Specifying Formulas for Revit Angles

This article is a quick easy tip for specifying a slope for a line instead of only specifying the angle.  When placing roofs, floors, ceilings, pipes, etc, you have the option for specifying the actual slope, but this option is not available in other situations.

This function is especially helpful with drafting views and similar type situations when the angle of an element needs to be modified.  Since angles cannot be typed/specified when drawing an element, angles are commonly modified after element placement.

Depending on the equation that you enter, you can get a riser/run slope or a percentage slope.  (The angle will still be displayed.)

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Revit Slab Depression

It is common to have depressed areas of a concrete floor slab of a building and you want to be able to represent this accurately in a Revit model.  This may be in the middle area of a large floor slab as a containment area or the edge of a floor slab under an overhead door.  Either way, a portion of the floor is lower than the surrounding floor.

Note this article is for a completely depressed area and not one where the edges are the same level and then sloping, as if to a drain.  In those situations, the Shape Editing tools can be used on the floor. 

Revit eTransmit

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:

• Linked Revit model
• CAD links
• DWF Markups
• Decal Images
• External Keynote File

Go to the Add-Ins tab of the menu system at the top.

Select the Transmit a model icon from the eTransmit panel.

 

 

 

 

Notes:

•  Save all models prior to running the command.
• Close all models.
• Additional supporting documents can be added to the transmittal
• Revit files prior to 2012 need to be upgraded to the 2012 version

 

 

Easy Revit Cabinet Crown Molding

Placing crown molding at the top of cabinetry is very common in residential design and can be easy to do in Revit.  Ideally, I would like to use a sweep with a crown molding profile, but Revit utilizes sweeps only for walls when not in the family editor.  The trick to making this an easy process for the user is to create a specialty wall that has the desired sweep profile built into it.  This allows you draw the “wall” to follow the front edge of the cabinetry at the desired elevation for the crown molding.

The following image shows the resultant crown molding.

Opening with Varying Widths Throughout Revit Wall

It is common to have openings in walls that are not of a consistent width all the way through the wall.  An example of this is when a door is recessed into a brick wall and the brick opening is wider than the stud/masonry wall opening or the door.  The following illustration shows a door opening in a stud and brick wall with the brick opening wider to allow brickmould casing around the door.

Revit doors and windows, by default, have an opening that goes straight through the wall with a completely rectangular opening.  If you just use the default Door.rft or Window.rft with the default opening to create your doors and window families, you will not see the above jogged offset opening.

The secret to getting the walls to cut as you desire is to NOT use the Opening Cut that is in the family template, but use Voids instead.

Zooming In Revit Non-Graphical Areas

Revit is always full of little functions that are not really advertised by Autodesk, but are handy nevertheless.  Zooming in non-graphical locations is one of those functions.

The following locations allow you to easily zoom in and out.

Properties Palette

• Since at least Revit 2016, we have been able to zoom in and out of the Properties Palette by holding down on the CTRL key and using the mouse scroll wheel.
• Zooming within the Properties Palette returns to the default size when you exit the current project file.
• Zooming within the Properties Palette is specific to each open project.  If 2 or more projects are open, zooming in the Properties Palette can be different for each project.

Schedules

• Since Revit 2019, we can zoom in and out of Schedules by holding down on the CTRL key and using the scroll wheel on the mouse.

Hiding Specific Level Markers in Revit

Many times in Revit, you create Levels that are utilized for various purposes.  Sometimes, there are some of those Levels that you do NOT want to display in elevation and section views on the final construction documents.  They are Levels that you use for your design, but might be confusing to those viewing your construction documents.  Therefore, it is best to just not have them seen.  This is a common practice for all disciplines.

Levels are turned on or off easily in the visibility controls, however, that control turns ALL Level markers on or off.  A good way to control which ones you want seen is to create a new Level Type that is specifically used when you don’t want to see that level.  You can then create a View Filter to filter for that new Level Type and turn it off in the views where you desire the level to not be seen.

The following illustration shows the same project file with 2 different elevation views.  The view on the left has a new Level Type turned off and the right view has all Level Types turned on.

Component Elevation Changes with Wall Base Offset

When placing components on the face of a wall in Revit, the same component may move differently when the wall base offset changes.  This can cause frustration to the user by not understanding why it is happening.  No one wants to see their component change elevation when they don’t expect it.

Walls can have the bottom offset either up (positive dimension) or down (negative dimension) to raise or lower the base of the wall.  While the majority of the time the wall will be at the floor level, there are many times when the wall needs to be above the floor.  A couple of examples are a wall that sets on a concrete curb, or a wall which serves as a soffit.  The Base Offset parameter for the wall is modified in the Properties palette when the wall is highlighted.

Revit Section Bubble Placed In Text

I get asked about how to place a detail bubble or a section bubble amongst text notes where the actual leader for the bubble is not desired.  The user still wants to have the information within the bubble to auto-update, so the bubble needs to be an actual callout. This is a very common situation,   The following image is an example of a typical situation.

Control Visibility of Plumbing Fitting Tick Marks in Revit

Single line drawings in Revit plumbing plans (Coarse and Medium displays) show the tick marks for fittings by default.  Some design firms prefer to not show tick marks for the elbows, tees, and other fittings.  Revit has a setting that allows users to adjust the printed size of the tick marks, but this affects all tick marks for all fittings.  I see situations where the designer wants to see tick marks for reducers and couplers, but not some other fittings.

Pipe fitting families can have a parameter added that controls the visibility of the tick marks.  This allows the user to specify which fittings should show the tick marks and also allows tick mark visibility to be different for different projects.

Each Pipe Fitting family will need to be modified, but we will take a look at one family here.

Revit Section Markers Discipline Visibility

When and how Revit section markers display on plan views can be a bit confusing when you are working with multiple disciplines.  With more disciplines involved with a model, the more noticeable and confusing the issue becomes.  This is due to the fact that section markers are discipline-specific and cannot be displayed on all the different disciplines of plan views.

Revit is designed so that section markers will not show in other discplines’ views and this is based upon the Discipline parameter of a view.  Revit has 6 different Disciplines available for selection for a view.  They are:

• Architectural
• Structural
• Mechanical
• Electrical
• Plumbing
• Coordination

 

My Favorite Revit 2019 New Features

Most Revit users have heard that Autodesk has released the 2019 versions of its various software packages.  Autodesk has included a lot of nice enhancements with this release and delivered on many of the user wish list items.  While there are still many improvements to be made to Revit, I am pleased with enhancements in this release.