Pre 2011 Link Draw Order Workaround

Issue:
You are working in Revit MEP 2010 or lower.
You link in an architectural background Revit link.
When you look at the view on the screen, your lights are on top of the greyed out architectural t-bar ceiling.
When you print, the grey ceiling lines are on top of your lights (black lines).
There is no draw order control for linked Revit files.

Workaround:
Try changing your printing setting to Raster. Print-Setup Button-Hidden Line Views-Raster Processing.

Note: Looks like this has been fixed in 2011.

AEC Edge - Latest Issue

Steve Stafford and Co. at AUGI worked hard to get this issue out. I was happy to be able to contribute an article. It's on p.8 called "Design Your Own Sustainable Adventure: Combining Energy and Cost Analysis with Revit". Please let me know thoughts.

Revit Annotations- Video Explanations

Annotations work great in Revit but are a little confusing to set up. I would love to see Autodesk simplify the making and editing of annotations, maybe with some kind of consolidated interface.


Text Style: Controlled in the PROJECT FILE.
This is only for the notes and titles. You do this by editing an existing instance into your new style.

Dimension Style: Controlled in the PROJECT FILE.
These are made from the Settings-Annotation drop down menu. You can also duplicate and edit an existing dimension. The text style for the dimensions is controlled from the dimension style editor.

Text and Dimension Video

Level Head: Controlled in a FAMILY FILE and the PROJECT FILE.
This is an Annotation Family. You have to open it and edit the text inside the family. To find the file name of the family you want to edit; click on a level-properties-Edit/New-Other-Level Head (you just have to write it down or memorize it). The level linetype is controlled in the PROJECT FILE by clicking Properties-Edit/New-Line Pattern.

Grid Head: Controlled in a FAMILY FILE and the PROJECT FILE.
The same as Level Head. The grid linetype is controlled in the PROJECT FILE by clicking Properties-Edit/New-Line Pattern.

Levels and Grids Video

Section Bubble: Controlled in a FAMILY FILE and the PROJECT FILE.
Again, these are an Annotation Family. They consist of two families which have to be edited separately. One would be the bubble and one would be the tick mark at the other end. The section linetype is controlled in the PROJECT FILE through Object Styles-Annotation-Section Line.

Callout Bubble: Controlled in a FAMILY FILE and the PROJECT FILE.
These are similar to Section tags but only have one family. The callout boundary line is controlled in the PROJECT FILE through Object Styles-Annotation-Callout Boundary.

Elevation Bubble: Controlled in the PROJECT FILE.
The Settings dropdown menu-Elevation Tags and edit away.

Section, Elevation and Callout Video

Schedule Text
How could I forget? The schedule text style is controlled in the PROJECT (.rvt) and more specifically in the view properties of the individual schedule. Right click in the schedule view and choose ‘view properties’ then ‘appearance’. You can select the fonts, sizes etc. You’ll see the changes only when the schedule is dropped onto a sheet. (The font’s etc will not show in the schedule view only on a sheet.)

Titleblock Text
Titleblocks are a FAMILY. The text inside of a family is controlled within that family. Its styles do not automatically get imported into the project.

Tags

Tags are a Family. These are made externally of the project file and loaded in. You can click directly on them and choose to 'Edit Family' and load them right back in. Don't forget to

Text In Annotation Families
Text in Annotation Families are only editable in the individual family. As an example, if you were to decide to change all your text from Arial to RomanS you would have to go into each Annotation Family, including Titleblocks, and change the Text in those.

Schedule, Titleblock and Tag Video

Better Way of Importing CAD into Revit-Continued

Here's a valued opinion to my previous post.

Andre from BIMSolutions....

Yes, this is the best approach so far. The reason I have been using this method initially was not even related to speed but to end with a problem that I faced back in 2007. At that time I had a team using Revit and another using CAD in a sort of hybrid project. I had CAD files linked directly into the Revit central file. As the CAD users kept updating their CAD files, the central file would see the changes exactly as if someone was working directly in the central file. When a local file tried to save to central, a warning would pop up saying that the central file had changes in more than shared coordinates and could invalidate the local file... To solve that, I first use this method: Xref the CAD files into a blank CAD file which was then linked into the central file. This worked well because the changes were now being done in the CAD file A which was Xref'd into CAD file B. Because no one opened or saved CAD file B, the central file wouldn't be affected and still show the changes.

Then later, with improvements on how to manage Revit linked files, I started to use this option you are suggesting and I'm happy with it so far. Just more management since before I could control layers of the CAD files directly in the main model and now I have to unload the linked file, open it to do the changes and then load it back... Also, letting the team know that trying to delete one line of the CAD files will delete all CAD files, since it is all one link... (Another tip is to create a design option and put your Revit link there. People won't even be able to select it and accidentally move or delete it, unless they know how to edit design options or realize they have to uncheck that option "Exclude Options" at the bottom of the screen...)

Anyway, the same approach can be used with elements like furniture: link your main Revit file into a blank file and add the furniture there. Then link the furniture file back into your main model. No need to carry furniture in your main model...

By the way, for the linked CAD files, the only way to make this work is to show the link by linked view. Also, all this works with 2D CAD files. I tried once with a 3D CAD file and wasn't successful making it to work.

Andre Carvalho

Vice President - Implementation Strategies

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b i m s o l u t i o n s inc.
Building Information Modeling · Integrated Project Delivery

15 Polson Street · Toronto, ON · M5A 1A4
Phone: 1 (800) 413.7992 · Cell: 1 (647) 378.2728

E-mail: acarvalho@bimsolutions.ca

Better Way of Importing CAD into Revit

As most experienced Revit users know, importing CAD files into Revit can sometimes cause problems. Why? Because many CAD files are not properly made and contain errors, extra info, links of their own etc. While doing some prep work on the CAD files is good, it doesn't eliminate the problems.

I extracted the following nugget from the new Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011, known lovingly as MARA to some. Paraphrasing 'One way to manage many CAD references in larger projects is to create a separate Revit project containing only the linked data.' You will probably need to use the Visibility/Graphics override in order to see the CAD file in question but still, awesome. I can admit that I haven't done this in practice so let me know what you think...