RAC 2009 wu1 on Vista 64 - no thumbnails

[ws]

Just noticed a drawback of Vista 64 - no Revit thumbnails at all in Windows Explorer views.

I have a feeling I've seen this mentioned in the forum before but I can't locate a thread.

Raizlabs thumbnailmanager doesn't seem to like Vista 64 and I am not sure about BIMContentmanager?

I don't suppose anyone has come across a solution to this?

[iru69]

Yes, this problem goes back a couple of years with XP 64 as well (do a search on "vista thumbnails" of the revit forum).

Here's a recent one:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=79058

Bummer. It would be nice if they fixed all these little bugs.


Just noticed a drawback of Vista 64 - no Revit thumbnails at all in Windows Explorer views.

[ws]

thanks iru... er, that's a thread I posted to as well :Oops:

Oh well - I've just noticed that if you click on a family when in the Revit load file dialogue it does actually display the family thumbnail in a preview top right corner - which makes you wonder why it can't appear within explorer as in XP.

Even in XP after upgrading to RAC 2009 there were a number of older? families which no longer displayed a thumbnail within Explorer.

[iru69]

Funny!

The application (e.g. Revit) needs to add the preview handler to the Windows OS that provides Windows Explorer with the preview image from the family/project file. Autodesk evidently hasn't made their preview handler compatible with x64.


that's a thread I posted to as well :Oops:

[GuyR]

The problem is the existing thumbnail handler (REvitPreview.dll) is not compatible with x64. We'll need to wait for a x64 build for this to be fixed. Vista has another issue in that Vista has another method for generating thumbnails which support larger 256x256 thumbnails. It would be good if REvit supported this as well.

The reason you can see thumbnails in revit is probably because Revit not using explorer and therefore is generating and showing the thumbnails itself.

Guy

[ws]

Thanks both, for the explanation.

I guess that's next year at the earliest for x64 Revit.

Some Vista 64 users have mentioned to me about running 32 bit applications like Revit in MS Virtual PC but that seems just an extra complication.

[LRaiz]

I don't buy GuyR's explanation. It is possible to support required explorer APIs even if application is not fully ported to x64. One could also argue that full porting of Revit to x64 is long overdue. Obviously Autodesk is not paying enough attention to 64 bit OS.

[GuyR]

Leonid I'm not saying that it couldn't be supported now.My conclusion from asking questions via ADN etc is that they'll support it when they're ready and that means x64 Revit.

I'd be surprised if a x64 Revit build isn't available before the end of the year. Larger firms are moving to x64 for obvious reasons and I know pressure is being applied. There have been 2008 x64 builds floating around so it's probably not too far away.

Guy

[Nevine]

I am running on 32 bit and still no thumbnails. Problem started with Vista. Very frustrating and regressive. I am surprise more people are not annoyed at this or is not happening to everyone using Vista

[iru69]

It's not happening to everyone using Vista. We've got Revit running on a couple Vista 32 workstations and no problems with thumbnails... they work better than ever.

Unless there's something corrupt with your Vista installation (or some other application is running interference), it's really up to Revit to enable thumbnails in Windows Explorer. Have you tried reinstalling Revit?

I am surprise more people are not annoyed at this or is not happening to everyone using Vista

[hand471037]

The problem isn't just limited to Revit on Vista. There are some other software packages I've heard about that have broken thumbnails on Vista FWIW.

[Nevine]

Thanks for the info. That makes me really wonder. Well i had the problem with revit 2008 and it continued after loading Revit 2009. Vista came preloaded on my laptop so not sure where the problem can be. I actually had the same problem on a previous laptop that was stolen and i still have the problem on the new laptop. I have Vista Business. Very strange.

[samov]

Vista 32 and Vista 64 are two separate OSes.

The problem lies in Vista 64's Windows explorer which is 64 bit and needs 64 bit compiled plugins.

If you open a 32 bit program like office 2007 and display the "Open File" dialog box... you will see the thumbnails. A 32 bit program calls the 32 bit WoW Explorer and all works well.


In Vista 32 all this does not happen... all is ok... alas there are other problems.

[mbeham]

thanks iru... er, that's a thread I posted to as well :Oops:

Oh well - I've just noticed that if you click on a family when in the Revit load file dialogue it does actually display the family thumbnail in a preview top right corner - which makes you wonder why it can't appear within explorer as in XP.

Even in XP after upgrading to RAC 2009 there were a number of older? families which no longer displayed a thumbnail within Explorer.


You said here that even in xp after upgrading there were some that didnt show...i am having that problem currently with a handful of families. Is there a way in XP to make them show even after the files are upgraded?

[ws]

I cannot really figure out why some show thumbnails and some do not.

I had thought it was to do with upgrading the files to the latest format - which I am on with at the moment - but possibly there is more to it than that.

Revit 64 on Vista 64 as, posted elsewhere, is much improved in displaying thumbnails.

[dbaldacchino]

I had thumbnails showing up fine until I installed a 3rd party application and now my thumbnails are gone. Can't figure out how to fix it. Very annoying :( Running Vista 64 and Revit 64 (no 32 bit Revit installed).

[iankids]

Hi All,

I too, am having problems with the thumbnails in Vista 64bit. I have lodged a support request with the factory and have been advised that it is being upgraded to their development team, hopefully for resolution.

At Autodesk's direction, I have already completed a clean reinstall of the program (with little effect), & have just now sent my system information file to them.

Once I have a response, I will post it to this thread & let you know what the outcome is in my instance.

In the course of the conversation with the chap in India, he mentioned that this problem was a known issue and it was thought to be fixed up for windows Vista Ultimate 64bit. I am running Vista Business 64bit. It would be interesting to know what version of Vista each of us are on as Ray felt it could be related to Vista Business. William & Dave, are you on Ultimate or a different flavour of Vista?

Cheers,

Ian

[dbaldacchino]

Vista Business 64 (SP1). Everything used to work until I installed a 3rd part app or uninstalled something. Not sure exactly what caused it.

RFA's don't work at any view"scale".
RVT's don't work at Details, List and Small Icons.

[dbaldacchino]

Just uninstalled and re-installed RAC2009 x64 & all apps/plugins and it seems to have recovered. The main problem was the icons in my case and now they're back. I am however experiencing issues with moving/deleting/opening certain rfa files copied from another machine. Some of these problem files cannot even be deleted via Explorer or DOS (I managed to after a lot of tries and restarts, but now I'm using THIS (http://www.softwarepatch.com/software/moveonboot.html) app to delete on reboot as suggested in THIS THREAD (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=73488)).

[still.james]

vista 64 ultimate, no thumbnails :(

[ws]

Just noticed iankids query on which version of Vista 64.

I have the Ultimate version.

Revit 64 shows all up to date content icons but some older families don't show.

I did try to update these older version families using the tools supplied with Revit 2009 but the process crashed regularly and I gave up on it - I'll maybe give it another go to see if icons return when families are converted.

[eldad]

would be nice to get an answer from the Factory, would love to have this supported on Vista64 :)

[iankids]

Hi All,

The likely resolution of the problem can be found in this thread. http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=67013

Worked a treat for me.