1st Rant of the New Year "2023"

    Hi all, (not that I have a lot of followers, or readers). Yes, it's been awhile, (since May2022) but not as long as when the pandemic started, (man that was about a 2 year hiatus). Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to start being a little more consistent on my own page.  Most of my rants or questions have been,  or were "Autodesk related" so that's why I'm re-posting this in a few different spots, or locations & yes I've said this before. Let's see how the year goes, (WARNING THIS WILL BE A LONG POST).

    Well, for starters I would like to revisit one of my older post:                                                               "Is Technology Ruining, Relationships?"
I've asked this question before, (twice) on my blog post, from April2022, & July2015, in regards to moving from Windows 7 up to Windows 8, which we ALL have to agree was really bad☹️. Back then I was still in my LTR (God Bless her) and I wound up moving one of our computers back to Windows 7. Thank God, I had a back-up & was able to do a "Restore" otherwise I may have lost my relationship back then. It's 6 years now since my better half has passed, (again, God Bless her), and I have since then, moved most of my computers to the latest operating systems.

    So, now the question(s). In regards to upgrading computers/laptop or using  tablets, or phones, "What is the best" or to say "What is the best thing to do"? For the devices, what are the best? Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, & Acer come to mind but I'm sure there are others, and I'm sure the real "Techy's" out there still just build their own. Obviously the "Apple users" are comfortable with their product (mac devices) and I believe the advantage (which has always been the case) is that it is tougher to catch a virus.

    With what's loaded (software/operating systems) I guess it's down to what you are comfortable with & what works for the software you are using. I use a lot of drawing/drafting/graphics programs so having a computer that's able to handle those types of programs has always been important to me. In the past I was told Apple machines worked best with drawing/drafting/graphics products but for about a 10 year period, Autodesk didn't support Apple devices so needless to say, I simply did not use Apple devices until I went back to college and was forced to use a Mac.
That all being said, I still prefer a regular Windows machine. I will say this, I've seen $300 "Store Bought" computers out perform a "Super Computers" (the one's that are just short of being a "Gaming computer") simply because of "other software" bogging the machines down. The best example was my old Windows 7 machine (my personal computer), that I picked up in Staples, still out performed my work computer (HP "Z-Book") and I ran AutoCAD2018 on that machine until the license ran out.

    Where am I going with this? Well, I now know the newer versions of AutoCAD require Windows10 or Windows11. It also looks as if I may be in a position to finally request or show that the engineering group needs something better than the "one size fits all" computer package. that most companies push out". Will (by requesting a better computer) this cause an additional strain between the IT group/CAD Manager? I already have run into push-back from finance in regards to software, (them not realizing we need an Autodesk product vs Microstation or Microsoft) because there is an industry standard that we all need to follow.

    Just a little background here. I prefer the Windows operation system over Apple, or Linux obviously just because it's easier to work with. Same with phones, (Android over the Iphone) & again for basic functions we all know they work the same. It's the apps that seem to be different, and the permissions to use those functions that are different.
Feel free to comment but please stay on topic, and no real judgement here. In other words no bashing or hate speech/text. Just give us pro's and or con's for using each systems.
Just saying and Just asking....Take care & "Happy New Year's again.

Drafter1981

So Again, It's been awhile (since 2020)

 Yes…,

It’s been a real long time since I’ve posted anything lately. I’m hoping this hiatus is very short lived, since it seems COVID is starting to take a step back or we are just going to move to an “endemic” meaning we just simply live with the fact that we are going to have to live with COVID.

 With that all being said, I’m hoping to move back onto what this site is supposed to be about so… if any of the visitors are interested, please visit my main site which is on Facebook (Fitz Digital CAD Service). Just doing a regular Google search will take you to my business site which is still active however, that mainly for business and doesn’t cover what been going on the last couple of years.

 Finally, if anyone that visits my site, or wouldn’t mind, keep in mind that I rarely do I even post, more or less ask for a favor. Since voting is still open for #au2022 class proposals, (up until April 25^th), please take a look and up vote for my classes. #AU, #MiltFitz,#Revit-to-AutoCAD-or-PDF, #Autodesk® CAD-or-BIM-software-vs-Manual, #Milt Fitz & give a👍! Thanks!

DATA Extraction from REVIT….

Just wanted to follow up to the previous blog (Is There a Way to Update REVIT Files That Have AutoCAD Blocks?) and to anyone following that may have an answer. This question was also posted on the Revit Forum.Hopefully the technical questions I am asking will lead towards a better understanding and functionality when using REVIT.

These questions has several parts and actually may lead to more question about functionality being used in REVIT than answers so here goes…

1.)   From REVIT, “How do you EXTRACT DATA”?

2.)   Is there a set way, or standard procedure for Extracting Data?

3.)   Why does an entire project need to be in REVIT to Extract the Data?

4.)   Once we get the Data, how do we publish it or make it useful, (question #2)?

Again, depending upon whom you work for or if there is a State / National standard I would believe there may be several ways to answer these questions.

As usual, “Thanks in advance for any help or information.”

Regards,

Milt

To The Autodesk Community Moderators...

Quick Note to the Autodesk Community Moderators….

Just wanted to follow up with anyone that monitors input to the forum.

Lately there seems to be a problem with setting up the format of board posting. I actually think for me at least, this has been a problem since 2013, or basically since the community board updated the site. Prior to this “Upgrade” I really have had no major complaints, in fact from showing other CAD users here in my office how the forums worked we were able to resolve problems here in the office by a simply  “Goggling” the question, or problem, reviewing what was on the forum and resolving the issue.

Again, prior to 2013,  If the problem we had was not listed or shown, for me  there seemed to be no issues with asking or posting the question adding the screen views, or attachments.

Now, (since 2013) this seems to be a problem. When I researched this issue and found that others were having the same issue, (link xxx), I thought for sure the moderators would at worst go back to the old format, and at best “Fix” how the forum currently works.

Well… (at least for me) the issues with uploading or changing the format of how postings get listed “STILL” is not working properly.

Including this post, please look at my earlier question regarding “Realistic Rendering” (http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-2013-2014-2015-2016-2017/realistic-renderings-in-autocad-without-add-ons/m-p/6604244#M144816).

Yes… I was able to post the question, and yes, I was able to get a partial resolution, if not the whole answer in a nutshell but… the initial posting of the question had to be done in several attempts, and “Just like This Post” formatting of the questions and inclusion of attachments did not work so we had to go another route. By the way, I am posting this on my own personal blog (Tech-Info and Rants) and it should be in the right format as I intended to show.

Most likely as dgorsman (http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/253793) has pointed out to me on my other community board postings, this will look like a “Wall of Text”

Today’s alert (10/07/2016):

BTW… I’m sure this is exactly what anyone that has been “Forced” to move to a subscription plan was afraid of:

Forum post prior to 2013: (In the AutoCAD Board)

(Note: The text is in “Paragraph Format” & “Attachments are allowed, or included)

Yet another Forum post prior to 2013: (in REVIT)

(Note: Again, the text is in “Paragraph Format” & “Attachments are allowed, or included)

My Most Current Forum post: (10/05/2016)

(Note: Text is “Not in paragraph format” thus creating a “Wall of Text” & attachment were omitted)

 

Comments received about my current forum post: (10/05/2016)

(Note: Text is “Still Not in paragraph format” thus creating a “Wall of Text” & attachments and linking to other post, or members that can help within the forum were omitted).

Realistic Renderings in AutoCAD without Add-ons…

This was actually supposed to be posted on the Autodesk Community Board / Forum:

Realistic Renderings in AutoCAD without Add-ons…

To All Members,

Just wondering if there was an easy way to get “Realistic Renderings in AutoCAD without Add-ons?

Specifically I’m looking for an option that works similar to Revit for those of you that have use both programs and really know what I’m talking about. For those that do not have Revit, or that do not understand what I mean by realistic renderings, all you really need to do is look at some of the latest Autodesk advertizing or check out my attachments.

What I did was “redraw, or re-cad” another drawing to make it 3D (converting flat 2D elevations to 3D) This was sort of a “No Brainer”, and should be for your intermediate to advance CAD personnel except… the newly created 3D file “Still” has a “Cartoony Look” (again refer to my attachments).

Up until recently, I have had no real complaints doing this type of work, meaning converting files over to 3D especially since most of the “BIM” work has been just to check for collisions. In fact, most of the other trades prefer to use the “Cartoony Look” because things will stick out if something looks out of place. This also has been the case for my 3D printed files meaning the customers don’t really care about the look, the just want to see that the file is workable, or “printable”.

The reason I’m asking about “Realistic Renderings” is that this now seems to be the norm for people using Revit. Lately I’ve been hit with questions such as “Why don’t your files look Realistic”? or “How do I know if that file is in 3D”, or the usual “How do I know if that’s to Scale”?

So, without using an “Add-on” is there a way to easily create a realistic rendering in AutoCAD? My guess is “No” which is no problem for me because I am using other CAD software, “BUT WOULD PREFER” to just stick with Autodesk.

As usual, any information or help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Milt

My original "Converted" 2D drawing to a 3D model:

Alternate view of the "Converted" 2D drawing to a 3D model:

Rendering that is close to what my customer was looking to get:

(Note this is not my drawing & I believe it was done in Revit)

Using another program, these are the files I created:

Again, I was looking to do this type of work with AutoCAD but wound up with the "Cartoon Look" in the 1st two renderings.

Again, using another program, these are the files I created:

Anyone Using Autodesk®Homestyler® ?

This is not so much of a rant but more of a question….

Has there been any major changes to how “Autodesk®Homestyler®” handles or creates floor plans?   The reason I ask is that at one time, if you needed a couple of “Quick” floor plans for space planning Autodesk®Homestyler® was the program to use. If you had no drafting experience no problem. The program was intuitive enough so you could set-up a couple of rooms or an entire floor plan for you  to review. If you needed to “Share your files” you could export the files to a “CAD” drafter like myself, an engineer or architect as a DWG file, or Revit (*.RVT), if you were lucky enough to fine someone that knew about BIM.

Lately it seems as if the program doesn’t work at all. I’ve tried the new “Beta” which doesn’t seem to work well at all and even if you do get a something to work, you can only get a screen view, or screen shot. Forget about file sharing now…. L   Going back the regular  Autodesk®Homestyler® and now it seems as if you can’t even get doors, or windows to place on the floor plans so what good is a couple of rectangular boxes? If you look at some of the older Autodesk®Homestyler® files that I have saved in the Autodesk®Homestyler® public folder (Milt-Fitz FloorPlans) and on my regular website (Fitz Digital CAD Service), you can tell the files are much better and to me the program seem more streamlined or organized.