What Revit Wants

Stair Path Annotations in Revit 2013

2012-05-25T13:24:00.000+10:00

Pre-2013 sketch based stairs have the Stair Path bound to the actual Stair element. In Revit 2013 when using Component Stairs, the Stair Path becomes a separate element. Think of it as a special Tag for Stairs. The Stair Path tool is located on the Annotate ribbon:

You can safely delete the path from views where you don't want to see it. It seems that these are automatically created in certain Plan views - I'm unsure what the 'rule' governing the automatic creation of Stair Paths is, yet.

The Stair Path is a System Family. You can Duplicate existing Path types to create and customize the Stair Path to your liking:

Also, the Categories related to Stair UP and DOWN text have all been moved to the Annotation Categories in Visibility / Graphics! You won't find them under Model - Stairs anymore:

You can learn more at:
Annotating the Stair Path - WikiHelp

Australian Revit Keynotes and NATSPEC

2012-05-25T11:14:00.000+10:00

You may or may not already know that the Australian Revit content includes keynote files for NATSPEC.

I struggle to find keynoting settings every time.

I have previously posted about the NATSPEC BIM Portal

The Natspec Keynotes have been available since at least Revit 2010, possibly earlier:

In relation to 'element lists' and Revit standards, the VA BIM Guide is an expansion of the AIA Document E202 BIM Protocol Exhibit – 2008.

You can download a copy via the Web Links/ BIM Standards page of this site [downloads link inserted] (See Main Menu to your left). The VA BIM Guide is the last item in the list. Coincidentally, NATSPEC is in the process of adapting the Guide for Australian use.
via
National BIM Guide review

The excellent and free Keynote Manager is still available at:
Keynote Manager - Home

Saving a Group from the Family Environment creates a Family RFA

2012-05-24T14:26:00.001+10:00

The family that is created matches the Category of the host or original family.

Evidently, it is this functionality that allows this to occur:
Save an In-Place Family as an RFA for use in another project

More Revit formula for us babies

2012-05-24T09:29:00.000+10:00

A couple of formula tricks from the CAD Shack:

Pick One and Only One

Here the condition number will allow only one paramter to be true in a list. Associated with a type, you could control a ton of things simply back picking the correct type.

"Don't Change Me Bro"

If you need some text to not change, put that text in the Formula column with quotes around it. It greys it out in the Value column. This should stop the majority of users from changing its value.

via
CAD Shack: Revit Family Formula Examples and Tricks

Set up a NICE 3D View Template ... for quick Cameras

2012-05-23T15:34:00.003+10:00

When making a standard perspective Camera View, Revit 2013 allows you to effectively preset View properties, so that all new Camera views look nice. These settings are from the BIM Technologist:

Then, save the View Template settings and go into the Type Properties of 3D View, and set the View Template applied to new views appropriately.

via

BIM Technologist, Quick Views & Effect

Formatting large drives as FAT32 in Windows

2012-05-23T12:32:00.002+10:00

Windows 7 does not easily allow you to format a USB drive using the FAT32 filesystem. Some media devices do not understand NTFS, and they need drives to be formatted as FAT32 (such as PlayStation 3 / PS3)

To format large drives using FAT32 in Windows, you can use a program called Swissknife:
Download Swissknife

Then:

install it.
plug your hard drive in your pc
open the program.
click your drive in the devices list.
click format to erase everything.
once finished click partition type and select primary and then file system and select fat32.
drag the bar to the right of the pie chart all the way to the bottom, so the whole pie chart turns blue.
click create.

via http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/602285#3639612

Simple methods to help with Civil 3D and Revit interoperability

2012-05-23T09:14:00.003+10:00

Civil 3D is really good at some things. I use it to perform graphic slope analysis on the site surface, which I then export and import into Revit as an image. There are various ways to clean up and bring the Civil 3D surface data into Revit. A simple workflow is described at:
Bringing a Civil 3D Surface into Revit as a Toposurface

There is a nice set of videos at:
Transferring Site Data Between Revit Architecture and AutoCAD Civil 3D

I previously posted about the recent Labs tool that may also assist:
Better coordination between Revit and Civil 3D? Yes please!

View Templates and Project Browser sorting

2012-05-22T20:12:00.001+10:00

Something just dawned on me. Given that View Templates are my favourite feature of Revit 2013, wouldn't it be cool to sort the Project Browser using the View Template field? Then we can quickly review which views have templates, which templates are applied where, and which views are 'template orphans'.

And yes, it can be done - see image below.

Are you using Adaptive Components yet?

2012-05-22T16:57:00.003+10:00

Julien Benoit has put together a nicely paced introduction to Adaptive Components.

Some quotable quotes:
"The future of Revit family creation - adaptive components." (at time 1:13:52)

"all our knowledge of families will die :)"
By attendee gaby424

Check it out at:
Adaptive Components By Julien

also on Wikihelp at http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Revit/enu/Community/Examples/Basic_Adaptive_Component_Families

Yummy BIM Food...service

2012-05-22T13:00:00.000+10:00

I previously re-posted about some of challenges of adopting Revit in the foodservice industry at Revit: Problem Or Solution?

A recent 'tips' post provides a couple of good guidelines, namely:

When working in Revit, focus on the families. Understand that families are everything...

and

Check the FCSI standards before beginning. (click the link to download PDF)

Read more at:
Tips for Adopting 3D Modeling Technology for Foodservice - Foodservice Equipment & Supplies

Cannot Restore Backup Version an Unknown Error Occurred

2012-05-22T10:07:00.003+10:00

There is a nasty little bug that sometimes causes Backups (and any attempted Restore) to fail on a workshared project. The way to avoid this problem is so simple that it should probably be implemented on all workshared projects in your office:

check Regenerate if view/sheet is not up-to-date. This will create a thumbnail for the non-opened view to be included with the initial backup version and eliminate the error message when saving the backup version.
via
Cannot Restore Backup Version an Unknown Error Occurred - The Revit Clinic

However - if you have already come across this problem and it is too late to check the above box ... you may be able to get the Restore to work IF you reinstate an appropriately named preview.xxxx.dat file into the _backup folder. Its worth a try if you are struggling to recover some important data.

Taking geometry from CATIA into Revit

2012-05-21T14:37:00.001+10:00

CATIA (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application) is a multi-platform CAD/CAM/CAE commercial software suite developed by the French company Dassault Systemes.

Commonly referred to as a 3D Product Lifecycle Management software suite, CATIA supports multiple stages of product development (CAx), from conceptualization, design (CAD), manufacturing (CAM), and engineering (CAE). CATIA facilitates collaborative engineering across disciplines, including surfacing & shape design, mechanical engineering, equipment and systems engineering.

So, how do we go from CATIA to Revit / 3dsMax?

A couple of videos for this workflow were recently posted to Rethinking BIM here. One method seems to go Catia to IGS to Rhino to SAT to Revit. Embedded below:

Export DWG Dimensions problems from Revit 2013

2012-05-21T12:19:00.000+10:00

Revit au Quotidien has picked up a few mildly scary issues when exporting to DWG from Revit 2013, one seems to be related to dimensions with Text Below, the other to EQ display of actual dimensions.

Have you been experiencing any of these issues?

Read more at:
Text below
Google Translate of http://revitauquotidien.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/revit-2013-bug-l-vers-autocad-dwg.html

EQ display
and Google Translate of http://revitauquotidien.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/revit-2013-bug-l-vers-autocad-dwg-n2.html

Think you know everything about Links and Groups?

2012-05-21T11:09:00.002+10:00

Aaron Maller is one of the top Revit guys in the world. In a recent blog post, he provides some handouts for download - this is basically stuff about Links and Groups for the Advanced user - very interesting!

So here they are!
Sample Data Sets
Class Handout

via
Malleristic Revitation: Class Materials- Autodesk TA event- Dallas

Faster Revit application load time for free

2012-05-21T10:51:00.002+10:00

Cool tip from The Revit Convert on how to skip the splash screen and speed up the loading time of your Revit.exe. Just right-click on your Revit shortcut icon and go to Properties, then:

From the Properties palette and in the Target box, go to the very end of that long sequence and add {spacebar}/nosplash (after the " marks, not inside them) (please do not type {spacebar}, that is just my indication that you use the space bar)

Read more at:
Want to (slightly) speed up Revit? � The Revit Convert

When Undo will not Undo

2012-05-18T16:26:00.000+10:00

Every now and then, Revit will remove everything from the list of things you can Undo.

It's called 'flushing the undo stack'.

Various things trigger this scary behaviour:

Making a Workset editable WITHOUT using the Worksets dialog box
Deleting a View, from a workshared project that is not 'checked out' (editable, see first point)
Deleting a Family via the Project Browser, from a workshared project where the Family is not 'checked out' (editable, see first point)

An interesting workaround - if you check out the View workset manually (using the Workset dialog), and THEN Delete it, you can still Undo from this point.

This leads to some seriously scary possibilities - if you plan to delete a view with a 1000 detail lines and text elements, make extra-certain first!

i-model plug-ins for Adobe Reader + Revit = time for 3D BIM PDF ?

2012-05-18T12:41:00.001+10:00

I previously posted about the i-model plugin for Revit here which ultimately allows you to export from Revit to the Bentley i-model format, and then subsequently Export to a 3D PDF file.

A couple of days ago, Bentley released version 01.00.01.51 of the i-model plug-in for Adobe Reader.

This allows you to:

View/interact with i-models using free Adobe software
Pan, zoom, rotate, and search embedded i-models

This presents a possible solution for Revit to actually produce 3D PDF files that have legitimate BIM intelligence, through the Bentley i-model plugin for Revit.

FTP download link for Adobe Reader plugin

Popquiz - list the new Adaptive Component Categories in 2013...

2012-05-18T12:20:00.000+10:00

Have a look at the comparison below:

So the new Categories that support Adaptive Components are related to either Profiles or Railings.

Project Vasari SDK Software Development Kit for download

2012-05-17T13:53:00.004+10:00

In addition to Project Vasari itself, you can now download a Software Development Kit (SDK). This kit is intended for power users who wish to use the Application Program Interface (API) to work with Project Vasari.
The API allows a programmer to:

Create add-ins to automate repetitive tasks in the Project Vasari UI
Enforce project design standards by checking for errors automatically
Extract project data for analysis and to generate reports
Import external data to create new elements or parameter values
Integrate other applications, including analysis applications, into Project Vasari
Create Project Vasari project documentation automatically

// Download Project Vasari SDK via Autodesk Labs

via
Project Vasari Software Development Kit Now Available - It is Alive in the Lab

Some direct links:

Vasari Software Development Kit (SDK)
Project Vasari 2.5 offers an API designed to allow power users and external application developers to integrate their applications with Vasari. It is strongly recommended that you become familiar with Project Vasari and its features before attempting to use the API. Training can be found through the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN).
// download
// more

via
http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/vasari/

Stairs Representation During Upgrade to Revit 2013

2012-05-17T08:22:00.002+10:00

Awesome post to Wikihelp by Ping Jiang, Software Quality Assurance Engineer, Autodesk.

The short version:
basically when the old stairs upgrade to Revit 2013 and mix with new stairs in the project, we just need to simply uncheck the visibility of 'above'Riser Lines and Riser Lines, then the representation for them will be almost exactly the same [as pre-2013] in all the views.

Read the complete and detailed guide at:
Stairs Representation During Upgrade - WikiHelp

Hack for Revit 2013 emulated Hardware Acceleration in Parallels or VMWare Fusion

2012-05-16T13:40:00.000+10:00

From Gordon Price on RFO:

Go to the Revit program folder (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit Architecture 2013\Program for RAC) and look for a file called AdskHardwareCertificationReport.xml. Rename this file AdskHardwareCertificationReport.xml.OOTB and accept the warning about changing file extensions. You will now be able to enable Hardware Acceleration just like you did in 2012. Performance will not be as good as direct graphics hardware, but it will be much faster than WARP.

via
Revit on the Mac (OS X) - Page 6

Read the whole thread if you want to understand some of the limitations and risks of this method.

A curtain family that (kinda) opens and closes ...

2012-05-15T09:41:00.001+10:00

This is an example of an family with an array that kinda mimics a curtain that opens and closes.
http://revitlog.nl/images/stories/families/82_meubels/82_gordijn.rfa

However - it is also a good example of what happens if you don't create a fix for when an array drops to only one item. You need to formulaically stop this from happening, by doing something like this:

Applied Array=if(Calculated Array>1,Calculated Array,2)

(where Applied Array is the parameter applied to the physical array in the family, and Calculated Array is the number that is formulaically derived)

Family via
Google Translate
of
http://revitlog.nl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=395:11-gordijn-op-en-dicht&catid=113:logs-april-2012&Itemid=89

Missing railing templates in 2013 metric content

2012-05-14T13:27:00.002+10:00

You have installed the Metric content for Autodesk Revit 2013 and found that you are missing two railing template files.

Solution

The two missing template files are available for download below:

	Metric_Support.rft (rft - 240Kb)
	Metric_Termination.rft (rft - 240Kb)

via
Autodesk - Autodesk Revit Architecture Services & Support - Missing railing templates in metric content

Revit content creation standards

2012-05-14T10:16:00.001+10:00

There are quite a few different content 'standards' being bandied about lately, from ANZRS to the Revit Model Content Style Guide.

There is a partial list of these content standards at the page below:
Content|Studio Blog: BIM Show Live - Content from inception to reality

Direct link to the current Autodesk Revit Model Content Style Guide:
http://revit.autodesk.com/Library/RMCSG/Revit_Model_Content_Style_Guide_v2_1.zip

MeshMixer to Revit - real life organic modelling example

2012-05-11T09:38:00.000+10:00

I was speaking to CJ from Crossley Architects yesterday. He said that he had been experimenting with creating freeform rocks in Meshmixer and bringing them into Revit. Here is an example of what he has produced:

As part of his workflow, he first of all used the STL Exporter add-in to export the fishtank context from Revit. This ensures that sculpting work is done in a way that can be accurately scaled and proportioned.

After importing the STL context into Meshmixer:

Bring a plane object (Import Plane) into Meshmixer and transform it to suit the tank wall that is to be sculpted.
Do the freeform modelling in Meshmixer.
Export to 3ds Max (see previous post). Holes may need to be capped.
Go from 3ds Max to a SAT file into a Revit family.

I'm glad to see that the Meshmixer organic workflow is getting some real-world Revit use!

Here is my previous post on Meshmixer:
What Revit Wants: Freeform and organic modelling from MeshMixer to 3ds Max to Revit