Category: Uncategorized

A 36 minute video on the Revit coordinate system…

Luke Johnson

EDIT For some reason the original video is not working.  It was also referenced on Wikihelp here, and that embedded version is broken too.  I tried to contact Youtube user cwm9 but did not get a reply.  I have re-uploaded to here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuYely7lu-0&feature=youtu.be

Wow 🙂

Broken version, was at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mVHgJFrBvC0

From the narrator (?):


“Uploaded by cwm9 on Dec 3, 2011


The coordinate system or Revit has been rehashed many times on blogs and posts, but has been clear as mud for me, and I suspect a lot of other people. So I took the time to really figure out it, and here’s a 30 minute explanation of how Revit’s coordinate systems work, interrelate,
how true north works, and how to put multiple copies of a building on a site.”

Make a Level Schedule (workaround)

Luke Johnson

You can’t make a schedule of Levels in Revit.  I won’t get into the argument of “should you be able to” or not.  The fact is, some people want to make a Level Schedule.  Here I provide one workaround that works for the current version of Revit.

  1. Download this example Revit project file
  2. Copy / paste an instance of the LEVEL SCHEDULERS family into your project
  3. Make a section view where you can see the family in profile, just like in the example RVT file:
  4. Copy / paste the LEVEL SCHEDULE into your project
  5. You need to place one instance of the family ON EACH LEVEL, and then lock the handle to the ZERO LEVEL (always).  If your level is BELOW ZERO, then use the Yes/No tickbox for that instance.
  6. Once all the families are placed and locked, you have a Level Schedule that will adjust when (if) your levels move.  Obviously, if a new level is placed, you will need to add a new instance of the LEVEL SCHEDULERS family.

Do you have another workaround that is perhaps easier or quicker or more BIM than this one?  Feel free to comment…

    Revit under attack

    Luke Johnson

    A new whitepaper by Graphisoft can be downloaded from here.

    Here are some quotes:
    “It’s a pretty mature technology and it’s resolved a lot of things and
    solved a lot of things along the way,” Gonzales continues. “There’s
    less risk because it is a mature product. It does everything that any
    other product does and has really good solutions to lots of building
    issues.”
    …
    Security of your data and project files is paramount, and ArchiCAD
    provides a superior solution: a true relational database.
    …
    Moving to BIM is easier, less risky, and ultimately more profitable,
    with ArchiCAD     – the proven BIM software that provides an elegant,
    highly efficient, and fast 3D workflow environment.

    What do you think?  Revit, or ArchiCAD, and why?

    Lachmi Khemlani, when reviewing the whitepaper, says in her article:
    Ultimately, I think that it’s going to be hard for ArchiCAD to compete with Revit’s leading position in the AEC industry and Autodesk’s might and muscle by simply being just another BIM solution like Revit.

    via
    Graphisoft’s New White Paper on BIM

    Feed your webcam into Revit?

    Luke Johnson

    The Building Coder has put together a very advanced post that essentially demonstrates that the Revit API can sample an external, continuously changing graphical ‘feed’, and then display this inside Revit itself.  Cool!

    Now, I challenge someone to grab the live feed from a webcam looking out a real-life window, and then show me it presenting itself through a Revit Window family 🙂

    Quote:
    Here is RevitWebcam2012_3_final_cleanup.zip containing the cleaned up code with all obsolete API usage removed.
    Here is a snapshot of RevitWebcam up and running in Revit 2012:
    RevitWebcam in Revit 2012
    Read more / via
    The Building Coder: Revit Webcam 2012

    Dimond Architects Performance Centre project featured on indesignlive website!

    Luke Johnson

    The Matthew Flinders Performance Centre, designed and documented by Dimond Architects, has been featured on the indesignlive website at this link.

    High resolution professional photographs may be viewed on this page.

    Photography by Roger D’Souza

    The Performance Centre has been entered into the Architecture awards, which will be judged in the coming year.

    This project was modeled in Revit Architecture.

    Greater control of 3D Orbit in Revit – Disable Mouse Movement on One Axis

    Luke Johnson

    Ever wanted to constrain your orbit to only the X or Y axis in Revit?  Here is one way to do it:

    1. Download DragLock and run it
    2. In a Revit 3D view, hold down Shift, then your Left Windows Key, and then your Middle mouse button
    3. Starting dragging horizontally or vertically – your mouse movement is constrained to one axis only.

    via
    Disable Mouse Movement on One Axis – Tech Salsa

     
    Link

    Some history

    Luke Johnson

    There have recently been a few posts in the blogosphere about Revit and Autodesk history.  I have here collected links to some of the more interesting ones, as well as links from previous posts on What Revit Wants that deal with Revit history.

    The Building Coder: The Genesis of Revit and its API
    This is an excellent history post with interviews from key players.

    Phil Read and Revit – history

    Arch | Tech: 11 Years Ago (Yesterday) – the soft drink machines didn’t even need money!

    Autodesk – 30 years of history

    BDExpert article (translated)

    Previous posts dealing with Revit history:
    A li’l bit of Revit history…Part 1

    Assume Revit nets $100/mo per subscription. That means they need 5,000 subscriptions just to break even. “The question is,” summarizes Brad, “How long will it take to ramp up to 5,000 subscriptions?”
     
    A li’l bit of Revit history…Part 2

    A li’l bit of Revit history…Part 3

    First round of venture capital was in 1998.
    First lines of code were written in 1998.     

    A li’l bit of Revit history…Part 4 (Revit 5 Features)

    Align, split, trim, offset tools
    These editing tools are like their CAD equivalents, but better.

    Revit History – Revit Release 3 – AUGI Forums

    Revit History – Revit 4.1 packaging

    Credit to David Light

    Revit History – Revit 4.0 video

    Timeline of BIM Software Development
    · 1982 – Autodesk was founded
    · 1983 – Autodesk Launches AutoCAD version 1.2
    · 1989 – Parametric Technology Corporation introduces the first version of Pro / ENGINEER
    · 1992 – Autodesk Launches AutoCAD 12 for DOS and becomes synonymous with CAD
    · 1997 – Charles River Software founded. Foundation development team came from Parametric Technology Corporation
    · Charles River Software renamed as Revit Technology Corporation
    ….

    Revit Timeline – History of Revit software and companies
    Versions:
    1.0 2000 04
    2.0 2000 08
    2.1 2000 10
    3.0 2001 02
    3.1 2001 06
    4.0 2001 11
    4.1 2002 01

    Revit 2003 was still pretty great

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    How to edit Lookup Tables using import / export macro and Excel (MEP)

    Luke Johnson

    I have previously described how you can Link Excel spreadsheet data into Revit (through AutoCAD).

    But what if you want to semi-automate the process of editing Lookup Tables using Excel?  The blog http://www.revitmep.es/ shows you how:

    We explain how to create a lookup table for the families…
    The biggest impediment there is import and export these files, we use a macro in Excel to streamline these tasks.
    via
    Google Translate

    of

    Original Post

    And here is a direct link to the macro-enabled Excel file:
    Editor Lookup Tables.xlsm

     

    Revit Array with adjustable Group Types for Array members

    Luke Johnson

    This video demonstrates a peculiar workflow, in which Revit allows you to change the Type of an Array member without breaking the array.

    This example uses a Polar array based on a copy-to-2nd method. You will notice that the reliability of this method actually depends on how far the array is pushed. In general terms though, this hack may prove useful in some situations.