Revit sync with central requests constant with Enscape open

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  • I have a team of users that are all working towards a presentation in a workshared Revit model. They are getting constant sync with central requests when they make changes within Enscape. Example: Trying to make a view from Enscape or export a view from Enscape or change any settings - when the user tries to do any of these things it asks for them to sync with central first.

    We use Enscape constantly, and have been for the last few years, and we have not had this issue come up before. I have one user submitting feedback but am curious if anyone else has had this same issue.

    • Official Post

    Hey cholden424

    Thank you for reaching out about this.


    Indeed, Enscape users may currently encounter issues when working simultaneously in work-shared CAD models; collaborating on CAD files (currently Revit and Rhino) will lead to syncs for all active users on a model. For instance, if a user wants to change a Visual Settings Preset in the Central File, they are unable to do so until all of the active users in the project have synced their model first. Please note that this issue is not confined to changing Settings Presets - it can occur with any Enscape-related change, though in user reports most widely affects work with Settings Presets.


    The issue is closely tied to how Revit works when multiple people are working on the same project. Autodesk currently does not offer any functionality to share other files to collaborate on, besides the project file itself. Because there is no proper mechanism in Revit for checking files in or out, changing anything from Enscape can cause issues in Revit. There is currently no good way (on the Revit side) to auto-sync or merge these data sets across users. As this issue is not just tied to the behavior of Enscape, potential solutions on our end are not obvious. We are currently investigating different approaches. But none of them seem to solve all the facets of the problem. In the worst case, they might even influence all other users negatively. That is why we are currently weighing up all possibilities. If we find a solution that would be suitable in the coming weeks, a (partial) fix could be provided in the second half of 2023.


    For now, as a short-term solution, the only way to reduce the frequency of this particular issue is to use or change Visual Settings Presets as infrequently as possible, work on a local copy of the model or revert back to Enscape 2.9. If you’d like to continue working as is, communicating any Visual Settings Preset changes upfront with the team can help ensure a proper workflow as well.

    I'm sorry there is no more immediate solution to this issue.

  • Thanks Kaj for the in-depth answer. I can see where this is a complicated issue. I was hoping it would have some sort of workaround, but we will have to address it with our team's communication and planning for now. If there's a way to get there, I think it would be super beneficial for large teams with multiple folks rendering to be able to control each user's visual settings separately. Looking forward to your team's solution in the coming year.

  • The issue is closely tied to how Revit works when multiple people are working on the same project. Autodesk currently does not offer any functionality to share other files to collaborate on, besides the project file itself. Because there is no proper mechanism in Revit for checking files in or out, changing anything from Enscape can cause issues in Revit. There is currently no good way (on the Revit side) to auto-sync or merge these data sets across users.

    Revit's extensible storage API does provide mechanisms for this. See this AU class about methods on how to do this: https://www.autodesk.com/autod…ooperate-Worksharing-2013


    There are code samples included that deal with setting up extensible storage that plays well with worksharing.


    Long story short: the data storage needs to be split up more granularly. Separate elements for each visual preset, and attach the data related to views (isfavorite, linked visual preset, sun position) to the Revit views themselves. I think that would solve most if not all syncing issues we're having.

  • I have a team of users that are all working towards a presentation in a workshared Revit model. They are getting constant sync with central requests when they make changes within Enscape. Example: Trying to make a view from Enscape or export a view from Enscape or change any settings - when the user tries to do any of these things it asks for them to sync with central first.

    We use Enscape constantly, and have been for the last few years, and we have not had this issue come up before. I have one user submitting feedback but am curious if anyone else has had this same issue.

    I literally have users complain about this every other day, and with good reason.


    Just yesterday I had a user tell me this in the chat:


    User: "pieter, enscape sucks big time - are they going to fix this owning issue ughhhhghghhghgg" [with 'owning' she means the constant syncing requests]

    User: "tell them we are not happyyy"

    User: "TELL THEM IT TOOK US 45 MINS TO GET ONE RENDERING DONE BECAUSE OF SYNCING TWO MACHINES"


    It's frustrating as I've called out the potential solution many times (for 2 years now) and the only answer we've gotten so far is "autodesk doesn't allow for it", while based on the Revit API documentation, the AU classes, the code samples and my conversation with Revit's software engineers, it seems like it is totally possible. Also: why is it that other plugins that store data inside Revit don't run into this?


    Sorry for the strong words, but I'm merely passing on the frustration of my users :)

  • If you're primarily trying to render and not make significant design changes to the Revit file, what happens if you open Detached from Central? Admittedly not the best solution, but perhaps the least sucky workaround for uninterrupted rendering until the Revit API allows users to modify Enscape view settings in a work-shared file.


    Even least suckier workaround suggestions welcomed. :)

  • Pieter, based on your experience, if you were on our shoes, would you upgrade?

    It's a tough decision. You'll need to take a look at the release logs of 3.0 through 3.4 and decide whether the new features are worth the (very serious) issues with worksharing. Perhaps also worth noting: the latest releases seem to be less stable for us than the older 2.x series. We are definitely experiencing more crashes.


    We are using the latest version because the combination of these new features makes it worth for us:

    - the "safeframe" toggle

    - the ability to edit camera and sun position of existing views

    - the enscape material editor for Revit

    - custom asset categories

    - better reflections


    But this list is personal and it will depend on how you guys use Enscape. It also depends on how many people you typically have working in a project. If you only have one user working in Enscape concurrently, the worksharing issues aren't going to be a big deal. But if you have multiple users simultaneously trying to work in Enscape, it's...real bad.

  • ...work on a local copy of the model or revert back to Enscape 2.9.

    ...Perhaps also worth noting: the latest releases seem to be less stable for us than the older 2.x series. We are definitely experiencing more crashes.

    ...We are currently holding on to earlier version 2.9 until we find fixes or workarounds, but we are looking to deploy 3.4 by end of the year.

    Is the implication here that one would also hold at Revit 2021? Rolling back to a 2-yr old Revit version is not really an option. Or is it possible to use v2.9 with Revit 2022/23?

  • Revit 2022 support was only added on Enscape 3.0. We use 2.9 up to R2021 as we are not using later versions of Revit for now.
    Users having to use/testing 3.0+ are facing the issues described above.
    I will double check deployed versions and will test Enscape 2.9 on R2022 and report back.
    Enscape 3.0+ are happening regardless of R versions.


    Thanks for the replies.

  • Kaj Burival any e.t.a. on a fix for this? We've been struggling with revit worksharing since 3.0. (the 3.4.3 patch did not do much for us, as users typically need to tweak settings, which still requires all other users using enscape to sync).

    • Official Post

    Hey Pieter , sorry for not getting back to you on this the first time. While this is an issue that product management and development are aware of, I'm afraid there is currently no e.t.a. for a solution that I could share right now.
    Although I'm sure I must sound repetitive myself, the only thing we can do at the moment is make sure the priority of this issue is being shared with us using the productboard: https://portal.productboard.co…edback-wanted/submit-idea
    I'm sorry there's no other news regarding this right now.

  • I submitted it again. Maybe you guys should come visit our office and talk to our users. I expect every single one will bring this up as their #1 issue.

  • Kaj Burival to echo Pieter - part of the reason we use Enscape is because we can render and design at the same time. The workarounds of pulling out a detached model aren't going to work for us. I don't know many firms that have the luxury of time in their schedules to "pencils down" on design so they can render. That's a thing of the past for most of us. We need to do it all at the same time and I need multiple people working together on it. This should be at the top of the productboard list. This issue is only going to get more painful as our project schedules continue to shorten.

  • Until this issue is fixed suggest opening two sessions of Revit.

    - In the first session, open the project and necessary links.

    - In the second session, link the project (and links) open in the first session.

    Because the two files are opened in separate sessions of Revit, you won't have Worksharing issues requiring unloading the first file. You can create and modify views in the second session without causing Worksharing issues in the first session.

    In the second session, open Enscape and create / modify views. This will not impact the opened first session of Revit or create issues with Worksets. You can still continue to make changes in the project in the first session and reload the file as necessary in your second session for rendering up to date design changes in Enscape.