Spot Slope.

I was very excited when I saw the new “Spot Slope” tool in Revit 2010. However I became disappointed very quickly. I’m not sure why Autodesk cannot create software which caters for a large amount of the countries they sell in.

Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia and I’m sure other countries use the Ratio system for Ramps of 1 (rise) : Horizontal Distance Travelled.
Example; in Australia the maximum rise for a disabled compliant ramp is 1:14. The spot slope tool seems to cater for all kind of different slope formula except this system of 1 : Distance.

Considering ensuring ramps are compliant is such a major concern for Architects, it seems to be quite clear, Autodesk need to work on their software product development research.

Come on guys, let’s get the simple things right.

Drafting line tool shortfalls.

I have always felt the Revit drafting line tools were short by two tools.

The first being “Chamfer”.
I know this tool may not be used much, but if you are detailing a lot of Precast Concrete Wall Panels or Joinery (Casework) you will want these tools.

The second is “Spline through points”
I really hate using the current spline tool. You have to guess where the points have to go and you have no way of really setting it out. At least with spline through points you know where your spline is going and I would hope it could have the functionality to dimension to the node points. Considering organic lines are highly sought after by Designers these days, a Spline through points in the drafting tools is a must. This tool is now in the Massing section, we can only hope it will propagate throughout.

Attached Detail Groups

Attached Detail Groups had deluded me for a while. I didn’t quite understand how they worked. So now that I know, let me fill you in:

If you select model objects and any 2D elements (eg lines, text, tags, symbols or detail components) and click the group button you will be asked for the following information.

Revit has split out the model elements from the detail elements. Name the model group in accordance with your office standards. The Attached Detail Group similarly. Have a look in your project browser. Notice how the Attached Detail Group is stored under the model group and not under detail groups.

Now place the model group you have created and following that, select it. Look in the options bar. You will see the button “Place Detail”. Press it and you will be asked which attached detail group you want to place. Tick the appropriate group and click ok. The detail group will now be inserted.

While you experiment with groups have a look at the link options for model groups (select the group and look at the options bar) and also when in model group edit mode how you can attach an existing detail group to a model group.

Revit 2009 - Room Computated height.

Following on from some more investigation into rooms I have seen that the Computated Height setting can be changed. Following from an earlier post, I didn’t think it could be. The Revit help is great at telling you new functions, but not so great at telling you changes to existing functions.

Here are the details out of the Revit help.

Revit Architecture measures the perimeter of a room at a defined distance above the base level of the room. This distance is the computation height. It is used to compute the room perimeter, area, and volume. By default, the computation height is 4’ or 1200 mm above the base level of the room (the height of the default cut plane).

For buildings with vertical walls, the default computation height usually gives accurate results. However, if a building includes sloped walls or other atypical features, you may need to adjust the computation height to achieve more accurate room areas and volumes.

For example, the following drawing shows a section of a room with a sloped wall. The dotted line across the lower part of the room indicates the current computation height. (This line displays when you select the room.) Revit Architecture uses the perimeter of the room at the computation height when computing the room area and volume.

Changing the computation height affects the room perimeter, and thus the room area and volume. For example, the following drawing shows the same room, but the computation height has been moved lower (indicated by the dashed line). The room tag shows the changed room area and volume.

The computation height is defined as a parameter of a level family. If needed, you can change this parameter. You can also create multiple level families that use different computation heights. For example, you may want to define one level family for stories and another level family for plenums.

Changing the Computation Height

1. Open a section view (or any view in which you can see defined levels).

(Optional) Make rooms visible in the section view.

2. Right-click a level datum in the view, and click Element Properties.
3. In the Element Properties dialog, click Edit/New.
4. In the Type Properties dialog, under Dimensions, do one of the following:
• To use a default computation height, select Automatic Room Computation Height.

By default, the computation height is 4’ or 1200 mm above the base level of the room (the height of the default cut plane).

• To specify a computation height, clear Automatic Room Computation Height. For Computation Height, enter the distance above the base level to use when computing the room area and perimeter.

If the room includes a sloped wall, consider using a computation height of 0 (zero).

5. Click OK.

The change in computation height affects all rooms that use this level type family for its base level.

Automatic Computation Height

In most cases, the automatic computation height is 4’ (1200 mm) above the base level of the room. In some situations, however, the automatic computation height is different.

• Suppose the top of a room-bounding wall is lower than 4’ (1200 mm above the base level of the room), and it is joined to a room separation line. In this case, the computation height defaults to 0 (zero) to bound rooms by joined lower walls for that level.
• Suppose the top of a room-bounding wall is higher than 4’ (1200 mm), and its bottom is above the base level of the room. In this case, the automatic computation height is 4’ (1200 mm).

Revit Extensions

So you may have seen that Autodesk have added a plug-in to Revit Architecture 2009 on the Subscription Website.

Extensions are a series of several little add-on tools. Some of these tools may end up to be useful. The Compare models, Element positioning, Freeze drawings and Text Generators look like they could be quite helpful.

Find some images below.
Like everything in Revit, really getting to understand the tools will allow you to know when is a good situation to use them.

Paint Tool

The paint tool is one of those items that can be your best friend and a pain in the neck, all at the same time. It is one of those items which Autodesk needs to spend some time on and get its functionality working better.

One of the main problems is it can be very difficult to work out what elements have had the paint tool applied to them. This comes from not being able to select the painted part of the element. Some less experienced Revit users end up in a puzzle to why the wall has “x” finish on it, when the wall structure build up is “y”.

The paint tool is a very handy tool in sketch design when designers shouldn't need to be overly concerned about the wall build up and only want to put a finish on it. As long as the rough thickness is about right, the actual build up can be detailed at Design Development (DD).

The issue can then come when going on to DD you will want to convert the walls to their actual build up. The paint property of a wall will still remain with the wall element, even if you change the family type. The only real way to get rid of paint is to re-paint the face .

Here is a suggest solution within the confines of Revits current tools.

Create a material takeoff schedule; let’s assume the wall category is the only category with the paint tool applied too.

Add the following fields:

Family and Type; Material: Name; Material: Area & Material: Volume.

In the filters section; filter by “Material: Volume” equals = 0.000 m³. By doing this you will limit the schedule to 2d materials, i.e. pant (rather then volumes, i.e. walls).

Now close down all other views except a 3d project view. In this view, turn off all categories except walls. Now go back to the material take off schedule and select the first line and then select “Show”

Your 3d view will appear. When the “Click the Show button multiple times for different view.” click Close.

The element is still selected, so now by going to the “Temporary Hide/Isolate” tool you can “Isolate the Element”.

Then go to the paint tool in the tool bar. Ensure the type selector is on . If it is not obvious which face of the wall has been painted, select (paint) all 4 sides. The paint finish should now disappear from the schedule.

Reset the view “Temporary Hide/Isolate” and repeat the process for all the other elements in the material schedule.

This may seam long winded, and yes it is, but it’s one of the only ways to ensure all the paint faces have been removed. As I said, Autodesk needs to look at this tools functionality.

Resize = AutoCAD’s command for scale.

The majority of Revit users come from an AutoCAD background, and thus can’t find where the scale command is. It is called “Resize” in Revit, and it is a little icon on the tool bar that is missed very easily.

Just a tip on using the resize command, if you had to create the element using sketch mode, to resize it, you will need to go back into sketch mode for this command to work (some what logical). An example would be; you can resize lines at any time, but in order to resize a “filled region” you will need to select the filled region, hit Edit on the Options bar and then you can resize it.

“Lines” – Oh wait; they are actually model lines.

I had the pleasure this week of spending some time in our Sydney office, assisting them in the implementation of Revit. It was always great to hear other people’s view, as it gives you other perspectives and experience. The “Lines” command came up as there was some confusion, which was 100% understandable.

It has to be admitted that Autodesk really need to review some of their naming terminology in Revit. The above “Lines” command is definitely one. In the Basic design bar when newer users see “Lines” they don’t know what type of line it is? Well it’s a model line, and really Autodesk should change the name Lines to Model Lines here to avoid confusion. After all when you select the line, it is called a “model line” in the status bar.

My other pet peeve is, can they make up their mind if Detail Components are called components or items? In the design bar they are called components and in the family browser they are called items. It’s not that difficult really!

Some differences between “Columns” & “Structural Columns”

It can be taken that “Columns” in Revit Architecture are Architectural Columns. The below will give you where this comes from.

For an examples I have created a 600x600mm concrete (Architectural) Column and a 600x600mm concrete Structural Column. The wall they adjoin is a 200mm Block wall, with a stud lining and plaster board finish.

The walls have just been inserted in the shown location. They look fairly normal.

Now let’s hit join geometry on hitting the column first and the wall second. I bet you didn’t expect the architectural column to do this!

A few things should be noted.

1- The architectural column takes on the hatch properties of the core of the wall.

2- The architectural column also takes on the wall make up properties, ie stud and plaster board.

Now there are some circumstances where you will want this to happen. Hover there is more incidences where you won’t. What’s more with “Architectural Columns” they seem to have an uncanny knack of joining geometry with elements intersecting it, even if in the family the “Automatically joins geometry” is un-ticked in the column family parameters, thus its cut pattern does not view correctly in plan.

Structural columns.

The out of the box Revit Architectural columns do have their flaws but they are fixable. First the material type is set to a “Instance Parameter” in stead of a “Type Parameter” (easy to change). The next issue is that the “Show Family pre-cut in plan views” is automatically turned on in the Family Parameters. By switching this off, you can set the column to appear in grey or black in course scale plan views.

After the above fix, generally I recommend people use structural columns for structural usage, and if you have a no-load bearing column us an (architectural) column.