Showing Masses in 3D View Window in Revit

To create a context model in Revit you can import DWG (or Sketchup 5 if you are lucky) into Revit. If you import it straight in, the geometry does not work well as a massing model to render. The trick is to create a new Mass and import the DWG into the Mass. This works well. However, by default the Masses will not show in a 3d View if referenced into another Revit File. There is an obscure tickbox called Imports in Families within the visibility Graphics for the view. This needs to be ticked in addition to the Show Mass button as well as the Mass section of the visibilty Graphics.

I have found the tick box in VG and Imports in Families. I realised that because you have to import geometry into a Mass to create a decent context model this is considered to be an Import in Families. Therefore this must be ticked for the view. The template for view creation does not have this on by default whereas the 3D view does. So we are happy again.

REVIT

Getting the right orientation for Curtain Wall Panels

1. Place a curtain wall from right to left and the exterior is above

2. Place a curtain wall from left to right and the exterior is below

3. If you place a panel in these curtain walls you will end up with the exterior of your panel in the right place (on the side that shows the up and down arrows for flipping the orientatation

4. If you place a curtain wall by face on to a Mass, the panel will be mirrored about the centre. Therefore everything that is on the left of the panel will be on the right.

5. If you flip the wall so that the exterior and interior swap places, the panel will be correct. However you will then have to rotate the wall by 180 so that the exterior is again on the exterior. The face will no longer be updated to the mass

6. Drawing the wall normally (without putting it on to the face of the mass) makes the curtain wall panel correct and the exterior is identical to the exterior of the family.

I am sure there is a solutiont to this but I have not been able to find it. I am guessing that the solution is within the panel family that we have created.

Converting youtube videos

http://vixy.net/

iPhone Battery issues (from full to nothing in 4 hours)

You may notice your usage and standby times are identical even though you haven't done anything with your iphone since you charged it fully. They may not be identical but the may be a few minutes or an hour between them. Your battery disappears very quickly indeed and you don't know why. You will also notice that it is contantly interfereing with any landline it close to. This can be a problem in all versions of iphone software.

The reason:

Your iphone is constantly trying to receive informaintion from an exchange server or similar. Even though push is off and you are on manual for everything.

The solution is as follows:

You need to get to the exchange server system admin and find the user. Open the properties and find the Exchange features. Turn off Up-To-Date Notifications by clicking the disable button. Your iphone will still be able to sync with outlook. Click apply and wait for a while as exchange takes quite a few mintutes to update. You should find that your usage stops at the point it was at. You can still go back into exchange and re-enable the Up-To-Date Notifications. However, I have not tested what happens when you next provide a full charge to the iphone.......

What is Fogra

http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/FOGRA

http://www.fogra.org/

A comany for setting and maintating ISO standards for printing and colour

Problems with System.exe process on Vista

Huge use of processor and machine almost unusable. If you take the ethernet cable out of the computer, everything is ok again. This doesn't seem to affect the wireless connection. The solution is to turn off the Quality of Service packet scheduler in the network properties.

Deleting shared cells in a Microstation File

When I try to delete a level, the Message Center is stating that the level is being used. How can I determine where the level is being used at?

You can use the key-in: LEVEL USAGE . Where you substitute for the name of the level that you are trying to gather information on. In some cases, the levels may be used by Shared Cell Definitions. You can remove the shared cell definitions from a design file by using the key-in: DELETE SCDEFS ALL.