When is a Room A Room...Already?

As I wrote my most recent post about rooms I wrestled with the fact that the title was a nice sequel to the post before it, yet the subject was not really the same topic, dealing with room errors. Thus this post was born…

So when IS a room a room, already? Since room tags are view dependant, only show up in the view you place them in, you will routinely add room tags to many views. As a design change occurs you are likely to make a change that will put your rooms and their tags at risk.

An example? You got it! Here’s my “BIG” office according to plan…


If my office gets cut in half into two smaller spaces, it is very possible that a room tag on one view is positioned in such a way that the same room is now in two different places according to the tags. After sketching a wall to cut the office in half, Revit shows this error.


When this occurs Revit stops displaying an area value (assuming the tag shows area at all) and offers “Ambiguous Location” instead.


If you select this ambiguous room tag you’ll see a button on the options bar, “Explain Error”.


This button will present you with a dialog box that offers the chance to fix the problem if you click Reconcile Tags. You can also get Revit to show you the tags involved, by clicking the “Show” button.


If you pick the view, from the list, that is correct,the tag that is wrong will move to the match the position of the correct tag.


I think this is really cool! Except for the part about my office getting so much smaller!!

Property Boundaries and Setbacks

Revit's Property Line feature works well to define the boundary of a project's site. It also works very nicely to define the required setback for each boundary. The trouble with this is you can't specify a different linetype for the setback because you can't assign the property line to different subcategories. Or can you?

The linework tool works very nicely for this, create a new Line Style, called Property Setback, assign a dashed line pattern and then use the Linework Tool to change the setback "property lines" to this new line style.

You can apply property tags to each property line object to display the overall property area and the "buildable area" defined by the code required setbacks.

Revit Structure: Miter a Steel Corner Connection

A feature I'd really like to see in Revit Building is lurking in Revit Structure.

From the help file:
"You can use the Cut Geometry tool to cut a structural member with a plane. For example, use Cut Geometry to cut a column to a certain height, or use Cut Geometry to stop a beam or bracing at a wall."

Another example, if you overlap two beams or channel and sketch a reference plane across the intersection you can use this command to miter the corners. Very cool! Now why didn't that make it into Revit Building I wonder?

If you own both, you can do this in Revit Structure and return to Revit Building and it preserves the condition. No guarantees how stable it would be if you modified it later though.

To Wiki or not to Wiki?

Beau Turner has started a Wiki project for ADT and Revit Building. If you aren't familiar with Beau he has a catchy titled blog, "Will Render For Food". There's a link to his blog on the sidebar of this blog.

I recall the notion of making a wiki for Revit came up just before the Zoogdesign based Revit community joined with AUGI. A member using the moniker, MAWI, suggested it first. As far as I know nothing came of that discussion. The subject came up again recently in the forums and it still sounded like an interesting project, but no traction again.

That is till now, apparently Beau is the kind of guy to do things instead of talking about them. Nice one Beau! Kind of like another guy I know, Chris Zoog. Gotta admire "can do" spirit! Even though I CAN feel jealous he actually started it, right? That's okay isn't it? Get over it you say...I'll try!

His site says if you are interested in helping to get it going to email him. If you are, what are you waiting for? Always wanted to be a writer? Here's your chance!

Here's a link: ADT/REVIT WIKI

It will be interesting to see how quickly everyone can build it? Maybe we should challenge the ADT Wiki? Hehe...


Read a more recent POST

When Is A Room Already A Room?

Revit room schedules are unique among other Revit schedules. They allow you to create a new room even though you may not have placed a single wall.

What are the implications of this?

Probably most significant is that you can enter the details of your client’s program into Revit early on, right at the beginning. Yes! Often the province of spreadsheets, you can do programming inside Revit. With the right collection of parameters you can replicate this kind of report inside Revit and as you start to work out the design you can assign these rooms from the program. When you run out of rooms, you’re done, you’ve “hit” the program, at least literally.

Another possibility is that you can set up a typical collection of rooms in your project template(s). Doing so means you don’t have to type them in every time (or at least as many). It might be a subtle attempt to standardize naming? It might be a subtle way to improve productivity and consistency. You be the judge!

If you are a “whiz bang” programmer you can even import the room data from an existing excel spreadsheet to fill out the Revit Schedule using the new Revit API. You can import values like names, the required/desired room area, budget expectation for each room, material requirement, department, occupant, use etc.

Some things to consider!

Oh...sorry...how? Just create your room schedule, when done, notice the NEW button on the options bar while viewing the schedule. A new room is added for every press of the button!

When Is A Room Not A Room?

It is really quite incredible how easy it is to create/identify rooms with Revit. Occasionally our enthusiasm for this can be tempered by a room that just won't behave. Here are some common causes for troublesome rooms: (for the sake of brevity this only applies to "Not Enclosed" errors)

• Overlapping walls, Room Separation lines or both


• Curtain Walls (not joining with other walls well)


• Room Separation Lines


• Openings created with the Opening Command (from Modelling design bar or menu)

Overlapping walls means what it sounds like, walls that overlap. Over each others ends, from a floor above down to a floor below or vice versa. Walls that cross over each other forming a "X" intersection also can cause problems. Same for Room Separation lines. Using Copy to Clipboard/Paste Aligned & Same Place or Current View can cause this when you don't realize a wall is already there, like a multi floor wall.

Curtain Walls join up with walls automatically normally but when we offset them we can affect how well they maintain the area boundary. Also curtain walls that are embedded in other walls will do better than cutting a hole in the wall and placing a curtain wall in the hole.

Room Separation lines should not be placed on top of other walls when things don't "work". Use them sparingly and primarily to define spaces where there are no walls, like a waiting area in a lobby. Take care to place Room Separation lines so they connect with the Loc Line of walls.

The Opening Feature seems pretty handy but does not maintain the area boundary of the wall it cuts. The quickest way to break room bounding is to use it for what really is framed openings in walls. Use a family built from a Wall Hosted Generic Model or Door Template as an opening instead. These will maintain the area boundary of the walls they are in.

That said, openings can be a great thing too, such as for an alcove in a corridor.



To troubleshoot, focus on these items. If one tag goes amiss focus on the boundary of that room. You can sketch a Room Separation line across a room to divide it in half and try to place a tag on either side. If you get an area value on one side but not the other, you can gradually move the Room Separation line closer to the side that isn't working until you isolate the issue.

If a whole plan goes haywire, start looking for openings in the walls that don't maintain the boundary or in otherwords, did you use the opening tool? Next look for overlapping walls, not just those that overlap in the X/Y directions but also in the Z direction.

If I've forgotten any let me know?

Lug Plug: LA Revit User Group

LA Revit User’s Group

When: Usually the third Tuesday of the month
Time: 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Where: Johnson Fain Partners, 1201 North Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012
(location will be announced prior to meetings until a regular location is secured)

Agenda:

October Meeting: Daniel Hebert of L.A.CAD will present Revit 8.1, and Tom Weir will present one of his Revit Structure projects.

November Meeting: Scott Davis of WLC is tentatively scheduled to give a presentation on Revit Building Detailing

Food: Dinner will be provided, compliments of Chuck Keeley of Autodesk.

Revit T-shirts will be available to new attendees! If you have any questions please feel free to call L.A. CAD at 877-87-LACAD and ask for Precious Yong.

All are invited and welcome to attend. We especialy would like to see user's with production experience that could present one of their projects to our group.

Note: This group is working on formal recognition by AUGI as a LUG. When complete their schedule and meeting announcements will be listed at AUGI as well.

"Info Lugs"

Worksets - Take Me To The Library

I like to use a Public Library as the metaphor for how Revit's Worksets allow many people to contribute to a single project. Why? It just fits well...at least I think so. Here is a quick reference to Workset terminology.

First, Revit's worksharing features are for just that, sharing. It is the tool that let's many of us work on the same project at the same time. A by product of worksharing is control over the visibility of worksets because Revit allows us to manage workset visibility in each view.

Back to the metaphor, in the image above Library terms are in black and the red ones are Revit terms. The library in this metaphor is the Central File, Revit's term to describe the main project file. The shelves in the library are worksets. The books are every object in the project, walls, doors, windows, sheets, views, linetypes, dimension styles, text, tags, design options...everything is a book.

Revit allows us to put some books on our own shelves (worksets) but for the most part Revit manages the shelves for things like views, project standards, content etc. So we never have to worry about putting text on the right shelf, Revit just takes care of that, they become part of the "Shelf" of the view they are placed in.

Our library card is a personal copy of the Central file, called a Local File. This library card tells Revit who we are and what books we want to borrow or have borrowed. The phrase "Synchronize with Central" (or SWC, a command) and "Relinquish Editable" (options for the command) is how we return our books to the library so others can read them. It also allows us to see what has been returned so we may borrow them now.

Assuming you are familiar with AutoCAD and working with External Referenced files? Imagine you could use in-place Xref editing on a dwg file while others were doing the same thing to different objects from the same file. If you could, that would be very much like what you can do using Revit's worksets. In a sense Revit manages a project at an elemental level while AutoCAD manages at the file level. With Revit we are able to move past the file "barrier" and reach into the individual elements that make up our building, books on shelves.

Worksets seem hard for new users for two reasons, new language and rules. In reality they aren't hard, they are new and/or different. Some of us just have a harder time with language and rules than others!

(this paragraph contains dated comments referring to Revit 8.0)
I like to refer to the recent improvements to Revit's worksharing tools as "the kinder, gentler worksets" because worksets just don't get in your face anymore. In fact it is quite possible now to work on a project that uses worksets and forget that you are.

If you have avoided worksets because of fear...fear not. If you have because you haven't had a need and the extra complexity seemed over the top? Venture in, the waters fine!

[Edited for Revit 2010 language changes]

How Do I Find Things Here?

Since I'm pretty new to this blogging thing and I'm slowly learning the ropes...it can be a little frustrating trying to figure out if there is anything you want to read here? Check out this little button at the top of the window.


Enter something like "Family" in the text box next to the buttons and see what the search yields. If you have something in mind and not sure if I've written about it, try the search. You might like it?

Just Leaders

It is a pretty common request to place a leader that has no text associated with it. Common enough, but not an obvious enough solution. This outlines how to use an existing family that Scott Brown made ages ago and shared at AUGI, in fact he most likely shared it before that when the forums were part of Zoogdesign. Even possible that he shared it at Alt.cad.revit. It's got some history...well traveled! Thanks Scott!! I can't post a file to share here as far as I know so I'll provide a link here to the thread at AUGI that has the file. If you log into AUGI first you'll just be prompted for a place to save the file, otherwise you be prompted to log in first. If you aren't a member, it is free!

Leader Only

Here's how to use it
Load it into your project File > Load From Library > Load Family


Drafting > Symbol > Choose symbol name: Leader Only


From the Options Bar, Select the number of leaders


After you place it, Select it, Edit Properties and assign the arrowhead type you want


That's it!

Got a LUG?

As Woody said in the movie "Toy Story", "Got A LUG yet?" "GET ONE!!" We'll that is sort of what he said. LUG = Local User Group and there are quite a few throughout the country and even some in other countries. AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) has a dedicated program and staff supporting LUG's. They have a portion of the web site for just LUG information. If you haven't seen this, here's your chance. Here is a link to the LUG page and search page at AUGI. You can search by region and lug name. (To use these you do need to join AUGI, it is FREE!)

AUGI LUG PAGE
AUGI LUG SEARCH PAGE

There are too many to list here and succeed in keeping this brief so I'm going to focus a little attention on my corner of the USA, Southern California. I've only lived here for a little over a year and half so I'm still learning my way around. There are five LUG's that I am aware of within a couple hours drive of greater Los Angeles. They are:

• LA Revit User Group
• South Coast Revit User Group (SCRUG)
• Revit User Group Inland Empire (RUGIE)
• San Diego's Revit User Group (RUG)
• Ventura Revit User Group

I call SCRUG my home but also attend RUGIE. I attend both whenever I'm home. I have every intention to visit the other three when my schedule permits, sooner than later I hope. While traveling I try to find a LUG to visit. I've been lucky enough to attend HRUG in Honolulu a couple times now. I've narrowly missed meetings in New York and San Francisco...rats! Wish me better luck next time!

Why join a local user group?

• Networking
• Meet other like minded enthusiasts
• Learn new tricks
• Pass along new tricks
• Find out something you didn't know about yourself, like being good at speaking in front of groups or taking on something larger than yourself and making it happen or making something good, better. (Beatles...Hey Jude!)
• Good Food and Drinks (no guarantees)
• Autodesk software door prizes
• Meet key Autodesk Revit staff and regional salespeople

You never know who you will meet and what you might learn by attending. Often it is something completely unexpected and something you probably wouldn't have had an opportunity to learn anywhere else. Seize the day!

Revit Blogs

There are couple more Revit blogs to mention:

David Light in the UK has one now called "Revit", here's a link:

Revit

A little more reading material!

P.S. If you are reading this, have a Revit oriented blog that I don't include in my Revit blog links on the side bar...let me know. I probably just don't know about it...sorry!

Are You My Mother?

Anyone remember that classic children's book? The story of a little bird falling from the nest and wandering around asking everyone and everything, "Are you my mother?". Well eventually that little bird does find its mother, so don't worry!!

So what does this have to do with Revit? Sorry!

Occasionally you get a family, say a truss, load it in a project and then you wonder...what kind of family was it? It is probably a structural family but which type? So the simplest thing to do at this point is just open the family in Revit. Once open, click Settings > Family Category and Parameters.


Then notice the category selected.


That's assuming of course that you haven't already placed the family. If you did then it is easier still...just hover your mouse over the object, take a look at the status bar or the tool tip that appears.

Double Click...You're In: A Text Tip

Every so often I see folks struggle with editing text. First they click the text object, then they click on the text...or maybe they don't and deselect it. Editing text is a double click away...just put your cursor over some portion of the text string and double click. The first click selects, the second enters edit mode. Even if you don't actually do a double click and just press twice the result is the same. For some reason it is a little "easier" if you think double click though.

Are You a Special Character?

Rather…do you want to use one? True Type Fonts have a great many characters and symbols that go beyond just the routine letters and numbers. Some have more than others. If you want to use them as part of your text in Revit you can use the Windows Character Map application to copy and paste them or make a note of the key combination to “type” them in.



Assuming you are in the process of either typing text or editing text...the “trick” is to use the numeric keypad, the ALT key and type in the number assigned to the symbol. First you enable the numeric keypad, then you press and hold the ALT key and finally type the number (diameter symbol for Century Gothic is 0216). When you let go of the ALT key the symbol appears.



Note, you can’t use the numbers along the top of the keyboard, you have to use the keypad area. Using a notebook computer, you’ll need to type the letters assigned to the NUM lock function.

Plain As The Nose...

Family editor tip: When you have a Type parameter that you can’t change to Instance in the Family Types dialog box because the modify button is inactive...



…don’t fret! Close the dialog box, select a dimension that is assigned to the parameter and take a look at the Options Bar.



Notice the check box next to Instance Parameter? There you go! Thanks to Steven Campbell for the wake up call! Sometimes the answer is as plain as the nose on your face!

It Takes All Types

Here's a tip for Family Editor's, using the Family Types dialog, enter a value into the formula field and click apply, then delete the value. Revit applies the value to all the family's types.

Bewildered...here's the background info...thought I'd get the tip out quick first? Yes, I'm quirky...

Working with Revit Families that have many types can be problematic when you need to work on them. You run the risk of breaking a perfectly good family when you don't make sure every type has the "right" value. So typically you have to switch to each type and enter a value, repeat, rinse till done.

A few moons ago I posted a wish at AUGI for a faster way to propagate parameter changes to all the types in a family. I suggested a button to do this. What happened is Matt Jezyk, one of Autodesk Revit's Product Designers who goes all the way back to Revit Technology Corp. days, replied with this killer tip. It is one I use very often and am grateful he shared it.

THANKS MATT!

(one caveat...you can only enter numbers into the formula field so it isn't going to work for text values unless you place quotes around the text like "My Value". One more...you must be explicit with units, you must define inches using the double quotes. Entering 0-4 will be treated as subtraction not 0'-4", you have to enter 4" to get the correct value)

8.1 Nugget for Family Editors

For those who spend a lot of time in the Revit Family Editor, a little golden nugget is lurking in the latest release of Revit. Prior to 8.1 if you renamed a parameter that was part of a formula(s) Revit would delete the formula(s) that used it, OUCH! This meant you had to very careful when making a change like this.

NOT ANYMORE! It's fixed! Now when you rename said parameter it gets renamed in the formula(s) automatically! Very nice!

Thanks!!!

Sneaky Buttons

Not those campaign buttons with pins but the button you push…or rather click with a mouse. There are a few pesky buttons in Revit that new users find strange. Lets take a look at em?

First up is the “EDIT” button, the long thin one you see when you visit the properties of walls, roofs, floors etc.

Yes it is a button even though it is really thin and long…don’t be afraid, click it! Don’t be fooled when you see this button lurking next to parameters like View Range, Visibility or Advanced Model Graphics either.

Next up, the material button. It is invisible until you do something, like click in the field that shows the material name. Again this is lurking in the properties of objects and in several locations.

After you click the area listing Default Wall as in the image above you see this:

Yes, again that little horizontal line with a down arrow IS a button too, clicking it will load up the Materials dialog

What’s next…hmm...how about the “LIST BOX” button? It looks like this before you do anything…

Pretty innocent looking, in fact you have no idea there is a button lurking here either, but as promised there is! Click inside the field and you should see this

Click on that little “V” and you’ll get this, a list of choices.

This little guy shows up all over the place, best get to be friends quick!

Anymore to talk about? How about the family editor’s link parameter button? That’s a good one too!

Talk about low profile and sneaky!! This one is lying in the bushes waiting to bite your ankle. Clicking on this button will allow you to choose a parameter to assign to the parameter the button shares a row with. In the image above this button is tied to the Offset parameter in the family, an instance parameter by the way…uh oh…here we go talking about parameters again.

Yet another…the “Corporal” (like the stripes an Army Corporal would wear)…actually the button is the entire blue bar yet the buttons are meant as a indication what will happen, namely the list will contract to hide the list of parameters in the group.

What? Another one? Yes there is, the little expand button for the Dynamically Modify View feature.

A little click and you get.

The dialog expands to show more options. Then if you click the button at the far right it contracts again.

Quite a few quirky buttons eh? Hope it helps!!

Smoot?

I was reading a fellow blogger's post tonight and thought I'd place a link to it just in case others might not visit his blog. It's a funny story about how we have another unit of measure, the Smoot!...check it out here:

Robin's Blog is a Smoot

[Category: Info, trivia]

buildingSMART (Get Over It)

It's a very SMART article written by Mario Guttman,vice-president and the Firmwide CAD Director for HOK. I really enjoyed it, and recommend you read it too. I'm not saying so just to try to impress him either, not that it would even work...

It is an article written for Lachmi Khemlani's AECbytes site. Here's a link to the article:

buildingSMART

Hope you enjoy it to!

Profiles of Structural Shapes

I've often wondered why there is no library of structural shape profile families. I still wonder why and I know I'm not alone...but I have made three families now including the type catalogs for them (C channel, HSS Hollow Tube and W -flange) They are located in the Revit Families forum at AUGI. Here's a link to the forum:

Structural Shape Profiles

Hope it helps!

AU 2005

By my count there are 32(ish) Revit Building and Structure classes at Autodesk University this year! Big numbers! Cool!

Last year I worked with David Conant during his Family Editor class. I wish I could say that I was more than a "Vanna White" to his "Pat Sajak" but I wasn't wearing a gown, but then nobody boo'd...that I heard! hehe... But I did turn the letters (slides) VERY WELL!

So this year I will be teaching a class (3.5 hour Lab) BD21-1L Autodesk Revit Family Editor: From the Beginning. I'm also very pleased that David has agreed to be a co-speaker in this lab. In fact this lab is meant to be complimentary to his class, BD35-2 Take Your Family to the Next Level.

I had hoped that the lab would follow David's class chronologically at AU, but his class follows the lab instead. So make sure you attend both regardless! The class titles make sense ordered this way though, eh?

Here's a link to my lab: BD21-1L: From the Beginning
David's lecture: BD35-2: Take Your Family to the Next Level

I'm looking forward to it!

Hope to see you there! If you see me and I don't see you...make sure we fix that!

[Fixed the links to the handouts that are now archived at AUGI. 12/31/09]

Is you Is or Is you Ain't

Are you confused? Okay, I mean are you confused about the “Is Reference” parameter of Reference Planes? If not, sorry I distracted you…

If you are, care to read on?

Am I assuming too much?
Do you know about this feature? If I am and you don’t, it is a parameter of Reference Planes, not in projects, only in the family editor. Here’s what it looks like in the properties dialog.



Now for the long winded explanation
When you choose an ”Is Reference” value you are telling Revit that this Reference Plane is the same as any other, in other families, by the same name. Big deal you say?

Let’s say you have a door in a wall and you’ve decided to make sure the door is 4’-0” from the nearest wall. (You’ve added a dimension and locked it)


When you later decide to use a different door Revit seems to know how to switch the doors yet maintain the same position.

Magical eh? Well sort of, “Is Reference” is the magic. You’ll have to trust me when I tell you that all stock Revit door families have “Is Reference” values assigned to each important Reference Plane. Okay, I know this is on the internet and you are supposed to believe everything you read on the internet but here’s an image to prove it, at least for the door in the image.

Notice there is no name value. This points out that a Reference Plane can be a “Strong or Weak” reference even if it isn’t named.

Oh great, introduced yet another concept without explaining it! Sorry, let me fix that now. Each Reference Plane can be “Strong” or “Weak”, in fact you can choose “Strong”, “Weak” or “Not a Reference” in addition to specific names like “Right”, “Top”, “Bottom”, etc.

A “Strong Reference” has the highest priority for dimensioning or snapping. That’s straight out of Revit’s help document! There IS good information there, don’t forget to check it out!

Ever notice when you dimension objects they offer you certain Reference Lines, yet tabbing sometimes offers you yet other options? This is “Strong” and “Weak” in action. A “Weak Reference” means you may need to use the tab key feature in order to use it for your dimension. Zooming in and out also affects how these two will act when you place dimensions.

Just remember that a “Strong Reference” gets your attention first when there are other, lesser, Reference Planes present.

Back to “Is Reference”, by choosing one of the predefined names (view descriptive) you are establishing two things, a “Strong Reference” and a common Reference Plane for Revit to use when you want to switch families.

If you don’t want a Reference Plane to take on such a role, don’t choose a name or choose “Not A Reference”. If you want your Reference Plane to be unnamed and play a lesser role than your “Strong” Reference Planes, choose “Weak Reference”.

Instance Parameters, Shape Handles and Is Reference

(Note: I forgot to include this part, many thanks to Steven Campbell for pointing out my oversight?)

[Edited 9/2/09: A reference plane's IsReference parameter can be weak or strong and define grips when paired with Instance Parameters since version 2009 and 2010]

As you may or may not know already, Revit can display grips (drag arrows) for parts of your family so you can stretch them manually within a project. This is true for parameters that are defined as instance parameters. When you make a Reference Plane and assign a Strong Reference or other named option (see list below) Revit will display these grips if you've added a dimension assigned to an instance parameter. When you choose Not a Reference the grips will not be available. If the instance parameter bit is confusing, check my earlier blog post What Are Parameters and Why Should I Care.


The ListHere’s a list of the predefined names you can use. (No, you can’t add your own)

Not a Reference
Strong Reference
Weak Reference

Left
Center (Left/Right)
Right

Front
Center (Front/Back)
Back

Bottom
Center (Elevation)
Top

I sure hope this hasn’t made it more confusing than it really is??

Revit 8.1 release must be close...

Ran across the following pdf at the Autodesk Revit Building pages at Autodesk's web site.

Revit Building 8.1 Features

I guess they must be getting ready to release soon eh?

Cinco de Mayo + 84

Some blatant self promotion...for a look at the recent formal announcement by Cyril Verley and CDV Systems of my affliation with his organization.

http://www.cdvsystems.com/press_20050727.asp

Shared Parameters - Part 3

Creating a shared parameter

In a previous post I wrote about what shared parameters are and why we want to use them. We’ve discussed how to make the shared parameter file itself. Now we can deal with actually making a parameter.

I wrote about what and why earlier but you still need to know what you want a shared parameter for. For the sake of this exercise I’ll decide for you. We are going to create a parameter for Undercut, that feature we talked about before. If you don't remember, it is a parameter that not only changes the family panel geometry, it reports a value in our project's door schedule.

We need to open up your shared parameter file right?
Activate the Manage Ribbon tab and click the Shared Parameters button

Click BROWSE and navigate to the file you created before! (Revit will offer whichever file was opened last by default)

It makes sense to put parameters that all relate to something in common in the same place. Enter the Group portion of the interface. A group might be Doors, Windows, Casework, Sheets, Plumbing or for parameters that cross over, a group called Cross Category. In this case let’s make a Group called Doors. A shared parameter file must have at least one group before we can create any parameters.

Click New

For Name, type: Doors
Click OK

Now that we have a group we have a meaningful place to create and store a parameter.

Click New
For Name type: Undercut

When you choose a name you have to really think about it for a bit. You need to be sure you are happy with the name because if you want to change it later you have to delete it and make a new one, start over completely. We can just rename a shared parameter easily whenever we want. It is definitely NOT something you want to do in a project half way through.

Why? Let’s say you add this parameter to fifteen door families and 10 projects. If you decide you like all upper case instead of title case and change it you’ll have to completely redo the work related to those parameters for all those doors and projects, assuming you want the change to be apparent in the projects.

Keep in mind that deleting a shared parameter from the shared parameter file (there is no live link to the shared parameter file) doesn't directly affect a family or project that already uses it. Only when you remove it from a family or project will it affect the existence of data.

Afterward, Click OK, then click OK a second time to close the shared parameter dialog.

What? Nothing to Say!?!

Writing to say that I've nothing to say...well nothing that's fit to print...

In the works however is the follow up to the shared parameter discussion where we actually make one and then use it.

I've also got a baluster template and rough tutorial simmering in the slow cooker...

My ace reporter Freddy Latherdon checked in yesterday, dressed as an old Cajun woman, and claims he's got a big story that he's tracking. Can't wait to see what that means?!? He mumbled something, that I just couldn't make out, just before chasing after a shady looking man in a mauve suit that was lurking nearby.

In the meantime Freddy's cousin, Artie, stopped by asking if he could borrow a couple hundred bucks. Seems he's got this lead on a great investment. Naturally I gave him three...can't pass up a good investment, after all he said it was a sure thing!

Overanout!

RSS Feed...copycat syndrome strikes again

Yes...to copy my other Revit blog brethren I've attempted to add RSS feed capability! Even though I don't fully appreciate the importance of such a move and showing my true naivete!

What are parameters and why should I care?

A recent conversation with a fellow Revit user suggested that my writing about shared parameters assumed too much perhaps...meaning that it assumes there is no confusion about the concept of parameters in general. So I thought I'd take a stab at explaining them...how well I do? You be the judge!

What are they? Why should I care?

They are the underlying information of all objects. They are how we communicate with Revit. They are the height of a wall, the width of a door, the thickness of a counter, the material of a floor, the elevation of a level and the scale of a view. Every piece of information you might wish to supply, change, schedule, calculate or study is a parameter.

We can group them in this manner...

Project Parameters: (Encountered in a project environment)

• System (type or instance)
• User Defined (type or instance)

Family Parameters: (Encountered in a project or family editor environment)

• System (type or instance)
• User Defined (type or instance)

Shared Parameters: (User defined and encountered in a project or family editor environment)

• Project (type or instance)
• Family (type or instance)

What’s this Type or Instance comment?

All parameters in Revit apply to either the kind or “type” of object you are working with or the individual “instance” of the object. A wall style whose “type” is 8” Masonry has “type” parameters that affect every individual “instance” of the wall while its “instance” parameters only affect a single wall “instance”. The thickness of the wall is a “type” parameter. Every “instance” of the wall will be the same thickness. The height of the wall is an “instance” parameter so each wall can have a different height if necessary.

To explain this stuff I feel you have to break the rule of not including the word you are defining in the definition. So to make up for it…I’ve used the words repeatedly and in a sentence at the same time!!

So what can I expect from each of these parameters?

System parameters: For either families or projects are those that Revit defines for us. We can’t change or alter the character of them except to provide different values for them. Every object in Revit has some system parameters.

Some examples: (parameter in quotes)

• Wall “Top and bottom constraint“
• Wall “Location Line”
• Floor Object Layer “Thickness”
• Casework “manufacturer”
• Window “width”
• Project “Name”
• Project “Client Name”
• View “View Scale”

User Defined parameters: Let us decide what information a family or project will have in addition to the system parameters.

Some examples: (parameter in quotes)

• Room “Occupancy Classification”
• Project “Issued Date”
• Project “Issued Description”
• Door “undercut”
• Door “jamb detail type”
• Window “Glazing Area”

It is important to appreciate that User Defined parameters, created in a project can appear in a schedule but not tags. Those created in a family, cannot be used in schedules or tags. This is where the next parameter type comes in…

Shared Parameters: In a way these combine the nature of system and user defined parameters. Shared parameters allow us to tell Revit we are talking about the same information whether it originates in a family or a project. They can be used to create a parameter in either a family or project to allow the information to be displayed in a schedule and/or tags.

When you create a parameter from a Shared Parameter, there is no link to the file they come from. Instead the shared parameter file permits you to tell Revit that you are referring to the same piece of information when you use it to create parameters. When Revit encounters a parameter in a family within a project that also uses the parameter it automatically knows they are the same. This allows you to schedule and tag objects.

Hopefully this helps!!

Making a Shared Parameter File

Creating a Shared Parameter file is only few steps. First you click FILE > SHARED PARAMETERS

Next you have to click CREATE

Last you need to decide what folder it should be in and name the file. DONE!

Revit Structure is Released

June 7th marks the day that Revit gets a "stronger" brother. Revit Structure is the new companion product for Revit Building. Check out www.autodesk.com for more information and the Revit Community Forums at www.AUGI.com to see the latest.

Sharing Parameters - An Overview

Ready? Here we go!

The big ultimatum!

If you use them everyone in your firm must use the same shared parameter file. Big office, little office, one man firm no matter. Makes sense right? No?...maybe we need to explain them a little more?

The Explanation!

Shared Parameters are how we can talk about a piece of information (use it in a project and a family) and tell Revit that when we use this parameter we really are talking about the same thing. Time for an example you say? Funny I was just thinking the same thing...

The Example!

A door often has a feature we affectionately call "Undercut", the portion of the door at the very bottom that hopefully doesn't catch on that throw rug in the hall. Let's say you like to schedule this piece of information and you want to also make the 3D geometry of the door family show a real undercut.

It's easy to make the geometry change right? Add a reference plane, a dimension...lock this or that and add a label...good to go. But what happens when you put it in a project? You can change the Undercut parameter in the family and see it change, no worries right? But now try to schedule it...no Undercut parameter in the field list. Why? The parameter is part of the family and the project doesn't know a thing about it.

Enter Shared Parameters to the rescue!!

Now if we back up and use a shared parameter in the door family when we apply a label to the dimension that constrains the undercut...guess what? We'll find that we now have a parameter to schedule when we load the door into the project. Why? Revit will bring a shared parameter along for the ride and allow it to be used in a project.

Umm...What if?

Now what about a door detail? If we want to schedule the relevant detail number for a door's jamb detail, that's something we aren't going to need in a family to constrain and flex geometry. It's just information right?

Time for...

Steve's Family Rule #(well, honestly, a little undecided about the number)
Shared parameters belong in a family only when it must appear in schedules AND constrain or flex the geometry in the family.

Family parameters are for constraints and flexing your geometry.

Checking for anyone sleeping!!

To add this Door Jamb Detail parameter to my door, I just add it to the door family and then load it into a project...good right? NOOOOOooooooo!!! You haven't been listening!!

Back to the Explaining!!

Information only parameters need to be added to the project and assigned to the door category as project parameters. This particular example doesn't even need to be a Shared Parameter because it doesn't need to be shared between the family and the project. It is only relevant in the project. Unlike the Undercut parameter which has a role in both the family geometry and the project schedule data. Think of the width or height parameters that are built into families as a system or native shared parameter that the "factory" builds for us. Shared parameters are the user created version of these.

Clear as mud?

Next should I outline how to actually do it?

The big Oh by the Way!!

When I proclaim you have to use the same file, it's very true. But you can have many files as long as they don't declare the same parameters. So you could have a separate file for doors and windows. But hey, why do that? They gave you the ability to group them in the same file already. Just being clear, you can use more than one file, just not for the same parameter. Oh...why? Because each parameter actually gets some code applied to it so it is unique in the world as far as Revit is concerned. In fact, don't edit the file outside of Revit...the file tells you not to! How do I know? Sorry I can't admit that I opened one and saw the warning...oops I just did?

The big Oops!!

If you mess up and lose the file, panic not! There is an option to export shared parameters from a project to recover. Better read the help docs for an explanation on this. I'm running out of ink!!

Cinco de Mayo + 1

This day represents a major turning point in my life. May 6th, 2005. It is the last day of my employee life and the beginning of my self employed life. Not since I left the roadie life and the Stevie Ray Vaughn tour has such a decision been so life changing.

This was my last day as a member of Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG). It took a great deal of courage on my part both to leave a great firm that gave me a lot of opportunities to grow and to walk away from everything that means.

I wish I could give some great "dirt"...like they were asking me to cross dress or use ADT instead of Revit but truth be told, they were great!! My direct boss Jim Balding was a great boss and we had fun working together...or at least I did! Our boss Larry Rocha was also a great boss to have.

Besides those in the Newport Beach office, I miss Danny Polkinhorn in Honolulu, a great programmer and all around nice guy, and the teams I worked with there as well as the folks in the London office. I've got to mention Scott Brown naturally, his recommendation gave me additional credibility when WATG asked to talk with me 14 months ago. He's a great Revit guru and a true early adopter like Jim and WATG. It was too bad when he ran off to the Orlando office because we didn't get to interact as much after that. I've said it already, but it's a great firm filled with talented nice people so it is easy to miss them for sure. I wish them and WATG the best and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with Revit in the coming years!

So now I embark on this path...wondering where it leads? Will it be fun? Will I have time or money to do the things I want to do? Will my family put up with me? All questions I'll have to answer later...but so far so good!! Wearing my bunny slippers to work on days when I'm not traveling is pretty cool!

Oh...so what am I doing? Why, Revit consulting of course! I'm working as a consultant with Cyril Verley of CDV Systems, Inc. Have notebook computer and Revit, will travel!

News at 9:48

!!BIMBLAM!!

A secret meeting has taken place in “Diver’s Paradise”!!. Bonaire, a little island in the Dutch Caribbean best known for its diving opportunities, was the host for this clandestine gathering. A group of executives were observed on a catamaran, in the sea Northwest of the island, near a favorite diver’s location known as Boca Bartol. Two members of this group were immediately recognized as top executives from Autodesk and Bentley Systems.

Later, in the evening, this group was observed in the Blue Moon Waterfront Restaurant, a local favorite featuring French and International cuisine. It was here that the purpose of this gathering was discovered.

Chief executives of Autodesk, Bentley, Graphisoft, @Last Software and Dassault are planning to create a super application, code named BIMBLAM. This application will combine all the power and knowledge of these corporations into the killer app the building industry is seeking. No explanation for the acronym BIMBLAM was mentioned.

BIMBLAM thank ya' man! What a discovery!

Representatives from each organization later denied that the meeting took place when asked and further, declined to comment on BIMBLAM, claiming that this story is preposterous. A representative of Nemetschek, from whom no one was seen at the meeting, said that a meeting such as this could not have taken place without their knowledge.

About the Author: Freddy Latherdon is a 54 year old writer who has the uncanny nack for being in the right place at the right time for a story. This time, diving with old drinking buddies from his days with the CIA placed him in the water just 10 yards from the catamaran in question. Clever sleuthing led him to the elusive meeting at the Blue Moon. Nearly discovered evesdropping when his false teeth fell into his wine, we continue to be amazed at his ability to get the story!

(ummm, yes you guessed it!...any resemblance to people, places or things, real or imagined is entirely coincidental!!)

(Credit to Billy Grey, fellow Revit user for the term Bim- Blam which served as subtle inspiration for this bit of fiction)

Astroturfing Discussed

Richard Binning discusses an internet blight in his blog recently. Don't let "Astroturfing" get you!

http://www.integr-8.com/besidethecursor/2005/04/astro-turfing-and-other-boorish.html

News at 9:48

Bentley Gets Bent!

Keith Bentley is mad, he's livid! Inside sources at Bentley headquarters in Easter, PA say that after reading the recent story of President Bush's endorsement of Autodesk Revit, he threw the paper out of his office window and stormed down to sales. He reportedly returned to his office still visibly perturbed and slammed his office door. He didn't re-emerge until late in the evening. Rumor has it he may be plotting to buy out Autodesk to squash that young upstart software.

You heard it here first!

About the Author: Freddy Latherdon recently moved to Easter, PA to get into the center of the cadd industry and we see it has already paid dividends. He sold his ex-wife's French poodle to the neighbors for an undisclosed sum. He hasn't told his ex...we wouldn't either... His ex-con butler, Belvedere, says Freddy can often be heard yelling at the phone, "Facts?!? Facts!?! You want facts? Fine!...I'll send you a facts! What's your facts number?"

(yup...nonsense too...you're pretty quick for somebody who browses the internets all day)

When Things Go Wrong...

Working with Autodesk Revit families can be confusing sometimes. Here are a few things that go wrong:

Profile does not contain a closed sketch: A profile family has to be a complete loop. If it sure looks like a complete loop, did you copy and paste sketch lines from another profile? Revit fails to acknowledge lines when you do. You'll need to create new linework over the "bad".

I picked the wrong category for my family: Pick the right one, it's not too late. Open your family, choose the Settings menu and then choose Family Categories and Types. Now choose the category you really wanted. Want an interesting trick? Build a non-hosted generic model family and switch it to the door category. You now have a door that won't require a host to place it. This is good for gates in railings.

Stuff doesn't stay put: You need to get friendly with ALIGN and LOCK. Not to mention their friend LOCKED DIMENSIONS. Also be vigilant about the current workplane.

Revit Wants to Delete Types: Several causes...

• Empty Values - You've left a parameter with a value of zero causing geometry to "not exist".
• A Bad Host - The host in the family isn't big enough to host the size of the family you are inserting or... not thick enough.
• A Formula is missing pieces - If you renamed a paramter in the family, Revit deletes the parameter from the formula. You need to recreate the formula entirely. OUCH! (FIXED in 8.1, now it renames the parameter in the formulas too)
• Values Just Don't Work -
  There is a value that makes the family break. Most often one value in a family that has several types has a value that is wrong, similar to the Empty Value above.

Unit Conversions go Haywire: Revit insists that formulas are using the same unit types within math operations. So you often have to consider how to convert one unit type to another. There are a couple handy cheat sheets at AUGI. (I'll track them down)

Can't Label my Dimension: You've got a dimension. You've got a parameter. Revit won't let you assign the parameter to the dimension. Most likely you have a value in the parameter that is different than the dimension value. Change the geometry so the dimension matches the parameter value or change the parameter to zero. Revit will let the dimension define the parameter value if it is set to zero.

Revit Complains That There Is Nothing To Show in the View: If you create a family that doesn't have solid geometry or Model/Symbolic lines visible in a plan view and you try to put this family in a project you'll get an error telling you that there isn't anything to see. Make sure you put something that is visible in the view you intend to place the object from.

That's enough for now...anything else I should include? Let me know!

News at 9:48

To follow up the great news story yesterday, thanks to a fortuitous turn of events, this author has discovered an image of President Bush's new home.

Part of the proposed new house that we wrote of yesterday, the image below depicts the proposed "loo", according to an architect with Lahng Phunni Nayme and Howe, LLC. Fearing reprisals for letting this image loose in the public domain, he anonymously made this post using the moniker, "SkiSouth" and claims to live in the "Great State of Confusion", which we all know to be Texas of course!


Exclusive Image of GWB's Loo Property of SkiSouth

About the Author: Freddy Latherdon shares a studio efficiency in Connecticut with his ex-wife's French poodle, Yentle. He likes to say, "There isn't a story that couldn't use a little distortion to make it more interesting".

(Again, nonsense, un-adulterated nonsense, our sincere and humble apologies to the good people of the Great State's of Texas and Confusion. Freddy asks that we quote him on his position on this claim, "I am insulted that you would call me a dulterater." I've never dulterated anything before, and I'm not sure what a dulterater is!)

News @ 9:48

Revit! President chooses design Software

At a recent gathering of dignitaries, President Bush was overheard discussing the new home he intends to build when his term in office ends. He spoke eloquently about the architect (Lahng, Phunni, Nayme and Howe, LLC) he hired, praising their great attitude, professionalism and use of cutting edge technology.

Then he mentioned the newest hot architectural software program, Autodesk Revit. He said, “This new Revit software is the “bees knees”, you’ve just got to see it in action!”. Then he called to his wife to join the small group and asked her to tell them what she thought when she saw the presentation. The President’s wife said, “I have to be honest, I was completely uninterested in what I thought I would see”. She continued, “Then the architect took me through my new home room by room, I was stunned”, adding “This Revit is going to change things!”

Change indeed! This is Freddy saying Overanout!

About the Author, Freddy Latherdon: Freddy is a distinguished writer and has written pieces for many notable publications. When asked recently about his long streak of ground breaking stories he replied, “I try not to let truth, facts or reality interfere with getting my story done”. That sums up what makes him a great reporter and we are pleased to share his work with our readers!

(Please note...this article is complete and utter nonsense, just in case you didn't figure that out earlier...)