ELEMENT/FAMILY Ownership problem

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I currently have only 2 people working on our project, myself and another engineer who I'll call Bob. We have decided to make ALL elements, families and views Non-Editable so that we'll have maximum flexibility when laying out our ductwork.

However, for some reason, one of us seems to have ownership of an ELEMENT of duct types. When I try to draw a round duct, it says I must ask Bob for permission. Same goes for when Bob tries to draw a round duct, it requires him to ask for my permission. I must 'save to central' and 'relinquish all' in order for the ownership to transfer. We are working on different floors on different worksets. On our worksets options box, no one is owning anything, only borrowing.

We do not want ownership of these elements (in our case, duct types: rect. duct, round duct, fittings etc.) It is seriously hampering our production and is getting VERY annoying. Please help, anybody.

[KyleB_Autodesk]

Jacob,
Sounds like you're having a real problem there. We just did some quick testing and couldn't get similar problem, not sure what's going on in your model. We could get that error message, but only when we actually modified the Duct System Family Type in one local, and tried to modify it again in the other local.

Try this to help troubleshoot:

!. Both users STC and Relinquish All.
2. Check your Worksets dialog, look at the Duct Types Element (see attached). Make sure that nobody is borrowing it.
3. Add a duct to the model, making a turn to add an Elbow.
4. Check the Worksets dialog again, see if you just took ownership of the Duct Types element.

If so, please log this issue with our support team and provide all the project files. We can't reproduce that behavior, so we would need your model to see what's causing it.

Kyle B

[Anonymous]

Kyle,

Thanks for your help! I really appreciate it.

I have followed steps 1 thru 4 exactly as stated. On step 4 when I check my worksets dialogue after adding the duct, I see that I DID NOT take ownership of the Duct Types element. However we still got the error message on Bob's computer saying that permission needed to be granted.

I can send the MEP Central file, however I don't think I have access to 'log issues with the support team'. Please advise on my options. Thanks again for your help.

[Anonymous]

We have seen a similar issue before and have asked about it in earlier posting (have not seen a resolution yet). Are you connecting the duct to say a piece of equipment that the other person is connecting something else to? We have seen this with say piping and electrical being connected to the same piece of equipment. After exhausting all the options we knew of we ending up creating "dummy connectors" and placed them on the equipment. One discipline would get the connector on the equipment and the other disciplines would get "dummy connectors". Doesn't work well for having coordination of information but don't have the ownership issues either. Plumbing and piping (different designer/drafter on particular projects) had to be taken as far as putting the plumbing in a building model and the piping in a MEP model and linking them together.

john

[KyleB_Autodesk]

If your firm is a Subscription Customer, then you can log a Support Request directly with us. Talk with your CAD Manager/IT Staff to determine who manages your subscription. They will have access to the Subscription Center, where you can log this issue and provide us the model.

If you are not a Subscription customer, then your reseller is your best bet. We unfortunately cannot be of much more help without the model to reproduce the issue.

Can I get a screen grab of the error message? And to confirm, does this happen when you start the duct command, or when you actually start placing a duct?

Kyle B

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, I don't think we are a subscription customer.

The error message is the standard 'permission message' you would get when you are trying to edit a workset that someone currently owns, with options to send requests.

For your confirmation, this error occurs when I actually place the duct, say over a diffuser for connection.

[Anonymous]

SS,

The problem we are experiencing is somewhat different. We get the error when we try simply adjusting a duct to a different position or try connecting it to a diffuser.

[KyleB_Autodesk]

how about when you try and place it in space without connecting it to anything?

[Anonymous]

Yes that occurs as well.

I may have left out a crucial bit of information:

Before this project got approval from my firm's partnership, a seperate engineer had to do a test layout of the 5th floor to demonstrate 2008 MEP version's improvements. Upon approval, I started designing the MEP in the building. Wanting to save time, I naturally opened this test layout MEP central file and did a COPY of the 5th floor layout and pasted it onto my own central file. This (somewhat) successfully transfered over ducts, duct fittings, VAV boxes etc. Perhaps there was a designation of ownership at that moment and thus an error within the file.

Perhaps there is a way I can clean/purge my central file and divorce it from all users and their families/workset ownerships? Sort of create a fresh new model in terms of worksets, families or elements that may be causing this problem? Once again I appreciate all the help.

- Jacob

[KyleB_Autodesk]

You can detach from central during load, and then re-save as a central. That might solve this, although it's tough to tell without having the file.

I don't know if a way to reset things back to a "zero state" regarding worksets. Can you log support issues with your reseller?

[Anonymous]

We have this same problem and have found no resolution. Unfortunately, we are working within a single file using Arch, Struc, Mech, and Electrical. This impacts all users not just the Mechanical designers.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, same issue here. I urge everyone to contact Autodesk any way you can, and tell them that this is an urgent issue. We all know that there are many things that could be better, but this should be at the top of the list to fix. Thanks.
-Tim