CHAPTER 1 The Revit World TE D MA TE RI AL Before we get started, I think we should set the record straight. I’m sure you have seen plenty of presentations on how wonderful and versatile this 3D Revit revolution thing is. And I’m sure you may be thinking, “This all seems way too complicated for what I do. Why do I need 3D anyway?” The answer to that question is: you don’t.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World The Revit Architecture Interface Toto, we are not in CAD anymore! If you just bought this book, then welcome to the Revit world. In Revit, you will find that the vast majority of the processes you encounter are in a flat 2D platform. Instead of drafting, you are placing components into the model. Yes, these components have a so-called third dimension to them, but a logical methodology drives the process. If you need to see the model in 3D, it is simply a click away.
The Revit Architecture Interface 2. After you start Revit, you see the Recent Files window shown in Figure 1.3. The top row lists any projects you have been working on; the bottom row lists any families you have been working on. F I G U R E 1 . 1 You can launch Revit Architecture from the desktop icon. F I G U R E 1 . 2 You can also launch Revit Architecture using the Windows Start menu (this shows the Windows Vista operating system). 3.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World 4. In the upper-left corner of the Revit window, you will see a big purple R. Click the purple R and choose New ➢ Project. 5. The New Project dialog shown in Figure 1.5 opens. You can use the default template or no template, or you can create a new template by clicking the Project Template radio button. (We will cover template creation later in the book.) For now, just click OK to create a new project using the default template.
The Revit Architecture Interface F I G U R E 1 . 5 The New Project dialog allows you to start a new project using a preexisting template file, or you can create a new template file. Now that the task of physically opening the application is out of the way, we can delve into Revit. At first, you will notice many differences between Revit and CAD. Some of these differences may be off-putting, while others will make you say “I wish AutoCAD did that.” Either way, you will have to adjust to a new workflow.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World F I G U R E 1 . 7 The Options bar replaces the command prompt from AutoCAD. Microstation users will be more familiar with this method. You will hear this throughout the book: always remember to look at your options. With no command prompt, the Options bar will be one of your few guides. 3. After you make your choices from the Ribbon and the Options bar, you can place the object into the view window.
The Revit Architecture Interface an icon on the Ribbon, Revit will react to that icon with a new tab, giving you the specific additional commands and options you need. Revit also keeps the existing tabs that can help you in the current command, as shown in Figure 1.8. Again, the focus here is to keep your eyes in one place. In this book, I will throw a few new terms at you, but you will get familiar with them quickly.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World Now that you can see how the ribbons and the tabs flow together, let’s take a look at another feature within the Ribbon panels that allows you to reach beyond the immediate Revit interface. The Properties Interface When you click the Wall button, an entirely new set of commands appears. This new set of commands combines your basic Modify commands with an additional tab specific to your immediate process. In this case that process is adding a wall.
The Revit Architecture Interface 2. On the Home tab, click the Wall button. 3. In the Properties dialog, select Exterior - Brick and CMU on MTL.Stud. Element Properties Hidden within the Options bar is a single button. There are two different sets of properties you will deal with in Revit: Instance Properties and Type Properties. Instance Properties will be available immediately in the Properties dialog when you place, or select, an item.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World Instance Properties The items that you can edit immediately are called parameters, or Instance Properties. These parameters will change only the object being added to the model at this time. Also, if you select an item that has already been placed in the model, the parameters you see immediately in the Instance Properties dialog will change only that item you have selected. This makes sense — not all items are built equally in the real world. Figure 1.
The Revit Architecture Interface F I G U R E 1 . 1 3 The Type Properties, when modified, will alter every occurrence of this specific wall in the entire model. F I G U R E 1 . 1 4 The Edit Type button allows you to access the Type Properties.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World F I G U R E 1 . 1 5 The Type Properties are used to modify the wall system’s global settings. Click the Preview button at the bottom of the dialog to see the image that is displayed. Now that you have gained experience with the Type Properties dialog, it is time to go back and study the Options bar as it pertains to placing a wall: 1. Since we are only exploring the Element Properties, click the Cancel button to return to the model. 2.
The Revit Architecture Interface F I G U R E 1 . 1 6 By selecting Finish Face: Exterior, you know the wall will be dimensioned from the outside finish. F I G U R E 1 . 1 7 You can draw any shape you need. The View Window To put it simply, “the big white area where the objects go” is the view window. As a result of your actions, this area will become populated with your model. Notice the background is white — this is because the sheets you plot on are white.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World F I G U R E 1 . 1 8 The view window collects the results of your actions. To continue placing some walls in the model, keep going with the exercise. (If you have not been following along, you can start by clicking the Wall button on the Home tab. In the Properties dialog box, select Exterior - Brick and CMU on MTL.Stud. Make sure that the wall is justified to the finish face exterior.) You may now proceed: 1.
The Revit Architecture Interface F I G U R E 1 . 1 9 The procedure for drawing a wall in Revit Architecture 4. With the Wall command still running, move your cursor straight up from the endpoint of your 100′-long wall. Look at Figure 1.20. 5. Type 80 and hit Enter. You now have two walls. 6. Move your cursor to the right until you “run into” another blue alignment line. Notice that your temporary dimension says 100′–0″. Revit understands symmetry.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World F I G U R E 1 . 2 0 How Revit Architecture works is evident in this procedure. F I G U R E 1 . 2 1 Working with Revit starts with the ability to work with the view window, and learning the quirks and feel of the interface. To get used to the Revit flow, always remember these three steps: 1. Start a command. 2. Focus on your options. 3. Move to the view window, and add the elements to the model.
The Revit Architecture Interface If you start a command, then focus immediately on the view, you will be sitting there wondering what to do next. Do not forget to check your Options bar and the appropriate ribbon tab. Let’s keep going and close this building by using a few familiar commands. If you have never drafted on a computer before, don’t worry. These commands are simple. The easiest but most important topic is simply how to select an object.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World Boxes A box is an object selection method that will only select the items that are 100 percent inside the window being placed. This method is useful when you want to select only specific items while passing through larger objects that you may not want in the selection set. A box always starts from the left and works to the right. The line type for a selection window is a continuous line (see Figure 1.23). F I G U R E 1 .
The Revit Architecture Interface 3. Your cursor will change to a crosshair with the mirror icon illustrating that you are ready to draw a mirror plane, as shown in Figure 1.25. F I G U R E 1 . 2 5 There are options you must choose for every command in Revit. 4. Make sure the Copy checkbox is selected (see Figure 1.25). 5. Hover your cursor over the inside face of the 80′–0″-long vertical wall until you get reach the midpoint.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World as illustrated in Figure 1.27. When the alignment line appears, you can pick another point along the path. When you pick the second point, the walls are mirrored and joined with the south wall (see Figure 1.27). F I G U R E 1 . 2 7 Mirroring these walls will involve first, picking the midpoint of the vertical wall, then second, picking a horizontal point along the plane.
The Revit Architecture Interface modeling (BIM) will become apparent quickly, as explained later in this chapter. For example, because Revit knows that walls are walls, you can add identical geometry to the model by simply selecting an item and telling Revit to create a similar item. Suppose you want a radial wall of the same exact type as the other walls in the model. Perform the following steps: 1. Type ZA to zoom the entire screen. 2. Press the Esc key. 3.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World F I G U R E 1 . 3 0 Just because you started the command from the view window does not mean you do not have to look at your options. 8. With the wheel button on your mouse, zoom into the upper corner of the building and select the top endpoint of the wall, as shown in Figure 1.31. The point you are picking is the corner of the heavy lines. The topmost, thinner line represents a concrete belt course below.
The Revit Architecture Interface well. Revit understands that perhaps you want an arc tangent upon the two lines you have already placed in your model. 11. When you see the tangent snap icon, choose the third point. Your walls should look like Figure 1.32. 12. Press Esc to terminate the command. F I G U R E 1 . 3 2 The completed exterior walls should look like this illustration. Just because you have placed a wall in the model does not mean the wall looks the way you would like.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World selecting this menu. Change the scale here, and Revit will scale annotations and symbols accordingly (see Figure 1.34). F I G U R E 1 . 3 4 The scale menu allows you to change the scale of your view. Detail Level The detail level allows you to view your model at different qualities. You have three levels to choose from: Coarse, Medium, and Fine (see Figure 1.35). F I G U R E 1 . 3 5 The detail level control allows you to set different view levels for the current view.
The Revit Architecture Interface T I P When you change the view control in a view, it is not a temporary display. You are telling Revit how you want to plot this view. The view you see on the screen is the view you will see when it comes out of the plotter. There are other items on the View Control bar, but we’ll discuss them when they become applicable to the exercises. The View Tab Since Revit is one big happy model, you will quickly find that simply viewing the model is quite important.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World F I G U R E 1 . 3 7 You can use the steering wheel to navigate through a view. 3. Now click and hold Rewind in the steering wheel. You can now find an older view, as shown in Figure 1.38. F I G U R E 1 . 3 8 Because Revit does not include zoom commands in the Undo function, you can rewind to find previous views. 4. Do the same for Pan, which is also found on the outer ring of the steering wheel. After you press and hold Pan, you can navigate to other parts of the model.
The Revit Architecture Interface F I G U R E 1 . 3 9 The standard zoom commands Thin Lines Back on the View tab, you will see an icon called Thin Lines, as shown in Figure 1.40. Let’s talk about what this icon does. In Revit Architecture, there is no such thing as layers. Line weights are controlled by the actual objects they represent. In the view window, you see these line weights. As mentioned before, what you see is what you get.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World 3. Pick the Thin Lines icon again. This toggles the mode back and forth. 4. Notice the lines are very heavy. The line weight should concern you. As mentioned earlier, there is no such thing as layers in Revit Architecture. This topic is addressed in Chapter 13. 3D View The 3D View icon brings us to a new conversation. Complete the following steps that will move us into the discussion on how a Revit model comes together! 1.
The Revit Architecture Interface F I G U R E 1 . 4 3 Shadows create a nice effect, but at the expense of RAM. Within the 3D view is the ViewCube. It is the cube in the upper-right corner of the view window. You can switch to different perspectives of the model by clicking on the quadrants of the cube (see Figure 1.44). F I G U R E 1 . 4 4 The ViewCube lets you freely look at different sides of the building. The best way to navigate a 3D view is to press and hold the Shift key on the keyboard.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World The Project Browser Revit is the frontrunner of BIM. BIM is sweeping our industry for a reason. One of the biggest reasons is the fact that you have a fully integrated model right in front of you. What this means is that when you need to open a different floor plan, elevation, detail, drawing sheet, or 3D view, you can find it all right here in the model. Also, this means our workflow is going to change. In most cases, it is going to change drastically.
The Project Browser 4. In the view window, you will see little icons that look like houses (see Figure 1.47). These are elevation markers. The elevation marker to the right might be in your building. If this is the case, you need to move it out of the way. F I G U R E 1 . 4 7 Symbols for elevation markers in the plan. If you need to move them, you must do so by picking a window. There are two actual items in an elevation marker. 5. Pick a box around the elevation marker.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World Now that you can navigate through the Project Browser, adding other components to the model will be much easier. We can now begin to add some windows. Windows By clicking on all of these views, you are simply opening a view of the building, not another file that is stored somewhere. For some users this can be confusing. (It was for me.) When you click around and open all these views, they stay open. You can quickly open many views.
The Project Browser 3. Go to the {3D} view by selecting it from the Window menu by clicking the 3D icon at the top of the screen or by going to the {3D} view in the Project Browser. 4. On the Windows panel, click Close Hidden Windows. 5. In the Project Browser, open Level 1. 6. Go to the Windows panel and select Tile Windows. 7. With the windows tiled, you can see the Level 1 floor plan along with the 3D view to the side. Select one of the walls in the Level 1 floor plan.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World You are at a good point now to save the file. And this brings the book to a good point to discuss the different file types, and their associations with the BIM model. File Types and Families Revit Architecture has a unique way in which it saves files and utilizes different file types to build a BIM model. To learn how and why Revit has chosen these methods, follow along with these steps: 1. Click the save icon (see Figure 1.50). F I G U R E 1 .
F i l e Ty p e s a n d Fa m i l i e s 4. Under the Preview section, you can specify which view this file will be previewed in. I like to keep it as the active view. That way, I can get an idea if the file is up-to-date based on the state of the view. Click OK. 5. Create a folder somewhere, and save this file into the folder. The name of the file used as an example in the book is called NER.rvt. (NER stands for “No Experience Required.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World system family can be found only within a Revit model and cannot be stored in a separate location. A hosted family is inserted similar to a block (or cell) and is stored in an external directory. The file extension for a hosted family is .rfa. System Families System families are inherent to the current model and are not inserted in the traditional sense. You can only modify a system family through its Element Properties within the model.
F i l e Ty p e s a n d Fa m i l i e s 4. On the Modify | Place Door tab, click the Load Family button, as shown in Figure 1.53. This will open the Load Family dialog. F I G U R E 1 . 5 3 You can load an .rfa file during the placement of a hosted family. 5. Browse to the Doors directory. Note that if you are on a network, your directories may not be the same as in this book. Contact your CAD/BIM manager (or whoever loaded Revit on your computer) to find exactly where they may have mapped Revit. 6.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World F I G U R E 1 . 5 4 Each family .rfa file will contain multiple types associated with that family. F I G U R E 1 . 5 5 Inserting a hosted family (.rfa) You will be using this method of inserting a hosted family into a model quite a bit in this book and on a daily basis when you use Revit. Note that when a family is loaded into Revit Architecture, there is no live path back to the file that was loaded. Once it is added to the Revit model, it becomes part of that model.
F i l e Ty p e s a n d Fa m i l i e s F I G U R E 1 . 5 6 All of the families are listed in the Project Browser. Using Revit Template File (.rte) The .rte extension pertains to a Revit template file. Your company surely has developed a template for your own standards or will soon. An .rte file is simply the default template that has all of your companies standards built into it. When you start a project, you will use this file. To see how an .rte file is used, follow these steps: 1.
C hapter 1 • The Revit World Whenever you start a project, you will use the .rte template. When you start a new family, however, you will want to use an .rft file. Using Revit Family Files (.rft) The .rft extension is another type of template, only this one pertains to a family template. It would be nice if Revit had every family fully developed to suit your needs. Alas, it does not. You will have to develop your own families. You will start with a family template.
A r e Yo u E x p e r i e n c e d ? Are You Experienced? Now you can… E navigate the Revit Architecture interface and actually start a model E find commands on the Design bar and understand how this controls your options E find where to change a keyboard shortcut to make it similar to CAD E navigate through the Project Browser E understand how the Revit interface is broken down into views E tell the difference between the two different types of families, and understand how to build a model using them 41
