Revit X- files

Mechanical and Electrical Reflected Ceiling Plan (RCP) Strangeness

There is a strange behavior, when a RCP’s Discipline parameter is set to either Mechanical or Electrical, that has caused a problem for us on a couple of occasions.

Normally the view parameter Underlay Orientation is grayed out and not available when there is no Underlay selected. However, when a view (any view) is set to Mechanical or Electrical, that parameter becomes active and can be changed. This hasn’t caused a problem with floor plans yet. But I see how it could.

While it’s bad enough that a user could change this parameter to plan in a RCP (or to RCP in plan even) what makes this truly sinister is that the default for a NEW REFLECTED CEILING PLAN is PLAN for this parameter (that’s why it hasn’t caused issues for plans, it’s the default there as well.)

We have had occasions where the ceiling just no longer shows (as expected when set to plan) or in a linked model it was just showing the ceiling grid in the wrong place. Which is far worse, as we found when we went to coordinate light fixtures, air terminals and ceilings. YIKES!!!!!

So, it’s imperative that anyone who makes a new ceiling plan that is to be used for one of these disciplines needs to change that parameter to read Reflected Ceiling Plan.

To make matters more difficult, Revit has decided that this parameter is not something that you would want to set as part of a view template, even though you can set it’s Underlay (hmmmmm, that makes sense. I can’t count the times I’ve wanted to have multiple view have the same Underlay. Well only because it hasn’t happened.)

And to really confuse the user, when the same view (with the incorrect value for Underlay Orientation) is set to COORDINATION or ARCHITECTURAL for it’s Discipline… of course it displays correctly (exactly as you expected, right?) Now, don’t be silly and think that it has somehow magically changed the incorrect value. No, Revit has just decided to ignore it.'

Have I logged this as a support request? No. I probably should, but I’ve been busy fixing my own issues…

All aboard the Boolean Express

Today's post is by a guest blogger. Eric Shappe is a BIM Content Administrator in our office. A Revit Family Guru. He's going to take us on a journey on the Boolean Express.

We have lots of fun with conditional statements in our office. There's no "ifs, ands, or buts but there are plenty of IFs, ANDs, or NOTs.

We have done a lot of experimenting with using YES/NO parameters (Check Boxes) to drive length and visibility parameters. We use IF statements to change multiple aspects of display and size in several of our families.

In this case, the plan was to have a TEXT parameter report one of THREE conditions. Reporting TWO conditions is elementary. I have to hand it to Eric, three was a real challenge.

So yesterday I was trying to figure out how to get glazing in a door to be either “clear”, “wire” or, and here is the kicker “n/a” (or - - as I used). Before I explain how I finally accomplished this I will give you a little background on my existing conditions. First I have a door family which has a nested door panel family inside of it. This door panel has a void that is controlled by 4 yes/no parameters that describe how to cut the door panel and to what dimensions. These 4 yes/no parameters are as follows:

HALF LITE

FULL LITE

8" X 33" LITE

3" X 33" LITE

Then I had created another yes/no parameter that controlled the glazing type from “CLEAR” to “WIRE” named

DOOR WIRE GLASS

Now onto the fun stuff, my first pass at getting this equation to work only yielded two results which were “WIRE” and “CLEAR”. Now that would be fine and dandy if all my doors had some sort of glazing in them, but that isn’t the case. So at first I tried to wrestle with some conditional terms, which basically brought the BIM studio to a screeching halt trying to figure out how to do this. But after an evening to myself and 4 other people trying to take a walk around conditional statement park, our brains had been mugged of any more ideas. All we had ended up with was the following

if(and(DOOR WIRE GLASS, or(HALF LITE, or(FULL LITE, or(3" X 33" LITE, or(8" X 33" LITE))))), "WIRE", “CLEAR”)

As I was driving home trying to parse through this issue it dawned on me, why not just create another parameter driven by each of the glazing parameters, which would give me another yes/no value.

So the next morning I created a WIRE GLASS parameter (pardon the confusing names of some of these parameters) which reads as follows:

if(HALF LITE, "CLEAR", if(FULL LITE, "CLEAR", if(8" X 33" LITE, "CLEAR", if(3" X 33" LITE, "CLEAR", "--"))))

This is basically saying if I have any of the “LITE” parameters checked read “CLEAR” if not then give me “- -“ . Now I had to marry this with my earlier conditional statement that controlled “WIRE” or “CLEAR” which ended up changing to this:

if(and(DOOR WIRE GLASS, or(HALF LITE, or(FULL LITE, or(3" X 33" LITE, or(8" X 33" LITE))))), "WIRE", WIRE GLASS)

This states if both the “WIRE” and any one of the “LITE” parameters are satisfied give me “WIRE” if not then check with the other WIRE GLASS parameter which reads out CLEAR if we have glazing with no wire or “ - -“ which would be no glazing at all.

So in the end I have this: (both are text parameters)

DOOR GLAZING TYPE = if(and(DOOR WIRE GLASS, or(HALF LITE, or(FULL LITE, or(3" X 33" LITE, or(8" X 33" LITE))))), "WIRE", WIRE GLASS)

WIRE GLASS = if(HALF LITE, "CLEAR", if(FULL LITE, "CLEAR", if(8" X 33" LITE, "CLEAR", if(3" X 33" LITE, "CLEAR", "--"))))

Which gives me my 3 conditions WIRE, CLEAR and - -

Enjoy!

C,c,c... What begins with C?

Columns, ceilings, calculated values all begin with C. (If you don't get the title reference I'm sorry. You must have lead a very deprived childhood.)

After many months of pounding the dangling "C" key on my trusty laptop (lets just say that laptops and small dogs don't mix)I have finally replaced the whole keyboard. Thank you EBAY! and thank you Dell for making a laptop keyboard so easy to replace.

If you under-appreciate the letter "C" (as I have for years) just try to write anything intelligent about Ceilings, or CalCulations, or ConCrete, or even just CAD without one.

While not as important as RSTLN & E (nod to Wheel-of-Fortune fans everywhere) "C" has a special place in our hearts (coronary) and minds (cerebrum, cerebellum.)

While this new outlook on a lowly consonant (or should I say a new way of "Seeing?") may not get me to blog more often (although it surely can't hurt) all the recent correspondence I have received in relation and regards to my Blog will.

BTW, if you haven't received a response yet, please hold out just a little longer. See I just got a new keyboard and...

Revit® Architecture 2010 — Update 2 Just Released [Service Pack]

Thanks to David Gregory at Revit 3D.com.

http://bimboom.blogspot.com/2009/09/revit-architecture-2010-update-2-just.html

And Directly here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=12828862

Design in the Cloud? BIM software as a service?

It's Alive in the Labs posted a link to Project Twitch today. Here you can us Revit, Inventor, or AutoCAD without installing it. What? It's called Cloud Computing or Software as a Service and software (in some sectors) is moving to this model.



The advantages are that you can access the application from anywhere (limited to 1000 mi from the server in this preview) and not just at your desktop and the system requirements should be less. Be sure to read about the other limitations of this technology preview. No saving or uploading your files. This isn't for production, it's for "fun."



Given court rulings such as Vernor v. Autodesk, I wouldn't be surprised if ALL Autodesk software eventually moves to a similar model. With a delivery method similar to this ADSK could shut off the service (just like the power company) if you didn't pay your bill or didn't use the product according to your agreement. I think it would also cut down on pirated software, since you would need access to their server to run the software at all.



Could this be the next iteration of Subscription? Hmmmmmm

In Remembrance- 9/11/2001

Never Forget...
All gave some, and Some gave all.

In Remembrance of the 2700+...

"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."

I don't know what was the context for the above quote from General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, but I think it sums up the BIM movement very well.

This comes from an article posted over on Revit 3D.com

You an also jumped directly to the article. Please read this if you want to know what BIM can do for you and why you need to be thinking about a new way of deliverying information to the players involved in your projects.

AU 2009 Early Registration

Early Registration for AU 2009 started yesterday at around 8:00 am CT ( at least that's when the first folks in our office were able to get in the system.) If you are planning in early registration then get in soon as classes are filling.

Good Luck and see you there!!!!

My OTHER Favorite...

(Credit where credit's due: I wish I knew where this came from, but it's been a round the block at least once)

My all-time Favorite Revit Error

I got this error opening a file. It's short, to the point and has limited options. I love it!!!