As posted earlier, you can change the size of the temporary dimensions by adding a line to the Revit.ini file.

Well, seems like there are a few more things you can do with the Revit.ini file. Check out this article from the Revit Clinic.

Just thought I'd share.

In the past I have made a list of increasing the speed of your Revit. I have since come across the following on multicore-computers: (this is a copy from page 4 out of this document by Autodesk.)

• Although the Revit platform is not fully optimized for multi-threading, multiple-core processors reduce cycle use by other applications running concurrently. Some reports show as much as a 20% increase in Revit platform performance in a multi-core or multiple processor environment.
• In Revit 2010, multi-threaded methods for printing and wall join cleanup have been made available. Multi-threaded hidden line removal for printing has been enabled by default.
• Due to the operating system overhead of maintaining multiple threads, multiprocessing of wall join cleanups can experience a minor degradation when only 2 CPU cores are present, but up to a 27% performance increase when 4 hyper-threaded CPU cores are present. Because 2 CPU core systems remain the most common configuration of Revit systems as reported by CIP data, multiprocessing of this features is OFF by default.
• To enable multiprocessing for wall join cleanup, add the following entries to the Revit.ini file:
  [PerformanceOptimizations]
  ParallelWallJoins=ON
• To disable multiprocessing for wall join cleanup, you may omit any entries in the [PerformanceOptimizations] section of the Revit.ini file, or explicitly set the state of either one or both multiprocessing optimizations:
  [PerformanceOptimizations]
  ParallelWallJoins=OFF
  ParallelPrintProcessing=OFF
• The Revit platform's rendering function is optimized to use up to four processors. The Revit platform will share processing time with one of these four rendering processors, so there is no exclusive gain for the Revit platform in making more than four processors available. Additional processors may be desired
  if other computationally-intensive applications need to run while the Revit platform is rendering.

We are currently working on several parking garages, made from prefabricated concrete. It's a bit like using Lego. :)  And since I wanted to show how this works, I decieded to use "proper" structural elements: sctructural colums and trusses.

I started off creating a family for the floor slabs:

Easy enough, although you need to keep the extensions in mind. (As soon as I have this properly figured out, I'll post about it...)

Next I created a Beam System using this slab as a beam and put it at level height.

And here is where it got interesting, because I couldn't see the slabs:

Visibility of trusses is always an issue. Revit seems to think that they are only important to structural engeneers and that architects are not interested in how they look. So, if you're lucky, you get a thick line representing a small thing like a concrete truss 400mm wide and 1500mm high. An element that you'd propably not notice in real life anyway... :/

In my case, the solution was failry simple: I set the Bottom of the View Range to below the current level.

And, lo and behold, I get to see my truss floor:

Hi there.

As you might have noticed, it's been quiet here for a few days. That's because spent the last week and a half on the beach. :)

But I am back again, and immediately with a new Vote of the Week. With the R2011 release looming, I want to know when you'll make the switch. Please vote.

Here's the result of the latest Vote of the Week:

As many people go directly to AUGI as use the internet. A few users actually try the built-in Revit help... I didn't think it would be that many.

And I am HURT! Deeply, deeply HURT!! Noone. NOT ONE OF YOU. Comes here directly for help...

...Fine. See if I care...

:)

According to the Autodesk Website, from 2010 on the subscription updates of Revit in 27 "participating countries" will no longer be shipped as a DVD, but rather be available through a download-option.

If you want your box shipped, you need to set the prefered delivery method to "boxed" on your Autodesk Subscription profile. This needs to happen before march 12th (end of this week).

We are working on an extension to an existing building and need to demolish a few parts of it.

So we set up the drawing to create the existing building by setting the Phase of the View (in the View Properties) to "Existing" and drew the structure. The properties of the elements that needed to be demolished were changed accordingly.

A new View, this time set to "New Construction" revealed the old building and dashed, red lines where elements needed to be torn down. I didn't like that line style, so I figured I'd change it.

Silly me thought this would be accomplished by going to R > Manage > Settings > Line Styles and changing the line style.

Confusion ensued.

After some searching I found that the line style used for demolished parts is in the R > Manage > Phases dialogue, under the Graphic Override tab:

Fair enough. That worked. (Mark it up as another one of those Revit oddities.)

But can someone explain to me, what the line style is for?

As posted here, we use a set of different colors to highlight rooms and make plans more readable.

Thing is, sometimes the colors do not show up as expected. This can have a number of different reasons and it has cost me quite a bit of frustration so far. So I figured I'd list a few the reasons that I have found that can make difficulties. I will try to go from basic to complex and if you are experiencing issues with the colors, follow the instructions by number.

This list does not pretend to be complete. If you find other issues / hidden switches that can cause the color scheme to not show up correctly, post a comment.

So here goes...

1. Are there rooms in the view that can be filled? Check the drawing by selecting everything in sight and filter out the rooms.
2. Do you have a color-scheme set up and the view set to show it? See the View Properties dialoge on the right:
3. Do the rooms in your view have a color based on the color scheme you have selected? (If the color scheme is based on the Name of the Room, this should be the case. But check anyway.)
4. Is there something blocking the colors? When you have a Floor in a Plan View that has its own color (check Surface Pattern and -Color of the material of the floor) it can lead to complications. Set the Surface Pattern to none.
5. The same goes for Walls in Section Views.
6. On the same note, it may help to set the Color Scheme Location in the View Properties dialogue to Foreground. (see right) Note that this will place the colors in front of everything, even the walls your view is cutting through.
7. Are Rooms visible in this view? Check the Visibility Settings of the current view to see whether Rooms are visible.

Those are the issues I have come across. Happy troubleshooting.

Quick results on the Vote of the Week (8-2010): Do you find the setup of the Ribbon logical?

Looks like Autodesk still has some tweaking to do on the Ribbon. But it does seem as if about 3/4 of the users have accepted the Ribbon.