Hola Amigos!
With no real Revit shit to bitch about (other than receiving garbage background files of buildings designed and modeled by morons), I'm left having to bitch about other stuff - like our idiotic/incompetent 'salesforce'.
Now, these are the guys responsible for making this whole thing a reality - although a lot of our actual clients come to us through other channels - only to be delegated to various salesmen to do takeoffs, estimates, submit bids, and hopefully get signed contracts before we go to work doing detailed designs.
These salesmen's ability to do this correctly, and see a project through to completion does have an impact on our ability to retain clients, as well as get new ones through word of mouth. Fortunately some of the systems we design and install are requirements of any kind of building, and the rest are highly desired (and will have to be done by someone - so why not us?)
On top of that, some of the systems have to be monitored, and receive regular testing and occasional maintenance - so we kind of have some people by the balls (or lady balls). Obviously there are other firms doing the kind of work we do, but we've got a pretty solid client base that includes several federal and state government agencies, city/county school systems, etc. (across several states), as well as other large companies - along with all manner of medium and small clients.
These tasks require maintaining a fairly large salesforce, as well as making sure we take into account the type of client, and any special requirements they may have with a salesman (or salesmen) who are going to be capable of handling the scope of the project, and (if necessary) hold the client's hand throughout the process.
Some clients (especially those at the federal level) have people who literally do one project at a time, over disturbingly long amounts of time - so the level of detail they start to go into in order to justify their paychecks goes FAR beyond anything in reality (and dragging us down with them). Even once a building is built, and as-built documents are submitted, they often continue to fiddle with inconsequential items and pull us back into the mix again and again.
For this reason, we generally front-load these projects with plenty of extra time for revisiting the same (often not even very large) project over and over and OVER AND OVER. Many of the projects are renovations of part of larger buildings, and over the years before I started working here, people apparently had serious difficulty keeping track of what went where, and so they would occasionally start new projects to do a renovation of a piece of a building where we did the original building - and the renovations should have started with those drawings in order to maintain one master set.
Add to this, the process of submittal, mark-up, re-submittal, etc. has always been sketchy (at best), sometimes involving direct contact between the client and me (or whoever is designed their project), a mix of the client, electrical contractor (who we are sometimes a sub-contractor for - depending on the nature of the project), and the salesman - who may or may not be capable of juggling several projects at a time (along with their personal issues).
The best way we've figured out to handle it is for the salesman to be the one point of contact, that way we make sure that everything we are doing actually falls under the scope of a project that we have a contract for, and if we start to experience 'scope creep' - like in the case of a small addition to a building that we were supposed to do that turned into a renovation of the entire existing building (not uncommon), then we make sure to submit change orders, or put together new contracts to address additional work.
It also keeps e-mail clusterfuckery down, where you have to dig through several different people's e-mails (even if you try to organize them by project) - sometimes discussing (and including file attachments) for more than one project. This was the case for a series of projects that came through recently - and as I was looking at them, my brain started to turn completely to mush.
The saleman had tried to consolidate all of them down into a single e-mail/list - but as I started going through them, I couldn't help but shake the feeling that many of them sounded VERY familiar. One of the biggest issues with this (federal government) client is that they refer to all of their projects through a series of acronyms - which would be bad enough, except that on top of that, many people involved with the projects come up with their own names/nicknames.
Some are the words that the acronyms are made from, some will refer to the building numbers that the acronym projects are located inside of, and some are... just totally fucking made up (or, my favorite - people refer to them by the sheet numbers that address the portion of the building that we are addressing. This last one isn't as illogical as it sounds, since each area has a set of sheet numbers allocated to it, but as I mentioned earlier, some people weren't clued into this standard, so they took off on their own, creating a series (or multiple series) of drawings with numbers that don't match up with the rest of the sets (it literally hurts my brain just trying to type this).
I found out why they seemed familiar when I opened the first set of comments, and discovered that I had actually done them - over a month and a half ago. I point this out to the salesman, and he goes back and finds the e-mail where I had sent him drawings, and he neglected to forward them on (keep in mind, this guy wants everything sent to him for review before it goes to the client). Now, this is great, because I'm already done - but to prevent him (and thus 'us') from looking like idiots, he has me re-date the drawings and send them again (so now we look like slow idiots).
I jump into the second project - and (sure enough) I find drawings that I had done SIX MONTHS PRIOR. Unfortunately, this time, I couldn't find where I had sent him an e-mail, but after a quick dig through the pile of crap on his desk, I find a set I had printed (at his request) and left for him to review before wasting my time e-mailing anything (and having it disappear into his e-mail inbox).
In this case it kind of worked out, because while I was done with the drawings, the EC had sent over updated floor plans (that only sucked a little bit) for me to insert, so that's two down. They've sent over the third one this morning, and it won't surprise me in the least if it was done as well - the only question is whether or not I have proof that I gave it to the salesman. Fortunately while this guy is a bit of a space cadet (due to going too many directions at once - along with some health issues he's dealing with), he's actually a pretty stand up guy, and will admit when he makes mistakes.
He's a super genius compared to Dipshit McDumbfuck that had me wasting my time submitting shit to the wrong AHJ, or the guy that I literally had to start putting received/read receipts on everything I send him because he apparently doesn't understand how e-mail works (he would ask me to do something really quick in the morning, so I would stop what I was doing, knock it out, send it to him, then receive a phone call that afternoon asking if I had gotten to it yet).
Those two have the distinct advantage of not working in the same office as me (the second one being in another state), or I probably would've tossed both of them out of a window by now. We've got a few more in this office that range from total space cadet, to reasonably concerned with making sure their projects get done properly. And even all of these don't compare to the (fortunately) small number of guys who try to pull the good old 'throw me under the bus because they fucked up' routine.
I mentioned it in a previous post, but I did a massive renovation and addition to a school, sent it over - with the explicit instruction to have one of their guys go do a walk down of the existing portion to verify that it made sense (I had been compiling information from decades of drawings showing systems that had been 'grandfathered' in by AHJ's who may have literally be the grandfathers of the people doing the design work.
One day I have the owner of the company come into my office and tell me that this salesman is telling him that I did a bunch of stuff incorrectly, and had added tons of extra equipment - instead of doing a one-for-one replacement of the existing system (which nobody had informed me was the plan). I told the owner (who is actually a really good guy) that I had sent over a set for them to review and mark up literally weeks prior.
We got on speaker with him - and he claims 'yeah, I had my guy go out and mark up drawings', so I said 'well - then send them to me'. He agreed, and two days later I called him back to ask why he hadn't sent them - and it came out that he had lied while on the phone with me and the owner to cover his own ass, and worse - had been lying to a co-owner that is in his office as well.
I resorted to my tried and true method of blind carbon copying (bcc) both the owner and co-owner on all future correspondence with this guy - and hilariously both of them would respond to me by telling me to 'get him'. It's always funny when someone goes to a higher up to try to throw me under the bus, not realizing that I'm on good terms with the higher ups (anyone reading my blog for any length of time should know I'm not a kiss-ass, but it always pays to have friends in high places).
Unbenownst to the the guy trying to scare me by going to the higher-ups - the owner is a fanatic for old Ford/Shelby race cars, and I've been building classic Mustangs for years as a hobby, and the co-owner is a metalhead - and any time he's in town and drops by our office, he will come back to my office and we talk metal bands.
Everyone else is scared of these guys - and they think I am too, and it cracks me up every time someone threatens me with going to them. Dude, seriously - we're just going to have a good laugh at your stupid attempt at covering your ass, so why not just do your goddamned job, because I damn well do mine.
Vaya Con Dios,
Skuzzy AF
Next Time: Apocalypse Wow
Monday, October 28, 2019
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
How Much Shit Could a Nitwit Submit If A Nitwit Could Submit Shit?
What's Crackin?
Well, no new Revit news to report here - just a half a day wasted trying to figure out WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO TWO PROJECTS WE SUPPOSEDLY SUBMITTED SIX MONTHS AGO.
Of course the guy who did the projects goes on vacation - leaving me to field a call from an irate salesman screaming about 'I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET THESE PROJECTS APPROVED FOR SIX MONTHS!!!! He actually tried to claim there were THREE projects, but after a quick check only two of them were actually done (the third is still waiting on info showing an equipment layout - which he apparently requested, only for them to try to resend the lighting plan... again).
I have access to the guy's computer who is on vacation, so I dig through his clusterfuck of e-mails back and forth, and talk to a girl in the front office who specifically remembered having our old office manager come back and sign off on the drawings (since he is the only guy with a Georgia license), but either those drawings got lost in the mail, or they were never shipped, or some damn thing.
I checked out UPS shipping records, but there was nothing. It's possible someone ran them out after hours to a UPS or FedEx store, and there is a tracking number laying around somewhere, but nobody bothered to make note of that.
I talked to the plans review office in Atlanta, who apparently only have one engineer for the entire goddamned state (for this kind of project), and noticed while I was going through the menus that they have the wrong suite # on their transmittal sheet that you have to fill out in order to submit. I thought for a minute that may have been the problem, but they assured me that they would've still received them even if it had gone to the wrong suite (although I don't know if I believe that or not).
So, all of this bullshit basically resulted in me having to re-plot two copies of both projects (they have to have two hardcopies, wet signed, and mailed to them - in 20 fucking 19. Nearly every other jurisdiction we deal with has gotten on last centuries bandwagon and have some kind of ability to accept drawings/submittals online (although they vary from 'barely functioning' to 'written in crayon').
Then I got to print out a set of data sheets for each project, and finish filling out the transmittals (whoever did them the first time made a number of mistakes and failed to fill in several fields). Now I'm waiting to find out if the guy who signed them last time can swing by and sign them (again) so that I can cram them in boxes and send them off.
The ONE engineer they have reviewing shit is apparently WAY behind (big surprise there) so they will most likely sit somewhere until they are fucking lost again. The only difference is that THIS TIME I will have done it all myself, and will have a tracking # to reference.
While I was writing this I received a .pdf showing equipment layouts for the third project - which is absolutely not going to be at the top of my (or anyone else's) list to do - but whenever we get it done, it will have to go through the same process as the other two.
Oh well - at least it wasn't Revit.
Crackalackin!
-$kü££ƒü¢k
Epilogue:
So, the guy who was on vacation returns from vacation, and after discussing it with him, it turns out that over a month ago, he had e-mailed a scanned signed set of drawings to this dipshit, who didn't even acknowledge that this had been done (I found these sets on our server, but didn't actually see the e-mail where he had sent them).
Now, these scanned drawings would've been wholly insufficient to meet the requirements of the AHJ reviewing them - even if he printed hardcopies (due to the requirement for them to be 'wet signed'), but the guy was acting like a) nothing had been sent, and b) we were supposed to know about the submission process 'eight months ago' (per the snotty e-mail he sent the guy who got back from vacation).
Now - here's where it gets hilarious. I go ahead and have the two sets wet signed, include two sets of specifications for the job, finish filling out the required transmittal form, and ship the whole thing to the AHJ via UPS. A few days later I get two packages back, and I'm like 'There's no way in hell they actually reviewed these - so I'm hesitantly opening them, expecting to see some kind of 'you didn't submit these properly' response that some AHJ's love to do.
Instead, there is a a letter in each package informing us that their office (the state office) doesn't review these drawings, and they need to be submitted to the local AHJ. I scanned these letters in and allowed the guy who had received the 'durrr... you were supposed to know how to submit these 8 months ago... durrr....' e-mail from the salesman. He sent it on with 'FYI' in the subject line, and no message.
I waited a day or so, and no response (typical). Finally, I called the salesman, and he is totally nonplussed - and while it was not entirely his fault, since he had submitted some similar projects before and they DID have to be submitted to the state office, he (and/or the GC) had dropped the ball BIGTIME in giving us the runaround.
I showed the letters to several people around our office, and every single response was 'what a dumbass' (or my favorite - 'he doesn't know his head from his ass'). They are now hanging on my wall - right next to an e-mail read receipt from another idiot salesman that I received a full six months after having sent a completed project.
Next Time: SALESFORCE!!!
Well, no new Revit news to report here - just a half a day wasted trying to figure out WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO TWO PROJECTS WE SUPPOSEDLY SUBMITTED SIX MONTHS AGO.
Of course the guy who did the projects goes on vacation - leaving me to field a call from an irate salesman screaming about 'I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET THESE PROJECTS APPROVED FOR SIX MONTHS!!!! He actually tried to claim there were THREE projects, but after a quick check only two of them were actually done (the third is still waiting on info showing an equipment layout - which he apparently requested, only for them to try to resend the lighting plan... again).
I have access to the guy's computer who is on vacation, so I dig through his clusterfuck of e-mails back and forth, and talk to a girl in the front office who specifically remembered having our old office manager come back and sign off on the drawings (since he is the only guy with a Georgia license), but either those drawings got lost in the mail, or they were never shipped, or some damn thing.
I checked out UPS shipping records, but there was nothing. It's possible someone ran them out after hours to a UPS or FedEx store, and there is a tracking number laying around somewhere, but nobody bothered to make note of that.
I talked to the plans review office in Atlanta, who apparently only have one engineer for the entire goddamned state (for this kind of project), and noticed while I was going through the menus that they have the wrong suite # on their transmittal sheet that you have to fill out in order to submit. I thought for a minute that may have been the problem, but they assured me that they would've still received them even if it had gone to the wrong suite (although I don't know if I believe that or not).
So, all of this bullshit basically resulted in me having to re-plot two copies of both projects (they have to have two hardcopies, wet signed, and mailed to them - in 20 fucking 19. Nearly every other jurisdiction we deal with has gotten on last centuries bandwagon and have some kind of ability to accept drawings/submittals online (although they vary from 'barely functioning' to 'written in crayon').
Then I got to print out a set of data sheets for each project, and finish filling out the transmittals (whoever did them the first time made a number of mistakes and failed to fill in several fields). Now I'm waiting to find out if the guy who signed them last time can swing by and sign them (again) so that I can cram them in boxes and send them off.
The ONE engineer they have reviewing shit is apparently WAY behind (big surprise there) so they will most likely sit somewhere until they are fucking lost again. The only difference is that THIS TIME I will have done it all myself, and will have a tracking # to reference.
While I was writing this I received a .pdf showing equipment layouts for the third project - which is absolutely not going to be at the top of my (or anyone else's) list to do - but whenever we get it done, it will have to go through the same process as the other two.
Oh well - at least it wasn't Revit.
Crackalackin!
-$kü££ƒü¢k
Epilogue:
So, the guy who was on vacation returns from vacation, and after discussing it with him, it turns out that over a month ago, he had e-mailed a scanned signed set of drawings to this dipshit, who didn't even acknowledge that this had been done (I found these sets on our server, but didn't actually see the e-mail where he had sent them).
Now, these scanned drawings would've been wholly insufficient to meet the requirements of the AHJ reviewing them - even if he printed hardcopies (due to the requirement for them to be 'wet signed'), but the guy was acting like a) nothing had been sent, and b) we were supposed to know about the submission process 'eight months ago' (per the snotty e-mail he sent the guy who got back from vacation).
Now - here's where it gets hilarious. I go ahead and have the two sets wet signed, include two sets of specifications for the job, finish filling out the required transmittal form, and ship the whole thing to the AHJ via UPS. A few days later I get two packages back, and I'm like 'There's no way in hell they actually reviewed these - so I'm hesitantly opening them, expecting to see some kind of 'you didn't submit these properly' response that some AHJ's love to do.
Instead, there is a a letter in each package informing us that their office (the state office) doesn't review these drawings, and they need to be submitted to the local AHJ. I scanned these letters in and allowed the guy who had received the 'durrr... you were supposed to know how to submit these 8 months ago... durrr....' e-mail from the salesman. He sent it on with 'FYI' in the subject line, and no message.
I waited a day or so, and no response (typical). Finally, I called the salesman, and he is totally nonplussed - and while it was not entirely his fault, since he had submitted some similar projects before and they DID have to be submitted to the state office, he (and/or the GC) had dropped the ball BIGTIME in giving us the runaround.
I showed the letters to several people around our office, and every single response was 'what a dumbass' (or my favorite - 'he doesn't know his head from his ass'). They are now hanging on my wall - right next to an e-mail read receipt from another idiot salesman that I received a full six months after having sent a completed project.
Next Time: SALESFORCE!!!
Friday, October 4, 2019
Really Packing 'Em In
Bang Bang...
So I open a file that someone exported from what I assume is Revit, and the first thing I notice is 'holy fuck this file is massive', then I notice 'holy fuck this thing is slow as death', then I notice 'goddamn - this thing has fuckloads of unnecessary detail in it'.
That's a window detail that someone thought would be a good idea to insert every single place that glass appears in the building, rather than have a simple rectangle and a note to refer to a detail sheet.
Below is another type of window detail - there are a fuckload of these in the project too. I did some rough calculations and came up with a conservative estimate of 440,409 line segments JUST TO SHOW HOW WINDOWS ARE MOUNTED - and which ISN'T EVEN VISIBLE AT THE SCALE THE DRAWINGS WILL BE PRINTED AT.
As I always acknowledge - it's entirely possible that a program like Revit is affected differently by having this level of detail slapped all over a project, but at the same time I can also guarantee that it isn't helping.
And this is just windows - as you go through the rest of the project, there are all kinds of things that look like hatching until you start to drill down to the microscopic level - and find out that not only are they pointlessly detailed - THEY ARE FUCKING SIDEWAYS ON THE PLAN, SO YOU CAN'T FUCKING SEE THEM ANYWAY.
Lovingly rendered 3D signage on walls (that in elevation view just looks like letters, and even in a 3D view is barely noticeable). Chairs, tables, desks, sinks, toilets/urinals - in all their wireframe beauty.
And ALL DELETED.
The file is small, the response time when working in it is instantaneous, and now... the project is FUCKING DONE.
All in the time it would've taken to open the file in Revit, find out it's in the wrong version and it's trying to convert, open it in an older version, find out that someone fucked up the way the files are linked (including the MEP files that aren't being done in-house), having it crash once or twice, rebooting your computer, rebooting the server, finding out the model is corrupted, trying to hunt down the last known good model, and then redoing all of the work that you lost.
Just... fuck every bit of that.
And if you don't like it - FUCK YOU.
Next Time: Submission Regression
So I open a file that someone exported from what I assume is Revit, and the first thing I notice is 'holy fuck this file is massive', then I notice 'holy fuck this thing is slow as death', then I notice 'goddamn - this thing has fuckloads of unnecessary detail in it'.
That's a window detail that someone thought would be a good idea to insert every single place that glass appears in the building, rather than have a simple rectangle and a note to refer to a detail sheet.
Below is another type of window detail - there are a fuckload of these in the project too. I did some rough calculations and came up with a conservative estimate of 440,409 line segments JUST TO SHOW HOW WINDOWS ARE MOUNTED - and which ISN'T EVEN VISIBLE AT THE SCALE THE DRAWINGS WILL BE PRINTED AT.
As I always acknowledge - it's entirely possible that a program like Revit is affected differently by having this level of detail slapped all over a project, but at the same time I can also guarantee that it isn't helping.
And this is just windows - as you go through the rest of the project, there are all kinds of things that look like hatching until you start to drill down to the microscopic level - and find out that not only are they pointlessly detailed - THEY ARE FUCKING SIDEWAYS ON THE PLAN, SO YOU CAN'T FUCKING SEE THEM ANYWAY.
Lovingly rendered 3D signage on walls (that in elevation view just looks like letters, and even in a 3D view is barely noticeable). Chairs, tables, desks, sinks, toilets/urinals - in all their wireframe beauty.
And ALL DELETED.
The file is small, the response time when working in it is instantaneous, and now... the project is FUCKING DONE.
All in the time it would've taken to open the file in Revit, find out it's in the wrong version and it's trying to convert, open it in an older version, find out that someone fucked up the way the files are linked (including the MEP files that aren't being done in-house), having it crash once or twice, rebooting your computer, rebooting the server, finding out the model is corrupted, trying to hunt down the last known good model, and then redoing all of the work that you lost.
Just... fuck every bit of that.
And if you don't like it - FUCK YOU.
Next Time: Submission Regression
Friday, September 13, 2019
Giant Bag o' Dicks
It's the 200th Post!!!! Holy fuck!!! Oh well who fucking cares?
It's been a while, but people insist on continuing to shit out complete garbage with their Revit boxes, meaning I get to waste time cleaning them up so that I can have something passable to use as backgrounds for my drawings.
Combine this with a dipshit salesman that sends me useless information (when he actually sends me information) and what could be done in a few days ends up taking 2-3 times as long, since I have to beat information out of people.
My current project is a massive aerospace production facility - and goddamned did the architects and engineers responsible for designing this thing consume a lot of Revit penis. The electrical revit-bot in particular seemed to be having a lot of difficulty with it - which isn't surprising, because (as I experienced first hand) the software sucks ass for doing electrical design.
The first files I got were architectural reflected ceiling plans - as if those were going to be of any use whatsoever. I managed to dig up a set of electrical plans - which were better, and which ended up being the drawings I used to generate a floor plan.
They were some of the shittiest looking drawings I had ever seen - bathrooms in particular seem to escape Revitards ability to get right, with equipment inside walls, random objects (and/or lack of ability to comprehend the astronomical number of view range settings) wiping out little things like 'doors' and 'walls'.
I was able to fill in bits of information, including missing or incorrect room designations from the RCP's and a set of sprinkler drawings (that were equally useless, as they showed four risers - but only three details, and NOTHING telling you which one(s) occurred where.
The salesman kept claiming he was getting HVAC drawings so I could show equipment for those - but after a few days of getting jack and shit, I decided to take matters into my own hands, went directly to the Architect (since they were the only company that I could find a phone number for) and convinced them to give me a full set of .pdfs.
My first concern had been the lack of any second floor drawings in any of the sets I had received (but the existence of stairwells/elevators allowed me to infer the existence of). I was able to convert the second floor plans from the .pdfs (which I'm still cleaning up).
I had made a few attempts at laying out some equipment in the high bay areas - but it was only when I got this full set of .pdfs that I actually had elevations (what are those?) showing the bottom of the structure at 52 goddamned feet off the ground.
This meant that any device layouts, circuits, or calculations I had done all had to be scrapped as I derated all of the devices for ridiculous mounting heights - which will result in a buttfuckload of circuits, power supplies to feed those circuits, plus - just.... shitloads of extra wire.
It's par for the course for projects that come from this particular salesman I was talking to another designer who had been arguing with the same guy about how many circuits a project was going to need, despite it being obvious that the salesman had underestimated what it would take to handle the sheer amount of devices.
Then there was the fact that the building (a hotel) is four stories high, so it made sense to run one circuit per floor for these devices for ease of design, installation, commissioning, and troubleshooting. The guy seemed content with loading every circuit - instead of leaving at least a little spare capacity (which is a recipe for total fucking disaster down the road (or right away, depending on how much additional shit gets added as we find out that other people dropped the ball.
I just had a guy duck his head in on another project where we left a lot of spare capacity (at the owner's request we actually left more than usual) but where they are wanting to add a minor fuckload of devices to handle a number of fire/smoke dampers (this project having gone through dozens and dozens of internal reviews, before being reviewed by a third party engineering firm.
It's fucking amateur hour, as usual - with the only saving grace being that I'm not Reviting any of this bullshit (which has already irked a few people who wanted us to show our equipment for 'coordination'). This being bullshit as usual though, as they move our shit around in the field regardless of whether it is 'coordinated' or not.
Just... fuck Revit. Fuck the useless garbage that people using Revit crank out (and then pat themselves on the back for being so awesome), fuck those people, anyone else involved in the process, and fuck Autodesk (whose stock continues to nose-dive).
Fuck the world.
Sincerely.
-Skullfuck
Next Time - the 201st post. Or not. Who gives a shit anymore?
It's been a while, but people insist on continuing to shit out complete garbage with their Revit boxes, meaning I get to waste time cleaning them up so that I can have something passable to use as backgrounds for my drawings.
Combine this with a dipshit salesman that sends me useless information (when he actually sends me information) and what could be done in a few days ends up taking 2-3 times as long, since I have to beat information out of people.
My current project is a massive aerospace production facility - and goddamned did the architects and engineers responsible for designing this thing consume a lot of Revit penis. The electrical revit-bot in particular seemed to be having a lot of difficulty with it - which isn't surprising, because (as I experienced first hand) the software sucks ass for doing electrical design.
The first files I got were architectural reflected ceiling plans - as if those were going to be of any use whatsoever. I managed to dig up a set of electrical plans - which were better, and which ended up being the drawings I used to generate a floor plan.
They were some of the shittiest looking drawings I had ever seen - bathrooms in particular seem to escape Revitards ability to get right, with equipment inside walls, random objects (and/or lack of ability to comprehend the astronomical number of view range settings) wiping out little things like 'doors' and 'walls'.
I was able to fill in bits of information, including missing or incorrect room designations from the RCP's and a set of sprinkler drawings (that were equally useless, as they showed four risers - but only three details, and NOTHING telling you which one(s) occurred where.
The salesman kept claiming he was getting HVAC drawings so I could show equipment for those - but after a few days of getting jack and shit, I decided to take matters into my own hands, went directly to the Architect (since they were the only company that I could find a phone number for) and convinced them to give me a full set of .pdfs.
My first concern had been the lack of any second floor drawings in any of the sets I had received (but the existence of stairwells/elevators allowed me to infer the existence of). I was able to convert the second floor plans from the .pdfs (which I'm still cleaning up).
I had made a few attempts at laying out some equipment in the high bay areas - but it was only when I got this full set of .pdfs that I actually had elevations (what are those?) showing the bottom of the structure at 52 goddamned feet off the ground.
This meant that any device layouts, circuits, or calculations I had done all had to be scrapped as I derated all of the devices for ridiculous mounting heights - which will result in a buttfuckload of circuits, power supplies to feed those circuits, plus - just.... shitloads of extra wire.
It's par for the course for projects that come from this particular salesman I was talking to another designer who had been arguing with the same guy about how many circuits a project was going to need, despite it being obvious that the salesman had underestimated what it would take to handle the sheer amount of devices.
Then there was the fact that the building (a hotel) is four stories high, so it made sense to run one circuit per floor for these devices for ease of design, installation, commissioning, and troubleshooting. The guy seemed content with loading every circuit - instead of leaving at least a little spare capacity (which is a recipe for total fucking disaster down the road (or right away, depending on how much additional shit gets added as we find out that other people dropped the ball.
I just had a guy duck his head in on another project where we left a lot of spare capacity (at the owner's request we actually left more than usual) but where they are wanting to add a minor fuckload of devices to handle a number of fire/smoke dampers (this project having gone through dozens and dozens of internal reviews, before being reviewed by a third party engineering firm.
It's fucking amateur hour, as usual - with the only saving grace being that I'm not Reviting any of this bullshit (which has already irked a few people who wanted us to show our equipment for 'coordination'). This being bullshit as usual though, as they move our shit around in the field regardless of whether it is 'coordinated' or not.
Just... fuck Revit. Fuck the useless garbage that people using Revit crank out (and then pat themselves on the back for being so awesome), fuck those people, anyone else involved in the process, and fuck Autodesk (whose stock continues to nose-dive).
Fuck the world.
Sincerely.
-Skullfuck
Next Time - the 201st post. Or not. Who gives a shit anymore?
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Spam Spam Spam Spam, Spam Spam Spam Spam
Lovely Spam, Beautiful Spam!!!!
So my phone is blowing up this morning because some jack-ass calling himself 'lost_in_woods'
decided to start spamming my blog by posting comments on dozens of my most recent posts - ostensibly with the aim of directing traffic towards a website offering 'BIM Global Solutions' with the intent of garnering business from people who might click on this link.
This is hilarious to me on many levels, as they obviously did not bother to read anything on this blog (or even the name of it), or they might have ascertained its general attitude towards BIM in general, and Revit specifically.
Now I get to spend time this morning cleaning out all of that spam, and figuring out how to report this ignorant fuckstick (since there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to do it). In the meantime, feel free to send Mr. 'lost_in_woods' and/or www.bimgs.com all the love and support they deserve for spreading the BIM disease throughout the world.
Fuck this guy, fuck this firm, and fuck everyone perpetuating the Revit lie.
Sincerely,
MISTER Skullfuck to you.
Next Time: The 200th Post.
P. S. - Just this morning I had another (or the same?) idiot post some more spam on a handful of my entries to advertise their Revit services. I guess they'll never learn!
So my phone is blowing up this morning because some jack-ass calling himself 'lost_in_woods'
decided to start spamming my blog by posting comments on dozens of my most recent posts - ostensibly with the aim of directing traffic towards a website offering 'BIM Global Solutions' with the intent of garnering business from people who might click on this link.
This is hilarious to me on many levels, as they obviously did not bother to read anything on this blog (or even the name of it), or they might have ascertained its general attitude towards BIM in general, and Revit specifically.
Now I get to spend time this morning cleaning out all of that spam, and figuring out how to report this ignorant fuckstick (since there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to do it). In the meantime, feel free to send Mr. 'lost_in_woods' and/or www.bimgs.com all the love and support they deserve for spreading the BIM disease throughout the world.
Fuck this guy, fuck this firm, and fuck everyone perpetuating the Revit lie.
Sincerely,
MISTER Skullfuck to you.
Next Time: The 200th Post.
P. S. - Just this morning I had another (or the same?) idiot post some more spam on a handful of my entries to advertise their Revit services. I guess they'll never learn!
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Derps 'n Doors
Greetings and Welcome to the latest edition of the Revderps Awards (The Derpies!!)
This lovely piece of work comes to us via a Revitard so high on crack that even other Revitards were like 'Whoa there buddy - you might wanna cut down to only 5-6 rocks an hour.'
Hopefully they get a phone call asking for a detail showing how you mount one half of a door frame to the inside of a refrigerator.
This was the first drawing I opened for a project with several buildings, so I'm sure I'll find more idiotic mistakes, and will include them as they pop up - but this is hands down the stupidest crap I've seen in a while.
Meanwhile, I was watching a guy from the firm that shares the building that my office is in build a computer to 'handle' Revit. It is one motherfucker of a machine, and would handle just about any other task thrown at it (like software that was actually written by real programmers instead of handing some five year olds some code) with ease.
I'll be amused when he finds out that Revit can't take advantage of most of the advanced features that his build includes - leaving him with the same glitched out lagfest that he would experience on a machine with half of the specs of his mini-supercomputer.
Fuck Revit, Fuck Revit Machines, and Fuck Reviteers with dicks in their ears.
-Skull To The Mother Fuck.
Next Time: Spamming Motherfuckers.
Next Time: ?!?!?!
This lovely piece of work comes to us via a Revitard so high on crack that even other Revitards were like 'Whoa there buddy - you might wanna cut down to only 5-6 rocks an hour.'
Hopefully they get a phone call asking for a detail showing how you mount one half of a door frame to the inside of a refrigerator.
This was the first drawing I opened for a project with several buildings, so I'm sure I'll find more idiotic mistakes, and will include them as they pop up - but this is hands down the stupidest crap I've seen in a while.
Meanwhile, I was watching a guy from the firm that shares the building that my office is in build a computer to 'handle' Revit. It is one motherfucker of a machine, and would handle just about any other task thrown at it (like software that was actually written by real programmers instead of handing some five year olds some code) with ease.
I'll be amused when he finds out that Revit can't take advantage of most of the advanced features that his build includes - leaving him with the same glitched out lagfest that he would experience on a machine with half of the specs of his mini-supercomputer.
Fuck Revit, Fuck Revit Machines, and Fuck Reviteers with dicks in their ears.
-Skull To The Mother Fuck.
Next Time: Spamming Motherfuckers.
Next Time: ?!?!?!
Friday, May 24, 2019
So High I Have To Look Down To See The Cloud
Shazbot!
I know it's probably a little silly to complain about web-based applications while using a web-based application that stores my information... someplace... but for the last three days we've been unable to use the software that some genius determined was the best choice for managing all of our project/time tracking, billing, etc. thanks to an 'update' that has left the system completely non-functional.
We started receiving messages that the system would be down for 'maintenance' a while back, and sure enough, when the day came, it was down. Then it was down the next day, and another. Now, if this were a piece of software running on our server, maintained by our IT people, we would simply have drug them out from in front of their Linux boxes and told them to do their fucking jobs - or be beaten with blunt objects.
As it stands, someone, somewhere, with no vested interest in helping us (or preventing blunt force trauma to their faces) is dicking around, with god knows what, for god knows how long. Attempts at contacting them resulted in the standard runaround - starting with 'we're getting it back up ASAP', to 'here - try this non-functional link that we tried to make as a workaround'.
They FINALLY get around to fixing whatever was keeping us from being able to log on, but they've apparently discontinued support for Microsoft Explorer (which I have no love for, but I liked have a dedicated browser shortcut that took me straight to the login. No problem though - I just switched to using Edge (which I had avoided like the plague).
I even used an online icon maker to upload an image of the software companies logo and used it for the shortcut, so it's easy to find - but oh my god is it slower than shit now (same on Firefox and Chrome). They made the interface a little prettier, which is probably part of the reason it's so fucking slow - but I was able to get everything done that I needed to.
Now I get to waste my time doing a more detailed version of a detail that I already have done (on a project that I could issue today as soon as I complete some calculations - but that will probably take at least another day). Basically, we are showing a block diagram of all of the devices in the system on the circuits they are on (more or less just a duplicate of my floor plans - sans floor plans, and in a more orderly fashion).
What this client wants (and has gotten in the past) is a point-to-point wiring diagram showing every single goddamned wire connection to every single goddamned device in the building so that even an idiot could understand it. Normally I'm all for idiot-proofing things, but in this particular case, if someone doesn't already know how to wire these devices, they have no business being anywhere the fuck near these kinds of systems.
I've probably mentioned it before - but in the past, when I was designing electrical distribution systems (and avoiding Revit like the plague) there was a certain amount of deference to what we called 'means and methods' on the part of the electricians who would install the systems I was designing.
The assumption was that the electrician already knew how to electrician, and didn't need their dick held for them. Obviously, this wasn't always the case, but as long as we got our design intent across, and our specifications addressed all of the necessary situations, then they could go out and install everything based on their professional skills and knowledge.
Now. There would still be the occasional project where some dickless fuck (often a Revit using dickless fuck) would get involved, couldn't grasp the concept of 'partially schematical drawings' and would start requiring us to provide unnecessary levels of detail (without, of course, paying the requisite fees for said unnecessary levels of detail).
For example - I would always coordinate with our civil engineering team to make sure my service entrance conduits/equipment were located in accordance with all local codes, did not interfere with other systems (such as water/sewer/drainage/etc.) and in most cases, the utility company and/or electricians would install it exactly as shown.
On the other hand - when showing wiring within the building, a schematic was sufficient to show circuits, switching, etc. - and the electrician was responsible for determining the best, neatest, and/or most efficient way to route conduits throughout the building. Some people couldn't grasp the concept that if we did show all of our conduits - and they got out in the field and found that (for whatever reason) the conduit could not be run as shown, it would result in a costly change order.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't stop them from trying to suck us into the hell that mechanical engineers are forced to endure when it comes to showing systems like HVAC and plumbing that DO require extensive levels of detail and coordination in order for them to function - or that structural/architectural needed to show for their systems/buildings to be built properly.
Anyway, for this client, redundant levels of detail is what they do. It wastes everyone's time - especially when they start making (typically unnecessary) changes and they have to flow through all of the layers of detail - so instead of taking five minutes to update a set of drawings, it will take several hours (and guarantee something will be missed).
Having it automated seems like it would be a dream come true - but in the whole time I was exposed to Revit, I never once saw someone design an 'automated' system that didn't break after even minor modifications were made to it (often at the very last second - resulting in a lot of manually filling out schedules, sketching things in 2d, or otherwise 'faking it in' out of desperation.
As always, the problem tended to be that the claims made by the software 'developer' about their program's ability to be fluid enough to handle changes were undermined by the fact that they could not predict the kinds of changes that would be made - often way beyond the time that major changes should be being made, which would cause problems for anyone, regardless of what software they were using - but which were exacerbated by the fact that everything was so relentlessly interlocked.
Demonstrations would show how adjustments could be made, and other things would 'magically' update - but these were obviously very carefully orchestrated and tested 'cut scenes' rather than reflecting the 'in game' reality (to borrow a gaming metaphor). In reality, these interlocking systems are delicate, temperamental, and rarely (if ever) respond well to random changes.
It's one of the reasons why it's difficult for someone who doesn't have experience to design and modify these types of systems as they evolve - because a seemingly minor change to a floor plan can actually have catastrophic effects on the design of other systems. I would always joke that if they moved (or deleted) a wall - it was going to be the linchpin of the entire fucking design.
While I might be able to salvage most of the layout, I would have to make decisions based on what was going to be the fastest fix, rather than what would've been the best choice if the changes to the layout had been made prior to me starting my design. For example, the project I am wasting my time detailing out consists of two quonset hut style buildings - one is a 90K s.f. building (768' long), while the other is about half the size.
We designed both, but it turned out that the first one had been being constructed, and conduits/junction boxes had already been installed (much of it in-slab), based on an inferior design from someone who obviously had zero experience designing these types of systems - so we had to go back and modify our design, resulting in it being retarded and inefficient - and if I had designed it in Revit, I would be FUCKED.
Instead, it only took a few hours of thought and sketching in CAD to give the salesman something to take back out and review on-site, get approval, and then a few more hours to complete (with the exception of the stupid point-to-point connection diagram - but even that will only take a little while).
Relentlessly,
-kullfuckS
P.S. - I just read last night about Autodesks dismal quarterly earnings. The first article I read was trying to downplay it, but the next laid it bare. As always - Fuck 'em.
Next Time: The Derpth Annual Revderps Award
I know it's probably a little silly to complain about web-based applications while using a web-based application that stores my information... someplace... but for the last three days we've been unable to use the software that some genius determined was the best choice for managing all of our project/time tracking, billing, etc. thanks to an 'update' that has left the system completely non-functional.
We started receiving messages that the system would be down for 'maintenance' a while back, and sure enough, when the day came, it was down. Then it was down the next day, and another. Now, if this were a piece of software running on our server, maintained by our IT people, we would simply have drug them out from in front of their Linux boxes and told them to do their fucking jobs - or be beaten with blunt objects.
As it stands, someone, somewhere, with no vested interest in helping us (or preventing blunt force trauma to their faces) is dicking around, with god knows what, for god knows how long. Attempts at contacting them resulted in the standard runaround - starting with 'we're getting it back up ASAP', to 'here - try this non-functional link that we tried to make as a workaround'.
They FINALLY get around to fixing whatever was keeping us from being able to log on, but they've apparently discontinued support for Microsoft Explorer (which I have no love for, but I liked have a dedicated browser shortcut that took me straight to the login. No problem though - I just switched to using Edge (which I had avoided like the plague).
I even used an online icon maker to upload an image of the software companies logo and used it for the shortcut, so it's easy to find - but oh my god is it slower than shit now (same on Firefox and Chrome). They made the interface a little prettier, which is probably part of the reason it's so fucking slow - but I was able to get everything done that I needed to.
Now I get to waste my time doing a more detailed version of a detail that I already have done (on a project that I could issue today as soon as I complete some calculations - but that will probably take at least another day). Basically, we are showing a block diagram of all of the devices in the system on the circuits they are on (more or less just a duplicate of my floor plans - sans floor plans, and in a more orderly fashion).
What this client wants (and has gotten in the past) is a point-to-point wiring diagram showing every single goddamned wire connection to every single goddamned device in the building so that even an idiot could understand it. Normally I'm all for idiot-proofing things, but in this particular case, if someone doesn't already know how to wire these devices, they have no business being anywhere the fuck near these kinds of systems.
I've probably mentioned it before - but in the past, when I was designing electrical distribution systems (and avoiding Revit like the plague) there was a certain amount of deference to what we called 'means and methods' on the part of the electricians who would install the systems I was designing.
The assumption was that the electrician already knew how to electrician, and didn't need their dick held for them. Obviously, this wasn't always the case, but as long as we got our design intent across, and our specifications addressed all of the necessary situations, then they could go out and install everything based on their professional skills and knowledge.
Now. There would still be the occasional project where some dickless fuck (often a Revit using dickless fuck) would get involved, couldn't grasp the concept of 'partially schematical drawings' and would start requiring us to provide unnecessary levels of detail (without, of course, paying the requisite fees for said unnecessary levels of detail).
For example - I would always coordinate with our civil engineering team to make sure my service entrance conduits/equipment were located in accordance with all local codes, did not interfere with other systems (such as water/sewer/drainage/etc.) and in most cases, the utility company and/or electricians would install it exactly as shown.
On the other hand - when showing wiring within the building, a schematic was sufficient to show circuits, switching, etc. - and the electrician was responsible for determining the best, neatest, and/or most efficient way to route conduits throughout the building. Some people couldn't grasp the concept that if we did show all of our conduits - and they got out in the field and found that (for whatever reason) the conduit could not be run as shown, it would result in a costly change order.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't stop them from trying to suck us into the hell that mechanical engineers are forced to endure when it comes to showing systems like HVAC and plumbing that DO require extensive levels of detail and coordination in order for them to function - or that structural/architectural needed to show for their systems/buildings to be built properly.
Anyway, for this client, redundant levels of detail is what they do. It wastes everyone's time - especially when they start making (typically unnecessary) changes and they have to flow through all of the layers of detail - so instead of taking five minutes to update a set of drawings, it will take several hours (and guarantee something will be missed).
Having it automated seems like it would be a dream come true - but in the whole time I was exposed to Revit, I never once saw someone design an 'automated' system that didn't break after even minor modifications were made to it (often at the very last second - resulting in a lot of manually filling out schedules, sketching things in 2d, or otherwise 'faking it in' out of desperation.
As always, the problem tended to be that the claims made by the software 'developer' about their program's ability to be fluid enough to handle changes were undermined by the fact that they could not predict the kinds of changes that would be made - often way beyond the time that major changes should be being made, which would cause problems for anyone, regardless of what software they were using - but which were exacerbated by the fact that everything was so relentlessly interlocked.
Demonstrations would show how adjustments could be made, and other things would 'magically' update - but these were obviously very carefully orchestrated and tested 'cut scenes' rather than reflecting the 'in game' reality (to borrow a gaming metaphor). In reality, these interlocking systems are delicate, temperamental, and rarely (if ever) respond well to random changes.
It's one of the reasons why it's difficult for someone who doesn't have experience to design and modify these types of systems as they evolve - because a seemingly minor change to a floor plan can actually have catastrophic effects on the design of other systems. I would always joke that if they moved (or deleted) a wall - it was going to be the linchpin of the entire fucking design.
While I might be able to salvage most of the layout, I would have to make decisions based on what was going to be the fastest fix, rather than what would've been the best choice if the changes to the layout had been made prior to me starting my design. For example, the project I am wasting my time detailing out consists of two quonset hut style buildings - one is a 90K s.f. building (768' long), while the other is about half the size.
We designed both, but it turned out that the first one had been being constructed, and conduits/junction boxes had already been installed (much of it in-slab), based on an inferior design from someone who obviously had zero experience designing these types of systems - so we had to go back and modify our design, resulting in it being retarded and inefficient - and if I had designed it in Revit, I would be FUCKED.
Instead, it only took a few hours of thought and sketching in CAD to give the salesman something to take back out and review on-site, get approval, and then a few more hours to complete (with the exception of the stupid point-to-point connection diagram - but even that will only take a little while).
Relentlessly,
-kullfuckS
P.S. - I just read last night about Autodesks dismal quarterly earnings. The first article I read was trying to downplay it, but the next laid it bare. As always - Fuck 'em.
Next Time: The Derpth Annual Revderps Award
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Revit Prison Planet
Welcome!
So, the latest project I've been tasked with is a massive maximum security prison complex. Well, at least I was for a few minutes, when I was pulled off to handle an emergency tenant finish-out, which they needed by tomorrow, so I issued it today (since I didn't have to wait for two hours for the shell building that we did to convert to the latest version of Revit).
Then it was back to prison (which I was able to jump right back into because it didn't take 20 minutes to load up). What it did take was a little bit of time to figure out what the first guy who started cleaning up the drawings had done. The first thing I noticed was that he had kept the copious amounts of ductwork shown on their drawings (he put it on a layer that would shade it, but there was just WAY too fucking much of it (and it makes the .pdf set that I got from the engineer look like unadulterated shit).
Part of the reason they were leaving it was that there are a number of fire/smoke dampers throughout the building - but these can be shown without having to leave ALL of the ductwork on, so it ALL went bye-bye. Then I started going back and fixing all of the fuckups on the floor plans themselves - of which there were many.
The first thing I noticed was that a number of doors appeared to be missing - but it turned out they were just on a layer that was inexplicably turned off (unfortunately while off, the other guy moved the plans - leaving the doors and some other items floating in space - or overlapping other plans). Some quick adjustments and I had it back on track.
Then it was on to the standard removal of various headers, structural elements overlapping and wiping out sections of plan, and general 'prettying up' that I like to do so that my plans don't resemble the result of work done while buttchugging flat champagne mixed with expired rave drugs. That's when I noticed that there are entire sections of plan that (for one reason or another) are doubled-up.
When I say 'doubled up' I mean that there is one set of plans overlapped by another set of plans (but offset *just a little bit*). It seems to occur in the same part of the plan on multiple levels, so it's either view range fuckups that are allowing me to see the pans above/below the floor I am on - or someone accidentally angled the walls in this part of the plan so I'm actually seeing lines showing the top and bottom of the wall.
Neither of those would be that surprising - and the only trick to fixing it is figuring out which ones are correct, and which ones to delete. I'll probably just make my best guess and tweak it where necessary
After discussing the project with the guy who sold it - it turns out all we are doing is a one-for-one replacement of all of the existing devices and reusing existing wiring (not that I would've known that based on the tiny amount of information I was given going in). Oh - and this, despite the fact that it doesn't even remotely meet code - although the AHJ may be giving them some wiggle room, since the place is manned by guards 24/7.
The salesman said he attempted to sell them on the same kind of facility management system that we designed for the massive project I just got through designing, but they turned it down. Not strictly because of cost though, but (in their words): 'some of their guards are as bad as the inmates when it comes to messing around with stuff'.
I could definitely see opportunities for a bored guard to screw with his buddies by remotely setting off fake alarms and laughing as everyone ran around trying to figure out what was going on. Honestly, prison guard would be one of the most boring jobs imaginable - but with the constant danger that one of the inmates (who are bored, and most of whom have nothing to lose) will decide to attack you.
That, and the occasional prison riot.
(Apologies to the late, great Johnny Cash)
-ullfuckSk
Next Time: Cloud With A Chance Of Bullshit
So, the latest project I've been tasked with is a massive maximum security prison complex. Well, at least I was for a few minutes, when I was pulled off to handle an emergency tenant finish-out, which they needed by tomorrow, so I issued it today (since I didn't have to wait for two hours for the shell building that we did to convert to the latest version of Revit).
Then it was back to prison (which I was able to jump right back into because it didn't take 20 minutes to load up). What it did take was a little bit of time to figure out what the first guy who started cleaning up the drawings had done. The first thing I noticed was that he had kept the copious amounts of ductwork shown on their drawings (he put it on a layer that would shade it, but there was just WAY too fucking much of it (and it makes the .pdf set that I got from the engineer look like unadulterated shit).
Part of the reason they were leaving it was that there are a number of fire/smoke dampers throughout the building - but these can be shown without having to leave ALL of the ductwork on, so it ALL went bye-bye. Then I started going back and fixing all of the fuckups on the floor plans themselves - of which there were many.
The first thing I noticed was that a number of doors appeared to be missing - but it turned out they were just on a layer that was inexplicably turned off (unfortunately while off, the other guy moved the plans - leaving the doors and some other items floating in space - or overlapping other plans). Some quick adjustments and I had it back on track.
Then it was on to the standard removal of various headers, structural elements overlapping and wiping out sections of plan, and general 'prettying up' that I like to do so that my plans don't resemble the result of work done while buttchugging flat champagne mixed with expired rave drugs. That's when I noticed that there are entire sections of plan that (for one reason or another) are doubled-up.
When I say 'doubled up' I mean that there is one set of plans overlapped by another set of plans (but offset *just a little bit*). It seems to occur in the same part of the plan on multiple levels, so it's either view range fuckups that are allowing me to see the pans above/below the floor I am on - or someone accidentally angled the walls in this part of the plan so I'm actually seeing lines showing the top and bottom of the wall.
Neither of those would be that surprising - and the only trick to fixing it is figuring out which ones are correct, and which ones to delete. I'll probably just make my best guess and tweak it where necessary
After discussing the project with the guy who sold it - it turns out all we are doing is a one-for-one replacement of all of the existing devices and reusing existing wiring (not that I would've known that based on the tiny amount of information I was given going in). Oh - and this, despite the fact that it doesn't even remotely meet code - although the AHJ may be giving them some wiggle room, since the place is manned by guards 24/7.
The salesman said he attempted to sell them on the same kind of facility management system that we designed for the massive project I just got through designing, but they turned it down. Not strictly because of cost though, but (in their words): 'some of their guards are as bad as the inmates when it comes to messing around with stuff'.
I could definitely see opportunities for a bored guard to screw with his buddies by remotely setting off fake alarms and laughing as everyone ran around trying to figure out what was going on. Honestly, prison guard would be one of the most boring jobs imaginable - but with the constant danger that one of the inmates (who are bored, and most of whom have nothing to lose) will decide to attack you.
That, and the occasional prison riot.
I hear the train a comin'
It's rollin' 'round the bend
And I ain't seen the sunshine
Since, I don't know when
I'm stuck in Revit Prison
And load times keep draggin' on
But that train keeps a-rollin'
On down to San Antone
It's rollin' 'round the bend
And I ain't seen the sunshine
Since, I don't know when
I'm stuck in Revit Prison
And load times keep draggin' on
But that train keeps a-rollin'
On down to San Antone
When I was just a Revit newbie
My Mama told me, "lad
Always be a good boy
Don't ever play with CAD"
But I deleted a man's model in Reno
Just to watch him die
When I hear that hard drive spinnin'
I hang my head and cry
My Mama told me, "lad
Always be a good boy
Don't ever play with CAD"
But I deleted a man's model in Reno
Just to watch him die
When I hear that hard drive spinnin'
I hang my head and cry
I bet there's CAD folks eatin'
In a fancy dinin' car
They're probably drinkin' coffee
And smokin' big cigars
Well, I know I had it comin'
I know I can't draw free
But those people keep a-movin'
And converting models tortures me
In a fancy dinin' car
They're probably drinkin' coffee
And smokin' big cigars
Well, I know I had it comin'
I know I can't draw free
But those people keep a-movin'
And converting models tortures me
Well, if they freed me from this Revit
If that railroad train was mine
I bet I'd move it on a little
Farther down the line
Far from Revit Prison
That's where I want to stay
And I'd let that lonesome whistle
Blow my Revit blues away
If that railroad train was mine
I bet I'd move it on a little
Farther down the line
Far from Revit Prison
That's where I want to stay
And I'd let that lonesome whistle
Blow my Revit blues away
(Apologies to the late, great Johnny Cash)
-ullfuckSk
Next Time: Cloud With A Chance Of Bullshit
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Pure Revit
Party Time!
I just finished a massive project for (redacted) that involved replacing an existing facility network with a more robust fiber-optic network dedicated to the systems that I design.
Over 100 buildings, now linked together - with the ability for any building to report issues to a handful of manned locations on-site (or remotely) - down to which device is reporting back.
Now it's back to dealing with another massive project where (in the time in between when we issued it and now), they refuse to stop changing shit and bringing in even more people to try to find ways to justify their paychecks by suggesting even more changes.
Fortunately I've already solved the first problem on the list (which was the one I was the most concerned about), but unfortunately there is another one with the potential to crop up, and it has all of the tell-tale signs of being a knee-jerk reaction from someone whose installers were making excuses to cover up their own incompetence.
We use the same system of tagging circuits on every single project we do, and while most of the projects are installed by our own people, we have never had a single project come back where the installers couldn't easily figure out what our design intent was, and how to run the wire.
Enter the dumb fucks that are installing this project - and they want us to go back through and hold their hand by color-coding the whole damn set (despite the fact that they would then need to plot the whole damn thing in color in order to be able to see them, and the fact that it's TOTALLY FUCKING UNNECESSARY!!!)
If we do end up doing it, it will be at massive cost to their client (which may dissuade them from pursuing this idiotic course of action - but at the same time, they have pretty deep pockets). As always - if they want to pay us a huge amount of money to do something retarded, then we'll do something retarded (and their installers will STILL fuck it up).
In the meantime, someone referring to themselves as 'architaki' commented a previous post (Just Add Stupid) about some site offering Revit 'training' called https://revitpure.com/
I spent a little time flipping around on their very basic looking website (although I am a fan of websites that focus on function over form - rather than having to load massive image files and require the use of glitchy buttons and pull-down menus), and it appears to be somebodies attempt at providing a streamlined approach to learning and applying Revit.
Of course, as soon as you start drilling down, you quickly realize this is actually somebodies attempt at bilking Revitards for cash. They offer a magic template for $100 (a steal, since some places charge between $5,000-$20,000 for custom templates, ya'll), as well as other tools for making what is supposed to be Autodesk's flagship BIM solution into a functional piece of design software (basically admitting right off the bat that it's useless as FUCK right out of the box).
I clicked on 'design' and was immediately dying laughing at their description (cut and pasted verbatim below:
-----------------
----------------
Because giving your client a big ol' hard-on (or a lady hard-on) is the sure fire way to soak them for the extra cash necessary to spend the next three months modeling a building that could've already been designed, reviewed by the applicable AHJ's, constructed, and occupied.
Their 'blog' has comical attempts at helping you with 'wall joins':
"You need a lot of patience not to get triggered by the bizarre, diagonal, odd-shaped default joins that Revit will propose to you by default"
But don't worry - they've 'got you covered' (since Autodesk obviously has no fucking idea what they are doing).
I'll be honest, since I've never used Revit for architecture (and will never use it for anything else), this site might actually constitute something useful for someone whose balls (or lady balls) are being slammed in the Revit drawer - but I seriously fucking doubt it. My money is on it being yet another attempt at cashing in on the Revit 'craze' - both by propagating it, and then trying to sucker the poor fools being taken for a ride out of even more money.
But as I always say - fuck those poor fools. They deserve every damn thing they get.
Fuck Autodesk, fuck Revit, fuck Revitards, and if you don't like it - FUCK YOU!!!
llfuckSku
Next Time: Revit Prison
I just finished a massive project for (redacted) that involved replacing an existing facility network with a more robust fiber-optic network dedicated to the systems that I design.
Over 100 buildings, now linked together - with the ability for any building to report issues to a handful of manned locations on-site (or remotely) - down to which device is reporting back.
Now it's back to dealing with another massive project where (in the time in between when we issued it and now), they refuse to stop changing shit and bringing in even more people to try to find ways to justify their paychecks by suggesting even more changes.
Fortunately I've already solved the first problem on the list (which was the one I was the most concerned about), but unfortunately there is another one with the potential to crop up, and it has all of the tell-tale signs of being a knee-jerk reaction from someone whose installers were making excuses to cover up their own incompetence.
We use the same system of tagging circuits on every single project we do, and while most of the projects are installed by our own people, we have never had a single project come back where the installers couldn't easily figure out what our design intent was, and how to run the wire.
Enter the dumb fucks that are installing this project - and they want us to go back through and hold their hand by color-coding the whole damn set (despite the fact that they would then need to plot the whole damn thing in color in order to be able to see them, and the fact that it's TOTALLY FUCKING UNNECESSARY!!!)
If we do end up doing it, it will be at massive cost to their client (which may dissuade them from pursuing this idiotic course of action - but at the same time, they have pretty deep pockets). As always - if they want to pay us a huge amount of money to do something retarded, then we'll do something retarded (and their installers will STILL fuck it up).
In the meantime, someone referring to themselves as 'architaki' commented a previous post (Just Add Stupid) about some site offering Revit 'training' called https://revitpure.com/
I spent a little time flipping around on their very basic looking website (although I am a fan of websites that focus on function over form - rather than having to load massive image files and require the use of glitchy buttons and pull-down menus), and it appears to be somebodies attempt at providing a streamlined approach to learning and applying Revit.
Of course, as soon as you start drilling down, you quickly realize this is actually somebodies attempt at bilking Revitards for cash. They offer a magic template for $100 (a steal, since some places charge between $5,000-$20,000 for custom templates, ya'll), as well as other tools for making what is supposed to be Autodesk's flagship BIM solution into a functional piece of design software (basically admitting right off the bat that it's useless as FUCK right out of the box).
I clicked on 'design' and was immediately dying laughing at their description (cut and pasted verbatim below:
-----------------
USE REVIT TO SEDUCE YOUR CLIENTS
Revit doesn’t have to be bland and boring. This package will teach you highly effective seduction techniques that will seriously turn on your clients.----------------
Because giving your client a big ol' hard-on (or a lady hard-on) is the sure fire way to soak them for the extra cash necessary to spend the next three months modeling a building that could've already been designed, reviewed by the applicable AHJ's, constructed, and occupied.
Their 'blog' has comical attempts at helping you with 'wall joins':
"You need a lot of patience not to get triggered by the bizarre, diagonal, odd-shaped default joins that Revit will propose to you by default"
But don't worry - they've 'got you covered' (since Autodesk obviously has no fucking idea what they are doing).
I'll be honest, since I've never used Revit for architecture (and will never use it for anything else), this site might actually constitute something useful for someone whose balls (or lady balls) are being slammed in the Revit drawer - but I seriously fucking doubt it. My money is on it being yet another attempt at cashing in on the Revit 'craze' - both by propagating it, and then trying to sucker the poor fools being taken for a ride out of even more money.
But as I always say - fuck those poor fools. They deserve every damn thing they get.
Fuck Autodesk, fuck Revit, fuck Revitards, and if you don't like it - FUCK YOU!!!
llfuckSku
Next Time: Revit Prison
Monday, April 29, 2019
20/20 Revision
Greetings,
It's that time again - a brand new version of Revit came slouching out of the Autodesk gate, only to fall directly on its face and shit its pants.
I mean... you've GOT to see what's new in Revit 2020 ya'll:
I was impressed to see that the very first 'improvements' that are listed on the Autodesk site under the bullshit-generated title of 'Capture Detailed Design Intent' were to the Electrical portion of the software - but was then immediately struck with a case of the eye-rolls when I started reading what they were bragging about finally having accomplished.
"A great example that we’re particularly pleased to release are long-requested electrical design workflow improvements." such as:
And that's about it for the Electrical side of things - then it's on to glorious architectural bullshit like elliptical walls/curtain walls, and structural shit like the ability to copy rebar and structural elements.
Oh - and now you can bring .pdfs into your drawing!!! And have the ability to snap to them so you can trace them!!! I think I just came!!!
Then it's on to some cloud bullshit, and finally a toss off to the Mechanical people - the ability to export to CSV or TXT (because they've obviously solved every other shortcoming of the software for HVAC/Plumbing design).
A few more 'automation and optimization' tools that... holy shit!!! What's this? You can CUT & PASTE LEGENDS ACROSS SHEETS!!!! JOYOUS DAY!!!!
Then, since Revit doesn't already have more view settings than there are hydrogen molecules in the universe - they decided to take care of a 'top customer request' - "improved OR in view filters new in Revit 2020 lets you focus on parts of your model at a higher level of specificity and gives you further control over view graphics."
And (believe it or not) this doesn't even cover all of the new 'features' and 'updates' in Revit 2020!!!
I actually believe them - since if they had included any more descriptions, there wouldn't be a Revit Architectural/Engineering shop anywhere getting any work done at all (so, in other words, like normal) because they would be having to replace every Revitards computer screens after they get shorted out by being covered in jizz.
Fuck Revit 2020, it's just the beginning of another decade of suffering and pain for the idiots still sticking their dick in the Revit pencil sharpener.
In the meantime - MICROSTATION!!!
Not using it either, but my latest project was done in it, and the files I received were TOTAL GARBAGE. The first set I got were comically renamed by an incompetent who managed to wipe out the file extensions by naming the files A.1, A.2,, etc. (instead of A1.dgn, A2.dgn, etc.). I renamed the first one and imported it to CAD, only to find out that it would only show me walls (no doors, room names, etc.)
I had a guy at the firm we share a building with convert it from .dgn to .dwg and it was slightly better - but a lot of stuff was offset (as easy as moving it back to where it belonged), but that's when I realized they were just floor plans, with none of the equipment that should've been showing up on them. Even if it had the information I needed, there are literally over 100 buildings on this job site - and that's before you got to the site plans showing primary and secondary fiber loops, so I would've had to convert every single last one.
I had a .pdf set - and despite seriously disliking converting .pdf to .dwg, I have been trying out various programs to see which one works the best. I was rather amazed by the free demo of a program simply called 'Any PDF to DWG Convertor'. It managed to convert a several hundred page .pdf into .dwg - and the only thing it seemed to want to do was dump panel schedules and some other image files (none of which I needed) into their own .dwg's (resulting in over 600 files that I had to comb through).
I was able to compile every single building and site plan into one .dwg, get everything scaled properly, and start working on it. It's a fairly extensive project, but I shouldn't have any trouble banging it out in short order thanks to not having to wait a decade for 'design workflow improvements'.
I did run across some comically elaborate 3D elements (strangely only in one of the 100+ buildings - so it had to have been where some BIMtard got ahold of this one building and probably spent as long detailing it out as the person who did the rest of the set).
Yes, that's a toilet (1580 lines x4) and a urinal (1309 lines x 3). The keyplan reproduced the toilets, urinals AND three sinks consisting of another 9861lines- for a total of 20108 lines. They are completely inconsequential to my project, so I just deleted them.
Just like I'd like to delete Revit, and everyone still sucking the Revit dick in 2019-2020.
Fuck 'em all.
-lfuckSkul
Next Time: Pure Revit
It's that time again - a brand new version of Revit came slouching out of the Autodesk gate, only to fall directly on its face and shit its pants.
I mean... you've GOT to see what's new in Revit 2020 ya'll:
I was impressed to see that the very first 'improvements' that are listed on the Autodesk site under the bullshit-generated title of 'Capture Detailed Design Intent' were to the Electrical portion of the software - but was then immediately struck with a case of the eye-rolls when I started reading what they were bragging about finally having accomplished.
"A great example that we’re particularly pleased to release are long-requested electrical design workflow improvements." such as:
- Revit now lets you utilize feed through lugs when creating your electrical distribution systems. This capability streamlines related documentation tasks, and helps designers create a better digital model of the system to support analysis.
- Electrical homerun wiring improvements give you the control over arrowheads and tickmarks that you need to create electrical documentation that’s easier to understand and use.
And that's about it for the Electrical side of things - then it's on to glorious architectural bullshit like elliptical walls/curtain walls, and structural shit like the ability to copy rebar and structural elements.
Oh - and now you can bring .pdfs into your drawing!!! And have the ability to snap to them so you can trace them!!! I think I just came!!!
Then it's on to some cloud bullshit, and finally a toss off to the Mechanical people - the ability to export to CSV or TXT (because they've obviously solved every other shortcoming of the software for HVAC/Plumbing design).
A few more 'automation and optimization' tools that... holy shit!!! What's this? You can CUT & PASTE LEGENDS ACROSS SHEETS!!!! JOYOUS DAY!!!!
Then, since Revit doesn't already have more view settings than there are hydrogen molecules in the universe - they decided to take care of a 'top customer request' - "improved OR in view filters new in Revit 2020 lets you focus on parts of your model at a higher level of specificity and gives you further control over view graphics."
And (believe it or not) this doesn't even cover all of the new 'features' and 'updates' in Revit 2020!!!
I actually believe them - since if they had included any more descriptions, there wouldn't be a Revit Architectural/Engineering shop anywhere getting any work done at all (so, in other words, like normal) because they would be having to replace every Revitards computer screens after they get shorted out by being covered in jizz.
Fuck Revit 2020, it's just the beginning of another decade of suffering and pain for the idiots still sticking their dick in the Revit pencil sharpener.
In the meantime - MICROSTATION!!!
Not using it either, but my latest project was done in it, and the files I received were TOTAL GARBAGE. The first set I got were comically renamed by an incompetent who managed to wipe out the file extensions by naming the files A.1, A.2,, etc. (instead of A1.dgn, A2.dgn, etc.). I renamed the first one and imported it to CAD, only to find out that it would only show me walls (no doors, room names, etc.)
I had a guy at the firm we share a building with convert it from .dgn to .dwg and it was slightly better - but a lot of stuff was offset (as easy as moving it back to where it belonged), but that's when I realized they were just floor plans, with none of the equipment that should've been showing up on them. Even if it had the information I needed, there are literally over 100 buildings on this job site - and that's before you got to the site plans showing primary and secondary fiber loops, so I would've had to convert every single last one.
I had a .pdf set - and despite seriously disliking converting .pdf to .dwg, I have been trying out various programs to see which one works the best. I was rather amazed by the free demo of a program simply called 'Any PDF to DWG Convertor'. It managed to convert a several hundred page .pdf into .dwg - and the only thing it seemed to want to do was dump panel schedules and some other image files (none of which I needed) into their own .dwg's (resulting in over 600 files that I had to comb through).
I was able to compile every single building and site plan into one .dwg, get everything scaled properly, and start working on it. It's a fairly extensive project, but I shouldn't have any trouble banging it out in short order thanks to not having to wait a decade for 'design workflow improvements'.
I did run across some comically elaborate 3D elements (strangely only in one of the 100+ buildings - so it had to have been where some BIMtard got ahold of this one building and probably spent as long detailing it out as the person who did the rest of the set).
Yes, that's a toilet (1580 lines x4) and a urinal (1309 lines x 3). The keyplan reproduced the toilets, urinals AND three sinks consisting of another 9861lines- for a total of 20108 lines. They are completely inconsequential to my project, so I just deleted them.
Just like I'd like to delete Revit, and everyone still sucking the Revit dick in 2019-2020.
Fuck 'em all.
-lfuckSkul
Next Time: Pure Revit
Monday, March 11, 2019
Just Add Stupid
Cock 'n Balls!
Ah, what a glorious day!
I was sick as fuck last week, and still managed to finish banging out one massive High School, a slightly less massive Elementary School (both of which supplied me with piss-poor Revitized floor plans that were sad jokes), and then dove into my next project: an addition to a college dorm.
As usual, I would rather do three new projects (regardless of how badly the floor plans are drawn) than have to deal with one attempt at modifying an existing building. Fortunately we did the original building (before my time), so I was able to bring in the existing devices and get right to wo....
No wait - instead (after cleaning up the hatching-fest that was the garbage Revit drawings that I was provided) I attempted to overlay the new devices, only to find out that the moron responsible for regenerating the entire fucking thing in 3D was dangerously incompetent, and almost nothing lines up.
Now, it's possible that the original drawings were not drawn accurately (but not probable, since they were done before Revit got on the scene and starting ejaculating its diseased semen all over the industry). More likely is that they went out and took some inaccurate measurements, then tried to cram it all together in Revit - while also making various modifications to the plans - and finally slapped an addition on the end.
Then the guy who laid out the new equipment in the new and existing areas smoked a big heaping bowl of crack, and attempted to 'design' (using that word in the loosest possible way) a system that would supposedly be sufficient to address the existing portions, the modified portions, and the new addition.
Now it falls to me to figure out what the FUCK the final system design for the whole damn building is going to look like. I've already attempted contacting the poor fuck who sold/priced it, and I can guarantee that he hasn't even thought of (or been aware of) the majority of the items on my list (and I wouldn't be surprised if he either fails to respond, or responds with standard, non-committal nonsense that will make it obvious he didn't actually read my e-mail).
I copied the owner of my damn company on it too though, so it's not impossible that I might get some clarification on it.
It wouldn't be the first time I've had a project tossed in my lap, hair on fire, with nobody having any clue what is going on - no schedule or budget to do it properly, and which will most likely come back multiple times as things that could've easily been worked out on the front end by adults who know how to communicate and use reasoning, become a clusterfuck of assumptions.
I regularly joke about every project that comes through the doors being the 'first project we've ever done', meaning that they make the same damn mistakes every time they sell a project, and have the same expectation that everyone involved is a goddamned mind reader (rather than putting together even the most basic 'theory of operation' so that we don't take off in the wrong direction and end up having to spend extra time and effort correcting course).
It can be highly amusing at times, as we go through the same process of explaining to them what we actually need to know in order to properly design and complete a project, but it can also be extremely frustrating as we go through the same damn process of explaining to them what the fuck we need to know in order to properly design and complete a project.
It bounces directly off some people's brains, because they think we'll just 'figure it out', and while we are absolutely 'figure it out' masters, there's a point at which they are relying on our ability to do this after the fact, and it makes them think they don't have to be involved - either on the front end, while it's in the works, or afterward.
Then you get the most hilarious e-mail/phone call where they ask 'why isn't this like this' or 'why didn't we do such and such like so and so', and you get to point them to the e-mails where you kept asking them to DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS and they kept doing the old generalized hand-waving routine rather than get hard facts.
In the meantime, I was at the movies the other night and by a weird coincidence ran into the guy that used to be the 'Revit Guru' at my last firm. I had seen on Facebook where his wife was opining his being let go (fired?) I didn't bother getting any more detail, but he has landed himself a job, amusingly, at the firm that did the job I was complaining about in "A Machline Made In Hell"
I doubt he had anything to do with that particular project, because it's a massive firm with field offices all over the damn place, but I have little doubt that he's spreading his Revit stupidity far and wide - making the same stupid excuses for why they still haven't fixed basic functionality, and defending it against all enemies (real and perceived).
Anyhow, Fuck Revit, Fuck Autodesk, Fuck you, and Goddamn Am I Tired.
Suck A Fat One,
-fuckSkull
Next Time: Like OMG - Revit 2020 is just so... like... fucking amazeballs ya'll....
Ah, what a glorious day!
I was sick as fuck last week, and still managed to finish banging out one massive High School, a slightly less massive Elementary School (both of which supplied me with piss-poor Revitized floor plans that were sad jokes), and then dove into my next project: an addition to a college dorm.
As usual, I would rather do three new projects (regardless of how badly the floor plans are drawn) than have to deal with one attempt at modifying an existing building. Fortunately we did the original building (before my time), so I was able to bring in the existing devices and get right to wo....
No wait - instead (after cleaning up the hatching-fest that was the garbage Revit drawings that I was provided) I attempted to overlay the new devices, only to find out that the moron responsible for regenerating the entire fucking thing in 3D was dangerously incompetent, and almost nothing lines up.
Now, it's possible that the original drawings were not drawn accurately (but not probable, since they were done before Revit got on the scene and starting ejaculating its diseased semen all over the industry). More likely is that they went out and took some inaccurate measurements, then tried to cram it all together in Revit - while also making various modifications to the plans - and finally slapped an addition on the end.
Then the guy who laid out the new equipment in the new and existing areas smoked a big heaping bowl of crack, and attempted to 'design' (using that word in the loosest possible way) a system that would supposedly be sufficient to address the existing portions, the modified portions, and the new addition.
Now it falls to me to figure out what the FUCK the final system design for the whole damn building is going to look like. I've already attempted contacting the poor fuck who sold/priced it, and I can guarantee that he hasn't even thought of (or been aware of) the majority of the items on my list (and I wouldn't be surprised if he either fails to respond, or responds with standard, non-committal nonsense that will make it obvious he didn't actually read my e-mail).
I copied the owner of my damn company on it too though, so it's not impossible that I might get some clarification on it.
It wouldn't be the first time I've had a project tossed in my lap, hair on fire, with nobody having any clue what is going on - no schedule or budget to do it properly, and which will most likely come back multiple times as things that could've easily been worked out on the front end by adults who know how to communicate and use reasoning, become a clusterfuck of assumptions.
I regularly joke about every project that comes through the doors being the 'first project we've ever done', meaning that they make the same damn mistakes every time they sell a project, and have the same expectation that everyone involved is a goddamned mind reader (rather than putting together even the most basic 'theory of operation' so that we don't take off in the wrong direction and end up having to spend extra time and effort correcting course).
It can be highly amusing at times, as we go through the same process of explaining to them what we actually need to know in order to properly design and complete a project, but it can also be extremely frustrating as we go through the same damn process of explaining to them what the fuck we need to know in order to properly design and complete a project.
It bounces directly off some people's brains, because they think we'll just 'figure it out', and while we are absolutely 'figure it out' masters, there's a point at which they are relying on our ability to do this after the fact, and it makes them think they don't have to be involved - either on the front end, while it's in the works, or afterward.
Then you get the most hilarious e-mail/phone call where they ask 'why isn't this like this' or 'why didn't we do such and such like so and so', and you get to point them to the e-mails where you kept asking them to DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS and they kept doing the old generalized hand-waving routine rather than get hard facts.
In the meantime, I was at the movies the other night and by a weird coincidence ran into the guy that used to be the 'Revit Guru' at my last firm. I had seen on Facebook where his wife was opining his being let go (fired?) I didn't bother getting any more detail, but he has landed himself a job, amusingly, at the firm that did the job I was complaining about in "A Machline Made In Hell"
I doubt he had anything to do with that particular project, because it's a massive firm with field offices all over the damn place, but I have little doubt that he's spreading his Revit stupidity far and wide - making the same stupid excuses for why they still haven't fixed basic functionality, and defending it against all enemies (real and perceived).
Anyhow, Fuck Revit, Fuck Autodesk, Fuck you, and Goddamn Am I Tired.
Suck A Fat One,
-fuckSkull
Next Time: Like OMG - Revit 2020 is just so... like... fucking amazeballs ya'll....
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
The Continued March Of The Dumbfucks
Good Day Sirs/Madams,
So the incompetence continues into 2019, with my first major project coming across my desk this morning - another large school, fortunately all new and shiny, but no less of a mongolian clusterfuck.
The first thing I do is start flipping through the .pdf set they sent - and it's pretty straightforward - except for some 'typical' classrooms and other 'enlarged' areas.
I pull up the CAD files they exported out from what I don't doubt is Revit (although, other than the drawings looking like total shit, I haven't run across anything that would indicate Revitization (I usually find at least one or two guaranteed tell-tale signs, like circles that are two half circles (for whatever reason).
I got CAD files for both the Architectural and the Electrical Systems that I need - the Electrical drawings looked like total garbage. Both are broken up into views on individual sheets rather than one overall floor plan (and I don't have time to waste trying to extract a better set), but despite there being 60 fucking .dwg files for the Architectural, it's still inexplicably missing one corner of the building, and the entire second floor.
It's also missing two field houses - which I have Electrical .pdfs for that I'm going to convert to CAD (since the CAD files are missing backgrounds), one of which is supposed to be for baseball (according to the title on the sheet) but which is labeled 'football' on the view titles (the second one has 'football' for both the sheet and view titles, so I'm pretty sure I figured it out, despite their stupidity).
There's also the issue of one corner of the building's electrical drawings inexplicably missing some of the text (from what should be symbol blocks - but which are all exploded), but I can infer it from the other drawings, and I'm going to be replacing everything with my far superior symbols anyway. Oh - and where that drawing should be connected to the rest of the building is fucked up, so their drawings are actually missing all of the devices that belong on the other side of a door (but again, I'm smart enough to infer them).
I was wrong when I said that I didn't have any of the typical indications of Revitardation - obvious problems with view range started cropped up, causing several windows to disappear on their plans. It's fairly inconsequential to my drawings, but as I always say 'holy fucking shit, I can't believe these people are issuing this kind of garbage', and as I always say back 'it's not surprising, considering some poor Revit monkey probably reached the end of their rope, and said 'fuck it - good enough'.
Still not excusable.
Nearly every single door in the building is missing a frame (and by 'frame' I'm referring to a fucking rectangle to connect the door to the wall) - this was the first reason that I really wanted to clean up the Architectural plans (since they looked a little better) but without the upper right hand corner of the building, or the entire second fucking floor, I had to just go with the shitty looking Electrical plans (although if I get a chance, I might go ahead and fix up the doors).
All this bullshit just to get a functional background to work on - but even when I get done, it will have been less stress than just opening a Revit model and trying to figure out how badly it is fucked up (and then coming in every day not knowing how much more fucked up it will be).
I simply can't imagine working in that kind of environment anymore. It would be like going out to my car every morning and not knowing if the engine is going to start, or turn into a giant gay unicorn with rainbows shooting out of its ass.
No matter how fucked up my day gets, or how far off the rails a project goes, I always know I've got the tools and the ability to de-fuck and re-rail it - and that's golden.
Fuck Autodesk, fuck Revit, fuck Reviteers, and fuck you if you don't like it.
-lfuckSkul
Next Time: Addition Perdition
So the incompetence continues into 2019, with my first major project coming across my desk this morning - another large school, fortunately all new and shiny, but no less of a mongolian clusterfuck.
The first thing I do is start flipping through the .pdf set they sent - and it's pretty straightforward - except for some 'typical' classrooms and other 'enlarged' areas.
I pull up the CAD files they exported out from what I don't doubt is Revit (although, other than the drawings looking like total shit, I haven't run across anything that would indicate Revitization (I usually find at least one or two guaranteed tell-tale signs, like circles that are two half circles (for whatever reason).
I got CAD files for both the Architectural and the Electrical Systems that I need - the Electrical drawings looked like total garbage. Both are broken up into views on individual sheets rather than one overall floor plan (and I don't have time to waste trying to extract a better set), but despite there being 60 fucking .dwg files for the Architectural, it's still inexplicably missing one corner of the building, and the entire second floor.
It's also missing two field houses - which I have Electrical .pdfs for that I'm going to convert to CAD (since the CAD files are missing backgrounds), one of which is supposed to be for baseball (according to the title on the sheet) but which is labeled 'football' on the view titles (the second one has 'football' for both the sheet and view titles, so I'm pretty sure I figured it out, despite their stupidity).
There's also the issue of one corner of the building's electrical drawings inexplicably missing some of the text (from what should be symbol blocks - but which are all exploded), but I can infer it from the other drawings, and I'm going to be replacing everything with my far superior symbols anyway. Oh - and where that drawing should be connected to the rest of the building is fucked up, so their drawings are actually missing all of the devices that belong on the other side of a door (but again, I'm smart enough to infer them).
I was wrong when I said that I didn't have any of the typical indications of Revitardation - obvious problems with view range started cropped up, causing several windows to disappear on their plans. It's fairly inconsequential to my drawings, but as I always say 'holy fucking shit, I can't believe these people are issuing this kind of garbage', and as I always say back 'it's not surprising, considering some poor Revit monkey probably reached the end of their rope, and said 'fuck it - good enough'.
Still not excusable.
Nearly every single door in the building is missing a frame (and by 'frame' I'm referring to a fucking rectangle to connect the door to the wall) - this was the first reason that I really wanted to clean up the Architectural plans (since they looked a little better) but without the upper right hand corner of the building, or the entire second fucking floor, I had to just go with the shitty looking Electrical plans (although if I get a chance, I might go ahead and fix up the doors).
All this bullshit just to get a functional background to work on - but even when I get done, it will have been less stress than just opening a Revit model and trying to figure out how badly it is fucked up (and then coming in every day not knowing how much more fucked up it will be).
I simply can't imagine working in that kind of environment anymore. It would be like going out to my car every morning and not knowing if the engine is going to start, or turn into a giant gay unicorn with rainbows shooting out of its ass.
No matter how fucked up my day gets, or how far off the rails a project goes, I always know I've got the tools and the ability to de-fuck and re-rail it - and that's golden.
Fuck Autodesk, fuck Revit, fuck Reviteers, and fuck you if you don't like it.
-lfuckSkul
Next Time: Addition Perdition
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
IT'S 2019 BITCHES!!!!!
And I'm still not using Revit for anything other than to receive shitty looking drawings like this:
That's right ladies and gentlefuckers - that there is a pair of tables that someone managed to attach to structural elements. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on because (somehow) part of the chairs had disappeared as well.
This is a fairly common issue that I run across when cleaning up the garbage vomited forth from the Revit dumpster fire. Entire sections of plans are sometimes obscured by things that are either accidentally dropped into the model (or a linked model), or are intentionally put there, but are supposed to show up at a different level - and someone either couldn't figure out how (or couldn't be bothered to give a shit) about correcting it.
It's never surprising, considering that NASA's TESS satellite has just identified 14 trillion additional view range settings orbiting Revit. In this case it was fairly simple to fix because there were similar elements nearby that could copied over after deleting the offending linework - but that's not always the case.
The lines that remain after some nonsensical piece of equipment or other element leave a gaping hole in a floor plan can sometimes be used to deduce how it was intended to look, but it can be a crap shoot. Sometimes I can look at .pdfs of another discipline's plans and infer more information - but more often than not, I have to just make my best guess.
The fact is, nobody is going to build the building from my plans, so they don't have to be perfect. They are mostly just for installing the systems we are providing (often by our own installers) - but they may have to go through various city/county/state/federal review processes, and I can't submit my drawings with a whole chunk of plan missing.
In cases where some misguided dipshit actually sends us the Revit model itself, we have an opportunity to fix it before exporting (since we have access to Revit through the other firm in our office), but in the time wasted opening a Revit model, watching it start the hour-long process to upgrade to the current version, cancel, then re-open it in the correct version, it can usually just be tweaked in CAD.
In other news - I received a hilarious e-mail the other day about someone wanting us to model some shit for 'collision detection' where 99% of the equipment was actually already modeled by the Engineer that we received the design from. It wasn't in the original contract, and if they force the matter, I'm going to open their model and dump a huge pile of useless (and massive) families into it, link several dozen useless files to it, and then try to send it back to them in a newer version of Revit than they are using.
Any complaints will be met with serious beatings.
As always, fuck autodesk, fuck Revit, fuck Revitbots/Revitards/Revit 'Gurus', and anyone else selling, marketing, purchasing, using, forcing others to use (or doing end runs around various engineering disciplines in order to require the use of) Revit.
It's 2019 fucksticks - time to get with the goddamn program.
-fuckSkull
Next Time: The Continued March Of The Dumbfucks.
That's right ladies and gentlefuckers - that there is a pair of tables that someone managed to attach to structural elements. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on because (somehow) part of the chairs had disappeared as well.
This is a fairly common issue that I run across when cleaning up the garbage vomited forth from the Revit dumpster fire. Entire sections of plans are sometimes obscured by things that are either accidentally dropped into the model (or a linked model), or are intentionally put there, but are supposed to show up at a different level - and someone either couldn't figure out how (or couldn't be bothered to give a shit) about correcting it.
It's never surprising, considering that NASA's TESS satellite has just identified 14 trillion additional view range settings orbiting Revit. In this case it was fairly simple to fix because there were similar elements nearby that could copied over after deleting the offending linework - but that's not always the case.
The lines that remain after some nonsensical piece of equipment or other element leave a gaping hole in a floor plan can sometimes be used to deduce how it was intended to look, but it can be a crap shoot. Sometimes I can look at .pdfs of another discipline's plans and infer more information - but more often than not, I have to just make my best guess.
The fact is, nobody is going to build the building from my plans, so they don't have to be perfect. They are mostly just for installing the systems we are providing (often by our own installers) - but they may have to go through various city/county/state/federal review processes, and I can't submit my drawings with a whole chunk of plan missing.
In cases where some misguided dipshit actually sends us the Revit model itself, we have an opportunity to fix it before exporting (since we have access to Revit through the other firm in our office), but in the time wasted opening a Revit model, watching it start the hour-long process to upgrade to the current version, cancel, then re-open it in the correct version, it can usually just be tweaked in CAD.
In other news - I received a hilarious e-mail the other day about someone wanting us to model some shit for 'collision detection' where 99% of the equipment was actually already modeled by the Engineer that we received the design from. It wasn't in the original contract, and if they force the matter, I'm going to open their model and dump a huge pile of useless (and massive) families into it, link several dozen useless files to it, and then try to send it back to them in a newer version of Revit than they are using.
Any complaints will be met with serious beatings.
As always, fuck autodesk, fuck Revit, fuck Revitbots/Revitards/Revit 'Gurus', and anyone else selling, marketing, purchasing, using, forcing others to use (or doing end runs around various engineering disciplines in order to require the use of) Revit.
It's 2019 fucksticks - time to get with the goddamn program.
-fuckSkull
Next Time: The Continued March Of The Dumbfucks.
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