Wishlist - Families and Hide at Scales Coarser Than

A casual post at AUGI asked if it is possible to connect a parameter to the Hide at Scales Coarser Than behavior that the annotation for sections and elevations have. This lets us chose a scale (threshold) where the annotation won't display below. It makes it easier to keep certain sections (details/wall sections) and elevations (interior) off of overall floor plan views for example.

Imagine if we could assign this behavior to a family? Nested annotation could be assigned much more effectively because we could design them to only show up at the minimum appropriate scale. Combine this with the Detail Level concept and we'd have even more granular control over the information and geometry in a family.

Related to this is the notion that there are representations that we'd like to control for floor plan orientation and offer a different appear for the reflected ceiling plan (RCP) version. Currently what we show in plan will show the same in the RCP. That's just not specific or granular enough control.

Well, we can keep wishing...and hoping...and wishing...

RTCUSA - Cannon Contest - I Heart BIM

Okay, have to post an echo. Liz Chodosh with Cannon Design wrote about the contest they are running internally to send a staff member to the Revit Technology Conference in Stone Mountain, GA this June. The entries have to submit 100 words about why they love BIM. If you don't work for Cannon you are free to submit your entry but you won't be eligible to win the prize. Liz shared a submission from Emma Hooper called, "P.S. I Love BIM" awwww... It's a heart modeled in Revit

Looks to me like she's got the edge for now!! Nice job Emma!

Revit 2013 - Sunshine

I enjoyed the bit where Scott Davis showed a single day solar study last night during the SCRUG (South Coast Revit User Group) meeting. If we advance a single frame at a time it permits us to capture a view with the sun in the view, like this.

It was funny when Randy jokingly offered a really specific time of day to use and the sun in Scott's view ended up exactly behind the top of the fireplace flue/chimney. It's was a happy accident that I couldn't replicate here.

Revit 2013 - View References

If this was a snake I'd be writhing on the ground with a snake bite. If you are familiar with Matchlines and their related View Reference concept then you already have a sense of what this can do. You start the View Reference tool with this little sneaky button.

Then you get this on the Ribbon

Choose a view type and then a target view from the list of available views and you get something like this that you can place at the end of your note or possibly inline with some careful spaces inserted.

How about spending Two Minutes with View References?

Revit 2013 - Diameter Dimension

It might seem surprising to someone unfamiliar with Revit but it has not had a diameter dimension option for twelve years, since the beginning, only a radius (radial). That said, it has never prevented me from getting something done, just inconvenient at times.

In my view, any hole you make (or need to describe) with a drill is better dimensioned with a diameter value, you buy drill bits and core drill sizes based on diameter. More often than not I used text and a leader to "point" at a hole and say what diameter it needed to be. I didn't need a dimension for that.

Now for walls that are curving (or soffits or ceilings etc), those are better laid out with the radius. Give a contractor the diameter and they just have to divide by two anyway. In fabrication I used diameter dimensioning all the time. In construction on site, very seldom...unless selecting a drill bit.

So no diameter dimension for many years, but no more...Now it does!

One place I will be very grateful for the diameter dimension is in the family editor. What was dreadful was defining pipe diameters there without it (or round duct fittings for that matter).

Five Minutes of Phasing

Here's another short video in the "Five Minutes of" theme. This time I decided to delve into the basics of phasing. Due in part to the recurring assumption that I see where people feel it is necessary to add a "demo" phase. I wrote about this in the past. It's a natural assumption but not necessary for Revit's process and features to work. You can watch it at OpEd Videos or You Tube...or here.

Kiwi Codes - Project Browser for 2013

Okay gang, check out Phillip's latest add-on for Revit! An alternative Project Browser, can you say drag and drop folder like organization? Sure you can...

and much much more! Nice work Phillip!

Party Wall Doors

You know the doors that are in hotels that pass between rooms. They make it easy to rent two rooms side by side, one for kids, one for the parents...or co-workers traveling to a meeting etc. I got a question via email asking how to approach this. The issue expressed was that Revit won't let you put two doors on top of each other. They want to list two doors in the schedule (one for each side) so the more or less obvious solution of showing both panels and swings in one family didn't cut it.

One solution is to edit the door family and eliminate the Opening element and replace it with a void instead. This allows you to adjust the depth of the void so it only cuts one half of the shared wall. Place two doors and align them...voila, done. If you make this an instance parameter driven option your regular single flush door type could pull double duty, cutting all the way through a wall or only half way.

Another approach could be a single family that uses two nested (and Shared) families. The door could be assigned to the Generic Model category so the assembly doesn't schedule in a door schedule, the nested shared doors (assigned to the door category) do instead. Alternatively the category could be assigned to doors too but you'd either have to filter out the assembly or the individual doors because you'd have an "extra" door.

Whatever solution we use we do have to consider how "we" schedule doors and how the product is dealt with by a manufacturer. Since the frame has to built to accomodate two panels it might actually be better or correct to create a single door family that just happens to have two panels. Everything is a bit trickier the deeper you look at the question, at least when you aren't just concerned with what a door looks like in a plan view drawing.

Revit 2013 Materials

Daniel Stine has undertaken the task of writing about the new materials features and reorganization in Revit 2013. It's in the form of an article at AECBytes, check it out before you dig in too deeply, might help?

Five Minutes of Roof Sloping

I've posted a five minute (slightly over) video of sloping roofs for two conditions, sloped structure and flat structure with built-up rigid insulation. It demonstrates taking advantage of the Variable setting for roof layers (appropriate for flat structure).

This is the roof form I use in the video, sloping the structure in the larger section and using flat steel in the corners and the "L".

I used the Shape Editing Pick Supports option to define the sloping roof over the sloping structure. I used the Shape Editing Add Split Line feature to slope the roof membrane and insulation in the smaller areas.

You can watch the Video or also at You Tube.

Revit 2013 - More Resizable Goodness

Following in my earlier subtle theme, more dialogs have had a visit from the "Resizable elf". At a minimum Filters and View Templates have been added to the list of dialog boxes that not sizing challenged. Every little bit helps!

Revit 2013 - Tag on Placement

Another subtle but important feature refinement is that the Tag on Placement feature is "off" by default now. It turns out that this concept can generate some heated conversations. The general consensus, especially with Revit MEP users perspective is that we are better off leaving the tagging task for later...thus "off" by default. I know quite a few users that will sigh in relief.

Revit 2013 - Double Clicking

Here's a couple subtle features:

Double Click Middle Button in a view = Zoom to Fit
Double Click on a component Family = Edit the Family (open in the family editor)

Revit 2013 Gives a Way to Sweeter Suite

I wrote a post (September 2008) about wanting a single version of Revit. I took a poll (October 2008) of my readers and overwhelming they said they wanted a combined version of Revit. The first step toward this was last years Building Design Suites where we could, with one "product", have access to all versions. It still requires a separate installation (managed installation) for each version but one product code or license is associated with all of them.

The release of 2013 has taken that last step to completing this dream, with a new version of Revit called...wait for it... Revit! (code named "One Box" for awhile anyway). This means we can install one software application and have access to all of the features that are part of the discipline specific versions. David Light's blog post regarding the new features offers an image of the dialog that allows us to choose which features of the various disciplines we'd like to include on our User Interface as we work.

Halleluja!!

Revit 2013 Information

Autodesk is hosting a media day in San Francisco today. They've invited over 100 media people to see what's new and in store for us. Sadly I'm not one of those people this time around. David Light is however and I've been following his tweets and watching the morning presentation online via their Facebook Facecast. I'm not certain if the Facecast will resume after lunch or not.

David published the "What's New in 2013" blog post that he's been working on for a few days this morning during the Facecast. Be sure to check it out, he's provided some initial thoughts on the release as well as some insight into most of the major features.

There is a blogger media event tomorrow so look for various bloggers to add to the available information overload. I won't be attending it as I have a prior commitment with a client for the next few days.

Brian Mackey has invited people to attend a free webcast where he discusses his favorite 2013 features. The calendar link he provided doesn't seem to provide any details yet...so keep checking back to see if it's updated.

Lastly, there have been a few posts and tweets that it is possible to download the stand-alone versions of Revit 2013 (discipline specific). I don't see 2013 products listed for my account yet (via subscription). Well I do see the RST 2013 as available but not the others yet. I guess that will all get sorted out as wrinkles get ironed out.

Splitting a Dimension String

The media embargo has been lifted. As the noise regarding the next release of Revit grows I thought I share a feature that's in tune with me enjoying the "little things", refinement. They've added the capability of removing a segment of a dimension without using Edit Witness Lines.

It's pretty simple, though maybe not all that intuitive. You use very Reviteristic concept hover > tab > click to select. You place your cursor over the segment you want to remove (hover), press (don't hold, that's disco tab) the tab key until just that segment highlights, next you click to select it and then finally Delete it. You can choose how you want to delete it, Delete Key, Delete button on the ribbon, right-click > Delete...have fun!

Hover > Tab > Select

Press the Delete key

Here's to the little things.

Remember the Active Workset

What is the purpose of the Active Workset setting? You see it in the Workset panel, the Workset Dialog or on the Status Bar.

When you add elements to your project they are assigned to the Active Workset. Referring back to the Public Library as a metaphor for worksets, the active workset is the book shelf you are standing in front of as you prepare to put books away. You need to go to the non-fiction section before putting any non-fiction books away. If you put a fiction book on the non-fiction book shelf people will have a hard time finding it later. In Revit elements don't go anywhere when you assign them to the wrong workset but it does make it harder to open or close a workset if things aren't assigned properly.

As it happens there is an equivalent concept in AutoCAD, it's the notion of Current Layer and the Current Layer selection tool on the ribbon. In the same way, if you don't change your current layer in AutoCAD before sketching lines you'll end up with them assigned to the wrong layer. There is a significant difference however. In AutoCAD you are probably used to this Current Layer display changing to show the layer of a selected element. Revit's Active Workset display does NOT do this. This means you can't reassign the Workset parameter here. You can only do that in the Properties Palette.

Active Workset is your nemesis.

Much the same way Current Layer has been in the past. Remember to set your Active Workset.

Btw, I wrote a post (March 2006) about an idea, that I discussed with some other Revit users, to have Revit makes some automatic assumptions about how to assign an element to a workset without my doing so explicitly.

Where Did it Go?

I've caught myself doing this a couple times before and a question at AUGI reminded me of it. We can temporarily hide things using the Temporary Hide/Isolate feature. When not in use the icon just looks like glasses, more like sunglasses when it is in use, plus the turquoise blue frame around the drawing area and the slight shading behind the glasses too. One of the options available to us is listed at the top, Apply Hide/Isolate to View.

I've clicked on that when I really intended to click the Reset Temporary Hide/Isolate option instead. Later on I end up wondering where "that thing" went. Reveal Hidden Elements (little light bulb) helped me out.

If whatever you were missing shows up with this mode active then you did the same thing. The Apply Hide/Isolate to View option either applies your temporary condition to the element selected or the category depending on how you temporarily hid it to begin with. The end result is the same as if you used the right-click option Hide in View and either chose Elements or Category.

Next time "that thing" goes missing the little light bulb might need to go on.

AUGIWorld and RTC

I've received a copy of AUGIWorld in printed form as AUGI works toward making it available to the AUGI membership. As I write this I'm not sure where that effort stands but it is good to see it back in a physical magazine form again after several years of only being available as an eZine. I recall being shocked at the cost of producing it when I served on AUGI's Board. It was a very significant portion of AUGI's budget then. I'm guessing that getting a printed copy of AUGIWorld will involve some sort of subscription to help keep the cost to produce it in check.

As for the RTC part of my title, a full page ad appears in the current issue of AW. RTC is looking forward to seeing you at one or both of the events this year!

Will I see you there? Looking forward to it!

New Revit Family - Solar Light Bulb

Okay, we need a Revit family for this guy's unique solution to lighting!

[Added 3/25/2012] Decided to add the video that Alfredo mentioned in his comment, thanks!