Revittize

Wow Scope boxes

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

For years I've seen Scope Boxes in the properties of the view but have never understood them. Autodesk help on this item really didn't explain them. Over the last couple of days there have been some bolgs that have talked about them, and wow not I get them. (Revit OpEd, Do U Revit The Revit Kid)

The one important thing that I've learned about scope boxes is that they are a good function to keep consistency throughout your drawing set. Often we have more then one view of the same plan just in the architectural drawings (Floor plan, Dimension Plan, Reflected Ceiling plan, Finis Plan, Furniture plan, Code Plan etc..) and we have to crop the views for various reasons. So we toggle the crop view, and show crop view, and we begin to shrink the visible regions of the view. The problem is that it is never the same, sure you can draw reference planes and try to match the crops in each view. Scope box automates this, by creating a box you can assign the view to a scope and the cropping of the view will be done in fewer steps. Another advantage to this is when you place the views on sheets the views can be placed in pretty much the same place, since you are working with the same size of views instead of different sizes. Because scope boxes are 3d objects you can also assign elevations and building sections to scope boxes. Another interesting thing is that you can assign level to a scope box and if the view you have opened is assigned to a different scope box the level annotation will not be displayed.

BIM and the MPG gauge

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I was driving home watching the digital Miles per Gallon on my car. I was playing the game how high can I get my MPG. (I know a dork) And it got me thinking, the car manufactures put that gauge there to give drivers more information on how they drive to encourage them to change how they drive so they can drive more efficiently. In some ways BIM is trying to do the same thing. The methodology of Building Information Modeling is about getting information about building products sooner in the design process, with more information earlier in the design process better informed decision can also be made earlier, at least that is the theory. Sometimes I think that having that earlier information caused information overload though. So like the MPG gauge has changed the way you may drive has BIM changed the way you design? For the better or worse.

Content Browsers part 2

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Well since I originally wrote(3 days ago) about the 4 content browsers that I knew of more content browser seem to have been popoing up all over the place, or at least my awareness of them any way. All of these do pretty much the same thing, just slightly differently. All of these browsers can search content from a central library, then insert the content into your project. Here are three more browser to add to the list of content browsers out there. I'm sure there are more. It's obvious that since there are so many out there that the current family browser within Revit is inadequate for our most people's use, this may be something that Autodesk needs to address.

Tools4 Revit Smart Browser This content browser has the ability to search content inside your current project as well as from a central library. It's cost is Free

Content Studio What makes it different is that it gives the BIM manager some tools to manage firm content. Families can be submitted to the BIM manager through the content studio for review. Family information as well as type can be edited within the Content Studio. It's a little clunky to get the content into it's library, but works well. The cost about $50 us dollars for a single user and much more for a multi-users which it is best suited for.

Familit Revit Family Manager In the search you can see an image of the family as well as some of the information of the family and you can drag and drop the family into the project, but you are not able to select or see what types are in the family. The $59 version is limited to 500 Revit families which the $99 is unlimited.

Content Browsers

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

There are several content browsers out there, that help you organize your office content library. All of the browsers has advantages over the others. When looking at 3rd party content browsers you need to decide what works best with your workflow. Here is a list of browsers and my take on each of them.

SmartBIM Library Manager - I've used this one in the past. It worked pretty well, one of the biggest advantages of this one was that it kept me up to date with the SmartBIM content they were developing. It has a lot of great administrative tools that help create type catalogs and name or rename families. My biggest problem is the cost at $500 a licence.

CTC's BIMList - I'm currently demoing this product. It runs in a floating dialog box that searches content and allows you to insert the types by a drag and drop method, it allows you to search it's database of families not only by the family name but also by the parameters that are inside the componet. The administration tools of this product look great. Also is has a good pricing plan, of less then $20 a licence.

Kiwi Codes Solution Revit Family Browser -I'm currently demoing this product, the UI for this product is what the project browser should be. Not only does it retrieve component families but also inserts system families such as walls.The administration tools of this product look very useful. Also is has a good pricing plan, $35 a licence or $250 for a site licence.

RevitApp Family Loader - I have an older version of this one loaded on all of the machines in my office currently. It does a great job of searching then inserting families that are in the office library into Revit. It is really reasonably priced too, Free.

RD Revit Database

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Another place to find Revit content is the Revit Database. There is some great looking content like cars on this site. Some of the parameters or materials maybe be a little difficult to understand since the creator of the site is from Portuguese. Most of the families are full parametric.

Using the Keynote Manager

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I recently did a quick presentation to my firm talking the benefits of using the Keynote Manager for writing Revit Keynotes. Back in the day when we were just using Autocad we had created a routine that read a text file just like the Revit keynote system does. For us it was an easy transition (for noting) to Revit. Some of the benefits for us have been:

Keynote file is kept up to-date. In the past if multiple had tried to edit the text file notes would go missing, with the keynote manager program more then one person could be viewing the text file and if changes are made everyone sees the change.
There is a dictionary to check spelling.
There is a function of the keynote manager to always type your notes in caps even if you write the note with lower case. This is great since the NCS says that all text that goes on sheets should be in capital lettering.
You can add comments to some of the notes, and all notes that have comments are high lighted. This is useful when using a master list and you wan to note which notes are not in your current project.
When adding notes the keynote manager will add the next consecutive number.
When you want to print out the list, the printout is a clean and easy to read document, much better then a printout where the notes tend to blend together.

Revit schedule survey

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:12:00 +0000

David Conant over at Inside the factor just posted a survey asking how we use schedules. It's a pretty short servey, so you should take it so they have an idea what needs to be changed hopefully with Revit Schedules.

Revit-schedules-a-love-hate-relationship

Egress Railing Hack

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I've read a couple of fourms in the last couple of months that talked about some Revit hacks. When I say Revit hacks i'm talking about using Revit systems in ways they were not intended for. Steve Stafford over are Revit OpEd recently talked about using railings for other things then just railings. One of the things he talked about was egress paths. In the past he had suggested using some generic components to calculate the egress paths. I've used that method on several projects and it works well. One of the problems that I've had with this system you are inserting several different components which are not linked together. In using railings for the egress path it is one continuous object, but there is some settings that needs to be looked at.

Railing Settings
You have to build the following objects:
Starting baluster-a circle
Ending baluster-a arrow
Railing profile - a profile that has barely any width

View Settings
View filter, to only change view settings of this egress railing types
Change the railing settings to be a dashed line with a line weight of 8 or 9

Tagging the Egress Length
Since we can't add a length parameter to a tag we have two options to document the egress length from the railing. The first is to add a schedule that pulls the length number from the railing. The problem with this is that the schedule can only be placed on a sheet and can be moved separately from the egress plan. The second is to have a tag where you fill in the number. The problem with this is that the number is not linked to anything and can easily be different then the actual length, also you have to deal with shared parameters.

Building the Stud track into the Revit wall type

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Last week one of the Principals in my firm was reviewing a set of design build drawings and noticed that whoever was noting the wall sections(me) hadn't put any metal track detail components into the wall sections. The principle asked if there was any way to build the tracks into the wall type. My first thought was NO, but I didn't say that, I said "Hmm let me look into it."

When I got thinking about it I remembered that I have a few wall types that have the coping sweeping the top of the wall type. That got asking, "Can I add a sweep on the inside of the wall type?" Sure enough I was able to sweep the track inside of the wall type and I was able to note the track as a metal runner track and not just as the metal stud layer of the wall.

Steps to build the track inside the wall

Build a runner track profile
Edit the wall type and add a top and bottom sweep to the wall
Assign the track price as the sweep
Create and assign a metal track material

Here is a short video to help
This can also be done with for the bottom and top plates of wood stud wall types. The difference is that you will have to imbed a detail component into the profile sweep. In this case the detail component can not be noted it will still be the sweep material that holds the noting information.

Partition Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

My second highest rated blog post is Partition Type Schedule which I wrote back in 2008. I'm still doing most of what I said in that blog on most projects, but I've started to re-asses the 2d diagram idea. There was an AU session I think in 2010 that said with BIM we have to rethink how we document building information. He talked about showing partition types in a 3d fashion, kind of disagree with the 3d partition types but the idea of thinking differently has stuck with me. At the same time when I explain some Revit concepts I tell people to think how they did things before computers. With these two ideas I've began to rethink how we document partition types.

Before Condoc or NCS Reference keynotes we had listed the partition type assembly in a descriptive note. With Condoc and NCS Reference keynotes we began drawing wall sections to explain the connections and materials that are within the partition type. In asking how we can document partitions differently I also asked what are we trying to show with our partition wall sections. The answer I came up with was that we are trying to explain the typical partition connections with the floor, the ceilings, and the structural deck.

In a recent project I experimented with documenting the partition schedule in a schedule that looked like a door schedule where the floor, ceiling, and deck connections details were scheduled. This was a design build project and the feed back we got from the contractor was very positive. What they liked about this documenting method was that all of the partition information was in one place and they did not have to flip through the set of drawings to find the partition information for estimation. What I liked was that I didn't have to draw a separate wall section of each of the condition that were the same except for a single material change.

Revit as calculator

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:30:00 +0000

When you are trying to figure out a distance for something to input into Revit, why don't you let Revit do the calculating for you. I saw this or rather watched this from one of the Autodesk virtual sessions this year. 45 Revit tips When building families often you put formulas in to calculate certain distances. (Example rough opening = frame + frame + width) But you can use the same language to define some of your distances in the project.

I have a metal building whose eve height is 16'-6" but that is the top of the grits not the top of the rigid frame, from the metal building drawings I know that the girts are 10 1/2" so to find the top of the rigid frame I can either pull out my calculator or in the height field of the rigid frame I can type =16'6"-10 1/2" and Revit will calculate the height for me. This can be used for many things like defining the heights of walls, defining the offset of a ceiling, a floor, a soffit.

Unlike writing formulas in the family editor these formulas will disappear once they have calculated the values. Also you can only input numbers you can't use parameters in these calculations.

Revit Apps

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

In my blog searches I came across this blog from Designreform that talks about free Revit Apps or add ins. Apprently they are going to try and have a new free Revit App every month. To get the Apps you will need to become a member of Case-apps which is free. What I've seen of the apps they look pretty good. I'm waiting with anticipation for next months apps which is an app to export families form a project into categories. If it does what it says it will do it will be a great app for exporting families from my main source file to my office library.

AU 2011 Sessions are up

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Autodesk University 2011, it's been about a month and now most of the AU sessions that were recorded are available to view online, not just the virtual sessions. So if you were torn between a couple of classes or just couldn't make it to AU this year you can watch some of the sessions. The Innovation Forums that they had this year are still not available yet, but i was told yesterday that they should be available mid to late January. I know for a fact that the Innovation Forums wee recorded, because the one I attended had a camera boom swinging over my head the whole time. It felt like the thing was gonna fall on my head several times.

One of the things I'm jazzed about though is the fact that Autodesk has changed the format of how they can be viewed online. What that means is that now I can watch the sessions on my IPad.

Organizing Addenda and ASI's in your Revit Model

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Back in 2009 I talked about using Dependent view for Addenda and Architectural Supplemental Instruction. At Autodesk University this year I heard several presentations that stated that we do not need to maintain a copy of the ASI's or Addenda in the Revit model. Their rational was that the published static PDF is the only copy that needs to be saved, when you make a change to that area later the a saved ASI in the Revit model will no longer show the ASI that was submitted. I can also see that not maintaining the Revit ASI sheet sketches have the posibility to be named the same which could cause a conflict with the contractor.

If we maintain the ASI sheets during the Construction Administration phase of the project we need to be able to organize them in the project browser. Over the last couple of years I've used three different methods to organize the ASI's

One
Organize the project browser by issue date. This worked well, this is an sheet organization type right out of the box, the earliest date would be the Bid or Permit set, and the later dates would be any addenda or ASI's. The only problem is that unless you know what the date what ASI was submitted it was hard to know what to look at easily.

Two
Organize the Project browser by Discipline. This is another sheet organization type that comes right out the box. The Bid/Permit set stays in the correct discipline, but for the sheets that are part of an ASI or Addenda you create a new sheet discipline. By naming the new disciple all sketches that were part of that ASI can be grouped together and you can know at a glance which sheet you will want to open for a specific ASI. It does take some thought to keep the ASI's organized. If you don't go through the process to assign the discipline to your sheet the sheet will fall into a ??? group which is like not even having any oganization.

Three
Organize the Project browser by a custom field. With this method you have to create a custom sheet parameter. With this you don't touch the discipline parameter of the sheet, all of the bid drawings can be kept together and the addenda or ASI drawings can easily be separated from the bid set. Other then that it works just like the discipline organization. The sketches that were part of that ASI can be grouped together and you can know at a glance which sheet you will want to open for a specific ASI. It does take some effort to keep the ASI's organized. If you don't go through the process to assign the custom field all of your sheets go into a ??? group which is just a cluster to wade through.

Using Revit Phasing in a different way

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:00:00 +0000

This year at Autodesk University I attended a presentation called Autodesk Revit Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Any of you that know me I hate groups, but Arron's presentation has changed my option on groups. Arron was an excellent presenter, when AU uploads this years videos I highly recommend watching this presentation. One of the things he said that has stuck with me was about Revit's prehistoric phases. You might be asking what are talking about Revit doesn't have prehistoric phases, it has Existing, New Construction, and Complete phases typically. What Arron talked about creating two phases before the existing phase, these "prehistoric" phases are basically annotation phases.
His example for the use of these prehistoric phases was for documenting storefront elevation.

First group all storefronts
place a copy of each of the storefront groups in the first prehistoric phase
create a single elevation of the storefronts that are all lined up
dimension and note the storefront
place the storefront elevation on a sheet

With each group make sure the storefront is created in the first prehistoric phase and demolished in the second. There are two reasons for demolishing the groups before the existing phase is that the groups that are just randomly placed in the prehistoric view don't show up in the main model, and the objects that are demolished before the existing phase will not show up in the object count of the project.

I will say that this presentation has got me jazzed up about the use of groups and this prehistoric notion. I've had thoughts of using this for partition types, mounting heights for toilet accessories, typical space configurations, door panels and door frames. I can see using it to insert source file system families, which also means I could go too far to make them too complicated to use efficiently.

AU and Showcase

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It's the last day of AU I just finished my last of three classes that talked about showcase. I think I finally have a handel for the program. Some of the things that each class said was the same, but some of the information built on one another. Each class talked about the work flow from Revit. Here is quick list of some of the things they covered.

Export to an FBX file
Only export what you need not the whole model ususally
There is setup you need to do in Revit before you setup the FBX file
When cleaning up the Revit model, use a copy
In Showcase use shortcut keys
Lights will not import from Revit
Don't change the orgin of the model
Name everything, dont use default names
Showcase is good for showing design options quickly
If you want multiple camera views from Revit you need to have multiple FBX exports out of Revit

He is a link to the three classes I took their hand outs and additional information should be there.
AB6160
AB4152
AB4211

I look forward to playing withnthis program after AU.

Revittize on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 09:00:00 +0000

I've done it I've bitten the bullet, I've been avoiding doing this since I started this blog in 2008. I have a twitter account. After watching the CSI presentation about social networking a couple of months ago I've finally started using twitter. I don't know how much I will be tweeting, but I'm going to try tweeting when I'm at AU in a couple of weeks. If you want you can follow me @MathewAMiller.

Override Message

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:30:00 +0000

When creating a new local file have you ever wondered what the difference between Overwrite existing file and Append timestamp to existing filename really did, and why there was even an option. I've said that local files are usually throwaway files. All of the project information is kept in the central file and the local file is basically a backup of the central file, so when your hard drive gets full the local files are the first to go. So that being said what is the difference, the difference comes back to backups actually. When you select the Overwrite existing file option, all of the backups for that local file get deleted, and when you select Append timestamp to existing filename another backup of the file gets created. Why should we care? Backup is why, if god forbid the central file gets corrupted you have another copy to get the model back from, or if say you need to go back to a previous version you can do that. As a general rule I'm going to suggest you select the Append timestamp to existing filename just for project recovery reasons.

AU Virtual 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

AU 2011 has started, or at least virtually. As of the 15th Autodesk has launched this years version of AU Virtual. Though not all of the classes will be available till the 29th we've have been given a few classes to wet our whistles on.

So far I think this is one of the best versions of AU Virtual so far. Where in the past we were competing for band width (so many people trying to watch the sessions at the same time), this year the virtual sessions can be viewed at anytime. The only drawback to this is that we don't have someone live to answer questions which I never asked questions then anyway. Through the AUTV tab you can view some short videos. One of the benefits to AU live has always been networking with other AU goers, this years AU virtual allows you to connect with other AU virtual goers through the networking tab. Enjoy your time at AU Virtual, maybe I'll see you at AU live in two weeks.http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=auv2011_event

BIM does not = 3d modeling

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

I just read an article Tide is shifting in favor of BIM technology. One of the things in the article said, "practitioners are starting to move beyond two-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) programs in favor of BIM....Twenty five percent indicated they currently use CAD concurrently with BIM ... None reported making the full transition to BIM yet, but all expect to at some point."

I know BIM is the catch phrase for the new way we will be practicing architecture in the future, but do not mistake building 3d computer generated model as BIM. We've been building 3d models of buildings for centuries. When I was trained on Autocad in the early 90's I was shown how to build a virtual 3d model in Autocad, and 3d Studio. BIM is about the information. If I have a 2d toilet for example and a 3d toilet the 2d toilet has the potential to have more information then the 3d one. If the 3d one only has geometric information and does not contain product specific information, such is Manufacture, Model, Color, it is no better then drawing it in 2d. I know we are trying to get away from the term CAD, but I am afraid any computer program we use to gather building information is used to perform CAD (Computer Aided Design). Those that are trying to substituent BIM for CAD see the term CAD as computer aided drafting.

Sorry I've been in too many presentations this year that have substituted Revit for BIM. While Revit is a BIM authoring tool it is not BIM, it is also a computer aided design tool.

View Filters

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:00:00 +0000

In the visibility graphics dialog box there are five tabs, Model Categories, Annotation Categories, Analytical, Model Categories, Imported Categories, and Filters. You ever wonder what the filter tab did. During design it allows you to analyze different aspects of the design graphically. During project documentation view filters allow you filter out parts of the model.

This function is much more powerful then I use it for. To analyze a model I usually use view filters to check which views are rated partitions, or if I have the right partitions in the correct spot.

In documenting the frame types I have a view filter that hides all of the walls except for the curtain walls. The reason why I don't just turn off the walls is that I will usually need to adjust the mullion sizes and I need the walls on to do that. Here is a short video to demonstrate.

Importance of Naming

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:30:00 +0000

I just read some blogs from Steve Stafford & Jose Fandos about Revit Family Naming and I totally disagree with them . As an industry I agree it is hard to have naming conventions for a Revit families, but as an organization it is crucial. Both of blogs say that the technology is changing and that the data is what is going to help us find the components that we are looking for. Well the technology is not here yet and we have to worry about what we have to work with today. What we have right now is a mess. If someone goes to insert a detail component of a metal stud for example they have to wade through a list of component and a list of names that doesn't make sense to them, and they are all over the place in the alphabetical list.

Chanel Studs-Section
Structural stud- Section
Runner Channels-Section
Interior Metal Channels- Section
Interior Metal Runner Channels- Section
Light Metal Runner Channels-Section

Coming from a background of being involved with the NCS (US National CAD Standard) I've seen the importance of having naming conventions as an organizational tool, be it with layer names, sheet names, etc. I'm not sure about setting up a guideline for the entire industry to follow, but every organization should have a naming convention that their organization follows so that all of their projects are consistent. Open Revit Standards is a Wiki that is trying to develop a set of Revit standards that every one could follow. One of their standards is about Detail family naming, for the most part I agree with it. If like the Sweets Catalog families could have the specification number people could wade through the sea of components. I realize this doesn't really work since there are many different specification systems in the international community.

In any form it takes Naming conventions should be considered a guideline, to help organize whatever you are doing.

Win a trip to AU from 3Dconnexion

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:30:00 +0000

I was notified today that 3Dconnexion is offering a trip to Autodesk University in Las Vegas on Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, as well as a airfare, accommodations and a SpacePilot PRO 3D mouse.

To enter this drawing, complete the form that can be found at this link http://bit.ly/qcWJii. Submission will only be accepted by midnight U.S. PDT on November 7, 2011. For details, please see terms and conditions. The winner will be contacted by email or phone on November 8, 2011 and will have 3 days to claim prize.

So good luck and see you at AU.bit.ly

Keynote what kind is it?

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:24:00 +0000

One of the things I've talked a lot about here in my blog are keynotes. The Basics of keynotes is actually my most read article. In this article I talk about the three different types of Revit Keynotes, Element, Material, and User. One of my frustrations had always been that after I inserted the keynotes I couldn't tell what kind it was. Well that was because I didn't open my eyes. In the properties of the keynote it shows the Key Source which in Revit speak for what kind of keynote it is.

Why is knowing what kind of keynote is important? When we get into making changes it is helpful to know if changing a single note is going to be a global change (Element or Material) or if it only going to effect that note(User).

Model lines vs Detail lines revisited

noreply@blogger.com (mamiller) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Back in 2009 I wrote a blog post about Model Lines vs Detail lines, needless to say Revit has changed a lot since I wrote that post. Back then you had to know what kind of line you wanted to draw before you drew it, now Revit has a nice convert tool that easily changes a model line into a detail line and vice versa.

A rule I spouted back then was to practically never use model lines always use detail lines. After just working on a project that drafted the site in Revit, I'd say model lines would have been the better solution over drafted lines. Yes there are problems with model lines showing up every where, but in this case that exactly what wanted to happen. Where line work shows up in more then one view model lines are the better line type to use. The use of model lines is kind of like xrefing that line work into every view in your project. By using detail lines the line work had to be duplicated in every view, and if you made any changes you would have to make sure you made the changes in every view which is a coordination nightmare. Also if you linked the model into another model the detail lines would disappear,(unless you linked to a specific view which caused other issues).