Surprised By Revit

[captainbunsaver]

Sometimes I'm just amazed at how Revit allows me to create stuff I could never have made before, and so easily.
I needed to show a screened porch. Okay, I'll use the tip I read before of making the wall into a curtain panel...but the door didn't work.
So I opened up an existing single curtain door, made a few modifications, and voila, it all came together!

Man, is Revit FUN or what?

[zenomail105021]

I know. I am fairly new to Revit and I guess I am a little obsessed with it. What a program and, hopefully, what more to look forward to.


Bill Maddox

[SCShell]

Hey there,
I have been using Revit for 2 years now and I still get that same feeling everytime the program does something wonderful!

Steve

[Max Lloyd]

Me too. Its a great bit of software, made even better by the wonderful, un-selfish and expert advice offered on this web-site. I know its been said before, but thanks everyone!

Max

[cbernal]

I have this love-hate relationship with revit.
It IS a wonderfull program, and It also manages to enrage me like no other (like when it crashes).

[Wes Macaulay]

Make sure you post what it is that Revit does that you hate, since the rest of us would like your love of Revit to be more complete. Can't have frustrated Revit users around here...

[Andre Baros]

Please tell us more about these crashes too. One of my favorite things about Revit is that it doesnt't crash. I've had only 2 or 3 crashes in 2 years of using Revit, compared to 4 or 5 per day with AutoCad.

[BWG]

Please tell us more about these crashes too. One of my favorite things about Revit is that it doesnt't crash. I've had only 2 or 3 crashes in 2 years of using Revit, compared to 4 or 5 per day with AutoCad.

I can crash revit every time I use the "X" button (top right) to close out when a project is open. It saves the project luckily, but gives an unrecoverable error message. It seems to happen much more in 8.1 than 8.0. However, there might be some remnants of the beta on the machine that is causing conflicts though. So, no more beta testing for me. I have at least two crashes a week. I was moving boundary line for a stair by clicking and dragging and it crashed - sent everything to Adesk, but they could not recreate, but could see where it happened in the journal file. I had the same thing happen when trying to click and drag and sketch line for a floor too. Right now our biggest problem is some families will not load into the 8.1. It appears to upgrade, but it will not show up in the drop down. For instance, the "counter top" family worked fine in 8.0, but will not load in 8.1. We are having problems with 8.0 tags not loading in 8.1 as well. In addition, the family upgrade utility crashes if the family has any groups within. Just to name a few. Most of this is happening on the other machine too, but it was not used for betal testing.

We have crashes about twice a week and when given the opportunity to send the info to Adesk, I do, but sometimes it doesn't make to that. I do send in support requests when I know what I was doing when it happened. Usually not when it is something trivial like switching between views. That is probably a video card problem.

[truevis]

I can crash revit every time I use the "X" button (top right) to close out when a project is open...
You sound like a candidate for a clean Windows install.

I also like using Startup Control Panel (http://www.mlin.net/files/StartupCPL_EXE.zip) to shut off all the unnecessary things that software installs in your startup. Even a new Dell will have about 20 things in there taking up memory and doing who knows what else. One of the worst common offenders is Quicktime which adds itself every time you use it http://forums.augi.com/images/icons/icon8.gif.

[Wes Macaulay]

Bruce, once you've installed the Revit betas they are GONE. You won't have any gremlins from the beta application, though you may with the files you worked with during the beta. There were problems with some 7.0 files created during its beta phase as well.

If you can track the problem down to files saved with the beta, let Revit support know...

[BWG]

You sound like a candidate for a clean Windows install.

I also like using Startup Control Panel (http://www.mlin.net/files/StartupCPL_EXE.zip) to shut off all the unnecessary things that software installs in your startup. Even a new Dell will have about 20 things in there taking up memory and doing who knows what else. One of the worst common offenders is Quicktime which adds itself every time you use it http://forums.augi.com/images/icons/icon8.gif.

I just went through this and can't afford to do it again, so I am living with the crashes for now. I just save as much as possible. it takes 3 full days to get my machine back running again.

[BWG]

Bruce, once you've installed the Revit betas they are GONE. You won't have any gremlins from the beta application, though you may with the files you worked with during the beta. There were problems with some 7.0 files created during its beta phase as well.

If you can track the problem down to files saved with the beta, let Revit support know...

I created all new dummy files with the beta. I did not have any production drawings in it or families. I just created everything new. Are you absolutely sure the unistaller gets everything out of the registry. If it does, Adesk is very good at this because most programs leave things behind. Sometimes conflicting things.

[Steve_Stafford]

...so I am living with the crashes for now. I just save as much as possible...What are your Open GL settings right now? Are they both checked? If yes, then try unchecking them and see if Revit stabilizes.

[david.kingham]

I was crashing just as much (if not more) as you info. Today I realized that I hadn't unchecked overlay planes since I installed 8.1, haven't had any crashes since I changed that one damn setting. Crashing is almost always related to the video card. Turn off overlay planes, you can try opengl, worked fine for me in 8 but does not in 8.1 :( and if those don't stop the crashing turn down your hardware acceleration, if that doesn't work you probably need a different video card

[FK]

Please, don't "accept" crashes and don't "live with" them. We want you to be satisfied and our software, stable. Complain about crashes to client support, and they will receive attention.

Now, if your video card is overheating, we can't fix that, but a heat sink can.

[BWG]

What are your Open GL settings right now? Are they both checked? If yes, then try unchecking them and see if Revit stabilizes.

Only the overlay planes were checked. I can uncheck both and see if that helps.

[BWG]

I was crashing just as much (if not more) as you info. Today I realized that I hadn't unchecked overlay planes since I installed 8.1, haven't had any crashes since I changed that one damn setting. Crashing is almost always related to the video card. Turn off overlay planes, you can try opengl, worked fine for me in 8 but does not in 8.1 :( and if those don't stop the crashing turn down your hardware acceleration, if that doesn't work you probably need a different video card

I don't mind changing video cards. I have an ATI 9200 PRO, but I know it is probably considered legacy by now. It runs well, but I will probably go with NVidia on my next purchase. I get a lot of screen trash with this card during any CAD work.

[BWG]

Please, don't "accept" crashes and don't "live with" them. We want you to be satisfied and our software, stable. Complain about crashes to client support, and they will receive attention.

Now, if your video card is overheating, we can't fix that, but a heat sink can.


Thanks FK for your response and dedication to the product. I don't expect Revit to handle all possible hardware configurations. When I built this machine 1 1/2 years ago, I went with all the outlaw vendors, like ATI, Seagate, AMD, Asus, etc, so I expect some crashing. Revit just happens to be very finicky about hardware. It all started with the SATA issue and licensing, so if it comes down to reloading windows again, I will probably buy an HP or Dell - hopefully not.

BTW, I have been sending in the complaints, but if they cannot be reproduced at Adesk, it doesn't seem to go any further and the request gets closed. Hopefully, they are working on the problems without dealing with me unless they need me.

[Wes Macaulay]

Revit is only finicky about video cards. And I note that recent computers I've had built up work great with ATI video: their cards have improved dramatically for CAD work.

[BWG]

Revit is only finicky about video cards. And I note that recent computers I've had built up work great with ATI video: their cards have improved dramatically for CAD work.

Maybe I need a newer card. I have the newest drivers already. We do have a 9800 Pro on one machine and it has less problems. However, the screen trash continues.

And, before the SATA hot fix, it was finicky about hard drives as well. That might have been the licensing program doing that though. Although I could get Autocad to function correctly,but not Revit.

Out of all the years I have been building PCs, video cards have 90% of the time been the culprit to crashes and hang-ups. The one I will remember for ever is the 3D Labs Oxygen series would lock up with Windows 95 and 98 ever so often, usually two or three times a day. After about a year, they posted a driver to correct the problem and it worked fine from then on. I don't know how much time went into trying to troubleshoot the device or driver causing the problem back then, but my wife still blames me for building rather than buying (takes all the fun out of it). I can't win for losing.

[Wes Macaulay]

Ugh. Those 3D Labs cards were supposed to be the bomb, but for me they have always bombed! We've got a client who has them in every machine in their office, and they don't work great for Revit (they're fine for AutoCAD).

3D Labs hasn't returned any e-mails about it either. The wankers.

[gbrowne]

hahaha, you made me laugh just then..!