The Ribbon and Training

This one comes up during every training session. I tell the group to click on such and such button and someone says, "Hey Steve, where is that button? I don't see it?" A quick glance at their pc and I see that they've got a deeper resolution than I do or the reverse.

The clever ribbon bugger stretches and contracts to show more or less of the ribbon (and tool buttons) according to the resolution of your computer. That means I might have a great resolution, and the projector supports it fine, but unfortunately someone else in the class is using a laptop with a lesser resolution. That means "my button" is bigger/smaller than "theirs".

It sure makes class fun! Since projector's often sets the "bar lower" I suppose I could force everyone to use my resolution? In a perfect world we'd all be using the same resolution? Yep yahshooeryoobetcha!

Due Diligence

I was musing about a recent conversation where one guy's position was that BIM is hype, unnecessary and worse really just being foisted upon our profession in a scheme to get more money from "us".

If I was seriously ill and a surgeon proposed cutting into me without considering using an MRI, CT Scan, blood testing etc. I'd be a bit on edge and worried about the outcome. More worried at least. Using an MRI or CT Scan doesn't supplant a surgeon's skill, training, knowledge, intuition or purpose. Years ago neither diagnostic tool existed yet today would it be appropriate to operate without them?

It seems to me this notion of using Revit (BIM) and "us" isn't all that different. Sure we could get our job done using our existing tools, we used to be able to pull it off with a pencil and paper too. Is it responsible to ignore advances in technology, improvements in our tools and process? We shouldn't get lost in our admiration of them to the detriment of our profession but ignore them or devalue their role? I don't think so...

Panel Schedule and Load Calculation Addition

A thread at AUGI that started in December 2011 described a situation that Panel Reports show some connected loads as "0". The thread wandered around a bit but Martin Schmid with Autodesk responded on Tuesday with some insight after the development team did some research. Martin prepared a video to help explain what can cause this.

He wrote in his reply at AUGI:

I was able to reproduce this today with some help with our development team. The issue seems to be related to having your connector's Load Classification Parameter associated with a Parameter that has an empty value specified.

You can see in the video that when I create a Load Classification parameter, it has no value... when I then associate that with the connector, the connector ends up with a load classification with no value. Thus, when you connect this, there is no value that propegates into the panel totals, since the panel totals are dependent on summing values from load classifications. As soon as I set a value on the parameter associatd with the connector's Load Classification, the values tabulate.

A reply at AUGI shortly thereafter reminded members to also check the Part Type setting for their families. Using stock content it isn't likely that this would be the issue but for any custom content that has been downloaded or created internally, checking everything you can won't hurt.

Electrical Panel Load Calculations

Another "inside" gem from Inside the System which offers deeper insight to how the numbers work. If you are a Revit MEP user and electrical is your game, then you'll want to read it. Thanks to Martin for taking the time to put it together.

Revit 2013 Service Pack 1 Available

Read elsewhere on the internets: This bit via The Revit Clinic's post.

Update Release 1 is now available for Revit 2013 products. A few changes have been made this year as to how the updates are accessed. Just a reminder - with the introduction of Autodesk Revit 2013, make sure you are installing the correct update for your product!

For Autodesk Revit Architecture, Autodesk Revit Structure, and Autodesk Revit MEP, you can find the update in the Data & Downloads > Updates section of each product page:

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2013 UR1
Autodesk Revit Structure 2013 UR1
Autodesk Revit MEP 2013 UR1

The update for Autodesk Revit 2013 can be found in the Design & Creation Suites Support > Data & Downloads > Updates & Service Packs section.

Autodesk Revit 2013 UR1

The Installation ReadMe files and Update Enhancement PDFs are available at each of these locations as well.

From the readme documentation for what has been addressed with the service pack:

Autodesk® Revit® Platform 2013 Enhancements

• Improves stability when opening projects from previous versions of Revit.
• Improves stability during Copy/Paste operations.
• Corrects display of solid filled regions with transparent backgrounds.
• Allows exporting of materials painted on elements to ODBC.
• Improves performance of opening and closing sketch mode in projects with many families.
• Improves stability when setting a Design Option as the Primary.
• Improves stability when Fixed Distance option for a divided path.
• Improves stability while browsing to Revit Server when there is no network connectivity.
• Improves export consistency of Space and Zone elements when multiple elements have the same name and number.
• Allows Raytrace mode to work with DirectX 9.
• Improves stability when using Raytrace mode with Hardware Acceleration disabled.
• Improves Raytrace mode rendering output.
• Improves Surface Transparency override by element for multiple selection.
• Improves printing consistency when tone mapping is enabled.
• Disables Sun and SunPath from being rendered in Raytrace mode.
• Improves stability when using manual exposure in Raytrace mode.
• Improves stability when rendering views.
• Improves stability and performance when using visualization features like Sky, Exposure, and Anti-Aliasing.
• Improves stability when importing IFC data which contains special characters.
• Improves the setting of custom parameter values during import of IFC data.
• Improves stability when importing IFC data which contains an invalid line pattern.
• Allows Markups from DWF to be exported to DWF.
• Improves stability when drag and drop a DWG file into a Revit project.
• Improves stability when importing DXF data.
• Improves dimension fidelity when exporting to DWG with export units set to Meter.
• Improves alignment of hatch and fill patterns when exporting to DWG.
• Improves stability when selecting a new host for an element within an In-place Wall.
• Improves section creation within a project with linked model.
• Improves stability when working with Materials.
• Improves the displayed Pattern Type assigned to an element with the Material Editor.
• Corrects the display of the materials category within the Paint interface.
• Corrects the printed display of fill patterns within perspective views.
• Improves stability of Type editing when multiple element types are in the selection set.

Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2013 Enhancements

• Improves stability when closing a sketch editor, such as slab or site which create a large number of points.
• Improves creation of U-shaped winder stairs.
• Improves stability when editing winder stairs.
• Improves performance when many railings exist within a project.
• Improves stability when support type is not defined for stair.
• Improves railing representation in coarse view.

Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2013 Enhancements

• Improves placement of analytical nodes when in 3D views.
• Improves stability when enabling “Show Analytical Model Categories in this View” when the Warning dialog is open.
• Improves creation consistency with Physical Wall when coping an Analytical Model Wall.
• Improves stability when editing an Opening within an object which spans to the boundary of an Analytical Surface.
• Corrects the reporting of the “Structural Parameter” on slabs.
• Improves masking of linked files by Mask and Filled regions in Structural Views.
• Improves stability when placing Rebar.
• Improves stability when copying Area or Path reinforcement between projects which have differing value for the Reinforcement Project Setting: “Host structural rebar”.
• Improves visibility of round rebar when displayed in fine detail level.

Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2013 Enhancements

• Corrects the Slope value on placeholder pipe when slope is greater than 15 degrees.
• Improves consistency when applying a slope to a layout which contains a transition.
• Improves stability when splitting pipes which belong to different systems.
• Corrects visibility of the center line when displaying rise/drop symbols.
• Improves stability when opening a Revit 2012 project which contains a pipe placeholder
  schedule.
• Improves consistency of unit formatting within Panel Schedules.
• Improves consistency of adding circuits to equipment that are connected to a pipe or duct system.
• Improves stability when adding a device, which is connected to a wire, to a circuit.
• Improves display of annotation on duct and pipe transitions.
• Improves stability when inserting duct fittings.
• Improves stability when viewing Routing Solutions.

Reference Planes and Wall Closure

Daniel Stine wrote to let me know that his new Interior Design book is now available for 2013.

It covers the new Materials and uses the new stair tool to create the stair shown in the image below (actually, the reader creates everything in the image).

He was also worried about me not posting as much lately so he shared something that's part of his book too...so I could post it here. Cool, I don't have to be creative and come up with something to post on my own! Aah...I feel so relaxed, thanks!

Control Wall’s Material Return

A door or window family has the ability to control the return of materials (i.e. Layers) for the host wall in a project. The exterior and interior materials can be controlled separately. These adjustments change the 3D model, not just the 2D plan-view. A single door family is controlling the various conditions shown below.

Note the two “wall closure” parameters (shown below) need to be “locked” so they stay positive (in the correct direction) when the host wall thickness changes. Also, these values can be set to 0’-0” for the default instance value.

You can set two Reference Planes to “Wall Closure” in a family.

In plan you get something like this.

[Edit: added this section 08/18/2013 - realized I didn't mention this part]

It is also significant that the Reference Plane setting works together WITH Wall Type Properties. If you don't tell the wall to allow the wrapping at inserts it won't do anything. I've added this image below to help explain.

Moving Ceiling Grid Pattern

Scott wrote about an issue at Revitforum.org the other day. He's been using Revit about as long as a person could use it so if it trips him up I'm betting it trips up others too!

Jesse came to the rescue with advice that perked up my Dept. of Subtle ears. He wrote:

"When you tab through to the ceiling grid while in the move command, look near the top (meaning Options Bar) at the "disjoin" check box. Revit will automatically remember if you had this box checked the last time you used the move command. It's going to be greyed out when moving a hatch pattern, and when it's checked you can't move the pattern.

To fix it, select something else, do the move command, uncheck the check box and press escape to cancel. The next time you go to move the ceiling grid the box should be unchecked!"

It's easy when you know how? :) Thanks to Jesse!

New Revit Family eBook

A new eBook is available for family editors out there. It's priced at $19.95 and weighs in at 16 chapters and 751 pages (virtual weight since it's an eBook). If you are familiar with the Little Details Count site then you are familiar with Michael Anonuevo's work. He's prepared a sampler PDF that you can download to evaluate before committing your Twenty. The sampler is 113 pages.

Seems to me that this book will undermine his content site? He's sharing his experience with everyone and now we won't need to buy his highly detailed content? :) His "loss" is our gain!

Click to Download the PDF.

YUZU Site Measuring

I received an email yesterday letting me know about YUZU. Their website is found via Picard Innovations, a Dutch firm based in Amsterdam. For readers that are already familiar with the Point Known PKNail site measuring system it appears to be similar, at least in concept. Perhaps it's just that they both involve using a Leica Disto or equivalent device.

They have a brief sales video, I've embedded here. They offer a free trial but I believe you'd need to already have the Leica Disto in hand to take advantage of it. The software boils down to these concepts: Defining Levels and Lease holders and then using 5 different tools to deal with measurements: Distance, Ortho, Offset, Rectangle and Triangle. They claim that with these features you will be able to create any drawing, shape and size of buildings.

I think attempting to evaluate this type of technology would benefit from a few videos that show it in use, the practical application of it on-site. Too bad we didn't get this for Glorius Gadgets at RTC in Stone Mountain! Maybe at RTCEUR 2013 in Delft, Holland...it's pretty close by for them!

Chameleon for Grasshopper and Revit

Hiroshi Jacobs has some news about a plug-in for Revit (and Grasshopper) that he's been working on. A hint of this leaked out a bit early last year if I recall but he's now ready for more eyes on it. He's calling it Chameleon and it is a plug-in that makes it easier to transfer geometric data between Grasshopper and Revit, plus other tools. It is currently compatible with Revit 2012 and 2013 and Grasshopper 0.8.0066.

It offers a Curtain Grid Manager that controls both panels and grids now, offers a preview of the system as well as helping to distinguish between vertical and horizontal orientations. There is a Chameleon Forum on his Revit City site as well as Chameleon Group at Grasshopper3D.com.

Here's a video from his site:

DWG Files and Funky Snapping

Importing survey files has always been problematic with Revit. Two things are fundamental issues: large file extents and distance from origin.

Geometry that is far apart will annoy Revit, geometry more than 20 miles in extents is the current "line in the sand". Just how precise this 20 mile consideration is a little hard to pin down. There must be some specific logic or algorithm the application uses but I've tried numerous times without success to arrive at something consistently true.

For example I've tried to draw squares and cubes, even circles and spheres to test the extremes and predict the trigger of the error messages I've written about before. As soon as I think I have something I can predict I try it again and get a slightly different result. My general rule of thumb is to try hard to make sure that I don't have extents that exceed a sphere that is 20 miles in diameter.

The other issue is when the data in the CAD file is small enough in extents but really far away from the file's origin, according to the WCS which is all Revit really pays any attention to. I can have a relatively small project site survey but far from origin and end up with Revit using Auto - Center to Center to place it. That's not really a problem though. We can just tell Revit how to resolve that with the Specify Coordinates at Point tool.

Now as for the title of this post, Revit hollers when our file is "too big". The warning tells us that this situation may affect the graphic depiction of information on screen.

This manifests itself in snap icons that appear to miss the element we are attempting to reference in the CAD file. It also shows up when you use the Pick tool to place lines and the sensitivity of the tool seems offset somewhat from where we see the line.

With Revit 2013 they've added an option in the Import dialog that says "Correct lines that are slightly off axis". This is a bit of spin unfortunately because this addition means it acknowledges that Revit has been altering them before, all along. Part of the solution to the funky snapping is resolved with 2013, don't check this option.

With Revit 2012 we can still avoid it but we have to import the DWG files a little differently. The trick is to let Revit place them using Auto - Center to Center and then move files, however many you need to use, into place manually. If we try to use the trick to Specify Coordinates using one file first and then import the rest using "Auto - by Shared Coordinates" it will trigger something internally that in turn triggers the snapping issue. That trick generates a message that these files aren't sharing coordinates but the end result is that they land in the correct location because shared coordinates are matching their own understanding of the WCS.

Here's a summary of steps, sort of...

Examine your survey file and make sure it isn't too large.

If it is you need to reduce it so just the really relevant part of the site is what you import. I realize that there may be situations that challenge this assumption but if you create two files from one that provides two that are small enough to avoid the error message about extents then you can still bring them in, position them manually and then specific coordinates.

Once you've resolved the survey file checking, pick a spot in each file that can be used as a common reference benchmark. You'll need it to move them into position in Revit. Write down what the coordinates are for this benchmark.

Now you can import the files into Revit. Use the Auto - Center to Center option. In Revit 2013 don't check the "Correct lines" option. You don't have this option in 2012 but this process will still work.

Move the files into position keeping them all near the Revit project file origin. Now you can use the Specify Coordinates at Point (SCaP) tool to match up Revit with your benchmark in the cad file. Unclip the Survey Point and move it to the benchmark location. Fire up the SCaP tool and enter the matching coordinate values.

Revit now understands your real world situation. You should find that snapping to the imported file elements is not showing the graphical glitch.

Important, there is one more thing to avoid, don't create a master survey file that uses attached Xref's to combine several files together into a single file that gets imported into Revit. Doing this will trigger the snapping issue again. It does it in 2012 and 2013 regardless. I believe that the Xref's mark the origin somehow in the master file which creates an unavoidable file extents problem which brings the snapping issue back to life.

Easy?? Wish it were easier!

Room Separation Lines - Agida for MEP?

Via email the other night, he writes...(edited a little)

We use Revit MEP. I’m doing some research on Room separation lines, as to how and why architects use them, and when is appropriate. The problem I am consistently running into is that room separation lines divide spaces as well. These divisions, while relevant to the architectural model, are ruining the possibilities of creating gbXML files without extensive work on the part of the engineer to remove the room separation lines, and then repair the damage done to the room names and numbers.

For example, imagine open library stacks with dedicated study areas. In the architectural file, they used room separation lines as a rectangle to create rooms and tags for these study areas. They were also used to define a corridor along one side of the stacks (but still in the same open area). For MEP these are really all part of one big room. We won't need to add dedicated air terminals to these areas, nor special lighting just for these areas. So any of the analysis tools in Revit using spaces will be wrong, as most of them use an average over the entire area, (CFM/SF, Average illumination levels/SF etc..). Further, we are unable to accurately or efficiently create a gbXML file for use in Green Building Studio, HAP, Trace, etc. This complication is greatly hampering many of the benefits of using Revit for engineers.

I’m not saying that room separation lines should never be used, there are perfectly good places to use them. Rooms or spaces that are actually going to be treated as a separate room, not a room with in a room.

I initially thought that architects were using these (in addition to the obvious) to check for programming requirements, and code compliance for areas and such but it turns out a lot of architects are using the area tool for those purposes. They were however using them for the room finish schedules.

From a program standpoint, I was surprised to find out that while room separation lines can be assigned to a workset and that workset can be unloaded (through a linked file) from the MEP model. However the Room Separations still existed. We just couldn’t see them. And even if that did work, we engineers would still need to correct/edit the space names and numbers manually now since the spaces wouldn’t match the rooms (Space naming tool wouldn't work).

He closed wondering if I could offer any advice, ideas or a solution.

The essence of my response via email:

HVAC Zones are meant to combine spaces into larger more coherent collections for engineering purposes. The example given above for the library is pretty common place, need to know how much area is dedicated to carrels as well as a corridor within the open space of the library. From the HVAC engineer's perspective irrelevant but not from the client's or the architect trying to satisfy them.

If room separation lines are "off the table" then the architect would end up using something else like actual walls and hiding them. They might end up asking Autodesk to make more elements room defining? Area plans could help document such things but then floor plans would be "ignorant" of what these kinds of "areas" are, no tagging possible, just "dumb text". Not ideal either. My greatest concern about room separation lines is when they are used as "band-aids" to try to fix room area issues, where rooms aren't bounded properly and not generating area values.

Regarding the workset comments. Worksets unload information but that doesn't mean Revit isn't aware of the elements that are assigned to the unloaded workset. When we unload a workset the walls are still there and that means so are Room Separation lines.

Any comments from readers??

Measure Between Two References

Saw a post at Revitforum.org asking how best to go about finding out what the perimeter of a given building is. I was a little late to the party there and I was mulling over what to write about tonight...

The catch, the building is a linked file. Not much of a catch but there is no equivalent floor in this case. If there was a floor there I'd just check the properties of the floor. Technically if a linked floor matched the perimeter of the building you can still see properties of the linked element if you use the TAB select technique to grab a hold of the element in the link.

...or you could sketch your own a floor around the perimeter pretty quickly. or you could use the area tools. or you could draw a property line. or you could....

Use the Measure Between Two Reference (MbTR) AND check the Chain Option! This will give you a running total as you pick additional points along the perimeter of the building. Here's a quick video demo.

For my money, I'd probably favor a floor. That way when the person who asked you to find out says something like this, "Hey what was that perimeter value again? Sorry I didn't write it down" You can just check the properties of the floor instead of using MbTR again, or flinging your scale at them.

Detail Level Ignored with Unlocked Wall Layers

We can unlock a layer or layers in a wall to allow "pulling" them up or down separately from the rest of a wall. This makes it possible to create a brick veneer that drops below a level some distance or pull the stud layer up farther, like this.

To make this possible you need to edit the wall's structure and select a layer to unlock, like this: 1 - Click Modify, 2 - Select the edge of a layer, 3 - Unlock the padlock

Interestingly, in Ceiling Plan views only, when we take advantage of this we lose the ability to show just two lines with Detail Level: Coarse.

I suppose it makes sense somewhat, since they are now distinctly separate but the hope was that we could still see just two line in Coarse. Seems to work fine in plan views though.

Revit MEP Electrical Calculations

Martin Schmid has been sharing some deeper insight into the "magic" behind electrical calculations that Revit provides. Every engineer I've met is, not too surprisingly, skeptical about trusting yet another software for these answers. There has been data, in help documentation, to support the results but not quite as deeply as the last three posts combined. Check them out!

Why do I get different Voltage Drop results with Revit compared to the NEC?
To compute Voltage Drop, why does Revit use the formula VD=(L*R*I)/1000?
Why does the Revit Wire Impedance Factor table have separate sections for Three Phase and Single Phase?

RTCAUS Wrapped for Another Year

I was busy pretending to be @RTCAUS on Twitter during the conference. I also wrote a few things during the conference on the blog for RTC. Those two alter egos provide ample distraction from this blog unfortunately. Between the attending of sessions, the socializing, committee member roles etc... I just didn't have enough brain cells left over to post here too. I hope to be able to resume being just me again soon!

The conference went very smoothly. Well there was the elevator needing a part from Germany. There was the internet service provider playing havoc with my "mello" but for the most part it really went swimmingly!

Ralph Grabowski attended the conference this year and wrote several articles about the event on his blog "World CAD Access". If you don't follow his blogging I encourage you to consider doing so. He's been deeply involved in following this "biddness" we are in, from a technology perspective at least. All for now, check out Ralph's post for some insight. You can also review the Tweets and the pictures that were part of many of them. I'll be posting pictures and info on the Facebook site in the coming weeks too.

View Reference Origin Location

I observed this the other day which remind me that it bothered me in the past but failed to bring it up before. The View Reference family that we can use in conjunction with Matchlines and now with Revit 2013 to create more general reference to views on sheets has an unpleasant effect on views that they are in.

They are assigned to the View Reference category but fundamentally began as a generic annotation family. When you create one from scratch or just edit the one the comes with Revit templates you'll find something like this.

The Move icon ends up very far away from the symbol itself when it is in view that are using finer scales. In a view that is assigned to something like 1/8"=1'-0" it is closer to the symbol. The downer about this offset is that it increases the "size" of the viewport when the view is added to a sheet. It just creates some unnecessary busy work to adjust views when this happens. If you find a viewport becoming "larger" than it should it might be related to this kind of situation.

Revit Technology Conference AUS 2012 is Underway!

This post is playing time traveler, dropping back in time to Monday (May 22). I was on a United 747-400 heading to Sydney when Monday happened at home in the USA. A curious side effect of travel west to Australia is you lose a day. Sydney is 17 hours ahead of the west coast of the USA. So when I boarded my flight on Sunday night at 9:45 PM it was already 2:45 PM in Sydney, but tomorrow (Monday). By the time I landed in Sydney Monday already turned into Tuesday morning. This means I lost Monday, missed my son Jake's birthday and didn't post anything here. I could have set something up to post while I was traveling but that would mean I was better prepared, I wasn't. I digress...

It's that time of year again, RTC is here. First up is the conference in Wollongong (aka The Gong and 90 minutes SE of Sydney). VisDay is a new event focused on visualization technology. The Chairman is Dan Jurgens and he's worked hard to assemble a quality group of presentations. The RTC conference begins on Thursday May 24th and VisDay is the "warm up" act, to use a concert metaphor. VisDay gathers (gathered) on Wednesday May 23rd. Writing about what will happen when it just happened is a bit odd...

Tonight I'm polishing my presentation about What's New in Revit Architecture 2013. Each year I feel like there isn't enough new stuff to make me happy. Then I write up this presentation and I find it takes a lot of effort to scratch the surface in a modest way. This year is no different. There are some big ticket items that attract attention but there a numerous other and more subtle features that contribute to a fairly long list of things to speak about. That will happen just after lunch on Thursday May 24th (tomorrow as I write this).

The event in Australia is upon us. You can still attend technically, assuming you can (a) get here, (b) make the time and (c) act fast!! Join the 400 or so others revving up for three days of Revit and BIM technical sessions and discussions.

There is just over a month until the RTCUSA starts in Stone Mountain, GA on June 28-30, 2012. Don't miss it!

Revit 2013 - Double Click a View Reference

I wrote about the enhancements to the existing View Reference feature in March when the software first was released.

I didn't mention this other little goody, for people working inside Revit. If you double click on the view reference family Revit will open the view! If you export to DWF and export all the sheets to the same file you'll find they behave just like other annotation for views, CTRL + Click will open the other sheet/view.

Selecting Multiple Saved Selection Sets

Sibilance! I used to work for Syracuse Scenery & Stage Lighting, Co. in Syracuse, NY. It was fun when I had to introduce myself formally starting with, "Hi, I'm Steve Stafford with...". The title of this post reminded me of that, sorry! I was going to lead into it with Dept. of Subtle but that was too many "sssss"... it is really subtle though. Okay I'll get to it then.

Revit 2013 added Saved Selection Sets, a feature that was part of an extension for Revit Structure originally.

The concept is simple, select elements and click a button to save (top button in the image above) them as a set that can be called on later, to do something with or to them again. If that seems likely then it will come in handy. The Save button wakes up when there is something selected. The Load button wakes up after something has been saved as a selection set.

The subtle part of this is that when there are several selection sets to choose from, what if we want to do something to more than one at a time? The dialog doesn't let us select multiple saved sets. Guess we're sunk.

[Edited 5/18/2012 - Gabe pointed out in a comment that CTRL isn't necessary, just running the tool again by clicking Load will allow us to add another selection set, cool! Thanks Gabe! - Disregard the following section]

It doesn't look like it will work but using the CTRL key does work, just not inside the dialog. The trick to this is selecting one and clicking OK to leave the dialog. Then press CTRL and click the Load button again (middle button in the first image), select another saved set, click OK.

Now we've got two saved selection sets selected again. It's easy when you know how!