Autodesk Revit Tutorials

Autodesk Revit MEP 2012 Win32 & Win64

2011-11-20T06:54:00.003-08:00

Autodesk Revit MEP 2012 Win32 & Win64 | 2.67 GB

Autodesk® Revit® MEP Building Information Modeling (BIM) software for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineers supports more accurate and efficient building systems design projects from concept through construction.

Features:

* Design building systems more accurately using coordinated, consistent information inherent in the intelligent Revit MEP model.
* Analyze for efficiency with integrated analysis earlier in the process.
* Keep documentation coordinated and consistent with parametric change management technology.
* Deliver 3D models and documentation to support the building lifecycle.

AutoDesk Revit Architecture 2012 Win32 & Win64

2011-11-20T06:52:00.003-08:00

AutoDesk Revit Architecture 2012 Win32 & Win64 | 2.77 GB

Autodesk Revit Architecture building design software works the way architects and designers think, so you can develop higher-quality, more accurate architectural designs. Built for Building Information Modeling (BIM), Autodesk Revit Architecture helps you capture and analyze concepts and maintain your vision through design, documentation, and construction. Make more informed decisions with information-rich models to support sustainable design, construction planning, and fabrication. Automatic updates keep your designs and documentation coordinated and more reliable.

Revit 2012 – Workplane Viewer

2011-11-20T06:15:00.000-08:00

The Workplane first appeared in the Revit 2011, but was restricted to the conceptual massing environment only. Fortunately, for UI consistency & to help improve your workflow, Autodesk have made the Workplane Viewer available in the normal Revit modelling environment as well as the family editor. The Workplane Viewer is a temporary view which opens as a separate floating window to allow you to edit selected elements.The viewer displays elements from the selected Workplane making the editing of items easier, rather than having to fight your way through the project browser to find the appropriate view. It should be noted that the Workplane viewer is totally separate to the project browser.

To enable the Workplane Viewer, go to the home tab & find the Workplane tools, then locate the Viewer icon.

Clicking the Viewer icon will open up the Workplane floating window. This can be resized & repositioned as required.

When the Workplane viewer is opened, it will display the active Workplane. You will noticed you have a “view cube” icon in the top right corner. By clicking on this you can orient to different views of the active Workplane without disrupting the view you are working on in the active Revit window.

If you change to a different view in the main Revit canvas, say from a plan to an elevation, the Workplane Viewer does not automatically follow & update its view so they correspond.

However, if you choose to edit a wall profile in an elevation view, as soon as you select the wall, the Workplane Viewer will indeed follow & the Viewer will update to display the active or selected plane.

Choosing to edit the wall profile will obviously enable the sketch mode. The nice thing here is that you can also edit the sketch in the Workplane Viewer.

A point to watch; if you decide to edit a wall profile; before editing the wall, it will display as a element which can be selected in the Workplane Viewer.

Refer to the image below, see how the item can be selected…..Now, if you decide to edit the wall profile, you will notice once you have edited the wall you can no longer select from the Workplane Viewer as its greyed out. I am not sure if this is “as design”, but its one to watch out for.

Posted by David Light

Image composition – Revit & Vasari

2011-11-20T06:13:00.000-08:00

I’m not even going to attempt to take credit for this, but at the recent Excitech Revit forum, Paul Grimston, one of Excitech technical consultants, showed how to use rendering in Revit & Photoshop to create some incredibly compelling renderings. Its nothing I hadn’t seen in the past, but the using of ambient occlusion was very interesting. Be sure to checkout the download pdf for the Revit Architecture forum which explains a bit more.

Project Neon – Revit 2012 cloud rendering awesome!!!!!

2011-11-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

Be sure to check out Project Neon for Revit 2012.

http://neon.labs.autodesk.com/index.aspx

Project Neon has recently been updated to allow you to do cloud based rendering from Revit 2012. Just sign up, download & install the Revit 2012 plugin & you are good to go! I threw a couple of render at the system today & I am very impressed. It will even notify you once you render is complete!

Once the plugin is installed, you will find another tab which allows you to publish your render online or to view your render gallery.

The images can be rendered using all the normal settings with Revit. You simply click the “render online” button, pick your 3d view you want, set the image quality, then the image size, followed by the File format. You have three file formats to choose from PNG, JPG & TIF ; then just hit the “Start Rendering” button.

Your file is the published to the cloud where a host of super computers rip through the render in no time at all. Once the render is complete, you are alerted via email. Login to Project Neon & you can view & download your completed render from there. You will need to set up the exposure settings on your host workstation before hand but that's a small price to pay for the speed of rendering. Be sure to give it a go! This is genuinely an exciting development for the Revit user & harness the essence of cloud based computing.

Posted by David Light

Revit 2012 - Reporting Parameters in CW Panels - By David Light

2011-11-20T06:06:00.000-08:00

I must admit, I don’t why I hadn’t picked up on this one before, but at RTC USA there was an interesting discussion that took place as well as being highlighted by Harlan Brumms in his class on solving common Autodesk Revit Architecture problems on using reporting parameters in curtain wall panel families.
This got me thinking, if reporting parameters can indeed be used in curtain wall panel families, they should be able to drive the depth of panels. If you can report the width & height of a panel, this will provide you with an area value. This could then be used in conditional formula which will parametrically alter the overall depth of individual panels.
For this exercise I started with a curtain wall panel.rft

Next I drew a very simple extrusion in the front elevation plan & locked the extrusion sketch to the reference planes.

I then dimensioned the vertical & horizontal reference plans. Its important you dimensions the reference plans & not the level embedded in the family.

Then select the horizontal dimension you just created & pick the label feature to turn the dimension into a parameter. Name the parameter to something like “width”, set it to an instance parameter & ensure you check the Report Parameter radio button.

Repeat what you did for the width parameter, turning the vertical dimension into a reporting parameter labelled as “height”.
Go to the Ref. Level view, select the extrusion; in the Properties Palette, locate the Extrusion End parameter, hit the Associate Family Parameter button.

This will open up the Associate Family Parameter dialogue box. Hit the Add parameter button & create a new instance parameter called “depth”. This doesn’t need to be a reporting parameter.
Go to the Family Types dialogue & create a new Area parameter as a instance.
Go back to the Family Types dialogue box & do the following; in the formula for the Area parameter we will multiply the width X height to give us our Area.

Next we will add a conditional formula to the depth parameter. So we will use this formula as a test example.
if(area < 4 m², 1200 mm, if(area < 6 m², 600 mm, 100 mm))
What this conditional parameter will do formula is allow the depth of the panel to change based on the resulting area value of the panel. If is less the 4m squared it will be 1200mm thick, less the 6m & it will be 600mm, else it will be 100mm thick,

Next save your panel family with a suitable name. Start a new project, load your newly created panel family into the new project. Using the wall tool draw a straight segment of curtain wall. With the curtain wall selected, go to the Properties Palette, pick the Edit Type button, this will open up the Types Dialogue box for the Curtain Wall.

Set the Curtain Panel to your new loaded curtain wall panel. The cw system will automatically file with the new panel. Finally, using the Curtain Grid tool, start to divide up the curtain wall.

As you divide the curtain wall, depending on the panel size, the area of the panel will be calculated in turn informing the depth of the panels.

The values I added to the conditional formula are not cast in stone, you can easily modify them to get different results or even make a more complex conditional formula. I have quickly knocked up a youTube Video which supports the above workflow, although I don’t follow it from start to finish, but it should reinforce what I did.

Creating Elliptical Walls In Revit in 2012 by Posted by Phil Read

2011-11-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

Here's one way to get around making a series of walls in Revit that come Pretty Darn Close (TM) to being elliptical. But first, you need to take a moment and watch David Light's version:

What's deceptive about this (for those of you that don't know David) is that David has a foreign accent. This gives him a voice of certainty and moral authority that is unquestionable. I (on the other hand) have no such advantage. My accent is an annoying twang that starts in New Jersey and finishes in Charlotte, NC. And I talk to fast when I get excited.

That being said, I think I've figured out this solution. But rather than subject (get it..."subject"...as in British subject...as in USA=1, Britain=0...oh never mind) you to my voice, I've added a sound track courtesy of the FLAT TIRES:

Revit 2012 – massing & voids by David Light

2011-11-20T05:57:00.001-08:00

This may seem rather obvious to the seasoned Revit user; but for the new kids on the block, when using voids to cut massing geometry in Revit, sometimes you need to think a little differently. The process of using voids to cut geometry can be a bit confusing. This is especially so, since the way voids cut in the conceptual massing tools is a little different compared with voids in say the in-place editor or family editor.. For instance, take a look at the image below. This was created by generating a freeform surface using the massing tools….then roof by face to generate the actual geometry for the roof.…it looks reasonably straight forward to achieve, but you need more then two voids to cut the initial massing surface.

Let me explain in more detail…..
So the surface was created using the massing tool, which consisted of a series of spline reference lines, then a surface generated between the reference lines. As indicated below.

Next up, a inner boundary & a outer boundary of reference lines where sketched. These will be used to form the voids which will cut the surface.

Now the natural logic here is to also create a large rectangle to go beyond the surface, like this…..

However, this is not going to work for us, because if you try & build the void, from the rectangle & trimming reference lines you are going to get the dreaded “Unable to create form element error”.

Instead, you need to create two voids from reference lines to cut away the excess surface. With a reference lines configuration like this.

The image below, hopefully explains it a little better.
All we then need is to create a void from the inner reference lines to cut the opening & we are good to go.

You may need to use the Cut Geometry tool to force the cutting.

I hope the above makes sense, I guess I should really do a youtube video to explain it in more detail, but this should at least give you some useful guidance.

Revit Architecture 2012 - Custom Pool and then Rendered

2011-11-20T05:52:00.001-08:00

Custom Revit Family Pool for a House in Belize

Revit Architecture 2012 - Tutorial 09

2011-11-20T05:43:00.001-08:00

Basic Editing Commands

Revit Architecture 2012 tutorial - Walls Advanced 2

2011-11-20T05:27:00.000-08:00

Downloadable Content This Tutorial will go through Walls at a advanced Level: Locking layers, Disallowing joint and allowing joint, Wall by Face, Stacked walls

Revit Architecture 2012 Tutorial - Floors

2011-11-20T05:26:00.000-08:00

Downloadable Content This tutorial will go through all the ways to create floors and more: Creating floors, Raft foundation, slope in floor

Revit Architecture 2012 Tutorial - Model In-Place

2011-11-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

ownloadable Content This Tutorial will go through model in-place at a advanced Level: Extrusion, sweeps, planes, setting plane

Revit Architecture - Getting Started, Revit Interface Part 1

2011-11-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

Revit Architecture 2012 tutorial - Walls Advanced 1

2011-11-20T05:21:00.000-08:00

Downloadable Content This Tutorial will go through Walls advanced: Sweeps, Reveals, Split Walls, Wall Profile, Modify walls, Layers, Function, material, thickness, wraps, window wrap and join

Revit Architecture 2012 tutorial - Template File Part 1

2011-11-20T04:48:00.000-08:00

Downloadable Content This Tutorial will go through what is need to create a good template file. Part 1 will go through : Levels, Window & Door Tag, Fill Pattern, .Pat File, Word Pad, Object Styles, Visibility Graphics, Over Ride, Arrow Heads and Text.

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012 - Posted by David Light

2011-04-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012

Today Autodesk announced details of the 2012 AEC portfolio and once again this is my yearly roundup / review of the Autodesk Revit Architecture product. Similar to last year, the alpha for this release started particular early, so those involved in this feedback process got a good insight into what was being proposed. In fact when I visited Autodesk last year I go an early preview of some of the work that was taking place. I was fortunate enough to sit in on one of the development meetings where the concept scoping document was being discussed on a particular feature in this release. This was extremely enlightening; my overall opinion was that it was very similar to how the AEC industry works. In our case, we are the clients, we decide what we want and propose this to the researchers (the architect), the researchers then work with the developers (the contractor) to see how best to actually build the design. It is the architect as well as the contractor’s responsibilities to work within the budget constraints and to deliver the product on time. Fair enough, this is a simplistic view on the situation and it is probably not as black and white as what I have described, as there are many factors that could and will disrupt the development process.

So back to the Revit Architecture 2012; I will just be covering the Architectural and major platform enhancements and features; I am sure others will do a better technical review of Structure and MEP improvements than I will do.

So the key highlights include:-

Revit Server
Citrix Ready Release
Autodesk Vault Collaboration AEC
Linking Improvements
Work Sharing
Improved DWG export fidelity
Visualisation Enhancements
3d Tagging
Modelling Enhancements
UI tweaks and adjustments
Performance
Construction Modelling
Massing enhancements
Materials
Point Cloud Support
IFC

Revit Server

Revit Server was introduced as part of the mid-year subscription drop; my blog article back in October provides an overview of RS if you need to know more. RS has been further enhanced in 2012 and provides new platform server support for VMWare and Windows 2008 server release 2. More detailed historic information is available from the Revit Server administration tools and there is now support for editing requests and notifications. Another nice feature is the new command-line “RevitServerTool”, this has been provided to allow you to create a local file from a central stored on Revit Server, without having to use Revit itself. RS also provides support of all the new working sharing enhancements in this release, more about those later.

Linking Improvements

As project teams push Revit harder and the tools gets utilised on more challenging projects the concept of linking models together has become more prevalent. The original concept of one super model which can do everything has migrated to a more holistic and realistic approach of linking models. With this in mind, the need to enhance the linking abilities between models has become a user priority. The 2011 release saw a number of key improvements within this area, 2012 sees these extended further. Tagging has been extended to allow you to Tag Rooms in linked Architectural and MEP files. Spaces can be tagged in linked MEP files. Keynoting tags now work across all linked file types whether they are Architectural, MEP or Structural files. Area tagging now works on linked Architectural and MEP models. The ability to Tag Rooms alone is worth its weight in gold as this limitation causes projects teams major headaches with the need to setup linked views etc to accommodate this previous limitation. The managed links dialog also see some minor tweaks. The Revit links tab is now positioned first, Users can now sort the columns by clicking the header of the columns. The default columns sizes have been improved to make reviewing and reading easier. Building on 2011, additional MEP elements categories have been made available to the copy / monitor function.

Working Sharing

I would have to say that one of the biggest areas of improvement for Revit 2012 is within the Worksharing workflow. It pulls together a number of outstanding requirements, requests and disconnected technology implementations and delivers something which addresses everything that I personally saw as a shortfall in Worksharing. A new feature called Worksharing Visualization allows you to view in canvas the ownership status of elements, specific owners of elements, when elements are out of date as well as which elements are assigned to a particular Worksets.

A new view control bar has been added to each window which allows you to access these new Worksharing graphic features. When you go into a particular mode text in canvas is used to indicate which temporary display mode you are using.

The tool tip feature has also been expanded providing the user with more Worksharing information as you hover over a particular element; where once you had to wait a fraction of a second for the tool tip to appear it is now instantaneous. A major limitation of Revit in previous years has been the inadequate functionality of the edit requests feature. This tool, has from my memory never been improved? Where project teams have been disconnected geographically or just within the office, the use of instant message tools has become the norm to let team members know that you have placed a request or borrow an element or to get someone to relinquish and sync to central. The Worksharing monitor released a few years back did go some way to assist, but it was really on stop gap solution. However, when Revit Server was introduced, you quickly discovered that the Worksharing monitor was not supported in the environment! So it is refreshing to see that Revit 2012 now provides balloon notifications when editing requests. When you receive request, you can use the buttons provided to show the elements that need to be relinquished. No more throwing items at your team members to get them to relinquish borrowed items!

Its pleasing to see that Workset Visibility can now be managed by view templates!Another minor improvement is the introduction of a Starting View. We at HOK along with many other firms, choose to have a starting view. This view in our case is a drafting view which indicates project details and is the neutral view we encourage all our users to save in. This ensures that everybody gets the same view when they create a new local copy and experience has shown that this view opens quicker than having to wait for a large 3d view to appear on the screen. Therefore, the new Starting View command allows you to specify which view appears by default when you open the file. Another minor tweak is the ability to change the Workset parameter without first needing to borrow an element.

Finally, the most potentially useful as well as “dangerous” feature is the ability to disable Worksets. This really has been a long standing request, because once Worksetted, officially you were unable to disable Worksets. Technically this is not true, as this functionality has been lurking around in the background for some time, but it has never been exposed to the user. Whilst it will be a very useful feature, without careful and proper management it could spell disaster if it gets into the hands of the Revit novice! Therefore, this feature has been hidden out of the way and has been integrated into the detach from central workflow. When detaching from central you can detach and preserve Worksets or you can detach and discard Worksets which in effect turns it back into a standalone file.

DWG Exports

DWG export fidelity from Revit has been well…….fine for the purpose it was intended for! I have said for a long time that it’s ok, but will never provide the same quality you would get if it was drawn in AutoCAD in the first place. But it has been a long standing request by many to improve the output that Revit provides. Now this creates a tricky challenge as you are trying to convert the output from one technology suitable for use in another technology. We are often the executive architect and we produce the designs in Revit up to DD or stage D (RIBA); the local architects we often work with don’t have the latest technology, so AutoCAD is often their delivery tool. So in this occasion the best quality dwg export is the order of the day. As more firms become Revit enabled this will be less of an issue.

Revit 2012 sees improvements across the board; the export user interface has been updated, pre-sets can be saved once you have configured the output to your requirements. The export settings can be transferred between projects, using the Transfer Project Standards command. Revit 2012 is now able to export style based dimensions; this will ensure that the dimension text is controlled by the text style and the tick mark is controlled by the arrow heads properties; no more proxy graphics to represent dimensions in the DWG export.

Lines, Patterns, Text and Fonts, Colours, Geometry type, Units can also be customized to a far more granular level of detail. In the case of Lines types you can map Revit to use a .LIN file and Hatch Patterns you can map to a use a .PAT file. All this should help to improve the clarity of DWG exports from Revit. I do hope it will meet most users’ needs, especially where you need to match to existing DWG CAD standards. But I will reiterate, whilst it is a major improvement, you shouldn’t take for granted that this will resolve all your DWG clarity problems, there are some very complex CAD standards out there!

General Platform Improvements

Revit 2012 release also sees a number of improvements to the user experience. You will find that the highlight and selection colours have been updated. Another obvious improvement is the New Grip Graphic; these now appear visually better on the screen. The temporary Dimensions graphics have been tweaked and these are now blue rather than black. These are just minor tweaks, but they do improve the interaction experience and it genuinely improves the fit and finish of the product.

The Graphic Display Options Dialog box has also gone through a major overhaul. You are now able to create a View Template directly from this reconfigured Dialog. After user feedback from Revit 2011, there are now a number of additional visual styles such as:

Realistic with Edges mode with Realistic views.
Ambient Occlusion for Hidden Line mode.
Ambient Occlusion along with Shadows for Consistent Colours mode.

Another sneaky little gem is the ability to print Ambient Occlusion! You will also find the introduction of Ghost Surfaces. This is a new graphic mode which will display surfaces with 30% transparency. This is particularly useful and will provide the user with additional control over complex 3D visualisations. The Ghost Surface feature can be applied to whole view, by category, by element or as a filter. Below you can see the image has had the Ghost Surfaces applied.One of the foremost benefits of working in Revit and 3d is the ability to generate assembly 3d views and 3d details. I have said it many times, but give somebody a 3d isometric of an assembly and they will have a better understanding of how the components go together. The guys over at Lego have been doing this for years!!! So Revit 2012 now includes a new 3d view lock feature which allows you to lock to an orientation of a 3d and then tag elements within the view. The user has 3 possible options available; save orientation and lock the view, restore orientation and lock the view, unlock the view. This is control via the View Control Bar.

Whilst I am on the subject of 3d, final Revit 2012 sees 3dconnexion device support. You will need to install the current drivers for you 3dspace mouse, but when you do an appropriate 3dspace mouse icon will appear on the Navigation Bar.

When Autodesk switched to the Ribbon, one rather nice feature in 2010 was the ability to have Type Selector positioned in the Ribbon. Revit 2011 stole us of this feature and the Type Selector migrated its way to the Properties Palette. But I am glade to say the Type Selector in the Ribbon is back. If you right mouse click over the type selector in the Properties Palette you can add it to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) as well as the Ribbon.

Schedule and legends views can now be created directly from the project browser. Just go to Schedule / Quantities or Legends in the Project Browser, right mouse click and choose from the drop down menu.

Other user experience tweaks include the ability to export Family Types from a Project to a TXT file, import types into a family from TXT file, save all families from a project or a family, customizable equality text, a number of improvements to Dimension Leaders and a new Round Function for Formulas.

As with every release of Revit, Autodesk strive to improve the product performance. Purge Unused now includes unused Imported Categories and Object Styles, loading elements into memory now has multi-threading support. Also Multi-threading has also been extended to the calculation of silhouette edge graphics as well as graphical representation of model elements in open views, when changing view properties of a view.

Core Modelling

You will discover various number improvements that were implemented in Revit 2011’s massing tools have migrated their way into 2012’s project environment. The solid-solid cut tool can now be used on family instances.

The workplane Viewer is now available in the project environment and you can now use Adaptive Components in the project environment; you will discover that shape handles have been provided to improve the placement and positioning of AC’s. Although it should be not that there are some restrictions on the use of AC’s, you will only be able to use AC’s in Revit Architecture, no Revit Structure or Revit MEP support for the time being. The creation of surface sub-regions on non-planar surfaces in the Conceptual Environment, which first appeared as part of the subscription drop, has been enhanced further. It is accessible via the Split Face tool in the Geometry panel. This allows you to draw on the surface of non-planar surface and apply different materials to the sub-region using the Paint tool. An essential feature when apply materials to masses for energy analysis exercises. A long standing request from the Revit community is to allow families to cut other families. So 2012 now allows face-based void families to be hosted on and cut Structural Framing, Columns, Structural Foundations or Generic model families within the Project. Also, families which just contain voids only and don’t actually cut anything in the family itself can be used to cut walls, floors, roofs, ceilings as well as the family types mentioned previously. This starts to resolve a number of use cases such as holes in beams or the ability to automatically cut an opening in a worktop when placing a sink.

Revit and Construction

As the Revit platform starts to take its grip on the AEC industry as the BIM technology of choice, Autodesk is starting to ensure that Revit can be utilised in other parts of the AEC workflow. A number of contractors have made a serious investment in Revit and are utilising the tool in their workflow. If anybody has seen what Tocci Construction are doing with Revit, you will know exactly what I mean. Therefore, to start to move into this arena and to address the complexities and finesse of Construction Modelling, Revit 2012 introduces the ability to Create Parts and Divide the model. These features are purely focused at construction engineer who needs to split the model into smaller component parts.

Parts are produced by breaking down the compound components which make up walls, roofs, ceilings and floors. When you select a wall for instance and choose to create parts, the wall will break down into its individual component layers. The individual parts do retain the geometric relationship with its original element. However, Parts do have their own properties, so they can be scheduled and can be modified independently. By enabling the grip handle functionality available from the properties palette you can pull the various layers around. Once Parts are made, you can then use the Divide Parts Command to divide the compound Part further by using sketch lines on the active workplace.

Assembly and Assembly views have been introduced to resolve certain pre-cast construction workflows. To generate an assembly, you select the elements you want to group as part of your assembly, and then choose the Create Assembly Command. Once you have created the assembly and named it, it will appear under assemblies in the project browser. You can then generate views from the assembly by clicking on the create views commands. This allows you to create shop drawings of components which are independent of the main model. Both these features have massive potential; it will start to allow for more granular detailing. A word of warning though, these feature are only available in Revit Architecture and Structure; when you break your model into parts it will add weight to your model as the original element is still retained. I joked last year when I saw this feature that I could see some going mad and breaking everything and anything without understanding the consequences!

Massing Tweaks

There have been a couple of useful tweaks to tools in the Conceptual Massing Environment. You can now have Formula Driven Components. What this means is that you can use conditional formula parameters and apply this to a divided surface. A new parameter called “Family Type:Divide Surface” allows you to drive the display and type of a pattern or a component. The other minor improvement is the control of parameter values for points hosted on line or curves. Previous to 2012, whilst you could host a point on a line, the parameter was normalized between a value of 0 to 1. This got even more confusion on circles as the value was expressed in radians. Now you can still express the normalised segmented length between 0 and 1, but you also have additional parameters for segmented length, normalized segment length, chord length, angle, non-normalized curve parameter and normalized curve parameter.

More Material Changes

There have been some fundamentals changes to how material work. Whilst much of this work is on-going and will not be immediately obvious to the user this is the first steps of a large project to focus on delivering models with Physical Materials. The Paint tool has undergone a change, so when selected it will automatically open the materials dialog box to allow you to preview the material before applying to an element. The Remove paint tool allows you to remove materials you have already applied. You can also schedule materials that have been applied by the Paint tool.

The management and control of material has been upgraded; for instance you can now create property sets for materials. These are collection of properties that are used to define the aspect of the material. The management of property sets are managed through an overhauled Material Properties Library Dialogue. This work has accumulated into the ability to have libraries that can be present in a project or an independent file which can be shared between users as well as other Autodesk applications such as 3dsmax. With this change we can again create customized libraries for project or for your office, something which was not possible when Autodesk changed from Accurender to MentalRAY. Finally, the icing on the cake, you can now purge unused materials from a project, no more keyboard combinations of selecting and deleting one at a time!

Point Cloud Support

One of the most exciting features in Revit 2012 is support for Point Cloud data. Times have changed; one of the outcomes of the recent global downturn is that clients are now looking to refurbish their existing building stock rather than finding a green field sight and plonking down a new building. Refurbishment has a direct correlation with the sustainability agenda; what could be more Green than taking an existing building and refurbishing to meet current regulations and requirements? Maybe that is a rather unsophisticated view on the situation, but when talking with many of our clients here in London, this is how they are thinking. Therefore, how does the notation of BIM interface with the world of refit and refurbishment? How do you capture what already exists and utilize this to develop the BIM?

The concept of laser scanning it nothing new; the use of the technology has certain accelerated in recent years, with more and more surveying firms offering laser scanning services. But capturing the data is one thing, utilizing data to develop a Revit model has, up until now, been extremely challenging.

Revit 2012 sees the use of Autodesks propriety point cloud engine to access large point cloud datasets. The following raw formats .las, .xyb, .pts, .ptg, .fls, .fws.are supported. You are able to insert a Point Cloud file via the Insert > Managed linked tab but due to the nature and size of point cloud files they are referenced into the project rather embedded.

Once linked into a project, a point cloud file behaves like any other model element. It will appear in views and can be selected, rotated, copied, deleted and mirrored. You have the capability to link multiply point cloud files and you can obviously control the display of the cloud file via Visibility / Graphics. All the normal Revit rules apply so, plans, section as well as section boxes can cut through the cloud file which is particularly useful if you need to isolate a particular areas of the cloud data.

Okay, so you have the cloud data linked into the Revit project, what next? Geometry can be used to snap to planar surfaces that are dynamically detected in the point cloud. Revit will only detect planes that are perpendicular to the current workplane. The snap tool feature streamlines the model authoring process from the cloud data. There are also various API enhancements which I am sure, will open up opportunities for more enhanced geometry creation tools to be developed by third parties developers. I have heard through the grape vine that the new Point Cloud feature will happily manage Point Cloud datasets up to around 30 gigs. Whilst many may never utilise this functionality, I do foresee many firms who do refurbishment making good use of this powerful feature.

IFC Tweaks

The IFC export engine has been tweaked and is now “layered” on the Revit API. This has allegedly addressed a number of export bugs. I personally have mixed views on IFC; I so want it to work, but without the necessary appetite from AEC firms to sit down and work together to get it completely working , then it will still remain what it is today. Autodesk is the biggest player in the AEC software market, you would certainly think it was in there interest to drive the IFC discussion and put some real effort in. More and more countries are demanding BIM, with the deliverables being of an open standard. Therefore, if Revit is to be the BIM authoring platform of choice, the IFC output needs to be the best it can possibly be. I am aware there is much work taking place in the background with the IFC schema, so I do hope I can report back in the near future on the efforts.

Summary and Final Thoughts…..

So in summary and in my humble opinion, Revit 2012 is overall a positive release. It has some superb features particularly around large team workflows and the support for point cloud data is an excellent move. There is also Citrix Support as well as Autodesk Vault support. I will cover these features in a future article, as I am currently testing these in my office.

Will Revit 2012 keep the die-hard Revit user who wants long standing items like better text tools, improved typography and site, stairs etc….happy???? hmmmmm probably not! But I would have to argue that whilst some of the improvements to big ticket modelling items have yet to appear, there is still plenty in this feature rich release to make most users content.

But a word of warning Mr Autodesk; some of these long standing requests really do need to be addressed over the next 1 to 2 releases. I see users fighting with some of the trickier tools on a day to day basis and I feel their pain. However, I have a pragmatic view on much of this now as I have come to realize that there is no utopia and Rome really wasn’t built in a day. As the Guinness Ad says, good things come to those that wait. Nevertheless, improving model quality and construction assembly by providing flexible, easy to use software tools most be the end game. Without this, there will always be an excuse by some diehards that this “BIM thing” is just not worth doing.

One final point; the content and views expressed in this article are purely my own. Some will be thinking, does he get paid for writing this stuff???….nope I don’t. My passion for the Revit technology and BIM has become engrained in my DNA; it’s just what I do. It’s what makes me wake up of a morning and travel to work :-)

New Improvements in Revit 2012

2011-04-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

Revit Architecture 2011 has many new and improved features, among them several Documentation Enhancements.

Custom Elevation Tags

The long requested custom elevation tag arrives! In Revit 2011 you now have the ability to create from scratch a custom elevation tag. It’s much like other tag families and is pretty easy to setup. Unfortunately, if you want the body of the tag to stay horizontal so the text does not turn with the pointer, well lets just say maybe next year. Other than that customized Elevation Tags are a very nice option and I know will make lots of graphic standard makers very happy!

Custom Elevation Tag labels rotate unlike out of the box tags.

Text Improvements

Now we have the ability to adjust leader end distance, show a box around text and create bullets and numbering. There are also additional leader attachment points: Top Left (TL), Middle Left (ML), Bottom Left (BL), Top Right (TR), Middle Right (MR), and Bottom Right (BR).
Tip: The Line Weight of the box around the text and leader end distance are adjustable from the type properties of the text type.

Modify Tab

Text Abilities

Sheet Improvements

Finally, Sheets have had some nice refinements. Who needs to list sheets not in a project on drawing list? I’m going to answer for every Architect…. Who doesn’t! If you have consultants on your project you have sheets in your drawing list that are not in your project. Now we can list sheets not in a project on drawing list, create new sheet list rows to create placeholder sheets and Convert placeholder sheets to project sheets later on in the project. Workflow has been considered once again. Thank you Autodesk!
There is also a Grid Guide for sheets, enabling consistent sheet layout. While this isn’t quite as intuitive as I’d like it to be, it;s definitely a step in the right direction. Grid Guides will only allow snapping to Reference Planes, Levels or Grid Lines from the views that are placed on the sheet. So for now we have something that works. Also it does not print! So no mistake prints with guide lines in them. Yay!
Tip: When using Guide Grids:
- Setup name – Plan\Elevations Grid or 1/2″ Grid etc.
- Align crossing of the grid to the sheet first, as moving after adjusting the edges will move the whole grid.
- Adjust the edges of the grid as not to overlap other parts of the sheet.
- Place views and use the Move tool to select a Views Grid, Level or Reference Plane to align to the Grid Guide.

Guide Grids

That’s all for this round. I hope you found something new that you like in Revit’s 2011 Documentation Enhancements. Check back for more on 2011 new features in the upcoming week. Check out this video from Autodesk reviewing the features you just read about. What do you think about Revit 2011?

Cool Features of Revit 2012

2011-04-18T06:42:00.001-07:00

Use of multiple computers for render of one image.
Control of elevation line weights using multiple depth clip planes with varying line weight %.
Sloping column reports slope %.
Schedule option for sheet appearance by instance.
Ability to find referring views of detail components, model pieces and imported DWG’s.
Level association management – ability to see a list of items associated with a certain level and be able to re-associate to another level or select all items associated to a level.
Propagate extents for section/callout marks.
Custom shaped callouts.
Continuous zig zag section view.
Ability to make a void under topography.
Curtain wall custom corner mullion tools and better options for joining curtain wall mullions at corners.
3D Orient to view – Make 3D Views from any other view by locating in the browser with “show 3D” option on right click, with settings for offsetting the scope box from the views crop a specified distance.

REVIT 2012 - Top 10 new features

2011-04-18T06:41:00.001-07:00

A lot is happening on the 2012 version:

1 - Second screen support. (click to enlarge)

2 - It is now possible to dock viewports in a permanent interface as in 3Ds Max, Autocad, etc, ...

Using CTRL+TAB on a plan-view, will now toggle between plans only. If a Section is selected, it will toggle through sections only and so on!

3 - You can now draw in Camera mode! (we are very happy about that)

4 - Navigation in Camera-view-mode is now possible by using keyboard+mouse combination. Just as you do on a normal 3D view. No need for the weird navigation-wheel anymore.

5 - 3D Connexion 100% compatible. And for those who cant afford it, use shift+4 (to jump to left-view), or shift+8(to jump to top-view), ... and so on... (we are loving it too)

6 - Parametric elements can now be stretched "in-place" directly with the mouse. No menu access needed!

7 - Align tool can now be used to align multiple elements at once. (just like in any adobe program) And the Scale tool can now scale groups based on Detail Lines.

8 - Background Rendering / Plotting. (lovely)

9 - detail lines can now be linked to a 3d element, therefore updating automatically

10 - And last but not least: you can now run slab edges on sloped floors/slabs.

- - - - Other nice fix & improves: - - - -

11 - You can now edit the profile of a curved wall. (as well as tilt any wall)

12 - Floor heights are now kept in place when you edit the boundary! (landscapers dream)

13 - You can now edit TAG text and the material will update automatically on the element properties. The same as renaming materials directly by pressing F2 in the Schedules.

13a - On SCHEDULES you can now use the parameter COUNT in any formula.

14 - Export reports to an XLS clean pure format.

15 - Show element' boundaries only (AUTO-clean drawing for printing) Hides all additional geometry.

16 - In "Viewports" you can now edit the boundary of the Crop Region, (make it a circle or any shape you wish).

17 - Oh, and the ramps can have any shape also. How fantastic!

18 - You can also link photos as a true LINK. (they update if you change the link)

Google releases Sketchup 8 pro....enjoy!

2010-10-11T07:23:00.001-07:00

What’s New in Google SketchUp 8

We’ve stuffed SketchUp 8 full of new and improved features:
Because almost everything is somewhere

Whether you’re designing in context, creating a shadow study or photo-modeling existing structures, SketchUp 8 provides easy access to Google’s huge collection of geographic resources.

* add-geo-location
Model geo-location with Google Maps

We’ve built Maps right into SketchUp. Adding a geo-location to your model is now an elegant, one-app process.
* color-terrain
Color imagery and more accurate terrain

The snapshot you get when you add a geo-location to your model now includes 3D terrain data that’s more accurate, and -- for the first time -- aerial imagery in color.
* photo-match-improvements
Match Photo improvements

Our Match Photo feature lets you trace one or more photographs to build a model; it’s an incredibly powerful tool. For SketchUp 8, we’ve tweaked some things to make using Match Photo easier than ever.
* building-maker
SketchUp, meet Building Maker

When it comes to modeling existing buildings, it’s hard to beat Google Building Maker for speed and efficiency. We’ve made it simpler to open and refine Building Maker models in SketchUp. Watch a video

Watch a video about modeling in context with SketchUp 8

More great things about SketchUp 8

We’ve spent months building powerful new tools, fine-tuning functionality and making sure SketchUp 8 continues to be the most intuitive 3D modeler on the planet.

* solid-tools
Meet the Solid Tools PRO

SketchUp Pro 8 includes a powerful new set of tools for additive and subtractive modeling:
o union Union adds together two or more shapes.
o intersect Intersect makes a new shape out of the bits that overlap [parts that are common] – while deleting everything else.
o subtract Subtract turns a shape into a 3D cookie cutter. Use it to slice and dice any other solid.
o trim Trim tells one shape to take a bite out of the other – without deleting the first shape.
o split Split makes a new shape out of the bits that overlap – while keeping everything else.
Watch a video about the Solid Tools
* scene-thumbs
Scene Thumbnails

Wouldn’t it be nice if the Scenes Panel included little image previews of the scenes in your model? Your wish is our command.
* back-edges
Back Edges

Turn these on to see your model’s obscured edges as dashed lines. A great alternative to Wireframe or X-Ray mode when you need to be able to see through your model.
* angular-dims
Angular Dimensions in LayOut PRO

By popular demand, we’ve equipped LayOut 3 with a dedicated tool for creating angular dimensions.
* push-pull
Push/Pull pre-selected faces

Select a face, then push/pull; it works just like the rest of SketchUp’s modification tools. Super handy when you don’t want to change your point of view.
* volumes
Calculate volumes

Entity Info now displays the volume of any solid in your model. Volumes are also included in reports you generate with SketchUp Pro.
* outer-shell
Outer Shell

Automatically generate a shape that completely encloses two or more solids in your model. It’s a little like shrink-wrapping your geometry. Did someone say 3D printing?
* dwg-lo
DWG/DXF 2010 PRO

SketchUp Pro 8 supports the DWG/DXF 2010 format for importing and exporting vector data for your models.
* dwg-su
DWG/DXF export in LayOut PRO

Like to draft in LayOut? With this version, you can share your LayOut 3 drawings as files that any CAD system or 3D modeler (including SketchUp Pro) can open.
* dashed-lines
Dashed lines are configurable in LayOut PRO

Not finding what you need in LayOut’s library of dashed line styles? Now you can adjust things to make your own.
* precise-move
Precise Move in LayOut PRO

We’ve arranged for the center grip on every element to do double duty: In addition to rotation, you can place it wherever you like to establish a custom “snap point” for putting things exactly where you want them.

Watch a video about improvements we’ve made to drafting in LayOut

Ribbon - Revit Architecture 2011

2010-08-24T03:51:00.000-07:00

The ribbon displays when you create or open a file. It provides all the tools necessary to create a project or family.

As you resize the Revit window, you may notice that tools in the ribbon automatically adjust their size to fit the available space. This feature allows all buttons to be visible for most screen sizes.

Expanded panels

An arrow next to a panel title indicates that you can expand the panel to display related tools and controls.

By default, an expanded panel closes automatically when you click outside the panel. To keep a panel expanded while its ribbon tab is displayed, click the push pin icon in the bottom-left corner of the expanded panel.

Dialog launcher

Some panels allow you to open a dialog to define related settings. A dialog-launcher arrow on the bottom of a panel opens a dialog.

Contextual ribbon tabs

When you use certain tools or select elements, a contextual ribbon tab displays tools that relate to the context of that tool or element. In many cases, the contextual tab merges with the Modify tab. A contextual ribbon tab closes when you exit the tool or clear the selection.

You can specify whether a contextual tab automatically comes into focus or the current tab stays in focus. You can also specify which ribbon tab displays when you exit a tool or clear a selection.

Element Properties - In Revit 2011 Architecture

2010-08-24T03:47:00.000-07:00

In Revit 2011 Architecture, each element you place in a drawing is an instance of a family type. Elements have 2 sets of properties that control their appearance and behavior: type properties and instance properties.

Type Properties

The same set of type properties is common to all elements in a family, and each property has the same value for all instances of a particular family type.

For example, all elements that belong to the Desk family have a Width property, but its value varies according to family type. Thus every instance of the 60” x 30” family type within the Desk family has a Width value of 5’, while every instance of the 72” x 36” family type has a Width value of 6’.

Changing the value of a type property affects all current and future instances of that family type.

Instance Properties

A common set of instance properties also applies to all elements that belong to a particular family type, but the values of these properties may vary according to the location of an element in a building or project.

For example, the dimensions of a window are type properties, while its elevation from the level is an instance property. Similarly, cross-sectional dimensions of a beam are type properties, while beam length is an instance property.

Changing the value of an instance property affects only the elements in your selection set, or the element that you are about to place. For example, if you select a beam, and change one of its instance property values on the Properties palette, only that beam is affected. If you select a tool for placing beams, and change one of its instance property values, the new value applies to all beams you place with that tool.

Revit Architecture 2011 User Assistance - Interface

2010-08-24T03:45:00.000-07:00

The Revit interface is designed to simplify your workflow. With a few clicks, you can change the interface to better support the way that you work. For example, you can set the ribbon to one of 4 display settings. You can also display several project views at one time, or layer the views to see only the one on top.

Element Behavior in a Parametric Modeler in Revit 2011 Architecture

2010-08-24T03:44:00.000-07:00

In projects, Revit 2011 Architecture uses 3 types of elements:

Model elements represent the actual 3D geometry of the building. They display in relevant views of the model. For example, walls, windows, doors, and roofs are model elements.
Datum elements help to define project context. For example, grids, levels, and reference planes are datum elements.
View-specific elements display only in the views in which they are placed. They help to describe or document the model. For example, dimensions, tags, and 2D detail components are view-specific elements.

There are 2 types of model elements:

Hosts (or host elements) are generally built in place at the construction site. For example, walls and ceilings are hosts.
Model components are all the other types of elements in the building model. For example, windows, doors, and cabinets are model components.

There are 2 types of view-specific elements:

Annotation elements are 2D components that document the model and maintain scale on paper. For example, dimensions, tags, and keynotes are annotation elements.
Details are 2D items that provide details about the building model in a particular view. Examples include detail lines, filled regions, and 2D detail components.

This implementation provides flexibility for designers. Revit 2011 Architecture elements are designed to be created and modified by you directly; programming is not required. If you can draw, you can define new parametric elements in Revit 2011 Architecture.

In Revit 2011 Architecture, the elements determine their behavior largely from their context in the building. The context is determined by how you draw the component and the constraint relationships that are established with other components. Often, you do nothing to establish these relationships; they are implied by what you do and how you draw. In other cases, you can explicitly control them, by locking a dimension or aligning 2 walls, for example.