Grids Generator Extension

While I seem to be in whine mode this week I might as well suggest that the long standing grids generator extension get full Revit status. I think it could live on the ribbon alongside the Levels and Grids tool on the Datum panel. It might actually get used more if it were part of application and where's the harm in that??

Again, like the Space Naming Utility, awareness is the issue. People just don't know it exists. Instead of "hiding" it away on Autodesk Exchange put it in Revit! By the time they find out about it they've already put their grids in. If it was on the ribbon poking you in the eye when you look for grids and levels to begin with you might be more inclined to remember to use it. Hey, I thought the ribbon was better for discovering tools than the old fuddy duddy menu and toolbars approach? :)

Autodesk 360 Kills my Internet Connection

Each time I let Autodesk 360 sync it seems to block all my other internet activity and my PC goes back and forth repeatedly between reporting access and no access to the internet. Very annoying. For this reason, I tend to log out and exit the application, not very 360ish, sad to say.

Revit MEP 2014 Space Naming Utility

This is still a separate download and installation but it is available now from the subscription center.

Why should it be part of the software?

Essential Tool - It is impractical to manage the relationship between architecture and engineering models without it. Many of the other extensions that are available (2014 versions available now too) are idiosyncratic, a small percentage of users will tend to use them. I don't think this one is. The fact that several other companies offer similar solutions as add-ons suggest that this one is at least solid enough for general use.

Development Plans - The utility has gone unchanged essentially since its inception. If it has been kept separate because they are going to do something else really wonderful and make it irrelevant, they've had years to do it. Until it really is part of the next release planning, put the one that works in.

Awareness -  Many people don't know it is available, because it is hiding at the subscription center, and therefore just suffer with room/space management. Most users I meet don't have access to the subscription site let alone know of its existence. Even when it is installed it is not in an obvious place so users who haven't been told about it either stumble on to it or don't use it until someone does point it out.

Complaint Dept. - If it remains an extension because of the fear that users will complain that they've "lost" one of their extensions...well... I sure hope that's not a reason.

I say put it on the Analyze Tab with the other Space tools, call it Space/Room Matching, like this:

Just do it!

Dominant Elements in Concrete Joins

This information is "ripped" from the WikiHelp topic...

Whenever elements that use concrete for their material interact with each other one element retains its geometry while the geometry of the other element sharing the join is cut to create the appearance of a single form. For example structural floors and walls possess dominant geometry characteristics and always maintain their geometry when sharing a join with other elements. Because of this, they will not automatically join with one another. These other concrete elements behave as follows.

These join behavior rules cannot be changed and it is not possible to disable the automatic joining of geometry. It is possible to manually change this condition using the UnJoin Geometry tool.

While were at it these are the valid combinations for concrete elements to join, in other words they may automatically join with one another.

• beam to beam
• beam to column
• isolated foundation to isolated foundation
• isolated foundation to wall foundation
• structural floor to beam
• structural floor to column
• structural floor to slab edge
• wall to beam
• wall to column

Remember that joined geometry may have an impact on project performance.

Project Unit Rounding Matters

Let's say for example that you need a metric dimension value in your family and it should be 6.35mm. Let's also say that the family's Project Units are set to zero decimal places. When you enter 6.35mm in the Family Types dialog Revit will round the value to 6.4mm.

When you change the family's units to show two decimal places the value that was stored in the parameter is still the single decimal value (6.4mm). Revit did not store the 6.35mm value but shows the rounded value instead, it stored the rounded value.

If you override the dimension style to show two decimal places (as shown above) but don't alter the Project Units of the family you can enter the correct value (in the dimension string) and the Family Types dialog will still report the rounded value. If you change the parameter value in the Family Types dialog it won't respect a two decimal entry and you'll see the dimension value return to a rounded value.

Short and sweet, if you really want a value like 6.35mm to be honored you need to set the family "Project Units" accordingly.

Fwiw, this is different from the project environment where entering a value that uses two decimal places is honored even if the project units and/or dimension properties do not.

Model Elements on View Worksets

The gang in Autodesk Support and Development seem to have isolated at least one clear cut cause for this quirky situation where a model element is associated with a view workset. It shouldn't be possible ordinarily. Apparently this sequence can be blamed:

1) The user selects and enters an edit mode for an element on a view workset, for example this might include plan regions, detail groups, or filled regions.

2 )Instead of using ‘Finish Edit Mode’ or ‘Cancel Edit Mode’ the user instead clicks Undo to exit edit mode.

3) Now back in the project, the user starts adding model elements, such as walls. The walls are placed on the current View workset instead of the active User-Created workset (until the user opens the workset dialog or changes the active workset).

Ryan reports that 2014 has been worked on to help address this situation better, if a user takes the steps above Revit will reset the active workset properly now.

The fix for these poor elements has been (and remains) to use Cut to Clipboard and then Paste > Aligned to Same Place. Just make sure the correct workset is active.

You can read the original post at The Revit Clinic, thanks Ryan!

It also explains how to fix the issue in older versions of Revit.

Spelt Chuking Dialoguess

While experimenting with the new Non-Rectangular Crop Regions I noticed this subtle spelling eror.

The dialog title says "Invaild Integer", the correct spelling should be "Invalid Integer". Now we have a solid reason for the first web update! ;)

Btw, a inscribed or circumscribed polygon of 36 straight segments is very nearly a "circle". Jay Zallan made a point of it during a Revit user group meeting last month. That means you can create a "circular" callout now.

Revit 2014 - Schedule Grids and Levels

Revit 2014 has added grids and levels as valid elements that a schedule can be based on.

I've not personally needed to schedule them for documentation purposes but I have wanted to do so many times just so I could analyse a project's datum. For example when someone says their level has "gone missing" a schedule of levels will quickly tell me if it is still there. Now I know that it is an issue with the extents of the level as opposed to someone deleting it entirely or perhaps assigning it to a workset that isn't open or visible.

I've seen a few offices that provide a "Storey" summary of their project on their general sheets, along side code compliance information. A level schedule can help provide this without resorting to text and lines that are not tied to the model data at all.

Mentioning worksets, it is worth noting that is not an available schedule field for a level or grid, it would be if it could be part of their schedule too.

Revit 2014 Learning Links in New Sample File

I mentioned the annotation families that function as learning links the other day. I should also mention the corresponding schedule provided in the file too.

It is called "How Do I". The schedule is a list of all the "?" families that have been used. You can select one and use the Highlight in Model button to find where it is. The "What View" column lists the view you'll find it in too. They've included a column for "Reviewed?" so you can check each of them off as you work through each topic, nice for a beginner to track their progress. In the image below I added a column for "Learning Link" (URL parameter) which lets me click on the URL to browse to the WikiHelp topic right away.

2013 Central States Revit Workshop Registration

Registration for the next workshop opened 9 days ago, very sorry to be so slow to mention it.

Please let me encourage you to consider spending a couple days (August 15-16, 2013) at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha soaking up Revit information and wisdom. I attended and participated in a couple sessions last year. It was good fun, well worth your time and a great bargain.

Here are a few important links:
Welcome
Location
Schedule
Speakers

REGISTRATION

Come mingle with and hear special guest speakers Paul Aubin, Brian and Desirée Mackey (and maybe their BIMbino), Birgitta Foster, Andrew Jizba and Chuck Mies.

New Selection Features and Keyboard Shortcuts

The new selection options that I mentioned earlier are accessible via keyboard shortcuts too by the way. This question was asked at a recent user group meeting but wasn't answered explicitly other than to say, "I think so". Well they can!

Tables of Data in Revit

One of the more subtle things that the new schedule features allow in Revit 2014 is creating a table of data that may not be tied directly to elements within the model. For example residential projects that I've worked on in the past were required to document how the proposed design or remodel fits within the property boundaries and required setbacks, or stated another way...zoning compliance. In the past I've written about creating tables using a family to accomplish this. Now we can do this, all within the schedule header itself (notice I used Comic Sans?).

The Revit Clinic posted an example of this for jamb conditions yesterday, check it out! These are the steps their post provides:

First, create a new schedule and either choose a category you do not have in your project, or alternatively filter the schedule so nothing displays in the body section.

Then under the Schedule Properties > ‘Appearance’ tab, un-check ‘Show Headers’. Now you unmerge the default title row and add additional rows, text, parameters, images, shading, etc. And you still get the specific control to resize the column and row dimensions.

Two tips:

First use the ‘Clear Cell’ tool to remove the default schedule view name. You can then use that cell to enter any data you wish.

Second, set up your cell sizes before adding new rows. The new rows will use the previous row for cell number, size and formatting:

Window or Door Frame Positioning

We quite often want to be able to move a window or door assembly back and forth within a host wall. This is easy to do as long as the assembly is moving "in" but doesn't need to move beyond the host in the opposite direction. A relationship between reference planes does not generally like to be reversed. We usually get yelled at with a message like this.

When we want the flexibility to move something from or toward something else we need to define an alternate reference point, reference plane in this case. If we place a reference plane in front of the exterior side of the host we can set it far enough away to provide enough room to move the assembly without generating an error message.

In the image above I can move the Frame Offset reference plane "outside" the exterior face of the wall by using a negative dimension value and toward the Interior by using positive values. The fixed dimension value of 12 inches defines the reference offset value I used in the formula column. This means when I enter zero for Frame Offset that the assembly will be flush with the exterior of the wall. Here's what it looks like using a negative 8" offset to move it outside, from the exterior face.

There are firms that use multiple walls to define the layers of what many people use one wall with layers for. When you place walls next to each other a door or window family is hosted by one of them. If you need to move the family "forward or backward" you need to be able to change the notion of what host reference plane is relevant. This is one approach to solving the problem.

Revit 2014 Sample File WikiHelp Links

After enduring the painful download, unpack and install process that literally took from Friday morning to Sunday night I got to run the shipping version of Revit 2014. It took over 30 minutes to open the first time, but AutoCAD took over an hour. I think there is something seriously wrong with my computer but all the usual things check out fine. I digress...

[Edit: I apologize if you read this before. I had View References on the mind, but these are just Generic Annotations. Thanks to Jeff Hanson for the reminder.]

The new sample file includes new help references.

These are Generic Annotation families that take advantage of the URL parameter to let you navigate to the WikiHelp page related to the features or elements that the documentation team placed a reference next to. Wherever you see a help "?" select one and then in the Properties Palette click on the sneaky "Browse" button (little button that appears with the ellipsis "..." at the right of the URL parameter field)

I wrote about using the view references before, to simulate a "next slide" arrow for presentations instead of using Power Point. View References do not have the URL parameter but Generic Annotation families do. Using the URL means we can do the same thing except browse to specific items on our network or elsewhere via the internet without storing the data inside the Revit model itself. These are not entirely new concepts since the URL parameter has been in Revit all along and View References are not new, but not very old...but it is a nice twist on how they are applied.

Imagine the office training project files pointing users to office standards or other code practices etc. Something to think about.

Is it Too Late to Change

Whenever I spend time in the Revit Family Editor I run into past decisions. Sometime they are my own and quite often they belong to somebody else. I've always encouraged people to develop good habits when it comes to using and defining reference planes. I've even been teased about wasting time in a demonstration by naming each reference plane even though doing so wasn't pertinent to the topic. Habits...

I recently encountered a bunch of families that were built by a few people for their project. I was asked to make some changes so a part of the family could be scheduled separately. That meant making use of the concept of making a family "shared". A family that is nested into another is only treated as a symbol when we see it a project. A family that is nested AND Shared is loaded into the project as an actual separate family (appears in the project browser) as well as being visible as part of the host family. This special condition allows for scheduling nested parts as though they are unique parts, apart from the host, as well as permitting us to place them separately. This subject could easily be few separate posts.

While I was digging in I noticed that few if any of the reference planes were named. I also noticed that most of them did not redefine the original reference planes so that they made sense in the context of the family itself. By that I mean that people will use the default Center (Front/Back) or Center (Left/Right) reference planes as a "left" or "right" or "front" or "back" or something...but not rename/redefine them as such. That means that when we examine a family the "center" (the reference plane that Revit thinks is center) of the family is really an edge or side. Autodesk's own content isn't immune to this either.

In this situation I thought like a mechanic, if I've already dropped the transmission I might as well fix some things that I can't get to otherwise, or "while I'm in here"...

Sadly if a project is using this content and people have done things like put hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them in their models, bad things can happen, when they are reloaded. As Mr. Maller says... it can be a "screwtastrophe". Families that have dimensions referencing them in the project will generate the dreaded "dimensions must be deleted" messages as soon as you reload them. Specifically if you change the IsReference status of a reference plane and reload the family Revit can't find the original reference plane anymore. Worse a family might shift its location, particularly if being swapped out for a different version.

I don't think it can be overstated or stressed enough, content needs to be created carefully and good habits need to developed and observed. It may not be too late to make changes but it can be painful.

Download Manager

I started this process about noon today, this post is 8 hours later. In my opinion this does not define a good download experience :(

At 37,216 days I don't think the extra detail of 15 hours is worth mentioning? At this rate I'll be checking out the new features for Revit 2115? Oh, I may not be around in 101 years...drat, double drat! 

Schedule Column Width

In my griping about schedules in my previous post I mentioned (in an addendum) that we get a new feature in Revit 2014 that provides some measure of control over column width. I decided it worthy of its own mention so here it is.

The Revit 2014 Modify Schedule/Quantities ribbon interface now looks like this.

When you select a column or columns you'll get this Resize button which will bring up a dialog, much like Excel does.

This means we can at least enter a specific value for column width. Yes we can make sure one column is exactly the same as another. We still have to travel from schedule to schedule to make it happen but it is more control.

Btw, bummer... in 2014 we've also lost the ability to "double click" on the vertical column boundary to automatically resize the schedule columns.

If you know you will need several schedules to report information but filtered differently you can save some time if you create the first and then duplicate the schedule, adding filters afterward. In some cases it might be less work to toss out existing schedules and duplicate/filter again than fixing the existing columns across all the schedules. Your mileage may vary

Floor Perimeter

When you examine the properties of a floor you'll find Perimeter. Somebody decided perimeter shouldn't be available to tags so we can't tag a floor but we can see it in schedule (no, can't tag it in 2014 either).

If you alter a floor sketch to define an opening for something like for a stair or a mechanical chase, it alters the perimeter calculation. If you use either a Shaft Opening or Opening by Face it doesn't alter the perimeter value. Floor A is untouched, B is altered within the sketch and C has two openings one of each type. You'll see in the schedule that perimeter is not altered except where the floor sketch is changed to create the opening.

The moral of the story? If you'd like to be able to use the floor slab perimeter value then don't edit the floor sketch to create openings.

Fittings Do Not Look Right

A troublesome thread popped up at RevitForum.org the other day and DMapes came to the rescue. I haven't encountered this peculiarity before, and now that I know about it it's a bit surprising that I haven't. I guess I've just been lucky.

When you use the Underlay setting in Revit MEP you run the risk of altering the way your pipe fittings (duct fittings too in views using Detail Level: Coarse) scale and/or look. Here's a good and bad side by side.

The pipes on the left are good but those in the view on the right are smaller and halftone, as a result of using the Underlay setting.

Set to None the fittings look correct, but using the same level the fittings are associated with as the underlay equals sadness. It doesn't seem to mind if you use other levels as the underlay though. Careful with your underlay!

Family Type as Type Catalog Flag

I don't see this technique used much but it is a pretty good way to let a user know that a family is supposed to be loaded with a Type Catalog. I was reminded of this by a thread at the RevitForum.org which also pointed to another thread at AUGI.

It's easy, create one "default" type in a family that uses a Type Catalog but instead of "default" use a more descriptive name like, "Family Is Not Loaded Correctly" or "This Family Uses a Type Catalog" or "You Should find the Type Catalog"... get the idea?

When you gaze over a list of families in the project browser you'll see that a family was loaded at least once without the type catalog because your "default" special name will be among the types listed there.

Revit 2014 Schedules Pending Gotcha

Revit has always treated the schedule view for editing as separate from the sheet representation, at least for column width adjustments. This always made sense to me. I should change the width of columns on a sheet where I can see the impact of the change. When I am editing a schedule and I want to see a bit more or less of a column I could change it freely without an impact on a sheet that shows the schedule.

Everything changes with Revit 2014 because when you change a column width in either place, a sheet or the view itself, it changes in the other. This is, as my Spanish speaking friends say, Muy Mal!! Ay Caramba! That's probably too polite?

I think it's safe to say that we've all wished for more control over column width from one schedule to the next. Imagine four door schedules, filtered by floor on separate sheets. Ideally we'd like the columns to be uniform widths from schedule to schedule. So we resort to tricks like an annotation family that provides the "columns" we want and we drag columns over until they cover the "column lines". Then we either delete the guide or "bury" it in a titleblock family with a yes/no parameter to control its visibility.

This enhancement does not help that situation and worse because of the legacy behavior and the assumptions that users will having as they begin to use 2014 we will see lot's of, "Why are my schedules changing constantly?".

Yes we can just create "working" schedules to deal with data entry and "sheet" schedules for documentation but it is unnecessary redundancy, we've got enough of it with other views already. I'm not looking forward to this "feature" getting in the wild.

Added 4/12/2013:
There IS a new Resize button for columns and a dialog appears that you we can use to enter a specific width. This means you can ensure that specific columns have the same width but it is a manual adventure, from column to column and schedule to schedule. It does work on multiple column selection so we can apply the same width to several columns at once. I believe the API does not provide access to this yet.

Language Flexibility

There are a few things that are hardcoded values that we can't do much about. For example the word "Grand Total" at the bottom of a schedule or "As Indicated" for view scale when used as part of a sheet's titleblock. The choice of words, the language used and formatting all  remain out of reach still after all these years. It would be excellent if these were added to project settings so a team could define what these should say. It's all part of refining the product itself and the documentation we produce using it.

New Selection Quirks

Dan Stine passed along a couple thoughts after working with Revit 2014 in earnest. The new selection options Select by Face and Drag Elements on Selection can have some undersireable effects on your modelling experience. He wrote to describe these two situations:

Select by Face combined with Drag Elements on Selection is a “deadly” combination because you can much more easily start moving floors and ceilings.

When Select by Face is turned on you cannot select Rooms or Spaces. Ouch or maybe that's good, depending on what you are up to? I'll have to check to see if we can still TAB over the room tag to select the room.

Sometimes when we get things we ask for we also get some unintended consequences along with them.

Modelling Serendipity - Revisiting an Old Post

In July 2009 I wrote about "Modelling Serendipity" when I encountered something that made me ponder my past work. Some recent conversations made me think of it again so I thought I'd put a link here to point at it again.

I recently told somebody, "I don't know what I don't know and I find that I bump into what I don't know in 3D faster than 2D"...that's modelling serendipity.

A RELATED POST (Sept. 2009), related to the notion of 3D shop drawings.

Choosing a Room Name

The Properties Palette lets us make some choices before placing elements that in the past were not possible. For example we can decide what elevation mechanical equipment or air terminals should be first. When we place rooms, without bothering to fill out a room schedule in advance, we can decide what name to use before we place one. In the image I've changed the room name to Office.

If we need to place several rooms that use the same name all we have to do now is type it into the room's name parameter within the Properties Palette. If you don't like the name you see when you place a room later, just check the Properties Palette. Revit remembers the last value you put there.

Remember that you can easily place rooms that are defined in a schedule but not yet placed in the model, just check the list!

Get a Panorama on Your iOS Device

John Sepannen sent me this information recently. He wanted to get a panorama on his iPhone or iPad and came up with this workflow. His approach does involve 3 other software applications ($) that may or may not be practical for you, or there might be another option to use instead of Autodesk Stitcher.

1.   Autodesk Stitcher Unlimited ($350 single license or 30-day free trial)
2.   iPano app ($2.99) -
3.  Photoshop or equal
4.  Dropbox (or similar used to aid in transferring images to iOS device)

Using iPano allows anyone with an iOS device to view panoramic images (offline).

1.  Rendered view with Autodesk 360
       a. option #1 - render directly to panorama.
       b. option #2 - re-render any fixed camera image as panorama
2.  Download panorama file (right click on web thumbnail).
3.  Open panorama file "photo strip" with Photoshop and cut out (6) separate square image files .
4.  Rename image files based on relative direct of image facing the floor.
       image_u (up)
       image_d (down)
       image_f (front)
       image_b (back)
       image_l (left)
       image_r (right)

Using the Autodesk Stitcher Unlimited software

1.  File: Open: Panorama
       a. select any one of the six images.
       b. Stitcher will then process the six images and create a panorama
2.  Render Panorama as spherical image.
3.  Copy image to Dropbox
4.  On iOS device export image from Dropbox to Photo Library
5.  In iPano app - import image from Photo Library
6.  Save to bookmarks.

He shared a PDF slide deck that explains the process with images and more information if you are interested in pursuing this yourself.

Revit Technology Conference Info

This is an echo of my earlier post, which was quickly overshadowed by news about Revit 2014 features, just to give it a little more attention.


If you read this blog (regularly) then I think/hope that RTC is no surprise to you. I'm writing this as a reminder to those who already know about it as well as to introduce them to anyone who hasn't already heard about them. After all May and RTC AUS isn't far away now...

These are the events in the order that they occur this year:

RTC Australasia - May 16-18, 2013 - Auckland, NZ
RTC North America - July 11-13, 2013 - Vancouver, Canada
RTC Europe - September 27-28, 2013 - Delft, Holland

Each event gives you an opportunity to listen, learn, talk and mingle with many of the best and brightest people that our planet has to offer, seriously!

I attended my first RTC in 2006 in Australia, where it all started (in 2005). I've been a fan ever since and even became a committee member to help start the first RTC in North America in 2011. It isn't any single thing that made me a fan. It was the whole of the experience.

For example, I knew that every person I saw around me was like me, fascinated by Revit, just Revit then and now by what it has expanded into. I knew that no matter who I listened to, talked with or saw in a hallway that I'd see them again...in a session, in a few minutes or during a break or during dinner and drinks. The value of the social side of the event can't be overstated. People have cultivated great friendships, formed at each event, and these last and prove mutually satisfying for years to come. I can vouch for this personally.

If you struggle with getting your firm to support sending you, or if you are the firm, or if you are trying to justify sending your staff consider just the classes alone. If you or someone in your firm was charged with putting together a class of equal quality, compared with any you'll find at RTC, you can reasonably expect a 10-20 hour commitment. That's time spent preparing themselves, making sure they've covered every angle of Revit knowledge they need, then organizing it all, preparing to share it with other staff and finally actually sharing it with them. It might take longer if it is the first time they've had to do something like this, or they might not be knowledgeable enough yet to tackle it all themselves. If this same person attends RTC and returns home not only with the material from the dozens of sessions they attend but access to all the material for each and every class offered at RTC you'll have a wealth of material for FAR less cash outlay than devoting them to developing the same material in-house.

It isn't just the classes either. It's the interaction, the setting, the focus, the passion and excitement expressed by others and witnessed by everyone. You can't help but feel reinvigorated. You'll recharge your batteries so to speak. When you leave RTC you leave ready, ready for anything and eager to take it all back to the office. It's just a shame that you can't bring your whole office along to experience it for themselves...well you can...just not many offices will dare to. There are a few firms that do send as many as 10-15 staff as they see it as their annual training for key people. Do your best to attend the nearest conference, you and your firm won't regret it!

P.S. If you represent a Local User Group focused on Revit I'd like to help you get the word out to your members. Get in touch with me so I can pass along information that you can use to make it easier to talk about it at your next meeting.

What is Revit and BIM Resource

Alex Gore and his firm F9 Productions have created, as part of their company website, a resource for people that are just getting started with Revit and BIM or those who are still trying to decide what to do.

The site offers these items of interest:

• A brief description of important modeling concepts
• A PDF example of a complete Construction Documentation set
• The Revit file of the above mentioned PDF
• A 2012 Revit Residential Template to start your own creations
• Links to tutorials for further help

A skeptic might read this and regard it as purely a marketing move. Alex's primary motive is to share the wealth with the community so to speak. For example a frequent question or concern people have is being able to see a completed set of documents. This is based on their fear, uncertainty or doubt that another software application, that is so intrinsically tied to how they make money, will truly be able to do what they need to do. So at the very least being able to examine their sample project and set may be useful, and if it is then the rest is "gravy". Have a look, see if you find something useful.

3D Printing and Revit STL Files

I recently got an email from a fellow Revit user asking if Revit 2014 changed anything for creating STL files, specifically if we could define inches as the base unit. I haven't had the opportunity to print anything to a 3D printer via a vendor myself yet so I'm clueless.

He shared with me his current frustration which apparently has to do with a fairly automated process that his vendors offer. Apparently it is as simple as: Submit your STL file online and get your automated quote in return. It works great as long as the submitted STL file uses the correct units, which is apparently "inches". If you don't cooperate with the system you end up having to call each vendor and it takes a lot more time than necessary.

He was specifically writing about the STL Exporter for Revit from Autodesk Labs. It exports to the units "Feet" and there is no way to alter that presumption. I've asked about it with a couple friends at Autodesk and it is on their radar so hopefully they can provide an option, in the future, for defining the units of the file output.

Since I have no wisdom to offer him and I know that at least a few readers have experience with this process I'm curious what alternatives he could consider. Can some other application that can edit STL files let him change the units? Perhaps the vendors could make this easier for customers and provide a pricing routine that asks for STL units? Is it more complicated than it seems? Comments are welcome!

Revit 2014 Properties Palette Tabs

If you use Revit MEP you know how little screen space you can end up with if you open up the Properties Palette, Project Browser, System Browser and Reconcile Hosting dialogs at the same time. You can shrink them down pretty small but then they don't function very well. Sure you can close and open them as needed or put them on a second monitor too.

Revit 2014 offers another option, nest them on the Properties Palette and provide tabs for each so you can switch back and forth.

Jury is still out on this for me. I set it up and used it this way for quite awhile but kept forgetting where and which tab was active. One recurring comment was to have the focus or active tab switch to properties when elements are selected but I'm not sure if that worked its way into the final production release.

It is a little tricky at first to get them hosted on the palette, easy once you know how. Just click on the dialog title bar, drag it either to the title bar on the Properties Palette or over the tab(s) at the bottom of the palette. Either way you'll get a ghost of the overlay and a new tab will appear. Don't let go if you don't see the new tab appear, means it isn't going to work.

Love the subtle stuff!

Revit 2014 Selection Features

There are plenty of subtle things that routinely trip people up while they work in Revit. One such trip hazard is that linked files tend to overwhelm a view and are much too easy to select and inadvertently drag out of position. It is one reason people seem to recoil at using Press and Drag. In Revit 2014 a small collection of toggle buttons have been added to the Status Bar, next to the Filter and Element Count features.

The first button, starting at the left, is the option called Select Links. It is either on or off and allows us to control the selection of linked files. This should help alleviate some of the workarounds that have been practiced to avoid messing with a link, such as: Pinning, individual worksets and using Design Options.

The second button is Select Underlay Elements and this will prevent interacting with any elements that are visible because the view has another level assigned as an underlay. The selection window options (crossing and enclosing) have always been blind to underlay information and even elements above or below a view's primary range, and now picking elements individually can too.

If you don't like being able to interact with elements that you've pinned then the third button, Select Pinned Elements is your new friend. It will make it a little harder to delete pinned elements, assuming we turn the option off.

For years we have had to remind others and even ourselves that Revit is fairly blind when it comes to the faces of elements. Try to select a wall, that doesn't have a pattern on its surface, by placing the cursor somewhere on its face and Revit is oblivious. The new fourth button, Select Elements by Face changes all that. We'll be able to decide when and if faces are the easier way to select elements. We've spent years reminding people to select things at edges or boundaries of elements. Now we'll have the option but I suspect we'll still get to remind them of the options and how to change the setting.

The fifth button, Drag Elements on Selection is the renamed Press and Drag feature. Same as it ever was, just with a slightly more obvious name, one that explains its action and result.

The Modify button on the Ribbon now has a new drop down list that provides check boxes for each of these new options so we have a "front and side door" as usual,

Here's to the subtle stuff!

Addendum: As Aaron mentions in his comment, these settings can be captured in the .ini file which means something that you can control during deployment, if that's your particular concern.

More Detail on Revit 2014 Features

Autodesk's WikiHelp has been updated for 2014 features now too, including installation and deployment info (Revit Server too).

Check it out!

Revit 2014 - Connector by Radius or Diameter

Prior to Revit 2014 we could only create dimensions for the radius of arc and circles and connectors. With 2013's release they added a diameter dimension tool which makes it easier to constrain geometry in the family editor. Round connectors also only could be defined as a radius before. Now in 2014 this subtle parameter gives us the option to choose which makes more sense, radius or diameter.

Love the subtle stuff!

New Stuff in Navisworks 2014

If you happen to use Navisworks as well as Revit then you might want to visit Lee Mullin's post at Beyond Design, another Autodesk blog. Check it out!

Revit Technology Conferences 2013

If you read this blog (regularly) then I think/hope that RTC is no surprise to you. I'm writing this as a reminder to those who already know about it as well as to introduce them to anyone who hasn't already heard about them. After all May and RTC AUS isn't far away now...

These are the events in the order that they occur this year:

RTC Australasia - May 16-18, 2013 - Auckland, NZ
RTC North America - July 11-13, 2013 - Vancouver, Canada
RTC Europe - September 27-28, 2013 - Delft, Holland

Each event gives you an opportunity to listen, learn, talk and mingle with many of the best and brightest people that our planet has to offer, seriously!

I attended my first RTC in 2006 in Australia, where it all started (in 2005). I've been a fan ever since and even became a committee member to help start the first RTC in North America in 2011. It isn't any single thing that made me a fan. It was the whole of the experience.

For example, I knew that every person I saw around me was like me, fascinated by Revit, just Revit then and now by what it has expanded into. I knew that no matter who I listened to, talked with or saw in a hallway that I'd see them again...in a session, in a few minutes or during a break or during dinner and drinks. The value of the social side of the event can't be overstated. People have cultivated great friendships, formed at each event, and these last and prove mutually satisfying for years to come. I can vouch for this personally.

If you struggle with getting your firm to support sending you, or if you are the firm, or if you are trying to justify sending your staff consider just the classes alone. If you or someone in your firm was charged with putting together a class of equal quality, compared with any you'll find at RTC, you can reasonably expect a 10-20 hour commitment. That's time spent preparing themselves, making sure they've covered every angle of Revit knowledge they need, then organizing it all, preparing to share it with other staff and finally actually sharing it with them. It might take longer if it is the first time they've had to do something like this, or they might not be knowledgeable enough yet to tackle it all themselves. If this same person attends RTC and returns home not only with the material from the dozens of sessions they attend but access to all the material for each and every class offered at RTC you'll have a wealth of material for FAR less cash outlay than devoting them to developing the same material in-house.

It isn't just the classes either. It's the interaction, the setting, the focus, the passion and excitement expressed by others and witnessed by everyone. You can't help but feel reinvigorated. You'll recharge your batteries so to speak. When you leave RTC you leave ready, ready for anything and eager to take it all back to the office. It's just a shame that you can't bring your whole office along to experience it for themselves...well you can...just not many offices will dare to. There are a few firms that do send as many as 10-15 staff as they see it as their annual training for key people. Do your best to attend the nearest conference, you and your firm won't regret it!

P.S. If you represent a Local User Group focused on Revit I'd like to help you get the word out to your members. Get in touch with me so I can pass along information that you can use to make it easier to talk about it at your next meeting.

New Stuff in Revit 2014 According to David

Up to his usual "What's New..." summary, read all about it at David Light's blog.

Revit 2014 Features on Autodesk Site

If you visit the Autodesk Revit site you can discern for yourself what new features might be showing up soon.

New for 2014 - Autodesk Presentation

Autodesk will host a presentation tomorrow at 11 AM (EST) via the web. If you'd like to see and hear what they is on offer for 2014 Revit products check it out. Once that's over I expect the blogging and tweeting will begin in earnest.

Reusing the Same Grid Names

A reader saw a post by Brok on the HOK BIM Solutions blog and he wrote to me about this tip. His name is Mr. Smith, yeah uh that's his name, Mr. Smith... Well anyway the tip is this. We can use the right click option to insert unicode control character when editing the grid name parameter.

If we choose one it won't print but it will make Revit think that this grid #1 is different from this other grid #1. Pretty sneaky.

Mr. Smith's name has been changed to Mr. Jones to protect Mr. Smith.

P.S. My 2014 prediction is still that Revit will still be called Revit.

2014 Predictions

It's nearly that time, the time when people starting asking, "When is the next release coming out?" or "What's going to be in the next release"? The LARUG blog announced two meetings next week (one in LA live streamed, the other in OC not) to discuss new features in 2014. That can only mean one thing, that the media blackout on the new Autodesk products is nearly over. Well it could also mean that they are going off the reservation and plan to discuss the new features without the blessing of Autodesk marketing...maybe but probably not.

So get your batteries charged, your reader cleared out because next week sometime Revit 2014 will trend on Twitter. :)

My prediction for 2014? It will still be called Revit.

Revit HotFix for 2012

Recently people reported a Windows update causing the blue annotation symbols and temporary dimensions to change their color in Revit 2012 versions. I saw it too. Autodesk has release a hotfix to resolve the .net version issue that created the situation in the first place. The Revit Clinic wrote about the hotfix earlier today. You can go to the site to check out the ReadME file and download the HOT FIX HERE.

Show Me Wish

Revit offers us the opportunity to "Show" an element when we review warnings, use the Select by ID and fairly often when an error message is generated and we expand the warning.

Choosing Show will often generate a warning that there is no good view to show it in and ask us if we really want to let Revit hunt for a view.

I'd like to be able to specify which kind of views to hunt through before it does its magic. For example I know I want to find a ceiling so don't bother showing me 3D, elevation or section views if I'm really hoping to see just ceiling plan views. Perhaps a new Zoom option: Zoom to Selected that goes to the current element in the view, like Revit will do in a 3D view using the view cube.

Let me help Revit focus on what I'm interested in or think I need. I occasionally have a clue...

Concealing Your Workset Username

Luke recently wrote a post mentioning a technique that AUGI member Navid offered to help lock down certain worksets. We can use a special username like Super Admin to be the owner of a workset to prevent other users from randomly altering the elements assigned to it. The tip offered involves creating a username with a symbol only font which leaves us with a meaningless username that we can't read or pretend we are. In his instructions he takes the username into Microsoft Word and changes the font. He then pastes the newly "encrypted" username into the Revit username parameter (Application menu > Options Dialog).

I'm not sure it is necessary or even good idea if we felt it was necessary. Nevertheless it is possible and there might be a circumstance someday (maybe a troubleshooting issue) where it will come in handy. Filing this in the "someday, but hopefully not" folder. Somewhere Dick Dastardly's dog Mutley is swearing...

Revit MEP Heating and Cooling Loads Results

I received an email from a Revit MEP user asking about results that don't seem to make sense. I'm writing about this because after some experimentation it seems odd to me too. This doesn't involve a complex model, just a simple test they did using a single room. I attempted to mimic their emailed explanation fully realizing that there are myriad possible things I could do differently. Despite the possible variables I was able to reproduce what they were concerned about.

Still Curious?

When they set up a test and then changed one variable (Outdoor Air) the resulting report shifts peak cooling month by one month (their result).

These are the test conditions: Walls surrounding a Space such that it is 100 SF. I placed a floor, ceiling and roof but I don't know that they did that. I used these settings for Occupancy, lighting and power.

These are the energy settings I used for the first report.

These are the energy settings I altered for the second report, only changed the Outdoor Air setting, nothing else.

These are the two reports side by side. Report on the left is the one without Outdoor Air changes and the one on the right is after changing Outdoor Air. Notice the two month advance? There are also subtle Dry and Wet Bulb values.

Their question to me and mine now as well is, "Is it reasonable to expect a so called simple change like this would cause such a jump in the calculation time frame?" I've recommended they reach out to the Autodesk Revit support team so they can examine their dataset first hand. Seems odd to me though.

I should also mention that I changed the Outdoor Air for both the Zone that the space belongs to and the Energy Settings dialog. I didn't seem to matter when I tried changing only one of those for the Outdoor Air.

Comments?? Did I miss something obvious?

Blends have Two Sketches

From the been there done that department I bring you a little reminder, Solid and Void blends have two sketches; a base and a top. It's pretty common to see two sketches in the base and the user wonders why they can't move on to the top sketch. When the blend process starts Revit is thinking "base", regardless of the orientation of the blend you are making. How can you tell? Easy, there is a button for Edit Top.

That can only be appropriate if Revit thinks we are working on the base. There isn't even a button for Edit Base until after you click Edit Top.

Once you have two complete sketches, each in their own "world" (Base and Top), you can Click the Green Check mark for Finish Edit Mode. If you need to revisit one or both of the sketches you'll find you can go straight to the Base or Top Sketch via separate buttons, just have to select the form first.

Remember, two sketches, two, two are better than one or twice as nice.

Closing Worksets with Specify

When you open a Revit project that uses Worksets there is an option to specify which worksets you want to open before Revit goes to the trouble of fulling opening the project. Very handy for big projects, crucial even.

I have occasionally encountered a situation where Revit won't let me open a project with all the worksets closed at first. Why do that? It is the fastest way to get a project open. Sometimes you need to do something like swap out titleblocks. If you load even some of the actual model it will take longer to open sheet views. If what you are doing doesn't depend on seeing the model in the views it is much faster to close the worksets first and the carry out your work.

When this has happened the Open button gets diasabled. If I open at least one workset it becomes enabled again. Revit seems to really want one workset open at least in some files and for others it doesn't care. No, I have no idea why it is fussy about it.

Reference Plane Order

This is subtle. When you draw reference planes the order they were created plays a role in how a parameter will move them later. Draw two new vertical parallel reference planes, draw one on the left and then next to the right of the first. Add a dimensions and assign a label (parameter) to the dimensions. Flex the parameter value and watch the reference plane on the right move. If you have a lot of reference planes it can get confusing but this underlying behavior is lurking there.

You can force certain behavior by pinning reference planes, locking dimension or using the EQ constraint to force them to move equally about a center reference line. Like I wrote, it is subtle. Just keep it in mind while you do your family editing.

Trey Suppress Spaces

Okay this is a follow up to redux. Erik pointed out that we can still override the dimension style to ignore the project settings and Suppress Spaces. Here's what a string of dimensions look like with no overrides in play.

Here's what the same string looks like with overridden dimension style and Suppress Spaces on. Notice that the dimensions are tighter (good) and the prefix and suffix are closer too (not a better look though).

This means that we can still get what I though we lost. It seems the Suppress Spaces option is limited to altering the prefix/suffix while the dimension style needs to be overridden to get it.

Since I can put a space in between the prefix and dimension value, same for suffix, I'd prefer that the style could use the more obvious Suppress Spaces option and let the dimension stay connected to project units. I'd be far more likely to use it that way than ever use it to mess with prefix and suffix which I seldom use in conjunction with a real dimension value either, definitely the exception rather than the rule.

Concrete Volume between Slab and Beams

A message via Linked In arrived the other evening asking about the volume of concrete when slabs and beams are involved. The hopeful question hinged on the slab reducing its volume by however much the beam overlapped the slab. The answer is a qualified "yes" because it is aware when Join Geometry is used but in the opposite direction, beam reduces volume not the slab.

Here's a floor slab that is 20'-0" x 20'-0" x 6" thick and a 12" Wide x 24" Deep x 20'-0" long concrete beam reporting a volume of 200 CF and 40 CF respectively, before using Join Geometry (slab properties shown).

Here's the properties of the beam before Join Geometry as well, reporting a volume of 40 CF.

Here's the properties of the beam after Join Geometry, now reporting a volume of 30 CF.

I didn't bother capturing an image of the floor slab, its volume didn't change, still 200 CF. I hope you'll take my word for it. The point of the exercise is to determine how much concrete is really needed, at least in my mind. The floor slab volume is intact (for this particular condition at least) but any beams that are joined with the slab will reduce their volume appropriately.

That means a two schedules, one for slabs and one for beams, should provide a reasonably close total if you look at both schedules together. It might be cool if the slab could inherit the beam volume and report a total that included the beams or the reverse subtract the beams from the slab.

In the field the beam and floor, minus any topping slab, are often poured together so the reinforcing ties it all together. Curiously, the way Revit deals with beam sizes and types is generally in conflict with how engineers think of the beam size as it relates to the slab. It's never simple or easy is it?

Suppress Spaces Revisited

In Revit 2012 (wrote about this earlier) we had the ability to shrink imperial dimension values a bit.

The upper dimension shows what 2012 did when Suppress Spaces was checked. The bottom shows unchecked. In 2013 we lose that. In my earlier post I missed/forgot that Ryan responded explaining what changed. Rats, I don't like the change, I want my old suppress spaces back by golly! This is what we get now (using my best Craig Ferguson accent, "It makes littul sense tah meee").

Manage View Templates Button Disabled

If your Manage View Templates button is disabled it means that you've got no view templates to manage. That troublemaker "someone" deleted them all. Time to find that someone? You can start rebuilding from scratch if you just right click on a view name in the Project Browser and choose Create View Template from View.

If you have some great View Templates elsewhere you can usually use Transfer Project Standards to get them. Keep in mind that View Templates can touch a lot of settings, for example linked RVT files. If the project you are bringing outside View Templates into doesn't have equivalent features in play then the templates may not be able to do everything they did in the other project. It might not be a problem for this project but it's probably worth double checking.

These are not the Warnings You are Looking For

Funny message offered in the Review Warnings dialog.

I had previously selected all the room tags in the model (select all instances in entire project) and then chose the option to Move to Room to fix Revit's complaint regarding some of them. The message displayed changed to the above. Nice that it is confirming there are now no more warnings but I find it amusing that it says "Warning...there aren't any warnings, Warning". Proceed with caution.

Central States Revit Workshop 2013 - Call for Speakers

Last year (September 2012) was the first homespun Central States Revit Workshop. Building on the fun they had last year they've opened up their call for speakers to submit class proposals for the next one, which is August 15th & 16th, 2013 (Thursday and Friday).

Sessions will be 70 minutes in length and can be formatted as a technical presentation, hands-on lab session, or round table/panel discussion. The CSRW Board will review and select presentations based on the number of available presentation slots per category, number of applicants and their respective topic in conjunction with specific focus points predetermined by the Board.

For more details visit the Central States Revit Workshop 2013 SITE.

Access to Feature Redundancy

When we examine the Revit interface we find that we can change the scale of a view at the bottom of the view on what is called the View Control Shortcut Bar. If you happen to keep your Properties Palette open you've probably noticed you can just change the scale value there too? It's the same situation for Detail Level and Model Graphics Style. In the image below the items highlighted in yellow (even some running off the image) are all represented on the View Control Shortcut Bar too.

This can seem a bit odd or redundant to fresh eyes. If you've been staring at Revit for a number of years you probably remember when it was necessary to open a dialog to see those settings. The View Control Shortcut Bar let us change things without opening a bloody dialog box again. Today it seems a bit unnecessary to have some of the view control shortcuts, unless you close the properties palette.

As I've written before, in Revit there are numerous doors you can open to gain access to features, front, back and side doors...even some secret doors. Maybe they are bit redundant but if your cursor is closer to the bottom of the screen you can take the "side door" to scale or detail level instead of hopping on your scooter and driving up to the top of the Properties Palette. With the serious resolutions available on some monitors these days it could be a long ride.