The casework/cabinetry provided with Revit is very generic and often not desirable for residential design projects. This includes design for single family homes and multi-family projects. Many Revit users look for a good alternative for families that are more detailed and designed around manufactured cabinetry versus custom cabinetry.
When sending a Revit project file to another person or company, it is nice to be able to send all of the associated files with the project file. Revit has incorporated this command, thus enabling us to package up the required files to be sent together. This is an easily overlooked command and many people are not aware of it. AutoCAD has had this command for many versions.
Files included in the transmittal:
Go to the Add-Ins tab of the menu system at the top.
Select the Transmit a model icon from the eTransmit panel.
I am sorry that my blog has not been updated for a couple of months. I just relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma so I have been quite busy between my work and my move.
With that said, I need to mention one of my pet peeves. That is using Detail Lines on plan views of Revit instead of using actual model elements. I was talking to an engineer yesterday and they were complaining about architects providing them Revit models to use that have a great deal of useless detail line information. Using “dumb” lines in Revit to represent items that should be shown as model elements (especially walls!) is a poor solution in Revit. Don’t pretend to “do” BIM and then use detail lines like this.
Please don’t do this. 🙂 Thank you!
It is that time of year that my Autodesk subscription is up for renewal, so it makes me think about the latest pricing system that Autodesk has been implementing lately.
I had been on the “Subscription” plan for years, but that name was changed to be called the “Maintenance” plan in 2016. The new “Subscription” program is entirely different than the old subscription program even though it has the same name. Yes, that can be confusing.
I have run into a quirky situation with Revit electrical panel schedules that I want to pass along.
When using Revit MEP for electrical design, part of the process is creating circuits and then adding that circuit to a panel or switchboard. The Trip Rating of the circuit sets the size of the breaker on the panel or switchboard, so it is shown on the electrical panel or switchboard schedule appropriately. If the Trip Rating is changed, the breaker size automatically updates on the panel schedule. All is good.
The panel/switchboard schedule is then placed on a sheet for documentation/printing purposes.
The problem: Sometimes the updated Trip Rating does not update on the sheet although it is actually updated and correct in the panel schedule.
This creates a strange situation where the information shown on the sheet is not the same as the information shown in the actual panel schedule view.
Fortunately, when the project file is closed and then re-opened, the sheet will update to show the correct trip rating (breaker) size.
Autodesk is enhancing its product for structural engineers and is previewing those enhancements to Advance Steel and Steel Connections for Revit at NASCC 2017.
Following is Autodesk’s statement concerning the enhancements.
Since acquiring Advance Steel in 2013, Autodesk continues to work towards better support for BIM-centric workflows for structural steel design and detailing. For instance, we have been working to strengthen the interoperability between Autodesk Revit design software and Autodesk Advance Steel software. In advance of tomorrow’s opening day of the NASCC conference, we’re happy to announce that the forthcoming Advance Steel 2018 release next month will now offer seamless consumption of LOD350* Revit models.
This exciting news means that engineers can deliver more accurate designs and bills of materials to the detailer and fabricator. And for the detailer, it means they can more quickly respond to design changes while delivering the files needed to drive steel fabrication. This interoperability will help steel detailers and fabricators take full advantage of the steel design model—a notable benefit for the industry.
Creating sections in a Revit model is key to creating a quality 3D model, and that includes creating sections that are simply used for design verification. Construction documents typically include sections, but users also use a lot of temporary sections for coordination and verification. A problem with temporary sections is that you don’t know who created the section and the purpose for the section. As a result they tend to stay in the model because no one really knows if they can delete the section.
I previously wrote a blog article about creating Working Sections which helps with this situation. However, the working section can be further enhanced. This article will address 2 key features for improving the working section:
Note that this article will build upon that previous blog article. You can find the article here.
It is now the end of another year, with all the experiences of life that comes with that year. As such, we tend to evaluate the past year and look forward to the challenges and experiences of the new year. That includes all different aspects of our lives, including the personal and professional sides. However, in additional to individuals doing this, organizations need to do the same thing.
Since this is an building industry oriented blog, I am going to touch on what I believe to be an important component of AEC firms in the technological age in which we now live. That is the evaluation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) within your firm. While there are still many AEC firms that have not moved into the world of BIM, it is becoming more common and more important in the industry.
It is extremely important to evaluate BIM within a firm. There are costs associated with moving toward BIM integration and it is important to understand whether your firm is getting a return on that investment and how it can be improved.
If you are utilizing Revit for electrical engineering design, then you are using electrical panels and likely electrical panel schedules. While the process of inserting electrical panels and connecting basic circuits to them is pretty straightforward, there are some items that are good to know to help you better utilize panels and their associated schedules.
First off, a requirement in this process is to make sure that after you place an electrical panel in the Revit model, you set the Distribution System for it. Otherwise, you will not be able to connect any electrical device or other electrical equipment to the panel. The Distribution System is shown in both the panel’s Properties palette, and on the Options Bar on the ribbon.
Panel Schedules in Revit are a report of the information that is contained in the electrical panel, and schedules cannot be created without having a panel family placed in the project file. They are not like a spreadsheet where the numerical values are entered into the spreadsheet. The values shown in the panel and on the panel schedule are a result of connected loads to the panel and are only as good as the information in the items connected to the panel.
Many people are now aware that Autodesk has released the 2017 version of its various software packages. There are many great blog posts about the enhancements in the packages and I really like some of those enhancements. Before discussing any of those 2017 enhancements, I thought I would post some links to official Autodesk pages for you to peruse.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could easily give a Revit schedule any view name that you want and have a different title appear at the top of the schedule on a sheet? You can!
By default, the View Name parameter in the Properties of the schedule will appear as the title for the schedule. As of Revit 2014, you can edit the title to be what you desire, regardless of the view name. That allows you to name the schedule whatever you desire to aid with project browser organization and providing a good description of the schedule’s purpose. Continue reading
As most Autodesk software users have learned, Autodesk has modified its method of selling the various software packages and how users pay for ongoing usage of the software. I won’t go into those actual methods as they are well documented at Autodesk. However, since “words mean things”, I am posting this notification from Autodesk. When you see information from Autodesk, it is important to know what they now mean as the old terminology we previously used may not mean the same thing now.
Here it is….
Dear Autodesk Customer,
On February 1, 2016, we are making some simplification changes to our subscription offerings by:
If you have questions about the new terminology or changes to our Global Travel Rights policy, contact your Autodesk Authorized Reseller or your Autodesk sales representative.
Applying Technology to Architecture 