MasterGraphics Weblog
Archive for the ‘Building / AEC’ Category
Play It, Sam
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
Many of you already know (and love?) FLEXLM utilities that are needed for network licensing of Autodesk products. Did you also know that there is a utility that comes free with most Autodesk products and can be used for more in-depth license reporting? The utility I’m talking about is SamReport-Lite, by Macrovision.
With this tool you can get a very clear picture of how many licenses are being used and by whom throughout the day. It can help you make decisions as to whether or not you need more licences.
The only trouble is that the documentation that comes on the DVD is not Autodesk-specific and is confusing. People commonly get Java error messages installing off the DVD and just give up.
The following instructions will get you past all the confusion. As long as you know how to install FlexLM, you can get through the document.
Good luck and happy reporting!
AutoCAD Architecture 2009 Updated and New Features!!
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Yes, new and updated features for AutoCAD Architecture 2009 are listed below!! I’ve given a very brief description of each enhancement for now and will post more about each one as time permits. This list may not be all of the enhancements and I will post more as they become available…or I find them! I will be posting screen shots and little video’s as time permits.
Support for 64 bit OS
Documentation & Reporting Enhancements
Spaces
- AutoCAD Linework Natively Space Bounding
- Freeform Shape Improvements – Curved surfaces show as one segment.
- Cleanup through Xrefs Improvements – Will interact with bounding elements in xrefs.
Annotation
- Multiline text in tags
- Display Configurations linked to Annotation Scale
- Multi-leaders
Object Enhancements
Walls
- Layout Enhancements – On-the-fly Justification manipulation.
- Endcap edit-in-place and Auto-Calculate Improvements
- Cleanups – Now include Solution Tips for cleanup issues.
Matching Integration w/ MatchProps – Can now match AEC Objects.
Solution Tips for Defect Markers – Identify the problem in any cleanup situation for AEC Objects like walls, stairs, slabs, etc.
Project Navigator Enhancements
-Remove Zero Document/Current Drawing Limitations
-Multiple Insertions of Same View on Sheets
-Improved Repath
-Project Properties Worksheet Enhancements
-‘Show External Reference’ Enhancements
Miscellaneous Enhancements
gbXML
IFC Enhancements
Material Tool – Easily apply a material to an Object, including AutoCAD entities.
Dialog Resizing – All dialogs are now resizable.
Revit Architecture 2009 Updated and New Features!!
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Yes, new and updated features for Revit Architecture 2009 are listed below!!
There are 3 main buckets of enhancements for 2009…Improved Design and Visualization Tools, Better Control and Flexibility, and Improved User Interaction. I’ve given a very brief description of each enhancement for now and will post more about each one as time permits. This list may not be all of the enhancements and I will post more as they become available…or I find them! I will also be posting more about each topic with examples through screen shots or small video clips in the near future.
Improved Design and Visualization Tools
Rendering Enhancements
- The AccuRender® rendering engine has been replaced with the mental ray® rendering engine.
Swept Blend
- A new tool blending a Sweep with a Blend.
Curved Edges in Sloped Slabs
- You can now have cureved edges in your floors and roof and utilize the Sloping tools.
Mass Floor Area and Volume
- When you create mass floors, Revit Architecture now calculates the area and perimeter of each mass floor and the exterior surface area and volume of the slice of space above it. Mass floors can be tagged individually and scheduled.
Sloped Pads
- You can now have sloped Pads by utilizing a Slope Arrow.
Better Control and Flexibility
Room Enhancements
- Room Volume Calculations can now be set by Level Type, Volume calculation always go to the finish face, Rooms can extend down as well as up, and you can select Rooms in Sections and Elevations.
- Room Graphics in Section and Elevation views will now display the accurate boundary, you can modify the top and bottom limits with grips, and Color Fills (Schemes) can be applied in Section & Elevation.
- Room Bounding elements can now be Pads as well as Links.
- Rooms can be tagged using Tag all not Tagged, Room Tags can now move in other views if the room is moved and the tag resides outside the boundary.
Dimension Enhancements
- Dimensions can be overridden with text (but not with another dimension value). You can now also add text strings above, below, before and after the dimensions.
- Dimension to Intersections and to Circle, Arc, or Ellipse Centers.
- Dimension text now has the same formatting options as other text.
- Baseline Dimensions and Ordinate Dimensions are now available.
Revision Enhancements
- Revisions can now be numbered alphabetically, numerically, or as a combination of both.
- Revisions can build a table from the bottom-up, not just top-down.
- Revision schedules can be rotated on a sheet.
Unit Formatting Enhancements
- A new Currency value has been added for Numbers and Cost fields.
- A new Slope unit has been added to report slope.
Phasing Graphic Override
- Phasing graphic overrides now use an interface consistent with Visibility/Graphics
- Line styles: color, weight, pattern (for both cut/projection)
- Fill patterns: visibility, color, style (for both cut/surface)
Links
- Now have the ability to control the display of linked views in section, elevation, and 3D views.
- Phase Mapping Between Linked Projects
Linework Additional Edge Types
- The Linework Tool now works on Edges in linked Revit files when displayed “By Host”, Polylines (generally from imports), and Projection edges caused by plan regions.
DWFx Support
- Support is now included for Microsoft’s XML Paper Specification (XPS) format of easy distribution on the Vista® platform supported by the XPS Viewer.
Improved User Interaction
Recent Files Window
- Upon start-up Revit Architecture will now display a graphical list of recently edited files and families, and links to Help, Tutorials, and content.
View Navigation Tools
- The ViewCube and SteeringWheels have been added to Revit Architecture.
Warning Enhancements
- When an element that is associated with a warning is detected, the element will display a small warning icon in the Options Bar.
- The Review Warnings dialog has a new Export command.
Granular View Templates
- View properties can now be applied selectively using view templates.
Snap Overrides
- Snap overrides are now listed under a “Snap Overrides” menu accessible from the right-click context menu.
- The “Close” snap override has been created to provide an ability to snap to the beginning of a chain of two or more lines.
Memorize These Key-ins
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
If your AutoCAD based product is acting weird, knowing a few common troubleshooting tricks can mean the difference between hours of work and hours of frustration.
The following tricks will work for any AutoCAD based product such as AutoCAD Architecture, Civil 3D, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Mechanical and AutoCAD Electrical.
Trick 1: FILEDIA
Filedia should be set to 1 for dialog boxes to appear. Say you go to File > Open and are prompted for the file path along the command line. This especially is the case after a recent crash. Type FILEDIA at the command line and you’ll be back in business in no time.
Trick 2: ALT Spacebar M
For some reason your layer manager is not appearing. Autocad is not crashing - but it appears frozen until you hit the ESC key. What really happening is that your layer manager dialog box is off in “lala land”. To get it back, hit ALT and Spacebar at the same time. Let go then type M. You are now in a mode where you can relocate the dialog box with the arrow keys.
Trick 3: AUDIT
This is another command line entry that basically tells Autocad “heal thyself!” Follow the prompts and type Y to fix any detectable errors.
I’ll post more tricks like these in the near future. In the meantime, ENJOY!
Additional Revit MEP Content
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
We would like to let everybody know that Autodesk has just released their Revit MEP Content Extension on their website. There’s more MEP content that needs to be built, but this is a step in the right direction. The Revit MEP® Content Extension provides new content for Revit MEP users. Both Imperial and Metric versions of the content are available for download below, in ZIP format. After download, users can then uncompress the file to the desired content location.
Before You Download
The content files are compressed with their path information included back to the root directory of the folder structure installed with Revit® MEP 2008 Web Update #2. For example, in a default installation of Imperial content, the ZIP file would be uncompressed at:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\RME 2008\Imperial Library In this situation, all files will be uncompressed to the correct folders.Click Here to Download
Additional Revit Structure Content
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
Being on Subscription has it’s privileges. There is additional content in a new Structural Library for Revit® Structure 2008 and a new Truss Wizard program that subscription customers can download from their subscription center site.
The Subscription Structural Library provides some new structural content such as Families (.rfa), Type Catalogs (.txt) and/or Project Templates (.rte) for Revit® Structure 2008. After the download, subscription user can uncompress the .zip package using WinZip and then load the content into the project.
Revit® Structure 2008 also offers Subscription customers an application to help model and create trusses using industry-standard truss profiles as templates. Users can define the number of panels, peak locations, and truss heights as well as truss member sizes, and the TrussWizard creates the truss within the Revit Structure model.
Building Product Search Module Now Available to AutoCAD Architecture Subscription Holders
Thursday, October 25th, 2007
Now AutoCAD® Architecture software subscription customers can rapidly access hundreds of building manufacturer product catalogs, increase productivity, and streamline workflow with the Building Product Search Module for AutoCAD Architecture software via a free plug-in from Architectural Data Systems (ADS). (Free products are subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies download of the software.)The Building Product Search module allows users to integrate product selection and specification writing within AutoCAD Architecture software. It provides rapid electronic access to more than 1,250 building product catalogs from hundreds of manufacturers. As products are selected, up-to-date specifications are automatically created, consolidating a multi-step process into a single step. For product support, customers should contact ADS directly at 800-358-4445 or help@ads-aec.com. Customers can find tutorials on how to use the module within the product.
Adding Us as a Feed
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Do you like the tips and advice you get from the MasterGraphics Blog? Why not get updates sent to your inbox by signing up for our RSS feed?
To do so, click on the following link, then click “Subscribe to this feed”
http://www.masterg.com/wordpress/rss/
Displaying Revit MEP Systems by Color
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
If you look at your Revit MEP model, and you see the confusing winding of piping and duct running through your model, and wonder what system that pipe or duct belongs to? There are ways to show your systems in various colors to make it easier to understand and view your model at a quick glance. You can set up a filter to apply colors by System Type, or by System Name, whatever you want. Check out the Filters applied to the default template in RME 2008 as a guide.
Line Styles by Pipe Type
You need to use View Filters to accomplish this task.
1. Settings -> Filters… Here you define the Filters that will exist in the project.
2. Select a view in the Project Browser that you want to apply these filters on, go to Properties -> Visibility Graphics Overrides… -> Filters tab. Here you will select a filter you defined in step 1 and define visual overrides for elements that are returned by the filter.
3. Go to that view, note that your Filters have been applied and there is a visual difference between your systems.
Keep in mind that Filters can be part of a View Template, so you don’t need to define these for each individual view.
Improve workstation performance when running AutoCAD MEP
Thursday, September 27th, 2007
Discover tips and techniques from Autodesk that can improve workstation performance when running AutoCAD MEP. This paper explores methods of maximizing workstation performance when using your CAD application on large projects.
For Project Managers and CAD ManagersThe following tips and techniques are for project managers and CAD managers responsible for rolling out software releases, establishing requirements, managing projects, supporting CAD users, and so forth.
Work in the Latest Release
Each new release of AutoCAD MEP is designed to handle larger and morecomplex projects. Each new release contains significant advances in performance as well as new features and enhancements that further streamline work processes. These improvements enable you to work faster and reduce the time it takes to perform complex tasks.
Standardize on Drawing Format
Over the course of a project, team members use different versions of AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, or AutoCAD MEP software to create data, especially if the project uses drawings from a client or subcontractor. However, these drawings are converted to current file format on the fly every time they are opened or referenced through an external reference file (xref). Opening and saving earlier-version project drawings in the current release eliminates this time-consuming conversion, thus freeing resources and shortening the time to open the drawings.
Manage Proxies
Drawings may contain proxies of custom objects created in other AutoCAD-based applications or third-party software. These objects require that proxy graphics be turned on in these drawings, which can significantly increase file sizes and the amount of time required to open those files. For example, a 3.9 MB drawing seen recently in Autodesk Product Support was reduced to 1.8 MB just by turning proxy graphics off.
Avoid Complex MvParts
When developing content for your catalog, carefully consider the complexity of each new part. For example, the round louvered diffuser shown below is much too detailed for most MEP work. It uses curved surfaces for interior vanes, shows all the ribbing between the vanes, and has a neck with an internal curved surface that’s hidden when connected to your ductwork system. This depth of complexity taxes the resources of your workstation for little gain, requiring a high level of system resources every time you need to change views.
Use MvParts that convey the basic intent of what the equipment represents, and avoid making MvParts more detailed than they need to be.
Use Project Navigator Effectively
When using Project Navigator, do not manually insert xrefs into your drawing using the Reference command on the Insert menu. Instead, use the shortcut menus in Project Navigator to attach or overlay reference files within the project.
In versions prior to Autodesk Building Systems 2005 (SP2), drawings that are manually referenced into a project are not resolved in the file structure created through Project Navigator. Accordingly, the referenced path of manually inserted xrefs may be lost when paths change, resulting in missing or incorrect reference files.
Overlay xrefs rather than attaching them. Drawing files that use xref overlay will not reproduce that overlay when it is referenced by another drawing. Drawings with attached xrefs will reproduce that xref, which can lead to duplicate or circular xrefs and confusion as to what actually is in the drawing. This can tax workstation resources and affect performance. For example, a data set recently received by Autodesk Product Support contained drawings with attached xrefs that resulted in nine duplicated referenced drawings.
Avoid Hidden Shares
Earlier versions of Autodesk Building Systems (pre-2006) support only a full UNC path with no mapped drives and no relative paths. Best practices suggest avoiding a project structure that points to hidden shares, especially if the project structure is sent to other members of the extended design team that might not have those same shares.
Manage Temporary Files
Temporary files are created as part of the “Enabled with Copy” demand load strategy built into Project Navigator. These files remain after a system failure or an aborted Project Navigator activity. Deleting the *.ac$ files in the Temp folder can reduce the time required to open most drawing files and significantly improve system performance.
Update the AutoCAD MEP profile to point all AutoCAD temporary files to a specific temporary folder separate from the standard Microsoft Windows temporary folder. Use a login script to clear temporary files on a daily basis.
Hardware Recommendations
Turn off the system’s hardware acceleration, update all graphic drivers to their latest version, and make sure your workstation meets the minimum system requirements for the release you are using. Minimum system requirements can be found in the installer menu and the help files.
For CAD Users
The following tips and techniques are for the everyday CAD user responsible managing drawings, adhering to CAD standards, coordinating designs with the extended team, creating construction documents, and so forth.
Use Purge Commands
At the end of a work session, use the purge commands—PURGE and BLDSYSPURGE— to clean up AutoCAD MEP drawings. For example, a 3.2 MB drawing recently came into Autodesk Product Support with complaints of poor system performance. Upon inspection, about two-thirds of the objects in the drawing were not being used (2,166 of 3,153 items). Purging reduced the drawing size to about 1.9 MB. Since AutoCAD MEP always verifies the location of objects relative to new objects being added, purging can dramatically improve system performance.
Use Interference Detection
Turn interference detection on only when you need it. For example, wait until systems are substantially complete and ready to be compared to other nearby systems in the drawing. AutoCAD MEP compares the location of each object to others in a drawing— an activity that uses a lot of system resources. Turning interference detection off when you don’t need it drastically reduces the time it takes to open any drawing.
When checking interferences on a color system scheme, create a new Layout tab and use the Page Setup manager to set all colors, other than the collision marker, to black. The result is a black-and-white screen with colored collision markers that are easy to identify.
Minimize Multiple Sessions
Launching multiple or concurrent sessions of AutoCAD MEP, or other similar third-party products built on AutoCAD software dramatically reduces system performance and possibly the system’s overall stability. Avoid this practice and adopt other work methods. If you cannot avoid multiple sessions, consider using your most capable workstations for these situations.
Let Processes Run Their Course
It is normal for some activities, such as loading xrefs, to take time. These processes need to run their course before additional activities can be initiated, such as dragging drawings from Project Navigator before it has finished loading previous drawings.
Minimize X-Clips and Live Sections
Live sections and x-clipping of xrefs are useful for working with the live model. However, too many x-clips and live sections can cause the drawing to load very slowly.
Use 2D Wireframe
With the high quality of AutoCAD MEP models, it is tempting to create walkthrough models in shade mode. Although such walkthroughs are great for visualizing the systems and their environment, shade mode, including 3D wireframe, taxes your system resources.
In complicated areas such equipment rooms, select the objects you want to view or work with and use the Isolate Objects feature to remove the surroundings. Not only will you see your work more clearly, system performance will greatly increase.
Manage Haloed Lines
Haloed lines generate a lot of additional data. Improve the time-to-open performance of any drawing by ensuring that the Increase Drawing Open Performance option is selected in the Building Systems Crossed Object tab in the AutoCAD Options. However, be cautious when selecting this option because it significantly increases your drawing file size.
Make sure you are getting the best system performance possible with haloed lines by ensuring that the Increase Drawing Open Performance option is selected. However, if you need to email drawing files or save them over a slow network, deselect this option to decrease drawing file sizes.
Manage Duct Hatching
It’s normal practice to use duct hatch on systems marked for demolition. However, hatching increases memory use and slows down all display-related activities such as opening drawings, regenerating models, and switching views.