Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Revit API: A Great Place To Start

THIS LINK is a great resource for one's travels up or down the Revit API stream.

THIS LINK is a great resource for one's travels through life. -When stuck just pick one and go with that and see what comes of it!!! One of my favorites is: "Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate"

Friday, April 24, 2009

Do you really want to know where your command is now?

In my world the ribbon just reinforces (and will grow) my use of Keyboard Shortcuts but for those occasions where I do use buttons there IS a way to find the 2010 equivelent of previous Revit tools... So, for those who can't find the F1 key or who need extra spoon feeding (yes, I am just being mean but it's all in jest)... CLICK ME. Neat tool, I wonder about how much free time Mr. .

Revit: The Unconditional Conditional Withholder?

Funny thing: at this month's Los Angeles Revit Users Group someone mentioned how absurd it is (OK it was me) that there can be found functionality in some Revits that aren't in others... Well Steve Stafford with the help of David Baldacchino has posted a nifty find of some hidden functionality that IS actually there. See Steve's conditional post and David's additional post.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Known Issues

Blogger Stuart said...

Revit download.... What drives me nuts about Revit 2010 download is the little pdf that is titled: Known Issues. Unfortunately, it is not accompanied with a pdf called: resolutions!! How in the world does Autodesk get away with that!?!?

Thursday, April 23, 2009

He said "Known Issues".

Comment on those Issues.

I've always found it enlightening (not to mention useful) that the (or at least some of the) "known" issues are published for Revit... Yeah, they could be fixed but you know how it is big ships turn slowly...

Wouldn't it be funny (or scary...) if people published their own "known issues" documents???

But alas we still buy the product and we still get married so...

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Revit Workstation: A Simple Formula

What is the best computer for Revit?

It’s all up to one’s budget; keeping in mind project type/size and what else will be done on the machine.

I would recommend that whatever manufacturer(s) you go with, when you spec out the Workstations you consider a handy equation that I use:

IF ($$$=Available) Then (Autodesk Recommended Specs * 4) ELSE (Autodesk Recommended Specs * 2)

...If you want to use that in a Revit "calculated value" :-) then I believe it would read:

IF $$$>Available, (Autodesk Recommended Specs * 4), (Autodesk Recommended Specs * 2)

Consider that what you want you need. Look down the road 1 year+...

BTW: I mean I would double at the very least, each of the specs individually, some I’d go beyond double… but double is my minimum.

In the past Video Cards did not make a big impact on Revit but everything else one probably uses (and now Revit more and more) use heavy GPU so I’d still go for the gold there too.

Look at the links below…Hmmm Multiple Xeon’s… I know only Rendering in Revit uses multiple processors but doesn't 8 sound very good to you?

I’d also check the AutoCAD Recommended Video Cards (yes: ACAD, they are somewhat GPU heavy)... perhaps use the Inventor or MAX, or Maya GPU specs and again get better than their highest recommendations, up to your budget's limit…

The better the computer the longer it's Revit Life Cycle (RLC).

Look into leasing vs. purchasing…

Anyways, ADSK says the black and I said the Red

J's Minimum System Recommendations for 64-bit Autodesk Revit Architecture
* Windows XP Professional x64 edition (SP1 or later) Vista 64 since XP 64 is...
* Intel Core 2 Duo 2.40GHz or equivalent AMD processor How much can I spend on Xeons?
* 8 GB RAM 8 minimum!!! 16 or 32 for really useful/heavily used systems.
* 5 GB free disk space Ha
!!! 5 GB to install!!! maybe a couple of Terabytes is better.
* Dedicated video card with hardware support for DirectX 9 (or later) How many GB
can I afford? (Hmmm maybe multiple SLI's)
* Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 (or later) Mozilla for me but IE is there anyways, if ADSK needs it.
* Two-button mouse with scroll wheel Yeah, because someone won't let people like Logitec into the API enough to allow the Space Pilot, etc. to work with it... Oh sorry, I combine a Wacom Intous Tablet, a
nd depending on where I am, a Space Pilot or Space Navigator with a Mouse and a Wacom Cintiq.

AutoDESK Revit Download


AutoDesk Discussions about systems...


AutoDESK Revit Architecture Specs


Revit mep Suite 2010 Specs

Take care!!!
-J

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

This is mainly to help me remember the way to negate the "Inconsistent Units" error but I am sure there are more people who will find this useful!!! From the real Revit master: (BTW: This can obviously be applied to many objects, not just walls as the example shows)...

"Let's assume that you are using Cost parameter available in Wall type as your unit cost. When you assign numeric value to to Cost Revit has no idea what is the meaning of this parameter. It could be cost per square foot, cost per square inch, cost per linear foot, cost per wall instance, etc. You are the only one who knows the meaning and you use your knowledge while writing a formula for calculated value in schedule. Revit just enforces that units of measurement are the same on the left and right sides of your formula.

Let say you want to compute TotalCost (number parameter) then taking into account the fact that unit Cost is also a number (no units of measurement) and Area parameter has units of length square you would write

If Cost is per square foot then TotalCost = Cost * Area / (1' * 1')
If Cost is per square inch then TotalCost = Cost * Area / (1" * 1")
If Cost is per square meter then TotalCost = Cost * Area / (1m * 1m)
If Cost is per linear foot then TotalCost = Cost * Length / (1')
If Cost is per wall instance then TotalCost = Cost

Makes sense?"