Revit 2021 Issue with Realistic Views on Sheets

Two realistic views on a the same sheet with different Graphic Display Options anti-aliasing settings in Revit 2021 causes a problem when it comes time to print. Today's post highlights this little bug.

keep reading to learn more...

Deleting a Crop Region Deletes the Current Plan View

Here is an odd condition I ran across recently using Autodesk Revit 2020.2... in one scenario you are not able to delete a selected Crop Region for the current floor plan view, but in another you can... meaning the view you are in goes away! Check out this super short video I posted on YouTube...

Have you ever seen this before? Share your comments below...

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Revit Problem Changing Model Group in Type Selector During Placement

Last week I happened across a Revit bug, confirmed by Autodesk support, that I thought I would share in case others run into it... when a certain condition exists, it is not possible to change the Type Selector during placement of a Model Group.

Update: Autodesk just published this AKN article about this issue: Group to be placed is unable to be changed in type selector in Revit

keep reading to learn more...

Dashed Lines Print Solid in Revit

A quick note about an issue with some dashed lines printing solid, or continuous, in Revit. Nothing you can do about it, but knowing that is helpful...

Below I have added two lines, which use predefined Line Pattern Triple Dash 5/8". Then I placed three of the desk families, found in the OOTB Revit template, on top of one of the lines.

Looks fine on the screen...

But, it does not print fine...

Additionally...

Revit 2019 Beam Annotation Elevation Error

When modeling structural framing in Revit, use caution if you use the Z-Offset and Beam Annotation workflow together... as the noted elevation will not be correct! This is an issue Autodesk (now) knows about.

Read on to learn more...

Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Calculation Error

I was having a discussion the other day about Bentley software we use and asked why we use a particular program when we have access to as similar software within our Autodesk subscription. I was reminded that the "included" Autodesk software, Autodesk Storm and Sanitary, has calculation errors.

What Is Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis?

I then remembered submitting a support ticket directly to Autodesk Support about two years ago. Unfortunately this serious design flaw has yet to be rectified and thus we are using, and paying for, competing software. I thought I would share this so anyone who uses this software would be aware of the issue if depending on it as a design tool.

Here is what I submitted in March of 2016:

"The spread calculation for Storm and Sanitary Analysis is not calculating property. As you can see from the attached SPF file, the calculation works for gutter slopes of 2%, however for slopes greater than 2% the program calculates a number under the actual value and for slopes under 2% it calculates a value over the actual value."

The two images below where submitted with the support ticket to depict how we did a manual...

Civil 3D Pipe Network to Revit; Epic Fail

As a full service firm with in-house surveyors and civil engineers, we have Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D files just a few folders away from our Revit models on most projects.

We always generate the Revit toposurface from  a C3D surface. I will save that workflow for another day.

However, there is another important feature in these files that is pretty much not accessible to us in Revit; it is the underground utilities such as sewer, storm water, water and gas pipes. In Civil 3D these elements are called Pipe Networks.

Over the last couple months I tried to get Pipe Network data into Revit and worked three...

Curtain Wall Door Schedules on Wrong Level

Occasionally I see this problem, where a door within a curtain wall is reporting the incorrect level. I am not exactly sure what the root of the problem is, but I will outline the steps I take, which typically corrects the issue.

The Problem

In this first image, notice the curtain wall itself is reporting the correct level, 1st Floor. However, the door is showing up under the Basement heading, in the schedule. For context, a regular door was placed to the left (#130-D).

The Fix (or Workaround?)

Here are the steps to change which level the door schedules on....

Revit 2017.2.3 Update; MEP Phasing Issue Fixed!

If you do electrical design in Revit 2017, you should apply this update ASAP!

This update (Revit 2017.2.3) fixes a bug that, in certain situations, while using the Wire command, could cause all the project Phases to disappear. I wrote about this previously: Project Phases Disappear in Revit 2017

The image below shows the MEP item listed in the "Issues Resolved" list. There are three other platform (meaning basic Revit) fixes as well. Click here to view this page online.

You can find the update in your Autodesk Desktop App tool now (or soon).

A previous Revit 2018 update resolved this same issue in that version.

Type Selector Bug - Not All Content Listed

A quick post from the beautiful city of Aarhus Denmark, where I will be speaking at the BILT-EUR conference this week.

There is a strange bug in Revit that causes the Type Selector to remember the scope of the list from a previous action. For example, you open a project, look at the Type Selector list, and the open another project and when the Type Selector list is opened, the list space is either too long or truncated.

This appears to be related to Windows 10 or 4k monitors, as it does not happen on the few Windows 8 computers with normal resolution monitors. This issue occurs in multiple versions of Revit, not just 2018.

Notice, in the image below, that the list of casework content is truncated.

In this example, the list has waaaay too much extra space.

When the list is truncated, the workaround would be to click the Edit Type button and pick from the Family/Type drop-down lists at the top (see image below).

I know Autodesk is aware of this... I am sure it will be resolved in the near future.

Revit 2018 Circuit Path Bug

Revit 2018 has a new feature for the electrical discipline, which allows the designer to develop a custom circuit path. This is done between the Panel and the Farthest Device. Previously, Revit would would only use the X,Y,Z of the connector at each end and a fixed offset from the level (this is still the default).

The circuit length is used to calculate voltage drop. Calculating voltage drop in Revit is still not always possible due to the way it automatically assigns wire size. I wrote about that here: Revit Idea: Change how wire is auto-sized or allow override for engineering judgement.

Turns out there is a bug in how Revit calculates circuit length...

Revit Ceiling Placement Bug - Fixed in Revit 2018

There is a odd bug that worked it's way into Revit not too long ago... while in a reflected ceiling plan view, there is a rather common situation in which you cannot place a ceiling. When there is an exposed end of a wall which defines the perimeter of the room, as pointed out below, then you cannot place a ceiling using the Automatic Ceiling option.

Revit 2017 Cannot Place a Ceiling in this Room

Given the many other more complex conditions within a given room, this may not be an obvious problem to many designers.

Surprisingly, this is still a problem in Revit 2017, and 2016 I think. The only way to place a ceiling in this room is to switch to Sketch Ceiling mode. Thankfully, this issue is now fixed in Revit 2018.

Revit 2018 Fixes the Ceiling Placement Bug

Here is a short video showing the problem in 2017 and the fix in 2018.

Of course this condition exists in a room within my Commercial Design Using Autodesk Revit textbook used by high school, college and university students all around the USA, so that is fun for them, their instructors and myself as I received a few questions about this!

• By the way, instructors/professors using my books in their classes can email me anytime with questions. My email address is located in the Instructor's Guide on the SDC Publications website (see link pointed out in image below); accessible by instructors only, of course (notice they can also request a free exam copy!).

AutoCAD 2018 and Revit Compatibility

For the first time in several years AutoCAD has a new DWG file format as seen in the AutoCAD 2018 Save As dialog below.

I suspect the new version of Revit (i.e. 2017 + 1) will be able to successfully read an AutoCAD 2018 file. Also, as one should expect, Revit 2017 cannot read an AutoCAD 2018 file given the new file format. However, the twist here is if you try to link an AutoCAD 2018 file into Revit 2017 you get a few familiar warnings (see next two images) and then nothing happens - no file linked and no specific error message about what happened.

If you are a Revit user and get a DWG file you cannot link into Revit 2017 or earlier it may be a 2018 file. It will have to be saved as a previous version in AutoCAD.

Speaking of compatibility... if a DWG is saved with AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017 it can be opened in AutoCAD 2016 (or AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016) but not saved. This "corrupt" file cannot easily be saved or exported to a workable format. The file is not really corrupt, but Civil 3D modified the base DWG file in such a way that it is not backwards compatible like a normal AutoCAD 2013 formatted file.

Revit 'Sun and Shadow Updater' Error Message

When adjusting the Sun settings in Revit 2016 or 2017 you may get this error: "Third party updater 'Sun and Shadow Settings Updater' has experienced a problem and its action had to be canceled."

Revit error displayed when changing Sun settings

The problem relates to Dynamo and since it gets installed automatically now you have to manually update it to resolve this issue.

Here is a link to Autodesk's knowledge base article on this:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Third-Party-Updater-Error-Message-Sun-and-Shadow-in-Revit-2016.html

FYI: Before I knew what was causing this I would just click Disable Updater and not experience any issues with normal Revit functionality.

Project Phases Disappear in Revit 2017

If you do electrical work in Revit 2017 there is a bug you should be aware of. The result of this bug is that all project Phases (i.e. Existing, New Construction) disappear as seen in the image below.

All phases missing from Revit project

Normally, phases cannot be deleted - just combined with an adjacent phase. But, in any case, the last phase cannot be eliminated from a project.

This is really bad and difficult to fix. Just creating new phases is not the answer as the Room/Space elements are technically still in the model but not accessible - remember, those elements are hardwired to the phase they were created in. Even if you create a new phase with the same name, that does not resurrect the Room/Space elements.

Only Autodesk Support can fix this issue. However, on most projects, in the midst of production, the time it would take to send the model and get it back from Autodesk would result in too much downtime for the project and staff. Thus, going back to the last backup, good local file or Windows previous version is the best option.

But you are asking, why or how might this happen? Good question. It appears to be narrowed down to using the Spline Wire command; starting the command, selecting one electrical connector in a family and then canceling the command (Esc key). However, this is not easily reproducible.

Here is what Autodesk currently has to say about this: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Phases-disappear-from-project.html

Here is a forum post about this same topic: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-mep-forum/project-phases-disappeared/td-p/6400515

So, if you are using the Wire command in Revit 2017, you should consider checking the Phases dialog before each Sync w/ Central.

Fun stuff.

Revit 2017 and Windows DPI Text Scaling Issue

Revit 2017 has a new text engine, and as many already know, this can cause some formatting issues when upgrading a pre-2017 file. I talk about that in my AECbytes article What's New in Revit 2017 and show an example. This is by design and requires one-time manual adjustments to correct.

There is another text-related issue with Revit 2017 that is not by design. The problem is not with formatting, but with parts of text disappearing as seen in the next two images.

Text appears properly

Portion of text elements missing

The problem steams from team members having different DPI Scaling settings, aka text scaling, set on their computer for the same project. Check out this Windows blog post for more on DPI Scaling.

The person who created the text, at their DPI Scale setting, can see the text just fine. However, if someone opens the project with a different DPI Scale setting they may see cropped text as shown above. Apparently the DPI Scaling ever-so-slightly affects the text size but this does not cause a regeneration of the text in Revit. Not only is this a problem on the screen, it also prints that way!

When the person who original created the text opens the file again everything looks and prints fine.

The solution is for everyone to have the same DPI Scale setting until this is resolved by the developers at Autodesk. This can be a challenge for staff who need this adjustment to help their eyesight. Those using 4k monitors also change this setting - or it is automatically changed for them by Windows.

The Fix for someone having this problem, and they need to see and print the text, is to make a small edited to each text's Type Properties and then undo that change... this will force a regeneration. Or, of course, some API or Dynamo magic would help!

Fun stuff.