Thursday, October 29, 2009

Model Review - Check for Mirror Casework and Furniture

This post is dedicated to a practical example of using the new tool for Revit called Model Review. This tool is part of the Subscription Advantage Pack that became available recently. As it happens this tool was acquired by Autodesk from Avatech Solutions a few months ago for a tidy sum. I'm sorry to admit that I didn't spend a lot of time getting comfortable with it before the purchase. I thought I'd make up for ignoring it by focusing on a specific problem it can help solve. I should also mention that Beau Turner recently wrote a few nice articles about the tool on his blog "Will Render for Food".

The problem: Users are mirroring casework and furniture elements and some of those items are not supposed to be mirrored because they have very specific manufacturer codes. A left-handed version has a different code than a right-handed version so mirroring will create a right-handed version that looks like a left-handed version. Tracking this situation down isn't easy the way Revit is on its own.

Enter Model Review: (it was called BIM Review before). We can create our own review criteria that will check the model for mirrored components. This is a default condition that exists in the Model Review configuration and it is easy to use in your own Check file. Rather than spending a lot of time itemizing the process in text here the video will cover that. I've posted the example file so it can be downloaded if you are interested in reverse engineering it. Technically you can just reverse engineer the existing templates...that's what I did.



3 comments:

KyleB said...

Steve, this is indeed a practical example for the use of this tool, thanks for sharing it.

I'd also point out that we have an open feedback thread on the Revit Platform forum on AUGI for this tool, seeking feedback on improvements moving forward.

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=109565

Others reading this are welcome to weigh in, or you could blog about that as well. :)

Cheers,
Kyle B
Product Manager
BIM Simulation & Emerging Technologies

Steve said...

Glad to help! Beau also wrote to me to mention that the application is extensible externally. They could for example create a custom criteria set for a firm if necessary. The Wall Fire Rating one available within the product now is one such example.

Erik said...

YAY!!!! Now I can track down all those mirrored sinks. You know, the ones with the Hot on the right and the Cold on the left.

Enough to make a guy hate the mirror command.