The best multi device file and folder sharing and online storage

Share files from a desktop to another one or a cell phone. Even better than dropbox.
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No Spam intended, but I am not gonna lie., if you sign up for SugarSync, I will get extra storage for my account. So despite there is a slight interest from my site on this post, it is also like all others my way of sharing something I think it will help you. If you ar cool with this keep reading.

I have used Dropbox for a long while to be able to share files on diferent devices and have them always accessible. Recently, I discovered an alternative that actually works better for me for a couple reasons I will explain. This alternative is SugarSync.

Why SugarSync? Well, first of all it gives you 5Gb of free storage from the beginning on their free plan (compared to the 2Gb of dropbox). But more relevant to my decision is that you can share any folder in your computer in SugarSync without the need to work inside the SugarSync folder. In Dropbox, you need to drop files to the dropbox folder making it sometimes not useful if you have a very well organized system of folders to organize your files.

Why is Dropbox more popular than SugarSync? I have no clue. So if you are interested in trying it, go to this link. For me it is the best option I know so far for this sort of file sharing.

Do you know of any better service? Please share!


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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.

• 2011-09-14-Duplex-COBie-DesignStage
• 2011-09-14-Duplex-IFC
• 2011-09-14-Duplex-IFCAnalyzer
• 2011-09-14-Duplex-PDF 2011-09-14-Duplex-RVT
• 2011-10-04-Duplex-COBie-HandoverStage

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.

• 2011-09-14-Office-COBie
• 2011-09-14-Office-IFC
• 2011-09-14-Office-IFCAnalyzer
• 2011-09-14-Office-PDF
• 2011-09-14-Office-RVT

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.

• 2011-09-14-Clinic-RedactedDrawings
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-COBie
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-IFC
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-IFCAnalyzer
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-PDF
• 2011-09-14-Clinic-RVT

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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Revit: Walkthrough Examples

A video with some sample walkthroughs done in Revit.
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This is a short promotional video we created to share with clients and partners some of the projects we've been working on in 2011. All are projects were BIM had a role, either as an experimentation exercise or truly as the tool to check for design inconsistencies or even later on as the basis of a quantity take-off and estimation.

I've been managing and modeling all these models, so well, a little self promotion isn't bad once in a while right? In a later post I will explain briefly how to create a walkthrough in Revit and a few tricks that might help on creating a video like the one below. Turn down the speakers bit, I think we got a bit too excited with the Music ;-P. Enjoy!



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BIM and Facility Management

Very interesting article on BIM and FM at AECBytes
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Was reading this great article about BIM and Facility Managment at AECBytes and found it very interesting. I never worked in anything related to Facility Management but to me it seems one of the fields in the entire Building Life-cycle that can benefit the most from good BIM implementation.

As a side line I used some of the info there to add some more tools to the BIM list of software and providers.

Cheers

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Excel: Grouping Rows or Columns

When Excel Spreadsheets become big you might want to have your cells grouped so you can easily show and hide some of them as you please.
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We use excel sheets for wide variety of uses. When theses spreadsheets become complicated and big or even huge, having ways to show or hide parts of the sheet is critical to be able to work with them without spending half of your time scrolling up and down (or even worse, left and right). On way to do that is to group cells together. And it is very simple to do.


A common layout on spreadsheets is to have a header that precedes some items and even some sub-items. Something like you see on the picture above these lines. If want to be able to hide the items and only see headers and totals, we must do the following.

1. Select the cells you want to group (be able to hide)
2. Go to Data -> Group and select either Rows or Columns and click OK.

The result will be somthing like this, where Minus signs appear to the right to show you that you can hide some cells.


Then if you click on those minus signs, you can get something like this.


To be able to have the + / - signs on the upper part you have to go to the Layout settings and uncheck "summary rows below detail" (see images below)



Hope this helps!


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Excel: Creating a Drop Down List with Values on a Different Sheet

Simple step by step guide on how to set up a drop down list in excel
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In many situations we might want to have a cell in Microsoft Excel where only certain values from a list are allowed. The best way to do this is to create a drop down list with the closeable values. To do that, follow these simple steps.

1. On a separate sheet (you can do it on the same one as well) create the list of values you want to appear in the drop down list. Put one in each cell.
2. Drag select all those cells and enter a Name on the Name box (upper right near the formula bar). For this example we could use Listofvalues01 for example. use no spaces.
3. Then select the cell (or multiple cells) where you want that drop down list to appear.
4. With the cell or cell selected, go to the "Data" tab on the ribbon, and select Data validation -> Data Validation
5. Go to the settings tab
6. On "Allow" select "Lists" and check "ignore blank" and "in-cell drop down".
7. On "Source" type =Listofvalues01 or whatever name you gave to the list of values on step 2.
8. Click OK and go to the cell. An arrow should appear next to it and if you click on it you will see the list of closeable values

See the image below for a graphical explanation of this process.



Alternatively you could have the values on the same sheet where the drop down list appears. If you do so, you can avoid step 2, and on Step 7 instead of entering =Listofvalues01 you could simply select the cells where the list of values is (on the same sheet).

In Excel 2010, you can use this alternative method even on values being on a different sheet, but be aware that the drop down list will not work if the file is opened by a 2007 or previous version of Excel, so this option is not recommended. Either use the Namerange option (the one described in the 8 steps), or have the values in the same spreadsheet.

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Revit: Transfer Materials, Families, Symbols from one Project to Another

Revit allows to transfer information from one project to another. No need to copy and paste.
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If you need to use certain information from a project in another (family types, annotation symbols, building types, materials...) you can do so by simply going to the Manage Tab of the Ribbon, and then choosing the "Transfer Project Standards" button (see below).


Once you've clicked this you will get the menu where you can choose which element do you really want to import and from which project (in case you have ore than one project open). you need to have both projects open, the one you want import from and the one you want to import to. The operation must be done being on a view of the project you want to import to.


It is no doubt a much better way than copying and pasting elements. Ideally, you want to have a very thorough template so you don't need to do this, but sometimes, to create this template (at least your first Revit template) you might want to use this process to import families, and other standards to it from projects you worked on to later polish them in the template file.

Hope this helps

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