Vault – Renaming Computer hazard

Ok, I blew it.  I recently had a fight with my domain server, and lost.  I ended up renaming my computer to work around it.  It’s never been a problem in the past.  Well, at least I didn’t realize it was.

ADMS is getting its content from an SQL server on a site.  That site is my computer, and when renamed, it was lost.  My entire ADMS and Vault was gone for all applications.

Autodesk had this to say about the errors

Issue

During the installation of Vault or Productstream Server (ADMS), you received the following pre-check error message:

The SQL Server instance you have selected is not enabled with Autodesk Productstream Replicator. To enable it, upgrade site '<computername>'. Contact your reseller for Autodesk Producstream Replicator.

Solution

This error is the result of renaming the computer or adding it to a domain while the previous version of ADMS was installed even though replication has never been enabled on this particular computer.

This can be resolved by uninstalling SQL 2005, using Add or Remove Programs (Windows), and then reinstalling it either manually or automatically using the Vault/Productstream Server installation.

Alternatively, you can run the ADMS Console in command line mode and use the -OSiteRename switch. For detailed instructions, refer to the ADMS Console Help menu (available by pressing the F1 function key).

oSiteRename

 

Civil 3D – 2010 Update 1 resolution

I have finally patched the Civil 3D 2010 up to Version 7.0.1348.0.

Well I’d like to tell everyone that I solved the bug, but I cannot.  I gutted the app and installed again.  Time is money, and you all don’t pay very well.  So I had to get my unit on the move very quickly.  A VAR Tech decided to throw his 2 cents in, and I figured I’d play along while I had him available.  It was not long before the application was rendered useless.

Checked items and review

Along the way, I ended up checking a few things that you may want to learn about.

Correct Update File

Make sure the file is c3d2010sp1.exe, and the size should be 9,853,952 bytes.

AECC Version

In Civil 3D, key in AECCVERSION.  The list of AECC modules will run through, displaying their respective versions.  The OEM will respond with 7.0.1289.0, and Upgrade 1 will come back with 7.0.1348.0.  If the latter is found, the Update will not install.

Civil 3D – Google Earth v5 problems

8/14/2009

If you have tried installing Google Earth 5 recently, you may have run into some problem.  I did, and it led me on a wild goose chase that ended at the ‘Being Civil’ blog.  The article noted scaling problems when inserting images via the Civil 3D Google Image link.

The Being Civil Blog image article

The article explains that the current download version (5.0.11733.9347) is bugged, but points to a previous version (5.0.11337.1968) and says that it should work properly.

I did a Google search for “Google Earth 5.0.11337.1968“ and got numerous results.  Be Aware!!! Most still downloaded from the Google Earth site current release.

I found the Google release url…  Google Earth 5.0 (5.0.11337.1968) from Google

After installing I confirmed the version number; I got the same results!

Time for a major version change

I found a link on Google to the previous Major revision: 4.3…Google Earth 4.3 (4.3.7284.3916) from Google (Later I found a message from Jason Hickey discussing the merits of 4.3)

I installed it, and verified the version number; uuuh same result

Test Bed C3D 09 and GE 4.3

I ambushed one of my associates, who has been using Google 4.3 with Hypack.  I had him mock up the same 2 overlapping images, and link them into Civil 09.  Exact same result.

More Research

I went shopping to find out what gives.  Discussion groups were my next stop.  I found a discussion that referred to the ‘Being Civil’ blog (again), with a different article from February.  It discussed surfacing, and after GE 4.2 the surfacing import was altered, and a reduced amount of data being exported to C3D.  They said if this is a problem, we should go back to 4.2.  Well, I’ve tried all the other versions, why not 4.2.  I know it’s not a surfacing error, but maybe they are linked.  They were kind enough to provide a link:

Google Earth 4.2 (4.2.0205) from filehippo  BTW….The same site has links to ALL the versions!

No Joy!! 

I did the same overlap test at a different region in Vegas and even worse results.

Conclusions

I wish I had some conclusions. I can’t say what the answer is.  It just does not work properly.

All things said, I have not been keeping up with the “Google Earth gotta have latest version” push.  It’s a nice tool, but I don’t use it every day.  I cannot say when things went wrong, but I don’t remember a problem in 2008.  2009 was a blur, and all I did was study for Certifications.

I might be inclined to blame my poor abused machine, but my associate received the same results from a different version of both Civil and Google. 

If you are having the same trouble, please post here so I can determine a pattern.  Then maybe we can get Justin and Jason will to do a little more research for us.

Civil 3D – 2010 Pipe Network Label BUG

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NOTE: I have revisited this issue and article 4 times over now.  I am rewriting this…again…, but the images are old because I don’t have time to cut new ones.  I hope the article is still understandable.

I needed a fast certificate of completion letter, and the drawing to go with it.  I’ll just throw down some pipes here in 2010; it’s simple, no need to go to 2009. A good job to start getting a feel for this part of the new version.

I thought I would put down some simple structures, labeled automatically, edit the network, and spend the bulk of time messing with the profile (at least I hoped).  My styles are all formatted, and all work smoothly.

Things did not go as planned.  The profile was a lost cause.  Perhaps we’ll discuss that later.

Pipe Network Labels

I laid down this arrangement from my (imported 2009 template) Network Parts List. Notice the disgusting mismatched labeling on the pipes and structures.  The blue, while not labeled correctly, is formatted to what I thought I’d get by default.  The Red is useless.  You have to manually change the description.

Civil 3D – Point Style File Size Issue

If you hadn’t noticed (I didn’t), the size of your Civil 3D 2009 drawing will change depending on style factors. 

A buddy of mine questioned me yesterday about some substantial differences related to the size of the drawing he was using, and noted that while he saved his site plan with trees (point styles) on, the drawing was twice the size.

I just tested it.  I took a huge site plan, and saved it with trees on, and saved it with all point styles overridden to standard.  Sure enough, I got a 30% reduction in size.

It appears that the application does not treat the Point style blocks as it treats normal blocks.  Normal blocks are place holders, an entity shell that contains the standard DXF table entries for location, scale…….etc, and then upon regen, it goes to the block table, and pulls the information to display it, where the place holder says it should be.  Instead of saving 40k 1000 times over, it stores 1 40k reference, and stores 1k 1000 times. 

However, for point styles, it appears as though the application is treating the drawing as if it had 1000 different entities, and is storing all the reference information at each point location.

If anyone has additional input, please comment. Christopher, James, Dana, that means you!

Civil 3D – Transparent Point Number Warning

Transparent commands are a nice feature with Civil 3D, and have eliminated some of my custom programming.  No sadness there, because the features are so well integrated.  I just wish I was responsible for them.

With that said, there are a few things that I’d like to see altered, like the Point Number query.  Recently I was filling in for some missing people, and I was doing some connect the dots from field notes.  I kept running into geometry that wouldn’t play together.  I checked my point style, and everything was flattened.

Here’s the catch.  When you query the point number by transparent command, you get 3D values, not the value from the Point Style.

Here are some excerpts:

A simple line command…

Note the elevations…

Inventor – DWG wizard Selective import is empty

Here is a problem some VISTA users have.  The DWG import wizard viewer “Selective import” control is empty.  One reason is of course VISTA, but another may be because of constant uninstall and reinstalls of Design Review.  I have not confirmed the latter, but I do suspect it.

I went looking for some info on this, and found the ‘known issues’ list in numerous places.

The DWG import wizard viewer “Selective import” control is empty: You may notice in the DWGIN wizard’s viewer page that the “Selective import” control is empty (this control lists the layers in a DWG file). This indicates that a module needed by the viewer is not registered (because a lack of user privileges).

In Click Start > locate the program for “Command Prompt, ” and right-click it as run the program with the option “Run as administrator”

To register You cannot start the cmd.exe from Run…” menu for this procedure. When the command prompt is active, navigate to where dxoemviewer.arx is located (c:\program files\aoemview 2008, by default), and then enter the following:

Regsvr32 dxoemviewer.arx

link to the source information

Civil 3D – Part Builder Comments Please

Ok, Part Builder is not easy. Evan with a tutorial and a workflow, it’s still not easy.

There is at least 1 person in the community that has had trouble with the series outcome.  I need to know how everyone did.

Good, Bad, and otherwise.  Please offer us your comments.

If there is a bug in the procedure, I need to get it fixed for everyone else.

Civil 3D – Missing Point Label Controls

Very often people run into problems when their Points lose their controls.  The label controls, like drag label, rotate, etc.  This is caused by the elevation being NULL.

You may also notice in the image below that the label spacing is funky. We will cover that in another session.

When the Point is styled to display ‘using Point Elevation’, the point is physically elevated to elevation value.  When the Point elevation is NULL, it sends it to a default that is something like memory limit.  1.00E+20.

When inversing between #4566 and #4596, we get horizontal distance, but when inversing between #4566, and #4304, we get 1.00E+20, the same as the vertical distance.

A similar phenomenon occurs when point scaling.  My guess is that it is either a view memory limitation to something that is “beyond visible range”, or that the programming kills the control grips in this instance.

Either way, the solution is to format the Point label Style to ‘Flatten Points to Elevation”, and set to 0.

An alternative is to set the NULL Point elevations to 0 or some nominal value deemed to be invalid. The problem forsee is that if using the points at elevation was so important, these Null elevation points would not give accurate results, if given nominal values. 

Civil 3D – (Bug) Invalid Character in Layer Name

Problem:  If you use an invalid character in a layer name, the layer manager will not allow certain functionality with the layers, especially selective things.  With certain tasks an error message is associated, that states something about an invalid layer.  The character in question was a pound sign (#). 

Reasoning:  The bounds checking is not complete on creating Layer Names. 

Fix:  Rename the layer through the layer manager.