8ed122 PDF
8ed122 PDF
8ed122 PDF
EXPERIMENTS
27 TIPS & TRICKS
FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY
Viktor Kuzev
revitexperiments.com
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS
Contents
Copying / Mirroring array...........................................................................2
Center of Rotation....................................................................................7
View orientation..................................................................................... 17
Parts..................................................................................................... 46
1 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS COPYING / MIRRORING ARRAY
But when you hover over the array line you can select it as well and this is
what’s needed to copy/mirror the array - select both the elements and that line.
2 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS COPYING / MIRRORING ARRAY
Notice that when the array line is selected you can choose the behaviour of the
number parameter:
If “Append To End” is checked - the new elements will be added to the end of the
array following the same spacing (respectively lowering the number will remove
elements from the end of the array, preserving the spacing). If it’s unchecked
the first and the last element are going to stay in the same position and new
elements are going to be added/removed between them. The elements are
distributed at equal spaces.
3 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS CONTROLLING A PARAMETRIC ARRAY
4 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS CONTROLLING A PARAMETRIC ARRAY
When you click on the “make this temporary dimension permanent”, you get
(unsurprisingly) permanent dimensions.
When you select them you can assign them to an existing parameter or create a
new one:
In the Project environment those are global parameters, in the Family Editor,
they can be instance or type parameters.
The angle parameter works almost as expected. Almost because it actually
changes the position of the first element of the array and not the last.
One really weird thing here is that in the Project Environment both parameters
can exist as Global parameters and work just fine. But in the Family editor, when
having assigned both Angle and Radius parameters - changing one causes the
famous “Constraints are not satisfied” message.
So if you want to create a fully parametric array you have to use nested families.
Here’s how:
/Family creation is a huge topic itself, which
deserves a whole course, so I’m not going to get
into all the details of it here/
5 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS CONTROLLING A PARAMETRIC ARRAY
That’s it. You can use the angle and number controls as
usual.
6 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS CENTER OF ROTATION
Center of Rotation
This is a quick one, but in my opinion it’s a big relief.
When using the Rotate command and want to place the center of rotation
somewhere you have to click on “Place”:
But the quicker way is to just press space on your keyboard. Try it - it’s much
better.
The funny thing abot this is that I was talking to someone who just switched
from using ArchiCAD in their previous place of work to Revit in their current. SO
they were complaining about how you have to go and click on “Place” everytime
you want to rotate something. But no. Just hit space instead.
7 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS THE OPTIONS PANEL
8 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS THE OPTIONS PANEL
In the “User Interface” Tab you can control which tabs you’d like to see in the
ribbon menu:
You can create custom keyboards shortcuts. Just click on customize and search
for the command you wo want
9 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS THE OPTIONS PANEL
Prior to Revit 2014 you had to press “Edit Sketch” and “Edit Family” to edit
them. Double-clicking was doing nothing and I am still used to this behaviour.
I find it annoying to enter the family editor every time you accidentally double-
click on a family. This is a personal preference of course and I’m happy I have
control over it.
On the “Graphics” tab you can control several options.
10 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS THE OPTIONS PANEL
In the “Colors” section you can change the Background colour. I use a grey
background occasionally since I find it a lot easier on the eyes. Before exporting
images and printing you might need to change it back to white though.
You can also change the selection colour to something of your preference. I used
to have it in orange, but since most people are using the defaults I changed it
back to blue.
What’s interesting is that the Temporary Dimensions size control is here. These
are the “preview” dimensions that appear when you draw or select an element.
8 is the default size and I find it too small. I tend to like it at 10.
These are the most important controls in the options panel in my opinion. Take a
look at the others as well. You might find something you’ve needed.
11 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PATTERNS ORIENTATION IN HOST LAYERS
12 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PATTERNS ORIENTATION IN HOST LAYERS
We have controls for the angle and spacing and also 3 different options for
“Orientation in Host Layers”
So these are the 3 in the same order:
Orient to view- All patterns share the same orientation and origin with respect
to paper, so they perfectly align at element transitions:
13 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PATTERNS ORIENTATION IN HOST LAYERS
Keep Readable - This option mimics the behaviour of text. Patterns align with
the host; however, patterns flip 90 degrees when the host is slanted 45, 135,
225, and 315 degrees. A right diagonal pattern always stays more or less right
diagonal, and a 90-degree corner has a smooth transition. Patterns share the
same origin with respect to paper:
Align with Element - Patterns align with the host (such as a wall, floor, roof, or
ceiling) and compute a good origin:
As you can see - none of them is perfectly seamless for the shape I’m using
here. But still, it’s good that we have at lest some options for this.
Choose wisely!
14 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS SWITCH FROM 3D TO CAMERA
In order to use it the simple requirement is that the crop region of the view is
visible:
15 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS SWITCH FROM 3D TO CAMERA
16 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS VIEW ORIENTATION
View orientation
So let’s picture a scenario where you would need to rotate views for convenience:
So the most common solution for having individual aligned floor plans is using
scope boxes.
So, in this case, we have 3 scope boxes, one for each house:
Then we can apply the desired scope box to any view and get its extents and
orientation:
17 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS VIEW ORIENTATION
18 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS VIEW ORIENTATION
It makes a Section box around the selected Elements and applies it to your
default 3d view.
So if I select the house which is a group and click the button or press BX on my
keyboard I’m left with this result:
Yes, the house is isolated but the section box is not oriented in the house’s
direction.
The same thing happens even if you select the Scope Box.
But there’s a neat thing called “Orient to view” when you right-click on the view
cube.
What it does is (unsurprisingly) orienting the 3d view to match the scope and
orientation of any plan, section elevation or another 3d view and creating a
section box that matches that orientation. So if you already have a plan with
applied scope box you can orient the 3d view to this plan.
In my case floor plan “House2” has a scope box applied so if I right click orient
to view:
19 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS VIEW ORIENTATION
I’ll be left with 3d view matching the scope box and the cut plane of the view’s
view range:
I can then adjust the Section box with the handles if I need to:
Worth noting are the other options for orientation - “Orient to a direction” and
“Orient to a plane”. The direction thing is actually - North, East etc. I find “Orient
to a plane” useful for roof modelling. Since I click “Orient to a plane”, then
“Pick a plane” then I select the roof slope I want and the view is showing me it
orthogonally:
20 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS VIEW ORIENTATION
Also, I want to make clear what “Save View” and “Set Current View as Home”
do.
When you’ve opened the default 3d view -
{3D} or in a workshared project the 3d view
with your username clicking on Save View
will save a new 3d view with the current
orientation. You’ll be asked to specify a
name for it.
21 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS VIEW ORIENTATION
Clicking it in any other 3d view saves the current orientation. If you then change
the orientation, close and reopen the view - it’s going to show you the new,
changed orientation. But if you close the project and reopen it - then the saved
orientation is going to be shown.
You can always click on Save Orientation and Lock View to avoid any changing
but you should know that 3d Orthographic views always go to their saved
orientation after reopening the project.
Every project has one Home view. It is not specific to the different views. One
per project. So when you set a view as Home:
Even if you go to another view and press the Home button (or right-click -> go
home)
The view is going to be oriented to what’s now
the Home view of the project.
22 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PLACING ANNOTATIONS IN 3D VIEWS.
We can place Spot Elevations and dimensions easily in 3d views. But when trying
to place a tag or a keynote we get this message:
And this is the main reason I was hesitant to put it the book - Revit tells you
what to do to be able to place the tag.
The lock icon is down there:
To place dimensions in 3d just make sure that you set the plane of placement
first.
If I want to place dimensions from the top to the bottom of this wall I might pick
the wall’s face for the placement of the dimension:
23 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PLACING ANNOTATIONS IN 3D VIEWS.
Then I just click on the dimension button or type DI, I select my references and
place the dimension. It appears in 3D and lies on the plane we picked.
24 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS DIMENSIONING WHOLE WALLS
25 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS DIMENSIONING WHOLE WALLS
We get a dimension
along the whole length
of the wall.
Pretty much self - explanatory. Dimensions are placed referencing both ends of
the wall and all centers of inserts.
Openings Widths:
26 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS DIMENSIONING WHOLE WALLS
The ends of the wall and the extremities of all inserts (windows and doors).
Intersecting Walls:
Intersecting Grids:
So what if you want to place a dimension for the whole wall except one or 2
segments? Should you do it with individual references?
27 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS DELETING INDIVIDUAL DIMENSIONS:
We’re left with 2 separate dimensions and there’s no way of joining them
back. Of course, we can always select one or the other and edit the Witness
Lines to include what we’ve deleted:
28 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS DIMENSION STRING TYPE
Baseline:
29 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS DIMENSION STRING TYPE
Ordinate:
All the positions of the references are measured from one side of the wall. If
you want to change the side select the dimension and click on the flip sign(Flip
Dimension Direction):
It appears only when the String Type is set to Ordinate or Baseline.
30 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS ALTERNATE UNITS FOR DIMENSIONS
31 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS ALTERNATE UNITS FOR DIMENSIONS
You can set up an alternate unit to show below or to the right of the main unit:
The dimensions in Revit are smart enough to know when they are referring to an
opening in the wall so if this checkbox is ticked you get the height of the opening
below the width. It works for individual references as well as for entire walls
dimensions:
32 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS OVERRIDE DIMENSION VALUE
33 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS OVERRIDE DIMENSION VALUE
You can also use the above and below fields for multi-line effect:
So what if you want to lie with a dimension, just type in a different number?
Nope. Revit doesn’t want us to do so:
34 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS OVERRIDE DIMENSION VALUE
You can click on “Show Unicode control characters” to see the character in the
field:
35 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS OVERRIDE DIMENSION VALUE
36 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS EQ VALUE & FORMULAS
37 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS EQ VALUE & FORMULAS
Value - means that each dimension is going to have its actual value shown.
Equality text and Equality formula are type properties for the dimension:
In the dimension type we can set up the text we’d like to appear or set up the
formula:
There are several parameters we can add to that formula and also we have a
Prefix and a suffix and spaces for each.
Fo if we get the Total length, Length of Segment and number of segments we
can make it look like this:
38 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS EQ VALUE & FORMULAS
And We can use any ASCII symbol there if we feel like it:
39 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS MAKING AN OBJECT UNSELECTABLE
I think everybody knows how to use them but still, it’s pretty simple - you pin
something - it becomes unable to move or delete.
But what if you don’t want to be able to select it at all?
40 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS MAKING AN OBJECT UNSELECTABLE
Sometimes, though, these options are not enough and your colleagues keep
moving or deleting things accidentally (or so they say). Then the really good lock
for you is the Design Options.
I am assuming you’re familiar with the Design Options if Revit for showing
different options in the same project. But even if you are not they are pretty
simple. The Design Options panel is at the bottom of the screen:
41 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS MAKING AN OBJECT UNSELECTABLE
So in order to use them to freeze something just create a new design option set
and move the object(s) you want to its primary (and only if you haven’t created
another) option:
Here I have
created an
option set named
“Frozen objects”.
It’s always a good
idea to name in a
meaningful way.
After closing the
window I can
select the objects
I want to freeze:
42 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS MAKING AN OBJECT UNSELECTABLE
This is the “Add to set” button. After I click it I get this winfow:
I select the option I want and click ok.
That’s it.
Now selecting, deleting or moving
these objects is impossible unless you
go and edit the design option.
So accidental moving or removing
something placed in such an option is
practically impossible.
43 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS REVEAL CONTRAINTS BUTTON
Yes, it’s tiny and neglectable but it reveals any constraints applied to the model
that could be displayed in the view.
Here we have some walls and 2 furniture families.
When I press the button I see the “Reveal Constraints” box in the upper left
corner, the red frame of the view and the constraints - in this case:
• EQ constraint
If you select the highlighted constraint you can delete it. Handy, isn’t it?
44 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS REVEAL CONTRAINTS BUTTON
45 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PARTS
Parts
Parts are an extensive functionality and not just a trick. Still, I see many Revit
users are reluctant to use them.
Parts serve you to divide an element into discrete parts that can be
independently scheduled, tagged, filtered, and exported. They also can be
individually modified in shape and material.
Parts add additional detail level since they are not destructive - when you create
parts from an object you still have the original undivided object, but a view
property defines what is shown:
So in every different view, we can choose to show the original, the parts or both.
This is really useful.
According to Autodesk, parts can be generated from:
Parts can be generated from elements with layered structures, such as:
• Walls (excluding stacked walls and curtain walls)
• Foundation Walls
• Floors (excluding shape-edited floors of more than one layer)
• Roofs
• Ceilings
• Structural slab foundations
• Slab Edges
• Fascias
• Gutters
Parts can also be generated from the following categories of loaded or in-place
families:
• Structural Framing
• Columns
• Structural Columns
But I have been creating parts successfully from Generic Models as well.
46 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PARTS
You can create parts from it either by selecting it and then press the “create
parts” button on the ribbon or by clicking the button first and then selecting the
object:
Since the Bridge doesn’t have a layered structure there’s going to be only 1 part
created - duplicating the family geometry. Notice that the view where the parts
were created is set to “Show Parts” now.
Then we can select the part and divide it by clicking on Divide Parts:
47 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PARTS
Then we can sketch the divisions and we can also use Intersecting references -
which could be levels, grids, reference planes or all of the above:
48 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PARTS
Gap and Division Profile. The division profile is good for creating wall panels (see
below) but for the moment I’m just going to set a Gap of say 50mm and if you
press on that little button next to the value for the gap you can link the gap to a
Global Parameter, which I’m going to do:
49 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PARTS
50 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PARTS
All of this has a lot more application when done on a wall or a floor.
Let’s apply parts to a wall with several layers:
The division profile is basically the shape of the knife cutting the parts’ divisions.
We can draw custom profile families and use the options for the profiles.
We can also choose to divide only one of the layers. Select one of them and
press Divide parts:
Thus we can apply different divisions and division profiles to different layers.
If we go and edit the structure of the wall and change a layer’s thickness it is
going to change the part thickness as well. The parts inherit this from the wall
structure even after their creation:
51 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PARTS
Here we can try messing around with materials and shape handles. Select the
parts you want to change and tick the checkbox for shape handles and untick
“Material by Origin”
All parts are schedulable so you can get their volume and area in the schedules.
The cool thing is that you can have a duplicate of the same view, which shows
the original wall.
This is one way you can model a floor or wall tiling and show it in some views
only.
52 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS EMBED A CURTAIN WALL
But it is annoying if you have to always use cut geometry to achieve that:
53 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL AS A PANEL IN A CURTAIN WALL
Then just place whatever kind of a door you desire hosted on that wall:
54 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL AS A PANEL IN A CURTAIN WALL
So if you just draw a curved curtain wall, the panels are going to still be flat
which is actually the desired result in 99% of the time:
55 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL AS A PANEL IN A CURTAIN WALL
But if you want curved glass panels that adapt to the curvature of the wall
the best way is to create a glass wall type and apply it as a panel:
This is the wall I'm going to use as a panel - 20mm thick glazing.
Then I go to the Curtain Wall type and set up this wall as a default panel:
56 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL AS A PANEL IN A CURTAIN WALL
57 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL AS A PANEL IN A CURTAIN WALL
2. Edit the glass wall type and add a sweep in the vertical wall structure:
3. Choose a profile, material and offsets to adjust the sweep so it looks like a
mullion.
We need a top Mullion now so to make it we have to create another glass wall
type with 2 sweeps - one at the top and one at the bottom:
If we change the radius or the spacing of the curtain wall everything’s going to
change accordingly:
58 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL AS A PANEL IN A CURTAIN WALL
59 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL VERTICAL STRUCTURE
So here we have a floor slab and a wall. Let’s say we want the outer 2 layers of
the wall - the finish and the insulation to cover the slab. We can, of course, draw
it in 2D, but I think there’s a better way.
Select the wall go to Edit Type and click on the “Edit…” button next to “Structure”
60 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL VERTICAL STRUCTURE
At the bottom, you see there ’s the “Modify Vertical Structure” which is greyed
out.
To enable it to click on “Preview” and then change the preview to “Section”:
61 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL VERTICAL STRUCTURE
62 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL VERTICAL STRUCTURE
There are some limitations though. We can’t pull all the layers individually and
we can’t have the finishing layers on both sides unlocked.
Another interesting thing in the vertical structure is Split (and Merge) region.
You can vertically split a layer and assign it to a new material:
63 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS WALL VERTICAL STRUCTURE
To do so insert a new finish layer and leave it with 0 thickness for the moment.
it has to have the same function as the layer we’re using - in this case, Finish
2[5]
Then select the new layer and click on “Assign Layers” in the Modify Vertical
Structure tab and select the bottom piece in the preview:
Then click ok. You can see the piece changed it’s cut pattern and the new layer
inherited the thickness of the existing. The thickness stays the same though. If
you want it to have a different thickness you should just use a stacked wall. I
consider them a basic functionality, so they’re not in this booklet but if you want
to find out more about Stacked Walls in Revit click on this link (you might need
to hold control when clicking it)
64 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS TOPOGRAPHY FROM CAD
65 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS TOPOGRAPHY FROM CAD
Now, why is that so important? Because I can use Revit to create the CAD file.
Now follow me on this.
If I want to create a sloped hole in this topography using the tools Revit provides
I have 4 options:
1. Place points one by one. - slow and annoying
2. Use the Site Designer (available with the subscription version only) - some
find it really hard to use
3. Create or use a Dynamo script. If you already have the script - that might
be an ok workflow, but it also has a drawback - you can’t edit the topography
with Dynamo. You can copy it, delete it and Create a new one with the edits, but
it’s going to be a new topography. Also if you don’t have a script that does what
you want to you can spend a lot of time developing it.
4. Do what I’m going to show you - quick and easy. No Dynamo skills needed.
So I’m going to model an in-place mass(you can do it with a component in place
as well):
So this is the shape I created for my hole (or as we prefer to say “excavation”)
66 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS TOPOGRAPHY FROM CAD
67 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS TOPOGRAPHY FROM CAD
You can see the excavation is created and the bottom looks perfect, though
towards the top of it it’s not matching the shape of our mass.
That depends on the topography and sometimes it’s going to be perfect just like
that.
But we can make it better easily:
1. Edit the mass.
2. Select the lateral faces of the solid and click on Divide surface:
3. You’ll see it’s going to create something that looks like french fries basket.
4. Now export that basked to DWG and repeat the exercise:
68 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS TOPOGRAPHY FROM CAD
Now it’s pretty good since we’ve created more references for points with the grid
of the divided surface.
Now it’s important that we delete all the existing points (if there are any) that
are found in the footprint of our new volume. With Dynamo we can automate
this, but still we’ll need to create a new toposurface. We can’t edit the existing
one. Which is a problem when you have things hosted on that one.
Of course, you can use it for any kind of modelling of the topography, not only
excavations:
69 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS TOPOGRAPHY FROM CAD
This is actually the technique I used to create the body-shaped topography in the
video:
Hold “Control” on the keyboard and click the image to go to the video.
70 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PHASING AND OVERRIDING MATERIAL
Create a new Phase after the ones that are already there:
71 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PHASING AND OVERRIDING MATERIAL
As you can see I have several pre-set filters. The first one - “Show All” is what
I’m going to use since all Existing, Demolished and Temporary are all set to
“Overridden” and I don’t have anything in “New” since no object’s Creation Phase
is going to be set up to that phase.
Then Go to “Graphic Overrides”(the last tab in “phasing”):
Here you can actually apply a Material override for these 4 states of the objects
in Revit.
What are these states actually, you might ask if you’re not familiar with the
Phasing?
Phasing explained as briefly as possible:
Phasing represents time in Revit a little bit like the moves in chess.
Phase are consecutive and happen one at a time.
Every Object has 2 phasing parameters:
Phase Created - this represents the Phase or The Move in which it is created
Phase Demolished - The phase in which it is demolished.
So each object has a lifespan in a way.
Every view (including schedules) has 2 different phasing parameters:
72 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PHASING AND OVERRIDING MATERIAL
So back to our 4 states at a given phase (move, time) Any object could be either
Existing, Demolished, New or Temporary:
Existing - The object is created in the past, in a previous phase and is not
demolished in this phase (either not demolished at all, or demolished in a later
phase)
Demolished - The object is created in a previous phase, but in the current, it is
being demolished (it has Phase Demolished set to the current phase)
New - The object is created in the current phase
Temporary - The object is created AND deleted in the current phase.
So this is my project in a 3d view with phasing parameters:
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PHASING AND OVERRIDING MATERIAL
All the objects inside are created in New Construction and are not being
demolished.
When I change the Phase to the one I created after new construction everything
is going to be overridden with the material we set up for Existing:
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PHASING AND OVERRIDING MATERIAL
This is when all the objects created in Existing are overridden with gypsum:
And just for fun here’s how it looks with water as an override material:
75 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS PHASING AND OVERRIDING MATERIAL
76 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS MOVE WITH NEARBY ELEMENTS
If I switch it on for this bed it means that whenever I move one of the nearby
walls the bed will follow it at the same distance:
77 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS MOVE WITH NEARBY ELEMENTS
The chair is not going to follow the bed, only the walls. So it would probably be
more precise to call this option “Moves with Nearby system Elements”
78 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS SCHEDULES: PERCANTAGE OF ANYTHING
These are all the walls in my project. I’m going to filter out the Curtain Walls
first.
Then I’ll try to add a percentage value:
79 REVIT EXPERIMENTS
REVIT TIPS & TRICKS SCHEDULES: PERCANTAGE OF ANYTHING
So I can get it for each wall separately - What percentage of all the walls areas
does it represent.
I have only 2 types of walls here - Concrete Wall and Brick wall.
To check the percentage of Area of all the concrete and brick walls we need to
group by Wall Type and uncheck “Itemize every instance”
This is what I am left with. But what if I want to calculate the percentage of the
count of the walls. I.E. how many walls are concrete vs how many walls are Brick
walls in %.
Let’s first add the count parameter:
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Revit doesn’t allow for Percentage of count. On top of that it doesn’t allow for
using the count in the formula as well:
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS SCHEDULES: PERCANTAGE OF ANYTHING
Next, we need to set the value of this parameter to 1 for all the walls.
If none of the walls is in a group the easiest way to do so is to select the walls
in the schedule, to click on “Highlight in Model” and then to type the value in the
properties:
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But if some of the walls are in a group you would have to go and edit the group
to type it in.
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS SCHEDULES: PERCANTAGE OF ANYTHING
It looks like this for every instance since we have 51 walls and if we group it by
type and uncheck “Itemize every instance” it looks like this:
The downside of this is that we have to add the value manually. This can be
automated with a Dynamo script. Just make sure you run the script before
checking the percentage values.
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS APPLY DEPENDANT VIEWS
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS APPLY DEPENDANT VIEWS
They are cropped versions of Level 1 and since they are dependent even
annotation on Level1 is going to be visible on House 1 and 2
But I have several more levels, parallel to Level 1 and I want to make the same
dependant views for them. Luckily there’s a quick way.
Right click on Level one and select Apply dependant views
A window with all the parallel views to Level 1 is going to pop up and you can
select which views you desire to apply the dependent views to.
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS EXCLUDE ELEMENT FROM GROUPS
It’s a small terraced house. So when we copy or mirror it we’ll end up with 2
walls on top of each other and Revit is going to signal us about it :
“Highlighted walls overlap. One of them may be ignored when Revit finds room
boundaries. Use Cut Geometry to embed one wall within the other or tab-select
one of the grouped overlapping walls and exclude it from the group instance.”
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS EXCLUDE ELEMENT FROM GROUPS
So we can select the wall and press the “exclude elements” sign:
One with the wall and one without it. However, when you select the group you’ll
still see the wall:
Also, when you hover over the empty
space you’ll see a preview of the wall:
So it’s more like the wall is invisible. It will also be invisible in schedules.
You can select it and restore it:
You can also “Restore All Excluded” if you select a group which has excluded
elements:
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS GROUP TO LINKED FILE AND VICE VERSA
If you choose to replace it with a new file you’re going to be prompted to save
the group as a new file somewhere on the disk.
If you choose to replace with an existing project file - you’ll be asked to browse
for the file.
If the selected group instance has excluded elements when creating the linked
file you’ll get the following message:
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS GROUP TO LINKED FILE AND VICE VERSA
Then, of course, we can bind the linked file. Select it and click “Bind Link”:
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REVIT TIPS & TRICKS GROUP TO LINKED FILE AND VICE VERSA
We’re provided with these options - what do we want to include in the group that
we’re creating.
Then we get a new group with the same name as the linked file.
If we already have groups with the same name Revit show this message:
If you click “No” a new group is going to be created (the same name with
number suffix)
If you click “Yes” all the existing groups are going the be replaced with
whatever’s in that linked file. Actually, if you have the same elements and
they are excluded in some of the groups, Revit remembers them and doesn’t
restore those elements.
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