Renaissance Revit – a book about so Much More than just Revit

Luke Johnson

“You can’t do that in Revit” is a common catch-phrase for those who do not know the program well.  Happily, there are people out there who do know how to do those things in Revit – you just have to find those people and take the time to learn from them.  One such person is Paul F Aubin.

He is the author of many Revit-related books, but the most recently published edition focuses on using Revit to make and present Classical and Renaissance building forms and architecture.  What I like about this particular work is that it does not just cover simple “how-to” steps for certain tasks.  It has a larger and more interesting scope.

Combining elements of history, architectural theory, good Revit practices, and of course, the “how-to” bit as well, Renaissance Revit is well worth a read.

It is hard to put it better than Andy Milburn in the Forward:
“The fact that you are reading this foreword suggests that you too are excited by what Revit can do. Take my advice. Grasp the nettle. Don’t look back.“
(yes, I did have to look up what “grasp the nettle” meant 🙂

The book delves into proper use of the two key Revit family environments: the traditional Family Editor, and the Massing Environment.  While it may initially seem that the content of this edition is for advanced users only, in actual fact Paul has provided appropriately basic parts to help beginner Revit users, and at the same time even highly experienced users will have the occasional moment where they say “ah, that’s much better than the way I currently do that…”

It is packed with detailed diagrams, images, formulas and workflows.  Here is just one example:

Datasets of lessons are included, with additional progress files provided at logical points through the lesson.  You will be able to download “completed” versions of those families by registering at paulaubin.com.  Also of note – Aaron Maller is the technical editor, and I’m sure most of you are aware of his excellent Revit reputation. 

Discounted pricing available at:
Renaissance Revit: Creating Classical Architecture with Modern Software | Paul F. Aubin

(You can choose between a Black and White or a Full Colour version)

You can also read Paul’s post:
Renaissance Revit Now Available | Paul F. Aubin

Lastly, consider this brief list as a “teaser” of the real scope and value of what is included in this book:
“we will look at practical examples of how to approach many common Revit challenges, such as:

  • Strategies to planning and building reusable family content
  • How to control scale and proportion reliably
  • How to parametrically control curves like arcs, ellipses and compound curves
  • Strategies for working with appropriate levels of detail
  • Approaches to effectively managing repetitive elements
  • Building rules, relationships and design intent into your content
  • Strategies to use two-dimensional geometry instead of 3D

Thank you, Paul Aubin, for bringing a new level of depth and class to the greater Revit bibliography.

Do you know the Best Way to Audit a Set of Model Groups?

Luke Johnson

Let’s say you have inherited a multi-storey project that has been set up with Model Groups for Typical Levels – not necessarily a bad thing (see this post).

There are a couple of things that do scare me a bit, like the fact that groups can break down after a long editing session, and that its not easy to find out which elements are excluded from which group instances.
EDIT Here is an answer using Compare Models by Julien Benoit (note – Compare Models is a Subscriber only Extension, now available on Exchange here.  You will need to login).

After installing Compare Models, you need to open two files.  I opened a ‘live’ version and a detached version of the same model.  Go to Extensions – Tools – Compare Models.  Wait for a while… you will get a list that shows you which Group instances have Members Excluded.

However, this method does not give the actual Excluded Elements, just the Group Instances with Exclusions.

There was a recent twitter exchange (initiated by me) about this (see below), but it didn’t really result in a nice solution.  The closest I came, in theory, was this:

So…..

Does anyone have an awesome way to list group instances and their excluded elements?  Anyone? 🙂

How to Make Image Backgrounds Transparent in Revit

Luke Johnson

You need to save as PNG – but not any old PNG will work.

I have consistent success using Paint.NET, deleting the “background” so it is empty (checkerboard), then saving as a PNG.  But here’s the main lesson – make sure you tick 32-bit.  No other option seems to work, only 32-bit PNGs seem to respect transparency in Revit.

You can even use Bring to Front, Send to Back etc to overlap these images.  Quite useful for Entourage in coloured Plans and Elevations…

How to Delete Viewport Title Types in Revit

Luke Johnson

Firstly, consolidate your Viewport Types by using Select All Instances – In Current Project and switching them to the Types you want to keep.

Then, change a Viewport to one you want to delete, and use Snoop Current Selection (RevitLookup).  You can drill down to find the ElementID of the Viewport Type Definition:

Ok, with this in hand:

  1. Change the Viewport back to one you want to “keep”
  2. Select by ID – use the ID you found above
  3. Press Delete on the keyboard (if any viewports still use this definition, Revit will prompt you that deleting this Viewport Type could cause problems etc). 
  4. Rinse and repeat
Keep in mind that some Viewport Types are “special” / built-in, you will not be able to delete them all…

De-Duplicating the BIM process, and a Checklist for preliminary BIM Coordination Meeting

Luke Johnson

A new challenge faced by collaborative design teams – how to work concurrently, yet not do the same thing four times?

Consider these comments from Glenn Jowett:
“If you look at the process of designing a steel framed building there is the potential for at least four steel frame models to exist within one design team, four models that have been built from scratch by different people within that design team.
…
The design team should sit down at the start of a project and map out who owns what elements at what stage of the project
…
The copy monitor tools within Revit are far from perfect, but this seems to be the only option for walls at the moment.
…
In traditional 2D, drawings would be issued and revisions clouded; in the 3D model revisions can’t be clouded and drawing issues between the design teams are becoming less and less frequent.”
via
http://revitst.blogspot.in/2013/08/revit-collaboration.html

Checklist:
Finally, some great ideas of what to discuss at a pre-project BIM meeting from the same post:
“An initial BIM or Revit meeting should take place at the start of every major project, purely from a Revit and collaboration point of view items for discussion should be:

· File format for data exchange

· How often are files exchanged

· Clearly define what the model is to be used for at what stage in the design process

· Who models what and when

· Who owns what and when does element ownership go from one discipline to another

· Level of development (LOD) – what level of model information should I expect to receive at what stage? And does that meet my expectations

· How often should clash detection take place

· Project coordinates and project north position.

It is important that the above items (at least) are discussed before a project really starts to evolve, and the decisions on each item should be documented and set out in a BIM Execution Plan. Collaboration will be much easier to manage if every member of the design team has the same set of core principles to follow from start to finish.”

To the above list, I would add at least the following:

  • common list of Phases
  • common set of Worksets (or at least exchange Workset lists)
  • how many models will a multi-disciplinary consultant firm be providing?  One combined?  Or multiple?
  • discuss if any particular Copy/Monitor Revit Categories will be key to the project