Revit MEP - Panel Schedule Export

Panel schedules are a very special schedule. It is really multiple "schedules" compiled into one. In fact they aren't even called or located with schedules, they are Reports. These reports and their data are pretty well "trapped" in Revit. Thus far I know that you can:

Export to a cad file (from a sheet)
Publish to a 2D DWF (from a sheet)
Print to a PDF (if you have a pdf driver)
Capture an image (if you have software or just print screen)

A cad file format will result in a 2D lines and text.

A 2D DWF will...well, be in dwf or dwfx format. It doesn't offer much from this point unless another application can do "something" with the DWFx format.

Printing to a PDF will result in a pdf but you may also find that Revit stores an html formatted version first in this folder location:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Local Settings\Temp

Here's where it might get interesting. I was able to open this html file in the Open Office Writer application and it looked like this.

It is a table of data. Fwiw, I'm not currently using Office applications so I couldn't test bringing it into Excel or Word but I imagine you could have some success getting the data from the temp html file into them. When I tried to open the html file in Open Office Calc I got this.

You might also have some data extraction options if you use Adobe products but I'm not familiar with which one you'd need for the best options. I use Snag IT and there are some nice text capture add-ins for it that will permit you to select a panel view to extract the text but then you've got to spend some time reformatting.

They could make this easier?

Revit MEP - Tick Marks

For those of you who don't use wiring and show tick marks in your electrical plans...nevermind, sorry!

Tick marks are based upon external tick mark families. The stock families are found in this folder.


On the off chance you don't know what these are here's what they look like in use.

There is a separate category of family usage called Wire Tick Marks.


This means you can use a different tick mark than those supplied. Such as "the squiggle".

Or "the ground".


If you haven't noticed these options they are found under Settings menu > Electrical Settings > Wire.


Hope this "tickles" your fancy...

Egress Family Video

Michael Bass with Microdesk started a blog called Building Informed Models that contains videos for a variety of Revit related tasks. He just posted a video explaining the basic concepts involved with making the tag and the line based family that I used with my Egress Family examples that I've posted here at various times. Videos are great vehicle for explaining concepts, check them out.

Revit MEP - Change in Management

Kyle Bernhardt let us know via his blog and a post at AUGI that he's accepted a new position within Autodesk, Product Manager, AEC Sustainable Design. This means that Autodesk is looking for someone to take on the position, you can refer to the offer HERE.

Kyle set a great standard for blogging and his commitment to Revit MEP and I for one will miss it. I hope that they find someone equally committed!

Thanks Kyle for the hard work and all the best in your new position...once they let you start it!

Curtain Walls - Fun Stuff by Other Bloggers

It is considered ill form to just blog about stuff other bloggers are saying or doing but in this case I don't care! I find the stuff that people "cook up" in Revit to be interesting and I'm motivated to call attention to these three, two "Dave's" and a Craig.

Craig started it all with his POST at iRevit.

His inspiration was:

I recently attended a panel discussion at Siggraph 2008, where Enrique Rosado discussed his work with Viennese Sculptor Erwin Hauer. Hauer explored continuous perforated modular structures that as architectural panels, expanded into infinite surfaces with escher-esque qualities.

David Baldacchino picked up the ball with his POST at Do u Revit?
David Light then picked up the ball and ran with his POST at his Revit blog.
Then he ran a bit more with this POST.

Check out their posts and see what inspiration they provide? If me just writing about them doesn't inspire you to visit their blogs then does this little collage do it for you?

DWG Import - Lines Nearly Vertical/Horizontal are Changed

Revit alters the lines in a imported cad file if they are very nearly horizontal or vertical. It has done this for quite some time. It isn't clear if it isn't a problem very often or if it isn't noticed very often. I'm reminded of this issue by a recent post at AUGI naturally.

In this instance a member wrote that a property line (in a cad import) whose bearing is 89 degrees 57 minutes and 56 seconds is altered by Revit to simply 90 degrees even. The cad file isn't "changed" but what we see of it in Revit is.

If you use Revit's Property Line tool and opt for the Table of Distances and Bearings method you'll find you can create a property boundary that is faithful to the documented bearing data.


And the dialog itself with the resulting property line.


Aah...Trust...a database or cad file is only as reliable as we believe we can trust it to be. Once upon a time people trusted that the earth was flat. That proved to be false, I think. I haven't been in space myself so I have to trust that the astronauts and scientists who say they have been are telling me the truth. Now I know that the moon is round but I don't know that it is in fact a globe because I've never seen the "back" of it. I've never seen it spinning. My life experience and acquired knowledge tells me it is a globe but assumption and belief doesn't prove it. Anyone who enjoys Robert Heinlein's books would recognize that last little bit.

Importing cad files and "seeing" nothing to cause us to doubt the accuracy of the import permits us to work with the belief that everything is fine, trustworthy. But when we discover an inaccuracy regardless how meaningful or meaningless the issue really is it places doubt in our minds. This doubt is usually worse than the actual problem we've found.

As we transition from 2D methods to 3D methods and embrace the promise of Building Information Modeling (BIM) we need to be able to trust the data. This is much bigger than just software. It has to do with each person that comes into contact with the data, the model. Our contact must be done with this issue of trust in mind so that we don't invite doubt. When doubt exists our work must stand up under close scrutiny.

Percentage of Gross

In a database environment we can create a query that asks questions of data stored in tables or other queries. In this Revit is a little different. We can ask questions (queries) of tables (element categories) all day long but we can't ask questions of the answers to previous questions...or in database terms a query of a query.

There is one example in Revit that is already wired to permit such a result, a percentage of another value, such as Room Area. In this example I've made a little tiny project, created a schedule and added a calculated value to the schedule. This is the final result of the schedule.


This is the properties of the calculated value.



Any parameter's data type, based on what you include in the schedule, and tell Revit to Calculate Totals will be an option for consideration with "Percentage" selected. For example these are my choices if I also include Perimeter and Volume in the schedule.

Shared Coordinates and the "other" trades

My posts in the past on this subject have focused on the use of Revit Architecture. The architect tends to get started down this road first so it makes some sense, to me at least. The natural evolution of this issue is, "What does a Revit Structure or Revit MEP team do when confronted with the use of these features (Shared Coordinates)?

First of all let's explain that there are two methods available to describe the true elevation and position of a project. The first is abstract, simply telling Revit that the building is really at a different elevation and/or rotation relative to true north and sea level. The second is not abstract, we actually move the building to the actual elevation and location on a site.

The abstract method allows us to "tell" Revit what we want to display for elevation and orientation while the other requires us to actually put the building at the correct elevation and orientation. I've written about the process that is used for either in previous posts.

Let's define the steps that RST and RME users ought to use to properly coordinate their project file with the RAC model(s).

Family Editor Tutorials - Autodesk's Latest

With the release of Revit 2009 there is a revamped compliment of tutorials and datasets. You can download them from HERE.

This is screen capture of the portion of the page you'll be visiting.

Recommendation - Avoid Save to Central Error

In this POST I mentioned a recurring error that Autodesk finally sorted out. The AUGI Topic that prompted my earlier post received a contribution from Andre Carvalho that demands repeating.

If you'd like to avoid the error completely, Externally Reference any file you need in your Revit project into a blank AutoCAD file first as an attached external reference. This means that the file that Revit links does not change, only its external reference.

Managing Links - Menu versus Project Browser

This pertains to Revit model files only. One relatively new feature that I've been slow to recognize myself and during training is the Link information available within the Project Browser. I seem to prefer the dialog. I suppose my excuse might be that I'm often dealing with linked DWG (sometimes DGN) files too and those aren't available on the Project Browser, though that was my original wish...not for Revit links (not that it is bad to have them).

To be specific I'm referring to the File menu > Manage Links dialog.

Versus

The Project Browser and Right Click approach when you select the "Top of the Tree", Revit Links will yield an option to open the Manage Links dialog.

When you Right click on a listed Linked File instead and you get this menu.



The tools are the same only the route taken varies. Take the road you prefer...?

[FWIW, For this post I used a model (and its links) belonging to a client that asked me to poke around and give them some advice. That's why I've blurred the "sensitive" file names etc...to protect the "innocent".]

Copy/Monitor - Walls

The Copy/Monitor Tool is handy for helping others start work by acquiring the same Levels and preliminary Grid layout. Then Coordination Review helps us keep these coordinated.

The Tabs in the C/M dialog start from the most "important" or "likely" to use to the "least". That's my perspective about that.


Walls don't C/M very well at this time because Revit forces walls to align via the Wall Centerline Location Line, regardless of Location Line settings applied or in use in either model. What we really "want" for example is to allow RST to C/M RAC walls and map the multi-layered RAC wall to just a RST structural wall type. Doing this breaks down because of the Wall Centerline alignment.

The workaround suggested by Autodesk for the time being is this:
Don't duplicate the walls using C/M feature. Instead, manually draw the structural wall and then use Align to the Location Line of the linked .rvt wall. Once done, you can “Monitor” only feature. By doing so, Revit will remember the offset distance between the center lines of manually drawn walls and the linked wall. it is a pain to have to do it on each pair of walls.

The other gotcha is openings in walls. The overall geometry of the window/door creates the opening in the C/M wall which means it is too large an opening in most cases.

AU-Unconference - Call for Topics now Open!

This announcement went live on BLAUG today!

Last year, we introduced the un-conference concept to Autodesk University. Participation numbers where all over the map but most everyone who joined one of the un-conference sessions, liked it. We called our group of 20 plus classes AU-Unplugged and we would like to offer it again this year. If you have a topic, you would like to “deep-dive” with a small number of AU attendees, submit a topic now. [Red Button]

This year's AU will have almost 650 structured sessions, carefully selected by Autodesk divisions and the AU team. Most classes are focused on helping attendees get more productive with our software. AU attracts a great number of industry experts and power users that have much to share with the AU community. Much of their knowledge would be difficult to package into a regular AU session. However, we strongly believe in the value of that knowledge and we will provide a venue this year to allow for sharing that knowledge. A lot of learning at AU does happen “in the hallway” and we believe that providing a room, a projector and a microphone, some of those conversations can be moved into a session room and more folks can benefit from the conversation.

Basic rules of engagement for AU Unplugged are:

o Any topic related to your industry or Autodesk is fair game

o Absolutely no selling or promoting of any product

o No lectures—only discussions

Each session is scheduled for 50 minutes. In most cases, the session leader will start out introducing the topic. Each participant in the room will do a quick 10 second introduction. All this should take about 10 to 15 minutes. Once the stage is set, the session leader will start asking questions and directly solicit comments and opinions from those in the room around topic. The value of an AU Unplugged!—or any un-conference for that matter—is that the line between presenter and audience is blurred. At an un-conference, there are only session leaders and session participants. A session leader has to prepare and is expected to set the stage for the session, but it is likely that the leader learns as much from the participants as the participants learn from the leader or each other.

AU Unplugged! will run concurrently to other AU classes. Unlike regular classes, you are not able to sign up for a particular AU Unplugged! session. Sessions are on a first come, first serve basis and each session will be limited to 40 participants to allow for good dialog.

The deadline to submit your topic is October 17, 2007.

Save and Save to Central Error Message

Teams that use worksets and link multiple Revit models started enduring this message a little over a year ago, around the release of 2008 methinks.


Autodesk finally pinned it down to this:

If a linked RVT file contains a linked DWG (or other "CAD format") file, and the DWG file has changed on disk since the last time the linked RVT file was saved, then when the linked RVT file is loaded (as a link) the DWG file is reloaded which Revit interprets as a modification.

If this seems vaguely familiar, Dwayne Lindsey posted about the newly minted Known Issue at Autodesk on his Blog Revit Arch-Center. I'm reposting because I read and responded to a question at AUGI and a couple clients were bumping into it recently. I thought why not echo it again...again?

If the dwg file is reloaded into the linked model or if the linked model is opened and saved the issue should not generate the message until the dwg file is altered again. If the file is NOT a "Link" then it wouldn't generate the message either. So that might be an argument to not listen to my normal advice to use the Link option with DWG files. Make rules and then break them is my "motto" 8-).

Proper credit to the guy I first heard nail it down, John Vogt with HOK St. Louis. John 'splained it to me at the HOK Cad Work Session I attended back in May. Sure enough he was correct! You are the MAN John! Cheers! I'll buy you a beverage next time around!

[I stole the image from Dwayne's post because I can't recreate the error in the latest build of Revit 20080602-1900, thanks Dwayne!]

[Amended: Andre Carvalho added this suggestion in a thread at AUGI:
The way I found it works nice, is avoiding to link the DWG that someone is still working. Instead of that, I first create a blank CAD file, XREF the DWG that someone is working and save in another folder. This new DWG will be the file I will bring into Revit. Because it has an XREF from the original file, I still can see the changes made in it when I open Revit, but because no one is actually opening it, working on it or saving the DWG I've created, I never get that message anymore...]

Quick Tips - Cut/Copy/Paste - Paste Aligned

It is never a bad idea to remember to basics like these:

Windows Standard Shortcuts
Copy to Clipboard = CTRL + C
Cut to Clipboard = CTRL + X
Paste From Clipboard = CTRL + V

Paste Aligned
Think "Paste Special" in Excel if that helps...special paste options.
a) Edit Menu > Paste Aligned > Current View
b) Edit Menu > Paste Aligned > Same Place
c) Edit Menu > Paste Aligned > Pick Level Graphics
d) Edit Menu > Paste Aligned > Select Level by Name...
e) Edit Menu > Paste Aligned > Select Views by Name...

Explanations for each:
a) Current View will paste model or annotation elements into this view assuming you copied elements from some other view (or the same view technically).

b) Same Place will paste something back in exactly the same location. For example you want to move something from one design option to another. Cut to Clipboard while editing the one option and Paste Aligned > Same Place while editing the other option.

c) Pick Level Graphics will let you select one level to paste model elements on. For example select columns on Level 1 and use this option to select Level 2 or 3 or 4.

d) Select Level by Name will do the same as above (with Model Elements) but will let you choose multiple Levels from a dialog (Morerer fasterer)

e) Select Views by Name will let you paste 2D/Annotation Elements from one view into multiple other views by selecting from a dialog.

Thanks to Behzad from Kelar for the inspiration for this post and his quick tip about the using zero (0) with Paste...which is...

Let's say you need to alter a floor slab to indicate where one pour will end and another will start. You have one overall slab that needs to be two pieces. Bezad's example was focused on different phases. Edit the existing slab. While in sketch mode select the sketch segments you want in the "other" pour and Copy to Clipboard. Alter the sketch so the existing slab now represents the first "pour".

Now create a new slab and use Paste to place the sketch that you Copied to Clipboard earlier. When Revit displays temporary dimensions, you can enter zero (0) to "tell" Revit to paste at the original coordinates of the elements that you copied to clipboard. The sketch lands on top of the original slab location which can now be altered for the extents of the second "pour". Equal result as using Edit Menu > Paste Aligned > Same Place but you didn't have to go all the way up to the Edit menu.

Three Laws - Content Creation

Not to be confused with Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics", I first heard of the so called "three laws or rules" of software development from my father who spent many years working at IBM. These so called laws simply represented a philosophy about how to get something accomplished as efficiently as possible for the least cost (not always in terms of cash either). When I read Code Complete by Steve McConnell he mentioned the "Buy-vs-Build Decision" that developers should consider as they design/develop an application. It might seem radical to buy a solution when you are focused on making something yourself.

I've personally kept these in mind when thinking about content for Revit and even AutoCAD/ADT/Microstation before that.

Law One - Borrow
Law Two - Buy
Law Three - Build

Law One - Borrow
I can hear the cynic saying, "you mean steal". I'm sure that has happened too often. However the idea of borrowing what has been shared made the early adopters of Revit very special to me. Their willingness to make something that took them several, many hours in some cases, and make it available to others was and remains refreshing, altruistic. Guys like Chris Yearick (Yman), Scott Brown (sbrown) and Chris Zoog (czoog) to name just a few, their AUGI usernames in ().

Have you used the "All Windows" families found at Revit City? Chris Yearick (Living Places part of The Pilari Group) made those many years ago now and posted them freely at RUGIE (no longer in existence) and they found their way into the Revit City content as well as AUGI's Exchange and other places I'm sure.

Scott Brown (now with Beck Group) shared his office template as well as many standard office/product detail components and views which short circuited the time someone need to spend on their office template substantially.

Chris Zoog (now with HOK) started Zoogdesign and created a vibrant community resource for Revit discussion. It eventually merged into the Revit community forum at AUGI.

More recently an AUGI member known as CadKiller has made an ftp site available to share templates in the same spirit.

Law Two - Buy
There is something to be said for the education of making something yourself but if you can't perform billable work during that time it may not make economic sense to do it yourself. It may not make sense to have anyone in your employ do it either for the same reason. Worse yet all too often I find that a firm's different offices have made the same content themselves without realizing that someone in their own organization already made it or bought it. So communicating what is available is pretty important too...and another topic entirely.

Law Three - Make it yourself
Like I wrote above there is nothing quite like making something yourself for both satisfaction and reaching a fuller understanding of the Family Editor. At times this is the best solution or perhaps the only "affordable" way to get precisely what you want. Just be prepared to apply these same "laws" to how you acquire any knowledge you lack, maybe in a different order?

Here's to being "Law" Abiding!

Wish - Mass Floor Selection Dialog

Most of the time I want to select all or nearly all the levels in my project when using Mass Floors. It would be nice if the dialog offered a ALL and NONE selection button to make it faster. Similar to other dialogs like the Filter Dialog for example. Here's what I'm thinking...


In the meantime I just select the first level, press the Shift Key and then select the last Level. Then I check any level's check box...same thing only different.

IES Virtual Environment - Revit Plug-In

This has been mentioned several times in various blogs but I thought I'd echo them..echo....echo.

Remember if you are using RAC 2008 or 2009 you can take advantage of their free VE-Ware plug-in. Here is a screen capture of their web site page dedicated to Revit.


This is text from their VE-Ware download section:

VE-Ware - Free software for yearly energy, carbon and Architecture 2030 Challenge assessment. You can also try a licence for the easy-to-use VE Toolkits, but not the whole suite.

Recommended for: New Users and Architects etc. who want straightforward performance calculations.

Install process: You’ll need to register and Download VE-Ware (54Mb) here
(For ease of deployment, a single file installs VE-Ware with both the SketchUp and Revit Plug-ins)

Opaque Text Exports

This THREAD at AUGI elicited a useful bit of information, like many do. Steve Faust writes in response to a post that Revit is exporting dwg text poorly.

"It's an option in ACAD to have "Background Masking" which is essentially the same as opaque text in Revit. Revit is trying to keep the export looking the same as your Revit drawing as much as possible. If you want opaque text in Revit but not in CAD, you'll need to open the Autocad drawing, use Quick Select to grab all the mtext, and turn off background masking in the properties panel."

This is a screen capture of the topic in AutoCAD 2009's help documentation:

Thanks Mr. Faust!

Corner Mullion Leg Calculator - "L" Corner Mullion

Regarding defining a precise inside mullion width at corners of curtain walls: Craig Thomas with Leo A. Daly shared this concept with me. It goes something like this: (Craig writes)

I did some experimenting and found I could make the “L Corner Mullion” work to my satisfaction (your expectations may be different) for angled curtain walls. (Craig wants to define the inside edge exactly) This is what I found.

If you know the angle between the two curtain walls (A), the desired width of the mullion along the face (in my case 2 ½”) and ½ the frame depth (y), you can calculate how long to make each leg on the mullion (X”)(see image below – from Type Properties of “L Corner Mullion”). Here’s the formula:

X” = 2 ½” + (y * tan(90-(A/2)))


At first it may look like a lot of work, but with the calculator on your PC you can easily do the math. Then save the mullion based on the angle. In my example, I had a 7” deep mullion at 150°, with 2 ½” exposed in the corner.

I named it “L Corner Mullion – 150 degrees”.

Steve says, "You can enter this formula in the Leg 1 and Leg 2 field directly too! and make sure you use inches!!"


This is the result in the project:



Thanks for sharing Craig!!

I thought I'd "pile on" and add something to this concept. I built an annotation symbol that consists of parameters to enter the data required for the formula and does the calculation for you. Place the symbol next to your corner. Enter values, get the result. Then you can edit the mullion, create a new type and enter the values.
If you'd like to play with this you can download the file here!

Wish - Calculated Values in Tags

This is a common wish. We want to be able to DISPLAY calculated values not only in schedules but also in tags. Right now lacking this feature makes me feel like this guy!



Thanks to this site for the image.

Amended 09/11/08 - Per the comment, note that I'm asking to DISPLAY a calculated value in a tag. I'm not telling anyone how to accomplish it. I'm asking to be able to use a tag family to report a value that is the result of a calculation in a project relative to any element.

Floors - Voids and Various Rumblings

[Note: The 2010 release of Revit has resolved this issue.]

I wanted to use a floor hosted family to create a "waffle slab". Simple idea really, just create a four void blend cluster that could easily be placed in a "thick" floor slab to result in a waffle slab. In experimenting with it I discovered that the floor volume is not altered unless the void cuts both the top and bottom planes of the floor. If the void only removes some of the floor material it does not alter the floor volume at all. Here is an image as an example.


Using Revit now for a little over six years I've managed to convince myself that it wasn't always this way...but I can't be too sure anymore as my memory isn't what I used to remember it to be. I also tried the trick of using it in an In-Place family too...no difference. Ideally a void ought to subtract volume from a floor regardless.

A second issue with this approach is that if it is used in conjunction with a floor slab created by Revit Structure that uses the metal decking profile feature...the void family will kill the display of the profile for the entire slab.

These two issues "killed" this approach for me, shame too as it would have been "easy".

A third oddity before I go, regarding the new Mass Floors feature. If you try to create a Calculated Value that uses the Floor Volume parameter Revit will reject it as an invalid parameter name. Trouble is that it is a system parameter! Here's a couple images that depict the issue.

When you examine the parameter heading value under the Formatting Tab in Schedule Properties you'll find an "extra" space at the end of the parameter name. It's my guess that this is getting Revit annoyed.

Oh all right, since I'm on a roll one more...this is hardly the only such element with this issue but you can't tag a floor with Area, Volume or Perimeter data even though the element clearly knows what they are.


Per a comment I've POSTED the file if you are interested in the "waffle" family though it doesn't really "work" for the reasons that I listed above.

Using Revit is Safer than This!

These two images were acquired from this site. These guys are lucky to be alive, assuming they still are!


The old "level the scaffolding with whatever you find lying around trick"!



Thanks to this site for the image.

Un-Conference Encore - AU2008

I have it on very good authority that Autodesk University will run an encore performance of the very well received "Un-Conference Sessions" at Autodesk University 2008. I moderated one last year about advanced family editing that I'm told received the most "let's do it" votes. I don't know that it lived up to the hype but I enjoyed the discussion.

A recent thread at AUGI brought this up and I checked in with my contact at AU. Stay tuned to BLAUG this week for more details.

I've been kicking around a couple ideas for sessions. One about multi-discipline collaboration and another focused on organizing "our" priorities about what "we" want Autodesk to do. If I end up submitting something you can tell "me" how badly you want to do it by voting when they go live.

Door "Templates"

Some time ago I mocked up a few "template" family files that were configured for some common door situations I ran into. I call them templates because that's how I used them but I never bothered to change their file extension to .rft.

They had the 2D plan display that I wanted but no 3D panels since that was what I seemed to keep changing all the time. These represented a way to get "up and running" from scratch a little quickererer. When I needed a new door with a "special" panel I just grabbed one of these, added the panel, then loaded it into my project and got back to work.
These examples include the 2D swing family I created as part of my Autodesk University lab. I posted the handout for that HERE earlier. They also include a pair of extra reference planes that define the "required" offset from adjacent perpendicular walls so that a user can use the Align Tool to position a door very accurately easily according to this "standard" setting.


There is an Inset parameter to allow moving the door in and out of a wall.

I upgraded them to 2009 and posted them HERE if you are interested in tearing them apart.

Wish - Stair Configuration

We need the stair and railing tool to support the creation of this sort of stair type more easily!


Thanks to James I found this image on THIS SITE, some crazy stuff here!

Revit Web Library/Libraries

Autodesk posted the content libraries for Revit Structure and Revit MEP on their Web Library Site. This is in addtion to the Revit Architecture content that has traditionally been available here.


Note you can access the content for older versions of Revit by clicking Archived Libraries.

They have also added a link for the new Autodesk Seek Content.

Worksets as a "Security Guard"

Just remember when you use the Workset feature as a "security guard". It works only a little bit better than this fence!



Thanks to this site for inspirational "Revit" images!

Working in the Central File - Breaking the Rule

You've probably been warned a multitude of times to stay out of the central file. You may have even had this angry baby tell you off? When is it okay to work in the central file? Never...except...

Keep in mind, most of these examples should only be done while others are NOT working in local files!

Security Guard mode - You want to make Revit interfere with users who seem determined to delete or move important elements repeatedly. This can be done by checking out a specific workset like Shared Levels and Grids for example. Then when you STC you "refuse" to return the User-Created Workset. This should be done in the central file using a special username, different than the rest of the team like Super Admin for example. Keep in mind that this is merely a modest hurdle for an experienced user to get past but it should deter the average user enough to point out that they were getting in harms way.

Managing Linked Files - Linked cad files and Revit models have a way of "disappearing" when they are managed in local files. At issue is the assumption by Revit that a linked cad file or Revit model should not be loaded into other user's local files for them. Revit expects the user to decide when to load them. If these linked files are managed in the central file the changes to the central file are taken more "seriously" by Revit when others use STC to publish and acquire any changes to the project. Users should avoid using File Manage links in local files. Use Visibility/Graphics or Temporary Hide/Isolate to manage the short term visibility of linked data files instead. Naturally any such links that are not needed should be removed as soon as possible.

Making a new Central File - You can use Detach From Central (DFC) to create a new central file instead but it still involves at least selecting the original central file. If you don't use DFC then you use File menu > Save As > Click the Options Button and check the option: Make this a Central file after save. This dialog option:


Note: You can also use DFC on a local file.

Working by yourself - If you are the only person working on this project routinely and you just want to take advantage of collateral benefits of using worksets then you can just work in the central file. There is nothing wrong with working in a local file instead however and it is even a good idea as it gives you some additional redundancy should something go wrong with your network or computer(s).

Clean Up after Others - Sloppy workset use means lots of elements on the wrong worksets. It is easiest to clean up after everyone when nobody is working in any local files. Open the central file, borrow every workset and get to work.

[Tip: Check all four workset "show" check boxes, select any workset, then use keyboard combination CTRL + A to select All worksets, then click the Editable button.]

When you are done be sure to STC and return everything you borrowed.

Did I forget any? Lemmeno!

Central File in "Four Easy Steps"

Step One - Good Location/Name (server folder and nice name)
Step Two - Enable Worksets (adds two parameters to DB)
Step Three - Save your Work (commit the DB changes)
Step Four - Synchronize with Central (SWC, return your "books")

If you scroll first you'll realize that these four easy steps seem quite long. It takes me some time to explain them but they don't in practice. The variable in how long it will take has to do with when you decide to start the process. Doing it earlier with little in the model will take less time than later with most of the project modeled.

Edit April 21, 2017 - The above is still true conceptually. With the release of Revit 2017 this process has changed a bit. Please refer to THIS NEW POST instead.

Step One - Good Location/Name

File Menu > Save or Save As - Browse to your server and project folder. Use a "good name". This is the most important step, if done incorrectly you can still fix it now. If you wait until after step three, you have to "start over".

Keep in mind, a central file must be created in the correct folder at the outset. If you create a central file in the wrong folder and then try to move it Revit will regard the file as a Local File instead. That might be confusing but that is how Revit is "wired". It records the original folder location and if it is moved the file is treated as a Local File instead.

Similarly you must use the name you really want, now...no changing your mind or the same thing happens, Revit considers the new file a Local File.

Pick your location and name carefully and then act. If you make a mistake, Fix it NOW...assuming you realize it is wrong.

Step Two - Enable Worksets

File menu > Worksets or Worksets Toolbar > "Puzzle Icon"

Revit opens this dialog to confirm your intentions.


Clicking OK causes Revit to add two parameters to every item in the database, Workset and Edited By. Using the Library metaphor I like, this is the "book shelves" and the "library card" user information. It will take less time to do this step if done early in the project. It takes longer the more "model" there is to process.

I recommend you keep the two default worksets that Revit offers you. If you need others you can create them once Revit offers you this dialog box (as soon as it finishes adding the two parameters to the database).


Revit won't let you delete "Workset1" now or in the future. You can rename it but you might find yourself confused later if you want to delete "that" workset and Revit won't let you. For this reason I tend to keep it as a "catch-all" workset for items that I can't decide how to organize yet. You can delete "Shared Levels and Grids" if you like or rename it but again it serves an "obvious" role. Obvious worksets work better as a organization tool.

Step Three - Save your Work

File menu > Save - This is your last chance to "run away". This dialog confirms that you are going to commit your changes to the database and your project will become a real "central" file.


This commits the changes to the database structure that we made in the previous step. The file is now a Central File and you've gone beyond the point of no return. Any changes to the file location or name are going to require special action on our part to keep our team collaborating.

Step Four - Synchronize with Central (SWC)

When we started this process, once we moved beyond Step Two we became the "owner" of everything in the database. When we did Step Three Revit returned most of the elements we borrowed for us but it did not return the User Created worksets. We need to STC in order to return everything so that the whole team can begin working on the project. This is the dialog Revit presents to SWTC when you use the File menu > Synchronize with Central. Note that you don't get a dialog when you use the toolbar button instead. That is a quick SWC and it does not return User Created worksets either.


Note the check in User-Created Worksets and the comment. Do yourself and anyone else who works on your project with you a favor, add a comment. Put something meaningful in each time you bother to SWC. This helps track down a problem later or to determine how far back to go when you must start "over" again at an earlier point in the project's design phase. These comments are visible when using the File menu > Show History or Backups features.

You now have a Central file ready for your team to begin collaborating!

Okay...you got me! There is a fifth step!

Step Five - Close the Central File!

File menu > Close - This closes the central file and from now on nobody should work directly in the central file, as a rule. There are exceptions to the rule but that is a different post.

Now on to creating your Local Files!

Revit Workset Quick Reference

Revit Building or Revit "Sweet" - A Survey

Hi...as you probably know already, I don't like surveys...unless they are mine.

We currently have three versions of Revit; Architecture, Structure and MEP. You all know this unless you've just found about this new Revit thing recently. Glad you've been jarred out of your current software doldrums (uh oh, getting dangerously close to picking on other software and its users).

This is my point! Do you want a single complete version of Revit to purchase, install and use? If so how much will you pay?

I realize that this is not a simple question and there are potentially many permutations this could devolve into. Consider that Autodesk is a big corporation and every "product" iteration requires effort, planning, legal considerations, committees and ...well you get the idea.

Chad Smith at AUGI has been lobbying for this issue at AUGI (and Autodesk) for quite some time now. He has described the issue pretty well so let me paraphrase him.

We buy RAC 2009, we pay for "Revit" and get Architectural features. Now we buy RST 2009 and we pay for "Revit" (AGAIN) as well as get Structural features. Now we buy RME 2009 and we pay for...yes "Revit" (AGAIN yes AGAIN) as well as get mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection tools. This does not begin to address subscription fees.

Personally I'd like to see a Revit Building or Suite (the Sweet combo) offered at "such a deal". I know many of the firms I meet feel the same way. Let's say we buy two and get the third for free. Put another way two thirds (2/3) of the full price of three separate versions.

The key is to deliver a single product that the "EyeTee" folks can install once per computer and the user can access any tool they need at any time. This is great for small shops, it is great for AEC firms, it is great for contractors, and it is great for Autodesk, only they don't seem to realize it. If you agree, show them, tell them!!

I'd like to know whether this concept matters to you or not. If it does...how $$much$$ does it matter? I've added a poll that asks if you want a "Sweet" Revit. I've posted second one that asks you how much you'd pay. I've limited the answers to what I "want" to ask or suggest but feel free use comments here to explain other ideas.

For example Dick Barath (at AUGI too) posted that he thought it might make sense to give us access to the other tools for a limited number of hours per month for the same purchase price. More and we'd have to pony up some more money. Bentley offers any single "flavor" of their verticals on top of Microstation included in the price of Microstation (at least they used to last time I checked) as part of their "Maintenance" program (think Autodesk's Subscription program).

I think it would be an excellent way to buy "Revit", the proverbial "win win" for everyone or nearly everyone. Well, what do YOU say?

Smarter Local Files - Build Checking

When I posted this earlier I didn't really go into much detail about the application. One particularly nice feature that was added by David based upon inspiration from James Vandezande (SOM) was the notion of checking the build of Revit that the user is running compared with the version that was used to create the central/local originally.



David Baldacchino, David Kingham and James Vandeszande have contributed most of the actual code. The AUGI thread and comments on David's blog have provided feedback and some inspiration as well. This is a perfect example of why the Revit AUGI community works!

I must say AutoHotKey is a pretty quick "study". After downloading and installing it I was able to modify the existing script provided by David to do what I needed it to do within 10 minutes.

I still believe Autodesk should enhance this work flow directly themselves but grateful to people like David "squared" and James for creating it, and more importantly, for making it available to the rest of "us".

You can visit the AUGI thread or download the script file from HERE. If you download the script you still need the AutoHotKey software to compile it into an executable file you can use.

For another more recent option, read this MORE RECENT POST.

Acuity Brands Lighting - Content Update

According the date on their blog I've been napping for month and missed this. Tim Hogan posted this "Starter Set Expanded and Improved" post on August 1, 2008.

The post starts with:
Based on your feedback from the models we released last month, we’ve made a round of improvements and expanded the number of models now available.

Steel Tonnage Technique - Link to Tip

At the Revit Structure User Group (STRUG) meeting (Irvine, CA) last night Ed Tallmadge of Kelar suggested that I post a link to a recent post on an Autodesk Blog called Connected. They've provided a tutorial to allow users to report the tonnage of the steel they've modeled in their project.

It was also mentioned on the BIM and BEAM blog naturally.

Done Ed!

New Blog - The Revit Clinic

Scott Davis let me know earlier today about this one but I was out most of the day until tonight so I'm a bit late to the table.

Harlan Brumm with Autodesk has started a blog called The Revit Clinic. Read THIS POST to find out all about why he started the blog.

He writes:

Welcome to the Revit Clinic. My Name is Harlan Brumm and I am the Global Technical Lead – Revit for Autodesk Product Support and I will be the primary contributor to this blog.

About this blog, its name and purpose:

Where do you go when you have a physical problem?, A Doctor. Where do you go when you have a BIM problem? Well, I’m not a doctor, but I hope that you will start to come here. I will be focusing this blog on the Autodesk Revit platform of Products, Revit Architecture, Structure, and MEP and trying to prevent BIM problems and provide you rehab if they happen.

I have to admit, I won’t always know the answer to your problem. I am more of a generalist, like your family physician, but like a good generalist, I know who to send you to, so I may refer you to a specialists or I may even recommend another hospital (blog or web site).

Welcome to the blogosphere!

Stairs and Railings - Quick Reminder

A railing follows its host stair until you edit the sketch of the Railing. At this point Revit "sighs in relief" and says to itself, "once less thing to manage!", and hands the Railing Sketch responsibility off to you/me/someone. Revit is finished with that Railing. Any changes to the stair and your railing stays put. Revit is loathe to mess up your lovely Railing modifications.

Wish - Recent Files Window

This feature appeared with the release of 2009 in response to frequent criticism of the standard Windows compliant behavior of opening a template when the application is started. Ironically a fair number of users don't like this new behavior either despite Revit opening a bit faster.

Here are three items I've heard in my travels.

Office Customization - Let us create our own border or at least add to the stock border to include office links to important help documentation/standards/news.

Icon/List/Detail - Display options similar to Windows Explorer that permit us to view more files as icons (current method) or list and detail view.

Browse/New - Currently these options appear at the bottom of the list which makes using them inefficient because we must scroll to access them. They take up very little space so put them at the top instead. They won't hurt picking our last project or family or second/third and now they are more accessible. Faster (a little) now than just using the File menu or the Open icon on the toolbar.

For a nice tip and example of what I'm suggesting that uses the now more or less typical Drafting View approach, check out THIS POST by Craig.

Wish - Revit Dimension Features

This is dedicated to two perhaps minor wishes but I hear them echoed everywhere I go.

"Glue" - Permit two separate co-planar dimension strings to become one string. If separate dimension styles the first pick defines the "good" string, the style to use.

"Split" - The opposite, create two separate strings by selecting a point along the dimension string. The pick point defines which string the section selected remains attached to. In other words you split near the side you want the split segment to remain connected to. Maybe images would be clearer?



Or the reverse, but either way I'd take it!

Include the "Delete Inner Segment" option on the Options Bar! This way we just remove the selected segment and any between the first selection and a second, just like it works on walls/lines etc.

Dimension Text Leader - No Leader

No matter how many times you tell users to "remember the Options Bar" you find a feature slipping by users. I was catching up on the user forum at RUGS (Revit User Group Sydney) and saw a question asked and answered regarding removing the little rubber band leader that pops up when you drag a dimension text away from its home position.


When you remove the check for Leader Revit hides/removes the leader. However if you want a leader elsewhere along a string of dimensions you lose them too. You might want to limit such an override to individual strings.


Don't forget to "Remember the Options Bar"...

Selling Product versus Productivity

I read a post on Evan Yares' blog where he comments on an article written by Matt Lombard. Seems to me that though discussing CAD the discussion really is the same when you swap CAD for BIM (as a "product" at least). It is focused on Solidworks but you could easily put Autodesk in its place.

Evan quoted this portion of the original article on the blog Matt Writes and I like his selection so I'll include it here too.

"What’s the difference between CAD and Productivity? CAD is just a tool. In the same way that a hammer sitting on a bench isn’t putting a new roof on your house, CAD itself is just a static tool. Productivity is the combination of a tool and the ability to use it. It’s like a two part epoxy - either part on its own is just a sticky mess that you can’t do anything with, but put them together, and you’ve got something of value. If I buy a CAD product and have no idea how to use it, the software itself has no value to me. Ironically, the value is created by the customer, not the vendor, when the customer learns how to use the tool. So often, the customer has to pay extra for training on the tool. It is only when the abilities conferred by the training are combined with the software that you have something of value - productivity." [Matt Lombard - 2007]

If you aren't prepared to just read the rest yourself the article is asking Solidworks to focus their energy on providing better resources to help make the users of their product(s) more productive, the real value.

Evan added his own comment: "Advanced capabilities do far less to help make typical CAD users productive than do improvements in baseline usability."

I can hear someone using that as an excuse to stick with AutoCAD instead of moving to Revit. I can hear that twisted into an excuse to barely use AutoCAD Architecture features. I can hear someone say that I posted this because I provide training services and want to preach. No not at all, I think the point is to endeavor to recognize inefficiency (and do something about it, added in response of Evan's comment) wherever you might find it, it is all around us, you just need to look.