I learnt a couple of versions ago that it is vastly better to change your install options for Revit to one of the two 'Download' methods, instead of the default 'Install Now'. This gives you so much better control. In fact you can change your Autodesk profile settings to default to Download instead of Install Now. Despite this, the 'Content' is not included in that, and still gets downloaded during the install - but once you have the content from your first install you can uncheck that option for any future installs.
Once you have downloaded the software, you can run the install from your own network or C drive when it suits you, not as part of the initial download process.
The Install
The Autodesk install Help Files section on 'Changes to Installation' states the following:
If
you are responsible for installing or upgrading the Revit or Revit LT
software to a new release, learn about recent changes to the
installation process.
- Advanced material library: In addition to the standard material library, an advanced material library installs with Revit. This library provides new appearance assets that use physically-based definitions, optimised for use with the Autodesk rendering engine.
- Microsoft® Windows® 10 must support .NET Framework 4.7: Older versions of the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system (Version 1507/Build 10240 and Version 1511/Build 10586) do not support .NET Framework 4.7, which is required for Revit 2019 and Revit LT 2019. Before installing the software on a computer that uses one of these versions of Windows 10, upgrade to a newer version of the operating system.
Advance Materials Library
This is one of the new features of Revit 2019 - you may not use it yet, but it is sensible to install it anyway. The default setting is to install it, but with no explanation of what or why - see the Autodesk help files for an explanation of 'Physically based appearance Assets'.
Windows 7
I guess that means that Autodesk does not support Windows 7. Many large companies have not yet switched to Windows 10 (thankfully - I am not a fan at all, for many reasons, not to be discussed here) - but it should not be a problem. We hope!
.NET Framework 4.7
was released for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 10 in May 2017, so if you have updated your copy of Windows 7 since that date, you should be OK?
1. Which sector(s) of the construction industry do you work in? The default setting is 'All'. As an architect, I'd like to be more specific, so that I only install stuff relevant to me, so I choose 'Architectural'. Therefore I am not remotely interested in MEP Fabrication. A structural engineer might feel the same way, as might a landscape architect or urban designer, or interior designer (oops, they don't even get an option here). For the third year running, MEP Fabrication has two install options - metric and imperial - both are ticked by default, which means that I have to be on my toes and manually untick the options (unless I happen to be an architect who designs/fabricates duct or pipe installations in both the USA and almost any other country you care to name).
2. Discipline can also mean adherence to defined standards and procedures; or following through to make sure that your work is neat and tidy, and does not adversely affect others. When I choose a construction industry discipline, I do not expect to have to manually follow through to prevent getting redundant stuff installed on my computer. Who knows what else is being installed that I don't want? Clearly whoever has been managing the installation software at Autodesk for the last three years does not understand the second meaning of discipline. Perhaps they need to be administered a severe dose of the third meaning of discipline (which I won't elaborate on here!).
Talking of 'Neat and Tidy' I like my local files to go somewhere other than 'My Documents' - so this is a good chance to set that rather than messing about with Revit.ini files.
Install Settings
The first thing to do (after confirming the install language, which apparently I could not change), is to configure the install settings - particularly the first section below 'Autodesk Revit 2019'Discipline
The word 'Discipline' has many meanings in the English language. There are two relevant meanings here:1. Which sector(s) of the construction industry do you work in? The default setting is 'All'. As an architect, I'd like to be more specific, so that I only install stuff relevant to me, so I choose 'Architectural'. Therefore I am not remotely interested in MEP Fabrication. A structural engineer might feel the same way, as might a landscape architect or urban designer, or interior designer (oops, they don't even get an option here). For the third year running, MEP Fabrication has two install options - metric and imperial - both are ticked by default, which means that I have to be on my toes and manually untick the options (unless I happen to be an architect who designs/fabricates duct or pipe installations in both the USA and almost any other country you care to name).
2. Discipline can also mean adherence to defined standards and procedures; or following through to make sure that your work is neat and tidy, and does not adversely affect others. When I choose a construction industry discipline, I do not expect to have to manually follow through to prevent getting redundant stuff installed on my computer. Who knows what else is being installed that I don't want? Clearly whoever has been managing the installation software at Autodesk for the last three years does not understand the second meaning of discipline. Perhaps they need to be administered a severe dose of the third meaning of discipline (which I won't elaborate on here!).
Talking of 'Neat and Tidy' I like my local files to go somewhere other than 'My Documents' - so this is a good chance to set that rather than messing about with Revit.ini files.
Content
By default, you should get your own country content. We used to get a choice but now the installer is obviously burrowing into your computer to figure it out for you. However, you can change that. In fact you can choose more than one set of content. Last time I did that, I found an amazing wealth of component libraries in some other country contents - but you need a lot of time to sort through that stuff, so I would only recommend doing it once during your BIM manager career!
Shared Components
Shared with other Autodesk products like Inventor & 3DS Max, I guess? The 'Medium Image Library' now has an advanced version for 'Physically based appearance Assets', which is a new feature in Revit 2019.
Pretty Pictures
Autodesk obviously expect us to sit and watch the install process so they have kindly provided a series of pretty pictures of things that bear almost no relevance to the construction industry, with only one exception - you figure it out. None of them could possibly have been created in Revit, that is for sure. Yes, I know that this part of the installer is not controlled by the Revit team, but it says something about Autodesk as a company.
Autodesk Desktop App
This pretty picture is a special treat - because it happened to pop up while installing a piece of software that I absolutely do not want, and was not given a choice about! Autodesk Desktop App.
Autodesk describes it as: "A powerful cloud-centric software delivery solution that helps you discover and manage updates for Autodesk products". That says it all as far as I'm concerned - "Out damned software". In the last few years the general consensus has been that it doesn't work well, so I shall leave it to others to test it out, while I remove it. I find that social media is a more reliable way to find out about Autodesk updates anyway. As a BIM Manager in a multi-license office you almost certainly don't want this software on all computers, as you'll want to control when updates are pushed out rather than allowing a free for all in the office.
Installation Complete
On completion, all the things I selected were successfully installed, along with one item I did not select (as described above).
Launch Now
I clicked on the 'Launch Now' button, and it asked me to select a license type (fair enough), then prompted me to log in. Why? I don't want to log in when I start up Revit - not unless I'm using BIM360 or whatever it is now called (it will most likely be renamed by the time you read this). So I cancelled the log in and launched it from the desktop icon. No log in prompt this time, thank goodness - just the license dialog. Activation went smoothly, using my license number & key.Dynamo - Warning
Unlike the Revit 2018 installation, the latest build of Dynamo was automatically installed: 1.3.3Refer to DynamoBIM blog
Be warned: this version of Dynamo will not work with Revit 2016. When I fired up Revit 2016, I could not find Dynamo. Could the Revit 2019/Dynamo 1.3.3 installer have uninstalled it automatically? Yes, it could, and it did.
If you still need 2016, you need to protect your older Dynamo install for Revit 2016 before you do the Revit 2019 install. I tried this rather dodgy workaround - from what I read on the DynamoBIM forums:
Make copies of the relevant files - I think it needs to be these files (assuming Dynamo 1.2):
- Dynamo.addin file in the C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\2016 folder
- These two folders:
C:Program Files\Dynamo\Dynamo Core\1.2
C:Program Files\Dynamo\Dynamo Revit\1.2\Revit_2016
Just to make your life even more complicated, Dynamo 1.3.2 does not support Revit 2019. That means there is no version that supports both 2016 and 2019 - not even a brief overlap while you are updating packages and code. So if you are still running Revit 2016, don't even think of installing Revit 2019 until all your projects are upgraded to some intermediate version - or you go straight to 2019 and spend 24 hours fixing all your Dynamo stuff! That doesn't sound like a recipe for a peaceful life to me.
Addins
It looks like we have the same Addins automatically installed as in v2018:- Batch Print
- eTransmit
- Model Review
- Worksharing Monitor
- Dynamo
- Formit Converter (Optional)
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