Thumbnail View In Explorer

[funkman]

I used to be able to view thumbnails of families in Explorer. This was very handy in immediately seeing which family I wanted to load into any given project and dragging the family into the project from one screen to the other. This is no longer working in 8.1. :???:

Now it could be that I have this 64-bit OS, or is anyone else having problems with this in other systems? Alternatively, is there a setting that can be toggled in Explorer to switch the auto thumbnail on, apart from the "thumbnails" option under the views button on the toolbar? I cant seem to find it.

Thanks.

[blads]

I used to be able to view thumbnails of families in Explorer. This was very handy in immediately seeing which family I wanted to load into any given project and dragging the family into the project from one screen to the other. This is no longer working in 8.1. :???:

Now it could be that I have this 64-bit OS, or is anyone else having problems with this in other systems? Alternatively, is there a setting that can be toggled in Explorer to switch the auto thumbnail on, apart from the "thumbnails" option under the views button on the toolbar? I cant seem to find it.

Thanks.
G'day Funkman,

I'm only running 32-bit OS (ie Win XP pro) but clearly see thumbnails in 8.1 (build 20050825_0100). I don't no of any setting apart from the one you described...

sorry I couldn'tbe of more help

[iru69]

I'm pretty sure the Revit image preview is a windows registry hack done during the installation of Revit and that there is no windows "setting".

I'm guessing that the hack tells Windows how to extract the thumbnail that's saved with the Revit file and to display it like any typical image (which is generally handled by "Perceived Type" registry entry).

There's a chance that something just went a little off during your installation and that this could happen to anyone, but more likely is that a different registry hack is needed for x64 - and it's simply not part of the current installation - but I'm (still) just guessing.

In any event, I think you're going to need to contact Revit support to find out for sure.

Let us know how it turns out. I guess it's no use at this point in asking why you got Windows x64? It might be worth it to bite the bullet and go pick up a copy of Windows XP Pro - you're going to be running into these little snags for the next six months or more.

[funkman]

Thanks guys, I logged it into support and they called back - I can open the preview folder within Revit with thumbnails when selecting file>open. No dice with Explorer though. Support are "looking into it" for x64.

[funkman]

clearly the factory has not looked into this as yet.

Would be nice to see this implemented for the next build though. The workaround of having a session of word/excel/{insert any windows programme except revit} open on the second monitor to view the thumbnails and drag them into revit will have to do for now.

Will pretty please with a cherry on top help?

[GuyR]

I'm pretty sure the Revit image preview is a windows registry hack done during the installation of Revit and that there is no windows "setting".

No hack, standard windows programming.

Windows shell uses IExtractImage(2) to generate the thumbnail. Here (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/shell/reference/ifaces/iextractimage/iextractimage.asp) are the microsoft docs.

Any windows application that implements the relevant interfaces can generate thumbnails for the shell. Given that the 8.1 builds work on win32 then I guess there are 2 possiblities:

1.. You need a win64 build of revit for it to work.
2.. It's a winXP64 problem relatng to the windows shell.
3.. (not sure if this has an effect)Something is screwy with your registry and win64 is trying to use the wrong version of Revit to generate the preview (if you have V7,V8 ) installed.

HTH,

Guy

[funkman]

1.. You need a win64 build of revit for it to work.Factory - I am waiting....





2.. It's a winXP64 problem relatng to the windows shell.Cannot be this as all other programs read the thumbnails. Only revit files cannot be thumbnailed.





3.. (not sure if this has an effect)Something is screwy with your registry and win64 is trying to use the wrong version of Revit to generate the preview (if you have V7,V8 ) installed. I only have 8.1 and now 9.0 installed so that cannot be the answer. 8.1 thumbnails never worked on this machine - it works on the other computers runing 32bit OS but not this one which is 64bit.

Thanks anyway, I still await Autodesk's new builds to be compliant with Windows Vista which is out this year finally. Hopefully then it might work.

[GuyR]

I still await Autodesk's new builds to be compliant with Windows Vista which is out this year finally.

You're joking right? Large Corp. release before Xmas, public in the New Year. I would guess we'll see Vista support in V10.

Anyway, just buy an Apple OSX Intel machine with virtualization and you can have 64bit Vista now ;-)

I would say now that the we're seeing NET2.0 builds of Revit (V9 ) your chances are probably much higher.

Have you tried sending a 64bit generated family to a 32bit machine to see if it works?

Guy

[funkman]

You're joking right? Large Corp. release before Xmas, public in the New Year. I would guess we'll see Vista support in V10.

Anyway, just buy an Apple OSX Intel machine with virtualization and you can have 64bit Vista now ;-)

I would say now that the we're seeing NET2.0 builds of Revit (V9 ) your chances are probably much higher.

Have you tried sending a 64bit generated family to a 32bit machine to see if it works?

Guywell I was being sarcastic of course - my mirth is still with me at times, albeit somewhat veiled.

That is an interesting thought Guy - so I tried that but still no dice.

I remind myself of the old skeleton dude waiting for the bus in the outback whichnever comes. But I sit here patiently for the world to catch up....

[GuyR]

That is an interesting thought Guy - so I tried that but still no dice.

Well that suggests the generation of the thumbnail is borked.

I still wonder what the advantage of 64 bit is unless you're doing Freedom tower sized work?

Me, it'd be happy if Revit took advantage of the twin cores my CPU has.

Guy

[funkman]

Arrghh.

9.1 doesn't let the thumbnails work in word or excel. I used this to drag from one monitor to another. Windows explorer on x64 doesn't show thumbnails and now every other program on x64 doesn't show it either.

Now I have to have a second session of revit open to drag the families in.

F a c t o r y !!!

Please please please.....get the thumbnails working on x64. This is getting close to critical with the new systems now coming out and spreading through the market.

[dfriesen]

Any progress on figuring out whether we can get thumbnail views of families in Windows Explorer, or for that matter, in the Revit Load Family dialog? I'm currently getting neither.

Windows XP Pro
Revit 9.0 build 20060619_2300

I just read Scott Davis' article in AUGIWorld about Detailing, and he's flaunting his ability to view the families by thumbnails. ;) I WANT THAT!!!

[Scott D Davis]

I've always had thumbnail ability in both Windows Explorer and in the Open/Load dialog boxes. I'm not sure what would cause this not to work? Here's a search result in WinExplorer with thumbnails, too.

p.s. What did you think of the article?

[dhurtubise]

Get the thumbnail explorer from http://www.raizlabs.com/software/thumbnailexplorer/Default.asp

Cheap and a lot more efficient the Windows Explorer

[dfriesen]

I've always had thumbnail ability in both Windows Explorer and in the Open/Load dialog boxes. I'm not sure what would cause this not to work? Here's a search result in WinExplorer with thumbnails, too.Hmmm, just checked on my home computer, WinXP Home, and it works. Oh well, I'll be getting a new machine at work in a week or so, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it will be more cooperative.

p.s. What did you think of the article?Very good overview of detailing - reinforces what I've been using. Lots of options for how to use detailing in Revit.

[cphubb]

I also lost my thumbnails for all programs in explorer. However mine also were gone in the open dialog. I tried reinstalling Revit to no avail. However a few days later I started noticing some of the families started showing thumbnails and all my current projects were as well. I discovered that saving the file again would recreate the thumbnail and they stayed around. So I used the family upgrade utility and all the Revit thumbnails were recreated and for the most part have continued to work. However none of the rest of the thumbs were ever recreated and until I got a new computer I had to guess which word or pdf file I was opening. BTW XP 32 SP2

[Les Therrien]

So any answer on this???

I just got a 64bit system, and guess what!? No thumbs!!!

This is a real pain without them.

[cphubb]

Is it just Revit files or all files?

[Les Therrien]

Revit files, and .pdf files created by Revit.
.dwg files as well.
All Autodesk files! :-)
.gif and jpeg files work!