Friday, July 16, 2010

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.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Video: Troubleshooting Product Stability in Revit

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.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Rendering processor core limit for Revit 2011 products

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.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Clean uninstall of Autodesk Revit 2011 products

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.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Video: Post Installation Tasks for Autodesk Revit 2011 Products

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

Friday, June 18, 2010

Video: Troubleshooting Worksharing

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.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

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.

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