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Plumbing Design With RME
Plumbing Design With RME
ME114-1 This session will explore in-depth the ins and outs of designing plumbing systems with
Revit MEP. We’ll start by reviewing the Revit interface and describing the recent
improvements that have been made to aid plumbing engineers with layout and analysis.
You’ll see first-hand how to place plumbing fixtures and layout systems, and how to use
the new Pipe Slope tool. In addition, you’ll discover just how easy it is to use the built-in
calculation and sizing tools to refine your design
Topics Covered
• Quick Tour of the Interface
o User Interface, and Layout
o Mechanical Settings
o Navigating the Revit Model
• Getting Started
o Starting your Project
o Working with the Architects model
Worksharing/Worksets
Linking and Copy/Monitor
o Creating Plumbing views
• Creating the Plumbing Design
o Placing Plumbing Fixtures
o Drawing the Sanitary Systems
o Drawing the Hot Water System
o Modifying Slope, and Adjusting Size
1 Menu Bar – The Menu Bar provides access to ALL functions of Revit MEP.
2 Toolbars – Many frequently used commands can be found in the toolbar section.
To Show/Hide toolbars you can Right-click over any of the icons in the toolbar
area
3 Type Selector – The Type Selector is used to specify the type of component that
you are adding. You can use the Type Selector to change components that you
have previously placed.
4 Options Bar – The content of the Options Bar will change depending on the
current command or selected element. It allows you to modify the settings for the
component you have selected.
5 Design Bar – The Design Bar contains tabs that allow you to quickly access
Revit MEP commands. Click a tab in the Design Bar to expand the tab and show
its commands. To Hide/Show tabs you can click the Window menu and choose
Design Bars, or you can right-click anywhere on the Design Bar to access the
shortcut.
7 Project Browser – The Project Browser shows a logical hierarchy for all views,
Legends, schedules, sheets, families, groups, and linked Revit models in the
current project. You will use the Project Browser to navigate throughout your
project.
8 View Control Bar – The View Control Bar provides quick access to functions
that affect the current View(drawing area). Scale, Detail Level, Model Graphics
Style, and Hide/Isolate are a few examples of settings that can be modified in the
View Control Bar.
Mechanical Settings
SETTINGS>>MECHANICAL SETTINGS
You can access the Mechanical settings dialog from the Settings pulldown. Use the
Mechanical Settings to control the behavior and appearance of your Mechanical Systems.
When the Pipe Settings are expanded you will see 2 areas Conversion and Rise Drop. You
will be able to change the settings for each of the piping systems by using the System Type
drop down list.
Conversion - When Conversion is selected you can specify the elbow angle increment. If
Conversion is expanded you will be able to select the default settings for your plumbing Main
and Branches. Under the Conversion section you will be able to set the pipe types, and
Offset(Height) for each of your plumbing systems. You will be able to set your defaults for the
Main, and Branches separately.
Rise Drop – Under the Rise Drop section you can set the plotted size of your Rise/Drop
Symbology and select the graphics you would like to use. When Rise Drop is selected you can
specify the size for the Pipe Rise/Drop Annotations. If Rise Drop is expanded you can select the
symbology to be used for both single, and two line displays.
Mechanical settings can be modified and saved as a part of your Template so you can start
new projects with the settings you typically use.
A Project Template provides the initial conditions for the project. Any new project based on
the template inherits all of the families, settings (units, fill patterns, line weights etc.) and
geometry from the template. Revit MEP comes with several templates that you can use to start
projects. The Mechanical – Default.rte file will include content for plumbing and is a good
starting point for creating your companies template. In addition to things like fill patterns, and
line weights you will want to consider modifying Filters, Phases, and creating View Templates all
of which can be modified from the Settings pulldown menu, and printing settings which can be
found in the file pulldown (FILE>>PRINT SETUP).
Phases – Revit MEP tracks the phase in which views and components are created in and lets
you apply phase-specific filters to views to control what is displayed and how it looks.
For instance if you are working on a remodel project you may want to show existing
piping shaded grey so it prints lighter than new piping you are adding. As you draw
items in the model you can assign them to a phase, by selecting the object and
picking Element Properties from the right-click menu.
Filters – Filters are a method of grouping like components together so you can apply Visibility
and Graphic settings to all of them. As an example you could create a Filter for
Domestic Hot Water so that you could apply a color and linetype to your hot water
piping to graphically separate it from different types of pipe.
View Templates – View templates are a way of saving all of the settings for a view that you can
then apply to a new view that you create. You can apply a view template to any view
by selecting the view in the Project Browser and using the Apply View Template
command from the right-click menu.
Print Settings – You can save print settings in a project, so that they are available for reuse.
The settings that you will be able to control are things like Paper Size, Orientation,
etc. After specifying the desired settings you can use the Save As Command within
the dialog to give the settings names that will be easy for the users to recognize
such as “half size”, “full size”…
After making all of the required changes to all of the settings in your file you can use the Save
As command and save the file as a new template by setting the Save as type: to Template
Files (*.rte) in addition to using a template to start a new file you can also use the Transfer
Project Standards command (FILE>>Transfer Project Standards) to move any of your
custom settings into an existing project. We will look at Transfer Project Standards in more
detail later in this handout.
Worksets – A workset is a classification (a “box” if you will) created to hold the components
of a project. When worksharing is enabled Revit will define 2 worksets as a default.
1 to house the levels and grids within the project and the 2nd will contain all other
objects in the model. The default name of this 2nd workset is Workset1, however
you can name it whatever you would like. Typical use for worksets would be
disciplines. So if your company is responsible for the Mechanical, and Plumbing
you may create one workset for the mechanical equipment, and a second of the
plumbing.
Central File – When saving a file after worksharing has been enabled the file will become the
central file. To allow multiple people to access the information in a project all at the
same time each individual who will be doing work on the project will save a copy of
the central file. (Typically on their hard drive) When using a Central File it is a good
idea to NOT open the central file directly, but rather all work should be done in the
local copy
Save to Central - When working with a project that is using worksharing you will use the
Save to Central command to “upload” your changes, and “download” all others
changes. You can access the Save to Central command by picking on the icon
or from the FILE pulldown. If you choose the pulldown method you can be selective
about what elements you would like to relinquish. When using the icon to save the
file it will automatically relinquish all elements.
Relinquish All Mine – When working in a workshared project you take “ownership” of every
object that you modify or add to the model. You can use the Relinquish command
to give up ownership of the objects so others can use them. If you do NOT
relinquish items when you perform a save to central no one will be able to modify
the objects that you own.
File Linking – Linking files in Revit is similar to xrefs in AutoCAD. You are able to link Revit files
into your project for use as a background. You can also link in CAD drawings or
Images for use in your Revit project. The Manage Links(FILE>>Manage Links)
Dialog will allow you to unload/reload and remove links from your model.
NOTE: In order for Copy/Monitor to work the Architect must move the original wall, if it is erased
and a new wall is drawn in its place the Monitor will see the wall as having been
deleted. And delete all of your hosted elements (UMMM NO GOOD!) So use it
sparingly, and only with an Architect that understands the workflow.
Hosted Components – Any object that needs to be “anchored to” or live on another object is
referred to as hosted. Revit MEP uses several Hosted objects. Examples would be
things like wall mounted toilets, and urinals, drinking fountains etc. If a component
is defined as hosted it MUST be inserted onto a host element.
Visibility Graphics (VG) – the Visibility Graphics dialog will allow you to control the visibility of
the elements within your project. VG could be described as the Layer Manager in
AutoCAD terms when one main difference in the Revit environment you control
objects themselves not the layers that someone happened to put them on. The VG
dialog is broken up into 4 tabs and possibly a 5th if you have a linked Revit model
Model Categories holds the physical parts and pieces(pipes, plumbing fixtures etc)
Annotation Categories hold items such as tags, text, titles, and dimensions
Imported Categories will allow you to control the visibility of imported elements
such as layers in a linked in an AutoCAD Drawing.
Filters can be created to group like elements together so you can override the
graphic display and control visibility.
Revit Links as a default elements within a linked file will be controlled by the “host
view” however you can make changes to the linked elements by assigning custom
settings in the Revit links tab. We will be discussing the process in more detail later
in this session.
View Range – The view range is a set of horizontal planes that control the “visible range” of a
given view. Model elements located outside this range are not shown in the view.
There are 4 planes used when controlling View range they are Top, and Bottom
Clip planes, Cut Plane, and View Depth. As the names imply, top and bottom clip
planes represent the upper and lower limit of the view range. The cut plane
determines at what height you are cutting through the model. Elements that
intersect the cut plane will be displayed as cut.(thickened) View Depth is an
additional plane outside the primary range that you can set to show elements that
are below the Bottom Clip Plane with the Beyond line style.
1. A & E are under one roof – If your company is a multi-discipline firm and is responsible for
the Architecture as well as the Engineering for a given project you can use a single
model. Of course there are file size considerations, but if you can pull it off a single
file with worksets for each discipline it is the most effective environment.
WORKFLOW-
1. Create a common Template for starting projects.
2. Have a single Library for all components so when an Architect places a
plumbing fixture it can be used by the Plumbing Designer.
3. Start the project and enable worksharing, and worksets for the 4 main
disciplines Architecture, Electrical, Mechanical, and Plumbing
4. Make local copies for everyone that will be working on the project.
5. As additional disciplines come on board create worksets for their objects, and
distribute local copies.
2. All Engineering done here – If your firm is the consulting engineer responsible for Electrical,
and all the Mechanical, but the Architecture is being done elsewhere it will be
nearly impossible to have a single file, so you will need to Link in the architects
model, and can use worksets for the Engineering.
WORKFLOW-
1. Create a common Template for starting projects.
2. Have a single Library for all components so that the Electrical designer can
add electrical info to the mechanical equipment, and vise visa.
3. Start the Project and Link in the Architects Revit model.
4. Copy/Monitor the Levels from the Architects model
5. Create views based on the new levels.
6. Enable worksharing, and worksets for the engineering disciplines Mechanical,
Electrical, Plumbing.
7. Make local copies for everyone that will be working on the project.
8. As additional disciplines come on board create worksets for their objects.
STEPS
1. Start a new project based on the Mechanical-default.rte and change all of the needed
settings. As an example we will make 2 Filters for Domestic Water.
2. Open the Visibility/Graphics dialog by typing VG and switch to the Filters tab.
3. Select the add button to add Domestic Hot Water, pick the Override and change the color to
Red
NOTE: If you would like to control the elements in the Architects Model separately from the
elements in your model you can switch to the Revit Links tab. Turning off the Architects
plumbing fixtures after placing the Revit MEP fixtures would be one example of why you may
want to do this.
Working with the Architects Model – Preparing to start the plumbing design
Now that we have our model started and a few views created we can look at the real reason you
are all here. If you are sharing a single model with the architect you can select the plumbing
fixtures that they have placed and set your fixture units, and start creating your systems. If you
have linked in the Architects model our next step will be to Copy/Monitor the plumbing walls,
and then we can place our plumbing fixtures.
NOTE: By using the Copy/Monitor method we are able to use the default library of parts that
comes with Revit MEP. As an alternative you can choose to redefine the part families so they
are un-hosted elements. Then you would NOT need to Copy/Monitor the plumbing walls.
However you will not receive notification if the walls move.
OK the model has been prepared and we have some walls that
we will be able to host elements on. We are now ready to start
our design.
1. From the Plumbing design bar tab select pick the Load button to load
the needed families into your project.
2. If you need to modify the fixture units select the fixture that you would like to change Right-
Click and select Element properties.
3. Once in the Element properties you can change the fixture units of a given Type, by
selecting the Edit/New button. Because the Fixture Units are a Type parameter, changing
the value will effect all instances of that Type of fixture in the model
4. Repeat the add Plumbing Fixture command until all the needed fixtures have been placed.
1. To create a sanitary system you can select all of the elements that you would like be in the
system and select the Create Sanitary System icon after you have created the
system Revit will suggest routing solutions. In this example I will run the sanitary line
manually
2. After creating the system we need to make sure that we will be able to see the Sanitary pipe
that we draw. Type VG switch to the Filters tab, and confirm that Sanitary is checked on
3. Select the 1st Fixture that you want to draw pipe to. You
will notice connection markers at each of the
connection points on the fixture.
8. Once the Bend has been replaced with a Tee you can draw pipe off the open side by
selecting the Tee. Then selecting the Draw Pipe command from the right-click menu.
NOTE: Don’t forget to change your Layout options if you are drawing pipe at a slope.
9. To change size of existing pipe you can simply select the pipe and change the diameter
value
1. Start by creating a system for hot water. Select the Fixtures to be added to the system, and
then pick the Create Domestic Hot Water System command (the red icon) again
Revit will suggest routing solutions but I will draw my own pipe to start with.
6. Right-click over the View a second time, and pick Apply View Template and select the
Plumbing View Template we created earlier. This will allow the pipes to be displayed with
the color that we used when defining Filters in the Visibility Graphics.
7. Select the section box and adjust the grips to set the view to the area around the restrooms
8. Use the Filters tab of the Visibility Graphics dialog to turn off the Sanitary system.
In addition to the Model view you may also find it useful to use section views as design tools.
These views may never show up on a sheet but will pay dividends when re-routing existing pipe
runs. Unfortunately we can not add pipe while in a section view, but we can modify elevation or
slope. So let’s take a look at how to create a section view.
As a default the depth of the section will be equal to the width of the section line that you draw.
You can use the drag grips to adjust the depth. In addition you can modify the Far Clip
Offset or turn of the clipping entirely in the Extents area within the view properties dialog. You
can access the View Properties by Right-clicking in the drawing area of the section view and
Options bar
Element Icon
options bar
Thank You!
And Congratulations!
You are well on your way to designing plumbing systems with Revit MEP. I trust you
are walking away from this session excited about this technology, and with the
understanding that this isn’t AutoCAD…and I for one think that’s a GOOD THING!
A PARTING THOUGHT
Obviously we haven’t been able to cover EVERYTHING you may need to know in 90
minutes, and that’s why partnering with your local reseller, or Autodesk Professional
Services is so important to the success of Revit MEP in your firm.
Paul Beseman
AEC Product Implementation Engineer
Alignex, Inc.
7200 Metro Blvd.
Edina, MN 55439
Direct Dial (952)224-5336
Toll Free 1-866-378-6829 ext 6
"Experts in Aligning Technology"