Twin Monitor support in Revit

[mmodernc]

Revit 7.0 does not have any additional support for twin or multiple monitors. At present I set my workspace up so that I have my browser and tools and my 3D window on the left monitor and the plans, elevations etc open on the right monitor. This gives me max area for the working side and sets the 3d viewing up on the faster? monitor. If I need to increse my work area I just hit the maximise this window button and then reduce it again when I have finished. But when I close the file I lose the set up. Am i doing something wrong?

[PeterJ]

No you're not. Support for dual monitor setups has long been requested, as has better recollection by the software of where windows have been placed.

I have requested a "superset" view template that recalls what views you had open, what zooms they were at and how they were arrayed on screen so that you could have a general workview, jump into a detail view full screen and then reinstate your plan, elevation and 3D general workview again seamlessly.

[mmodernc]

Maybe there is something in Hydravision or Nvidea that gives some control. Probably woth a post to these guys.

[mmodernc]

Just tried the ATI Hydravision applications windows control thing - does anybody know how it works and what it is supposed to do? I have a card with 256Mb and an ATI Radeon 9600.

[Haden]

I have a new desktop replacement laptop, with an ATI Radeon 9700 graphics card, and I found that when I try to set up dual monitors, with my desktop on the lcd laptop screen and my revit window maximized on my 21" CRT, Revit exhibits an infuriating behavior that causes the entire toolbar layout at the top of the Revit window to widen whenever any selection is made (the new context-specific icons appear in a new row at the bottom of the top toolbar area), which causes all kinds of freaky movements in the selected items, and even when trying to double-click a view on the browser, the 2nd click "misses" the view, since the entire browser refreshes with a shorter size after the first click. Basically, it becomes impossible to do any work in Revit when this happens.

Disabling Open GL doesn't solve the problem, and unchecking the other box below open gl does not help either. I even tried reducing the total resolution on the large monitor, and reducing the number of colors. The only solution is to switch to only use the 21" CRT, with the lcd turned completely off.

Am I missing something that ATI should allow me to enable, and if so, who should I talk to about this? Revit support, or ATI?

[FK]

Whoa! It's nothing to do with OpenGL indeed. Probably somewhere between Revit, Windows and the driver. Definitely talk to Revit support.

For a wild guess... In Display Properties you see two monitors. If you drag them around, you see coordinates of the top left corner. Is the secondary monitor to the left of the primary, so it has negative coordinates? This confuses lots of software.

[Roger Evans]

www.ati.com/products/hydra-vision/index.html

I had hydravision with old 9800 but never really played with it When I changed machine I got 9600 256 like yours & when I asked for hydravision was told it was not available for that series ~ Now just checked & it looks like that was bull

So I'd also be interested in any advice / feedback on this set up ~ along with Catalyst

I've gone back to 1 monitor iiyama 454 only because for some damn reason I get interference on my hifi when I use my second monitor iiyama 455 .. (the music won) ... also because image quality between the two monitors is noticeable ... so I would always recommend using identical models whenever possible.

[Haden]

Is the secondary monitor to the left of the primary, so it has negative coordinates? This confuses lots of software.
Thanks for the thought, but I tried it both ways, and no change. The only other way to avoid the problem is to set both the LCD and the CRT to the same 1600x1200 resolution, which does work, but obviously makes it too hard to read text on my 15" LCD! And there's no point in reducing the resolution on the 21" CRT below the 1600x1200, which would be a waste.

I submitted a support request to the subscription center, and we'll see what they say...

[rod.74246]

I'd be interested to know if there was any response to this issue of the toolbars going haywire, i've been having the same problem. The only solution i found was to make sure the Laptop display was set to primary and Revit was always open with the toolbars on the primary monitor.

[Chris DiSunno]

I used duel 20" monitors for a while. Since I never really developed keyboard shortcuts like I used to do with AutoCAD, I found it irritating to go back and forth across all the monitors real estate to hit buttons. I find getting one large monitor is superior to save configuration time and goof off time! My philosophy is pay attention to your drawing or your email or your document not all three.

[Haden]

The response I had gotten from Revit support some time ago was that dual monitor functionality was just not supported, but they suggested doing several things, none of which helped. I went back again and tried one more time yesterday, but with again unsuccessful results. (Change drivers, Use windows XP Classic theme, change primary monitor, try Hydravision software).

I did get somewhat more teasing results by switching my primary monitor back to the laptop lcd, but then rather than the toolbars going haywire, my picklists would not appear, unless I placed the Revit window on my "primary" lcd screen, which defeated the purpose of having the 21" crt. The hydravision software by ATI now only provides me with another annoyance, as every time I boot up my pc now, I get an explorer window open to the ati hydravision folder!

I personally disagree with Chris, as there are many instances when a 2nd monitor would be very helpful, (especially if I could reduce the resolution of my lcd below the 1600x1200 I use on my 21" crt), such as pulling up photos as a reference when drawing, opening a windows explorer window from which to drag and drop families or rename family files (and delete those pesky XXX.0001.rfa files!).

[SkiSouth]

Haden,

Sorry to jump in kinda out of the loop here. What are you trying to accomplish? I been running dual screens since Revit 5.1. One monitor at 1024x768, one at 1600x1200. (Revit on the higher - usually - though I do move it back and forth). You can assign which monitor the program defaults to, and which monitor is 1 vs. 2. (Just drag them in the setup screen). I am running a Nvidia GE Force 5200

Re-read your posts. The problem is the initial image setup of Revit correct? My mistake. Its my understanding that unless the main Revit window spans the screens, then the setup will not hold. (In my case that doesn't work as I have two different size monitors).

Contrast that with Photoshop where each tool bar occurs in a separate window. (you can place them where on any monitor and they hold). The Revit tool bars appear to depend on the main Revit Screen. The help screen in Revit is different in that it appears to be a separate program running in a separate window (you can move it around like Pshops tools).

So, from an exterior look, it appears that the tool bars are tied to the graphic display of Revit, and are not independent programs running in a separate window (allowing the random relocation option ). This is a GUESS, no evidence one way or the other.... I know it doesn't help - just maybe in confirming what you already know.

[Haden]

Skisouth -

I'm not sure I follow all of your specifics there. What I want to do is have a split desktop across 2 monitors: my 15" laptop lcd (which I would prefer to run at around 1280 or 1024 in width, to preserve my poor eyes), and my 21" CRT, which I want to run at 1600x1200. I want to then be able to open a Revit window on my 21" crt, and have other application windows such as a windows explorer and possibly an internet explorer window open on the lcd. I don't mind if all of the Revit windows and buttons have to remain on the large screen. The problem is, even with Hydravision installed (which I admit I haven't explored to the fullest), the functionality of Revit is nullified in one way or another when I try this.

When you said "(Just drag them in the setup screen)", did you mean in the Winows XP Display Properties Settings tab, or do you mean in your Nvidia software, or did you also refer to some specific settings available within Revit? I get the impression that there are no actual setup commands in Revit to address the dual monitor, only ways in which you open, drag, and tear-off various Revit windows within a specific Revit session.

[SkiSouth]

1. I assume the 21" CRT is driven by the Laptop - Dual screen must be on the same computer.
2. Your graphics card must be adequate to drive the resolution(S) chosen.
3. The control panel should display a dual screen if available.
4. In the attached image - my control panel->display->settings - Simply drag the "1" to the left if you want the left monitor as primary on this selection window. (Obviously, the right monitor would then be "2".). You can select whether or not to have the desktop menu (bottom) on either or both.
5. You get a "black" area on the screen capture of the desktop where the resolutions are different - See image 2.

[mmodernc]

I don't know if this i new to 8.1 but the project browser window now seems to float freely over both screens i.e. it doesn't just get stuck to one side like it used to.
Also if you save and close the file with open windows stretched over both screens when you reopen the file from My Recent Documents the windows retain their status and position.

[Wes Macaulay]

So you're saying there may be better support of dual monitors in 8.1? Time to rename the thread...

[mlgatzke]

I don't know if this i new to 8.1 but the project browser window now seems to float freely over both screens i.e. it doesn't just get stuck to one side like it used to.
Also if you save and close the file with open windows stretched over both screens when you reopen the file from My Recent Documents the windows retain their status and position.
That IS new. It wasn't like that in the past.

Wes, it does look like the factory's trying to bring us better dual-monitor support.

[gibson.tim91884]

My philosophy is pay attention to your drawing or your email or your document not all three.

That's a good philosophy, but when saving to central or making a change that affects a big portion of the model, it's nice to be able to watch Revit while checking email, browsing AUGI, downloading the latest update, or whatever. And to get back on topic ;), it would also be nice to be able to move the tool pallets to the second monitor, or to have coordinating views open on a third monitor, or whatever.