Moving the Address Soon...

Since we're winding the CADRE side of the business down, I plan on changing the title and path to the blog. As soon as I get the changes done, keep your eyes open for the new links. I'm going to have it linked to me personally, so that' why the name and URL change. Stay tuned....and if you've got some suggestions for the new blog name (nothing obscene please), post them up here and I'll try to come up with a really chintzy prize for the winner! If you want to receive notification of the change, send an email to davidb@cadresys.com before Nov. 1st, 2007.

thanks - David B.

Big News!!!! Advanced Solutions Inc. Purchases CADRE Systems Inc.

After 10 years of working for CADRE, I find myself getting ready to go to work for a new firm. It's always a bit scary, but in this case I know a few people that work for this company. The most important thing to me as a consultant and instructor has been and always will be my clients. Many of you are my friends, and it's those relationships I cherish the most. I've made this a point to our new partners, and they wholeheartedly agree with me - we're going to do whatever it takes to take care of our clients.

I also find myself very excited about the opportunities that become available when moving to a new company. We'll also have a much larger support and services team, and several of the hats I had to wear at CADRE I won't be doing anymore (such as the ATC Manager role) - which hopefully will mean I can dedicate more time to this blog, content, handouts, etc. So, I'm really stoked - so as this goes along, I'll proved some insights here.

For the most part, the technical staff and sales staff will become Advanced Solution employees effective November 1st. I have several items that have to be done to complete this transition but some items won't be done by that date (such as replacing and updating our blogs) due to the fact that I have AU content that needs to be finished. Our FTP site will probably also be replaced, so as I get a new site, I'll post the new links here so they'll be easy to find.

For the CADRE clients that have been around since 1993, thanks a million and stick around - its' going to get even better than before!

For more information about the upcoming merger, follow this link:

http://www.advancedsolutionsonline.com/about/pressroom_100407.jsp

Happy Cadding! - David B.

AutoCAD Architecture/ MEP 2008 Service Pack 1 Now Available!

Autodesk has release a service pack for both AutoCAD Architecture and AutoCAD MEP 2008 - here are the links to download them

AutoCAD Architecture:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=10109723&linkID=9240658

AutoCAD MEP (for non-Revit MEP Suite users):

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=10109709&linkID=9240938

AutoCAD MEP for Revit MEP Suite Users

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=10109672&linkID=9240938


thanks - David B.

New Build of Revit MEP is now available!

Autodesk has just released a new build of Revit MEP 2008 that affects content and other issues with the program. For information about this buils go to the following link:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=9262907

For a fill description of the changes, go to this link:

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/rme2008_wu2_list.pdf

Let me know if you have any issues installing or running this link. May sure you record your serial number and re-use it as needed when reinstalling the program.

thanks - David B.

Update from the 2007 NC AIA Show - Revit Families!

Doug, Kristen and I are here at the 2007 NC AIA show and just got an interesting visit from the guys at USG Gypsum. They have added a substantial amount of content for their products to their website at http://www.usgdesignstudio.com/ that includes Revit families for walls, ceilings and more! This is for all the folks that keep asking us about the manufacturers and who's making content. From what I found they're light years ahead of other prefab wall and acoustial ceiling manufacturers, but I've talked to others lately that are working on the same thing, so it should get interesting.

Try this stuff out and let me know what you think -

thanks - David B.

And Now...Free Stuff!

Okay, now that our FTP site is finally up and running, we've made available our custom templates for AutoCAD Architecture/MEP, as well as samples of custom styles. If you'd like to gain access to these files, simply send me an email to davidb@cadresys.com, and I'll send you the link and password. I'm also working on a series of Revit MEP templates that enhance some of the families used (including more lights, equipment, etc.) as well as schedule tables, etc. As soon as I get a good copy to start from I'll get that posted. I'm also working on the IES Virtual Environment tools to get a better understanding of how it's making many of its calculations, so hopefully I'll have the new dataset I'll be using at AU available early so you'll have a chance to test it out before the class.

Speaking of classes, we've had a lot of interest in Revit MEP classes her at CADRE. Right now we're offering these classes:

- Revit MEP HVAC Quick Start - 1 day at CADRE
- Revit MEP Electrical Quick Start - 1 day at CADRE
- Revit MEP Plumbing/Fire Protection - 1 day at CADRE
- Revit MEP Family Customization - 1 day at CADRE

Check with your account manager or email me and I'll send you information - the last few classes we had were packed, so interest is really picking up.

I've also had a lot of users asking about custom content for Revit MEP. If anybody out there is making anything cool and is willing to share it, let me know and I'll post it to our FTP site - and maybe I'll throw in some CADRE goodies as well. In the meantime, the best site I've found so far is Revit City (www.revitcity.com) - check it out, it does contain some MEP items that you can use to create Revit MEP families from.

Thanks - David B.

Updates on Tool Palette Customization

AutoCAD Architecture/MEP 2008 made some changes to how palettes are customized. In 2006 and previous verions, group information was stored with the AWS profile located in the local user's documents and settings folder (see my previous post). Starting with the 2007 releases, groups are now stored with the ARG file created as part of setting up your options. One issue several users were having is that a user could create custom palettes in a shared network environment, and have options set to look at the shared location for the tool palettes. However, palettes were not sticking in groups. With some help from Joshua at Autodesk support, we traced down that the user's workspace was not set to automatically save changes - and in these cases once a user placed their palettes into groups, a program close and reopen would not save the changes for the groups. I've been running several custom palettes for the last few days, and setting my workspace to automatically save changes seems to have fixed the problem.

In regards to catalog controlled palettes, we're still having some issues with items remembering their tool's locations, etc. As I get some good clear directions working, I'll post them here.

One item I am working on is a set of AutoCAD MEP palettes that emulate Revit MEP design bar layouts, to make it easier for user to work in a dual environment. Autodesk is putting a class on about this at AU this year, so if you're working in this mode I'd recommend that class. For my class on Power Tips for Templates for AutoCAD MEP at AU this year, a lot of what I'll be teaching is geared towards setting these items up so that they have similar behavior for both packages. As Revit MEP progresses, I'm expecting to post more docs here on it.

And then there's more...stay tuned.

thanks - David B.

AU 2007 is coming!

It's almost time to start thinking about signing up for Autodesk University 2007. It's back at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Nov. 27-30th. There's a ton of great classes this year - I'll be doing a couple on template best practices, wall customization in AutoCAD Architecture, using Revit MEP for analysis, and a closing class on Revit MEP's HVAC and Electrical tools. Don't worry, I'm working on new jokes...

For more information go to this link: http://www.autodeskevents.com/au2007/

Signup starts the first part of August, so get ready!

tks - David B.

I'm back...

After weeks of neverending fun and games (and work), I'm back online. Had a great vacation, got a chance to think through a few new ideas. Hope everyone's having a great summer, so let's get started on 2008.

thanks -David B.

Tips on Customizing Tool Palettes for ADT/ABS

Below is a collection of tips, tricks and Autodesk tech support documents about customizing tool palettes. There’s a variety of information here, so I’ll try to group it according to the task you’re trying to accomplish.

Creating Custom Palettes

1. Always know where the palette files are stored – check the path under Options > Files. The first path in the Tool Palette files location is where your palettes will be stored. Make sure you know this location – change it to an empty folder and AutoCAD will create a new .ATC file that allows you to build Palette tabs from scratch.

2. To add new palette tabs, simply right click on the tool palette title bar and select New Palette. Give the new tab a name with NO WILDCARD CHARACTERS – dashes and underscores are OK, but don’t use periods, commas, etc. Spaces are OK to use as well.

3. Turn Auto-Hide off when customizing palettes – right click on the title bar of the palette and make sure the Auto Hide feature isn’t checked, or click on the single arrow at the bottom of the title bar to turn it to a double arrow (which indicates Auto Hide is turned off).

4. Additional project specific palette paths will be added when the Project Navigator as used – don’t worry about these or delete them, they’ll just come back when you start using the tool. But they are helpful when you are trying to create a set of palette tabs that are project specific – that’s why they show up first in the list after you start to use the Project Navigator.

5. Drag and drop details, symbols and other existing drawings you want to have on the palettes from Windows Explorer to your palette. If you don’t get an image of the symbol, open the drawing up. Change to whatever view of the symbol you want, then right-click on the palette tool that’s missing the symbol. Use the Set Image from Selection tool to set the image for the tool.

6. For Building Systems users, place an MvPart in a drawing, then save the drawing. Once the drawing is saved, you can drag and drop the part to a palette, but ABS doesn’t look at that particular drawing to find the part (unlike blocks). It’ll use the catalog location as the source location for the part.

Helpful Support docs from Autodesk:

Adding toolbar commands to tool palettes
Autodesk Web Link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=7290039&linkID=2476059

Creating tool palette icons for DesignCenter content
Autodesk Web Link:http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=7340112&linkID=2476059

Tools not copied when tool palette is dragged into catalog
Autodesk Web Link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=6932010&linkID=2476059

Sharing Tool Palettes

1. If you want to create a set of palettes that are shared, the simplest method is to create a location on your server that you have full rights and permissions to. Add this to your tool palette file locations (at the top of the list) or just re-path to this folder only. Create the palettes as needed. Once completed, simply go to another user’s workstation and add the shared path at the bottom of the tool palette file locations path. If you don’t want the rest of the users to edit these palettes, the set the permissions for the folder to read only (and don’t let users have any write capabilities or you’ll have a ton of “New Palette” files to contend with in the folder.

2. Use Catalogs to backup customizations as well as share with other machines. You can add custom palettes from a catalog by simply dragging the individual palette from a catalog – at the bottom right corner a refresh icon will appear when the palette has been added to a workstation. This allows the creator of a palette tab to update the tab automatically when the catalog is updated. NOTE: Local users must have FULL ADMINSTRATIVE RIGHTS to their computer if you’re going to be creating and editing palettes.

3. To create a new catalog, open the content browser, and then right click in the grey area of the browser – choose the Add Catalog command. Choose Create a New Catalog, and then choose browser to locate the catalog on the server. Form here you can open the catalog and add categories by right clicking in the catalog and choosing Add Category. After your categories have been created, left click on a palette tab and hold it, then drag the palette into the catalog.

4. If you create palette tabs in a category, you can drag the entire category into another user’s workstation and a palette group will be created.

5. If the content you’re placing on a group of shared palettes is located on a network and is using styles from the default styles folders, make sure you’ve edited the second path (the Tool Catalog Content Root Path) location on the AEC Content tab under the Options command to point to this location. Also, if you are creating your own custom styles, create new drawings under this path and add your custom styles to these new drawings – don’t add them to the default drawings, as these may get updated with new releases of the software.

6. If a palette is missing icons or is pathed to incorrect locations, right click on the title bar and choose Refresh Palette Set – this will go back and check for missing icons, incorrect paths and more and try to fix it for the user.

Helpful Support docs from Autodesk:

Adding custom AutoCAD® tool palettes to Architectural Desktop or Autodesk Building Systems
Autodesk Web Link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=9237867&linkID=2476059

Palette Groups

1. Palette groups are controlled by a file in your local user login directory (see the technote below). However, you can edit the location of the profile.aws file in the registry and have it look to a shared location. Here’s a sample key you can edit:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R17.0\ACAD-5004:409\Profiles\ADT2007\General]"ProfileStorage"="U:\\CAD2006\\Support\\Profiles\\ADT2007\\Profile.aws"

In this example, the path was changed from C:\Documents and Settings\davidb.CADRESYS\Application Data\Autodesk\ADT 2007\enu\Support\Profiles\Architectural Desktop - Imperial\Profile.aws to the shared drive on the server. Access to this folder should be restricted so only a CAD manager or main user can edit the pathing. (Thanks to Michael Z for this one!)

2. AutoCAD profiles and groups are linked to each other, but don’t always correctly store information. When editing the AutoCAD profiles, if you change your profile to look at different location for the tool palettes, then change it back to the original location, the sorting of the palettes is lost (as well as the location of tabs in particular groups, so avoid changing the palette path only. Instead, create a customization profile you can use to create your tabs, and then add the groups. Copy your palettes into categories in a catalog (see above for creating catalogs). After creating your tabs, change back to your original profile, but change the location of the palettes to an empty folder. Next, drag and drop your palette groups from a catalog into ADT or ABS, and the sorting and groups will be properly created.

Helpful Support docs from Autodesk:

Locating information related to user interface
Autodesk Web Link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=4175052&linkID=2476059

Network deployment of palette groups
Autodesk Web Link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=6414822&linkID=2476059

Installing tool palette groups with deployment image for network installation
Autodesk Web Link:http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=7569785&linkID=2476059

Creating an ADT Profile in ABS 2007
Autodesk Web Link:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=8108322&linkID=2476435

If you have some of your own tips, add them here - we're always looking fo good ideas!

Thanks - David B.

Link the Door Number to the Room Number in Architectural Desktop

Okay, since I've several "how'd you do that" questions about linking door numbers to room numbers, I thought I'd add a little description on how to do this. It works pretty much the same way for Architectural Desktop 2006 and 2007, and will probably work the same way for the next release (I'll update this as needed).

You'll want to set this up in your base template - if you started from the AEC Model templates, you'll already have some examples of property set definitions in the template. To access these, go to the Format menu and choose Style Manager. Browse to the documentation objects and follow these steps:

1. Create the ROOMOBJECTS property set definition - right click on the property set definitions, and then choose New to create a new property set - name it ROOMOBJECTS.
2. In the dialogue area to the right, choose the Applies To tab - make sure the applies to option is set to objects, then check the box for spaces.
3. Select the Definitions tab - choose the top right icon for creating a Manual Definition - name this one NUMBER and choose OK. Check the settings under the Format column - let's change this to Upper Case, so we can type in any number or letter combination we want, and any text in the room number will come out upper case. After you're finished, choose Apply at the bottom of the dialogue, but don't close the dialogue yet (if you do, hit enter to repeat the last command and reopen the Style Manager).
4. Go back to the left side of the dialogue - right click on property set definitions again and choose New to create another Property set - name this one DOOROBJECTS.
5. In the dialogue area to the right, choose the Applies To tab - make sure the applies to option is set to objects, then check the box for doors.
6. Select the Definitions tab - choose the fourth icon from the top right icon and create a Location property definition - name this one NUMBER, then scroll down under the Space property definition in the dialogue and find the ROOMOBJECTS property definition - make sure that NUMBER is checked here - this is what links the door number to the room number - choose OK to close the dialogue. Check the settings under the Format column - we need to change this to Case - Upper, the same that we did for the room number. Choose OK to close the Style Manager and save your template.

Now you can edit any existing door tag (the ones that ship with Architectural Desktop are great examples to start from). Most of these are multi-view blocks that contain nested blocks, but you can use the Define Schedule Tag tool (located under the Format Menu) to create your own tag - if you do this in your template, the tag will always be there when you create a new drawing, but you can also build this in a separate drawing such as the Schedule Tables master style drawing locate in your C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\ADT 2007\enu\Styles\Imperial folder.

If you open this drawing you'll see there are several Multi-view block definitions already created, including one called Aec6_Door_Tag. This particular symbol uses a plan block named Aec6_Door_Tag_Basic_P - insert this into your drawing at 1:1 scale (set this in the bottom right corner of your drawing prior to placing the tag). Right click on the block in the drawing and choose Block Editor - and notice that the attribute for this block is already called DOOROBJECTS:NUMBER - by naming the attribute using the property set name first, then adding a colon between the set and the definition, this is what tells the tag where to get its information from. So, in this case, we don't have to do anything - this tag will read the DOOROBJECTS property set definition and get the information from the ROOMOBJECTS' Number property set definition.

The location definition knows where to get the room number from by the use a "STAR" grip - typically, when a door is placed, and the DOOROBJECTS property definitions are added to a door from the Extended data tab of the properties dialogue, the star will appear when the door is selected. From here you can drag the star into any room that has a space located - and the door will get its information from the room. The act of tagging a door will also add the property set definitions to the door, but I personally like adding the definitions to the door itself in the base plan - and have it fill the tag out automatically.

Try this out and let us know if it works for you - if you want to know how to use this data in your door schedule, let me know and I'll add to the post.

Happy Documenting!

David B.

Support for Windows Vista and Autodesk Products

This just in from Autodesk...

Windows Vista™ support for Architectural Desktop and Building Systems

Published date: 2007-01-30 ID: TS1067708

Applies to:
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2007
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2006
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2005
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2004
Autodesk® Building Systems 2007.1
Autodesk® Building Systems 2007
Autodesk® Building Systems 2006
Autodesk® Building Systems 2005
Autodesk® Building Systems 2004

Issue
You want to know if the Windows Vista™ operating system supports Autodesk® Architectural Desktop or Autodesk® Building Systems.

Solution
Windows Vista does not support Architectural Desktop or Building Systems.

And the same goes for:

Autodesk® AutoCAD® Revit® Series—Systems Plus 2
Autodesk® AutoCAD® Revit® Series—Systems Plus 1
Autodesk® Revit® Building 9.1
Autodesk® Revit® Building 9
Autodesk® Revit® Building 8.1
Autodesk® Revit® Building 8
Autodesk® Revit® 7
Autodesk® Revit® Structure 4
Autodesk® Revit® Structure 3
Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2
Autodesk® Revit® Structure 1

I don't know if or when this is going to change, but be aware of it when you are thinking about purchasing a new system. We're currently selling new systems with Windows XP SP 2 that include a coupon for an upgrade to Windows Vista, but as of 1/20/2007, most of the Autodesk products will not run on Vista...but stay tuned....

thanks - David B.

Kristen's Techtips!

Here's a couple of techtips from Kristen Blume, our Revit/Architectural Desktop/AutoCAD specialist and all-around cool AE.

Architectural Desktop 2007
Where is my….?

If you’ve just installed ADT 2007, you may be missing your Viz Render link and your Express tools. With this version of ADT it’s best to do a “custom” install. This would allow you to include these two items in your installation. Don’t worry you haven’t totally missed the boat if you’ve already completed your install.

To fix your installation:
1. Place the original media in your drive.
2. Go to Add and Remove programs under your Control Panel
3. Select ADT 2007 and hit Change
4. Select Add and Remove Features
5. Select Viz Render and choose “Will be installed on local hard drive”

Expand out Program files and choose Express tools and choose “Will be installed on local hard drive”. Try this one out!



Revit Building
Getting ‘real’ colors in 3D views.

You might fight with getting accurate colors out of 3d shaded views. One way to get closer to ‘real’ is to modify your sun and shadow settings.

1) Turn on shadows and set the sun to 95%
2) Set the shadows to 0
3) Also try changing your sun profile so that the sun in directly overhead.

Have some fun in the sun!

Got Sketchup?

Now you can link Sketchup files into Revit. Don’t forget that you can dress up your 3d images with components such as trees and cars downloaded from the Sketchup website.

You can also download a free copy of Sketchup from http://sketchup.google.com/ - there's a lite version for free and the full version is $495 - and you can download both from this website.

Have a happy CAD Day - from Kristen!

And 2007 Begins....

It's a new year, and things are really off to a blazing start...the real world of "work" has kept me from making a few posts, but there's some business to take care of.

Opportunity knocks - CADRE is hiring, and we're look for a few good application engineers:

- Civil and Infrastructure Application Engineer - seeking a Land Desktop/Civil 3D application specialist to work in the Cary, NC office. Applicant must have extensive experience with AutoCAD, Land Development Desktop and Civil 3D products - through the 2007 release is preferred. Civil Engineering degree is preferred, but not required if the applicant has substantial experience. This job requires lots of energy, a willingness to get up in front of a crowd, and above all, patience. Benefits include insurance, travel expenses, mobile phone, access to company vehicle, and annual travel to Autodesk University and other Autodesk events.

- MEP Engineering Application Engineer - seeking a Building Systems/Architectural Desktop/Revit application specialist to work in the Cary, NC office. Applicant must have extensive experience with AutoCAD, Architectural Desktop, Building Systems and/or Revit products - through the 2007 release is preferred. Mechanical Engineering degree is preferred, but not required if the applicant has substantial experience. As with our civil opening, the job requires lots of energy, a willingness to get up in front of a crowd, and above all, patience. Benefits include insurance, travel expenses, mobile phone, access to company vehicle, and annual travel to Autodesk University and other Autodesk events.

CADRE is widely recognized for the quality of our professional services and support and are looking to expand our staff as our client base grows. If you're interested, please email your resume to jobs@cadresys.com

Other Opportunities:

Our client base is rapidly migrating into the 3D world and several companies are seeking qualified applicants - which means that you have to be an expert at the products we offer. The Building Solutions division of CADRE is trying to help our clients find the right people for the following positions:

CAD Manager - Architectural Desktop/Building Systems Expert in Charlotte NC
CAD Designers - Revit/Architectural Desktop/Building Systems in several NC cities

Applicants must have extensive experience with these products, and a minimum of an associate of Applied Science degree is required. If you are interested in moving to North Carolina, or are seeking to move out of 2D CAD and start working in the BIM environment, send your resume in confidence to jobs@cadresys.com.

AU 2006 - A Big Success

Autodesk University lived up to my expectations this year, with over 7500 attendees showing up in Las Vegas. Even at the large Venetian Resort facilities, there were so many guests that several overflow hotels were used. My hats off to Joseph Wurcher, Chris, June, Lynn Allen and the rest of the crew for pulling of one of the best-run events in recent memory.

My classes contained a pretty interesting mix of students, (what a crowd in such a small room - and they played along so well, even with my weak attempt a singing "Tequila") and was really impressed by the turnout. Interest in Revit System is starting to grow, and Building Systems continues to attract users who want to use an "AutoCAD for Engineers" (thanks Amy F for the idea). It really interested me to see the level of use for ABS and ADT - more users are into the walls doors and windows mode, and the crowd seemed pretty interested in moving beyond that level - which is great news.

A couple of suggestions for next year - secondary screens in the labs to show the handouts or presenter's powerpoints at the same time as the lab exercises. The food selection was a little weak a couple of days, sometimes a sandwich works on lunchtime just fine - mainly because a good number of users were going "takeout" with their meals. The meal rooms worked really well, handling large numbers with very few delays.

I also thought the idea of the learning labs run by staff other than just Autodesk staff in the exhibit hall was a great idea - gave me a great opportunity to talk to users from around the country - and wear this funky headset at the same time...thanks Nancy Tremblay for inviting me to work in the booth - and the fleece fits fine.


Thursday night's events including the comedian Don Williams (right on the money - only an engineer can understand) and the Blue Man group - guess I need to come up with a pipe routing definition to do what those guys were doing - awesome show!

I plan on adding several posts over the next few days, including a few new features (including links to downloadable files - my datasets will be available from the AU website) and some suggestions I picked up from the usual sources (the great longtimers at AU such as Matt Dillon, Bill Glennie and more) - it never fails, I always learn something new at the these events.

Thanks to Autodesk for giving me the opportunity to speak this year - and I plan on returning next year with a whole new set of jokes...!

thanks - David B.

Michael Z's Next Big Tip?

Ever wanted to print out the CTB file? From the Autodesk Web Site:

CTB and STB Printing Tool for AutoCAD 2007

This tool provides a way to export CTB and STB plot style tables to a comma-delimited text file. The comma-delimited text files can be imported into a spreadsheet program (e.g.Microsoft Excel) and be printed or compared with another. The text files can also be printed out directly.

This works only with 2007 products - follow the yellowbrick hyperlink:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8083957&linkID=2475161

If the link above is truncated, cut and paste the pieces together into your address bar, or search Autodesk's support side for "CTB Printing Tool" to find the executable.

Have Fun! - Michael Z.

New Add-ons for Architectural Desktop

If you're a subscription client of Architectural Desktop, there are a couple of items you can download that may be helpful. Here are some notes from the subscription center for Autodesk (if you don't know how to login, check with your account manager or local application engineer).

Spaces and Drawing Compare Subscription Module -

Download The Subscription Module: Spaces and Drawing Compare is available exclusively for Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2007 customers participating in the Autodesk® Subscription program.

Download this module now to get the enhanced Spaces feature and the new Drawing Compare feature. The Architectural Desktop Spaces feature is used to track the area and other data associated rooms or other spaces in the building design. With the enhancements in this Subscription module, Spaces can now update automatically if the bounding elements are changed, saving you time and making documentation more accurate. And Space definitions can now also include offsets from bounding elements based on pre-set or user-defined rules, enabling area calculations based on various industry standards, including BOMA, DIN, or SIS. The new Drawing Compare feature enhances collaboration by using color-coded displays to show items on a drawing that have been changed, added, or deleted by other members of the design team. Changes to items such as styles, fire ratings, or other non-graphical properties are also tracked. Combined with redlining features, such as revision clouds, the Spaces and Drawing Compare features help make communication across the design team clearer than ever.

Important Note: Service Pack 1 must be installed before the Spaces and Drawing Compare Module.

VREZAudit?

VREZAudit is a command that will audit an entire folder of drawings and properly handle external references. It will also optionally purge the drawings resulting in a significant drawing size reduction. VREZAudit can save a lot of time for Architectural Desktop and Building Systems Project Navigator drawings and can also be used on AutoCAD Sheet set drawings in AutoCAD Revit Series—Building and AutoCAD Revit Series—Structure .

This product can be downloaded through your subscription center login under Building Solutions Applet of the month.

There are also Nordic Content libraries available for ADT and ABS users available through the subscription center - I don't need these as I'm not doing any work in a Nordic country, but someone will....

thanks - David B.

Issues with the Project Navigator

We're hearing reports of issues with the project navigator tool that could potentially affect your projects. Most of the errors we're seeing have been tracked down to improper use of constructs, elements and views. However, I did hear from an Autodesk employee that large projects that have references files included in the file structure that were not created as elements, constructs or views could potential cause errors in the project database. Since I don't have all of the details yet, I'll try to post more information as I can track it down.

Be aware that when you manually load images, dwf's and dwgs into a drawing that's part of a Project, they are not necessarily linked to the project, and will not be automatically repathed when a project is copied or moved to a different location - be aware of this if you're updating or replacing servers. It's a good idea to check the relative path options when attaching files manually, or even as a default option in the Project properties.

A common issue that's been occurring has to do with ABS and ADT 2005 and 2006 and slow performance with views and other files. Autodesk has published a tech support document that deals with these performance issues. You can find this solution at the following link:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=5911331&linkID=2476059

The techdoc id # is TS1052972, you can also search Autodesk's support site for this information.

If anyone is having issues along these lines feel free to post here so we can discuss. We may not have all the answers but can definitely post issues with Autodesk and hopefully help to resolve some of these issues.

thanks - David B.

New Releases coming for Building Systems and Revit Systems.

Autodesk announced this week that there are new releases pending for Building Systems and for Revit Systems. These releases should be available by mid-October. Keep an eye on the Autodesk web site or most of the ABS/Revit based blogs for information on these updates.

The Revit Systems 2 version will incorporate American metric content, among other features. At this time I don't have a lot of specifics on ABS 2007.1, but we'll cover it as soon as I get more details.

Service Pack 1 Available for Architectural Desktop 2007

Autodesk has release Service Pack 1 for Architectural Desktop 2007. You can download the file from Autodesk's web site at the following link:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8128744&linkID=2475897

If the link is truncated in this window - cut and paste both lines into your address bar for Internet explorer. You can also go to support.autodesk.com and browse to the support page for Architectural Desktop.

Be sure to download and read the Readme file prior to installing the service pack.

thanks - David B.