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CHAPTER 1 Understanding BiM: FroM the Basics to advanced realities
Revit Fosters Problem Solving
An advantage of a BIM methodology is that you can’t cheat the documentation of your design.
Because the elements have properties based on real-life constraints, you’ll find it difficult to
fake elements within the design. When you get stuck trying to resolve a roof condition, it’s most
likely that you have a complex roof to solve. You can’t just fake the elevations and call it a day.
Of course, in CAD-based systems, faking annotatons has always been possible and has no doubt
led to some messy construction administration work. As you move into the BIM world, be pre-
pared to take on some early design challenges.
Figure 1.5 shows what appears to be a simple house model, but it’s more complex than it
looks. With Revit, you model the dormers, the trusses, and the fascia and soffits. You need to
determine how the walls and roofs connect to one another—and Revit is well suited to figuring
these things out.
Revit Lets You Leverage Other Tools to Support Your Workflow
Other software packages, such as SketchUp, Rhinoceros, Maya, and 3ds Max, are excellent mod-
eling applications. However, these modeling applications don’t have the ability to document
fully your design for construction, nor can they be leveraged downstream. While these tools
are not BIM, they can still play a role in a BIM workflow; many architects use them to generate
concept models that can then be brought into a BIM application and progress through design,
analysis, and documentation. If you prefer to work with other tools for concept modeling, doing
so isn’t a problem. When the design starts to gel, import the geometry into Revit, convert the
imported conceptual models into real building elements, and start taking advantage of BIM.
Figure 1.5
To build a BIM
model, you need
to solve problems
in 3D space, from
dormers to trusses.
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