Revit Beginners

Remodels in Revit... the untold story

2010-08-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

To my surprise, there's not a whole lot of discussion on this very important topic. Anyone who has developed a custom remodel residential project can tell you it's not as simple, clean, or intuitive as a custom new construction residential project.

The first step is pretty staight forward... build your as-built model in the existing phase. Once an as-built model is done you might want to archive a copy of the model just incase the design scope changes and you have to start all over again with a clean as-built. Now I'm sure you are all aware that as the design develops the project architect and the client are both going to want to explore varying design iterations. The model builder is going to have to do partial demolition of walls, floors, roofs, ceilings, etc. The way most Revit Beginners go about doing this is to split the wall, floor, roof, etc into two parts and demo the half they want to remove. The problem with this method starts to reveal itself after 2-3 design iterations when the as-built model, now split into many parts, degenerates into useless plans and elevations. Constantly reshaping the proposed design on the fly without time consuming cleanups also becomes less possible.

So what do you do with partial demos? You could create a new phase between Existing and New Construction called "Existing To Remain." Then copy the element to be demo'd to the clipboard... then demo the whole element in the "Existing to Remain" phase... paste the element (into the same place) back into the "Existing to Remain" phase and then reshape the existing to remain version of our element (Some users think that a demo phase is not necessary, but it has it's benefits). Now anytime the design goes through iterations all you have to do is reshape the existing to remain element while leaving the as-built model preserved and intact.

Plans require additional cleanup, but this approach reduces the frequency and types of cleanups required, particularly obvious when you move on to elevations and sections.

EDIT: Partial additions can be done the same way you would do partial demos... copy, demo, paste, reshape. If you just add on to the length of a wall you're going to end up with a proposed design that's in pieces too. This can be important later on down the line when you want to combine phases into a new asbuilt. However, getting accurate Material Takeoffs on a remodel can add a dimension to this procedure (you might want a model that's divided into accurate pieces afterall).

Demons In Your Data?

2010-07-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

The more you work with Revit the more likely you are to run into demons in the data. What do I mean by demons? Demons are unexplained behaviors. I'm not talking about software bugs that won't go away until you've installed a software update. I'm talking about errors in the data of the project file itself. Errors that can be repaired by replacing the corrupt data with an arbitrary value and then changing it back again.

Somehow, the process of changing the offending data to something arbitrary, then changing it back to the way it should be can remedy unexplained behaviors. I'm not talking about changing a value and then hitting the undo command. I'm talking about using Revit's tools to change the data to something arbitrary then changing it back... like the change is some new data for the model. It's just a matter of isolating the parameter values that are causing the unexplained behaviors... then finding the right combination of commands that will reset or refresh the offending data. These commands might include flexing parameters, cut & paste in same place, mirror, nudging, or possibly other commands. Let me give you some examples...

I upgraded a model once, from Revit 2009 to Revit 2011, and an odd thing happened. In hidden line mode, half the doors and windows had shaded glass (by design) while the other half had no shading. And it wasn't like there was any consistency... the shading was gone from random doors and windows. I realized at that point that I had a demon in my data, so I went into the offending material (glass) and set the surface pattern of the glass material to none (it was the surface pattern that was not cooperating), then changed the surface pattern back to solid fill to get this glass material to show properly everywhere.

Another thing that happens a lot... I like to nest families into a host family and link the parameters of the nested family and its host family, but once in a while after making a change to a nested family and loading it back into the host family, solids disappear or just don't flex when the family is loaded into a project. I have to flex some of the linked parameters, while still in the family editor, to reset or refresh the offending data.

Wall cleanups at intersections (not to beat a dead horse) can also cause demons. Sometimes nudging one of the walls can cleanup your intersection. Sometimes you have to cut a wall to your clipboard and paste it back into the same place to get intersections to heal properly. In fact, when any family (that was working fine before) isn't cooperating try a cut and paste in same place. This can reset data in the model.

If any of my readers are familiar with a particular demon please feel free to leave a comment describing the demon and how you "exorcised" it.

When is a Family Parametric?

2010-06-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

Question: When should I build a family that flexes?

Answer: Anyone who knows the family editor can tell you, it takes time to build complex families with parameter driven flexing geometry. They can also tell you that some families flex... and some don't.

Question: Why would you want a family that doesn't flex?

Answer: The more complex your geometery, the more difficult and time consuming a fully parametric family is going to be and we all have deadlines. On top of which, your client might change the design of the component dozens of times. Do you think your going to have time to remake a complex and fully parametric family dozens of times? Probably not.

Question: So what do I do with highly complex and custom families that will likely change from week to week?

Answer: Build a placeholder family. A placeholder is a family that has just enough geometry to illustrate the component in your plans, elevations, and sections. It doesn't have to flex, it just has to illustrate your design intent.

Should I enable Hardware Acceleration?

2010-04-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hardware Acceleration (in options) controls the performance of several features in Revit 2011 including:

realistic materials in realistic view
ambient occlusion
performance of mechanical views
performance of underlay views
performance of overall project

To find out if your graphics card supports hardware acceleration, Autodesk has now published a Supported Graphics Hardware List for Revit 2011.

Often Overlooked By Beginners (Part 2)

2010-04-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

One of my earliest posts focused on little tools that are often overlooked by beginners. I thought I'd revisit this topic now that I've had more experience working with Revit Beginners. Here are a few more tips that beginners are often not aware of:

1. Wall Location Lines. The location line is kind of an anchor point for a wall. When you flip a wall (ie. change its orientation) the wall will flip about its location line. So if you wanted to flip a wall without affecting its position you could make the wall's centerline its location line as well. Location line is controled in a wall's Instance Properties. Some of your choice settings for the location of the location line include face of core, face of finish, wall centerline, etc. When a wall is selected you might notice two blue dots at either end of the wall. Grab this blue dot and stretch the wall to any length you want. You might also notice that when you change the location line of a wall this blue dot will relocate, reflecting your newly chosen location line.

2. How do I fillet two walls (or lines). A common thing for beginners, is to go right to the trim tool in search of a fillet option (because they are likely more familiar with AutoCAD). Well in Revit the fillet tool is located elsewhere. If you are drawing a wall or a line there is a pallet of line shapes that you can draw (square, polygon, circle, arc, etc.) Well fillet is one of those options circled below.

3. Stretching a gridline in the current view only. When working with gridlines for the first time a beginner will often take notice that stretching the end bubble of a gridline stretches the grid in all views globally. The next question they ask is, "How can I stretch it for this view only?" Well there is a little icon next to a grid bubble that reads "3D." Click on the icon and you'll notice that it now reads "2D." You are now free to strech the gridline for the current view only. The location of the original 3D grid bubble is at the hollow circle you see below.

4. How do I host my railing on a ramp or stair?: Ok, so you've sketch a new ramp or stair and you want to add a railing to it, but the railing is resting on the first floor and doesn't slope with your ramp or stair. Well, when you're in sketch mode shaping your new railing path, there is a tool called "Set Railing Host." Select this tool and then select your host (stair or ramp). Your railing will now slope with the host as was your original intention. Remember, the railing tool is located on the Home tab and is its own sketch. Do not try editing the sketch of your stair or ramp to add new railings. I've seen beginners try this alot.

More beginner tips to come...

Editable Worksets and Workset Ownership

2010-03-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a tip for beginners working with Worksets for the first time.

Let's say you have a project with worksets enabled and the whole model is on Workset 1 by default. If you right click on an element that is on Workset 1 and select the option that reads "Make Worksets Editable" you are making yourself the Owner of Workset 1. No one else is going to be able to edit ANY modeled elements that are on that workset. They can add elements to Workset 1 but they can't edit elements already placed.

If you go to Collaboration... Worksets... and you see yourself as the Owner of any workset you're probably locking everyone else out of that workset so make sure you click on the "Non Editable" button to relenquish the user-created Workset... or do a save to central and relenquish user-created worksets so other users can work on the model too.

What you more likely want to do is borrow... or select the "Make Elements Editable" option instead so you are only borrowing a small part of the worksets rather than Owning the whole workset.

Just a heads up for you beginners out there.

In-place Cavity Walls

2010-01-20T16:24:00.001-08:00

If your cavity is a constant width along the length of the wall (like the angled exterior wall shown on the right) you can just add the necessary layers to a basic wall family, but if you have undulating cavity walls, like we often do, you might want to consider an in-place wall family like the one illustrated below in blue.

This wall is the sum of two 9' tall extruded shapes in plan view... one for the overall mass of the wall (thicker line) and one for the stud layer (blue). The challenge with this approach is in getting the wall to show properly in coarse AND medium detail modes.

One way to achieve this is first to set the visibility settings of the stud layer element to hidden in coarse mode (select the stud layer element while in the family editor mode and set the element's visibility settings). The other setting your going to want to set is to assign the stud layer element to the Common Edges subcategory (within the instance properties of the stud layer element). This will thin the lines to match the stud layer of all the surrounding wall families. Use join geometry to get the surrounding walls to cleanup when they meet your in-place cavity wall. If anyone has anything to add to this issue please feel free to comment.

Some New Bloggers on the Block

2010-01-11T15:10:00.000-08:00

Steve Swensen is REVIT GUY
Oliver is the author of Revit In Motion
and you can find more interesting reading at revitflow

I look forward to reading your posts guys.

Additive Views vs. Subtractive Views

2009-08-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Common Problem: When I place an electrical fixture or other family category it pops up automatically in other views I would rather not see it in.

Reason: In the default Revit tempate almost every category is unnecessarily turned on in all views so the same family shows up everywhere.

Solution: Create Additive Views instead of Subtractive Views for family categories that are only used in one or two views. By that I mean, start with most family categories turned off in your new view's visibility/graphics and gradually add the categories that you want to see.

Extra Tip: If you want future new views to be additive by default, create a view template. Then, when you apply the template to a view, check the option that reads "Apply automatically to new views of the same type."

The Project That Almost Could

2009-08-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

I feel a duty to report our failures as well as well as our successes over the course of our Revit implementation. We currently have 4 Revit projects under construction, but not all of our projects made it through the CD phase. We have one model that was started in Revit before we knew any of the limitations of Revit.

The project is an existing 30,000 square foot custom residence built in the 1920's. The task was to demolish a 1980's addition, restoring the building to it's original design, and then adding our own additions.

This project isn't as organic as Gaudi, but it did have a lot of organic characteristics. To add to the complexity, the as-built drawings we had on file were not accurate to the true construction of the existing structure because the original architect had improvised the design during construction.

Here are some of the characteristics of this project that made it quite difficult to model:

undulating cavity walls that would often not clean up in Revit
uniquely chamfered surrounds at windows and doors around every corner
3 phases with a lot of partial wall, roof, floor, and ceiling demos
hand crafted and highly detailed vaulted ceiling designs

30,000 square feet of this added up to a project that was taking too long to model in Revit. The model is not clean enough to develop construction documents so we have passed along that task to another architect.

BIMtionary

2009-08-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

Brandon Pike has started a new blog called BIMtionary. His posts include tiers of BIM Implementation and a Revit Implementation Checklist. I look forward to his future posts.

Phases & Worksets

2009-07-31T16:05:00.000-07:00

This blog started out as a blog for beginners. These days I mostly tend to cover advanced topics so here's a little tip for the beginners out there.

Always Be Phase Aware
In every project file your modeled components have a phase created and a phase demolished parameter whether you like it or not. And most views have phase and phase filter parameters. If you place a model component in a view that is set to the New Construction phase (under View Properties), that component automatically gets placed in the New Construction phase. So if you are doing as-builts, make sure you set all of your views phases to Existing. That way when you start placing your components they end up on the correct phase. This can easily be corrected in a 3D view if you skipped this step. As you start to model your proposed design distinguishing between existing and proposed content becomes ever more critical.

Always Be Workset Aware
On workset enabled projects every model component is place on a user defined workset (usually Workset 1). Make sure you check the workset toolbar and select the correct active workset. You don't want to place a whole lot of content on the Shared Levels & Grids workset. This can easily be corrected in a 3D view if you skipped this step.

Instance Parameters: The Double Agent

2009-07-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

This is going to be particularly helpful to those of you working on large projects. Some of you may already be aware of it, but I haven't seen it documented anywhere so here goes...

I call this technique the Double Agent because the Instance Parameters discussed here will temporarily act like Type Parameters under the right conditions. Why would I want an Instance Parameter to act like a Type Parameter? you ask. Well, quite often, but not always we want to apply the same Instance Parameter value (like a comment that is repeated for MOST instances of a Family Type) to many of the same Doors, Windows, Sheets, or other families. Comments are typically Instance Parameters that you have to change one at a time. But I don't want to change comments one at a time when there are so many of the same comment value. I want them to update once and simultaniously like a Type Parameter would, without having to use a Type Parameter (because I may still want one or two comment values to remain unique. Well, how do you do it? The Answer: With Schedules

Here is the procedure. Go to your door schedule for example.

You'll notice that I have four door types (71,66,17,64). I need to add the Remark 1hr rated to types 66 & 64. Rather than enter the value one field at a time for the Instance Parameter called Remark, lets add the value to all 8 fields once and simultaniously. Here's how.

Go to View Properties... Sorting Grouping... Now make a mental note (or write it down if you wish) of the current Sorting/Grouping settings because, like a good double agent, you're going to have to restore the schedule to its original identity when we're all done. Now change the setting to what you see below.

You can isolate the From Room: Name (or Type Mark parameter). It is very important to uncheck the Itemize every instance option. This is what you'll see.

Now Type in the Remark 1HR Rated for all doors without a room name... then change the Sorting/Grouping setting back to their original state and You'll have added the Value 1HR Rated to the Instance Parameter Remarks for all doors without a room name.

These are the rules of the game: You have to sort the schedule by some Type Parameter or by some Instance Parameter with equal values already present.

Now that I have the value 1HR RATED for all of the 1HR doors, lets say I want to change the value to 1.5HR RATED. Just isolate the REMARKS parameter from the Sorting/Grouping settings and exchange the old value for the new value.

So once again, why not just make your Instance Parameter a Type Parameter? Because the Instance Parameter value you choose may not always apply to every instance of a Family Type. This is just a custom way to update multiple fields once and simultaniously.

I hope you'll enjoy exploring the many applications of The Double Agent technique.

Imported Images and Sheets

2009-07-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

We often import hand renderings into Revit projects for plotting presentation sets.

I've noticed that when I import an image directly onto a sheet that if the image is even slightly outside of the scope of the titleblock then plots can come out centered incorrectly. The only solution is to place images in a drafting view (or legend view) first... then place the view on your sheet. If the view itself is outside of the scope of the titleblock Revit will plot the sheet fine.

Rescaling the image can also be easier from a drafting view once scale is established. Just change the scale of the view. Rescaling the image by eye on a sheet is less accurate.

Legend views can be placed on multiple sheets but placing these images in a legend view can crowd your project browser so I would stick to drafting views unless you absolutely need the added function of placing the image on multiple sheets like for key plans as an example.

If your image comes in solid black it's most likely a memory issue. You can change the resolution and image size to reduce file size if necessary. Rotating images can also cause them to turn solid black.

Images can be imported. Linking an image for easier updating is on the wishlist but is not yet an option.

Feel free to comment on the subject of importing images if you have anything you want to add.

Blogger: slo Arch

2009-06-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

Check this out when you have some free time.

Tim Alatorre posts to his blog sloArch on a varaiety of subjects including but not limited to Artlantis, Revit, Sketchup, LEED, A.R.E., and other Architecture related subjects.

Filter Unplaced or Unenclosed Items

2009-06-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I discover something I didn't know was there. It appears this feature was added in Revit 2009.

After you've created a Room or Area Schedule and populated it with rooms/areas you have the option of filtering unplaced or unenclosed Rooms/Areas. The three options are: Show all, Hide unplaced, and Isolate unplaced.

AEC EDGE Magazine

2009-06-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

AUGI has published their first quarterly AEC EDGE Magazine. This has been reported on several blogs already but I really enjoyed it so I thought I'd post too.

Revit 2010: New Coordinates Icons

2009-04-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

The new coordinate systems and icons have a lot of even the best users confused. Go to a floor plan view and hit the light bulb to reveal the two new coordinate system icons (the survey point triangle and the project base point circle). Now... you can draw a simple building and link in a simple building (by shared coordinates) and move these two icons around a bit (clipped and unclipped) to see how the two models react or.. here is the simplest way I can put it:

1. There are now 3 coordinate systems in Revit... the revit internal coordinates, the shared coordinates, and the new the project coordinates. There is no icon for locating the revit internal coordinates but there are two new icons for the other coordinate systems... the survey point, and the project base point.

2. Clipped or unclipped the Project Base point is always the origin of the new project coordinates system.

3. Clipping the Project Base Point... pins the project base point icon to the revit internal coordinate system so you can drag around the revit internal system (which the host model is always attached to).

4. Unclipping the Project Base Point icon from the revit internal coordinates system... allows you to move the project coordinates system separately from the revit internal coordinates system.

5. Clipping the Survey Point... pins the survey point icon to the shared coordinates system so you can drag around the shared coordinates system (which only linked models might be attached to).

6. Unclipping the Survey Point icon from the shared coordinates system allows you to move it freely without moving the shared coordinates system.

7. The Survey Point icon was created for the export to Civil workflow.

8. Both icons report their location relative to the shared coordinates origin at all times and you can rotate true north from the project base point icon.

If you are still confused go back to my original suggestion... draw a simple building and link in a simple building (by shared coordinates) and move these two icons around a bit (clipped and unclipped) to see how the two models react. Trial and error is probably the best way to learn these new tools.

Revit 2010: New Synchonize with Central

2009-04-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

You might notice a few things about the new Save To Central features... and if you haven't... well, here are a few pointers.

1. Autodesk is now calling Save to Central (STC) a Synchronize with Central (SWC)

2. Some of the wording has changed in the Synchozine with Central dialog. The option now reads "Save Local File before and after synchonize with central."

What does this mean? Revit now saves the local file... then the central file... then the local file again when this option is checked. You might ask why... According to Autodesk, troubleshooting SWC crashes is easier if you give them the latest local (along with the usual journal files).

3. When you choose to open a workset enabled project you'll notice an option at the bottom of the dialog that reads "Create New Local" This option is checked by default to make local file creation more transparent. Once opened if you'll look at the title of your Revit window you'll notice that your username has been appended to the end of the filename. Revit is automatically creating a local file for you... all you have to do is open the central file and save to your desktop.

4. When closing a local file you have the option to discard changes and relenquish objects. Before you had to close the file and reopen to relenquish objects to accomplish the same task.

5. You can now set default worksets to open, during Save As in the Options button.

Revit 2010: New Spot Slopes

2009-04-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

Go to Annotate... Spot Slope... and you might notice that Revit has a new slope annotation that works in plan and elevation view. Now try annotating a roof slope with a spot annotation triangle and you might notice something peculiar. Maybe your roof is 6:12 but the annotation read 4:12. Why the error? Because Revit is annotating the Hip not the face of the roof...

Try hiting the tab key while floating over the roof edge and you'll see that the slope tag can report the slope of the hip or the face. The tool just happens to default to reporting the hip first.

This tool does not yet work on ramps or railings.

Revit 2010: Resetting the UI

2009-04-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Autodesk has written a little vb script that will reset the Ribbon, QAT, and Project Browser to their default settings/locations, in the event that a user has totally rearranged the components of the User Interface.

Revit 2010: The Ribbon

2009-04-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the new User Interface. Here are some of the arguments for and against the Ribbon.

The "Consistency" group:
Learning the new ribbon will make learning other Autodesk products easier because they all have a consistent user interface.

The "It's Inevitable" group:
We are going to have to get used to the ribbon because it's here to stay. So the question is not DO we learn the new ribbon but, WHEN do we learn it?

The "Hopeful, Let's Wait" group:
There is a lot of complaining about the new interface. In response to complains, Autodesk might make some changes to the ribbon between now and next year.

The "Productivity" group:
The new ribbon is less efficient than the old interface and not necessary for our firm at this time.

My Thoughts:
1. The first reaction is going to be frustration, "Where did my tool go? Why are the tools moving around on me?"
2. The second reaction is going to be surprise, "Is this a new tool in 2010? No, it's just more visible now because commands were shuffled around."
3. Every office is at a different stage of Revit Implementation. Regardless of how many new features there are you have to ask yourself, "Is the office ready for an upgrade? Now or later?"
4. The new ribbon is going to require more retraining than is usual for a new release. That's job security for you teachers out there.

XL2CAD for Revit

2008-12-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

Dotsoft has ported their AutoCad excel software to Revit. Place excel spreadsheets into Revit via linked DXF files.

http://www.dotsoft.com/revit/

Using Radar

2008-11-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

What is Radar?
Radar is a method of detecting distant objects and determining their position.

When do I need it?
You just linked a developed Revit model into a new project file and you can't seem to find it. Ever happen to you? I know it happens to many. This is where having radar comes in handy.

If I just imported a project and I can't seem to locate the imported model the first thing I do is setup my radar.

1. Go to a floor plan view and add four new elevations looking in all directions.

2. Highlight these new elevations in your project browser and go to element properties.
3. Uncheck Crop View and Far Clip Active parameters.

4. Open each view individually and zoom all (ZA) until you find the model you are looking for.

Users new to file linking can waste valuable time searching for imported models. Next time just tell them to setup their radar.

Excerpt from a Revit Standards Manual

2008-10-31T13:19:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I finished writing a 35 page Revit Standards Manual for our office. Since this is a blog for Revit Beginners I thought I would share an excerpt...

"One thing to keep in mind when implementing Revit for the first time. The more you rely on Revit's advanced features the more training your staff will require to use those features. Flexing families will require training, advanced scheduling will require training, developing clean condocs will require training... and so on. When you can, you should keep it simple. The difficulty is that, if your office is like ours, users will often demand things from Revit that requires the use of more advanced features. Hence more training becomes necessary. And, as people come and go, you will find out that even basic training never really ends."

Journal of Building Information Modeling

2008-09-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

Read what some of the industry experts have to say about BIM in the relatively new Journal of Building Information Modeling.

The Revit Clinic

2008-09-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

Harlan Brumm has started a blog called The Revit Clinic. I'll look forward to reading his remedies.

Revit 2009 Rendering

2008-06-27T16:28:00.001-07:00

Here is me doodling with Revit's new rendering engine in 2009.

I had to scale the roof tiles to 16' and the grass to 6". I also had to load some of our custom families to detail the elevations. The plants are out of the box.

My Work

2008-03-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

It occured to me that I never once posted pictures of any project I worked on, so here are two images from a model I built back in Revit 4.5

Revit Factory

2007-11-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

Buy or sell your content, tutorials, and textures at the Revit Factory.

Apply View Template to Schedules

2007-04-30T00:54:00.000-07:00

Not sure yet if this was added to 9.0 or 9.1 but you can now create a view template from schedule views. I revisited my first post and realized that just because Revit's schedules defaulted to Arial font back then, doesn't mean I have to live with it now.

Revit News & Resources

2007-04-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

The UK Revit Users group is hosting a Revit Design Awards 2007 but you have to work in the UK to enter.

For those of you familiar with Content Highway or other Family File managers there is a new program being exhibited at this years AIA Convention in San Antonio, Texas. It's called techtonic and includes many very attractive features. TechtonicStudio also has a library of 100,000 commercial interior finishes for those of you who do a lot of photorealistic rendering and could use a new source of material maps.

Sometimes visitors to my blog ask me how they can print the blog for future reference. If you have a PDF writer like PDFCreator, CutePDF, or PDF Factory you should be able to print the webpage to PDF.

Some thoughts on Revit

2007-04-25T00:49:00.000-07:00

Some people have to be reminded that the project file is a database and like any database the more and accurate information about the project you put into the model the more analytical modeling and scheduling you can get out of the model.

Building highly parametric families that flex can be just as tedious as software programming if you're not familiar with the "programming language" or in this case the many rules and shortcuts for family file creation. The family editor is in essence a "graphical" programming environment. Being more visual, this is probably the perfect programming enviroment for architects. As a rule of thumb the more automation you want to build into family or project files the more skilled your users have to be to modify these files later. Not everyone in the office needs to understand the rules of family file creation to use these families, but they would need some expertise to open these family files and make significant modifications. I know the same is true for many BIM applications.

Autodesk publishes basic usage of the tools in Revit, but there are many clever things an office can do by mixing and matching different tools and parameter values to get the project file to analyze the database and report and illustrate the information you need (and some information you didn't know you needed).

Malleristic Revitation

2007-04-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Aaron Maller has a new Revit blog, Malleristic Revitation. He has experience with Gehry Technologies Digital Project (V1, R2), Vectorworks, ArchiCAD, and ADT. Look forward to hearing his take on Revit.

New Features in Revit 2008

2007-04-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of some of the new and perhaps less obvious features in Revit Architecture 2008:

Plan Regions are now always visible and easier to find.
The element graphics of Section Boxes, Plan Regions, Crop Regions, Titleblocks, and Schedules can now be overridden once placed.
Roof Tags are now available.
Walls sweeps can now be scheduled.
When "including elements linked in files" into your schedules you can now also schedule the name of the RVT linked file that hosts the family (for managing large divided projects).
New shortcuts for Groups, Visibilty Overrides, etc.
Element overrides appear to be the only view specific overrides that dependent views do not share with their parent views.
You can link RVT projects as overlay or attachments ("attachments" will also load all rvt files nested into the linked rvt. "overlay" will only load the imported rvt).

With view specific graphic overrides for individual elements there appears to be not much use for the silhouette tool anymore (but you never know).

Excitech preview of Revit Architecture 2008

2007-04-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

Excitech posted a look at the new Revit Architecture 2008. You'll have to register.

More Evolution News - IES

2007-04-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

On the Sustainable Design front:

Revit BIM platform now linked directly to IES’s building analysis software

IES Virtual Enviroment software is a collection of building performance analysis tools that integrate with Revit.

The Data Manager

2007-03-23T20:42:00.000-07:00

With the implementation of Revit we, like many offices, have had to assign people to develop Revit standards and content that is specific to our office. Some people refer to these individuals as Data Managers or Data Leaders.

In an Architectural Record article "Getting on Board with Building Information Modeling" Larry Flynn describes a Data Manager as someone "responsible for coordinating the various computer files and models that are integrated into a BIM."

HOK's CAD Standards describe a Data Leader as someone "responsible for the execution of the CAD strategy including, the use of BIM, the folder structure and file-naming strategy, use of templates, and documenting specific project procedures..." AND "... audits the drawings to ensure conformance with the standards and a logical organization of the CAD work."

In our office Data Managers are starting to inspect models for proper construction. And not just our models but also the drawings we are getting from consultants. They are virtually becoming in-house building inspectors or should I say... They are becoming in-house Virtual Building Inspectors.

To quote Daphne, one of our Project Managers, "Revit is becoming quite the little tattle-tail."

Revit API Development

2007-03-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

Matt Mason of Avatech Solutions has been actively posting new developments in the next Revit API release.

http://cadappdev.blogspot.com/search?q=Revit+2008+API

Evolution News

2007-03-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

Take a look around and you'll find that Revit model data is being exported to other applications for many uses. And with the continued development of the Revit API more bi-directional interaction between Revit and other applications is becoming possible. Here is a short list of uses for which Revit model data is being exported. You'll find links to a few of the applications on my blog but there are getting to be too many options to keep up with.

Architectural Programming
Project Management
Construction Management
Consultant Coordination
Clash Detection
Enviromental Simulations
Performance Analysis
Cost Estimating and Material Takeoffs
Rendering, Animation, and other Presentation
Facilities Management and Building Lifecycle
Energy Analyisis and Green Building Design
Code Analysis
Specification Writing
Rapid Model Prototyping
CNC Fabrication

In short, architects are learning to Design, Illustrate, Manage, Analyze, Report, Simulate, Fabricate, Communicate, Estimate, and Educate smarter with Building Information Modeling.

The next things we might see:
ADA and Ergonomical Design Analysis
Security Analysis
Feng Shui Analysis

Open, Sesame

2007-03-06T20:37:00.000-08:00

When you place an existing door or window in an existing wall and then demo the door or window in the new construction phase Revit automatically places an infill wall to replace the door or window. You can then change this infill wall type to any wall type you like, but without a workaround you really can't get rid of the infill wall. We frequently run into situations where we want to demo a door but leave the opening intact. I have seen this discussed at length on AUGI and there are many workarounds but I think the workaround I found today (One Thousand and One Nights later) is an easier option.

Revit has had a Filter function since release 9. By adding a Comment to any instances of infilling walls and filtering out the visibility of the walls based on the Comment added you can hide infilling walls from any of your views.

Place an existing wall and door in any existing plan view.
Demo your door in the new construction phase.
Select the infill wall and add a value to the Comments instance parameter under element properties.
Go to the Filters tab in the Visibility/Graphic Overides of your new construction view.
Define a new filter for Walls and select Filter by: Comments... equals. Type in the value you used in the Comments field earlier.
Insert your new Filter into this view's Visibility/Graphics and turn off its visibility. Do the same for all views where you would like to hide infill walls.
Unjoin the geometry of the infill wall and its host wall if you can't see where they meet in 3D or elevation views.

Filtering View Specific Content

2007-03-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

Do you want to know if Text Backgrounds used in a view are opaque or transparent?
Are you trying to find hidden filled regions in a view?
Are you having trouble distinguishing detail lines from model lines in a view?

Well, the easiest way to separate view specific content from model content in a view is to place a temporary filled region with a Solid Fill Pattern that covers the entire view (choose a neutral color). Then just select the filled region and Send To Back. All view specific content will pop out and all model content will be hidden behind your Filled Region.

However, if you want to know where the Linework Tool was used you'll have to resort to selecting the Linework Tool... By Category... and floating your mouse over the model to "scan" for where it may have been used. Lines will highlight when you roll your mouse over them if the Linework Tool was infact used.

SpecifiCAD beta for Revit 9.1 released

2007-03-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

CADalytic Media has released a beta version of SpecifiCAD. Utilizing the Revit API SpecifiCAD will add the URL and DESCRIPTION of any product on the McGraw Hill Construction Sweets Network website to the Identity Data of any family you choose. This data can then be exported to 3rd party Spec Writing Software.

Download SpecifiCAD
Install SpecifiCAD for Revit 9.1
Open a new project in Revit 9.1
Goto Tools... External Tools... SpecifiCAD
Place a component in any view.
Highlight the component and click on the Specify button in your SpecifiCAD dialog box
If SpecifiCAD is not finding what you want you can do custom searches
When you find what you want highlight the component again and click on the LINK button below the product you want.

Great Revit Resources

2007-02-21T15:55:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered two very active Revit Resources.

Revit3D.com has links to many Revit articles and 4BIM brought to us by MILES WALKER and MARIO GUTTMAN of HOK is a very good resource for Revit news and standards.

Spot Dimensions Features

2007-01-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

There's more to Spot Dimensions than meets the eye.

Within the Spot Dimension tool you can choose between spot elevations and spot coordinates. Spot Elevations will report the elevation of certain objects. Spot Coordinates will report the distance and direction of a point from an origin that you define (see Tools, Shared Coordinates... Specify Coordinates at a point)

While Spot Coordinates will report the coordinates of any model or drafting element it is not really clear in the help files that Spot Elevations will report the elevation of only certain parts of model elements. Here is the list of elevations that Spot Elevations will tag:

toposurfaces
roof eaves and ridges
stair steps and landings
window sills and door thresholds
tops of footings & beams
the sill and head of openings in a wall
any point within the area of (non-sloping) floors and ceilings
the height of a family's model objects (provided they are visible in the view)
apparently ramps too but I haven't figured this one yet
if you know of any more please add a comment

The visibility of Spot Elevations and Spot Coordinates can be controlled by the visibility of its host object or the visibility of the annotations themselves.

Taging the elevation of a horizontal surface won't work in wireframe mode. Spot Elevations may be deleted when trying to modify some objects in certain ways.

Two interesting parameters in the properties dialog are Relative Base and Elevation Origin. If you go to the type properties and change the Elevation Origin to Relative you will notice that the Relative Base instance parameter is no longer greyed out. You can now report the elevation of a point relative to any level you've created.

One nice thing about all Spot Dimensions is that you can control the units format separately from the project's units format by going to the type properties dialog so that their units display in decimal feet if you wish. It would be nice if levels had the same ability.

Hide & Seek (updated)

2007-01-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

Did something in your project disappear?

First, check to see if it is still visible in other views.
Check Visibility/Graphics. Is the object category (and subcategories) ON?
Check Visibility/Graphics. Is the linestyle set to Override?
Check Visibility/Graphics. Is the detail level set to By View?
Check Visibility/Graphics. Are all the worksets ON?
Check Visibility/Graphics. Are all the filters ON?
Check Visibility/Graphics. If the object is in a linked file check Revit Links.
Check Visibility/Graphics. Check each design option.
Try changing phase and phase filter in View Properties (VP).
Try changing the detail level of the view.
Are all your worksets opened? (it may be hiding in a closed workset).
Check View Range in View Properties (VP).
Check for Plan Regions if in a floor plan view.
The object may have been moved to a new elevation.
Check Crop Region and Far Clip settings in View Properties (VP).
Set your view to wireframe. It may be hiding behind a filled region or other object.
Select the Linework tool (set to By Category) and see if it wasn't hidden with this tool. It would be very benefitial if one could toggle on/off the use of the linework tool in a view.
If the problem is with a family file open the family and check the visibility of the elements.

If you can't find it by now it was probably deleted.

Content Highway Beta Released Today

2006-12-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

In December 2005 Marek Brandstatter announced the development of Content Highway Desktop, a content management solution for Autodesk Revit that allows you to manage Revit family (RFA) files on your computer and optionally publish them to Content Highway Web for sharing and collaboration.

Many AUGI members were anxiously anticipating the release of this software.

Content Highway was made available today. Download the beta here.

More New Revit Blogs

2006-12-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

ARCHIN3D by Jason G. from Boston, Massachusetts
Revit Anonymous by anonymous from Somewhere, on Planet Earth

Looking forward to reading their future posts.

Printing visible portion of current window

2006-12-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

I've noticed this in using Revit but wasn't aware of a solution until I read through the Bonus CD that Jim Balding passed out at AU.

If you want to print just part of a view you can go to Print... and select Visible portion of current window. The problem is that Revit doesn't usually crop the view exactly as you see it in Revit (if your project window is maximized). To crop prints more accuarately go to Window... Cascade. Now stretch your project window to the shape you want it and print visible portion of current view. Revit should crop the view more accurately. Don't forget to consider paper size and orientation.

Applications

2006-12-07T12:23:00.001-08:00

The more accurate the information in your Revit model the more you can do with it.

Here is a list of applications mentioned and demonstrated at Autodesk University this year that utilize Revit data exported in DWG, IFC, ODBC, gbXML, and DWF formats:

Navisworks – walkthroughs, advanced collision detection, timeline analysis, supports importing data from many different applications. Models from different consultants (who use software other than Revit to model) can be combined for analysis and clash detection. Data can be shared with Primavera and Microsoft Project for project scheduling.

Project Management Software (Primavera, Microsoft Project, Constructware, Buzzsaw) – Personal dashboard for reports, scheduling, cost control, storing and sharing data files, recording correspondence, bid management, submittal package tracking, rfi tracking, and other project management functions. Designed for managers, contractors, architects. Will interface with Navisworks and Innovaya. Design Review is imbedded in Buzzsaw.

Design Review – Export Revit models into the DWF format for project managers to markup.

e-Plan Check – This program takes Revit data exported in IFC format and tests the model for building code violations. This program is not yet available for building code in the U.S.

Impression – This is very new software from Autodesk that will take DWGs exported from Revit and render illustrations in a hand-drawn style. It will apply palettes to DWG layers in plan and perspective. Similar to Piranesi.

Inventor – This software will model complex shapes that are not yet available in Revit but can be imported into Revit.

E-specs – This software will interface with Revit to construct specifications.

Success Estimator – This software from U.S. Cost will do cost estimating. Interfaces with Primavera.
Innovaya & Timberline – Also does cost estimating and will interface with Primavera and Microsoft Project. Innovaya also does visualization, communication, quantity takeoff, construction simulating, and so on.

IES & Green Building Studio – These softwares will take data from Revit in gbXML format and test for energy efficiency and LEED certification.

Revit API Examples (API is for developing applications that interact with Revit model data):

One application demonstrated a search on amazon for information describing books. The data was then fed into an application that utilizes the Revit API to assign the book name, cost, reference number, publisher name, etc to model objects in Revit which in this case happened to be books on a shelf. The application was demonstrating the future potential to populate object data from online catalogs for scheduling, spec writing, and analysis.

Another application demonstrated an alternative approach to design options. Instead of using the design options tool in Revit this application uses API to instantly swap model groups. Let's say you have 10 roof designs. Build them all and group the designs individually. The 10 options are now available in thumbnail view within the application. Using radio buttons an individual can mix and match hundreds of design iterations provided the options are all modeled and grouped.

Another application will generate custom designed reports from a template and will fill the report with any Revit data exported in ODBC format.

Communicating your data

2006-12-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

One of the things I've learned about Revit that some beginners may not know is that scheduling combined with 2D & 3D representation makes communicating an idea much easier. A parameter is basically any characteristic of a space or component that you want to illustrate, analyze or communicate.

For instance you can combine custom room schedules with color fill plans (drafting... color fill) on one sheet to better illustrate a building's program (coloring rooms by finish, by occupancy, by department, by mechanical zone, by security zone, etc)

You can model several curtain wall designs and schedule their estimated cost or other relevant parameter and place 3 dimensional renderings of your curtain walls next to the scheduled data.

It's relatively easy to do and doesn't require exporting Revit data to 3rd party applications for analysis.

Parameters and Massing

2006-12-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

When you're editing a mass keep in mind that you are infact in the family editor so feel free to add whatever shared parameters you'ld like for flexing, scheduling, and analysis.

AU summary

2006-12-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

Well AU was long and draining but well worth going to. I now have a better understanding of:

1. The Building Information Modelling/Management concept (its past, present, and likely future).
2. The different benefits of 3rd party applications and API plugins for analyzing, reporting, and modifying Revit data (having now seen them in action).
3. And unique modelling, documenting, and implimenting methods utilized by others in the Revit community.

I didn't do a lot of networking but I enjoyed the handful of people I met. I went to the Revit mixer but skipped a lot of the other evening events. The speakers were all very knowledgable and the event was extremely well coordinated from what I could tell. I have zero complaints.

I'll see about sharing some specifics in future posts.

AU2006 @ the Venetian

2006-11-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

I'll be in Vegas all next week at Autodesk University 2006. I've got a pretty full schedule but you might find me at the Revit Mixer or the Building Industry Party. Shoot me an email if you'ld like to meet up. I'll share what I can when I get back.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!

Revit Template Sharing

2006-10-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already joined the AUGI Revit forum here is yet another reason to join.

Edward Borg of Precision Drafting LLC has a dedicated FTP site for sharing cool Revit Project Templates and Families. You'll also find a Revit model of Calatrava's Turning Torso project in Malmö, Sweden. See how it was modelled.

1. Join Augi
2. Login
3. Browse the Revit Template Sharing thread

FTP Details:
Host name- precisiondraftingllc.com
User name: revit
Password: 09revit!

Linking building and site

2006-10-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

This is the procedure we use for linking building and site.

1. Once you have your building(s) modelled start a new project... Import your survey(dwg) into the new project and generate your toposurface from your imported instance.
2. Link your building(s) into your new site model and adjust their elevation and orientation so they are properly located in the topography. Do not relocate your topography. The topography is probably already oriented to true north and you'll want to preserve this orientation for rendering accurate sun angles.
3. Once your building(s) are located, place any building pads you need and make sure the elevations of your building(s) are where you want them. Now you're ready to share coordinates.
4. While in your site model goto Tools... Shared Coordinates... Publish Coordinates... and select your building(s) one at a time. This tool will share the coordinates of your site model (which is oriented correctly) with your imported building(s). Each building you select will require a named location. The default is Internal.

5. Save your site model. A dialog box will popup 'Save modified locations in 'Project.rvt' Go ahead and Save. You can also go to File... Manage Links... Revit... Save Locations. This procedure will open your linked model and save the new location into the linked project file but it won't affect any of your existing views in the building project file so not to worry.

6. Now that you have shared coordinates let's say you want the proper elevation to show in the levels of your building project file. While in your building project file just select a level... goto its properties... Edit/New... and change the Elevation Base parameter from Project to Shared.

7. We will often link the topography model back into the original building model for representing the topography accurately in sections and elevations. When you import the topography back into your building model make sure you Automatically Place... By Shared Coordinates. Your topography will import right where we want it to now that the two projects are sharing coordinates.

For more on Project Positioning see Steve Stafford's Revit OpEd.

Instant Section Box

2006-10-21T00:22:00.000-07:00

Scott Brown posted this on Zoogdesign ages ago but I thought it was pretty useful so I'll post it. While in plan view draw a floor plan callout... Go to any 3D view... Go to View... Orient... To Other View... and select your floor plan callout from the list of views. Rotate your view and you'll notice it's an instant section box. Very cool.

An ArchiCAD Blogger

2006-10-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Miguel Krippahl of Portugal is an ArchiCAD user and blogger who wants to know where are the ArchiCAD blogs are so if you find one or want to start one drop him a line.

Autodesk Impression

2006-10-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

Matt Rumbelow reports on his blog The Digital Architect that Autodesk Impression is now available for download. I've attached an image of one of our projects exported From Revit Building to dwg... imported into Impression... and rendered using out of the box tools. If you know photoshop, using this software is a snap.

A builder's perspective on BIM

2006-10-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Contractor's are starting to take a serious look at the BIM movement. If you're curious about what they're up to (bim) x is a new blog with a focus on BIM for contractors. Laura Handler is a Building Information Modeller with Tocci Building Corporation.

Building Pad Tips

2006-10-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

A building pad will cut the topography down or raise topography up to the elevation you need for cut and fill. The building pad tool does not allow for sloping pads yet. Here are a few tips for managing building pads.

1. Let's say your grade slopes up to the building and you want to show (in your elevations) exactly where the grade meets the building. Well, Revit will not create this line for you and there is no way to join the geometry of a toposurface to a wall to get the grade line to show. So, you'll have to sketch a building pad along the perimeter of your building footprint to get the grade line at building footprint to show.

2. Now let's say you need several building pads at different elevations for your slabs on grade, crawlspaces, and basements. If these pads share edges you'll notice right away that if you overlap pads in the slightest bit you'll get the following error message: "Pads can't overlap (but can share edges)." My first try at multiple building pads with shared edges I learned a very important lesson (after hours of effort). Using the align tool to align edges of your pads so they can share an edge often doesn't work no matter how many hours you waste trying to align edges. So, rather than aligning edges when you have multiple building pads with shared edges do this instead... after you sketch your first building pad... copy the shared portion of your sketch to the clipboard... finish your sketch... move on to your next building pad... and paste the contents of your clipboard (shared edges) into your new building pad sketch. This method of copying shared edges from one pad and pasting them into the adjactent pad will save you hours of wasted effort trying to align shared edges of building pads that just won't cooperate any other way.

Hope these tips help you save hours of work trying to manage building pads.

Revit Performance

2006-10-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Because we do a lot of high-end residential design most of our projects are very detailed and put Revit's performance to the test. We've noticed performance hits when modeling large topography surfaces and turning on shadows in any view. So we asked Autodesk a few questions. I thought I'd pass the answers on to Revit beginners (to improve performance turn off shadows and topography when not needed).

Questions:
Does Revit take full advantage of 64bit processors?
Does Revit take full advantage of dual processors?
Does Revit take full advantage of high-end graphics cards?

Answers:
Revit Building does not take full advantage of 64 bit of dual processors yet.

Multithreading with dual processors is supported only by the Radiate process with the AccuRender engine within Revit. However, since Windows can take advantage of this technology, the overall performance perception is better with dual processors, since Windows can distribute multiple applications to separate processors. For example, one processor will control Revit and the other one Outlook, leading to overall better workstation performance. Autodesk is working closely with Microsoft in this important update, and you should expect full support for this technology in the future.

High end cards are supported as long as drivers for Windows are available, but there are not Revit-specific video card drivers. The only option within Revit is to enable hardware acceleration, which can me done in the Setting menu, under Options > Graphics.

Most performance issues can be resolved by following the usual recommendations for keeping the project file size small and switching the 3G RAM option on your operating system. Please follow the recommendation on these solution documents:

Enabling 3GB feature for Windows® XP SP2
http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS1057453

Reducing file size of Revit® projects
http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS1057977

Revit® and Virtual Memory
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=8018971&linkID=3770375

In related news, Wes Macaulay on AUGI reports that the Section Box tool is more responsive in Revit 9.1. If you aren't already a member on AUGI I highly recommend signing up.

Materials in Families

2006-10-04T17:56:00.000-07:00

When building your families you might notice there are many ways to apply materials to your solids. Here are 4 ways to apply materials and some reasons for using each.

Element Properties
The most obvious method is to extrude a shape... go to its properties and specify a material for your solid form in the Material parameter under the Materials & Finishes group.

The Paint Tool
Goto Tools... Paint and you can also paint materials onto individual surfaces like the surface of a pool.

Material Parameters
While in the Family Editor go to Family Types... Add Parameter... and specify a new parameter of Type "Material." Now associate your new parameter to the Material parameter in Element Properties of the solid form (click tiny grey button). Once loaded into a project go to the Family's properties... Edit/New. You can now change the material from Family Type to Family Type. This method is very useful if you're expecting the material to change depending on the Family Type.

By Category
Extrude a shape... go to its properties and set your material to "By Category." You'll notice a parameter called Subcategory. To add a custom Subcategory go to Settings... Object Styles. After you've created your custom subcategory go back to the elements properties and assign the Subcategory to your solid form. Now when you load your family into a project file you can control materials globally in Settings... Object Styles. This method is very useful if you want to control the palette of your project globally from Object Styles.

2D vs 3D Datum

2006-09-29T23:46:00.000-07:00

You might notice that when you move the endpoint of a gridline in plan A it moves in plan B as well. Same goes for Reference Planes and Levels. Select a datum and it is selected in all views in which it is visible. You'll notice a blue icon that reads 3D. Click once on the icon and it switches to 2D mode. The datum is now view specific and free to move in this view independent from the same datum in other similar views.

Applying a crop region or scope box to a view can also affect the location of your datum extents.

To set a datum to 2D mode in all views select the datum, change it's mode to 2D and click on the Propagate Extents button in the options bar. The datum choosen is now free to move independently in all similar views.

Embedded Walls

2006-09-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

Walls can be embedded into other walls using the Cut Geometry command. Overlap two walls of different types... Select the Cut Geometery Tool... and click on the two walls (host wall first).

This behavior may be automatic for some curtain walls (like the storefront curtain wall). Go to the Type Properties of a Curtain Wall and you'll notice a parameter called Automatically Embed. This might be one way to model a niche.

Freedom Tower Webcast

2006-09-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested in seeing how structural and mechanical engineers are collaborating in Revit to design the Freedom Tower there is a webcast Thursday, October 5, 2006 from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. (PDT)

Surveys and Site Plans

2006-09-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

We quite often import survey data into Revit from DWG files given to us by the surveyor. Here are a few tips to consider when importing (and exporting) surveys.

1. Under File... Import/Link... CAD Formats... If you check "Link (instead of import)" you're keeping the project file size smaller. If you want to import the survey later you can always Import under File... Manage Links.

2. If you check "Current view only" your survey will only show in the active view (similar to detail lines). If you uncheck "Current view only" your survey will be visible in all of your views... elevations, sections, 3D views, etc (similar to model lines) and you'll have to adjust its visibility one view at a time.

3. Now let's say you've developed your site plan (with linked survey) and you want to export the data (including survey) back to DWG format. If you go to File... Manage Links... and Import your linked survey then it will export with the rest of your model to DWG format. If you don't Import your survey you'll notice that only revit components will export. The survey needs to be a part of the Revit model or Revit won't consider it when exporting your site plan to DWG.

UPDATE (09/27/06):
In Revit Building 9.1, when a DWG or DXF survey file is imported with the Current View Only checkbox checked, you cannot select the DWG/DXF instance to create a terrain model from the instance like you could with 9.0 and earlier versions. So imported data to be used for creating a toposurface must be imported with the Current View Only checkbox cleared. Thanks to Wes Macaulay on AUGI for posting this issue. Doesn't look like Autodesk is going to change this behavior.

Ductwork and Flues

2006-09-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

Found an interesting feature in sweeps today. Create a sweep with an arched path. Go to the sweeps properties and you'll notice two parameters (Trajectory Segmentation & Maximum Segment Angle). Set the Trajectory Segmentation to true and choose a maximum segment angle. You now have yourself ducts and flues in Revit Building.

AU Connect now online

2006-09-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

AU Connect is now online for those of you going to Autodesk University. Yes, I'm going this year. This will be my first year.

Modifying the Date Stamp

2006-09-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes users ask if the date stamp that appears on plots can be modified.

1. Select your titleblock... Edit Family... and you can change the font, size, visibility, and location of your date stamp.
2. What some beginners don't know is that you can also go to Regional and Language Options in Windows' Control Panel and customize the date and time formats.
3. If you still can't get the exact formating you want you can opt not to use the Date/Time Stamp parameter and create a new shared parameter of your own.

Loading Libraries

2006-09-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Goto File... Load from Library... Load Family and you'll notice icons on the left for Desktop, My Documents, My Computer, My Network Places, Imperial Library, Imperial Detail Library, and Training Files. Many beginners don't know that one can add to and customize this list of icons. Just goto Settings... Options... File Locations and add as many Libraries as you like.

To make loading families faster add a hotkey (like FF for Family Files) to the keyboardShortcuts.txt file:

"FF" menu:"File-Load from Library-Load Family"

NOTE: This tip can also be used for quickly loading project files. Go to File... Open and you'll see the same icons so you can add all your project directories too.

Family Templates

2006-09-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Let's say you have an office standard for how doors and windows should appear in plan view and you want to incorporate this or any other standard as part of your door and window templates. Here are a few things you should know:

1. Save your templates under a new name so users still have access to the door and window templates that ship with Revit.
2. To edit a template change it's file extention from .rft to .rfa.
3. Anything you place in the template can not be deleted once you open the template as a new family file (File... New... Family) so don't try to create new templates this way. Instead you should create new templates by changing an existing template file extention from .rft to .rfa and saving the template under a new name.

Two New Bloggers

2006-09-18T22:43:00.000-07:00

Troy Gates of Costa Mesa is an Application Engineer for L.A. CAD with a new blog called Revit Coaster. I look forward to reading his future posts.

J B Zallan of Los Angeles is a Revit, Architectural Desktop, AutoCAD consultant and Autodesk Approved Instructor who's sharing his thoughts at CAD vs BIM... A junkies guide to overcoming addictions to lines.

Check out the new SpacePilot (and to think I was just joking with the guys at work the other day when I said that all Revit needs now is a joystick).

Head & Sill Height Behavior

2006-09-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

Did you model a rough opening height for your window that has say a sloping sill and now your head height is not accurate in your schedule? This is why.

We've recently discovered that the Head Height instance parameter in a door or window family is calculated from Sill Height + Height (easy right? wrong). It's not the Default Sill Height parameter as you would expect but rather the lowest point of your geometry that defines the Sill Height Revit uses to calculate Head Height (Head Height = 2'-8" + 4'-0" but should be 3'-0" + 4'-0") .

Raise or lower the lowest point of your door or window opening 4 inches and load it into your project file. Everything may look fine until you go to the window's properties and notice the head and sill height are just plain wrong. They will also schedule wrong unless you do the following.

To resolve this set the Defines Origin parameter for the Sill reference plane to TRUE. (red flag: be sure and check head and sill heights in your window schedule before plotting if you do decide to use these parameters). Thanks to Steve Stafford for resolving this issue.

Utility Lines Workaround

2006-09-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

In AutoCAD you can add text to linetypes but you'll notice that in Revit you can't... unless you use this workaround. This workaround involves drawing a repeating detail line (with imported text) on top of a simple detail line.

1. Type out the text you want in AutoCAD (at a height of say 6") and save as a DWG.
2. Goto File... New... Family... Detail Component and import your DWG into your new Detail Component.
3. Place a masking region behind your imported text (as shown).

4. Load this Detail Component into your project.
5. Goto Drafting... Repeating Detail... Properties... Edit/New... Duplicate... and give your repeating detail a name (phone line as an example). Set Detail Rotation to "90° Counterclockwise" and spacing to something like 10'.
6. Now draw a detail line in any view of your project. Draw your repeating detail over your new detail line as though tracing the detail line.

Combining repeating details and detail lines you now have a workaround for creating utility lines for gas, elec, phone, sewer, storm drain, etc. Daphne (one of our staff) suggested trying this.

Wall Layer Wrapping Control

2006-08-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

Let's say you've set your wall type parameter "Wrapping at Inserts" to Both because you want the exterior and interior finishes to wrap (as shown below).

But you'll notice that by default Revit will wrap your layers to the centerline of the wall. I just discovered that you can adust where the wall wraps to. First thing you have to do is open the door (or other) family and add a reference plane (as shown below). Now select that reference plane and make sure that under its properties you change the Wall Closure parameter to TRUE. Lastly, add a dimension (like say 2 inches) and lock the dimension so that your reference plane is always 2 inches from your face of wall.

Now load your door family into a project and place it in a wall. Make sure the wall's Wrapping at Inserts parameter is set to Both. You'll notice that you can now control the location of wall layer wrapping.

You can also add a second reference plane to control exterior and interior wall layer wrapping separately.

Cost Estimating

2006-08-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

There are 3 ways we've found to estimate the cost of a project in Revit.

If you want to estimate the total cost of the project per square foot then setup an Area Plan scheme and Area schedule:

1. Goto Settings... Room and Area Settings... Area Schemes... New and add a scheme called Cost Estimating.
2. Goto View... New... Area Plan... Type... Cost Estimating... and break the project down into areas of differing cost per square foot.
3. To estimate the total cost goto View... New... Schedule/Quantities... Areas (Cost Estimating) and start adding the parameters you need to estimate the total cost.
4. You'll have to add a Calculated Value called "Estimated Cost" with a formula that looks something like (Area * Cost / 1 SF) so you can total the cost of each area.

If you want to estimate the total cost of the project by materials used then setup one of Revit's new Material Takeoff Schedules:

1. Some materials are estimated in Cost Per Linear Foot, some in Cost Per Square Foot, some in Cost Per Cubic Yard so I would first setup new project parameters for each estimate (Cost PLF & Cost PSF).
2. To calculate the total cost of materials goto View... New... Material Takeoff... Walls and start adding the parameters you need to calculate the cost of materials used in the walls.
3. You'll have to add a Calculated Value called "Estimated Area Cost" with a formula that looks something like (Area * Material: Cost PSF / 1 SF) so you can total the cost of material measured by area... (Length * Material: Cost PLF / 1') for "Estimated Linear Cost."
4. Now you can type in the cost for each material in the schedule. If you goto Setting... Materials... Identity you can also add a cost to each material here.

If you want to estimate the total cost of the project by unit cost then setup a Multi-Category Schedule:

1. To calculate the total cost of the project (by unit cost) goto View... New... Schedule/Quantities... Multi-Category and start adding the parameters you need to calculate the cost of all elements used. If you goto the Type Properties of each door, window, wall type, etc. you can also set a cost per unit here.
2. Now you can type in the cost for each material in the schedule.
3. Do not use Material Takeoff Schedule for estimating the total unit cost of doors and windows. Only use Material Takeoff Schedules when you want to schedule every material that is used in the door/window family separately.

If you want to do cost estimating outside of Revit you might try exporting the Revit model as an ODBC and importing the database into Timberline. Haven't tried it yet myself.

The Revit Experiment III

2006-08-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

Translating standard details from AutoCAD to Revit:

Now, you can import DWGs into Revit and not do anything else to them. You can also scan details and import them as images but we completely translated our details from PowerCADD to AutoCAD to Revit by way of DWG files so we could improve on their graphic quality once they were imported. Some things we noticed when importing DWGs:

1. Things that don't transfer well from AutoCAD to Revit include: text and leaders, dimensions, and hatch patterns. We typically remove dimensions, text, leaders and hatch patterns before we import DWGs into Revit.

2. We import (not link) the DWG into a Drafting View. If the "Link (instead of import)" option was checked when you imported the DWG you'll have to go to File... Manage Links... Import if you want to explode the dwg.

3. After importing a DWG we explode the detail. When you explode a DWG, Revit generates new (often unwanted) linestyles and names them according the the layer each object was originally assigned to. We typically reassign the imported linestyles to linestyles we created in Revit. We then add Revit's dimensions, text, leaders, and filled regions. When we are done we purge the unwanted linestyles that were imported from our DWG files when we exploded the DWG (File... Purge Unused).

4. Some might argue that you can PICK lines but we find exploding and reassigning linestyles much faster. By PICK lines I mean that you can place Revit Detail lines by essentially tracing over the imported DWG with the PICK lines tool.

5. After you get some experience translating a few details you should decide if re-creating a detail in Revit is faster than importing the DWG... might be for simpler details.

6. Non-ploting layers like Defpoints are not available in Revit.

7. If you save all of your roof details (as an example) into one project file you can later import these drafting views into any project you're working on. (from your project file just goto File... Insert from File... Views to import drafting views you've generated in other projects)

8. If you decide to import a DWG and you don't want to go through the trouble of translating it to a Revit detail consider setting up your DWG Import Settings to preserve lineweights (File... Import/Export Settings... Import Lineweights DWG/DXF).

The Revit Experiment II

2006-08-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

Using Revit's 2D Drafting tools:

Because beginners are not completely familiar with all of Revit's tools and because they are often faced with a deadline, beginners will likely rely on detail lines and filled regions to piece together plans, sections, and elevations for their first few projects. This isn't necessarily a bad habit as long as they are using detail lines and not model lines (detail lines are view specific but model lines will show up everywhere). The Revit 3D model is just a place to start. Even advanced users use detail lines, filled regions, and detail components to refine their drawings. Revit will start your drawings but you have to finish them.

Downloading Revit content (family files) from the internet:

BIMWorld is developing BIMLibrary a centralized, standardized and universally accessible 3D CAD models database for the international AEC end user community. Read the article here.

We find that while we can download a lot of content from the internet we usually have to tweak (and sometimes completely rebuild) the family files to get them to coordinate with our in-house standards with the exception of content downloaded from some manufacturer websites which is what I think BIMWorld is driving toward.

You can see content they've already created:
www.revitcity.com
library.bimworld.com

The Revit Experiment I

2006-08-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

7 months into my blogger experiment and I realize that I've talked a lot about Revit tips and tricks but I haven't really talked much about our transition to Revit. This will be the first in a series of posts on (drum roll).... The Revit Experiment.

In my first two years of using Revit I was using it almost exclusively for photo realistic rendering. I enjoyed setting up lighting and rendering mostly for interiors. The office I worked for didn't use Revit for developing working drawings but I do remember wishing that I could add text to linestyles (for phone, elec, gas, etc) and I remember having trouble understanding phases but I got a lot of help from users on Zoogdesign (now AUGI).

After two years I moved on to another office (a branch office with all of 4 staff) that was using MACs but was considering a move to PCs. So for a few months I learned how to use PowerCADD. The office eventually moved on to PCs and we used AutoCAD for a short time. When I mentioned that I had Revit experience the office bought a seat of Revit and I showed them what one could do with it, but I hadn't any experience doing working drawings in Revit... yet. In one year I've learned what I had to to develop working drawings, we've managed to build up some Revit content, we've organized our templates, and we are successfully developing our details and other drafting standards transfered from PowerCADD to AutoCAD to Revit. I will go into this in future posts. Now we are putting all of our projects into Revit.

I can't say it's been the smoothest ride. Transitioning from PowerCADD to AutoCAD to Revit on all the workstations meant resolving plotting problems every other day. This doesn't plot on the correct size sheet, that doesn't plot in the correct orientation, etc. Getting our plotter drivers properly configured has finally settled down, but I'm sure we'll have to grapple with this everytime we build a new PC.

Meeting once a week for an in-house Revit class has been very beneficial. Most beginners don't really know what questions to ask until they start using the software. Preparing content for a weekly in-house Revit class is a good idea but don't restrict yourself to any particular content. Users may already have questions prepared if they are truely interested in the software. Giving users room to try things, differently than you would, is also a good idea. Faced with a new program beginners sometimes find creative solutions to difficult problems. Supplimenting your in-house classes with classes offered by a reseller or Autodesk is highly recommended.

To be continued...

More Keyboard Shortcuts

2006-08-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

1. Hold the Delete key and delete items one-by-one by clicking on them.

2. Hold the Ctrl key and drag an object to copy it to a new location.

3. Select an object and Alt+Enter to edit the Element properties.

4. When placing an object next to an angled line or wall the spacebar will align the object to the line or wall.

Revit's Drafting Machine

2006-08-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

Overlooked by many beginners... For those of you who remember using drafting machines mounted to a drafting table you'll find a similar tool in Revit. Just turn on your Workplane (blue grid icon), set the spacing of its grid, and rotate the workplane to any angle you wish. Now any lines or walls that you draft will snap to the gridlines of your workplane. I recommend you use this feature if a wing of your building is not orthogonal.

A few interesting features

2006-08-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

1. Draw an arc (wall or line doesn't matter). Goto its properties and you can check "Center Mark Visible" if you need to dimension to the center point of an arc.

2. Callout a dimension and go to the dimensions properties... Edit/New... and play around with the Read Convention parameter. You'll notice you can now orient dimension text.

3. Shift + Nudge moves 10 times as far as Nudge.

4. Highlight Sheets (all) in your project browser. Now hold down Num Lock and press the Asterisk (*) key... or hold down Num Lock and press the minus (-) key. You'll notice the Sheets tree expands and collapses.

Autodesk University Blog

2006-08-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested in following events at Autodesk University 2006 Joseph Wurcher's blog is devoted to a behind-the-scenes look at this year's conference.

Press + Drag

2006-08-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Do you ever accidentally drag a wall or other model object across the screen when you didn't intend to move it? That's probably because the Press + Drag option is checked in your options bar.

It might be nice if Revit would let you pick and choose which model and annotation objects can be moved with the Press + Drag option. I usually keep this checked for moving furniture, fixtures, and especially annotations but I do once in a while accidently drag walls or other model objects resulting in numberous warning messages.

Auto Dimension Options

2006-08-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

Select the Dimension tool. In the options bar "Pick: Entire Walls" and select the "Options" button.

Select an exterior wall and you'll notice that you can now dimension the windows, doors, grids, and intersecting walls along the entire length of a wall.

Rafters on Top Plate

2006-07-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

If you've sketched your roof using Lines in the Roof By Footprint mode you'll notice that your roof may not be resting on your top plate the way you would expect it to.

Instead of adjusting the elevation of your roof manually... sketch your roof using Pick Walls instead. The roof will now rest on your top plate (Level 2).

But by default Revit will treat your roof joists as trusses. To get your rafter resting precisely on your top plate you will have to go into the roof's properties and change the "Rafter or Truss" parameter to Rafter. This parameter will not be available if you've sketched your roof using Lines.

Understanding how Revit places a roof in section can be difficult if you're not aware of this Revit behavior.

UPDATE (12/05/06):
Don't mix pick lines and pick walls in the same roof sketch or you'll experience ill formed roofs.

Stepped Foundation Plans

2006-07-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

We often have split level projects and we've had a lot of trouble isolating the stem walls and footings from the rest of the model for use in a foundation plan... that is until Revit 9.0 came along. You can now use Revit Filters to isolate your foundation from the rest of your project.

1. Duplicate your Basic Wall: Foundation - 12" Concrete for each stem wall and footing size you need. You could use a Continuous Footing for your footings but we avoid Continuous Footings because their intersections don't clean up as nicely as Basic Walls.

2. Add the Type Comment "Foundations" for each of your new walls. Go to the wall's properties... Edit/New... Type Comments.

3. Set up a filter... Settings... Filters... New... call it Foundations... Check Walls... Filter by Type Comments... Does not equal... Foundations... select OK to exit.

4. Go to your foundation floor plan and type VG. Goto Filters... Insert... Foundations... and uncheck Visibility so that only walls with the Type Comment "Foundations" will show.

5. In Visibility/Graphics go to Model Categories and uncheck everything except Detail Items and Walls.

The Visibility of your view is now set to show only your stem walls, footings, and annotations. You can use the Linework tool to change your footings to dashed lines or add another Filter for Footings. You may not want to use the method described above to build your foundation plans but I thought I'd share a use for Revit's new Filter function.

You can also use phases or worksets to isolate foundations, but we prefer the filter method.

Multiple Project Orientations

2006-07-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

Lets say you have three buildings on your site and they are all at different angles. If you go to View Properties you'll notice that for orientation you only have a choice between Project North and True North, but what if you need to work in plan views that are orthagonal to each building?

Just setup duplicate floor plan views for each building and turn on your crop regions. Select the crop region and you can rotate the view to any angle you need. Because you've created duplicate views you can now preserve the different angles in each view for all time. Keep in mind, Revit will rotate your view in the opposite direction that you rotate your crop region.

IFC/ODBC Software

2006-07-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

I'm exploring Cost Estimating, Facilities Management, Specification Writers, and Material Takeoff softwares that utilize IFC and ODBC data that can be exported from Revit. I've added links to some of these softwares on my blog. Please feel free to comment if you have any experience using IFC or ODBC data exported from Revit.

Parametric Column Families

2006-07-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

Have you tried everything and you can't get your column to stretch parametrically?

It can be a difficult task to figure out. There is no way to scale a column globally so that the proportions of your beautiful column are preserved (wishlist item alert) but we can show you how to build simpler columns that stretch properly.

The example below is an adjustable column with adjustable base.

First thing you need to setup are reference planes. We have the given Ref Level and we've created a Top of Base and Top of Capital. Remember to goto the plane's properties and give each plane a unique name (we will use this later). Dimension these planes and attach your parameters (as shown below).

Second you have to create each of your elements for base and capital. Now the trick is that after you've created your elements you have to Edit the work plane of each element so that the elements are attached to the reference plane you would like them to "travel with." when adjusting the height parameters.

In this example we've attached our elements to Ref Level, Top of Base, and Top of Capital (as shown below).

Now load your column into a project and place it on the 1st and 2nd floors to make sure that the elements are correctly placed and stretch properly in both scenarios.

View Range & Visibility Lessons

2006-07-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

We ran into two interesting View Range problems today.

Interior elevation tags from the first floor plan were mysteriously showing up on the second floor plan. That's because if the top of the crop region for an interior elevation view intersects the primary range (bottom clip plane) of the floor plan above, then the interior elevation symbol will show in the floor plan above. So you have to either lower the top of the interior elevation's crop region or you have to raise the bottom clip plane of the primary range in the floor plan above. Thanks to Steve Valenta on AUGI for pinpointing the exact solution.

While in the second floor plan we underlayed the 1st floor plan but the 1st floor plan walls were not visible while doors, windows, and fixtures were. That's because if the top of the wall below intersects the primary range (bottom clip plane) of the floor plan above, then Revit won't include the walls in the underlay. So we had to raise the bottom clip plane which shouldn't have been below the floor level anyway.

Free Revit User Guide

2006-07-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

Three resources I've recently learned of:

1. If you bought a seat of Revit you should be able to get a 708 page Revit User Guide free of charge. Just type in your part number and serial number here. Posted by Damian on AUGI.

2. You can find resolutions to many common problems at Autodesk's Support Knowledge Base.

3. You can also send your wishlist directly to Autodesk here.

Cleaning wall intersections

2006-07-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Most wall intersections clean but we've had a few projects that put Revit's wall cleanup function to the test. To fix some intersections takes pushing and pulling. Here are a few tips:

Edit Wall Joins Tool. Sometimes all it takes is using the Edit Wall Joins Tool under Tools... Edit Wall Joins (it is also located on the toolbar above). Cycle through the various options to find one that cleans properly.

Disallow Wall Join. Sometimes toggling the Disallow Join function will do the trick. Select one of the walls. You'll see a blue dot indicating the end point of the wall. Right click on this dot, do a "disallow join," then back to "allow join" and the intersection may heal.
The "push/pull" method. If you have 3 or more walls intersecting you can try pulling them apart and reconnecting them in different orders. This pushing and pulling is about as much fun as dental work but it sometimes solves the problem.
Nudging a wall can sometimes fix intersections at wall openings.
Trim Tool. You can try pulling the walls apart and use "Trim/Extend Single Element." We've found this feature useful for cleaning up a lot of intersections that didn't clean up using the methods above. Try trimming walls in different orders until you find one that works.
Split Tool. If nothing else works sometimes splitting one of the walls near the intersection will allow Revit to properly connect the wall intersection.
Linework Tool. You can use the Linework Tool to clean up intersections but one of the above methods should do the trick.
Cut & Paste Aligned. Autodesk's Knowledge Base also recommends you try cutting one of the walls (Ctrl+X) and goto Edit... Paste Aligned... Same Place.
Edit Cut Profile. As a last resort you can use this tool to clean up connections.
Join Geometry can also clean some connections.

Worksets Basics and Tips

2006-06-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

I'll give you a basic intro to worksets and provide a few tips we've learned.

When you have a large project and you want multiple users editing a project at the same time you have to impliment Worksets because Revit typically keeps all project data in a single project file unlike Autocad where we typically separate the project into multiple files.

Goto File... Worksets... to active the Worksets feature in your project file. Revit will by default divide the project into 2 worksets "Shared Levels and Grids" and "Workset 1." All of your model objects will initially reside in Workset 1. You can further divide Workset 1 into other user-created worksets at some future time.

Save your new project file to a central server where everyone can access it. The file you're working in is now the Central File. Before making any more changes to the project file goto File... Save As... and save a local copy of this central file to your desktop (each user should save a local copy onto their desktop before they start working on a project file). You now have a Central File on the server and a duplicate Local file that you will be working in. If you ever wanted to make your Local copy a Central File goto Options when you Save As and check the box to "Make this the Central location after save."

Now from your local copy goto File... Worksets (there is also a worksets toolbar available). When a workset is opened it is loaded into memory and visible in all views. If you find the project is too slow with all the worksets opened then just close the worksets you won't be working on, but remember to open all the worksets again before plotting.

When you make a workset Editable you are the sole owner of a workset. You are the only person who can edit the workset.

When you select an object that's in a Non Editable workset you'll see a blue puzzle icon. Click on the icon and Revit will let you Borrow the element provided there are no users who Own the workset you're borrowing from.

You can rename and edit worksets that are User-Created. The three other workset types View Worksets, Family Worksets, and Project Standards are automated worksets that you can only turn on/off.

Here are a few tips we've learned in implimenting Worksets:

1. Enable worksets when you expect to have multiple users accessing the project file at the same time or when you expect the project is going to get so big that keeping the whole project open is going to be a strain on your workstations resources.
2. If you're going to open and close worksets for increased speed it is best to initiate the worksets feature as soon as possible. If you don’t initiate worksets early on you’re going to have to assign every model object to a workset after they’ve already been created and that can be a lot of unnecessary work.
3. If you are just going to use worksets so multiple users can access one file then the worksets feature can be enabled at any time. I would advise against adding more than the (2) default worksets unless the project file is just too slow and you're willing to spend half your time managing objects and the worksets they reside on.
4. When ever possible BORROW elements instead of OWNING worksets. We find that no matter how you divide your worksets users inevitably need to work on different parts of the same workset.
5. If you can help it do not use worksets to control visibility of objects in a view. Worksets are for closing large parts of the model when loading them is a strain on the resources of your workstation and for making project files accessible to multiple users.

There is a lot more to know about worksets but hopefully this gives you a place to start.

Section Annotation Features

2006-06-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

There's more to Sections than meets the eye.

1. Goto the View... Section. You'll notice that you can select between a Building Section, Wall Section, and Detail View. Select the Detail View. In the options bar you'll notice that you can "Reference other view" (for referencing a drafting view that is already present). Place a Detail Section. Now goto View... Callout and place a Detail Callout. You'll notice that graphically they look different but they serve the same purpose and function in much the same way. Beginners often overlook that one has the choice between these two Detail Annotation styles.

2. Place a building section line and select it. You'll notice two blue circular arrows show up at either end of the section line. Click on it to cycle through section tail types. You'll also notice a blue breakline in the center of the section. Click on it to break the section into segments.

3. Place a building section line and select it. In the options bar you can "Split Segment." Place your cursor anywhere on the section line and start splitting the section line into segments.

4. Sometimes section lines disappear. Right click on the section and you can "Hide annotation in view." Goto the sections properties and you'll notice the parameter "Hide at scales coarser than." If your view is at a scale coarser than the parameter shown then the section annotation will disappear.

5. You can goto Settings... View tags... Section tags... to change the look of building, wall, and detail section annotations. Goto Settings.. View tags... Callout tags... to change the look of detail callouts. You can only choose from loaded Section and Callout Head annotation symbols. Edit those families for more custom heads.

Now a common problem is how do I get a section line EXACTLY where I want it?

Let's say you wanted a section at a very specific angle and at a very specific place in plan view that is not orthogonal. Just draw a reference plane at the angle you want (and in the location you want for your section line) then place your section line adjacent to the reference plane. The section line will snap to the angle of an adjacent reference plane but won't snap to the reference plane itself. Now, to align your section line with the reference plane the align tool isn't going to work. So, select the move tool, hover over the section tail (revit will snap to the section line), and just move the section from it's present location to the reference plane.

One last thing. If you don't like the look of Revit's Elevation tag you could design your own section head (for use as an elevation tag) and use these modified sections instead of the given elevation tags.

Callout Annotation Features

2006-06-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Goto View... Callout. You'll notice you can select a Floor Plan or Detail View callout. Select Detail View and draw a callout in plan view. Select the callout and goto its properties. You'll notice the parameter "Show in" is set to "Parent view only". Change it to "Intersecting views." Now place a building section in plan view that intersects the callout region.

Goto the building section and you'll notice Revit automatically placed a Detail view section annotation.

Sort by Submittal Package

2006-06-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

Quite often we need to organize our plots for different submittal package sets (Schematic Design Presentation, Land Use Permit, Plan Check, Construction Admin, etc). Revit has the built-in ability to do this. Just goto File... Print... Selected views/sheets... Select... Here you can check off the sheets you want to plot and you can save those changes for different submittal packages. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about any annotation references that cross over between submittal packages.

We decided that we also wanted to be able to sort the sheets in our project browser (and our drawing lists) by Submittal Package. It's possible but it's not an easy thing to do.

First, go to Settings... Project Parameters... Add. Now type in the Name "Submit for SD"... select the Yes/No Parameter... and check the category Drawing Sheets.

Now goto Settings... Browser Organization... Sheets... New. Call your new Browser Tree "Submit for SD". Goto the Filter tab... Filter by Submit for SD... Equal To... Yes. Now exit the Browser Organizer (while saving changes), right click on Sheets (all) in your project browser, and click on Properties. You'll notice your new Browser Tree "Submit for SD" is in the Type drop down list. Select the "Submit for SD" option.

Now goto View... New.. Drawing List... and add ALL the parameters (including Submit for SD). Leave the name Drawing List. If you look at your new schedule you'll notice that under the column Submit for SD you can check which sheets you want to apply to your Schematic Design Submittal Package. If the check boxes are greyed out just select them one at a time to active them. You might also notice that as you check and uncheck different sheets that your list of sheets in the project browser changes too.

Now that we can sort our project browser by Submittal Package we have a new problem. The Drawing List on our coversheet shows ALL the drawings from ALL the different packages. We're going to need a different Drawing List for each submittal package. You'll probably want different Coversheets for each submittal package too so set up a coversheet for each of your submittal packages starting with an SD coversheet.

Goto View... New.. Drawing List... and add the parameters: Submit for SD, Sheet Number, and Sheet Name. Click on the Formatting tab and select Submit for SD. Make this parameter a Hidden Field. Click on the Filter Tab and Filter by Submit for SD... equals... YES. Select OK and rename this drawing list "Drawing List - SD". Now you can do the same for each of your submittal packages (LUP for Land Use Permit, ConDocs for construction documents, etc). Drag each of your new Drawing Lists into their respective coversheets.

Now if Autodesk would add the Print Set parameter to Drawing Lists fields then we could coordinate the sheet browser, drawing list, AND the Print Range settings.

Edit Cut Profile Tool

2006-06-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

Do you want a niche cut out of your wall for a soap dish or other amenity?

Draw a wall in plan view. Goto Tools... Edit Cut Profile. Select the wall in plan view. Now sketch a shape for your cut (like you would the Split Face Tool) Finish sketch and you'll notice the shape of the wall was cut. While in edit mode a blue arrow controls which side you want to keep.

This tool works in Plan, Section, and RCP views. This tool is view specific (ie. Any niche you cut out of your wall using this tool won't show in any other view.)