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

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

[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