Revit Structure User Group Meeting - April 6th at LPA

Avan Amalsad with Microdesk is keen to get the word out to every Revit Structure user as well as anyone interested in learning about the new features in Revit Structure 2012.

Date: April 6th, 2011 (Wednesday)
Time: 6:30 PM
Where: LPA - 5161 California Avenue, Suite 100 - Irvine, CA 92617

She writes:
I am honored that Autodesk Revit Structure Product Manager Wai Chu, and Autodesk Revit Platform Product Manager Richard Taylor will be doing a live webcast presentation for Revit 2012 Structure and Platform features. I will do some additional demonstrations using Revit Structure after the webcast. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind meeting.

If you haven't been getting invitations from Avan, EMAIL HER to let her know you want to come. RSVP is important so they get the right amount of food and beverage ordered!

Revit Structure - New Extension - Element Positioning

A recent post from BIM and Beam blog. This is an excerpt:

...snip...Download the Extension from the Subscription Center under the “Revit Extensions for Autodesk Revit Structure 2010” link.

Revit Structure has various tools to adding tags to your structural elements. One can add them to the element one-by-one or, by using the “Tag all” tool, can add them automatically within the current view. However, it would be more practical if it could be able to add tags by defining more than just the current view as well as to be able to set a distance for the placement of the tags and number them by element, type, and/or level.

Revit Structure 2010 now has an extension that will give more flexibility to adding tags within your project. This Element Positioning extension allows these basic functions:

• Create a set of elements and divide them into categories and types
• Sort elements depending on their location in the project
• Add a tag describing a user-defined position at the location specified

The extension allows loading necessary information from Revit Structure such as:

• Object category (e.g. beam)
• Object family (e.g. steel W-section)
• Object type (e.g. W12x26)
• Object geometry
• Object location (level)
• Material of which the object is made (after you select the option)
• Bars reinforcing for RC elements (after you select the option)...snip...

The blog continues to explain each subset of the extension a bit more, check it out?!

Revit Structure - No Ceiling Plan

Revit Structure does not have a tool to create a ceiling plan, not on the Design Bar.
Not on the Menu either...


The reason is that, for the most part, structural engineers don't use them. In another post I suggested that feature for feature we could get away with just owning Revit MEP and Structure and get everything that Architecture has. I mentioned the lack of ceiling plans as one negative and a comment left said that you can create a view oriented like a ceiling plan despite the lack of a specific tool for it. I finally remember to mention how... you create a new Floor Plan type and alter a setting as shown in this image.


"Ceiling Views" are looking "up"!

Structural Column - Quick and "Evil"

I was checking out the new Mastering Revit Structure book by Tom, Jamie, David and Eric (yes...too lazy to spell out their whole names but then I wrote this instead, hmmm). On page 144 is a grey section that describes the following tip, written here in my own way.

Need a Structural column that leans, quick? Don't want to make a column family first? You could use a wall? BIM purists, cover your ears and eyes..."you know where to put the cork" ("The Who" fans quiver with recognition). You can use a wall and then edit its profile to create the appearance of a leaning column in about the same time as it takes to choose the correct family template first.

Naturally this assumes that we are talking about concrete, it doesn't work quite as well for steel shapes.

Just a little "out of the box" thinking courtesy of the four RST "muskateers", check out the book!

Revit Structure - Wishlist - More Connection Types

We have Moment and Cantilever now.
We need...

Stiffener - Plate Steel welded between flanges
Braced Connection - structure between top flange and bottom flange of another beam
Drag - Beam that connects into another building frame and additional members extend bracing into the adjacent structure.

I suspect that one reason these other options don't exist is that external analysis tools either ignore these connect subtleties or deal with them differently enough that they've held off providing them. This is likely a "documentation" versus "engineering" situation...just a guess on my part.

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?