Revit Interference Check

Check for interfering / clashing elements in your model directly in Revit.
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Revit has a functionality to check for elements that are interfering with each other. This might be used to check interferences when collaborating between consultants (Architect, MEP Engineer, Structural Engineer, etc) or simply to check that the model you build has no interferences that could cause unwanted results. The functionality, of course is called "interference check".

To run it, simply go to the Collaborate Tab --> Coordination Panel --> Interference Check --> Run Interference Check.


You should be now at the interference check interface, where you can select the elements you want to use to check interferences. Select a type or types of elements on the left and another type or types on the right and click OK.



If there are interferences (i.e. those elements collide with each other) you will get a report listing those interferences like the one I am showing below.


Having this report, you can either select an object and click on Show to see the object, or you can also export the report to have a reference list of potential things to be solved / modified in the model. An exported report (HTML) looks like this.
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How to recover a MS Word File when everything else fails using Google Desktop

Use Google Desktop to recover the contents of a lost or damaged word file.
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I was today working on a report in word for several hours and at the time I was done and wnated to close the file and save it, Word Crashed. I don't know how, I had not done a manual save for a very long time. Second on my list of evening crisis was the fact that for some reason when i reopened MS Word, it didn't prompt to to the File recovery wizards. I got crazy scared. 3 hours of work lost? There must be a way I can find some of my info in some part of my computer.


All the advice about finding and recovering the Autosave files that is out there on the web didn't do any good to me. I did find what was supposed to be my Autosave recovery file with the extension .asd (see the image above). Unfortunately, this file was corrupted and could not be opened neither recover using the Open and Repair option in Word. What else could I do?

Well, luckily I always install Google Desktop on the computers I use. I do not find it very useful as a search tool but it is very useful to quickly access programs. I did go to GDesktop and search for my file name.


Miracle! Found 3 instances of it (I had tried to copy the file to different locations without success recovering it). One of this instances of my file, was good, and somehow, Google Desktop had stored it in its cache with several versions for me to choose.


Accessing the file itself was no good because it brought me to the unsaved version, but accessing the Cache of the latest version of the file allowed me to at least copy and paste the text (not the formatting) of the file into a new word document. Just had to do some minor tweaks to the formatting and had my 3 hours of work back with me in 10 minutes...
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AutoCAD: Customize the Display Order of Ribbon Tabs

It is possible (and quite simple) to customize the order in which AutoCAD Ribbon Tabs appear.
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On the last post I showed you how to modify the position of ribbon tabs in Revit. Well it is actually possible to do the same in AutoCAD (and I guess in all Autodesk programs with a ribbon) and quite simple.


Simply press control and click and drag the name of the tab you want to move. That simple!
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Revit: Customize the Display Order of Ribbon Tabs

It is possible (and quite simple) to customize the order in which Revit Ribbon Tabs appear.
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I always wondered why the hell the Modify tab on the ribbon is at the far right. Always thought it would be better to have it right near the "home" Tab. Well it is actually possible and quite simple.


Simply press control and click and drag on the name of the tab you want to move. That simple!
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Common Building Information Model Files from the BuildingSmart Alliance

Download the sample Common Building Information Model Files that the Building Smart Alliance has published.
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Las week, and directly through this blog's twitter account, I posted about the news of the publication of Common Building Information Model Files by the BuildingSmart Alliance. I jsut realised there is no link on the news excerpt to the page where you can download those files, so I decided to write a short post about it.

FYI these Common Building Information Model Files are intended to help users benchmark the performance of building information modeling software and applications in a common environment, the Washington, D.C.-based National Institute of Building Sciences' buildingSMART alliance has released a reference set of BIM open standards.

These files are available in a set of different formats including:
  • COBie: Construction Operations Building Information Exchange Format ( .xml extenison)
  • IFC: Industry Foundation Classes ( .ifc extension)
  • IFC Analyzer ( MS Excel File .xlsx extension)
  • 3D PDF ( .pdf extension)
  • RVT: Revit File ( .rvt Extension)
According the the Original Source: "People downloading these models may copy, distribute, display, and use these models and make derivative works based on these models if they provide proper citation of the source of these models through proper academic citation whenever these models are presented. Any future examples or extensions to the models subsequently published on this website may also be used according to the terms above. There is no cost or use restriction on these models in any for-profit or not-for-profit."

Thus, I am posting links directly here for your convenience. There are three base models:

Model 1. The Duplex Apartment Model (release 2.0)
The duplex apartment model was originally created by a student who developed this building as part of a design competition. This model was first used at the Dec 2009 COBie Challenge event. The model provided here is the second version of this model completed by designers at Kristine Fallon and Associates.
Model 2. Office Building Model
The two story office building model was developed based on the published sample floor plans for a specific type of mid-size office building built in the United States.
Model 3. Clinic Building Model
The Clinic Model was developed based on an actual federal medical and dental clinic building at a location in the South-West United States. The model also comes with a set of redacted design drawings. A full set of operations and maintenance manuals are also available but have not yet been redacted, so cannot yet, be posted to this public repository.
You can find more information about these files at the original page of the BuildingSmart Alliance here.
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AutoCAD Architecture: Getting back the full right click context menu

Sometimes the right click menu with all the nice options of AutoCAD Architecture doesn't show. Get it back!
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For some reason (unknown to me till the date) the right click menu with all the nice options that AutoCAD Architecture [ACA]has doesn't show in full when I start the program. Instead I sometimes get this simplified version of the menu.


This context menu is quite useless, since some of the most uselful tools are not there (like the AEC Modify Tools, Select Similar, Open Xref, etc).

To get the full menu if you are having this problem, simply run one of the AEC specific commands like AECPOLYGON. This will load all the AEC tools and your right click menu will be back to "normal" with all its features like in the image below.
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