Revit Fundamentals

These articles focus on the key fundamental aspects of Revit. They are more about the "bigger picture", rather than the fine detail. Revit works in a completely different way to "traditional" 2D C D systems. !etting the best out of the software depends upon both understanding the differences and then taking advantage of them.

A Coordinated Approach
"f anyone was to ask what was the single greatest strength of Revit, "#d have to say it#s ability to co$ ordinate written and drawn information.

%ith 2D &or 'D for that matter( )dumb* C D systems, +,- have to do all the co$ordination of the information yourself. .et#s use an e/ample to clarify the point.

"f " was to produce some construction documents for a simple building using utoC D, " would have to draft out the plan, then draft out the elevations and sections, details, etc. "t would be up to me to ensure that the windows " drew on the plan where an accurate representation of the position they are shown in any elevation or sectional views.

"f " &or anybody else( moves a door or window in plan$ then someone has to )manually* notes this change and ensure that any other drawing that is effected by this change is updated. This is a time consuming process and the room for error is 0uickly multiplied according to the scale of the pro1ect.

nd it#s not 1ust doors and windows, it#s everything in that set of documents2 3chedules, Drainage 4lans, datum heights$ the list goes on.

%ell Revit takes a totally different approach. Rather than you having to draw a representation of your design using lines, arcs, etc5 you actually )model* your design &in full 'D( within Revit. 6ecause you develop a single 'D model of your design that is stored within the Revit database, Revit can easily co$ ordinate the relationship between the various elements.

3o when you make a change to a Revit model &ie you move the position of a door in plan(, Revit can easily update any view that the door appears in$ be it plan, elevation, schedule, perspective, etc(.

The )database* approach that Revit uses to store the model is also used to hold other & parametric( information about the model. 3o you can ask Revit to produce &say( a door schedule automatically from the model. 3o when you then decide to add &or remove( a door from the model, the schedule instantly updates to reflect these changes.

7ow many times have you moved a wall in utoC D and then &days or months later( realised that there are now drawings in your document set that don#t match correctly. Revit makes this a thing of the past for the reasons we have discussed above.

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Dependent Views explained

"f Dependent Views are the solution, what was the problem that they solved; "n other words, why was there a need to introduce this feature into rchitecture 2<<=; ,>, let#s go back to Revit ?.9 and consider the following scenario. +ou#ve produced a general arrangement plan for your building at a scale of 92@<. +ou come to place that specific view &i.e. the whole plan( onto an 9 drawing sheet. 6ut the view is too big to fit on the sheet at 92@<. +ou can#t change the scale because you will not be able to see all the detail you need. 3o what do you do; %ell, one solution would be to use Duplicate with Detailing to produce a copy of the Aiew with all annotation tags in place. +ou could then crop each one of the views to show half of the plan &erasing any unused te/t in each half(, and place the two halves on two separate drawing sheets.

+es, this method gets the 1ob done but it#s not ideal. "t#s not ideal because &apart from the model elements themselves( there is no inherent relationship between the two views. 8or e/ample, what if you want to change the visibility settings of the !eneral rrangement plans; %hat if you want you want to change the detail level; "f you wish to change any view$specific attribute, you will need to ensure that you go to the duplicated view and change the settings there also. This goes against Revit#s ethos of co$ordinated information. This is where Dependent Aiews come in.

4robably the easiest way to e/plain what Dependent Aiews are and how they work is to work through a short step$by$step e/ample of their use. 3o start Revit rchitecture 2<<= with a blank file and ensure that you have at least 2 blank drawing sheets available.

" have named the two sheets 4lan &9 of 2 ( and 4lan &2 of 2(.

Bake sure you have .evel 9 Aiew active and that the Aiew is set to a scale of 922< &your scale settings may be different depending on your regional settings(

-sing the %all tool draw a rectangular building which is 2<,<<< / =,<<<mm. The wall type you use is not important.

Cow add some internal dividing walls as shown in the image below. D/actly where these walls are placed or what wall type is used is not important. Eust try to get your building to look roughly like the one in this image.

Cow add some te/t to describe the five rooms in your model. 8or speed we will 1ust use simple Fmm high te/t labels to name the rooms. %e do not need to go to the trouble of creating rooms and adding room tags. " have labelled my rooms Room 9, Room 2, etc

,>, we#re ready to place the Aiew onto a sheet. .et#s place Aiew .evel 9 onto 4lan &9 of 2(. !uess what, it does not fitGG

3o let#s delete the Aiew from the sheet and use Dependent Aiews to create two separate views for the plan that are inherently linked together.

Bake Aiew .evel 9 active again.

Right$Click on the view name and select Duplicate Aiew H Duplicate as a Dependent

+ou will see that a new view &with a default name of Dependent on .evel 9( has been created and is shown nested below the primary view for .evel 9. Right$click on .evel 9 again and make a second Dependent Aiew.

%e now have our 4rimary Aiew for .evel 9 and two Dependent Aiews. ll three views share e/actly the same properties with regards scale, visibility settings, etc. !o ahead and try it out. 3witch to any of the three views &the primary or either of the two Dependent views( and change the view scale, detail level, model graphic style, etc5 and you will see that the other two views always remain identical &with regards the properties you have 1ust ad1usted(. 3o now let#s use the Crop Region facility to crop each of the two Dependent Aiews and place them on each of the drawing sheets respectively. 3witch to view Dependent &2( on .evel 9 and use to Ioom to 8it to ensure that you can see the view boundary. 3elect the view boundary with the cursor to make it display the new Crop Region bo/es &there is now separate crop region bo/es for the model elements and the te/t(. The crop regions should display as red rectangles with the blue grip arrows.

Cow use the inner set of blue grip arrows to resiJe the crop regions to show only the left hand side of the plan. Cotice how when you drag the inner crop region inwards, the outer crop region automatically follows it. s stated above, the inner bo/ &solid red line( crops the view of all model elements while the outer bo/ &dashed red line( crops only te/t elements.

Cow do the same for the other Dependent Aiew so that you crop the view to show only Room @.

To demonstrate how the new Crop Region facility works, 1ust drag the left hand side of the outer &red dashed line bo/( over to the left. Cotice how the inner &solid red( bo/ stays at the same siJe. 6y resiJing the outer &te/t( Crop Region you allow the other te/t elements on the view &the room names( to be displayed, but not the model elements &the walls(.

Cow you#ve seen how the double crop region facility works, move the outer bo/ back to where it was$ i.e. tight up against the inner bo/. 8or each of the two dependent views turn off the visibility of the crop regions by use of the button near the bottom of the work area.

+ou can now drag each of the two dependent views onto the drawing sheets.

"t is worth noting that you have full control over all crop regions from the 4rimary Aiew. "f you make the primary view .evel 9 active you will see that the two crop regions are shown dotted. Clicking on either of the dotted rectangles will summon the control arrows, allowing you to make ad1ustments to the siJe of the te/t crop bo/ or the model crop bo/.

7opefully this article has helped to e/plain what Dependent Aiews are and how &and why( they are used.

Design Options: An Introduction

%elcome to the Revit Zone article on Design Options. "n this article we are going to take you through what Design ,ptions are, when you would use them and also a 0uick$step$by$step e/ample of their use. fter reading and digesting this article, you should be comfortable with setting up ),ption 3ets* and also in creating individual ),ptions* within those sets.

What are Design Options

Kuite simply, the Design ,ptions facility in Revit allows you to e/plore different options for various parts of your pro1ect. The important words to pick up in that statement are )various* and )parts*. .et me now e/plain the importance of these two concepts in relation to Design ,ptions.

Aarious2 +ou can consider different options for different elements of your design, all at the same time. 8or e/ample$ you may want to consider four variations of entrance lobby5 we#ll discuss these in detail later. CD you may also wish to consider three variations of kitchen layout in the same scheme. This is what ),ption 3ets* are for$ and

4arts2 "t is crucial that you appreciate that Design ,ptions are best used when you wish to study varying options for small, distinct elements of your scheme. The ma1ority of your pro1ect should be determined$ leaving you to e/plore isolated &and distinct( areas.

When to use Design Options

s we have seen above, Design ,ptions are appropriate for the study of smaller, distinct elements of your pro1ect. "f you are still considering whether your building should be circular or rectilinear, then Design ,ptions are not really applicable at this stage of your design process.

OK, lets get stuck in

Right, we have talked about what Design ,ptions are. %e have said when you would &and would not( use them. .et#s get straight into a small worked e/ample. This should give you a good grounding upon

which to further e/plore the use of Design ,ptions by yourself. +ou may want to have Revit open and actually follow along step$by$step.

3o where do we find Design ,ption; ,n the )Banage* menuG

!o ahead and click on the )Design ,ptions* button$ this will cause the Design ,ptions Control 4anel to be displayedG.

,n the right of the panel you will notice three main section2 )Ddit*, ),ption 3et* and ),ption*.

Ddit2 This is where you will control whether you are editing an ,ption or not. ,ption 3et2 This is where you will control your various ,ption 3ets. 8or e/ample, an entrance lobby may be one set, kitchen layout may be another set, etc, etc

.,ption2 This is where you will control individual ,ptions. Dach ,ption 3et can have many different ,ptions within it. Think of ,ption 3ets and ,ptions as a )parent and child* relationship.

Main Model

The ma1ority of your pro1ect will be fi/ed$ this is what will constitute the )Bain Bodel* with regards Design ,ptions. ll Revit elements that are designated as being in the Bain Bodel will be common to all ,ptions. This is a very important concept and one that you need to fully understand. "f there are certain parts of your scheme that will vary &depending on which ,ption you are e/ploring(, you need to move them out of the )Bain Bodel* and into an ),ption*. " hope you#ve managed to follow all this so far; Design ,ptions are one of those Revit concepts that is much easier to understand if you actually see it in use. 3o that#s what we will do now. " am starting with a fresh, blank Revit pro1ect. " have created a very simple s0uare building with a door and a window in itG.

Cot the most e/citing scheme in the world, but ideal for e/plaining Design ,ptions. ll the elements " have created so far are part of the )Bain Bodel*. This is because " haven#t set up any Design ,ptions yet. " am basically telling Revit that " am happy with this part of my pro1ect$ all the elements " have created are going to be in the final scheme no matter what. 3o let#s use Design ,ptions to study two separate areas of our building. " am going to look at options for the entrance area and also options for a kitchen.

" bring up the )Design ,ptions* control panel again and select )Cew* ,ption 3et. s soon as " click on Cew &under ),ption 3et*( you will notice that ),ption 3et 9* is automatically created &4rimary(* is also createdG.. CD ),ption 9

The term )4rimary* in brackets is very much worth discussion now. 8or each ,ption 3et that you create &ie for each distinct area of your scheme that you consider options for(, Revit re0uires that you have a favourite &or )4rimary*( ,ption. This is the ,ption that will be shown by default in relevant Aiews. "t will also be the ,ption that is amalgamated back into the main model when you have finished your options appraisal and decided on which way to go. The good news is that you can easily make any of you ,ptions into the 4rimary ,ption$ 1ust by the click of a button. 3o for now, 1ust be clear on the use of the 4rimary ,ption$ rather than worrying about what the 4rimary ,ption should be. &" hope that makes senseL(

%ith ),ption 9* highlighted, " select )Ddit 3elected*GG

"mmediately, the Bain Bodel is greyed$out and " am free to start adding elements in order to define my first optionGG.

+ou will see from the above that " have added an internal wall and a door to form my entrance lobby. This is ),ption 9* for my first ,ption 3et. Cow "#m going to create a different ,ption for the entrance area. " go back to the Design ,ptions control panel, click on )8inish Dditing* and then select )Cew* under ),ption*. 4lease Cote2 ),ption 3et*. t this stage we are simply creating a new ),ption* and C,T a new

%ith ),ption 2* highlighted, go ahead and click on )Ddit 3elected*. %e are now free to start sketching out our second alternative design for this area.

Did you notice that once we had gone into )editing mode* for ,ption 2, all of the ,ption 9 elements were not displayed; Eust as you#d e/pect really$ the only elements you can could see where the )Bain Bodel* elements common to all ,ptions.

Dasy isn#t it;L +ou can carry on and create as many variations for the entrance area as you like. Dach one will be created as a new ),ption*. ,>, so what about this kitchen we talked about. To look at options for the kitchen we need to create a new ),ption 3et*. %e do this from the Design ,ptions control panel of course.

This time we select )Cew* under the ),ption 3et* panelG.

D/actly the same process as before$ make sure that you select the correct ,ption to edit and select )Ddit 3elected* and start adding your kitchenG.

n important thing to notice now is that the 4rimary ,ption for ,ption 3et 9 is also displayed along with the Bain Bodel. +ou can#t edit it right now but it "3 displayed. 8or every ,ption 3et that you create, the 4rimary ,ption will always be displayed while editing other ,ptions &that#s a mouthfulL(

nd for completeness, we#ll go ahead and create an alternative for the kitchenG

+ou will of course &"#m sure( wish to make you ,ptions and ,ption 3et names a little more descriptive. Eust use the )Rename* command to name them appropriatelyG.

C#mon, admit it2 That was nowhere near as bad as you thought it was going to be; 3o what#s left to say about Design ,ptions. Cot much really apart from how to control the visibility of the ,ptions within different Aiews5 and what to do once you have decided on which ,ptions you are going with.

3o let#s start with controlling the visibility of Design ,ptions. Eust like most other visual aspects of a Aiew, Design ,ptions are controlled by the Aisibility M !raphic ,verrides panel. ,nce Design ,ptions has been enabled &by creating an ,ption 3et M ,ption5 you will note that a )Design ,ptions* tab is added to the end of the Aisibility M !raphic ,verrides panelG.

8rom here you can select any combination of ,ptions that you wish to be shown in this view. 6y duplicating this view and then changing which ,ptions are shown you can easily put together a 3heet to show the Client what choices are available to them.

,>, so the Client has seen the various ,ptions. They have decided that they wish to go with the second entrance option but the first kitchen layout. 3o what do you do now. %ell, there are two steps to this. 8irst of all you need to ensure that for each ,ption 3et, the ,ption you wish to go with is the 4R"B R+ ,ption. 3o for our entrance options &,ption 3et 9(, we need to make the second ,ption into the 4rimary one. 3imply select the second ,ption in this 3et and hit )Bake 4rimary*. +ou will notice that the )&4rimary(* suffi/ immediately moves down ne/t to the second ,ptionG..

Cow all you have to do is use the ) ccept 4rimary* command on each ,ption 3et. This has the effect of adding the elements from the 4rimary ,ption "CT, the Bain Bodel. +ou do get a warning that this is going to delete the corresponding ,ption 3etG.

!o ahead and do the same for the second ,ption 3et. +ou have now successfully absorbed your chosen options into your main model.

nd that#s itL 7opefully you have managed to follow this step$by$step guide and you are ready to have a play with Design ,ptions for yourself.

Design Options: Choosing a preferred Option

"n this article we are going to look at what happens once you &or your Client( have chosen a preferred ,ption &-sing Design Options(. +ou can of course 1ust leave all the other options as they are and work on your preferred option. 6ut this is a little messy and unnecessary. better solution is to unify your preferred option with the main model and then 1ettison all other design options.

This makes it a lot simpler to progress with the development and detailing of your design, whilst also reducing the siJe and comple/ity of your Revit 4ro1ect 8ile. 3o let#s look at a real world e/ample. &Cote2 "f you are totally new to Design ,ptions,please read this article first(

7ere are ' different proposals " have created using Design OptionsG.

nd here is an image of the Design ,ptions control panel, for this pro1ectG.

,ne thing worth noting here is that there are actually 8,-R Design ,ptions$ one of these being called )6ase Bodel*, which " have set as my 4rimary option. This Design ,ption has no )optional elements within it. "t#s sole purpose is to ensure that there are no preferred options at this stage &when looking at options(. "f " hadn#t of included this then one of my &proper( options would have to be

designated as the )4rimary* option. nd at that stage in the process " really didn#t have a bias towards any particular option. 3o you can think of the )6ase Bodel &4rimary(* option as a sort of )filler* or )spacer* to ensure that the other remaining options are all considered e0ually. This techni0ue is most useful when you are adapting or e/tending an e/isting building$ and you have no pre$conceived ideas of a design solution. Cote2 "f you#re still not sure of how this concept works or why we use it, please ask away on our 8orums and "#ll e/plain in more detail.

,>, back to the 1ob in hand. s it was, my Client &and "L( decided that they liked ,ption '. t that point " then had no need for the other ,ptions or &conse0uently( for the use of the whole Design ,ptions tool set, within this Revit 4ro1ect. 3o let#s loom at how " integrate ,ption ' and get rid of everything else.

This process is really simple to do and involves 1ust two steps. The first step is to make you preferred option the )4rimary* option. "n our e/ample we want to make ),ption '* the 4rimary ,ption. 3imply highlight ),ption '* from the list and then hit the )Bake 4rimary* buttonG..

This has the effect of telling Revit that this is how the pro1ect is going to proceed$ this is the )likely* design solution. 3witching to any of the various model views of your pro1ect, you should see all the elements that were defined in ,ption '.

t this point, we still have separate ,ptions, each containing different elements. %hat we want to now do is combine the elements in our 4rimary ,ption, back into the Bain Bodel. %e simply do this by selecting ) ccept 4rimary*G..

%hen you hit the ) ccept 4rimary* button, you get a warning advising you that all the other &secondary( options in this ,ption 3et will be deleted if you choose to continueG..

ssuming that you have indeed settled on a preferred option &as we did with our ),ption '*(, go ahead and choose )+es* to continue. Revit will now proceed to swap all the elements in your 4rimary ,ption, over into the Bain Bodel set. Bore than likely you will get another warning$ this time advising you that you now have some Aiews that are redundant &ie they relating to Design ,ptions that no longer e/ist(G.

!o ahead and choose )Delete* to get rid of these views you no longer re0uire. %hat you should be left with is a totally blank )Design ,ptions* control panelG.

G.e/actly as it was before you started using Design ,ptionsL &4lease Cote2 "f you created more than one ),ption 3DT*, you will need to repeat the process for D C7 3DT. 3o for each set, make the preferred option the 4R"B R+ option and then use the ) ccept 4rimary* function to delete the ,ption 3et(

Grids
%elcome to this Revit Zone article on rids. "f you are totally new to Revit you#ve come to best place on the Nnet to get up to speed with utodesk#s 6"B platform, Revit rchitecture.

The screen shots in this article are from Revit rchitecture 2<9<. 3o if you are using an earlier version of Revit, the -ser "nterface will be significantly different from what you see here. 7owever the underlying principles will be e/actly the same$ it#s 1ust a cosmetic change. !rids are a very powerful &and conse0uently( useful feature within Revit. "n this article " want to 1ust tell you the fundamental features of Revit !rids. lthough 0uite simple in their appearance, Revit !rids have the power to really help organise your design. 3o where do we find the !rid command within Revit. !rids are right there on the 7ome tab, in the Datum 4anel

!rids are nnotation elements. That is, they are not part of your actual model$ like a wall, door or window would be. 6ut they D, appear across different Aiews. 8or e/ample you can draw a grid on your ground floor plan and it would then appear on the subse0uent floors &ie .evels( of your model. The degree to which the grid will appear in other views is dependent on it#s D/tents$ but more about that later. grid line consist of two main parts. The grid line itself and the !rid 7eader &ie the bubble at the end of the grid line(. The default setting is for the grid line to have a grid header at one end only. 6ut you can have !rid 7eaders at 6,T7 ends if you prefer. Eust select a !rid line by clicking on itGGG

+ou can see that there are two small bo/es at the very top and bottom. The bo/ at the bottom is already checked which causes the bottom !rid 7eader to be displayed. "f you go ahead and check the top bo/ too, you will get a !rid 7eader at both ends of the grid line.

Grid line references (ie numbering / lettering)

!rid .ines are numbered automatically. The number &or .etter( increments each time you draw a new one. The numbering of grid lines is very much like the tagging of doors and windows. 8or e/ample2$ "f your first grid line is numbered 9, then Revit will number the rest of them 2, ', O, @, etc. 6ut if you change your first grid line to , Revit is clever enough to reference subse0uent grid lines as 6, C, D, D, etc. +ou can override this automatic referencing at any time by 1ust clicking in the !rid 7eader and typing in the number or letter you want for that particular grid line.

Controlling the grid spacing

3o how do we get a series of grid lines onto a vew; The simplest method is to simply draw the first !rid line and then use Bultiple Copy to place the rest of them. Do not worry about the spacing when you are placing new copies of the gridlines. "#ll show you a neat )trick* to 0uickly tidy up their spacing 8TDR you have placed them.

7ere#s P grid lines " have 0uickly created by copying the first oneGGGG.

Cow to get them e0ually spaced all " have to do is place a running dimension across them allG..

Then 1ust click on the DK symbol &you can make this out in the above image$ it at the top, centre(. This will then realign all intermediate grid lines so that they are e0ually spacedGG

Cow 1ust select any of the intermediate grid lines. -pon doing so you should be presented with a temporary dimension to the ad1acent grid lineGG.

+ou can now 1ust go ahead and click on the value of this dimension and change it to whatever you wish. 6ecause you have already placed an )DK- .3* constraint on all the grid lines, they will all ad1ust to the new spacing. &C,TD2 +ou can use this )DK- .3* trick to 0uickly )re$space* all sorts of elements such as walls, detail lines, etc.

Grid Extents
%hat may not be apparent when you first start e/perimenting with !rids is that they are in fact 'D planes. +ou can see this for yourself if you switch to an elevation viewGGG.

7ere#s a C,RT7 elevation view of the grid we drew before. +ou can see that the bottom of the grid )planes* start at .evel 9 and rise up above .evel 2. +ou can even see that the numbering is revered because we are looking at the !rid from the Corth. "f we switch to the 3outh Dlevation we would see

the numbering in the )correct* order. "f we create a .evel ' which is 7"!7DR than the !rid 7eaders, then when we switch to the 4lan Aiew for that .evel, we would C,T see any grid lines on plan.

Controlling the Visibility of Grids

+ou can turn the visibility of !rids on and off in each view via the standard Aisibility M !raphic ,verrides panel. !rids appear &as you might e/pect( under the nnotations TabGGG

Grids don t have to be straight

" suspect that for most of the time your !rid .ines are going to be straight$ but they don#t have to beL %hen you you select the !rid Command, 1ust change the draw tool to an arcGGG.

+ou can now have fun with all sorts of curved grid linesGGG.

Grid !ine "ffsets

Eust like .evels, you can offset the !rid 7eader from its asscoiated grid line, if things start to get a bit too busy &ie grid headers are too bunched up(. Eust select the grid line and then click on the ) dd Dlbow* icon 1ust above the !rid 7eader. +ou can see it 1ust above the dd lbow Tool Tip in the image belowGGG

#odifying Grid $roperties

Eust like any element in Revit, if you wish to alter it#s properties after you have created it, 1ust select the grid and click on element propertiesGGG.

G.and you will be presented with it#s Type M "nstance 4arameters panel.

%sing Grids to control "b&ect location

The other good thing about !rids is that Columns and other structural elements will stay stuck to them, when the grid spacing is subse0uently modified. "f " place a column onto a grid lineG..

and then select the column$ +ou will see that the ,ptions 6ar now has a Check 6o/ titled )Boves with !rids*GG..

" hope this article has given you a flavour of the power and usefulness of Revit#s !rid 3ystemsL

Levels and Views

"n this article we are going to talk about .evels and Aiews. To simplify matters "#ll start off by talking about .evels, then go onto and Aiews and finally " will talk about the relationship between .evels and Aiews. s always, if you have any 0ueries relating to these articles please ask away in our 8orums. ,>, let#s get started.

!evels
.evels are at the very heart of Revit. "n order to use Revit effectively you need to be comfortable with what they are and how they are used. The easiest way to think about .evels is to envisage them as infinitely large planes, that are always horiJontal and that have a set height in the + direction. +ou can have as many .evels in your pro1ect as you wish. The minimum number of .evels you must have is one. 3o what do we use .evels for; %ell, anything that needs to be at a specific height. 8or e/ample a floor plate, the top of a wall, the underside of a ceiling, the head of a window. .evels setting the heights of your floors, but they are used for a .,T, .,T more than that. %hen you first start a new Revit 4ro1ect using the default Revit template, you are given two default .evels. Dach of these has a 4lan Aiew already createdG. RD used for

The 4lan Aiew names are ).evel 9* and ).evel 2* as you may e/pect. Cow if we switch to an Dlevation Aiew, we can see the .evel Barkers for these two .evelsGG

The .evel Barkers contain the .evel name and it#s absolute height in the 'D world. Dach .evel can have a 4lan Aiew associated with it. 8or e/ample, if you have a four storey building, you would probably like to have a 4lan Aiew for each of the .evels associated with four floors. .et#s summarise what we have talked about so far2$

.evels are horiJontal 2D planes with no boundary, that reside in the 'D model world .evels B-3T have a Came and a 7eight. The 7eights is measured in the + a/is in our 'D model world +ou can have as many .evels as you like .evels )may* have a 8loor 4lan Aiew associated with them, but do not necessarily need to.

Vie's
Kuite simply, Aiews are how we are able to see our 'D model &and 2D detailsL( and communicate it#s form and composition to others. Revit has many Aiew Types for you to use. These include2$ 8loor 4lan Aiews Dlevation Aiews 3ection Aiews 'D Aiews Reflected Ceiling 4lan Aiews Drafting Aiews Camera Aiews

number of Aiews are created by default when you load the standard template. These can be seen in the 4ro1ect 6rowserG..

+ou can see each individual Aiew listed under it#s relevant category name. 8or e/ample2 ).evel 9* and ).evel 2* are 8loor 4lan Aiews and are listed under the )8loor 4lans* category.

+ou can create additional Aiews as you need them by switching to the )Aiew ) Design 6ar and selecting the Aiew type you needGG.

3ome Aiews can be generated automatically by Revit. 8or e/ample, when you a 3ection .ine &using the )3ection* tool( Revit will automatically create an associated 3ection Aiew. "t will name this as )3ection 9* by default. +ou can of course rename this to whatever you wish.

The Relationship between .evels and Aiews

s we said above, each 8loor 4lan Aiew B-3T have a .evel associated with it. "f we look at the properties for a 8loor 4lan Aiew we can seeG..

+ou can see that the ) ssociated .evel* is set as ).evel 9*. This is a parametric relationship. "e if we change the height of .evel 9, the 8loor 4lan Aiew will always show the correct representation &ie what ob1ect you would e/pect to see on this .evel(

%hen you create a new .evelG..

Revit will automatically create a new 8loor 4lan Aiew for this .evel. 7owever if you choose to create a new 8loor 4lan Aiew &by use of the Aiew Design 6ar( Revit will need to know what .evel this new Aiew is to be associated with, hence the promptG..

,ther Aiews Types behave differently depending on what they are associated with. %e mentioned 3ection Aiews. +ou C CC,T have a 3ection .ine without a 3ection Aiew. Conse0uently if you try to delete a 3ection .ine you will get the following promptG.

,ther Aiew Types such as 'D Aiews are not associated with anything in particular so can be created and deleted at will. That concludes this short article on .evels and Aiews within Revit.

Phases: An overview of Revit Phases

"n this article we will look at 4hases within Revit. %e will look at what 4hases are, when it is appropriate to use them and e/actly how they are used. s always on revit.biJ all this will be undertaken by a thorough e/planation and a step$by$step e/ample.

(o 'hat are $hases)

%ithin Revit, 4hases are distinct, separate time periods &or )milestones*( within the life of the pro1ect. They can represent either the time periods themselves or the status of the pro1ect at specified points in time. There must always be at least one phase in a pro1ect. 6y default a new Revit pro1ect comes with two phases already created. These are named )D/isting* and )Cew Construction*. +ou can rename these to anything you like, as well as add any number of additional phases.

*hen 'ould you use phases)

3o why would you use phases; 6elow are some of the more obvious reasons why you need to use 4hases in your pro1ect2$ +ou have an e/isting building that you are refurbishing &or e/tending(. Conse0uently you need to show the building before CD after the refurbishment takes place. +ou need to show a development that is to be delivered in phases. Conse0uently you need a se0uence of drawings to represent the pro1ect at every distinct phase. +ou would like to use Revit to help forecast e/penditure over the life of the pro1ect. fter* &or )D/isting Q 4roposed*(

The most common use of 4hases is for the classic )6efore Q you have finished work on it.

scenarios. "e +ou %ant to show your &e/isting( building as it is now and how it is proposed to be when

%ith 2D )dumb C D* programmes, often the easiest way to achieve the above is to draught out the )as e/isting* layouts, make a copy of them and then re$work these copies to represent the proposed. This has a number of disadvantages$ not least the fact that you unnecessarily increase the overall file siJe by duplicating many of the lines and symbols which are not going to change &ie the will be the same in the e/isting and the proposed layouts( . The whole ethos behind )6uilding "nformation Bodelling 3ystems* such as Revit as to have as little duplication of data as possible. This is something that " will be stating over and over again on Revit Ione, so get used to itL "f there#s only one model, then you have eradicated the possibility for someone to be working on an out$of$date version.

(o ho' does Revit handle $hases)

Airtually every component that you create and place in your model has parameters that tell Revit how that particular component relates to each 4hase. The easiest way to think about 4hases in Revit is to break down the concept into three separate chunks2$

+) ,efining your $hases

6efore you do anything else you need to set up your 4hases. "t is far easier to do this right at the outset rather than creating them retrospectively. 3o go ahead and think about what 4hases you are going to want to show within your Revit model. "f you are working on a completely new build pro1ect on a )clean* site, you may 1ust wish to use a single 4hase &ie called )4roposed* for e/ample(. "f you have an e/isting building that you are going to add an e/tension onto, you may want to have two 4hases$ )D/isting* and )4roposed*. This will then allow you to show you e/isting building as it is now and also as it will be after you have added the e/tension. s with most things in life it is far easier to learn something by actually doing it, rather than 1ust reading about it. 3o we will work through a very simple e/ample which will hopefully convey to you the use of 4hases in practise. 3o launch Revit on your 4C and start a new, blank pro1ect. 4hasesG listed under the 3ettings pull$down menu. s we stated above, the first thing we

need to do is define our two 4hases. +ou will find the main 4hasing control panel by clicking

%hen the 4hasing control panel opens you will notice two things2$ a( that there is already two phases created for you. They are named D/isting and Cew

Construction. ndG. b( That there are three tabs named 4ro1ect 4hases, 4hase 8ilters and !raphic ,verrides. "n this

article we are only interested in the first tab. The other two tabs are related to the more$advanced use of 4hases and will be sub1ect to a separate article.

Cow we could 1ust leave the 4hase names as they are. 6ut " prefer to refer to the before and after as )D/isting and 4roposed*. 3o we will change the 4hase currently named as )Cew Construction* to )4roposed*. To do this simply click your cursor within the te/t )Cew Construction* and delete this te/t$ and type )4roposed*

&Cote2

very important thing to realise is that there is a definite order to 4hases. Bake sure that your

)D/isting* phase comes before your )4roposed* phase. The first phase is always at the top of the list. The last phase is always at the bottom.( ,nce you#ve done this, go ahead and click ,>. %e now have our two 4hases and we#re ready to start using them.

-) (etting your Vie's to sho' the appropriate $hase

The ne/t thing that we are going to do is create a separate Aiew for the D/isting and 4roposed phases. "t is very important to set these up now 6D8,RD you start adding model elements. %hy is it important; %ell, "#ll tell you2 Dvery Aiew you create within Revit has a 4hase attributes associated with it. Aiews have to have these attributes$ how else would we tell Revit what we wish to see in that particular Aiew. Bore importantly. %hatever 4hase is set for a particular Aiew, that is the default 4hase for any element M component created within that view. .et me e/plain that again more simply$ because it is crucial that you grasp this fundamental concept2

%e want a Aiew that shows the D/isting phase and we want another view to show the 4roposed phase. "f we add model elements while we are within the D/isting Aiew, then those elements will all have their phase parameter set to D/isting by default. .ikewise, "f we add model elements while we are within the 4roposed Aiew, then those elements will all have their phase parameter set to 4roposed by default. "f this all sounds confusing don#t worry$ it will all become very clear as we work through our e/ample. 3o let#s rename our default .evel 9 view to D/isting. -se the standard method of right$ clicking the view name and selecting Rename.

To create our 4roposed view, we can use the Duplicate command to create a new Aiew based on the D/isting Aiew. Came this new Aiew )4roposed* &you will need to rename the Aiew from the default name )Copy of D/isting* once it is created(

3o we have our two Aiews called D/isting and 4roposed. Cow we need to set the 4hase attributes for each view to ensure they do in fact show us only the D/isting and 4roposed respectively. Right click on the D/isting view name and select 4roperties

This will bring up the Dlement 4roperties dialogue bo/ for this particular view. "f you scroll down to the bottom of the bo/, you will see the 4hasing parameters for this view. There are two parameters2 4hase 8ilter and 4hase. The 4hase 8ilter parameter lets us decide what we want to see in this view. "f you open the drop$down selection bo/ for this parameter you will see there is a default list of various options to choose from. !o ahead and choose )3how Complete*

6y selecting )3how Complete* this view will show us the model in it#s complete state as of the 4hase we set in the second parameter. The second parameter is currently set to )4roposed*. !o ahead and change it to )D/isting*

Dvery element that we create or place within this view will be given the phase parameter )D/isting*. "e we are saying to Revit, everything we create within this view is to be treated as already e/isting. Cow go through the same process again for the )4roposed* view. 3et the )4hase 8ilter* parameter to )3how Complete* but this time set the )4hase* parameter to )4roposed*. 3o for this view, every element that we create will be part of the proposed scheme. ,>. 3o far, so goodL %e#ve defined our two phases. %e#ve set up two Aiews to show the e/isting and proposed schemes and we#ve set the phasing parameters for each of those views to ensure that they correctly

show the state of the pro1ect as defined. 3o let#s now create a very simple pro1ect to show how phases interact with the model elements and the Aiews.

.)

(etting the $hase attributes for each element / component/

Dnsure the )D/isting view" is active and draw a very simple rectangular building. 8or the purpose of this e/ercise we are only going to use walls, windows and doors. That#s all we need to use to help us grasp the concept of 4hases. Do not worry about which wall, window or door type you use. Do not worry about the e/act dimensions of the building. Eust ensure that your simple building model looks similar to the one in the image below.

+ou will see that the building is a simple rectangle, with P windows and ' doors. There it is$ this is our e/isting building in all it#s gloryL %hat we are going to do to this building is add a simple e/tension to one side and undertake some modifications to the e/isting. .et#s take this opportunity to now look at the 4hase parameters for the model elements. !o ahead and select the wall on the left hand side of the model. ,nce selected, click on the 4roperties button and scroll to the bottom of the 4roperties dialogue bo/ where you will find the 4hase parameters.

+ou will see that there are two parameters relating to 4hases. They are )4hase Created* and )4hase Demolished*. This is where the real power of 4hasing lies, in the use of these two parameters. The )4hase created* parameter will always be set by default to the phase that we set for the Aiew. &"n this case )D/isting*( The )4hase Demolished* parameter is where we can tell Revit if this particular element needs to be demolished &ie removed from the model( at some point in time &ie in one of the phases we have defined(. 6y default all model elements have their )4hase demolished* parameter set to )Cone*. That is, once they are created they are there to stay unless instructed otherwiseL 3elect )Cancel* to put the Dlement 4roperties Dialogue bo/ away. Cow switch to the )4roposed* view. The view should look like thisGG

"f this view doesn#t look like this, right click on the view name, select 4roperties and ensure the 4hase 8ilter parameter is set to )3how Complete*. 3o we have two views that look the same, which should come as no surpriseL fter all, we created our e/isting building$ and we haven#t added any elements to the 4roposed phase and we haven#t marked anything for demolition. 3o let#s go ahead and add an e/tension to our building. 3witch to the )4roposed* view and add three wall elements to form a small e/tension to our e/isting building. dd in the two doors and the four new windows so that your model looks like the one in the image belowG..

8inally, we will demolish the two e/isting windows that now fall within our e/tension. To do so, highlight one of the windows, bring up its# )Dlement 4roperties* dialogue bo/, and select )4roposed* for the )4hase demolished* parameter. s soon as you click ,>, you will see that Revit now removes the window from the )4roposed* view M phase. Do the same for the other window. Cote2 The two windows have not been deleted from the model, they have 1ust been removed from this particular phase. "f you now switch between the D/isting and 4roposed views you will see how our

model changes to reflect it#s before and after state. "t is 1ust a coincidence that we names our two view the same as the two phases. There is absolutely no inherent relationship &as far as Revit is concerned( between view names and phase names.

(ummary and Conclusion

7opefully this article has e/plained the fundamentals of phasing within Revit. To summarise2$ Decide &before you begin your model( how many phases you need and what they will be called. Define the 4hases &in the correct orderL( within the )4hasing* control panel

&3ettingsH4hasesG( 3et up each individual view to show what you re0uire &ie what phase do you wish to show; Do you want to see the whole pro1ect or 1ust what is to be demolished; Dtc, etc( Bodel you building, ensuring that you are in the correct view to correspond with the phase you are editing M adding to.

Pro ect !orth versus "rue !orth

%elcome to this Revit Ione article on )!ro"ect #orth versus $rue #orth*. The facility to flip between )4ro1ect Corth* and )True Corth* e/ists within Revit to allow you to both draw &and detail( your building orthogonally and yet still display a site layout correctly &ie with Corth pointing vertically upwards on the page.

This is one of those strange topics that#s much better demonstrated by a 0uick e/ample that reams of descriptive te/t. ,>, so here goesGG

4lease note2 8or the purposes of this demonstration we are going to use an utoC D plan that has been imported into Revit. This is 0uite a good way to demonstrate the concept really, because &if you are like us( there are 0uite a few times when you will indeed bring a site plan &in utoC D format( into Revit and then re$orientate it to suit.

7ere is the basic site plan brought into Revit using the )"mport C D* functionG.

+ou can see that the building &in the centre of the drawing( is orthogonally orientated$ ie the building is neatly aligned vertically and horiJontally$ so any plan views you create are all fine and dandy. 6ut let#s Joom in on the north pointG

+ou will notice that north does not point &vertically( up the page. %hen you come to produce a view to act as a site plan, you would normally e/pect to see true north being straight up. "f we 1ust select everything in our view and use the rotate command$ then we will upset our building plan views.

This is where the )4ro1ect Corth versus True Corth* function comes into play. "t gives us the facility to flip between showing how the building model would actually sit in plan view, with true north being vertical on the page5 and having the building plans sitting orthogonally &so nice and neat( on a sheet.

3o going back to our e/ample, we have already determined that the building orientation &for the purposes of plan views( is fine$ we 1ust need to ad1ust the display of True Corth, for site plan views.

8or every plan view you create, there is a parameter called ),rientation*. The value of this can only be either )4ro1ect Corth* or )True Corth*. +ou will find this parameter if you right click on any plan view and select )Aiew 4roperties*G

6y default, every plan view has this parameter set to )4ro1ect Corth*. .et#s go ahead and create a site plan and ad1ust it#s orientation so that True Corth is shown correctly. " will simply duplicate the e/isting view to create a new view, which " will name )3ite 4lan*. " then change the ,rientation parameter &the one we 1ust looked at( in this new view to )True Corth*. %e are now ready to ad1ust the view. To do so, we need to access the )4ro1ect .ocation* tab on the )Banage* menu. t the bottom of this tab you will see the )4osition* drop down tool$ go ahead and open itG..

%e need to use the second tool on the drop$down, ie )Rotate True Corth*. s soon as we select this, we will see the standard )rotate* tool appear on screen. %e simply relocate the fulcrum to the centre of our north point symbolG..

and then go ahead and rotate the view so that the Corth point is vertical. 7ere is an image of the site plan after we have done thisG..

"t is important to note that we have only rotate the view and C,T the model itself. "f we flick back to the original view we created &which still has the ,rientation parameter set to )4ro1ect Corth*( we see that the building is still shown orthogonallyG.

Roo#s: A $asic introduction

"n this article we are going to take an introductory look at Rooms, within Revit discuss what they are, as well as when and how you use them. rchitecture. %e will

%hen you draw a series of walls in Revit that form a closed loop, you may think you have formed a room. 6ut as far as Revit is concerned, it is 1ust a few walls that form a closed loop. "t is ready to )receive* a Room, but it is not a Room in itself. 3o what e/actly is a Revit Room;

Revit Room is a three dimensional volume that represents a real architectural space &or room(. "f you#re new to Revit, you may well be asking2 3o why do we need to use these special )Room* elements in Revit; Can#t we 1ust draw a series of walls and doors and label up our )rooms* with a te/t note; The answer to that is2 +es, you can if you#d like to. 6ut you would be missing out on a ADR+ powerful feature, that is central to the ethos of Revit$ and that is the automatic scheduling of parameters.

.et me e/plain2 .et#s say we want to produce an

ccommodation 3chedule. 6y using Room

elements, we can get Revit to automatically produce a Room 3chedule. "n that schedule we can choose which parameters we want to display$ ie the room name, the area, the perimeter length, the room number, etc, etc. ,n top of that, we can also add our own custom parameters to Room ob1ects, that let us record all sorts of information about each room$ ie, the occupancy number, the use of the room, the surface finishes, etc, etc.

3o enough of the theory, let#s 1ust dive in an look at a simple e/ample of Rooms in use. .et#s sketch out a simple buildingG..

The layout is not important, any combination of enclosed spaces will do for this e/ample. .et#s dive straight in and add some RoomsL +ou will find the Room tools conveniently placed on the )7ome* menu tabG.

!o ahead and click on )Room*. Cow " want you to hover you cursor )outside* of the building plan and take a careful look at what Revit shows youG.

,n the end of your cursor is a Revit )Room*L 6ut &as it says on screen( it is )Cot Dnclosed*. That#s because Rooms need )Room bounding elements* to enclose them and define their e/tents. The most common elements that can form room boundaries are walls, doors and )Room separation lines*. Bore of that in later articles. 8or now, let#s press on. Bove your cursor to the centre of one of the enclosed spaces in your building planG.

Cotice how the boundary of the Room element automatically e/pands to fill the enclosed space. 7over over each different space to see how the room element changes dynamically as it detect

different boundaries. !o ahead and click to place a Room element into your model. Then proceed to place Room elements in all the remaining spacesG.

+ou can see from the above image that each )space* now has a Room element within it. Cow let#s take a look at a Room, or more precisely the Room Tag associated with it. "#ll pick one room at randomG.

Eust like any other parametric model element within Revit &ie walls, doors, light fittings, etc(, Rooms are capable of being )Tagged*. 6y default, a Room Tag is added automatically when you place a Room element into your model. "f you are familiar with the concept of Revit Tags you will know that

you can change the Tag type to display any combination of parameter values that you need$ ie 1ust the Room name, or room name and area, etc, etc.

"f you click on the Tag to select it, you will find that you can edit the )room name* parameter. The default value for this parameter is )Room*$ hence all the rooms you have added to your building are labelled as )Room*. .et#s edit all the room names to something more meaningfulG..

Cote &in my e/ample( the other two parameters that are displayed in the Room Tag. bove the name is the )room number*. Did you notice how the room number is automatically incremented each time you place a room into the model; +ou can edit this value manually$ but you will get a warning if you produce duplicate values. 6elow the room name is the room area. some party walls and see how this parameter updates in real time. s you may e/pect, you cannot edit it#s value$ it is calculated automatically from the current area of the room. !o ahead and move

s we said at the beginning of the article, Revit Rooms are three dimensional volumes. they appear in 3ectionsG..

nd as such

Cote2 "n order to get the rooms volumes to show up blue in the above image, " had to turn on )"nterior 8ill* in the Aisibility 3ettings panel, for this particular view.

" also manually tagged the rooms in the view, using the Tag tool. %hilst we are talking about volumes, it#s also worth noting that &by default( Revit uses a constant value for the height of each room$ regardless of the actual height of the room in the model &ie the height of your ceiling or first floor slab, etc(. +ou can change this so that Revit calculates the )actual* volume of the space within the model, but this does make an impact on the software#s performance$ depending on the hardware you are using and the comple/ity of the model you have produced.

nd finallyGG.

.et#s do something useful with the data. .et#s produce a simple Room 3chedule. 3imply go to the )Aiew* menu, select )3chedules*G..

and select )Rooms* as the type of 3chedule you want to produceG.

Cote2 "f you are using 4hases in your pro1ect, be sure to set the correct phase in the drop$down bo/ &see bottom right in the image above(. Rooms are 4hase$independent. That means that for each 4hase, you have a distinct set of Rooms$ DADC if the actual spaces themselves don#t change in your model. 3o if you are refurbishing an e/isting building &ie you have an ),ld* and )Cew* phase(, you have a set of Room elements for each phase$ so you can easily change the use of a space, in the proposed scheme. %e#ll cover this concept in detail in a separate article.

nyway, back to our Room 3chedule. +ou will see in the image below that "#ve picked some basic parameters to appear in my Room 3chedule2 Came, Cumber, rea and 4erimeterG..

+ou can of course format this schedule, reorder the parameters, calculate totals, etc, etc. 7ere is the finished 3chedule....

" hope this article has conveyed the basics of Rooms, within Revit rchitecture; ,nce you have used for them for a short while, you#ll not be without them. "n other articles we will look at how you can really start pushing the usefulness of Rooms, by adding your own custom parameters to them.

Roo#s: Roo# %eparation Lines

"n this article we will use Room %eparation &ines to sub$divide a Room into two separate areas. +ou may want to read this 0uick overview of the Room 3eparation tool before continuing with this tutorial.

s with all our tutorials at Revit Ione, we#re going to start with a blank 4ro1ect 8ile and build up our simple e/ample from scratch.

8irst of all we are going to create our simple room. "n order to do this we will draw O walls$ their type and e/act dimensions are notcritical.

%e could not get more basic than that if we triedL 6ut that#s ,>, we are 1ust trying to look at the concept of Room 3eparation, not win an architectural awardL Cow you may think we now have a room &albeit a very simple oneL(, but we have not told Revit that this is a Room. To do so, we switch to the Room and rea Design 6arG.

nd use the Room function to define a Room within the four walls we have drawn. 3o first of all we select RoomG.

nd click within our four walls to add a )Room*G

Cow let#s say that this room is a classroom. nd in the classroom we wish to define one third of the floor area as a )%et rea*. Cow we could 1ust use model M drafting lines to draw a line to represent the change of floor finish. 6-T2 .et#s also say that we want to define it as a )Room* so that it appears in a Room 3chedule$ thus allowing us to ascertain it#s area.

8irst of all we select the Room 3eparation functionG.

nd now all we need to do is draw the separationL

Cow what we have actually done at this point is reduce the area of the single Room that we previously defined. The Room is bounded by a wall on three sides and the Room 3eparation line on the fourth.

C,T"CD that our previously$defined Room has not been split into two each side of the 3eparation line. "t has 1ust been constrained in siJe. %hat we now need to do is to use the Room function to add a second Room to the right hand side of the 3eparation line.

.ike most other Revit elements, Room 3eparation lines have 4hase attributes. This is useful when you wish to add M remove room sub$divisions at various phases of a pro1ect. That concludes this short tutorial on the use of the Room 3eparation function.

Roo#s: "he Roo# &ounding Para#eter

The ability to dictate whether Revit %all elements form the boundary of a &Revit( Room is a useful and powerful feature.

Take this simple plan for e/ampleG..

"f " choose )Room* &from the )Room and rea* Design 6ar( and hover the left hand space, " see the e/tents of the Room that Revit is about to createG..

"n order for Revit to actually determine the boundary of the Room, it looks at the )Room 6ounding* parameter for each individual wall element. "f the parameter is True &ie set for Room 6ounding(, that specific section of wall forms part of the room perimeter. "f the parameter is set to 8alse &ie C,T to be Room 6ounding(, Revit ignores that specific section of wall for the purposes of defining the Room boundary.

3o let#s go ahead and turn off Room 6ounding for the section of wall in the middle of the plan. 8irst of all " select the wallGG

then " select it#s Dlement 4roperties &using the icon on the left hand side of the ,ptions 6ar(. nd here is the Dlement 4roperties for this section of wallG.

Towards the bottom of the panel you will see the )Room 6ounding* instance parameter. "t is set to True &ie checked( by default. .et#s go ahead and uncheck itG.

Cow when we try to place a Room in the same position as beforeG.

+ou will not be surprised to see that Revit is ignoring this wall as it tries to determine the boundary for the Room. 3o why wouldn#t you want Revit to use a wall to bound a Room; %ell, take a public toilet facility M Rest Room. "f you create the individual cubicles from Revit %alls, you &probablyL( will not want Revit to treat each cubicle as a separate Room. "n this case you would turn off )Room 6ounding* for all cubicle walls. This would then force Revit to treat the whole room &in which the cubicles are located( as one Room.

%heet %ets
%elcome to this Revit Ione article on %heet %ets. "n this short article we will show you how to create 3heet 3ets. lthough a relatively simple concept in the conte/t of Revit:s power and comple/ity, 3heet 3ets are a really useful productivity tool that will speed up your output with regards printed material of 4D8:s.

4lease note that the concept of 3heet 3ets is universal in the world of Revit$ ie it is applicable to Revit rchitecture,Revit BD4 and Revit 3tructure.

3o what are 3heet 3ets. 6asically they are named collections of 3heets. 3o why would you want to do this. %ell, over the course of a typical pro1ect you are most likely going to generate many, many sheets. nd periodically, you will need to print out &either physically or via 4D8( some of these 3heets. +ou will do this for different purposes$ ie presentation drawings for the Client, 3ervices drawings for a Design Team Beeting, etc. +es, you can select each sheet in turn by placing a tick in the check bo/ when you come to print. 6ut much more efficient is the creation of any number of "3heet 3ets"$ which you can then 1ust output by choosing the 3heet 3et name at the time of printing.

3o let:s show you how to do this by e/ample. "n the following image you will see the various 3heets, listed in the 4ro1ect 6rowser......

.et:s say &for the sake of e/ample( that " need to regularly print 3heet numbers 2<< to 2<@ inclusive. This scenario os an ideal candidate for the use of 3heet 3ets. 3o let:s go ahead and create a named set. 8irst of all select "4rint" from the pplication Benu....

Then from the 4rint dialogue bo/, select "3elected viewsMsheets" from the "4rint Range" choices......

Cow this is more like it. %e are now in the correct dialogue bo/ to actually create, use and delete our 3heet 3ets......

t this point it is worth saying a little about 3heets CD Aiews. s you probably know by now, Revit works with Aiews which are T7DC placed onto 3heets. There is nothing at all stopping you from

printing out individual Aiews $ and there will be many times when this is all you need. 3o everything we are saying about "3heet 3ets" is applicable to Aiews$ and these would &as you may assume( be called "Aiew 3ets" 6ut to avoid any possible confusion, let:s stick with 3heets for the purpose of this article.

3o back to our e/ample. .et:s filter out the pro1ect Aiews so that we can clearly see 1ust the 3heets in the pro1ect. Eust uncheck the "Aiews" option in the "3how" panel at the base of the dialogue bo/. %e are now 1ust left with a list of all the 3heets in our pro1ect....

+ou amy notice that some of the sheets already have a check ne/t to them. 7it the "Check Cone" button to deselect .. 3heets. Cow we need to select the sheets we wish to include in our 3heet 3et. ":ll go ahead and check 3heets 2<< to 2<@ inclusive....

Cow all " need to do to create my new 3heet 3et is select "3ave s" and choose a name for my new 3heet 3et. 8or the purposes of this e/ercise " will leave the name set as "3et @".....

nd that:s it folksL Dvery time you want to print this particular set of 3heets out you 1ust need to navigate your way to the "4rint" dialogue and then to "3elected AiewsM3heets" and pick your 3heet 3et from the list in the drop$down panel......

%e have used a very simple scenario for the purposes of the tutorial. 6ut you can appreciate that on a large pro1ect, the use of 3heet 3ets &and possibly "Aiew 3ets"( is a very useful method of organising your work for printing.

View Range explained

View Range is a concept that you will get your head around &hopefullyL( sooner or later. 3o why don#t we make it )3ooner*; ,nce you are comfortable in controlling the various parameters contained within the View Range control panel, you#ll be able to easily manipulate e/actly what is displayed in your 4lan Q Reflected Ceiling Aiews.

"n the usual )Revit Ione style*, we#ll deal with the concept by means of a worked e/ample. 3o what "#m going to do first is set up a very simple building with some key levels in it. %e will then talk about the View Range control panel and what each of the parameters does. nd finally, we#ll change the values of these parameters to demonstrate the effect they have on the 4lan Aiew.

3o here goes. 7ere is my simple buildingG..

nd here are the .evels that are in this 4ro1ectG.

nd if we take a look at a 4lan Aiew, we can see that we have placed a simple desk and O chairs on the ground floor. This simple model &with it#s ' .evels( is all we need to e/plain the concept of Aiew Range within Revit.

3o let#s put the model aside for a moment and cover a bit of the theory. Aiew Range is a group of parameters that control e/actly what you see in any particular 4lan Aiew. These are )"nstance* parameters, which means that the values they store can be different for each 4lan Aiew in your pro1ect.

%e find the Aiew Range control panel by looking in the Aiew 4roperties panel for a plan view. 3o make sure you have a 4lan Aiew selected, look over to the 4roperties 4anel for this view and near the bottom you will see a button allowing you to edit the Aiew Range settingsGGG

"f we go ahead and click on )Ddit* we get to see the Aiew Range 4anel itselfG

The panel itself is fairly simple. There are O main settings that you can change$ and each one of these has an associated ),ffset* parameter$ making a total of = variables.

,>, enough theory, let#s 1ust dive in and see what each of these settings does. .et#s start at the top of the panel and work our way downG.

$rimary Range01 2op

This parameter set the top of the primary range. ny ob1ect that is below this will be drawn according to it#s ),b1ect 3tyle*. ny elements above this height will not be displayed.

Cut $lane
s you may e/pect, this is the height that Revit will cut through elements$ ie windows, doors, etc.

3ottom
This is the absolute base of the primary view range. nd element that is on or above this height will be drawn according to it ),b1ect 3tyle*.

The parameters above &Top, Cut 4lane and 6ottom( make up the )4rimary Range*. "n addition to this there is another parameter &and associated ,ffset( called )Aiew Depth*. This B-3T be set to a height .,%DR than the )6ottom* height. ny ob1ect that fall within this range &ie between the )Aiew Depth* and the )6ottom* will be drawn in the )6eyond* line style.

Right, let#s look at this in practice. "#ll switch to my )%all 4late* plan viewG..

The Aiew Range settings for this view are as followsG..

3o, the black rectangle in the centre is where the roof is being cut through$ this is because the Cut 4lane is set to 92<<mm above the )%all 4late* level. ll farily straightforward.

Cow let#s switch to our )8inished 8loor .evel* plan viewG

nd it#s associated Aiew Range 3ettingsG.

%e are seeing the windows cut through because the Cut 4lane is set to 92<<mm above the 8inished 8loor .evel. "f we change the ,ffset to 22<<mm, the doors find themselves below this height and are C,T shown cutG.

Cow let#s take a look at the )6ottom* and )Aiew Depth* parameters. "f we change both the )6ottom* and )Aiew Depth* heights to 9@<<mm above the )8inished 8loor .evel*GG

,ur furniture is now removed from the AiewG.

ll as you may e/pect. Cow by this point you may be asking yourself a burning 0uestionG. "%hat use is the )Top* parameter;" .ogic dictates that when we look down at a 4lan Aiew, the )thing* closest to us is going to be the Cut 4lane$ so what is the point of setting a range above this; 3urely nothing is

ever displayed )above* the cut plane. WRO# L Certain ob1ects C C display )above* the Cut 4lane. .et#s now add a rooflight to our roofG..

"f we now switch back to our )8inished 8loor .evel* plan viewG.

nd now we see the rooflight, even though it is physically )above* the height we are cutting through. "f you did C,T wish to see the rooflight, you 1ust need to lower the )Top* of the 4rimary Range.

nd before we finish, a few more things to leave you withG Aiew Range settings apply to 4lan Aiews CD Reflected Ceiling 4lans Bodel elements outside are the Aiew Range are not normally shown. 7owever, e/ceptions to this are floors, ramps, stairs and any component that is hosted by a floor. These items shown, even if they are slightly outside of the Aiew Range boundaries. %alls shorter than 9='<mm are not shown cut DADC if they actually intersect the Cut 4lane. RD

Views: Duplicating Views

In this article we are going to take a look at the Duplicate View tool, within Revit Architecture. Please note that this tool is also found in all other flavours of Revit (ie Revit Structure and Revit MEP) and works in exactl the sa!e !anner.

"he #$u%licate &iew' tool can (e found on the #&iew' !enu, in the #)reate' ta(. "he interesting thing a(out the tool is that it contains three different o%tions. "hese are*+ a) Duplicate View () Duplicate with Detailing c) Duplicate as Dependent ,e are going to take a look at each of these in turn and see how the funda!entall differ fro! each other. ,e will use si!%le gra%hic exa!%les to ex%lain how each one works. So let-s get started..

Duplicate View
"he first o%tion #$u%licate &iew' creates a si!%le du%licate of the selected view, (ut /012 includes the M/$E1 ele!ents within the view. So here-s a real world exa!%le to show ou what I !ean. 3ere is ! #1evel 4' view..

2ou can see that the view contains (oth !odel ele!ents (walls, doors, windows and roo!s) and a variet of detail 5 annotation ele!ents (Roo! tags, door tags, text ele!ent and di!ensions) If we use the #$u%licate &iew' o%tion on this view, the result is..

/nl

the !odel ele!ents are shown in our new view. Please re!e!(er* $etail and

annotation ele!ents are &IE, SPE)I6I). It is onl !odel ele!ents that are #universal' across all !odel views. /f course, when we du%licate a view+ a new view na!e a%%ears in the Pro7ect 8rowser. It is alwa s %re+fixed (e default with #)o% of.' and then the original na!e of the view that was du%licated. So in our case...

Duplicate with Detailing

As ou !a ex%ect, this o%tion co%ies the original view+ co!%lete with all detail and annotation ele!ents. So if ou start with

And #$u%licate with $etailing', ou will end u% with..

Duplicate as Dependent
"his is %ro(a(l the least used of the #$u%licate &iew' o%tions, (ut has a %lace nonetheless. ,hen we #$u%licate as $e%endent' Revit creates a view that is de%endent on the #Pri!ar ' view on which is it (ased. "his is funda!entall different to the first two o%tions we looked at. It is different (ecause A02 changes !ade to #either' the Pri!ar &iew /R the $e%endent &iew, results in the sa!e changes (eing carried over to its- counter%art view. 1et-s look at this in %ractice and then discuss when ou would use this feature. So once again here is our starting view..

1et-s now #$u%licate as $e%endent'. 0otice how the du%licated view is #nested' under the original (or #Pri!ar ') view..

Also notice how Revit na!es this view* It tells us that this new view is #$e%endent on.'. 0ow, if we go and change an of the %ro%erties of the %ri!ar view, ie.. -View scale -Detail level -Visibility / Graphic Overrides -etc, etc .the $e%endent &iew will change to !atch. Ie Revit kee%s the two views full s nchronised. And this works 8/"3 wa s. So changing a %ro%ert of the $e%endent view results in the Pri!ar &iew ado%ting the sa!e %ro%ert change. /9. So that-s #how' $e%endent &iews are created and function+ (ut wh would ou want to do this. "he !ost o(vious reason is when ou want E:A)"12 the sa!e view to a%%ear on !ulti%le sheets. As ou %ro(a(l know ( now, ou can onl %lace a view on one sheet (1egend &iews exce%ted). 8ut there ,I11 (e ti!es when ou need the sa!e view on !ulti%le sheets+ for exa!%le* 2ou need a s!all scale ;ke - %lan to (e on the corner of each sheet. "his %lan needs to (e identical on ever sheet. <sing $e%endent &iews, ou would 7ust create a de%endent for each instance of the ;ke - %lan that ou re=uire. 2ou could of course 7ust create straight forward du%licates using #$u%licate with $etailing'. 3owever* An changes to the detail 5 annotation ele!ents would need to (e !anuall co%ied (etween all instances. And as ou know, with 8IM we are des%eratel tr ing to reduce the need to !anuall cross+reference and s nchronise infor!ation+ (ecause that-s where ti!e is s%ent and !istakes are !ade. 2ou can also $e%endent &iew where ou need to (reak a large floor %lan u% into different seg!ents or >ones. 2ou would define the (oundar (etween >ones using the #Matchline' tool+ which we will look at in a se%arate article.

'ou do the #odelling: Let Revit do the drawing(

s we discussed in the article ) Coordinated pproach*, when we use Revit we are predominantly concerned with modeling our building$ and letting Revit itself generate the various Aiews we need from the model.

.et#s demonstrate this through a very simple e/ample. " am going to )draw* four straight walls in 4lan Aiew to produce a simple rectangular buildingG..

8or now, do not worry about how " produced these walls, what tools " used, the height of the walls, their material, etc, etc. .et#s 1ust stick with the premise that " have defined in plan, four walls.

3o now " have a representation of the plan of the building that " could print if " so desired. 6ut what if " now need an elevation for each of the four faces of my building; %ell within utoC D &and similar dumb drafting systems(, " would manually draft out each elevation. " appreciate that " could use certain tools such as )Copy* to help speed up the process$ but fundamentally )"* am producing a new, separate drawing for each of the four elevations.

Cow compare this to Revit. The Dlevations are already thereL " do not need to draw them$ " have already modeled the four walls, so " 1ust ask Revit to show me what the model looks like from four different directions. " simply click on each Dlevation name in turnG.

nd when " click on an Dlevation name &let#s try )Corth*(, the screen changes to show meG..

Don#t worry about what the various symbols mean. The important lesson here is that these Aiews are generated automatically&and instantly( from the model, by Revit. nd they will .% +3 be a true representation of the 'D model$ so any changes &ie doors or windows added for e/ample( will be displayed.

Cow let#s move onto 3ections. Drawing 3ections in utoC D is a real chore$ " used to )pro1ect up* from a plan view with guide lines, etc. 3o basically " was 1ust using the computer as an electronic drawing board$ literally doing the same tracing and pro1ecting that " would have done with pen and ink.

Cow let#s move into the 29st Century. "f " want a section through my simple building, all " need to do is define a 3ection .ine in a 4lan AiewG..

6ecause " have defined a 3ection .ine, Revit automatically adds a )3ection Aiew* category to the list of available Aiews in the 4ro1ect 6rowser.

"f " double click on the Aiew name &)3ection 9*(, " am immediately presented with a 3ection view through the building$ at e/actly the point that " drew the 3ection .ine.

Cow let#s go back to our 4lan Aiew and add a doorGG

6ut if we now switch back to out 3ection Aiew &)3ection 9*( we can see that the door appears e/actly where we would e/pect it toG..

Cow at this point you#re probably thinking )"f that#s the e/tent of what this system can do, then forget itL*. Do not worryL Revit can handle designs of almost any comple/ity. ,ver the course of this series &and through the many other articles and tutorials here at Revit Ione( we will learn how to develop a complete 6uilding "nformation Bodel &6"B(.

7ere is an image of a relatively simple building model that can be built in a few hours$ including materials, lighting, etc....

%ith Revit, you are only limited by your imagination.