RobiNZ CAD Blog

U.K. (proper) English iPhone auto-correct spelling

I have done this in the past but had forgotten how, so it’s here for next time that happens…

How to change your iPhone or iPad to UK spelling
If you get frustrated with the auto spell check on your iPhone Americanising all of your spelling, use this tip to change to the UK spelling format. Go to:

• Settings -> General –> Keyboard
• Click "International Keyboards"
• Click "Add New Keyboard"
• Click "English (UK)"

This will add it to the list. Then you need to remove the US keyboard so click the "Edit" button on the top right of the screen. Click on the red delete symbol next to "English". If needed you can use the grey lines on the right of the language to shuffle the order of the keyboards if you have more than one in your list. Click "Done".

Thanks to & via Helpful tips for iPhone users www.optimus.co.nz

Revit 2012 Kiwi, or perhaps “non-US”, install quirks

I installed my Home Revit Architecture the lazy way by just accepting the default settings. It installed & ran without a hitch but I found some content missing. A bit of web searching revealed I wasn’t alone and others had already found a fix.

No Conceptual Mass Template

Clicking Families>New Conceptual Mass just took me to the Revit Program install folder with no sign of a template.

The answer is on “The Revit Clinic Blog” and although mentions U.K. I suspect it applies to any “Non-US” metric install of Revit.

If you have installed the UK Metric content for any of your 2012 Revit products, you may have noticed that some of the templates are not present. The missing files are standard metric files and can be obtained by downloading the US Metric content. To do so:

• Open the Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features dialog.
• Highlight your 2012 Revit product and choose Uninstall/Change.
• In the subsequent Revit dialog, choose Add or Remove Features.
• In the Select Content section, choose US Metric.
• Click Next to install the content.

Via revitclinic.typepad.com

Once done you’ll see the Metric Mass Template in the Conceptual Mass folder:

Adaptive Component Template, not there but not missing!

The adaptive component template is missing from the 2012 Conceptual Mass folder (it’s 2011 location) as explained by Scott D Davis on Revit Forum

It's now in the Family template folder, since adaptive components are no longer limited to Masses. You can place them in a project now. Template is named Generic Model Adaptive.rft

Scott D Davis, AEC Technical Specialist, Autodesk, Inc.

And it is!

Maybe this should be added to the On-line Readme?

PS: Am I the only blogger writing Revit posts while avoiding wedding coverage?

Civil 3D University New Zealand 2011

KarelCAD are running their Civil 3D University event next month in Auckland. Like AU it has a mixture of sessions run by technical, industry and customer experts but focused on Civil 3D & Australasian projects & standards.

Details & registration at www.karelcad.co.nz

TweetDeck for iPhone 2.0 (finally)

TweetDeck is my favourite Twitter client on the desktop (below right) and its ability to sync settings with a mobile application is a major reason why.

In fact I think Twitter's usefulness is dependent on TweetDeck columns displaying Twitter Lists, searches and tags. Add to that support for other social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare and TweetDeck becomes your social dashboard.

Maybe that's why I've tolerated TweetDeck iOS even though it became the most unreliable and annoying application on my phone. It was long overdue for an update as didn't get on well with iOS4. Even if not crashing (which it did frequently) it wasn't capable of multi-tasking. When minimised & restored it reloaded from scratch and lost the previous read/unread states. Very frustrating.

Tonight that all changed with the release of a shiny new TweetDeck iOS 2. I'm still learning to drive it but so far it is proving to be as enjoyable as the previous version was annoying! I haven't managed to crash it once and find the new interface very engaging. You can see some of that in the screen-captures below but they don't convey it's slick operation.

The new iOS app is available from the app store, desktop and chrome versions from www.tweetdeck.com

Follow @iosdeck on Twitter, see their blog post or FAQ Support Documents

PS: Android users need not feel left out as they have been enjoying a similar version of TweetDeck for several months. I wonder if they'll do a Windows Phone version?

Below Left: The Home column which merges all your primary account timelines. I have Twitter, Facebook & Foursquare appearing here. Below right:How, after a pinch to enter this mode, columns can be moved, edited and deleted.

  

Below Right: The profile view you can access from any Tweet. I like the “Allegedly From”! Below Right: The compose screen showing auto fill offering to complete the @ from the two “mr”’s I follow.

Currently TweetDeck iOS 2 supports Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare but the latter two were already part of my TweetDeck Profile (added from the desktop app). Not sure you can add these purely from the iOS app.

 

UPDATE 2011-04-27: Some things I’m missing.

If there I haven’t found them, if not make this my 2.0.1 wish list;

• LinkedIn Support
• Tags: Cant find how to enter them in the editor other than typing. Is there autocomplete or a list anywhere?
• Twitter List Management; You can create columns for lists but can’t find any way to add/remove people from them. Perhaps it’s because Twitter’s list API is flaky at best as their own app often fails to complete list changes.
• Time posted on the column views. You can see it when you click into a Tweet but would like some indication in the column views Thanks to @kiwifrenzy: "Time posted on the column views" Time is at the top below the Home text. I personally don't like this. Now I know it’s there I don’t mind it.
• Light Theme Option: The old light one (Grey background, dark text) worked better in some bright conditions

AEC Systems Auckland Technology Solutions Day

It’s more than a rumour that Autodesk Evangelist Lynn Allen is heading back down under for the Auckland AEC Systems Technology Solutions Day next month. She was recently in Australia so must just love those long haul flights in Seat 16C. More detail & registration for the event available at www.aecsystems.co.nz

Bill's take on AutoCAD 2012

You may have noticed a slight lack of 2012 related posts here. It’s because I’ve been a bit slack getting it installed (although to be fair my Revit Suite codes only showed up last week) so haven’t had a chance to try the release versions.

I’ll sort that over the loooonnnnggg weekend but until then here is my cycling mate’s first impressions of the new AutoCAD.

William Le Couteur's AutoCAD Blog: AutoCAD 2012 - 3dconfig

Well, here we go again, with another release of AutoCAD. A quick verdict:
1. It seems nice to use, quick and responsive….

UPDATE 2011-04-22 22:25:11: And now it’s time to start exploring!

“Spurious” AutoCAD External Reference changed notifications explained?

Do you see the notification bubble warning External Reference files have changed when they haven’t? I have seen this on legacy files referencing Xrefs which haven’t been edited for, literally, years.

1. Take note of the reference name
2. Open it. Right Click > Open Xref or open from the Xref dialog will save browsing to find it.
3. [A Button > Drawing Utilities >] Audit the file, choosing yes for the  “Fix any errors detected” option.

You’ll probably see error(s) fixed and it seems they flag the “change” mechanism when the file is referenced. Once repaired the reload warning doesn’t re-occur. As Audit seems to improve with each generation of AutoCAD auditing previously “clean” files may find & repair lurking problems.

AutoCAD WS for Android

AutoCAD WS (currently available for Browser/iPhone & iPad) will soon be available for Android. I’ve used AutoCAD WS on my iPhone and been surprised how useable it is. Now Android devices will have the same capability and a tap, tap, tap, saving extra:

“One feature unique to Android version of AutoCAD WS is the text annotation tool supports integrated voice commands available on devices running Android 2.2 (Froyo) or above.  Now Android users can insert comments and notations on a drawing simply by speaking rather than typing them into the text edit box.”

UPDATE 2011-04-22: “AutoCAD WS for Android will be available for download on the Android Market beginning April 20, 2011. Register and find out as soon as the download is available.”  is now available in the Android Market

More details here or at http://www.autocadws.com/