The Building Coder

Dark Icons, NewFamilyInstance and AI News

Hacks for dark icons supporting Revit 2024 theme switching and news from the ever-accelerating AI revolution – Dark theme icons by ImageMagick – Embed dark theme icon name in BitMapSource – New NewFamilyInstance overload – Open-source AI surging ahead – Timeline of major milestones crossed – Non-technical explanation of AI and deep learning – Using AI to read your thoughts – AI emergent abilities may not be emergent after all – Risk of AI manipulation... Read more →

Back to Basics and ChatGPT

Impressed and intrigued by what ChatGPT can and cannot do, trying out new aspects myself and with my friends – Element filtering – XYZ trigonometry – Projecting points – Using ChatGPT with Revit API – Generative AI and multi-modal learning – ChatGPT in academia, education, building a VM, DIY, payment plan, Solarpunk... Read more →

64-Bit Element Ids, Maybe?

We may need to scale up the handling of element id integer values in future, a sample snippet to retrieve schedule headers, a Dynamo book, and a web-based family showroom browser – 64-Bit element ids – Revit schedule title headers – Beyond Dynamo: Python manual for Revit – Web-based family management showroom – Tree view in pure CSS – High-documentation, low-meeting work culture... Read more →

Deleting Storage and Picking a Symbol

Interesting hints from the forum and thoughts on feedback, community and communication – Unload IFC links to delete extensible storage – Picking, selection and UI design – Feedback is always a great gift – Scott Peck and community building... Read more →

Home Planet and to Dy or Not to Dy

Let's look at two serious choices that we are facing – one more serious than the other – To Dynamo or not to Dynamo – Home planet at great risk... Read more →

Sci-Fi, Languages and Pipe Insulation Retrieval

Three quick notes on critical and inspiring sci-fi, programming languages and MEP filtering – Pipe insulation retrieval performance – Programming languages to learn – Agency by William Gibson... Read more →

Boundary Elements and Stirrup Constraints

A lengthy and fruitful conversation on implementing valid rebar stirrup constraints and more advice on determining boundary elements for the entire building and individual rooms – Rebar stirrup constraints – Exterior bounding walls – All walls including non-bounding interior walls – Floors and ceilings – Revit API and UX style guide – Today's collective action problem... Read more →

Parameter Filter Checking Element Type and OCR

An important insight in using a filtered element collector with a parameter filter, a handy open source OCR tool and a few productivity tips – Parameter filter also checks element type – Capture2Text, a handy OCR tool – Productivity tips... Read more →

Doc Session Id, API Context and External Events

Some new topics, and, as always, some recurring – Document session id – Valid Revit API context and external events – Determining RVT file version for DA4R workitem – Revit API via HTTP – Parable of the polygons... Read more →

Avoid Brain Racking by Using Using

You should always keep things simple (I think). The opposite can lead to racking your brain. In one case at least, that can easily be avoided by using a using statement – Avoid brain racking by using using – On the VS operation unspecified error – Native sons... Read more →

Forge Design Automation and DesignScript

Today, I'll mainly pick up some non-desktop issues – DesignScript with Dynamo and Revit – Forge getting started material – Getting started with DA4R – DA4R local debug tool – AI vision model images – Vonnegut on technology... Read more →

Inside the Factory – Ask me Anything – Today!

Here is a last-minute heads-up for the first online Inside the Factory live AMA (Ask me Anything) style session today, Thursday, September 10, with Aaron Vorwerk, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, Harlan Brumm, Senior Product Manager of Architecture and Sasha Crotty, Senior Product Manager, Revit Platform & Services... Read more →

Custom Parameters and Tile Packing

Parameter changes and tile packing using the Revit API and AI, plus some other notes on Forge and general stuff – Parameter type changes to Custom – Determining cut tiles in room – Optimal banana sandwich slice packing with AI – Forge solution showcase – Effect of home office on meeting culture – Motivating kids can be harder than business success... Read more →

Automatically Open Correct RVT File Version

Today, let's address a couple of quick questions and share a useful utility – How to determine Revit export image coordinates – Problems compiling and installing the Revit SDK samples – RvtVerFileOpen utility opens correct RVT file version – Angular and react tutorials – Give and take... Read more →

Starter Kit, Books and Music

A search for Revit API related books, a very nice new Revit API starter kit, a richer and much more complex literary AI-related book, and a quick bottleneck steel guitar blues recording not related with any technical topic whatsoever – A very basic book on Revit API – Revit API starter kit – Machines like me – Bottleneck blues guitar... Read more →

Zero Touch Node Wrapper and Load from Stream

Here are some topics that came up last week – Dynamo Zero Touch Node Revit element wrapper – Loading a .NET assembly from a memory stream – How to become a successful freelancer – Talking about memory streams, I hiked up Rio Chillar in Nerja, Andalusia... Read more →

Assigning a Level to an Element Missing It

I recently implemented the IfcSpaceZoneBoundaries add-in to link in and analyse IFC file zones and spaces, then prepared it for use in Forge Design Automation. Now I want to add level information to the CSV export. However, the DirectShape elements created to represent the rooms and zones have no valid level assigned, so their Level property is invalid. Happily, we can easily analyse the BIM and generate the equivalent information ourselves – Retrieve levels sorted by elevation – Determine level from element elevation – Carl Bass and Zoox autonomous vehicles – Physical reasons to be happy to be alive... Read more →

Creating a Sweep with Multiple Closed Loops

A demonstration of using the NewSweep method was very kindly provided in yet another helpful answer by Frank @Fair59 Aarssen to the Revit API discussion forum thread on how to create a sweep with multiple closed loops in profile. Let me also highlight an interesting TED talk on the topic of poverty versus universal basic income – Creating a sweep with multiple closed loops – Poverty versus universal basic income... Read more →

Revit Add-In Locations and BIM360 EU

I am just getting ready to leave for Darmstadt, for the Forge DevCon and German Autodesk University. Here are some quick recent topics I want to share before jumping on the train – BIM 360 Docs API change for European data centre access – Revit add-in locations – Autodesk AppStore bundle format – Juli Zeh über das Turbo-Ich – YouTube video subtitles and auto-translation... Read more →

Five Secrets of Revit API Coding

Joshua Lumley pointed out the recording he made for his BILT submission on five secrets of Revit API C# coding. Before getting to that, here are a couple of pictures from this last weekend's mountain tour – Ruessigrat, Brotmesser and Matthorn – Five secrets of Revit API Coding... Read more →

Mindful Living and Smiling to Myself

I am back from my July vacation. As planned, I visited the Buddhist monastery Plum Village near Bordeaux. Here are some personal notes from my experiences there, followed by a Revit API related issue that just cropped up – Plum Village and its visitors – Mindfulness and relaxation – My struggle with the smile – Mindful watering of seeds – Line intersection with topography surface... Read more →

Virtuous Reproduction, Research, Settings, Ontology

I have probably asked developers for reproducible cases a couple of thousand times by now. Let's discuss that and also return to the topic of how to research a Revit API problem in general. Finally, I'll point out a Revit 2017 API MEP electrical feature. Oh, and I continued my research into deep learning for a Revit API question answering system – Creating a reproducible case may well solve the issue at hand – How to research to find a Revit API solution – Access to cable tray and conduit settings – Getting started implementing a question answering system – First impression from IBM Bluemix – Open source QAS options – Building a Revit API ontology... Read more →

AU in London and Deep Learning

I took a first look at deep learning for question answering systems. Before that, I share some news on AU in Europe, thoughts on UI and innovation, and point out a useful Revit API feature for converting a Hermite spline to Bezier – Autodesk University in London – Rules of thumb for change agents – Invisible user interfaces – Conclusions from lexical analysis of top news stories – Converting a Revit Hermite spline to Bezier or NURBS – Lots of literature on deep learning... Read more →

Distances, Switches, Kiss-ing and a Dino

I continued my activity in the Revit API discussion forum and had lots of interesting discussions there. One recent thread caused me to bring up a favourite topic of mine, on keeping things simple. I'll also mention two other less recent recurring questions – Distance between two points in a specific direction – Revit command-line switches – Keeping things simple with the Revit API – Dino pondering lengthening days... Read more →

Forge Formats Python Script and IFC Open Shell

I went back to answering way too many questions in the Revit API discussion forum yesterday. However, two other interesting topics also cropped up when I finally let go of that pastime, and I just finished a good book – The Sellout by Paul Beatty – IFC Ids and Open Shell – Forge Python scripts – py_forge_formats.py – forge_authenticate_app – forge_formats – jprettyprint – Mainline... Read more →

Roomedit3d Live Real-Time Socket.io BIM Update

I completed the first running version of my roomedit3d project connecting BIM and the cloud demonstrating two cool possibilities to enhance interaction with the View and Data API – A viewer extension enabling interactive model modification, i.e., translation of selected elements – Real-time communication of the modification back to the source CAD system using a direct socket.io connection to broadcast from the web server to any number of desktop clients... Read more →

Roomedit3d Console Test and Rendering Assets

I returned from the trip to Barcelona last week for the Forge Accelerator and was immediately inundated with overdue tasks. One issue that I addressed has to do with rendering assets – Roomedit3d Revit-Independent Implementation Aspects – Connecting BIM and the cloud – Demonstrating cool possibilities to enhance interaction with the View and Data API – A viewer extension enabling interactive model modification, i.e., translation of selected elements – Real-time communication of the modification back to the source CAD system using: – A REST API POST call from the viewer extension to the node.js web server – A direct socket.io connection to broadcast from the web server to any number of desktop clients... Read more →

Vipassana and Idling versus External Events

I am leaving for a ten-day Vipassana meditation retreat next week, so I'll cram in this quick Saturday post on the meditation retreat and mindfulness before I have too much to do getting prepared next week. It includes yet another discussion of Idling versus external events for modeless dialogues and dockable panels. Vipassana means 'seeing'. In this case, seeing is enhanced by concentration on my own self, my body, my mind, my thoughts. No talking, no communication whatsoever, no Internet, no mobile devices, no pen and paper, no reading. No input, no output. Sitting... Read more →

Happy Monkey, How To Ask a Question and Debug

I seem to become more and more fanatically didactical as time goes on. I guess I answer too many questions, and am irritated when they are not asked in an optimal way. One important point, of course, as in all communication, is to formulate your message with the receiver in mind. I explained that for two specific cases today, and thought I would mention my suggestions here for future reference, after wishing everybody – Happy New Year of the Monkey – How to debug a complex issue – How to ask a question... Read more →

Richard Stallman for a Free Digital Society

I attended the presentation by Richard M. Stallman of the Free Software Foundation FSF for a free digital society in the University of Bern yesterday – Ground Rules – Threats to our Freedom in the Digital Society – DRM – Digital Management of Rights or Restrictions? – GNU and Linux – JavaScript – Software as a Service – Open Source versus Free Software – Free Software Evangelism – Surveillance – Censorship – Voting Systems – The War on Sharing – Sharing Art – Issues in Switzerland – Digital Freedom of Speech – Auction of an Adorable GNU – Recording of the Entire Presentation... Read more →

BIM 360 Docs, Add-In Folders, Stallman and Abc

I am going to the University of Bern this afternoon to listen to Richard Stallman speak For A Free Digital Society. Here are some other recent and not-so-recent topics – BIM 360 Docs – Richard Stallman in Switzerland – Is the abc conjecture proven? – Add-In Folders – BIM 360 Docs is the new Autodesk platform for construction document management. It provides web services to ensure that the entire project team is always building from the correct version of documents, plans, and models... Read more →

BIM Programming Madrid and Spanish Connectivity

I spent this week in Madrid, presenting at the BIM Programming conference and teaching the subsequent two-day workshop on the Revit API and connecting the desktop and the cloud – BIM Programming mainstage presentation – The Spanish nature of connectivity – Castafiore – Zazen – Matins – AlphaGo, machine learning and intuition... Read more →

Era of Connection, Families and Data Handling

Let's end this week by taking a look at two new AEC and BIM related publications: a new Autodesk eBook, Era of Connection, and a Dutch architectural design student project exploring Revit families and data handling – Era of Connection – Revit Families and Data Handling... Read more →

Wall Opening Profiles and Happy Holidays!

Last week, we discussed how to retrieve wall openings. Let's take another fresh look at that, based on FindInserts instead of the ReferenceIntersector ray tracing approach, and also at – A walk over Uetliberg – Using FindInserts to retrieve wall openings – CmdGetWallOpeningProfiles – Relationships, independence and consumerism... Read more →

Change Type, Iterate Elements, Create Family

Let's wrap up this hectic week with a couple more recently answered issues and one non-Revit note – Changing element type – Iterating over elements – Creating an electrical family – La costola di Adamo... Read more →

Sharing, Dynamo and a Chinese Book

I returned from the Autodesk Cloud Accelerator in Prague, where I finished off cleaning up the FireRating in the Cloud sample and made some good inroads into the new CompHound project. Some learning resources and sharing philosophy – Håvard Vasshaug on Learning Dynamo and Sharing Content – Open Source BIM, IFC and FreeCAD – Chinese Revit API Book... Read more →

The Future – أنا تشارلي

In these troubled times, I was struck by this WWI poem sent out for the New Year by my bookshop and literature friend Franz Metzler: L’Avenir Soulevons la paille regardons la neige écrivons des lettres attendons des ordres Fumons la pipe en songeant à l‘amour les gabions sont là regardons la rose La fontaine n’a pas tari pas plus que l’or de la paille ne s’est terni regardons l’abeille et ne songeons pas à l’avenir Regardons nos mains qui sont... Read more →

Autodesk University Keynotes

Here are some notes I took this morning at the keynote presentations by Jeff Kowalski, Carl Bass and Emily Pilloton: Jeff Kowalski Carl Bass Emily Pilloton Jeff and Carl expanded Jeff Kowalski Machine learning and generative design. Identify existing components and their relationships. Tell the computer not what to do and how to design, but give it the goal we want to achieve. Computationally grow structures. Two new kinds of technology: intelligent taxonomies: build new work on all the best... Read more →

Selection Filters, Adjacency and the Good Universe

Today, let's look at: A generic selection filter implementation Determining adjacent rooms and spaces The good universe A Generic Selection Filter Implementation Yesterday, I presented my new JtPairPicker element pair selection utility class. It included a templated selection filter class. I later realised that I could make use of that in several other places as well, replacing the existing explicit Wall, CurveElement and Pipe selection filters by a generic JtElementsOfClassSelectionFilter one instead: ///

/// Allow selection of elements of... Read more →

Berlin Hackathon Begin

I arrived safe and sound for the Berlin hackathon. Topics for today, three on the Revit API and three not: Traffic jams and too many cars Intro to functional programming in JavaScript Aligning multiple elements Render to PDF Displaying transient graphics in a preview control Berlin hackathon beginning Traffic Jams and Too Many Cars Yesterday, on a Friday afternoon – bad timing – my colleague Peter Schlipf and I travelled from Darmstadt to Berlin by car, about 600 km. It... Read more →

How to Fail, Still Win Big and Handle Duplicate Types

Let's start this week with a couple of interesting topics that have been hanging around a while up, one Revit API related and not: How to fail at almost everything and still win big Handling duplicate types when copying elements How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big I received a very nice present from my colleague Steve Mycynek, Principal Engineer of the Revit API development team, at the Autodesk Technical Summit in Toronto: How to Fail at... Read more →

Striving for Personal Peace Continued

Yesterday, I spent a day with a group of seven friends to talk and share our everyday issues based on the principles of non-violent communication, sharing and council. Now, after almost two years of meeting regularly like this, we have grown pretty close and know each other quite well, causing inter-personal conflicts at new and more subtle levels. We spontaneously created and shared a healing ritual based on the Hawaiian Ho'oponopono practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. This provides a very... Read more →