Revit Web Update 1 - Material Assets

[robert.manna]

I noted that Scott's post here, indicates that we should re-download the materials assets, but not the families. I did note that this is not really made clear anywhere on Autodesk's own website, or in their on-line materials relating to the web update. What would be nice is the ability to download the assets in the same way that the familiy librarys are available. Due to the way we deploy our software internally, it would make it much easier for us to download the assests. We actually push the 700mb + of material assets out seperate of the install package to our workstations.

Thanks,
-R

[Wes Macaulay]

So you'd rather have each user download the package than push it out in the network deployment? Why? We just have it in the deployment, but not the families, since they're stored on the server already and there's no point installing them to the workstations.

[luke.s.johnson]

Is there any way to download the material library after installing the Web Update and ticking the 'don't install content' box?

Is there a ZIP file or something somewhere that I can download and update the Materials?

[luigi]

Hey Wes, if Robert does it like we do, we don't push the material library with the install either. We download it once and store it on the network, but then push it internally on people's C drive...it is part of a larger aproach to all content families and materials,etc.

So if we can't download the materials as a seperate entitiy (like families) then we could download it once, and then copy the content for the network...


So you'd rather have each user download the package than push it out in the network deployment? Why? We just have it in the deployment, but not the families, since they're stored on the server already and there's no point installing them to the workstations.

[anthony.67953]

What are Material Assets ?

Thanks

[scott.latch]

I did note that this is not really made clear anywhere on Autodesk's own website, or in their on-line materials relating to the web update.

There is a note on the download page. I tried to make it bold, but I guess it isn;t as obvious as I had hoped. I'll also add a note to the Enhancement List to emphasis this.

I agree. We need a better way to deliver the 700 MB material library. This is a topic of discussion here at Autodesk.

[twiceroadsfool]

So if we can't download the materials as a seperate entitiy (like families) then we could download it once, and then copy the content for the network...

Thats what we do. Start the first install, and tell it to download all the content AND rendering stuff.

Content goes on the network, Material stuff goes locally. Then we copy the material stuff to a temporary network location, and copy it down to all the workstations local drives. That way we dont cripple our bandwidth with 30 computers trying to DL it all at once, LOL...

[trombe]

There is a note on the download page. I tried to make it bold, but I guess it isn;t as obvious as I had hoped. I'll also add a note to the Enhancement List to emphasis this.

I agree. We need a better way to deliver the 700 MB material library. This is a topic of discussion here at Autodesk.


Sorry,
just want to confirm without any ambiguity please.
so I have downloaded the 489 Mb Revit 2009 WU1 file, but now need to download a 700 Mb file that is the total materials library and families content combined.........because the WU1 revision, has required revision to the materials library , as the reason why the ReadMe for WU1 indicates re-installation of an . the (updated for WU1) materials library. is this correct ?

So now I have to remove the installation and start again because this WU1 update file will not overwrite Content Library but needs a new one and, the Revit.exe file will not overwrite the existing one....yes ?

The sequence is not noted and since I am not doing deployments or working as an IT person or for networks or big practices and only do this stuff once or twice a year...one person notes that during the installation of the revit.exe / WU1 , you tell it to go to AD site and download the 700 Mb file ? so if your machines drops the connection, you have to start all over again....does it matter if you install the WU1 setup first and then come back and download the 700 Mb file, and install it later ?

thanks for all of the above
regards
trombe



thanks
trombe

[Maximillian]

Sorry if this sounds stupid but...? Where ? do we download the new 700MB content?

[trombe]

Sorry if this sounds stupid but...? Where ? do we download the new 700MB content?

Max, you got me ! I am wondering the same thing.
My WU1 download was in 2 lots.
One lot 489 Mb was the Revit file and one lot of 172 at the AD site, and when sitting on the drive = 198 Mb odd was the families library, for me this is called (NewZealand.cab), there is another one called (for me) NewZealTempl.cab and that was small about 5Mb
Overall, that makes about 700 Mb near enough...maybe this is where the earlier posting about distribution of the content library came from? My understanding is that content library includes rendering / materials and families as it always has.
For the other query : they are talking about ProMaterials library, which also seems to mean Protein Materials which is just the name given to the materials library collectively. The "materials assets" people are talking about is the name of the folder : C:\Program Files\Revit Architecture 2009\Data\Rendering\ assetlibrary_base.fbm
If you go and check it out, you will see the rest as self explanatory.

I was only wondering if the WU1 has the same installer as the factory DVD set, because that installer will ask if you want to un-install other versions and I would say yeah take out the original 2009 factory release , which should also remove the C\Program Files\Revit Architecture and all the sub folders to that = removes the rendering folders.

But that normally leaves the templates and Component libraries / families which then have to be manually deleted. So then you have to come back and re-install the Content Library with the new one.
This is where I am a bit confused. When the installer loads Revit it should load the Rendering stuff I thought (back to all of the sub-folders for the Program Files section, but not the Documents and Settings part where all the content is stored most usually on stand alone machines like mine !!).
The AD information is asking us to re-install the rendering, which is found in the families library / content library download package, thus taking me back to the seeming circular argument above.

This is why I am not sure what AD mean when they are talking about the distribution of the rendering package, independent of the current all in one package for this WU1 release.
It seems obvious I guess, you must delete the (for me) "Metric Library" but NOT the Templates, NOT the Training but not sure about the Recent sub folder ?
Probably all seems so easy to most of you, however,m if you stop and think about what reason there is for this one to stay and this one not to, perhaps better instructions from the manufacturer would not go astray. Try and find them in the knowledge base !

So much time mucking around with this one is starting to brass me off. Its such a great release otherwise, its a shame its muddied by the current problems.
regards
trombe

[Mr Spot]

With the comments about the WU1 release still having performance issues and the fact that there is talk of a further update on the way, plus we really haven't noticed any significant slow down as yet, we plan on holding off on this installation.

Doesn't the Asset Library just get downloaded during the installation if you choose to install rendering?

I normally setup two network installs, 1 for x86 and 1 for x64. So essentially 1.4GB of downloads for the asset library. Can't see why it can't be done similar to windows updates where you have an option for Administrator settings and choose to download the cabinets to the network for use during multiple rollouts...

[trombe]

Doesn't the Asset Library just get downloaded during the installation if you choose to install rendering?
.


That is a good question and your post identifies a good answer to the issue for this WU1 release, but from memory, this has not happened before other than for the normal packaging. I think the rendering is packaged with the families library as the (Aus / NZ.cab) so surely you have to un-install the existing (for Aus / NZ) Metric Library and then the new install (which you need for the Rendering - assetlibrary_base.fbm aspect) gets installed with fresh content....because the (assetlibrary_base.fbm) is not currently its own cabinet as you note.
Actually, you wouldn't reasonably expect a library upgrade during major / annual release cycle unless there was something significant that needed adjustment ?

I just upgraded my Quadro FX1500 card driver last night to the 175.51 release performance version and after an hour or so of use, there have not been any problems but its too early to tell (out of memory issues +redrawing window errors...but then, I had already upgraded the video driver to the then latest one, 2 weeks before 2009 arrived at my door.
The existing driver and the new one (169.39) worked fine with 2008 for those few weeks and only turned to custard upon installation of 2009 ( I never got to try the 169.61 version).
Ugh, Mr Spot, I am not intending to install WU1 until I have had a really good trial of the 175.51 driver.

regards
trombe

[Maximillian]

The WU installed very slowly for me which seemed to indicate that it was downloading something. How can I "verify" that I have the correct material lib installed?

[luigi]

Just check the date on the rendering library folder and files


The WU installed very slowly for me which seemed to indicate that it was downloading something. How can I "verify" that I have the correct material lib installed?

[saeborne]

...Content goes on the network, Material stuff goes locally. Then we copy the material stuff to a temporary network location, and copy it down to all the workstations local drives...

Hi all,

I think that everyone would agree that the .RFA component files should be stored on a network server. Why are the material assets stored on the local drive?

I imagine the answer is going to be rendering performance / speed.

But how do you share custom material assets? For example, If User A changes the material definition for a given material, will User B have access to that new material.. if the assets are stored on User A's local hard drive?

Thanks in advance,

Sae.

[Rick Houle]

I agree. My render paths pointed to a server location in 2008.
If the team needed to customize any materials they were forced to create a mlib for the job at hand. Everything seemed to work well. We often times will render on different machines that are available at time of render.
MY CONCERN: If each user tweaks his/her own C drive materials, we may end up with a mess of cat and mouse games. What if one user tweaks it one way and the other user goes the other way... with same material name.

My question,
is there a reason i should NOT change my render path (manually on each PC) to point to the server location.???

[sfaust]

this has been discussed extensively, do a search on the forums. The library is read only, any tweaks are by project and stored in the project file...

[Rick Houle]

Interesting, i will have to dig into this further.
thanks.
If this is true, then the only problem i see is getting the content on the C drive.

We have found that when creating a NW deployment, the material assets do not copy themselves to the C drive. (probably the root of this thread)... When we select to install ONLY the render content, all the CAB files are 1kb and nothing is copied.

[atbergma]

I just created a network deployment to install rendering libraries only, and it worked fine. I installed the WU1 first to my workstation as a direct install with all content selected - this did take a long time to download. I created the deployment after the initial local install by starting the installer via C:\Program Files\Revit Architecture 2009\Download\Setup.exe.

One improvement I've noticed is that it allows you to create a network deployment with the same version installed locally - we used to have to uninstall or go directly to deployment.

[Rick Houle]

So, when you created the deployment from the same computer that ALREADY had a full WU1 installation, the resulting deployment then delivered the render content without a hitch..?? Well, this is one i will have to try..!

Thanks for the info.