What Revit Wants
Something is coming from Autodesk and my guess is that it is design related. Many Autodeskers have been teasing an upcoming announcement from Autodesk that will be made on the 16th of August 2011.
www.cad-a-blog.com
The AutoCAD team has a big day coming up, and we want you to help us plan it!
LT Unlimited: Somethings coming
What do you think?
What is coming on August 16?
You want to know if a DWG file was created in Revit.
1. Open the DWG file in AutoCAD.
2. Enter Filter on the command line.
3. Select XDATA ID from the Filter drop-down list.
4. Click Select.
5. In XDATA ID list, look for an entry for Revit. If such an entry
exists, then the file was created in Revit
via
March08_Tips_and_Tricks.pdf (application/pdf Object)
To Create Similar from a Legend View, first select the element, then activate the target view, then invoke Create Similar.
via Revit Warning 🙂
You may also be interested in:
Create Similar tool persists while switching Open Views
Head on over to Mosaic to check out the new aggregation website that Autodesk has created for the Autodesk User Community.
Check out this collection of BIM design resources:
BIM Libraries | Whole Building Design Guide
For instance, there are links to multiple different ‘standards’ and guides. A few are listed below:
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A process for seamless, efficient, reproducible exchange of accurate and reliable that is widely and routinely utilized among all tools and stakeholders.
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Quarry Group BIM Roadmap (PDF 148 KB)
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Online and print magazine covering AEC, MCAD, and GIS
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The reading room for computer aided design
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This twice-yearly publication provides articles of interest to the community. A live version with web content is being planned to augment the current product.
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Presentation by Howard Ashcraft, Hanson Bridget and Dennis Sheldon, Gehry Technologies
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These documents define how data is represented, shared, and managed between the myriad of software applications used in the structural steelwork industry.
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IFC Model (PDF 1.3 MB)
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Texas Facilities Commission—Professional Service Provider Guidelines and Standards
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A few of the global Revit pros have had a crack at rationalizing an ellipse for use in Revit. Zach Kron went conceptual, Phil Read trimmed his way around, and David Light played with circle-based segmentation.
What is my answer to this problem? Simply don’t do it in Revit – do it in AutoCAD. For some people, that solution may not be acceptable, and that’s ok. I also realise that the AutoCAD haters will probably victimise me for it…oh well, do what works I say 🙂
Here is how I did it:
I make an ellipse in an AutoCAD file after setting the PELLIPSE variable to 1. This means that AutoCAD creates the ellipse as a polyline, which means it contains arcs. I then Import / Link this into Revit and simply ‘pick’ the arc segments to make a nice smooth elliptical form.
Here is a video:
My method is probably the easiest of the lot, but it is also probably the least ‘Revit-ee’ and the least parametric…
We know that each Revit project has a Unit setting (Manage – Project Units). This dictates the default entry units (while typing the Length of a wall, for example.)
However, what if you want to enter a different type of unit without changing the Project Units all the time?
Revit natively understands a number of different unit types, and it will transparently convert them into the appropriate Project Units for you. All you have to do is type xxx SUFFIX, where xxx is the unit you want to convert, and SUFFIX is the type of unit it is.
Here is a list of the natively supported units of Length (that I know of):
mm
cm
m
” (Shift+apostrophe)
in
Note – you can also use 2 apostrophes (foot marks) for inches –”– (via @DBCdoug on Twitter)
How do you insert feet? Use the apostrophe (next to Enter key):
‘
What about a combined feet-and-inches unit? Yes, you can! You can use a dash to divide the two (but you don’t have to). Here are some possible combinations that work:
2′-7in
2′-7″
2’7in
2’7″
These can all be entered WITH or WITHOUT a space. For example:
12cm
12 cm
Interestingly, the ft suffix does not work for feet UNLESS you have it combined with inches, at least on Revit 2011 / 2012. For instance:
2ft DOES NOT WORK
2ft-0in DOES WORK
Crazy! Even:
2ft0 DOES WORK
Where in Revit can you use these inbuilt conversions? You will most likely use them in direct entry locations (while drawing a wall, for instance), or in the Options Bar:
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| Direct entry |
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| Options Bar |
If you have any other tips on Unit entry, feel free to comment.
In past years, the presentation materials for the Revit Technology Conference were made available for download by anyone – even if you didn’t attend!
Check out the following links:
If you want to quickly download all of the resources from each page, I recommend using Firefox with Downthemall.
Sometimes a post comes along that I can’t help but re-post. The BIM Troublemaker has gone to the trouble of making a handy little Generic Annotation family for Coordination, with some great formulaic graphic feedback. Because its a Generic Annotation, it can be scheduled in a Note Block. Nice work BIM Troublemaker!
Download a sample of the block here:
Trackable Comment Annotation.RFA
Read more at:
BIM Troublemaker: Comment Tracking Using Noteblock Scheduling
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| Image from http://bimtroublemaker.blogspot.com/ |
If you want to find out about Note Blocks, check out my previous post:
Note Blocks – What are they??
On a slightly unrelated note, if you want to automatically tag Component families, check out this post:
How to add a label to a Component Family (automatic tag)
The AutoCAD Design team is experimenting with new ways to get feedback from our users.
Your suggestions help make AutoCAD (Mac & Windows) better, so let us know what would make AutoCAD easier to use, more enjoyable and help you be more productive.
The Design team might drop in from time to time to get inspired, and we may use the data submitted to help drive customer activities such as focus groups at our offices, AUGI CAD Camps,and events at Autodesk University.
Ideas for AutoCAD – Google Moderator
via email.
Now we just need a similar mechanism for Revit!
