Autodesk Removing Device Management

5 Apr 2018 Darren Young

On May 15, 2018, Autodesk will be removing the Device Management functionality from the Accounts Portal. The idea behind Device Management was a place where you could tell Autodesk’s Desktop App (formerly App Manager) if it should allow access to software and updates on a particular computer system.

In theory, it was a good idea. In practice however, it never worked well. For starters, for Autodesk to have your device listed the Desktop App needed to be installed. That seems obvious. But for this to happen, you had to allow access to all devices or the Accounts Portal wouldn’t see the device.

From an enterprise management perspective, it would be logical that all devices be blocked from application and/or service pack downloads except the systems of a CAD/BIM Manager, IT or Power User tasked with vetting the the update. They could test or choose when to roll-out new versions or updates and when ready, the devices could be allowed access. You may even want to use the Desktop App to install the updates to a certain point for a new system but for that to work, you had to enable it for everybody for it to pickup the new device. Now, all your users see all updates and software even if you didn’t want them to and some of your users may be updating past where you want them. You’d have to then disable everyone again after the new device showed up in the list and re-disable them,

Another problem was that it the Desktop App (or former App Manager) was ever uninstalled and reinstalled, your device would show up again. Uninstall and reinstall 5 or 6 times like I had done over almost 2 years of working with their support team to fix the issues and you would have your device listed 5 or 6 times with no way to remove them short of another support ticket.

Ultimately, I don’t think anyone will care. I don’t believe most companies used this feature. With the move to subscription software, everything is based on the user anyway making device management less important. None the less I do wonder, if Autodesk actually understood what companies really needed to manage their enterprise (especially large enterprises), they may have designed the functionality differently. It just may have had more adoption by customers. I highly doubt they consulted any large or small customers when designing Device Management as it was a dismal failure,

For more information on the retirement of Device Management from Autodesk’s Accounts Portal, click this link to see their support article.

Autodesk Concurrent Usage Restriction

3 Apr 2018 Darren Young

A couple months ago I posted about a “business rule” Autodesk had which restricted a user from using more that 2 titles of their Collection on the same computer at the same time. The original post can be read here. This wasn’t a technical limitation rather a legal restriction. The “rule” essentially stated that you couldn’t run more than 2 products at the same time for the same user on the same computer. This would be like Microsoft saying you couldn’t use Email, Word and Excel all at the same time. I asked several trusted Autodesk resellers, my Autodesk insiders and other industry peers and it seems this restriction wasn’t very well known, In fact, not a single person I asked was aware of the “rule”

Back in January when I first raised the issue, I was in the middle of a contract renewal and it was Autodesk’s fiscal year end. As a result, there were several Autodesk regional reps raising the issue internally at Autodesk. I had hints back then (unofficially) that they were reassessing the policy and would likely remove the restriction. I’m now happy to report that as of March 29th, the policy restriction has been officially removed.

It was reported in the “Moving to Subscription” forum as a followup to my initial complaints and concerns. You can read the entire forum thread here.

If you look at Autodesk’s Collection Licensing support article here, you can see the restriction struck through and updated.

I’m a tough critic of Autodesk’s policies and their sales practices. But I have to admit, this was fairly quick action on their part considering their legal team was likely involved. They historically haven’t made concessions based on customer pressure very often and when they have, it sometimes comes very slow. In the use case I gave them, I discussed how an MEP firm running Fabrication CADmep would need 3 licenses, One license of CADmep, one for the AutoCAD session it was running on and Navis.

The feedback I received through resellers pushing their Autodesk partner managers for answers came back quickly in mid-January exactly how many users globally fell into that scenario. I was impressed how quickly they started analyzing the scope and impact to their company and users. Hats off to Autodesk for squashing this ridiculous rule. For the first time in over 25 years of dealing with Autodesk, their sales and legal teams came together and did the right thing.

AutoCAD 2018.1.2 Update

2 Apr 2018 Darren Young

In case you missed it, Autodesk released update 2018.1.2 for AutoCAD a couple weeks ago. Click here to see a listing of the issues fixed in this and previous updates for AutoCAD 2018,

To download and install the update, refresh your Autodesk Desktop App and updates should appear if you have an active subscription (maintenance plan or annual subscription). The Autodesk Desktop App icon is located in your Windows System Tray if it was installed.

You can also access them from the Product Downloads section of the Autodesk Accounts portal if you are a contract manager or software coordinator in your account.

Autodesk 2019 Network License Update

31 Mar 2018 Darren Young

FlexLM version 11.14.1.3

It’s that time of year where Autodesk releases new versions of their desktop products. For companies with network licenses, it’s also strongly recommended to upgrade to the latest version of FlexLM for you license server.

Current Version: 11.14.1.3

You can download the latest version from Autodesk’s web site here.

A few things to note…

A few releases ago, Autodesk changed the default installation location for network licensing to <C:\Autodesk\Network License Manager>. If you’re license server is still running from a different location, you may want to consider re-configuring to the default location. This allows for more easily managing data (logs, license files, etc.) as it doesn’t fall under the additional security restrictions you’ll find in the Program Files folders.
You can uninstall the old license server and reinstall the new version but this isn’t needed. The license server itself is fairly simple and doesn’t install a lot of files. Simply shut down the FlexLM service using the LMTOOLS utility, copy over the new files and restart the service. I’ll typically install locally on my desktop to get the files and then copy them to the server. There’s also a number of free utilities on-line that will allow you to extract files directly from an MSI installer. One of the more popular utilities for I’ve used before is Less MSI.
To determine which version of FlexLM you’re running, browse to the folder where your license server is running and Right-Click on LMGRD.EXE. Using the properties dialog, the Details tab will tell you the version you’re currently using.

Autodesk Fabrication 2018.2 Update

9 Mar 2018 Darren Young

Update 2018.2 for Autodesk Fabrication

Autodesk just released update 2018.2 for CADmep, CAMduct, ESTmep as well as the lesser used CAMduct Components, Tracker and Remote Entry.

There’s a hand full of fixes for CADmep, ESTmep and CAMduct. If you refresh your Autodesk Desktop App, the updates should appear if you have an active subscription (maintenance plan or annual subscription). The Desktop App says they were released a few weeks ago but they just showed up in the Desktop App today.

You can also access them from the Product Downloads section of the Autodesk Accounts portal.

CAMduct Components, Tracker and Remote Entry did not have any “fixes” and were only updated to keep the build numbers consistent which means there’s really no benefit to updating those.

You can find a complete list of updates and build numbers here.

Here’s the fixed issues…

CADmep

Improved the stability of patterns 1206 & 1207 when adding holes.
Improved minimum straight length size when filling in Design Line.
Improved patterns 2884 & 2051 by relaxing the bad dimension checks.
Improved connector insulation adjustments when insulation parts = Wrap inside.

CAMduct

Improved geometry cuts in NC program for VICON Post Processor.
Improved the stability of patterns 1206 & 1207 when adding holes.
Improved Piercing for Custom NC.
Improved patterns 2884 & 2051 by relaxing the bad dimension checks.
Improved connector insulation adjustments when insulation parts = Wrap inside.

ESTmep

Improved Item List view in Job contents table to auto-refresh when parts are deleted.
Improved the stability of patterns 1206 & 1207 when adding holes.
Improved the estimating information present on the Review Installation Costs, Review Installation Times, and Review Fabrication Time tabs.
Fixed an issue causing hangers to report incorrect costs.
Improved patterns 2884 & 2051 by relaxing the bad dimension checks.
Improved connector insulation adjustments when insulation parts = Wrap inside.

TigerStop – Tip #1

7 Mar 2018 Darren Young

More and more mechanical contractors are installing and using TigerStops. The company has been around for a long time in a number of industries but only recently have they started to get noticed by mechanical contractors. If you’re unfamiliar with them, you can find out more from their web site www.tigerstop.com. You may also want to view their Blog post about one mechanical contractor’s experience with them here. I’ll be posting a few tips going forward as I get more familiar with them. To get you started, here’s my first Tip.

Install TigerTouch software on your computer

One of the options you can buy when getting a TigerStop, is the Tablet package that consists of a Windows Surface PC with the TigerTouch software. This package provides your TigerStop with a much friendlier interface that can be used to control your TigerStop controller.

While this software is used to control your machine, you can also install it on any computer. Simply download the Full installer from TigerStop’s web site and install. Installing on another computer has several benefits….

Test, and learn some of the software workflow in a safe more comfortable environment. This is a great way to train your shop staff how to use the interface without taking your machine out of production and without wasting any material.
Allow you to more easily get screen captures and produce documentation for your staff.
Test new software builds before updating your machine.

When the TigerTouch software starts, it notifies you that it can’t find a machine connected. That’s perfectly fine, just click cancel so it doesn’t try to look again.

From here, you can now use many of the functions of the software. When you click START, instead of the software waiting for your saw to operate, your cut lists are just processed automatically for for each stock size you enter. Here’s a video of the software opening a Cut List and processing it on my system which is NOT connected to an actual TigerStop machine.

One last item…When TigerTouch installs, it assumes you’re installing a machine so it’s configured to automatically run when you log into Windows. To stop this, simply remove the TigerTouch Shortcut in the Windows Startup folder. The shortcut is located here:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

When you’re browsing to this folder you may not see the ProgramData folder because it’s a Windows System folder which by default is configured to be hidden. Simply type in the folder name and you’ll be able to browse to that folder.

Autodesk Fabrication: Best Practice #6

15 Feb 2018 Darren Young

Don’t PURGE or COMPACT Your Database When In Use

A Fabrication Database that’s well managed should have changes being made. This can mean things like materials, specifications, services, connectors and such may be occasionally deleted and removed. If there are proxy items in your database that have {brackets} around them, they should be made permanent or removed as well.

The way to do this is to PURGE and/or COMPACT your database, You can do this by typing PURGEDB on AutoCAD’s command line or by selecting File -> Setup -> Manage Database from ESTmep or CAMduct as sown in the following image.

When you initiate this process, you’ll be presented with a standard “Backup Your Database…” warning which you can click OK to.

From there, you are then presented with the following dialog.

Items that show up here are the ones that show up with {Brackets} in your database, They should either be made permanent or removed in a well managed system.

The Make Permanent option is fairly safe. The items are in your database already there and already have indexes assigned.

On the other hand, the Purge Database option will remove them from your database. When you do this, the’s a chance that some of the database indexes will change as those indexes are how the various database tables relate to each other.

If you do this while others are using the database in CADmep, ESTmep or CAMduct, they already have the database tables loaded into memory. Depending what they are doing, some activities may cause parts of the database to be reloaded while others are not. When this happens, strange things can happen to your drawing…your systems might loose their service or change services or connectors change without notice. More times than not, unless you catch it right away,by the time you find the issue you’ll need to remodel your data or retrieve it from a backup.

In a Database, records are not actually deleted so while the Purge command appears to remove items from the database, it actually just flags them as being unused so those areas in the database can be overwritten with new data later. This is where Compacting the database comes into play. The Compact the Database Now option will rewrite and re-sequence all the database files and their indexes to recapture that unused space. Again, this causes issues for others who are currently referencing the database and doing work.

While there is danger in using these commands, they should be used to properly manage your database. The key here is to use them after hours when other users are not using the database. Another option would be to do your development work in a copy of the database so nobody is ever “using” the database you’re performing administration work in. When you’re done, you can “copy” this database to the production database but again, after hours when nobody is doing work or you could have all users log out temporarily (perhaps at lunch) and copy the database then.

To the best of my knowledge, this issue is NOT present for those of you using Revit with Fabrication parts. Revit loads in your services and content and caches it in the Revit model. It doesn’t reference the database configuration again while you work unless you manually “reload” the configuration, So unlike CADmep, ESTmep or CAMduct which may reload parts of your database just by using the software, Revit won’t do this unless you manually reload in which care it will reload everything and keep all those database sequences sin check.

If you’ve ever opened an AutoCAD drawing and your parts appeared orphaned from their services, connectors changed to things that don’t make sense or your Cast Iron NoHub Waste system suddenly reports as Rectangular Supply Air, this likely was the cause and this Best Practice is for you.

Autodesk Fabrication: Best Practice #5

1 Feb 2018 Darren Young

Don’t Store Estimating Tables in Your CADmep Drawing

If your company uses ESTmep, pay close attention. CADmep stores in the DWG files most of your database with the exception of content that’s not used and reports. What this also means is that by DEFAULT, CADmep stores your Estimating Tables in every Drawing file (DWG) you produce. Most companies using ESTmep use 1.0 Factors for SMACNA, MCAA or other trade labor so exposing that data isn’t as big of a risk…everybody knows what it is. However, if you have pricing multipliers for your vendors, negotiated prices (as opposed to List Pricing) in your tables or have your own custom labor factors and rates, anyone with access to CADmep and your drawing files can EASILY extract that information from your DWG files,

This is easily changed by toggling the “Do NOT Store Est Tables with DWG Database” setting in the Edit Configuration utility as shown on the following image.

Setting this toggles will prevent CADmep from caching a copy of the Price Tables, Install Tables and Fabrication Tables in your drawing file, These are a few other things to note…

While this settings prompts you for which configuration to load (if you have more than one), the setting is not configuration specific. Meaning, it is not stored in your Fabrication Database. The setting applies to ALL configurations so you can pick any one you like to make this change.
This change is software VERSION specific. For example, if you run 20017 and 2018 versions of CADmep, you need to make the change in both versions.
This issue is NOT present when using Revit with Fabrication Parts. Only CADmep has this issue,
Because this setting isn’t stored in the database, that means it’s computer specific. You need to change it on each computer running CADmep.
This setting is also USER specific (stored in your Windows profile) so even if you change if for one user, if a different user logs in on the same computer, you’ll need to make the change again.

Because this setting is user specific and computer specific…and because the default setting if you do nothing is the RISKY option, it’s easy for this setting to revert back to it’s original value and save the Estimating Tables to the drawing. For this reason, you many want to consider creating an AutoLISP routine that sets this setting every time you start AutoCAD. You could also have it run from a Batch File or VBScript in the Windows Startup folder each time you log onto Windows or even have your IT Department force the setting via Group Policy or other methods. For any of these solutions, it’s as simple as automating the setting in the following Registry Key.

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Fabrication 2018\CADmep
Value: StoreEstDatabase
Type: REG_SZ
Data: FALSE

If you’re interested in a sample LSP, Batch File and/or VBScript to set this, drop me an Email at Dyoung@Mcwi.Com.

Import/Export Autodesk Fabrication Parts from Revit

9 Jan 2018 Darren Young

Fabrication Parts Import/Export

For those involved in the MEP trades interested in Fabrication Parts in Revit (added in 2016) they often want to import or export Fabrication Parts into or from the other Autodesk Fabrication products like CADmep, ESTmep or CAMduct. In fact, that was one of the interesting part of the Fabrication products for Autodesk, it was a single content stream that supported multiple platforms.

What a lot of users don’t realize is that installing Revit doesn’t give you the ability to Import or Export Fabrication Parts. To get this functionality, you also need to install the Revit Extension for Fabrication.

Revit 2016

For Revit 2016 you can download the Revit Fabrication Extension from the Autodesk App Store free of charge from this link.

Revit 2017-2018

If you’re using Revit 2017 or 2018, you can download the extension from your Autodesk account’s products page. If you personally can’t download it, contact your company’s Autodesk Contract Manager or Software Coordinator.

Alternative Download Option

Yet one other way, is to use the Autodesk Desktop App to install the Revit Extension for Fabrication.

Access from the Revit Add-Ins Ribbon

Once installed, you can access the Import/Export of Fabrication parts from the Revit Add-Ins tab.

A few items to note….

Imports/Exports are done using Autodesk Fabrication’s MAJ file format.
You can Export as many or few Fabrication Part from Revit, as many times as you like.
You can only Import Fabrication Parts into Revit only if the Revit model contains no other Fabrication Parts.
When importing Fabrication Parts in Revit, some things can cause them not to import. The most common are Fabrication Parts that don’t have a material and/or specification assigned.
Not all Fabrication Patterns (CIDs) are supported in Revit. For a list of which Patterns are and are not supported in Revit and be found here.

Autodesk Screencast

28 Dec 2017 Darren Young

I’m amazed at how many people aren’t aware of or don’t use Autodesk Screencast. It’s a free, screen recording utility from Autodesk but it;s also a lot more.

While Screencast will record any application, a number of Autodesk applications have a lot tighter integration. Here’s some of the additional things Screencast will do that most other screen recording applications miss when you capture from an Autodesk application…

Record and display characters typed during playback
Record and display mouse picks (e.g. left button, right button, etc.) and movements during playback
Display product(s) and versions used during playback
Display commands used
List commands used during playback
List system variables/Settings changed during playback
List dialog boxes displayed during playback
Unlimited cloud storage (no limit that I could find)
Store recordings in Private, Unlisted or Public modes
Public recordings can be used as search results in Autodesk’s Knowledge Network search results.
Embed Screencast into web pages
Easily download your recordings video

Not all Autodesk applications have as much details as others (AutoCAD records a lot of data, Navis less data).

While you can use Screencast for the typical uses of any screen recording software like training, where I think it really shines is in support both internal and external, If you’ve ever had your users unable to reproduce a problem while you were looking, this gives them a good way to get that information to you. Additionally, you can see exactly what they are/are not typing and picking in the even there’s a very nuanced user interface interaction they’re missing that you pickup on or that they are having a hard time communicating.

I especially like using Screencast when submitting Support tickets to Autodesk. They are easily able to see what I see and what I type and pick eliminating a lot of unnecessary Email communication about steps to reproduce. This alone makes Screencast worth it’s weight in gold because it cuts down on the non-value added time spent during the support process. The Autodesk tech immediately sees everything and can jump start their troubleshooting and/or research.

You can download and learn more about Screencast from this link.

BIM there. Done that.

Industry, business and technology as it relates to Construction and Manufacturing

Author: Darren Young