   • C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit Architecture 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Autodesk\REVIT\2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\RAC 2011

   For Windows Vista and Windows 7 installations (32 and 64 bit):
   • C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit Architecture 2011
   • C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RAC 2011
   • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\2011

5. Open the system registry and locate then delete the following registry keys listed below as appropriate (Windows Start menu > Run > Regedit).

   Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com.

   Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft Knowledge Base and in the related solution, TS66513. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.
   
   For 32-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\RAC 2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\2011
   
   For 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\RAC 2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\2011
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011

6. Restart the workstation.

Before reinstalling Revit products

1. In Windows Explorer, delete the contents of your Windows Temp folder, but do not delete the Windows Temp folder itself. You can locate the Temp folder by entering %TEMP% in the Address bar of Windows Explorer.
2. Use the End Task feature to end any anti-virus programs.

Note: Disabling anti-virus programs from the system tray may not be sufficient. Virus checking programs may block certain activities that are seen as suspicious (for example, accessing the registry, adding/removing/updating DLL files, and so on), even though these activities are common when installing or removing programs.

Several anti-virus programs can be disabled by right-clicking the taskbar icon and selecting Disable from the shortcut menu. For more information about disabling your anti-virus software, refer to the vendor of that software.

Important! It is important that you not only disable the anti-virus software but also use the End Task feature to end the anti-virus software.

To verify that an anti-virus program is not still running in the background as a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident Program):

Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7

1. Press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Delete].
2. Click Task Manager.
3. On the Processes tab of the Task Manager, select the process for the anti-virus program and then click End Process.

You are now ready to install Revit 2011 products on the clean system.

Video: Post Installation Tasks for Autodesk Revit 2011 Products

Published date: 2010-Apr-14 ID: TS14877683 Applies to: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2011 Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2011 Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2011

Issue

You would like to know how to complete the common tasks that are performed after the installation of Autodesk Revit 2011 products

Solution

Watch the video below for a explaination of the common post installation tasks.

Note: This video says Revit Architecture 2011, but the process is the same for all Autodesk Revit 2011 products

Video: Troubleshooting Worksharing

Published date: 2010-Mar-24 ID: TS14877765 Applies to: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2011 Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2011 Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2011

Issue

You would like to know how to troubleshoot worksharing related problems in Autodesk Revit Architecture products.

Solution

In the video below, learn how to reproduce, troubleshooting and understand what data is needed to help customers with worksharing problems in Revit products. Understand the best practices for Worksharing and how they can benefit users.

Resetting the Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 user interface

from Autodesk.com

Published date: 2010-Mar-24 ID: TS14880949 Applies to: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2011

You would like to reset the Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2011 user interface (i.e. the Ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar, and Project Browser) back to the out-of-the-box version and remove any customization that has been applied.

Have us do it for you:

Download and run the following script on your computer:

autodesk_revit_architecture_ui_reset_2011.vbs (vbs - 6Kb)

Do It Yourself:

Warning! This script may delete a file on your computer. It also removes a Windows Registry key. Do not use it without consulting your system administrator first.

To reset the ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar:

• Rename or delete the UIState.dat file located in the Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 folder, which can be found in one of the following locations, depending on your operating system:
  
  Windows XP
  
  %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011
  
  Windows Vista
  
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011

To reset your Project Browser to the default location:

• Using the Windows Registry editor, rename the following registry key:
  
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011\Components\Panels

Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com/support.

Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft Knowledge Base and in the related solution, TS66513. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.