Accessing Project Parameters in Multiple Schedules

Thank you Domenic Serravite from IBI Group for discovering this undocumented feature!

You can access Project Information parameters in any schedule. For instance if you want to have a factor(coefficient) that is used in many different schedules and formulas this is the way. We will use unit planning as an example. You will want a Mass object with floor faces to start.

Manage-Project Settings-Project Parameters-Add

Name: Average Unit Size

Group Under: Identity Data

Type of Parameter: Number

Category: Project Information

Manage-Project Settings-Project Information

Fill out the new parameter Average Unit Size to a factor like 1000. This represents 1000 square feet.

Make a Mass Schedule

Include Gross Floor Area

Check the Include Elements in Linked Files box

Drop the list down to display Project Information

Average Unit Size will now be available

Make a calculated value called Number of Units

Put this formula in: Gross Floor Area / 1 SF / Average Unit Size

Now you can control centrally important information from one place. This can be done in Room and Area schedules as well.

Autodesk is aware that this is confusing and will sumbit it to the development team.

Coordinates, Base Points, Surveys, Linking and Other Confusing Things - Part 1

If you browse through the forums, blogs, how-to videos and books you will find a wealth of information on the above titled subject. And it's all conflicting. It's just about the most confusing subject you will encounter in Revit. I will now add my voice to the many others. The method I'm proposing can be boiled down to a common point which is graphically represented in all files. You will then line everything else up based upon that.

The architect must set this up BEFORE anything is done in Revit. No modelling, importing, linking, not anything.
Step 1. Set up the AutoCAD
AutoCAD survey drawings usually have 3D contours and 2D drafted information. The 2D stuff is at 0 Z elevation, the 3D is at it's actual height off of Sea Level. The 0,0,0 or Origin can be anywhere and sometimes it relates to something but sometimes not. We will be changing this.
Save as.
Give new name.
Move everything so the 0,0 is at the bottom left (don't adjust the Z). This could be at the property line intersection.
Make sure there is nothing outside of a 10 mile radius sphere from the 0,0,0. That means you will need to take a look in the Z.
Draw a circle on an individual layer at 0,0,0.
Rotate these to Project North. Make sure there is a North Arrow visible.
Break this file into two files, one with 2D plan info and the other with contours. You can use the wblock command or saveas.
Of course, you should audit and purge the AutoCAD file as well.

Step 2. Not in Revit yet...

Get the longitude/latitude information relating to the AutoCAD site file.
Open Google Earth and go to the address. Find the longitude/latitude of the corner of the site that corresponds with the 0,0, write it down.
The Google Plugin also works great as well. It will import the location to Revit's 0,0,0 as well as draw some Reference Planes and bring in a flat image. It will also give you the true north.

Step 3. Revit Architecture

Revit has a 10 mile diameter of where you can draw or even import. You cannot have anything outside of that.

Manage Place and Locations will assign the Longitude/Latitude numbers to your Revit 0,0 (Origin)
Revit 0,0,0 is found by default at the centre of the elevation markers. It's also the default location of the Project Base Point and Survey Base Point. The Revit origin can not be moved.

Make a view called AutoCAD Site Plan.
Import the 2D AutoCAD. Origin to Origin. Current View Only turned on. You cannot change Revit's origin. The origin can be found at the nexus of the elevation markers in plan. This point is dead centre on your screen when you start from a standard Revit Template.
Then Import the 3D AutoCAD Contours, Origin to Origin. Current View Only turned off. You won't see this file yet, it's above your view.
Go to elevation, move the contours down to level 1.
Go to the site plan view.
Confirm that your Survey Base Point(triangle with an x) is at the centre of the circle you drew in AutoCAD.
Click on the Project Base Point (a blue circle with an x). Click in the 'Angle to True North' and type the difference between your project north and the true north. You may have to type a negative in front of the degrees to get the expected results.
The Project Base Point and Survey Base Point will be in the same place. That's fine.
You may also want to draw two Reference Planes based on the centre of the AutoCAD circle which is also the origin. Name them something logical.
Adjust your elevation markers and datums to focus on where your building will be.
Start drawing grids and modelling etc.
Step 4. Other Linked Revit Files...
Start your new Revit Structure or MEP file.Very first thing you do is link the Revit Architecture file (which we just setup) Origin to Origin.
Check that the Z has come in correctly.
Adjust your elevation markers and datums to focus on where your building will be.
Draw Grids and Levels over top of the linked Revit Architecture as needed.
Start drawing grids and modelling etc.
About Exporting back to CAD...
When exporting back to AutoCAD the origins of both AutoCAD and Revit will line up as long as you have used the default location of the Project Base Point.

Book Review: Revit 2010 Family Standards and Best Practices

Revit 2010 Family Standards and Best Practices (Take the Dysfunction Out of Your Families)

By Shawn Zirbes & Integrated Content Solutions, Inc.

205 pages

$79.99

Right on the front cover the book states that ICS is a Premier member for Autodesk Seek. I don't want to start off negative but as of today the content on Autodesk Seek is not something to brag about. http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=108569&highlight=Autodesk+Seek

Autodesk Seek is a good framework for the distribution of content. That's why it's so disappointing that many of the families are useless. But this isn't a review of Autodesk Seek.

This book has lots of good tips, tricks and best practices. The more unique tips are highlighted in red. The MEP connectors section is quite well developed. There are good naming conventions proposed throughout. Family testing methods are explained (makes me wonder if they're used at Autodesk Seek?). In the beginning of the book there are some nice graphic scenarios on Sketch Mode and Masking Regions. It seems that this tales off and some chapters are very sparse. I was looking forward to the formulas chapter but was disappointed to find that it was virtually just cut and pasted from the Revit Families Guide with no extra examples, tips or otherwise. Overall I would say that this book takes the best segments from the Revit Families Guide and Revit Model Content Guide, adds a few extra tips and organizes them into a tidy little pocket guide.

Here's a link to the Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/Revit-2010-Family-Standards-Practices/dp/061532083X#noop

AntiVirus Software and Revit Worksets

Some people have seen the situation where they can save a file to the server but as soon as they try to make a Central file Revit says 'File Not Saved'. This can be the AntiVirus software blocking it. You will want to make sure that the following file extensions are allowed:
*.rvt
*.rfa
*.rte
*.dat
*.rws
*.slog
When you make a Central File Revit will make a sub-folder with the above listed file extensions. Of course you will always want to make sure full read/write permissions are given to the user.

Upcoming BIM Webcast to Explore Integrated Project Delivery

FYI

On Feb. 25, 2010, at 2p.m. (EST), Reed Construction Data will present “Lessons in BIM Adoption: How Integrated Project Delivery Can Work”; a free webcast exploring the benefits and challenges of a collaborative approach to design and construction....

http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/press-releases/press-release/2010/02/upcoming-bim-webcast-to-explore-integrated-project-delivery

Sending CAD Files to Background

Sometimes imported CAD files appear in the foreground and you just can't move them back. This can be addressed by the following method:

1. Import the CAD file and make sure that 'Current View Only' is checked.

2. Click on the CAD file. In the Options Bar you will see 'Foreground' or 'Background'.

ORUG Feb3rd Notes

http://ontariorevit.blogspot.com/2010/02/feb-3rd-meeting-notes.html

Pinned Storefront Door Disappears

Make a Storefront Curtain Wall.
'Unpin' a panel.
Replace the unpinned panel with a Curtain Wall Door Panel.
If you try to 'pin' the new Curtain Wall Door Panel it will be changed back into a standard panel.

Revit 2010 License Timeout Workaround

Issue
Revit 2010 is not able to recover a lost network license when Revit is running. The program switches to Demo mode and any open data files will not be saved.

Solution (well, kind of...)
The files attached will allow Revit 2010 to recover a network license while running. If, after a 2 hour grace period, a network license is not found, Revit 2010 will display a dialog with the options to Save As & Exit or Exit. The user will not encounter Demo mode at anytime during this process.

more...
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=14309812&linkID=9243099

BIM Cloud Computing

Steve Staffords blog referred to this great article on cloud computing with Revit....

http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2010/BIM_Cloud.html

Ontario Revit Users Group Feb.3, 2010

We are really excited about 2010 at the Ontario Revit Users Group. Response to the 2010 Syllabus has been overwhelming.

John Peterson, a project architect with KPMB, has designed an exciting ORUG syllabus based on the design process and leveraging the information inherent to a Revit model. This series will consist of four meetings that will take us on a journey through the ups and downs of idealized proposals and real Revit projects
We will travel from the initial sketches to a robust, coordinated BIM model. Along the way we will cover important side ventures into Green Model analysis, cost estimating, Revit Structure and MEP coordination, Family creation, hardware optimization and Worksets.

Invitation:
http://ontariorevit.blogspot.com/2010/01/orug-meeting-feb-3-2010-new-syllabus.html

Keep an eye on the ORUG.ca blog for the post-meeting article.

AutoCAD File 2 Miles Across

If you're getting this error check the following:

In AutoCAD:
-zoom extents, delete any extraneous points or objects. Do this in plan and elevation views. Objects in the Z plane which are 2 miles away can also cause problems.
-confirm what the units are (we will need this when importing into Revit)
-make sure the that the entire drawing is not too far from the origin-0,0,0. You can move the drawing to 0,0,0 if needed with the move command.

In Revit:
Before you import make sure that you choose the correct import units.

As a side note. When importing site plans it may be a good idea to import the contours separate from the site plan lines. This is because the contours are usually at a proper sea elevation and site elevation while the the other site lines are at 0. You can isolate the contours layer and wblock it.

Here's some additional info and links on Steve Stafford's blog...
http://revitoped.blogspot.com/2010/02/revit-and-2-mile-limit.html

Revit FAQ

Here's a great post by Chris Price on the most asked questions of Revit. It's a few years old but most of the questions still remain relavent...

http://blog.cadway.com.au/2005/11/frequently-asked-questions.html

Curtain Wall Glass Corner - No Corner Mullion

You may have noticed that Revit curtain wall corners don't trim or clean up very well. While you are able to replace the end mullions with one of the corner mullions there is still no option for a glass butt-joint panel. So there's a workaround...

Make a Wall Type called 'Glass Panel'

Edit the structure to be the desired thickness of your glass.

Set the material to 'Glass'.

On the Curtain Wall:

Tab to select the corner panels and replace them with the wall type 'Glass Panel'. (You may need to unpin them first.)

Delete the vertical mullions on the corner. (You may need to unpin them first.)

Click here for more on corner mullions.

Grid Bubble with Other Information

Let's say that your would like a Grid Bubble to show both the grid name and something else. Here's how to do it...

You will need to make a custom Grid Head family with the lines and circles desired using the grid family template.
You can add two labels, the Grid Number and a custom parameter. You will also have to make a ‘Shared Parameter’ for year or phase, or both.

Then you will load that family into the project and apply it to the System Grid family.

You will also need to add the Shared Parameter to the Project Parameters. Then you will be able to type the year or phase into the grid.

Revit Structure - Missing Columns - Graphical Column Schedule

Thank You Steve Stafford, Revit OPED for documenting this:

If columns are not showing on your column schedules make sure the columns are intersecting with grids and Levels.

http://revitoped.blogspot.com/2009/05/revit-structure-missing-columns.html

Revit Wish List

'Wishes will be collected three times per year; the top 10 wishes from each cycle will be sent on to the development teams at Autodesk. After each cycle the wish list starts anew to ensure that the wishes are current. The top wishes from the year will be presented to Autodesk in person at Autodesk University.'

'These wishes can only be considered for Revit 2012 and beyond...'

Here's the link...
http://augi.com/revit/ballot.asp

Visibility issues, Volume 1

Visibility Issues are among the most common issues with Revit. These can usually be chalked up to the following...

Category is turned off in the view

Object Graphics or Visibility overridden (ie., set as transparent, turned off)

View Range

Plan Regions

Worksets (turned off in Visibility Overrides)

Design Options

Phases

Object being blocked by another (like a floor slab)

View Properties-Discipline(21-May-10)

Worksharing:

Keep in mind that when working in a team environment (Worksharing) others may be editing your settings without you knowing. One way to mitigate this is by making some initialed views, especially when it comes to the overall 3D and Section Box views. Another common solution is to yell at the people who are doing this.

New Revit Release Now...

Subscription Advantage Pack for Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010

The Autodesk® Subscription Advantage Pack for Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2010 extends the capabilities of Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2010 software. Productivity-enhancing functionality and features better support modeling, coordination, and documentation, while improved tools help you work more efficiently within the software.

Watch this to see what it's all about...

http://www.subscriptionvideos.com/subscription_rac_video.html

Revit Standards - File Path Locations

You can set up standard locations for file paths to standard Families and Templates in the following way. You will need to do this at each workstation if Revit has been installed.

-Go to: Application 'R' menu
-Options

-File Locations
-Places
-Add the name of the location and then browse.

I don't recommend pointing your rendering library off the local machines. This will cause a serious slowdown in rendering times.

The locations will then be available on the left-hand side of 'load' and 'open' dialog boxes.