Keynote Schedules Not Updating

I wrote a post in April last year when we were observing some projects that would not update their keynote schedules during printing.

When they issued 2018.3 that issue was reportedly resolved. Moving forward into 2019 and 2020 versions it seems true. However we've seen a few projects that seem to continue to exhibit the problem. Specifically a keynote schedule does not show all of the keynotes that are actually visible in views on the sheet.

With these troubled project files we can force a regeneration IF each sheet view is open during printing. Like before turning the annotation crop boundary off/on or on/off will cause a regeneration too. However printing is when it matters the most. More testing is required before I can be certain there is an ongoing issue in the more recent releases but these projects do exhibit the problem in more recent versions too.

The current solution is to open all the sheets that must print first and then print to PDF. Alternately open a sheet view and print and repeat for all required sheets. If all the views are open then the revision schedule regenerates (you can watch it happen). The sheet view does not have to have Revit's focus, just has to be open in the background at least. Any sheet views that are not open won't refresh.

New Book - Delivering COBie Using Autodesk Revit

A team of authors led by Bill East (COBie inventor) has finished a book dedicated to COBie and Revit. His team consists of: Shawn O'Keeffe, Richard Kenna and Emma Hooper.

Bill writes:

"This is the first comprehensive COBie How-To Guide! We explain the implications of COBie requirements on your professional standard-of-care. Next, we describe the architectural and engineering design best-practices we adopted to help us capture COBie as part of our standard design process. We show you how to unlock the power of the Revit COBie Extension and Classification Manager Add-Ins to automate COBie file production details. And we show you how to share your new found knowledge with your team, company, and stakeholders."

David Philp, Global BIM Director, AECOM reviewed the book and had this to say:

"This book offers a comprehensive and real-world insight to the COBie value proposition but most importantly it demonstrates HOW this can be practically achieved. This book is an essential read for anyone that is interested in effectively capturing and using project information. If you want to better understand how to deliver COBie from a Revit environment then this book is a must.”

David Light, Autodesk Senior Customer Success Manager also reviewed the book and said this:

"Finally, the AEC industry and the Revit user has an unparalleled guide for helping you understand, as well as deliver COBie from Autodesk Revit!

Delivering COBie should not be scary, as noted, the guidance provided in “Delivering COBie Using Autodesk Revit'” is designed to help AEC industry deliver COBie on any building, as easily as possible.

East and the authoring team provide a detailed history of COBie, so you understand the background of why COBie? It helps demystify some urban myths around COBie, allowing you to better understand the value of this industry standard digital exchange format. The book runs through best practice tips for model development, model configuration and data preparation for Autodesk Revit.

The guide leads the user onto the configuration of the free Classification Manager and the COBie Extension. Lastly, 'Delivering COBie Using Autodesk Revit' teaches the reader how to apply various concepts on a Dormitory Project example, through shared best practice from recognized industry experts, explaining how to prepare the Revit model for repeatable COBie deliverables."

The authors of “Delivering COBie Using Autodesk Revit,” Dr. Bill East, Dr. Shawn O’Keeffe, Richard Kenna, and Emma Hooper look forward to showing you how to make COBie an integral part of the standard design process for yourself and your team, company, and stakeholders. The pre-release spiral-bound “workbook edition” is now available for individual Revit users. The version for purchase by libraries, institutes, and companies available 15-Sep-17.

You can Order your Copy HERE.

Shared Coordinates - Autodesk Reference Information

It's September already...no posts in August...time flies.

This post is brief, merely a referral. If you struggle with understanding Revit's coordinate system then THIS LINK, at Autodesk's Knowledge Base (KB) site for this subject might be helpful. I like the images and some of explanations or interpretations it offers.

Check it out, it may help!

Edit: I wrote this on Sept. 7th originally, received an unflattering comment about it, returned it to draft, revised it, and restored it to published on Sept. 14th.

I was lazy. I thought the information was an addition to their formal help documentation. When I saw the comment I read through the KB article again and realized that it was written by an Autodesk User Group member and submitted to their Knowledge Base system, which happens to be curated by different people than the product documentation group. I might quibble with some subtlety of it here or there but its approach may help someone get a grasp on the bigger picture. Just keep in mind that its claims are not gospel, nor written by Autodesk's own people.

Revit 2016 R2 - Changes to Underlay

They've reconfigured the Properties Palette and changed how they describe and provide access to the Underlay concept.

As you can see above, the Underlay concept now has its own Group Header in the Properties palette. They've renamed the Underlay parameter itself to Range: Base Level. The new Range: Top Level is a read-only value that just reports the next level above the Base Level. That can be helpful when it isn't the one you expected, for example when there is an intermediate level for a stage .

Keep in mind that if a view is created for a level we can't prevent that level (like Stage above) from being the next one, the one that appears in Range: Top Level. I think it could be better if a Level's Building Story parameter could influence this condition so a view could exist for the level but not be factored into the Underlay's display process, allowing it to skip past or ignore the Stage level.

The Underlay Orientation parameter kept its name but the words used to describe its choices are now Look up and Look down. The plainer language seems to help people understand what Underlay is really doing. At the very least Look up is more accurate than implying it is really generating what we have learned is meant by Reflected Ceiling Plan.

Also very worthy of a mention is that new plan views have their Underlay - Range: Base Level assigned to None instead of the Level Below like in earlier versions.

Hmm, writing that last section, it occurs to me...this feature used to just be called Underlay, a parameter AND concept on its own with a second related Underlay Orientation parameter. Now we have a concept of Underlay with three parameters.

Experienced users will now confuse new users by asking them, "What's the view's Underlay assigned to?" or telling them, "You need to change your Underlay setting."  ...ah progress...

Oh, and Hat Tip to Niklas Strannefors, an Autodesk Application Engineer in Sweden, for prompting me to write about this subtle change.

Dimension between Concentric Arcs

Revit is a bit obstinate about applying dimensions at times, like placing dimensions between concentric arcs for example. It's not uncommon to find people adding short Detail Lines and placing dimensions on those instead...to get the look they want. Chris Needham shared a technique at RevitForum earlier today that's elegantly simple...but perhaps not well known either.

Add a Reference Plane that begins at the center of one of the arcs and crosses all of them. You can adjust its extents afterward so it only appears near to the arcs.

You'll find you can use the Aligned Dimension tool to reference each intersection of the arc (walls in the image) and the Reference Plane, like in the previous image. Revit doesn't give really convincing feedback on screen so you have to look closely and trust its working.

When it comes time to print, just use the Print Setup Option Hide Ref/Work Planes. If you're careful it will look like the dimensions are referencing the arcs.

It would be nicer if we could just do this directly instead...but until that day...

Oh, DON'T turn off Reference Planes using Visibility/Graphics in the view. That will also kill the dimensions.

Mr. Anonymous wrote a comment describing how using the witness line grip after placing the dimensions will allow us to associate the dimension with the arcs. Good tip too, so I created a short video describing the process. Ignore the extra dimension segment I created by mistake (I deleted it in the video).

KeyNotes - You Keep Using that Word...

A recent exchange went a little like this:

Them: "Steve! I need some help with my keynotes!" Me: "Okay, how are you doing them?" Them: "Huh? I just drag this family from the Project Browser and place it in the view. When I look at my keynote schedule I don't see the keynote being added."

When software uses the same word we routinely use to describe something we do it is supposed to make it easier to understand and use. Sometimes the opposite happens, as in this situation the word Keynote or the practice of key noting  (keynoting). A good many of us in the AEC business are familiar with the concept of using keynotes on drawings.

I find it interesting that I didn't find a definition readily available on the interwebs for what we do with and call keynotes. There were lots of trade specific sites but not the traditional dictionary or wiki version. Most refer to being the keynote speaker at an event or related to music.

Regardless, for us it is a system to reduce clutter on drawings by placing symbols that either carry numbers or letters or both to identify different conditions that we should look to a separate place (key, like a map key to symbols) to read more information. Ideally it means we get drawings that are cleaner looking instead of the clutter of long descriptions nestled among the graphics that describes the building itself. It's also a way to help reduce the chances of making spelling errors or stating things differently because more than one person is usually involved in the process of completing drawings.

In Revit there are three ways we can apply keynotes to drawings. First we have a formal tool called, not surprisingly, Keynote. Second we have an older slightly less formal technique using a Noteblock Schedule based on a Generic Annotation family. Third we have the old school approach where we use a Generic Annotation symbol and then separate Annotation (lines) and Text elements to provide the appearance of a formal schedule we are familiar with.

I've often referred to the Keynote feature as the rich man's keynotes because it requires ongoing rigor and advance planning/effort.

We have to manage an external keynote file (TXT) and use specific annotation tags that work with this external data. Our families can each store a keynote parameter value (which a tag reports) and we can create ad hoc User Keynotes too. Keynote Schedules can (a Filter option) display only those that appear in the views that are on each sheet, a distinct advantage over the other techniques.

In the image below I'm using a cool tool called Keynote Manager to review keynotes. We have to organize the information that we want to be available for keynoting ahead of time or at least be prepared to stop and start when we realize we are missing something. The external data and process is more formal and rigorous. That's why I've observed it is also poorly adopted.

When we combine this process with Keynote Legends on sheets we have a consistent and predictable structure for keynoting activity.

In contrast the Noteblock approach, which I've often called the poor man's keynotes, depends on data stored in specific Annotation Symbol families.

It does require some rigor but not quite as much as the formal Keynotes tool and there is no external TXT file that keeps the data consistent. When we create a Noteblock Schedule we have to choose the correct Annotation Family to base it on. Then the schedule reports how many instances of that annotation family (symbol) we place in views, that are then placed on sheets. These are much harder to filter so we only show those that relate to specific views on sheets, there is no built in feature to filter them.

The third approach is not really any different than how I've seen it done for many years with CAD and hand drafting before that.

We place symbols, change the number/letter and then later create a legend on the sheet that provides a summary of the keynote symbols we've placed in the drawing. We examine the drawing and make an entry for each symbol we observe on the drawing. It isn't hard to do but it isn't fun and very error prone, especially as the project progresses and changes occur.

Referring back to the exchange at the beginning of the post, it turns out that the technique that was being used was the last one, symbols, lines and text. It helps a lot to figure out which technique is being used before launching into helpful responses that assume either of the other two possibilities are in play.

View Range Help Doc Image

I was pointing out the View Range help documentation earlier and noticed that the plan view seems to have Thin Lines on, no particular difference in the lineweights depicted. At the very least it is a bit anemic looking. I think it would be a little more helpful to be more obvious which lines are affected by the Cut Plane by showing the Cut lineweight, like for the walls.

Fwiw, I think View Depth should be moved above the Primary Range when the View Range dialog is opened for Ceiling Plan Views...and maybe called View Upth? :)

Dimension Style Type

That parameter name seems a bit like the Department of Redundancy Department. It lets us choose between three kinds of dimension behaviors: Continuous, Baseline and Ordinate. We are all pretty familiar with Continuous. I've spent time doing mechanical drafting (aka shop drawings) in the past and it wasn't uncommon to use some form of the other two types of dimensions. This is what the three of them look like together.

The Baseline dimension you see in the image is a single element, the entire collection of dimension lines you see. Each dimension line is offset from the others by the Dimension Line Snap Distance parameter's value.

Revit INI UI Calculator

When Revit 2014 offered a single installation (just called Revit) with all of the discipline specific Revit features included (aka "one box") the development team provided a calculator to determine the correct variable to assign a parameter value in the Revit.ini. This value is used to configure the user interface according to the disciplines that we want users to see listed on the Ribbon tabs. Since there are numerous combinations that are possible they are using "bit" logic to arrive at a single unique value that defines how the ribbons should be configured. The calculator provides a simple way to arrive at that number. Check the boxes and use the value at the bottom.

When the help documentation team began migration to the present online help delivery software (moving from the previous WikiHelp format) they decided to abandon the calculator since it seemed few people were really interested in it or using it. I complained that as software developers they ought to realize that it was already serving a niche among niches in the first place. It remains a niche item and I'm grateful they've recently taken the time to restore/re-code it to work in the new help documentation system. It's subtle but every little bit helps.

It can be seen HERE.

Schedule Linked Files

We can schedule elements that are in linked files but there isn't a schedule that is only interested in telling us what linked files there are. We can determine which files are linked easily enough while working inside Revit. What if we want to document what files are linked into our model and include this information on a sheet? We can take advantage of the addition of Grids and Levels as elements we can schedule in Revit 2014.

If we assume that all projects will have levels and probably grids a schedule that is assigned to one of those categories can be manipulated to look like it is just a schedule of linked files. Then we can combine that with a Starting View if we want to see it each time our project is opened. Add the schedule to a general information sheet and it can be part of our documentation too.

I created a schedule that includes the fields for RVT Links and at least one for Grids. In this example I used Grids to drive the schedule but Levels are probably a better choice.

When we load a linked file we can supply a unique "Name" value. When we use Reload From or Reload later to update the model we can revise the "Name" parameter to show the current version/date.

Make a custom titleblock family and add the Project and Client related parameters as desired. Load the family and create a new sheet using this special titleblock. Add the new schedule to the sheet. To use this as a starting view activate the Manage ribbon and click the Starting View button. Choose our special sheet view as the starting view.

I used the Clear Cell tool, new in Revit 2014, to remove the link between the schedule name and the header text. This allows us to call the schedule something meaningful in the project browser and show something else in the header of the schedule on the sheet, as shown in the first image in the post. Since schedules can be on any number of sheets it is an easy matter to place it on additional sheets if desired.

Revit Family Style Guide

Are you the Family Editor in your firm? Work for a manufacturer and planning to make content. You should seriously consider downloading the Revit Model Style Guide documentation from Autodesk. This is what you'll find inside the zipped file when you download it.

Each folder contains examples of content and a document that explains what the objectives are for making each kind of family. Of particular importance is guidance with creating a variety of parameters for each category that has example folders. This guide was created to help people who are building content intended to be available on Autodesk's Seek site.

For those of us who have been suggesting that Autodesk needed to broaden the available built-in parameter structure, the Revit Master Parameter and Shared Parameter list and files should be particularly interesting.

Maybe you'll find the information contained therein useful!?! Happy reading and family editing...