What Revit Wants
A new feature in Revit 2011 allows you to ‘lock’ or ‘unlock’ parameterised dimensions in the Family Editor.
In practice, this allows you to instantly flex a family without having to open the Type Properties dialog box.
‘Flexing’ means to test the relationships and parameters in a family by adjusting the dimensions within that family. If something breaks, you know that you have a problem. You should always flex families within the family environment, before unleashing them on a project.
If you are having problems related to the Ribbon or the dockable palettes in 2010, you should start by resetting the user interface:
| autodesk_revit_architecture_ui_reset_2011.vbs (vbs – 6Kb) |
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A sure-fire way to become more productive when using Revit is to utilise the Project Browser effectively. It can allow you to quickly find and navigate your project, instead of laboriously searching for views or families.
In Revit 2011, you can use the persistent Properties Palette to quickly sort the Project Browser views.
This method also works when sorting Sheets in the Project Browser.
The above post assumes that you know how to create new sort groups for the Project Browser. If you don’t, have a look at this page.
There is a sneaky command in Revit 2011 called ‘Replicate Window’. It is NOT the same as Duplicate View. Instead, this opens another instance of the current view in a new window. It is on the View Ribbon, Windows panel:
I actually thought this was new in 2011, but when I checked Revit 2010 it was there too. However, the 2010 documentation did not show anything when searching for ‘Replicate’. The 2011 documentation is a little more helpful:
To open a second window for the current view, click View tab, Windows panel (Replicate). This tool is useful if you want to pan and zoom on certain areas of the design, while also viewing the entire design in another window. (Use the Tile tool to see both views at the same time.) Any changes that you make to the project in the new window also display in other windows of the project. (Expand the Manage Views part at this link).
A short post is often best.
Having trouble overriding dimensions to windows?
http://rvit.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/crazy-dimensions-strings/
Productivity tip for loading families:
I learnt something interesting yesterday. I learned the difference between being Aggressive, Passive and Assertive.
An Aggressive person will totally disregard your opinion and basically ‘bite your head off’. On the other hand, a Passive person won’t speak up even if they feel strongly about something. But –
An Assertive person Listens to and Acknowledges the opinions of others, and then respectfully but firmly Expresses their own opinion.
In practice – let’s say 3 people like 3 different colours. Mr Aggressive says ‘Red is the best colour and you are all idiots if you don’t agree with me!’ Mr Passive loves Yellow, but he meekly nods. Mr Assertive says, ‘I respect the fact that you like Red. However, I personally like the colour Green.’
Mr Assertive does not need others to change – he just shows respect and wants to be respected. His beliefs are not dependent on forcing others to change.
When it comes to BIM, the ‘aggressive’ stance is often taken (AutoCAD is rubbish!) However, perhaps a more successful tactic would be to truly Listen, Acknowledge, and then firmly express why You believe in BIM.
