Shared Parameter - No you Can't -Yes you Can

When you are making an annotation symbol family you occasionally want to use a shared parameter. In 2009 you'll find the Family Types dialog route does not offer the option to choose a Shared Parameter.


It is "hard wired" to choose Family Parameter. All is not lost however. When you place and/or select a Label, choose Edit Label (Options Bar)then take notice of the "Add Parameter" button at the bottom left portion of the Category Parameters frame. You'll be presented with a different version of the Parameter Properties dialog whose focus is on Shared Parameters instead.

Revit Structure Meeting - Sept. 3, 2008 - SoCal

If you use Revit Structure, are reading this, live in or will be in Southern California AND have time on September 3, 2008 you ought to visit this relatively new Revit Structure user group.

Meeting Details:

Host: Avan Amalsad & KPFF Engineers
Location: KPFF Consulting Engineers
18500 Von Karman Avenue., Irvine, CA 92612 US
When: Wednesday, September 3, 6:00PM
Phone: 949-252-1022

Parking: Kindly do not park your vehicle in the building premises as you will be charged. You can park across the street at 2500 Michelson Plaza.

After hours the elevators will only allow access to the 10th floor.

Topic One - Exporting from Revit
Presented by: Matthew Gonzalez

Topic Two - Revit Phase Features
Presented by: Behzad Sanikhatam and Edward Tallmadge (Kelar)

Topic Three - Revit Design Options
Presented by: Behzad Sanikhatam and Edward Tallmadge (Kelar)

This is an Autodesk and Kelar sponsored event hosted by KPFF Consulting Engineers - Irvine.

Want to get on their mailing list? Contact Avan Amalsad

If these topics interest you perhaps we will see you there!?!

Building Explorer - Product Plug

Thursday night (08/28/08) I attended the South Coast Revit User Group (SCRUG), my alma mater user group of sorts that Jim Balding (WATG) started "moons" ago when Revit wasn't fashionable. I got to see some old friends naturally and it was good to catch up on the latest news.

Will Harris (Micro Desk) gave a nice demonstration of Revit Family Editor concepts that every Revit user needs to know.

Then Building Explorer co-founders Sinisa and Veljko (sp from memory and it isn't what it used to be) demonstrated their product and then entertained a wide variety of questions. These included some very insightful questions from a mechanical contractor in attendance as well as a few less intelligent questions from yours truly.


Their product is very interesting, powerful, if not perhaps even overwhelming. As Scott Davis uses in his signature at AUGI, "You're on the Road to BIM, not just crossing BIM Street.", this product can significantly enhance how you do business if you are serious about Revit and BIM. BIM/Revit and Building Explorer require you to challenge any preconceptions you may have about the purpose/importance of the model, how it is modeled and how the traditional product/contract documents consisting of drawings and specifications is viewed. The premise is this: An accurate model that represents how the building will actually be constructed is more valuable than the documentation/process we currently rely on. Keep in mind that these comments are mine and I'm imposing my own world view on what I heard. You'd need to speak with the guys at Building Explorer yourself to determine how accurately I've represented them and their product's influence.


I intend to learn more about this product myself, I encourage you to do so as well!

Thanks to the SCRUG sponsers:
U.S. CAD
Kelar
Chuck with Autodesk

Thanks also to LPA for hosting and Jay and Miguel for keeping SCRUG running!

Subject Matter Experts - Steel Reinforcement - USA

Wai Chu (Revit Structure Product Manager) posted the following inquiry on the AUGI forum. I've posted here just to echo the request...echo....echo... he writes:

Hi all!

Our structural product's team is currently searching for some USA steel reinforcement subject matter experts. We would like to do on-site research with you. We would conduct an extensive interview consisting of three (3) full days on site with one (1) day follow-up by phone or email. We want to do this during September 2008.

Very important:
The ideal candidate should be familiar with other software programs for reinforcement detailing in the USA. They should have lot of experience in detailing and reinforced concrete design, rebar modeling, shop drawing and fabrication drawing generation.

Our team has some budget to pay the candidate for the time they will spend with us for this research and interview.

If interested, please contact Wai Chu and Dariusz Kwolek

Thank you

Wai Chu + Dariusz Kwolek
Autodesk Structural Products Team

Double Negative - Equality Constraint and Padlocks

This one trips up new family editors as well as project modelers but I see it more often in the context of the family editor.

When you create a dimension string between three or more elements Revit displays the EQ icon/control/grip/toggle.


Clicking on this EQ icon will create a constraint between the elements that tells Revit that you want the spacing between each of them to remain equal at all times. This assumes that you intend to "flex" or change the distance between some of them or the overall distance at some point. Thus the reason I encounter it with family editors more often.

At the same time the Padlock icon/control/grip/toggle shows up underneath each dimension value.

You DO NOT need or want to click on the padlocks, which locks the dimension value. Doing so is similar to a "double negative", like, "I ain't not going to do that?"

Poor Revit is confused when you do this because you just told it to make sure the distance between each element should remain equal. Then you told Revit not to change them either! Adding a dimension and parameter to allow for flexing them makes matters worse! Up till now Revit tolerated your mistake...but trying to change the parameter will push Revit too far, it snaps and "yells" at you!



I suggest that we might be better off if Revit did not display the padlocks when the EQ constraint is invoked? In the meantime, just remember, double negatives ain't good English and it isn't not good for Revit neither.

Plagiarism by blog: Revit Tutorials

This was brought to my attention by a fellow blogger and AUGI member. The www. revittut .blogspot.com has been posting articles for some time now. The trouble is that the articles are not their own. Some are mine, the rest or at least many belong to others.

Specifically their use of my articles on their site violates my creative commons license which allows you/anyone free use of the information as long as attribution to the author/me is provided.

Their site also violates blogger's terms and conditions regarding copyright material.

It is good to share knowledge but it is wrong to do so appearing to offer original work when the opposite is true. The site has a lot of click through advertising and seems to be have been created to generate click through income with a minimum of effort by posting content authored by others.

There are many people sharing knowledge about Revit via blogs and other means on the internet these days. It is disappointing to see one using other author's work as their own.

Keyboard Shortcuts - Single Letter Shortcuts

Single letter keyboard shortcuts work but they "harm" any other shortcut that starts with the same letter. When you type a single letter watch the Status Bar.


Revit recognizes the letter as the start of a "hotkey".

If you type a second letter and it matches a defined shortcut Revit "fires" the command. If you use the arrow keys you can "cycle" through all the commands that have keyboard shortcuts that use the first letter you typed. If you find one you like you press Space Bar or Enter to "fire" the command.

I find that a three letter combination works better without messing up shortcuts like single letter shortcuts do. I double up the first letter...like XXR or MMO...

"No to All" - A Windows Tip

This was passed along to me by Roberto Alayeto with DMJM in Coral Gables, Florida.

When you are copying a multitude of files and get the message to overwrite existing files you get this dialog.


I've added a little balloon callout to explain what to do when you really want the option to choose "No To All".

Robert said he picked it up in a class during Autodesk University a couple years ago, so consider this a shameless plug for AU 2008!

Dept. of Unfair - Calculated Values

There exists an inequity in Revit feature distribution among the versions when creating Calculated Values.

In Revit Architecture 2009 it looks like this:


In Revit Structure 2009 it looks like this: (same as RAC)


In Revit MEP 2009 it looks like this: (the unfair bit)


In RME they have added a button, which opens a secondary dialog, to aid in the choosing of parameters which eliminates typing mistakes. You choose a parameter > click OK or double click to select the parameter. It does not filter for appropriate parameters however which means you could try to use the Name parameter in your calculation, which probably wouldn't work very well.

The RAC and RST version of the dialog also have a TAB sequence problem (very subtle mind you). That is that when you use the TAB key to advance from field to field Revit advances from Type to OK instead of Formula, the next parameter below. The actual sequence is this: Name > Formula/Percentage > Discipline > Type > OK > Cancel > Help > then back to Formula.

Interesting that the RME TAB sequence is fixed too! Yet another outrageously unfair situation! I hereby lobby for the fair and equal distribution of new dialog box features among other things (like embedded schedules and conditional formatting!!

Yesterday I was building to a crescendo of surprise and elation by demonstrating the calculated parameter technique the old "hard" way when an overly aggressive student stole my thunder by announcing "But Steve I just clicked on this little button with the three dots and it let me pick the parameter instead"...rats! foiled again. Maybe next time...

New Blog - BIM Boom Bam

I recently came across this new blog, BIM BOOM BAM by Michelle Louw in Australia. She started blogging in August this year and has already contributed quite a few useful items. You can read all about her, have a look!

Dept. of Subtle - Grammar and Warnings

This might be something only an English major could love but it fits nicely into this department. I was alerted to this by Eric Stewart with Design Development Architects. I hope this one doesn't stop you in your tracks when you see it the next time!


I try not to throw stones too much since I tend to butcher my native tongue as well!

Pipe Fitting Naming - Survey Says

If you've read my earlier post about surveys you know how I feel about them. That said, Kyle Bernhardt with Autodesk Revit MEP's team is requesting participation in a survey to help them define how best to name Pipe Fittings. Exciting I know but they are a pain...to name.

Kyle writes on his blog (Inside the System):

I wanted to solicit your participation in a survey we have developed involving Pipe Fittings, and how you as users think about them.

Pipe Fittings are a complex beast when it comes to describing them in a short concise manner. Many aspects about them, such as Material, Class, Type, Connection Type, etc., are factors for selection in a design.

We'd like to know more about what is important to you as users, so we can define a convention that best reflects that feedback.

With that in mind, I ask that you please fill out the following survey to provide us your perspective on this matter. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

For those of you who are CAD Managers, I would request that you ask your end-users to fill out the survey, as they will most likely be the folks most directly impacted by choices that we make.

Thanks in advance to all of you.

Helping Yourself - Ask Questions the Smart Way

I followed a LINK that Kyle Bernhardt (Autodesk Revit MEP Technical Product Manager) included in his signature at AUGI. This site is a compilation of advice for anyone interested in communicating with "hacker" community.

Eric and Rick are the authors of the site, called "How to Ask Questions the Smart Way", and they start out with this Introduction Section (after the table of contents that is...)

In the world of hackers, the kind of answers you get to your technical questions depends as much on the way you ask the questions as on the difficulty of developing the answer. This guide will teach you how to ask questions in a way more likely to get you a satisfactory answer.

Substitute "Revit" for "Hackers" and you get a pretty similar sort of "lesson" about how to communicate to online forums members for Revit.

They also include the following disclaimer on their site:

Many project websites link to this document in their sections on how to get help. That's fine, it's the use we intended — but if you are a webmaster creating such a link for your project page, please display prominently near the link notice that we are not a help desk for your project!

We have learned the hard way that without such a notice, we will repeatedly be pestered by idiots who think having published this document makes it our job to solve all the world's technical problems.

If you're reading this document because you need help, and you walk away with the impression you can get it directly from the authors of this document, you are one of the idiots in question. Don't ask us questions. We'll just ignore you. We are here to show you how to get help from people who actually know about the software or hardware you're dealing with, but 99.9% of the time that will not be us. Unless you know for certain that one of the authors is an expert on what you're dealing with, leave us alone and everybody will be happier.

I found the site an interesting read...perhaps you will too?

Wishlist - Top Five - August 19, 2008

I was asked today what my current top five wish list items are. I rattled these off pretty quick.

1 STAIRS/RAMPS/RAILINGS - A complete redesign of functionality
2 CURTAIN WALLS - More...more capable and more real
3 RAC/RST/RME - Suite/bundle - All in one package.
4 RAC/RST/RME - Continue to improve the BIM integration
5 SITE DESIGN Tools - Roads, curbs, parking lots, retaining walls

I offer these thoughts as well...

An improved text editor is on the list for me, just not top five...just put it at number six for now. But then consider, IF "it's" about the model, AND it is more important than drawings in the future then a text editor's role is a thing of the not too distant future's past....

My two cents on exporting to dwg. I'd like to see AutoCAD get smarter about working with Revit. Don't waste Revit resources getting "dumber" for AutoCAD. Let AutoCAD import a Revit project and display a level's view. Import a view...etc. IF Revit is the "flagship" future then the other applications ought to be interoperating with it not the other way around. Probably won't happen in that fashion but I'd prefer they not spend any money making Revit a "better dwg maker".

Uh oh...may catch some flack for those two...overanout!

Schedule View Name and Schedule Title

Want a different name in the Project Browser for your schedule versus its Title? Tell Revit not to display the schedule Title.

Then select all the columns in your schedule and click the GROUP button. You now have a Group header that sure looks like a schedule title.


Pick this up via Jason Shebert who picked this up somewhere along his travels as a fellow consultant with CDV Systems.

Views are Associated to Levels - Forever!

Need a new Level in your project? Don't just copy a view and rename it! All you get is a view with a "nice" name but it isn't related to the Level you think it is.

A new Level must be created with the Drafting menu > Level tool or via the Basics Design Bar Tab > Level (okay its in a couple more places too). You can also copy a Level but no new views are created when you do that. Which is probably how people end up copying views to make a new view for their Level in the first place.

This dialog shows the Associated Level parameter. Note that it is read only (gray and not editable). This view is forever associated with Level 1. A nice name like 15th Floor does nothing to change that.


Need a new View? View Menu > New > Floor Plan or Ceiling Plan or Basics Design Bar Tab > Floor Plan or Ceiling Plan.

Revit 2010

I had a chance to take a look at Revit 2010 last night. In a word, WOW! Each and every Wish List item I personally have is supplied. Curtain walls, stairs, railings, text and on and on.

I really like the new Schematic Design tool. You start the tool and supply overall building square footage, maximum height, floors, floor to floor elevations, overall target primary dimensions after choosing from a palette of basic floor plan schemes, minimum glazing requirements, desired window form and more. When you click finish, Revit builds a schematic model of generic components that meets your basic design input and creates all related initial views.

Then I woke up...nice dream sequence though...

Shrinkwrap for Inventor - Implications for Revit?

Shrinkwrap for Inventor was recently announced as "In the Labs" at Autodesk Labs. The text from their site says:

Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor is an Inventor Add-in to create envelope parts from Inventor assemblies.

Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor enables you to:

* Create substitutes for use with alternative representations in Autodesk Inventor
* Reduce detail of production data to protect intellectual property
* Create simplified data for complex purchased assemblies

Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor takes advantage of Inventor’s derived part workflows to create a standalone, single part solid version of a model assembly. Once the user is identifies penetrations in components to be filled with solid material, Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor fills any internal voids that remain in the assembly.

What does this mean for Revit? Well it might mean that Inventor parts can be reduced to nice simpler representation that can in turn be used effectively in Revit families to convey design intent and lead directly back to a manufactured part or assembly/product. We get enough information to design around the part and be tied more closely to a real product.

Of course this assumes that manufacturers will use it to make our lives "easier"? Hopefully they will if it makes it "easier" for them to do so?

Railing Encore

I dug up another railing example that I've had kicking around for a few years now. It was inspired by a client who was modeling an addition to an existing school building that had this pattern on its stairs already. There was some pressure to use this in the new work as well.


If you look really close you'll see the railing is "floating" on a cushion of air. The exercise was about making the baluster, not worrying about posts. It was quite a lesson in Automatic Sketch Dimensions.


These are the "secret" dimensions that Revit uses to manage the position of your family's parts when you don't take the trouble to be specific. You don't know they are there? That's because they are off by default in all family templates. You can find them under the Annotation Categories Tab in Visibility/Graphics. I wrote this POST about them in April of 2006. But I digress.

I've posted the file so it can be downloaded if interested.
You can watch a video about ASD's about this too.

Download Example Project File HERE.

Egress Path Tags - New Versions

As requested by email I've created a couple new tags for the Egress Path example I've shared here before. There is a Metric Tag set to millimeters and a combo tag that demonstrates how to display both Imperial and Metric data in a single tag.


Hope they prove useful!

Download the Metric Tag (136 kb)
Download the Combo Tag (148 kb)

Interested in all the downloads? Visit my DOWNLOAD PAGE.

If you'd like to see how to get this stuff into your template file you can WATCH the VIDEO.

Structural Foundation Parameter Issue

While working on some Structural Foundation Pile Cap families I noticed that the stock parameters Length and Width would not permit data entry changes in a schedule.

Take the stock Structural Foundation.rft family template. Create a simple family that uses Length and Width. Load it into a project and set up a quick schedule. See if you can enter values? Anyone confirm this? Doesn't seem like it should be this way?

Dept. of News Blasts - Comm. Center News

This just in via the Communication Center for Revit Structure 2009.

Stacked Wall - Interior Partitions

One interesting use of Stacked Walls is to define an interior partition that has a gypsum wall Board (GWB) finish that rises to a fixed elevation while the metal stud structure carries on up until it reaches the underside of decking or some structure.


The first step is to create the two walls you need if they aren't already available. Most templates at least have the interior partition wall type. You may just need to create another version that has no gwb layers. Here is the stacked wall settings for the images above.



Note in my previous post the Top Extension Distance technique could be used with a single wall if the stud layer was "unlocked" instead of the finish layer. This way the stud layer could be extended to the structure and leave the finish at a preset height.

Interior Partition - Offset Finishes

If you need a finish material to carry up to a different elevation on one side from the other. There are a couple methods you can consider. One, using Edit Cut Profile, is a drafting exercise that doesn't affect the model itself. The other, using a custom wall setting for wall layers and Top Extension Distance, is a modelling exercise.

Tools menu > Edit Cut Profile is the "quick and dirty" technique. You simply slice off the portion of the finish you don't want to see in your detail section or callout view.


If you need to see this modelled then you can use the Top Extension Distance of a wall layer. You have to edit the properties of your wall type and preview the section of your wall. Then click Modify and select the top of one finish layer. A padlock appears. Unlock the padlock. This will permit this layer to be different than the other.


Note you cannot unlock both sides...

Now that the layer is "unlocked" you can adjust your wall in a section/detail view. Select the wall and open the Properties Dialog. Find the parameter: Top Extension Distance. Change the value to what you need it to be. Alternatively you can just select the wall and you'll find a small triangle control grip that you can drag up or down.



Once you are done with that you can finish up your detailing.


Note that this feature is disable when a wall is attached or if it is part of a Stacked Wall.

Schedule Data Entry - Bug? Wierd?

Lately I've been seeing a recurring issue that could probably fit under or in my Dept. of Subtle. I need a bit more evidence to be sure it is a bug, though my "gut" says it is.

While editing a schedule and clicking in a field to type something I find that occasionally Revit won't let me enter anything. I've seen this on student computers at several offices and it happened again to me today on my new Laptop. The computer brand and configurations have been all over the map so I don't think it is a specific computer hardware sort of problem, though I thought so at first.

In order to resolve it I find that I must use the "Home" or "End" key to force Revit to move the cursor "into" the field. When I do that all is well for some period of time. It happened twice in one day but then not again. Wierd, strange...odd. I say all three.

If I get any more corroboration it would be useful to get some support requests looking at it.

Concrete Balusters and Railing

Several years ago, as part of a task I was given by a team at WATG, I created six concrete baluster families and mocked one of them up in a stair that I posted in a THREAD at AUGI. I thought I'd dig them up and post them so that others might either use them or reverse engineer how I built them.


The balusters are comprised of a Generic Model Solid Revolve derived from the profiles available from CDI. These are then nested inside a Baluster Panel Family that has a solid for the "wedge" block portion above and below. A void slices off the top of each solid to conform to a sloped stair's railing.

Download the Sample Project (3.6 mb).


Download the Balusters (1.6 mb).
Download the Generic Model Solid Revolves (1 mb).
Download the Railing Profile (122 kb).
Download the Newel Post file (83.5 KB)

P.S. As often happens with design exercises...these were never used on the project. A few more gratuitous images.

Dept. of Unfair - Rooms and Line based Families

It is no longer Unfair! So here is the "backstory".

Inspired by a POST at AUGI, once upon a time Line Based families were not "Room Aware". This means that one of these families will not know what room they are in when you create a schedule for them and also include Room Parameters.

Back then the following was suggested by Autodesk Support:

A possible workaround is to add the room name manually in the Comments field of the family and then schedule that field as well.

If you read the post note that the original post (at AUGI) is dated 2006-09-15, almost two years ago. The original poster followed up today that the issue still exists but that he was able to nest his line based family in a regular family type to allow it to become "Room Aware".

However when I created a new line based family using a 2009 family template and tested it I found that it does work, the family is "Room Aware" now. Regarding the issue at AUGI I suspect that the upgraded family does not become "Room Aware" and it may be necessary to remake the family instead to acquire this behavior. Alternatively the light fixture may be above the upper limit of the room so Revit can't "find" it.

Dept. of Unfair - Tagging Mullions

Mullions are not equal citizens in Revit. You can tag a curtain wall panel but not a curtain wall mullion. Specifically you cannot use the Drafting menu > Tag > By Category or Multi-Category. This means you can't tag them as simply as you can tag other elements, by creating a tag family and choosing one of the various Identity Data group parameters then tagging.

So what are your options?

You CAN tag a mullion using Drafting menu > Tag > Material. This uses the Description Parameter of the material assigned to the mullion. This may suffice...it may not.

You CAN Keynote a mullion using any of the three methods: Element, Material or User. Naturally this means you have to assign whatever you'd like to display in the tag to the Keynote value of the mullion.

The best solution would be for Revit's developers to promote mullions to equal status to other taggable elements.

Revit 2009.1 in September

A couple of reseller blogs that I've read over the last couple days, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad BIM and Revit 3D have announced that there will be a point release in September-ish that will bundle AutoCAD/AutoCAD Architecture and Revit. While that might be nice for some or many firms I myself am a bit concerned that I will now get a bill from Subscription for two software versions that I don't use in addition to the one I do, Revit. I presently pay for the AutoCAD/Revit Suite and while I don't really mind paying the additional money to have AutoCAD kicking around I really don't need or want the other and definitely don't want to pay for it too. So off to the reseller to clarify this new news...

Revit User Survey

David Conant posted THIS at AUGI requesting that Revit users contact him to receive a link to a survey. David wrote this:

As part of our effort to understand users’ actual experience, the Revit product design team occasionally conducts surveys on specific aspects of Revit’s interface and behavior. If you would like to help our efforts and take a short survey on your experiences, please EMAIL ME and I will send you a link to the survey.


Clicking the EMAIL ME link will probably only work if you are already logged into AUGI...your mileage may vary. Your best bet is to follow the THIS at AUGI.

If you remember my survey post awhile ago at least this request is up to you or me to choose to get involved.

Copy via CTRL + Drag

Another simple feature that seems too obvious to mention...Windows permits us to copy a selection by pressing the CTRL key and simply dragging the selection. Doing this same thing within Revit will produce a copy of the selected item(s) too.

Existing Rooms and Their Tags

Demo plans need room tags so a contractor knows what room to demo stuff in. Room tags can't tag a room in a demo plan because the current phase is set to new construction.

How can you get room tags to identify the existing rooms? Overlay views on a sheet.

Create a new view assigned to the Existing Phase.
Using Visibility/Graphics turn off all Model categories except Rooms.
Now your view only shows rooms and room tags.

On the sheet that displays the demolition work, overlay this special room/room tag only view above the demolition view. A little bit of extra work but you get automatic display of the correct room information without resorting to "dumb" text and introducing possible errors.

As an aside, I believe that rooms should behave more like other model elements and have a "Phase Created" and "Phase Demolished" parameter. This way an unaffected room can persist across phases. Rooms whose boundaries are demolished should also be demolished and require the creation of a new room. In this way a demolished room would still be visible and New rooms would not according to the view's Phase Filter setting. I'm sure there may be some programmatic conundrums that this might introduce but overall this is the sort of manner in which Rooms should behave...in my opinion.

Doors and Frames and such

Back at the end of 2005 I presented a class at Autodesk University that attempted to cover a door family. It was too aggressive in scope to fit into the lab session but I think it was a good subject nonetheless. I've posted the handout HERE for anyone who might be interested in it now.


I get an email now and then asking about it and decided after getting another today to post it which will hopefully make it easier for people to find it.

Where is the Camera?

I posted THIS proposal in the past but I didn't mention how you can see the camera in a view now.

Open the view you would like to see the camera in
In the Project Browser hover your cursor over the camera view name
Right Click > Choose Show Camera

Now the camera is visible. This permits repositioning the camera directly.