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San Francisco, CA, 7/31/2013 – Ideate, Inc., an Autodesk Gold Value Added Reseller, today announced that Eugene A. O’Day, IX, has joined Ideate, Inc. in its Portland, Oregon office as Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Application Specialist. Ideate is also currently seeking qualified candidates for additional positions.
O’Day brings more than 25 years of architectural and mechanical experience to the Ideate Tech Expert Team, and he has special expertise in all things Autodesk Revit and Building Information Modeling (BIM).
Teaching is also a passion of O’Day’s. He has been an instructor in undergraduate degree programs, has traveled worldwide teaching Autodesk solutions to major corporations, has taught at accredited Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATCs) throughout the Northwestern region, and is a frequent and popular instructor, speaker, and presenter for AUGI® CAD Camps, Revit- and related product user groups. He has also been a trusted public school district advisor on new drafting instructor hires.
“We are pleased to have Eugene on board. His years of professional experience in advanced design solutions and as a training expert are sure to enrich our AEC customers’ opportunities to achieve their best success,” says Bob Palioca, President, Ideate, Inc. “Eugene’s breadth of skills and extensive background dovetail perfectly with our Ideate Tech Expert Team.”
Ideate is growing and looking for talented qualified candidates to join the Ideate Tech Expert Team. Complete details on job descriptions and the application process can be found on the Ideate, Inc. Careers page.
About Ideate, Inc.
Ideate, Inc. is a leading Autodesk Authorized Developer with 25+ years’ experience in software development and specific focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM) and is a leading Autodesk solutions provider offering quality software, training, support and custom consulting services to the AEC industry since 1992. Headquartered in San Francisco, California and operating five Autodesk Authorized Training Centers (ATCs) in the northwestern U.S., Ideate is recognized as an Autodesk Gold Partner for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, one of Autodesk’s highest levels of authorization.
Autodesk, ATC, and Revit are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries.
AUGI is a registered trademark of Autodesk User Groups International, Inc.
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On Monday we published the first five of the top ten support requests that come into Ideate Technical support. Today, the long-awaited, highly-anticipated 6-10 requests present themselves for your reading pleasure (and bookmarking reference convenience):
As Support manager here at Ideate we see a lot of general Autodesk cases come in, some of which are repeat questions or issues. Bradley, Ideate’s Technical Support Dispatcher, and I have come up with a list of our top ten. The first line of support often deals with new Features, Network Licensing setup as well as troubleshooting Installations. Please take a look at the most common issues we see:
- Cross Platform Licensing Designating Mac/PC for AutoCAD Autodesk supports a mixture of Operating Systems to run the software as standalone or network on workstations including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Complete the Cross-Platform Licensing form to designate the mixture you would like to run. This will allow a download of the preferred version of the software.
- Network License of Software Requires a Server Setup The most versatile license type by Autodesk is the Network license. This allows unlimited workstation installations to pull a license when needed from the pool of available seats. This requires the install of a License Manager on a designated Server hosting the license file. The License Manager must be setup before the software on the workstations so it can point to the Server during a Network installation. Use Ideate’s Step by Step Autodesk Network Licensing Guide for help on setting everything up properly.
- Installing the Software as Standalone, Network or Trial During installation there are three specific choices to make – either Standalone,
Network or Trial. After downloading the software or using media to run the .exe and click Install you are asked to designate the License Type. Standalone only requires the Serial Number and Product Key. Network
needs to be able to see the Server that is hosting the license and Trial is a fully functioning version of the software for 30 days that reverts to a viewer after this time. It’s helpful to reference the Autodesk software installation steps with screenshots.
- Invalid Serial Number or Product Key During Installation The first issue many of our customers run into is a red X indicating the Serial Number or Product Key is incorrect. The most common mistake is caused by the wrong software or version being installed. Serial Number and Product Key for 2012 is different than the one for 2013 and AutoCAD is a different installation than AutoCAD MEP. Always be sure to download the correct software from Subscription Center or use the correct physical product box. Also, have a look at the Autodesk licensing issues knowledge base.
- Downloading the Trial Revit as the All-in-One Version Customers occasionally need access to software immediately and are unable to download software from Subscription Center or the media has not arrived yet. Downloading the trial is a quick and easy way to get the software going and can easily be converted into a full version. The trial download uses the same prompts and can be activated using a valid Serial Number and Product Key for Standalone or Network. The issue with Revit products is that only the Building Design Suite version with the all-in-one features is available. This means you cannot download a trial of Revit MEP or Revit Architecture to activate, it must be from the media or download. Here is a link for the free Autodesk Revit trial.
Derek Wielkopolski
Ideate Technical Support Manager/Application Specialist
Derek holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Roger Williams University, Rhode Island. He is experienced working within the AEC industry from concept design through construction administration for both small and large scale projects. As Ideate’s Support Manager he ensures a timely and quality response to support requests and questions. Follow Derek on Twitter: @dwielk
Bradley Cooley
Technical Support Dispatcher
Bradley earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon, the Portland, Oregon campus, where his special research and design emphasis was on production facilities including wineries, breweries and distilling. Bradley’s professional experience has a design build services for residential construction and environmental graphics focus. Within his community, he volunteers as a youth athletics coach. As an Ideate tech team member, Bradley provides customer service by phone and online assistance for software installation and functionality. He is based in the Ideate Portland, Oregon office.
Get it. Know it. Use it.
As Support manager here at Ideate we see a lot of general Autodesk cases come in, some of which are repeat questions or issues. Bradley, Ideate’s Technical Support Dispatcher, and I have come up with a list of our top ten. The first line of support often deals with new Features, Network Licensing setup as well as troubleshooting Installations. Please take a look at the most common issues we see:
- License Cascading What’s license cascading? License cascading is the ability for network licenses to float from one product to the other. For example, my license file has seats of AutoCAD and seats of the Building Design Suite Premium. My install of AutoCAD is from the BDSP; and because of license cascading it will pull from the pool of AutoCAD licenses first until all seats of AutoCAD are taken. Once all of those seats are in use it will then cascade up to the BDSP licenses. In general, cheaper products’ licenses are pulled first then cascade up to the more expensive ones. Be sure to bookmark Autodesk’s official license cascading order list.
- Autodesk 360 Setup and Configuration Autodesk 360 is a cloud-computing platform with various features such as storage, collaboration, visualization, and simulation tools. It’s available for Subscription and non-Subscription customers and its features vary by different products. More information can be found by reading the Autodesk 360 FAQs.
- License Switching Between Standalone and Network Occasionally users will need to switch their current installation from standalone/trial to network or vice versa. The best practice is to do a complete uninstall/reinstall. But there are some instances where this isn’t an option. There is a workaround that involves going into the registry and can be used in a pinch if need be. Keep in mind – Ideate does NOT support this method and advises only users who are comfortable and knowledgeable about the registry to perform the Standalone to Network workaround.
- System Requirements Technology is a fast paced industry and computer hardware is changing constantly. As a result software requirements are changing just as quickly to take advantage of all that new computing power. Make sure your machine is up-to-snuff. And keep in mind; minimum system requirements are just that – minimum. Future-proof your purchase by going above and beyond, make sure there’s room for expansion – i.e. extra slots available for more RAM. It’s also helpful to get familiar with the System requirements for Autodesk products.
- Supported Graphics Hardware We’re discovering more and more often the importance of a properly matching OS, video card and video card driver. Issues you wouldn’t even think would be related to graphics hardware like crashing are often resolved by checking the driver version. See if your card is certified and where to find the accompanying certified driver.
Be sure to tune in on March 20th for Ideate’s Top Technical Support Requests 6-10!
Derek Wielkopolski
Ideate Technical Support Manager/Application Specialist
Derek holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Roger Williams University, Rhode Island. He is experienced working within the AEC industry from concept design through construction administration for both small and large scale projects. As Ideate’s Support Manager he ensures a timely and quality response to support requests and questions. Follow Derek on Twitter: @dwielk
Bradley Cooley
Technical Support Dispatcher
Bradley earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon, the Portland, Oregon campus, where his special research and design emphasis was on production facilities including wineries, breweries and distilling. Bradley’s professional experience has a design build services for residential construction and environmental graphics focus. Within his community, he volunteers as a youth athletics coach. As an Ideate tech team member, Bradley provides customer service by phone and online assistance for software installation and functionality. He is based in the Ideate Portland, Oregon office.
Get it. Know it. Use it.
Insert your own comments here:
“I have a corrupt file what do I do?”
“My file keeps crashing how can I fix it?”
“AutoCAD keep crashing my file, what do I do?”
“!@#$%^& CAD file!”
…and the list goes on. Here are some troubleshooting tips that we at Ideate Technical Support go through to help you get your file working.
STEP 1. If you are able to open the drawing, use -PURGE to purge out Regapps, Zero length geometry, and Empty Text Objects.
Regapps are basically residual connections made between AutoCAD and some external applications such as AutoLISP, ObjectARX, .NET etc. When a connection is no longer needed, the regapp remains in the drawing database.
Zero-length objects are essentially lines, arcs, and polylines that have been modified such that the endpoint of one end is grip stretched on top of the opposite endpoint to “erase/remove” the line, arc, or polyline from the drawing. The residual object is still in the drawing database.
Empty Text Objects are text elements that have been edited such that the [Backspace] key was used to remove the text characters.
STEP 2. Use PURGE next. In the dialog box select the View items you cannot purge radio button. Under the Blocks and Layers sections look for items that may have the word “$AUDIT-BAD” in them such as $AUDIT-BAD-Layer, or $AUDIT-BAD-Block.
$AUDIT-BAD-Layer items are often objects drawn on the DEFPOINTS Layer. Use QSELECT to locate these objects, delete them and PURGE them out.
$AUDIT-BAD-Block are similar to BAD Layers. It may be geometry within a block created on the DEFPOINTS layer to remove use the -PURGE command to purge Blocks. This should remove them.
STEP 3. If you are able to open the drawing after using the -PURGE and PURGE commands use AUDIT to audit and fix the drawing.
STEP 4. If AUDIT did not work OR the file was not able to be opened, use the RECOVER command to open and attempt to recover the problem drawing.
STEP 5. If Recover does not work then try starting a new drawing using the ACAD.dwt file as this is a clean empty stock file. Use INSERT to insert the bad drawing and explode it. Next use the AUDIT command to verify it is “clean.”
STEP 6. If this still doesn’t work there is one last thing that I have had success with on occasion. If you have AutoCAD Map 3D, try the above steps with this product as it has some advanced cleanup features. Unfortunately in the event AutoCAD Map 3D cannot recover the file there is a high probability that the file cannot be recovered. In the event you do not have AutoCAD Map 3D, ask the Ideate support team to look the file over with AutoCAD Map 3D and try to recover the file. There are no guarantees that we can recover it but it may be worth a shot.
Ron Palma
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Ron has over 24 years of experience in the architectural industry as a drafter, designer, lead project designer, trainer, and a CAD manager implementing Autodesk Architectural Solutions for a residential design firm. His instructional background includes being an Autodesk Certified Instructor, trainer, support technician, educator at Portland and Clackamas Community Colleges, as well as a U.S. Army certified instructor where he was a senior instructor at Ft Lewis Washington. Ron is a member of the Oregon Army National Guard and platoon sergeant, training and mentoring soldiers in their careers. Ron is a published writer and continues to author professional technical training manuals and shorts for AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and Revit. As an Autodesk Certified Instructor, Ron provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms. Follow Ron @RonPalmaAEC.
Get it. Know it. Use it.
