RevitUp

Join me for Coverage of Autodesk University 2011

2011-11-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

It's the week after Thanksgiving, which means that I'm back in Las Vegas attending the 18th Annual Autodesk University. Today is dedicated to special meetings, including a press and blogger briefing that is just getting started.

I'll be posting as much information as possible this week...basically whatever I can tell you about that isn't under non-disclosure. So stay tuned.

Autodesk Announces Features in 2011 Products

2010-03-25T09:34:00.001-07:00

I'm in San Francisco today at Autodesk's headquarters to attend the live webcast introducing the company's new 2011 products. I'll be reporting throughout the day on both the Revit products and AutoCAD. For my AutoCAD coverage, visit my other blog at http://cadman-do.blogspot.com/.

The top features announced for the Revit products are:

An interactive sunpath tool
Large team workflow enhancements
New surface rationalization tools
Adaptive components

Here's a brief video demonstrating the new interactive sunpath tool. While many of these capabilities were available in previous versions, users now have the ability to visualize the position of the sun within the context of the model.

Within the realm of large team workflow enhancements, users can now control visibility of components across linked projects and tag items such as doors and rooms from in multiple linked project files from within a host file.

Surface rationalization tools and adaptive components enhance the user's ability to model complex components. This brief video shown just now during the webcast shows how adaptive components can be used to model complex curtain walls.

Creating an Eyebrow Dormer in Revit Architecture

2009-11-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

Autodesk University is just a few weeks away. To help whet your appetite, I thought I would share a sneak peek at one of the functions you'll learn in my upcoming class "Raising the Roof: Creating Roofs in Revit."

Revit's Slope Arrow tool provides a way to create more complex roofs by defining slopes that cannot be created by simply setting roof footprint boundary lines as slope-defining. For example, this quick (1-minute) video shows how to use the Slope Arrow tool to quickly create an eyebrow dormer.

I hope you enjoyed the video and learned something new about Revit.

You'll learn this and much more about roofs in my AU class "Raising the Roof: Creating Roofs in Revit" (course AB322-1), which I'll be teaching on Thursday, December 3, from 5:00 to 6:30pm in MB Ballroom A.

Looking Forward to Autodesk University 2009

2009-09-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

I'll be back at Autodesk University again this year. At this point, I've lost track of how many of these events I've attended other than the fact that I've been to ALL of them.

I'll be teaching two Revit courses and three AutoCAD classes this year. The Revit classes should be quite interesting:

Collaborating Across Disciplines with Revit Architecture, MEP, and Structure
Tuesday, December 1, 8:00am-9:30am (course: AB104-3)
Class Description: Are you ready to take the next step and use building information modeling to share data across the entire design team? The need for sharing data across design disciplines has become increasingly critical. In this class, we’ll look at how the Revit platform facilitates collaboration and coordination among architects and engineers. You’ll learn how to link project files between Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, and Revit MEP, coordinate work between disciplines, identify and correct interferences, and use Revit’s revision tracking to keep track of changes.

Raising the Roof - Creating Roofs in Revit
Thursday, December 3, 5:00pm-6:30pm (course AB322-1)
Class Description: Roofs are one of the most complex architectural elements to model, but with Revit you can create just about any type of roof. This class will explore the best methods for creating various types of roofs using all the tools in Revit. We’ll look at complex roofs with varying pitch, offset plate heights, ridge and valley control, dormers, flat roofs, and more. You’ll also learn how to create roofs with varying thickness using shape editing tools. Whether you design residential or commercial buildings, you’ll learn new techniques you can immediate put to use in Revit.

I hope you'll join me at AU. To learn more, please visit the Autodesk University website.

Sorry for the Long Absence

2009-07-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I have been conspicuously absent since May 4.

There are several reasons for that. One is that I have been totally immersed in creating training videos for CADLearning for their AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, and Revit Architecture courseware.

The second is that I've been trying to find either a job or some consulting work.

And the third is that we suffered a huge tragedy. On May 20, my son's fiancee was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

I've included a bit more detail on my personal CADMAN-do blog.

I'll still be gone for a while, as I'm off tomorrow to the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada to watch the team from North American Eagle test the vehicle that they hope will someday break the Land Speed Record. You can follow that story on CADMAN-do as well.

First Look: Revit 2010 Ribbon Bar Interface

2009-03-03T08:20:00.001-08:00

This morning I received word from Autodesk that I had permission to start sharing videos of the soon-to-be-released Revit Architecture 2010.

So, with no further delay, here for your enjoyment and enlightenment is a short video highlighting some of the features of the new ribbon bar interface.

I hope you will agree that, while the new interface is going to take a while to get used to, it is actually quite intuitive. As I wrote in my pervious posting, it has taken me just an hour or so to become quite comfortable with the ribbon bar.

Autodesk Unveils Revit Architecture 2010

2009-02-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

On Friday, February 6, Autodesk held a virtual press conference at which the company unveiled new versions of its software products for the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. An archive of that virtual press conference is currently available online. If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to watch it, particularly part one of the product presentation.

Since lots of other bloggers have already weighed in on the event and reprinted the press release, I'm not going to spend time rehashing what's already been posted. Yes, the next release has a new conceptual design environment, and once I'm able to get my hands on the software and play around with those new tools, I'll write about them.

But let's focus instead about the one aspect of the next release that has everyone talking—the new User Interface.

Ribbon Bar Rant

Here's the image that Autodesk included as part of its press kit.

The first thing you'll notice is the new ribbon bar. What that means is the absence of the Design bar and the pull-down menus. I'm not going to miss the pull-downs. Does anyone really use them very much in Revit?

But the removal of the Design bar means that initially, you're going to be searching for your tools. Autodesk's press release says that the new "streamlined user interface helps users find favorite tools and commands faster, locate lesser used tools more efficiently and discover new tools more easily." Really?

Here's my take. Of course you're not going to find your favorite tools faster. They're no longer where you normally find them because the Design bar is gone. Nor will you locate lesser used tools more efficiently. They were in the drop-down menus, which are also gone. You will discover new tools more easily. That's the whole idea behind the ribbon bar.

Ribbon Bar Reality

Okay. Now that I've gotten that out of my system, let's talk about what we do now. If you use Revit on a regular basis, it's probably going to take you a day to get used to the new interface. That's all. After that, you're probably going to wonder how you ever lived without it.

Why? Because it makes a lot of sense in this product. The ribbon bar arranges the tools based on your current task. Take a closer look at the Home ribbon bar in the image supplied by Autodesk. There are more tools than what you would have found on the Basic design bar. No more having to switch to the Modeling design bar when you're ready to create railings, ramps, or stairs. They're all here in one place.

Also notice the tooltip in that image. Just like in AutoCAD 2009, when you hover over any tool, a small tooltip becomes visible. Leave your cursor there for more than a few seconds and that tooltip expands to show you more information about the command. That's going to make learning about and using other tools much easier.

And that ribbon bar has lots more tricks. If you watch the demos in Autodesk's virtual press conference (about 10 minutes into Presentation PT1), you'll notice that when Kelcey Lemon goes to select a curtain panel to add to the building form he created using the conceptual modeler, he sees a graphic representation of each panel system in the ribbon bar drop-down (which apparently takes the place of the Type Selector from earlier releases).

Assuming that metaphor extends to all Revit components, that means that you'll now be able to see a graphic representation of the wall, door, window or other component in the selector drop-down as you make your choice. No more having to depend just on the name assigned to the component. If that won't help users make the proper selection the first time, I don't know what will.

Like I said, I'm anxiously awaiting a copy that I can play with and write about. As soon as I receive it, I'll start recording and posting short videos explaining how to use all the new tools. Until then, take a deep breath and think about embracing the ribbon bar.

And if anyone has comments to share, I'm listening.

All of My AU Classes are Now Available Online

2008-12-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

As promised, this year I recorded all six of the classes that I taught at Autodesk University. While most of those classes were also recorded as part of AU (and are available on the AU-online website). But not all of my classes were recorded by Autodesk, and only those who have attended Autodesk University have access to the AU-online website.

So, for the sake of completeness, and to ensure that everyone has access to all of my classes, I have posted all of this year's classes (as well as several from past years) on my website. Here you will find not only all of the class handouts and PowerPoint presentations (in PDF format) but also the complete webcasts of all of this year's classes. I've also posted datasets from several of the classes, and will gladly add more materials in response to requests.

So, what will you find? Here's a complete list of the classes that I've posted:

I hope you find these materials useful and take full advantage of them. And I welcome your feedback. I am always working to improve these materials.

Great Revit Sessions at AU

2008-12-03T16:42:00.000-08:00

There's no end to great Revit classes this year at Autodesk University. This afternoon I taught a class to help users collaborate between Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure. This was by far my biggest class (nearly 450 attendees) and my sense is that it went well. The class was recorded and I will be posting it as a webcast. Look for it next week on my website at www.dscohn.com.

I've also been attending classes every chance I get. This afternoon after my class I went to a class titled "Solving Common Revit Architecture Problems" by Harlan Brumm. Harlan is the Global Technical Lead for Revit Architecture in Autodesk's Product Support Department.

This is such a popular class that it's being given twice. Yet there were more than 100 people lined up outside the room waiting for last-minute space. This class was a must for anyone who has ever had issues with items not appearing in views, problems with family creation or display, corrupt file errors, memory issues, or problems printing and plotting from Revit. Many of the topics Harlan covered are also addressed on his blog at http://revitclinic.typepad.com.

Well, gotta dash. The AUGI Annual Meeting starts soon and then there's the annual AUGI Beer Blast.

AEC Keynote at Autodesk University

2008-12-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

I'm at Autodesk University this week, and while I'm teaching six classes, I'm also taking at least that many more and also attending most of the keynote sessions. This morning's session is of particular interest to Revit users.

Jay Bhatt started off this morning's keynote by outlining five key areas on which the company is focused as it continues to enhance its BIM initiative. One key area is a greater enhancement of conceptual design tools. To help illustrate that, he brought up other members of the development team.

Paul Donnelly started out by paraphrasing the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." He showed some of the new free-form design tools that are planned for the next release of AutoCAD and pointed out that since many customers will have AutoCAD as part of their Revit Suite solution, they will be able to use these tools in AutoCAD and then bring those designs into Revit. But then he showed similar new freeform design tools right inside Revit. In the brief demo, you could see that the next release of Revit will most likely incorporate a ribbon bar interface similar to what was introduced in AutoCAD 2009. But as the designer worked in the new freeform modeling environment in Revit, the interface automatically changed and adapted to what he was doing, rather than having to switch tools and open the Element Properties dialog box.

I've been a bit skeptical about what the ribbon bar would mean to Revit users, but from what I saw in the brief demo, I am a bit more receptive.

The next topic addressed was sustainable design. The team showed tools in Civil 3D and Autodesk Ecotect as well as enhanced heating and cooling load analysis tools in the next release of Revit MEP. The new release has multiple levels of report, from basic to advanced.

Jim Lynch, VP of AEC Marketing showed how BIM can create a more integrated design delivery process including using Autodesk Inventor to study fabrication of custom components and Navisworks to run collision detection.

Next, the estimating team used Autodesk Quanity Takeoff to do a quantity takeoff directly from the Revit model. The estimator saved that takeoff to an XML file and then brought that information into Constructware. Quantity Takeoff is a product based on DWF. I first saw this product in an early incarnation at the Autodesk University held several years ago in Orlando, FL, but its release was definitely under the radar. It's definitely worth a look.

Definitely a lot to mull over. I've got to get moving now to head off to my first Revit class of the day. Stay tuned for more.

64-bit Revit Now Available

2008-10-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

At the end of September, Autodesk finally announced the long-awaited release of the 64-bit version of Revit. All three flavors of Revit 2009—Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure—are now available for 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista, with one very important caveat:

The 64-bit versions of Revit 2009 are only available to Revit subscription customers.

One would assume that Autodesk will provide both 32-bit and 64-bit versions to all customers once the company releases the next version of Revit, which should be next spring (probably in April 2009). Until then, the 64-bit version will only be available to customers with subscription contracts. Thus the 64-bit versions of Revit join the list of other applications and add-ons currently only offered to Revit subscription customers. That list includes the Worksharing Monitor, Batch Plot Utility, and Globe Link extensions as well extensions for Excel-based modeling, a grid generator, text generator, element positioning, freeze drawings, and model compare.

What are the benefit to running a 64-bit version of Revit? The biggest advantage of running a 64-bit operating system is the ability to access more than 4GB of memory, which is maximum possible with a 32-bit OS. That maximum rises to 128GB for 64-bit versions of Windows, more than most of today's computers can even accomodate. Extra memory means that users can create huge Revit models without having to split them up into multiple linked project files.

Generally, moving to a 64-bit OS does not provide significant speed improvements. In fact, some tests show that performance can actually be a bit slower under a 64-bit OS due to the additional overhead. But according to Autodesk, beta testers reported that the 64-bit versions of Revit provided improved performance when rendering and printing, importing and exporting files, and when converting models to the newer release.

At some point, I hope to get a system configured so that I can quantify the performance difference. Ideally, I'll set up a system that can dual boot to either 32-bit or 64-bit Windows. But since I do not currently have access to the subscription site, that may have to wait until the next release.

An annual Revit subscription currently costs $695 per year while customers who purchased one of the Revit suites pay $725.

The Times are a Changing

2008-10-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed a small change to the subtitle at the top of this blog. On Friday, October 3, after returning from the season's first CAD Camp event in San Francisco, I was informed that I had been laid off from my job as an applications engineer with The PPI Group. Talk about comfirmation as to the state of the economy.

So after two years as the voice of PPI's Revit evangelist, this blog now represents my personal opinions. I am once again an independent CAD consultant. Maybe I'll find time to post here more often.

I am actively seeking new clients. I know times are tough, but that makes it all the more important that users get the most out of the tools and technologies they are using. With more than 25 years of experience, I am uniquely qualified to help ensure that success.

Autodesk and Bentley Get Together

2008-07-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

Autodesk and Bentley announced yesterday that they have agreed to exchange programming information in order to expand the interoperability between their architectural, engineering, and construction software.

Autodesk and Bentley will exchange software libraries, including Autodesk RealDWG. "to improve the ability to read and write the companies' respective DWG and DGN formats in mixed environments with greater fidelity." They will also reportedly share APIs (application programming interfaces) in order to improve interoperability between their programs. The goal is to improve AEC workflows by enabling greater reuse of information generated during the design, construction, and operation of buildings and infrastructure.

I've seen lots of agreements between competitors before, but if this one pans out, it could be huge. A 2004 study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology found that inadequate AEC software interoperability costs users nearly $16 billion annually.

AutoCAD and Revit can already read and write DGN files and Bentley applications have long been able to utilize AutoCAD drawing files, but thus far, the companies have had to rely on their own programming expertise to properly translate those files. The planned sharing of information should improve those translations while at the same time opening up even greater ability to exchange information with the full suite of products from both companies. Think about direct intergrations of Bentley's STAAD and RAM structural analysis products with Revit Structure.

I can't wait to see how this all plays out. We're all beneficiaries of this one.

My Apologies for Not Posting in So Long

2008-07-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

I'm just taking a few minutes to apologize for having not posted anything new quite some time. While not meant as an excuse, I've been on the road for the past several months doing AUGI CAD Camp events all over the country. And when I haven't been on the road with AUGI, I've been teaching Revit classes, meeting with clients, and speaking at various PPI events.

But summer is here now. I'm not traveling as much (there's only one CAD Camp event this month, just across the border in Vancouver, BC). And I've gotten up to speed with Revit Architecture 2009.

So stay tuned for new postings in the days and weeks to come.

Absolute and Relative Elevations in Revit Projects

2008-02-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

Now that the spin from Autodesk's World Press Days is behind us, I figured it's time to get back to some general Revit tips and tricks.

Today, let's look at how you set the zero level in a project and display absolute elevation levels.

For example, suppose that Level 1 in your project is actually at 355-feet above sea level. Rather than physically moving the Level 1 datum up to 355'-0", you simply want it to display the actual elevation.

This is really quite easy to do. First, set the true project elevation by doing the following:

Open a view that shows your project levels (such as an elevation or section view).

Click Tools>Shared Coordinates>Specify Coordinates at a Point.

Select a fixed point in your project (in a view that shows the elevation).

In the Specify Shared Coordinates dialog box, enter the actual elevation of the point you selected, and then click OK.

Then, change the type properties of the level system family by doing the following:

In a view showing the project levels (again, such as an elevation or section view), select any level.

Right-click and select Element Properties from the shortcut menu.

In the Element Properties dialog box for the Level system family, click Edit/New.

In the Type Properties dialog, under Constraints, change the Elevation Base value from Project to Shared, and then click OK to close all of the dialog boxes.

The elevation labels will all change to show the true (absolute) elevations.

The following short video shows this procedure in action:

More Revit 2009 News

2008-02-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I reported on what I learned about the next release of Revit Architecture at Day 1 of Autodesk's second annual World Press Days in San Francisco. Today, I'll unveil a bit more information—this time focusing on Revit MEP and some other exciting announcements made during Day 2.

[Disclaimer: Again, please remember that anything Autodesk showed at this event is still subject to change, so please don't assume that everything I describe will actually be included in the next release.]

In Revit MEP 2009, spaces will populate automatically from architectural spaces, and slivers (unoccupied spaces) can more easily be dealt with. Revit MEP will also now be able to deal with mechanical zones. The heating and cooling dialog has been updated to show spaces and zones, and the resulting report enhanced to include check sum values. Users will also be able to export light fixture data to IES to do lighting calculations.

For plumbing, flow values are now converted from fixture units and a slope tool shows which way pipe is sloping. According to the product specialist I spoke with, the new release includes much more 3D content, although I did not get a chance to see how extensive this new collection of components really is. Users can also bring 3D AutoCAD blocks into the Family Editor.

Users will now be able to model in elevation and section views. There's also a tag on placement option and the ability to add MEP detail lines as separate objects from architectural detail lines. And of course, all three versions of Revit 2009 will use Autodesk's mental ray rendering engine.

At the AEC breakout session, product specialists showed how all of Autodesk's products help deliver on the promise of BIM. The demonstration began with preliminary design of a building using a rules-based approach in Autodesk Inventor (yes, Autodesk is now promoting Inventor as a tool for use in building design) and a free-form modeling approach using Maya. We then watched team members use Hydraflow Storm Sewer Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D and HVAC load calculations performed using the HVAC Load Calculation Extension from newly acquired Carmel Software. Steel detailing can now be done by exporting the Revit Structure analytical model to AutoCAD Structural Detailer from Robobat, a company Autodesk acquired last fall. The Revit Structure 2009 Suite will include the AutoCAD Structural Detailing application.

But perhaps most exciting were two announcements made during a Media & Entertainment industry workshop. Autodesk announced that it would release two different versions of 3ds Max: 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009. 3ds Max Design is a customized version of the software, optimized for use by architects, designers, and engineers. It will have the same functionality as 3ds Max with the addition of new exposure lighting analysis technology to assist with LEED 8.1 certification and the elimination of the Software Development Kit (SDK).

Autodesk also showed off a new technology under development, codenamed "Newport." Autodesk representatives prefaced the demonstration by asking "What if visualization could be easy? What if it could be learned over lunch?" Newport was initially talked about at Autodesk University, but today we got a chance to actually see Newport in action.

Running on a system with multiple quad-core CPUs, Newport is a "sandbox" for visualization that eliminates many existing limitations. This R&D application was able to render a Revit-based model placed into its real-world environment, with photorealistic materials and lighting and interactive motion and animation in real-time. It understands the Revit model. Users can dial in a stylistic scheme and then replace it later with a more realistic scheme. It can handle real-time presentations and HD-quality output.

I'll finish off this posting with a video of the Newport technology demonstration.

[Disclaimer: Remember that this is a technology demonstration only. This is not a product and may never actually be available as a product. Also please note that this video was shot from an LCD display using a handheld camera.]

What's New in Revit Architecure 2009

2008-02-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

As I've told many of my PPI clients, I am spending the first part of this week at Autodesk's World Press Days in San Francisco. This is an annual event at which the company unveils its new products to press and analysts from all over the world.

Today consisted of opening sessions during which Autodesk representatives laid out the broad picture of where the company is heading with its product development efforts. Autodesk also had selected customers from each discipline show how they are using Autodesk products. The presentations were all quite compelling, and I'll report on them in a future posting, but I know that those of you in the Revit community are most interested in what's new in the next release of Revit.

Although there were no actual product demonstrations today (those will come tomorrow), I did have an opportunity to get a brief look at what's planned for the next release of Revit Architecture and Revit MEP.

[Disclaimer: Autodesk was very careful to preface the day's presentations with a statement that there was no guarantee that what they showed would actually be in one of its products, so please don't assume that just because I saw something today that it represents the feature set of the next release. Until the actual product launch, features are still subject to change.]

The enhancements in Revit Architecture 2009 fall into three general categories:

Control and flexibility
Design and visualization
Performance and integration

In the control and flexibility department, look for improved dimensions and text, with enhancements such as the ability to dimension to intersections and arc centers. Users will also have more control over text formatting and the ability to replace dimensions with text. But since altering dimensions could potentially corrupt the BIM model, this feature has been implemented in such a way that a user can completely replace a dimension with a text string (or add a prefix or suffix), but Revit will not allow the user to replace a dimension with a substitute dimension. So you can change a dimension on a stair section to read “See floor plan” for example, but you couldn’t change a tread dimension from 11” to 12”.

The biggest change in Revit’s design and visualization enhancements is the news that Autodesk has finally removed AccuRender from Revit and replaced it with the much more powerful mental ray rendering engine. That’s the same renderer found in all of the other Autodesk products, including VIZ and 3ds max. That means that not only will Revit users now have physically accurate lights, photometric lights, and real sun and sky settings, but they’ll also get a new material library—the same material library found in VIZ and 3ds max. Users will lose AccuRender’s fractal trees, but will get RPC content for trees. And perhaps more significantly, users will no longer need to save to DWG in order to get their models into VIZ or max, but rather will be able to save to FBX, which captures geometry, lights, materials, settings, and perspective. Render settings will also be simplified so that architects don’t have to wade through a myriad of dialog boxes just to produce a pretty picture.

Performance and integration enhancements include improvements in initial program startup and plotting. Revit will now open onto a dashboard showing recent projects rather than taking the time to open a blank project. The new release also incorporates some UI tools already available in other Autodesk products, such as steering wheels for navigation and a view cube for orienting a 3D model.

I saw lots of other subtle enhancements (such as improvements to revisions, rooms, and view templates) that should make it into the upcoming release. I also got my first look at Revit MEP and AutoCAD 2009, and I’ll report on many of the additions to those programs in future postings.

Tomorrow Autodesk will do formal presentations on all of its new products, so I’m sure I’ll pick up more information than I was able to assimilate during my brief look this afternoon, so stay tuned.

Revit Webcast: View and Visibility Control in Revit

2008-01-22T11:49:00.001-08:00

This morning I did a webcast on View and Visibility Control in Revit, "Seeing what you want to see."

For those of you who may have missed that webcast or who wish to watch it again, you can now view the complete webcast on my website at http://www.dscohn.com/speaking/revit_views.htm

Raising the Roof

2007-12-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, November 15, 2007, I did a presentation for the Seattle Revit User Group (SEARUG) on creating roofs in Revit Architecture. The presentation was based on similar presentations that I've done at several AUGI CAD Camp events over the past several months.

I recorded that presentation using Camtasia and am now making it available.

To view the video, please visit my website at http://www.dscohn.com/speaking/revit_roofs.htm

News from Autodesk University

2007-11-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week at AU. Since I'm here speaking on many topics, not just Revit, and since there's always lots of news and activities to write about, I'm posting only to my more general CADman-do blog. Please visit that blog for the latest information from Autodesk University.

I'll be back after the AU break with more Revit-specific information, including tips and tricks that I learn in the many Revit classes I'm taking at Autodesk University.

Tag Doors by Type / Tag Windows by Mark

2007-11-14T18:01:00.000-08:00

How do you tag doors by Type rather than by Mark; or tag windows by Mark rather than by Type?

Again, this is a question that comes up quite often, so let's explain this one in very simple terms.

The information that appears in a door or window tag, as well as the appearance of the tag itself, is determined by the Revit annotation family object used to tag the door or window. By default, doors tags appear as an oval with the Mark (door number) centered in the tag, while window tags appear as a hexagon with the window Type centered in the tag.

In order to tag doors so that the Type appears in the tag rather than the Mark, or to tag windows so that the Mark appears in the tag rather than the type, you need to load a different annotation family component and use it instead. It just so happens that Revit Architecture comes with an alternate window tag that does just this. For doors, you'll need to create a new tag that uses the Type rather than the Mark. But this is quite easy to accomplish.

As with most things in Revit, it's easier to take an existing family component and modify it rather than creating a new one from scratch. Open the existing door or window tag by selecting File > Open and then navigate to the library folder in which the tag is stored (by default, door and window tags are located in Imperial Library > Annotations > Architectural).

The tag opens in Revit's family editor. Select the label.

On the Options bar, click the Select Parameter button.

In the Select Parameter dialog, select the parameter you want to assign to the label. For example, to create a door tag that labels the door using the Type rather than the Mark, select Type Mark. In the Value field, enter a value to represent the label within the family editor environment. Then click OK.

Select File > Save As and give your new tag an appropriate name (such as Door Tag by Type.rfa) and click Save. Then close the family editor.

To use your new tag, load it into your project (File > Load From Library > Load Family).

That's all there is to it. Pretty simple, huh?

Making Roof Lines Visible in Floor Plans

2007-11-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

How do you make a roof overhang appear as a hidden line in a floor plan for a level below the roof?

This question keeps coming up, so I figured the best thing to do was to cover it here. While this is by no means the only solution, it is perhaps the easiest way to accomplish this.

In the plan view of the level in which you want to see the roof line, display the Element Properties dialog box for the view. Then, in the Graphics area, in the Underlay drop-down, select the level on which the roof was created to display the roof as an underlay. (Yes, I realize that the roof is probably above the level you're working on, but it's still considered an underlay nonetheless.)

This makes the roof line visible in the plan view of the level you are working on (along with any ridges and valleys), but of course the lines appear as solid lines.

To change the edges to some sort of hidden line select the Linework tool on the Tools toolbar. Then, select the desired linetype from the Type Selector drop-down. I generally choose .

Click on each roof edge line to change the linetype. To hide ridge and valley lines, you can choose from the Type Selector and then click on those lines, or simply go back to the Element Properties dialog box for the view and change the underlay back to "None."

That's all there is to it.

See. It's quite easy once you know how.

Revit Quick Tips

2007-10-21T01:14:00.000-07:00

The little things can certainly trip you up in Revit. Here are a couple of quick tips.

When importing a CAD file (such as an AutoCAD drawing) for use as the basis of a site plan or topo, be sure the Current View Only check box is NOT selected. Otherwise, you won't be able to select the drawing for use in creating a topo surface.

However, the opposite is true when importing or linking a CAD drawing for use within a drafting view. In order for the CAD file to be visible in the drafting view, it SHOULD be imported or linked to the Current View Only.

Also, remember that after placing the CAD drawing in the view, you can move it to the foreground or background by selecting it and then choosing the desired option on the Options bar.

Paying attention to these small details can help you avoid some frustration.

Download the Handouts

2007-09-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'm now two weeks into the fall AUGI CAD Camp season and have had the pleasure of presenting Revit classes in St. Louis, West Palm Beach, Indianapolis, and Tulsa. The reception I've received in all four cities has been wonderful, and even more impressive has been the number of attendees. Last year, many of the Revit classes had less than a dozen attendees. This year, most of the classes have had more than 40 people. In Tulsa this week, we ran out of seats in the meeting room in which the Revit classes were held.

We also ran out of some of the handouts. For that reason (and also so that attendees can get extra copies of my handouts to share with coworkers back at the office), I have posted copies of all of my handouts on my website (www.dscohn.com). While I certainly invite you to visit my website to see all of the other goodies posted there, I'm including the links below so that you download the PDF versions of the Revit handouts directly:

I'm developing additional classes for upcoming CAD Camps and will post those Revit-specific titles on-line as well once they are completed.

AutoCAD 2008 Service Pack is Now Available

2007-09-01T10:01:00.001-07:00

Back in early July, while I was preparing my handouts for the Honolulu AUGI CAD Camp event, I discovered several bugs in AutoCAD 2008 that affected the creation of tables. If the drawing from which you were extracting data contained dynamic blocks, the tables created from that data would not display the proper data within AutoCAD, although the data extracted to an external file, such as an Excel spreadsheet, was correct.

I reported at that time that Autodesk was aware of this problem and would be addressing it in a future service pack. That service pack has now been released, and I am happy to report that SP1 does indeed correct this problem. Tables created from drawings that include dynamic block data are now generated properly.

The service pack is available from Autodesk's website. I encourage all users of AutoCAD 2008 to download the service pack as soon as possible.

Copying Multileader Styles in AutoCAD 2008

2007-08-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

I love the new Multileader capability in AutoCAD 2008, but while helping a client today, I discovered a somewhat glaring oversight on the part of Autodesk. Judging from postings on the AUGI forum, many other users have already discovered this problem.

The customer asked how he could copy a multileader style from one drawing to another. I naturally assumed that he could use Design Center to accomplish this. Imagine my surprise therefore when I realized that this capability was not added to Design Center in AutoCAD 2008.

After a bit of searching, I found several threads on the AUGI forum that dealt with this. There are two documented work arounds.

METHOD 1: Drawing Insertion method

Open the drawing into which you want to copy the multileader style.
Use the INSERT command to insert the drawing containing the desired multileader style.
When AutoCAD prompts you to select the insertion point, press ESC to cancel the command.

Note that this method will also add all of the text styles, dimension styles, etc. from the drawing being inserted, which may not be desirable. If that is the case, here's another way to copy a multileader style.

METHOD 2: Tool Palette method

Create a multileader in the drawing in which the desired style exists (using the style you want to copy) and then drag-and-drop that multileader onto a tool palette.
Open the new drawing and then start the MLEADER command using the multileader you placed on the tool palette.

Note that this method will initially insert the exact same multileader as you created in the first drawing, including the text. But you can delete that multileader and then just use the MLEADER command normally to create new multileaders. But this method will definitely add the multileader style to the second drawing (and only the multileader style, not all of the other stuff that comes in if you use Method 1).

I would hope that the ability to copy multileader styles from one drawing to another using Design Center is high on the AUGI AutoCAD wish list. It seems silly that Autodesk neglected to add that in AutoCAD 2008. Hopefully, the company will remedy that situation very soon.

Gambrel Roofs in Revit

2007-08-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

I’ve been preparing new course materials for upcoming AUGI CAD Camps and for this year’s Autodesk University. One of the classes I’m going to be teaching at many of the future CAD Camps is a presentation on creating roofs in Revit Architecture 2008. My goal was to create a class that covers as many types of roofs as I could imagine.

As I began documenting the methods that could be used to create various roof types (I used several sources including Architectural Graphics Standards to come up with a fairly complete list of roof types), I realized that gambrel roofs presented a special case.

A gambrel roof is usually a symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side, a lower portion with a steep slope angle and an upper portion with a shallower roof angle. The roof has gable ends. Gambrel roofs are often associated with Colonial architecture and are a common roof used on barns.

Although you could construct this roof in Revit as two roofs, the first ending at a cutoff level and the second filling the opening in the first, creating it as an extrusion works better because the roof maintains a consistent fascia along the gable end.

With the Roof by Extrusion method in Revit, you first sketch the profile of the top of the roof in an elevation or section view, and then extrude the roof. You can use a combination of straight lines and arcs to create the profile. The height of the roof depends on the location where you sketch the profile in the elevation or section view. The sketch must be a series of connected lines or arcs that are not closed in a loop.

When you start the Roof by Extrusion command, Revit displays a Work Plane dialog so you can specify the work plane on which you will sketch the roof profile. It is often helpful to sketch reference planes to guide in the placement of the profile. You can also select the Pick Plane option and then click to select an existing elevation or section; you can then sketch the profile on that plane. Revit will also ask you to specify the reference level and offset for the roof.

The Design bar changes to display the Sketch tab. You can use the sketch tools to create the profile of the roof. Note than when sketching a profile for a roof by extrusion, the Sketch tab does not include the Pick Walls, Align Eaves, or Slope Arrow tools.

The direction in which the roof profile extrudes is known as the extrusion direction. The extrusion of the roof can extend in either direction along a plane perpendicular to the plane in which the profile is created. You use the Extrusion Start and Extrusion End controls in the Element Properties dialog to control the length of the extrusion. You can extend the extrusion towards or away from the view. Extrusion directions that are up or towards the view are positive, and extrusion directions that are down or away from the view are negative.

After first creating the exterior walls of my building and viewing my model in a plan view, here’s how I created a gambrel roof in Revit:

On the Basics or Modeling tab of the Design Bar, select Roof > Roof by Extrusion.

Revit displays the Work Plane dialog.

In the Work Plane dialog, select Pick a Plane (the default option), and click OK.
Click to select one of the end elevations.

(Note that if you selected the end elevation while viewing the building in a plan view, Revit displays the Go To View dialog, and you need to complete step 4. If you were viewing the model in a 3D view, Revit skips this step and goes directly to step 5.)

In the Go To View dialog, select one of the elevations and then click Open View. This will be the plane on which you sketch the roof profile.

Revit displays the Roof Reference Level and Offset dialog

In the Roof Reference Level and Offset dialog, select the reference level for the roof. The default level is the highest level in the project. If desired, you can set a value to offset (raise or lower) the roof from the reference level. Click OK to continue.

The Sketch tab now displays in the Design bar.

Use the tools on the Design bar to sketch the profile of the roof. In the case of the gambrel roof, I used the Lines tool to sketch the profile shown below.

Your dimensions will likely be different from mine. But you can see how the lower slope is steeper than the upper slope. I made my roof symmetrical (which is typical for most gambrel roofs), but since this is a roof by extrusion, symmetry is not necessary.
On the Sketch tab of the Design bar, click Properties.

Revit displays the Element Properties dialog.

This dialog contains all of the settings for the roof you are about to create. I won’t go into a lengthy discussion of these settings. You should review these on your own (perhaps I’ll write another posting on these settings if there is interest). Normally, you would also select the roof type and adjust other settings.

The settings you need to pay attention to for a Roof by Extrusion, however, are the Extrusion Start and Extrusion End settings. In my case, I had drawn a building 60-feet long. I wanted the roof to extend 1-foot beyond the gable ends.
In the Element Properties dialog, under Constraints, specify 1’-0” for the Extrusion Start dimension. Specify -61’-0” for the Extrusion End dimension (the length of the building plus the roof overhang.
On the Sketch tab of the Design bar, click Finish Sketch.

At this point, you probably want to look at your model in 3D.
On the Standard toolbar, click 3D.

Revit displays your model in 3D.

If you've drawn your building like I did, you'll notice that the end walls do not extend up to the roof. Actually, the side walls (along the long edges) don't attach to the roof yet either. That's what Revit's Attach command is for.
Select the end wall. It immediately highlights in red.
On the Options bar, click Attach.
On the Options bar, make sure that the Top radio button is selected, then click on the roof. Revit immediately changes the profile of the end wall so that it fills the empty space right up to the underside of the roof.
Repeat this step for the other three walls.

That's all there is to it. Perfect gambrel roofs every time.

Warped Slabs in Revit 2008

2007-07-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

There are lots of incredible new features in Revit 2008. One of my favorites is the ability to model slabs with multiple slopes, or what Autodesk refers to as “warped slabs.” This is a feature that was specifically highlighted in the roll-out of Revit Structure 2008, but is actually a core component of the entire Revit 2008 family.

You could create sloped slabs in previous versions of Revit, but they could only slope uniformly. It was therefore very difficult to create a floor that sloped to a floor drain, for example. But now, thanks to several new tools in Revit 2008, creating such a component if quite easy. These methods work for roofs, floors, or slabs.

After creating a slab, if you subsequently select that slab Revit displays four new tools on the Options bar:

Note that these tools will not display unless the slab is initially flat and horizontal with straight-edged boundaries. In addition, roofs cannot be attached to another roof and the roof cannot be a curtain roof.

The Modify Sub-Elements tool allows direct editing of element geometry using selection and modification points (vertices) and edges.

The Draw Points tool allows you to create new points on the top face of the slab.

The Draw Split Lines tool allows sketching directly on the top face of the slab.

The Pick Supports tool lets you pick linear beams and walls to create new split edges on the top face of the element, matching the slope to that of the underlying support.

After modifying a slab using any of these shape modifiers, Revit displays a Reset Shape button adjacent to the four shape editing tools on the Options bar. If you click this button, Revit resets the element geometry back to its original unmodified state.

In addition to these four new tools, slabs also have a new parameter enabling users to create material layers with variable thickness. When this parameter is active, the non-variable layers will maintain their specified thickness while the variable layer will adjust its thickness based on the slope. This is a great way to create roof with tapered insulation board, for example.

To modify a slab using the Modify Sub-Elements tool:

Select the slab, roof, or floor you want to modify.
On the Options bar, click the Modify Sub-Elements tool.
Click to select a vertex or edge, after which you can do one of the following:

Drag the blue arrows to move the point vertically.
Drag the red square to move the point horizontally.
Click the text control to enter a precise height for the selected point or edge.
Enter a precise height in the Elevation edit box on the Options bar.

Note that the value of the height represents the offset from the original top face of the slab. For an edge, the entire edge is moved to the specified height.

To modify a slab using the Draw Points tool:

Select the slab, roof, or floot you want to modify.
On the Options bar, click the Draw Points tool.
Click on the face or edges of the slab, roof, or floor to add points that define a slope.

Note that when you select the Draw Points tool in step 2, the Options bar displays an Elevation text box. The value in this box determines the elevation of the point you are about to add. When the adjacent Relative check box is selected, the elevation is mearsured relative to the surface on which you are adding the point. When this check box is cleared, the elevation represents the actual project elevation and points will be added at this specific elevation.

In this illustration, I simply warped the slab down to a central point by adding a new point in the center of the room. The elevation of this point is below the elevation at which the slab was originally created.

When you add new points, Revit automatically splits the slab into smaller sub-regions. You can use the Draw Split Lines tool to manually split an existing face of a slab into smaller sub-regions. You can then alter the elevation of vertices and/or edges of that sub-region to warp the slab.

To modify a slab using the Draw Split Lines tool:

Select the slab, roof, or floor you want to modify.
On the Options bar, click the Draw Split Lines tool.
Select a vertex, edge, face, or point anywhere on the slab to start the split line.
Select another vertex, edge, face, or point anywhere on the slab to end the split line.

Note that the startpoints and endpoints of the split lines can be added anywhere on the face of the slab. If your cursor is over a vertex or edge, Revit will snap to 3D vertices and edges and present standard snap controls and temporary dimensions along the edge.

In the illustrations above, I first added a single split line across the entire slab on the left and then used the Modify Sub-Elements tool to raise the elevation of that split line. To create the slab on the right, I first added four new split lines (using the Chain option when drawing the split lines) and then used the Modify Sub-Elements tool to lower the elevation of the new split lines to create the trench drain.

Note that in all of the previous examples, the overall thickness of the slab remains constant and is simply warped to take on the new slope.

That isn't always what you are trying to achieve. Sometimes, such as in the case of tapered insulation on an otherwise flat roof, you want to keep the actual structure flat and simply create a layer within the roof assembly that has a variable thickness, to represent the tapered insulation. You can accomplish this by creating a variable thickness slab.

Any one layer within the structure of a slab, roof, or floor can have a variable thickness. To modify the structure of a layer to make it a variable layer:

Select the slab, roof, or floor to modify.
Display its Element Properties dialog box.
Click the Edit/New button.
In the Type Properties dialog box, click the Edit button in the Structure property.
In the Edit Assembly dialog box, select the check box in the Variable column for the layer you want to have a variable thickness.

Click OK until all the dialog boxes are closed.

You can then select the slab and use the Modify Sub-Elements tool to make the desired changes to the slab. Only the thickness of the variable layer will change.

View and Visibility Control in Revit

2007-06-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

A while back, a customer called me with a problem: He had added some skylights to a house he was designing but could not get those skylights to show up in his floor plan.

Since this was a residence, his construction documents would not include reflected ceiling plans. Instead, he wanted the skylights in a clearstory ceiling to appear on the second floor plan as a hidden line.

While there may be several ways to accomplish this, it seemed like an obvious solution was to create a filter. Filters provide a way to override the graphic appearance and visibility of all elements that share common properties. For example, the controls in Revit’s Visibility/Graphics dialog box let you change the color applied to walls, but the change would apply to all walls. But if you only wanted to change the color for 2-hour fire rated walls, you could create a filter that would select just those 2-hour walls and then apply the desired visibility change to just those walls.

To accomplish the client’s desired result (skylights shown in the second floor plan as a hidden line), I first looked at the properties of one of the skylights and found that it was assigned an assembly code of B3020110.

Using that piece of information that is unique to the skylights, I created a filter using the following steps:

Display the Second Floor plan view.
Open the Visibility/Graphics Overrides dialog box.
Select the Filters tab.

Click the Edit/New button to display the Filters dialog box.
Click the New button to create a new filter.

In the Filter Name dialog box, name the new filter “Skylight” and click OK

Back in the Filters dialog box, under Categories, select the Window category check box.
Under Filter Rules, in the first Filter By drop-down, select Assembly Code, set it equal to B3020110 (the unique code assigned to the skylights), and then click OK. Take care when entering this assembly code. Remember that the value you enter is case-sensitive.

Back in the Visibility/Graphics Overrides dialog box, click the Add button.
In the Add Filters dialog box, select the Skylight filter you just created, and then click OK.
Back in the Visibility/Graphics Overrides dialog box, under Projection/Surface, in the Lines column, click the Override button. We’re applying the override to the lines projected down from the skylight above.

In the Line Graphics dialog box, from the Pattern drop-down list, select the Hidden line type, and then click OK.
Click OK to close the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog box.

At this point, the skylight still may not appear in the plan view, because the View Range is most likely still set to its default condition, which is to only extend 10-feet above the current floor level when looking up for objects that should appear in the current view.

If you think about the way Revit creates a view, imagine the 3D building model is suspended inside of a transparent cube. The sides of the cube determine what’s visible in any given view. You’ve already probably experienced the sides of this cube—it’s what Revit calls the “Crop Region.” The top and bottom of this cube define the “View Range.”

The view range is a set of horizontal planes that control the object visibility and appearance in the view. The horizontal planes are Top, Cut Plane, Bottom, and View Depth. As their names imply, the top and bottom planes represent the top-most and bottom-most portion of the view range. The cut plane is a plane that determines at what height certain elements in the view are shown cut. These three planes define the Primary Range of the view range. View Depth is an additional plane outside the primary range. You can set the level of view depth to show elements below the bottom plane. By default, it is the same as the bottom plane.

Elements outside of this view range do not display in the view. The exception to this is if you set the view Underlay to a level outside the visible range.

Elements within the boundaries of the primary range that are not cut by the cut plane are drawn in a projection line style, which is why we assigned the hidden line to the projection line setting when we created the Skylight filter.

In order for the skylights to appear in the second floor plan view, we need to change the view range so that it extends up at least to the roof. To do this:

Display the Element Properties dialog box for the Second Floor plan view (for example, right-click in the view and choose View Properties from the shortcut menu.
In the Element Properties dialog box, click the View Range Edit button.

In the View Range dialog box, change the Top plane setting so that it extends above the roof. There are several ways in which you could do this. You could simply change the Offset value so that the plane is far enough above the roof, or you could choose a different level (or “Unlimited”) from the Top drop-down list.

Click OK to close all of the dialog boxes.

The skylights should now be visible in the second floor plan view.

Revit Happenings At Autodesk

2007-02-15T18:08:00.000-08:00

I've just returned from Autodesk's World Press Day, actually a 2-day event held February 12-13, 2007 in San Francisco. The first day, held at Zeum—and arts and technology museum for kids and families—provided a 30,000-foot view of Autodesk. The high-points of the day included a presentation by Autodesk CEO Carl Bass, and a superb talk by Patrick MacLeamy, the CEO of architecture giant HOK.

Day two was held back at the Palace Hotel, and featured a look at all of Autodesk's new vertical products as well as the next release of AutoCAD and several other new products.

Autodesk has renamed its Building Solutions Division (BSD) to AEC and moved Civil 3D from its Infrastructure Division (ISD) into AEC. In fact, it has done away with ISD and shifted its Map product to its GIS division.

Within the newly renamed AEC division, it has renamed a number of products. Some of the Autodesk-based products will receive new names:

Current name	New name
Architectural Desktop 2007	AutoCAD Architecture 2008
Building Systems 2007	AutoCAD MEP 2008

Some of the Revit-based products also get new names, but more importantly, they also get new version numbers. So users will no longer need to know that Revit Building 9.1, Revit Structure 4, and Revit Systems 2 are the latest versions. Here are the new names and version numbers for the Revit products:

Current name	New name
Revit Building 9.1	Revit Architecture 2008
Revit Structure 4	Revit Structure 2008
Revit Systems 2	Revit MEP 2008

I'll focus primarily on the new features in the upcoming releases of the Revit products.

Revit Architecture 2008

Based on what Autodesk showed us at the event, there are few new features in the next release of Revit Architecture. Instead, the company has focused on performance. But there are still a few gems, including:

Improved management of linked model information and improved DWF support.
A Google Earth plug-in for publishing Revit models to Google Earth.
Better interoperability with Autodesk 3ds Max animation software

Revit Structure 2008

There's a bit more meat in Revit Structure 2008, including:

New modeling tools for parametric structural trusses, warped structural slabs, and curved beams. By either clicking and dragging or just putting in offset values, users can create complex slabs with multiple slopes and multiple surfaces. Users can also see the volume of the slab. The Truss Wizard in Revit Building 4 is now built directly into Revit Building 2008.
Construction documentation enhancements such as dependent views for split drawings, dimensions, and element visibility.
Improved usability and interoperability with industry-standard tools and third-party analysis applications.

Revit Structure 2008 features new warped slab and curved beam capabilities.

Revit MEP 2008

As the youngest member of the Revit family, it makes sense that Revit MEP 2008 sees the greatest number of new features, including integrated building performance analysis for sustainable design through a direct link to the Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) Virtual Environment. This provides reportable building analysis data including annual energy requirements, whole building carbon emission output, occupant satisfaction, day-lighting, and thermal analysis capabilities. All of these analyses are built into the new release.

And for the feature sets of the AutoCAD-based products, here's what Autodesk offers as highlights in the upcoming releases.

AutoCAD Architecture 2008

Automatic scaling of drawing product allowing users to simply change the scale of the design. Annotations including dimensions, tags, and leaders are automatically updated. This is actually based on new functionality in core AutoCAD 2008.
Changing building elements and components display (such as a door and its swing) is now as easy as modifying AutoCAD linework.
A new Drawing Compare feature uses color-coded displays to show items on a drawing that have been changed, added, or deleted.

AutoCAD MEP 2008

Automation of MEP systems design, layout and documentation, including single line plumbing, electrical layout, and piping.

Part wizard to speed creation of new parts with predefined parametric templates

International metric content for documentation in global projects.

Improved display control for construction documentation and display.

AutoCAD Civil 3D

Enhanced multiuser environment to work on large, more complex projects.

Interactive design capabilities and feature automation for greater productivity, such as automatic generaion and updates to roadway plan and profile sheets.

Increased survey functionality to create base geometry faster and move data from and to the field.

Interoperability and migration for multiple data formats, including Google Earth mapping functionality and DWF file specifications.