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CHAPTER 1 Understanding BiM: FroM the Basics to advanced realities
Revit Encourages Creativity
Revit’s tools are clustered in easy-to-access ribbon tabs that have collections of logically grouped
tools. Most of these tools will get you where you need to go with minimal effort. For more
complicated conditions, be prepared to put your creativity to use. Remember, Revit is a 3D
modeling application that will let you build almost anything you want. For example, if you can’t
create the wall or roof you want with the explicit Wall or Roof tool, you can create your own
custom-shaped walls or roofs using the Model in Place tool. This tool lets you make a 3D solid
geometry of the wall that you can then assign to the Wall category and that will behave and
schedule as a regular wall. Figure 1.3 shows an example of custom-designed railings, curtain
walls, and structural elements—all possible for a creative and engaged designer. These custom
elements participate in the underlying data structure of Revit, making them schedulable and
quantifiable.
Every Element in Revit Has Properties
Throughout the design process of a project, you’ll often need to adjust elements and change
the model. Get used to the idea of clicking the Element Properties button to make interactive
changes to the model. Better yet, map Element Properties to a keyboard shortcut. A member
of the Basic Wall family, for example, has properties like width, height, bearing or nonbearing,
demolished or new, interior or exterior, fire rating, and material. You can even define how layers
wrap when inserts are placed in the wall, add integrated wall sweeps, and build stacked walls.
Figure 1.4 shows the assembly options embedded in the type properties of a Revit wall.
Figure 1.3
Be creative, and
work out your
design solutions
in 3D.
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