01 Revit Fundamentals

8/12/2019 01 Revit Fundamentals

1/92

Revit FundamentalsThese articles focus on the key fundamentalaspects of Revit. They are more about the "bigger

picture", rather than the fine detail. Revit works in a completely different way to "traditional" 2D CD

systems. !etting the best out of the software depends upon both understandingthe differences and

then taking advantageof them.

A Coordinated Approach

f anyone was to ask what was the single greatest strength of Revit, #d have to say it#s ability to co$

ordinate written and drawn information.

%ith 2D &or 'D for that matter( )dumb* CD systems, +-have to do all the co$ordination of the

information yourself. et#s use an e/ample to clarify the point.

f was to produce some construction documents for a simple building using utoCD, would have

to draft out the plan, then draft out the elevations and sections, details, etc. t would be up to me to

ensure that the windows drew on the plan where an accurate representation of the position they are

shown in any elevation or sectional views.

f &or anybody else( moves a door or window in plan$ then someone has to )manually* notes this

change and ensure that any other drawing that is effected by this change is updated. This is a time

consuming process and the room for error is 0uickly multiplied according to the scale of the pro1ect.

nd it#s not 1ust doors and windows, it#s everything in that set of documents 3chedules, Drainage

4lans, datum heights$ the list goes on.

%ell Revittakes a totally different approach. Rather than you having to draw a representation of your

design using lines, arcs, etc5 you actually )model* your design &in full 'D( within Revit. 6ecause you

develop a single 'D model of your design that is stored within the Revit database, Revit can easily co$

ordinate the relationship between the various elements.
http://www.revitzone.com/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=5ffca1c25ff66b2076880b757a1e62fc8df15fe9http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/52-coordinated-approach?tmpl=component&print=1&page=http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/52-coordinated-approach?format=pdf


2/92

3o when you make a change to a Revit model &ie you move the position of a door in plan(, Revit

caneasily updateany view that the door appears in$ be it plan, elevation, schedule, perspective, etc(.

The )database* approach that Revit uses to store the model is also used to hold other & parametric(

information about the model. 3o you can ask Revit to produce &say( a door

schedule automaticallyfrom the model. 3o when you then decide to add &or remove( a door from the

model, the schedule instantly updates to reflect these changes.

7ow many times have you moved a wall in utoCD and then &days or months later( realised that

there are now drawings in your document set that don#t match correctly. Revit makes this a thing of

the past for the reasons we have discussed above.

f you have any 0uestions, comments or feedback relating to this article, please use our 8orums.

Registration takes appro/imately 9 minute and then you:re free to start posting immediately.

Dependent Views explained

f Dependent Viewsare the solution, what was the problem that they solved; n other words, why

was there a need to introduce this feature into rchitecture 2


3/92


4/92

ow add some internal dividing walls as shown in the image below. /actly where these walls are

placed or what wall type is used is not important. Eust try to get your building to look roughly like the

one in this image.

ow add some te/t to describe the five rooms in your model. 8or speed we will 1ust use simple Fmm

high te/t labels to name the rooms. %e do not need to go to the trouble of creating rooms and adding

room tags. have labelled my rooms Room 9, Room 2, etc

>, we#re ready to place the Aiew onto a sheet. et#s place Aiew evel 9 onto 4lan &9 of 2(. !uess

what, it does not fitGG


5/92

3o let#s delete the Aiew from the sheet and use Dependent Aiews to create two separate views for

the plan that are inherently linked together.

Bake Aiew evel 9 active again.

Right$Click on the view name and select Duplicate Aiew H Duplicate as a Dependent

+ou will see that a new view &with a default name of Dependent on evel 9( has been created and is

shown nested below the primary view for evel 9. Right$click on evel 9 again and make a second

Dependent Aiew.


6/92

%e now have our 4rimary Aiew for evel 9 and two Dependent Aiews. ll three views share e/actly

the same properties with regards scale, visibility settings, etc. !o ahead and try it out. 3witch to any of

the three views &the primary or either of the two Dependent views( and change the view scale, detail

level, model graphic style, etc5 and you will see that the other two views always remain identical &with

regards the properties you have 1ust ad1usted(.

3o now let#s use the Crop Region facility to crop each of the two Dependent Aiews and place them on

each of the drawing sheets respectively.

3witch to view Dependent &2( on evel 9 and use to Ioom to 8it to ensure that you can see the view

boundary. 3elect the view boundary with the cursor to make it display the new Crop Region bo/es

&there is now separate crop region bo/es for the model elements and the te/t(. The crop regions

should display as red rectangles with the blue grip arrows.


7/92

ow use the inner set of blue grip arrows to resiJe the crop regions to show only the left hand side of

the plan. otice how when you drag the inner crop region inwards, the outer crop region automatically

follows it. s stated above, the inner bo/ &solid red line( crops the view of all model elements while the

outer bo/ &dashed red line( crops only te/t elements.

ow do the same for the other Dependent Aiew so that you crop the view to show only Room @.


8/92

To demonstrate how the new Crop Region facility works, 1ust drag the left hand side of the outer &red

dashed line bo/( over to the left. otice how the inner &solid red( bo/ stays at the same siJe. 6y

resiJing the outer &te/t( Crop Region you allow the other te/t elements on the view &the room names(

to be displayed, but not the model elements &the walls(.

ow you#ve seen how the double crop region facility works, move the outer bo/ back to where it was$

i.e. tight up against the inner bo/.

8or each of the two dependent views turn off the visibility of the crop regions by use of the button near

the bottom of the work area.

+ou can now drag each of the two dependent views onto the drawing sheets.


9/92

t is worth noting that you have full control over all crop regions from the 4rimary Aiew. f you make

the primary view evel 9 active you will see that the two crop regions are shown dotted. Clicking on

either of the dotted rectangles will summon the control arrows, allowing you to make ad1ustments to

the siJe of the te/t crop bo/ or the model crop bo/.

7opefully this article has helped to e/plain what Dependent Aiews are and how &and why( they are

used.


10/92

Design Options: An Introduction

%elcome to the Revit Zonearticle on Design Options. n this article we are going to take you

through what Design ptions are, when you would use them and also a 0uick$step$by$step e/ample

of their use. fter reading and digesting this article, you should be comfortable with setting up )ption

3ets* and also in creating individual )ptions* within those sets.

What are Design Options

Kuite simply, the Design ptions facility in Revit allows you to e/plore different options for various

parts of your pro1ect. The important words to pick up in that statement are )various* and )parts*. et

me now e/plain the importance of these two concepts in relation to Design ptions.

Aarious +ou can consider different options for different elements of your design, all at the same time.

8or e/ample$ you may want to consider four variations of entrance lobby5 D you may also wish to

consider three variations of kitchen layout in the same scheme. This is what )ption 3ets* are for$ and

we#ll discuss these in detail later.

4arts t is crucial that you appreciate that Design ptions are best used when you wish to study

varying options for small, distinct elements of your scheme. The ma1ority of your pro1ect should be

determined$ leaving you to e/plore isolated &and distinct( areas.

When to use Design Options

s we have seen above, Design ptions are appropriate for the study of smaller, distinct elements of

your pro1ect. f you are still considering whether your building should be circular or rectilinear, then

Design ptions are not really applicable at this stage of your design process.

OK, lets get stuck in

Right, we have talked about what Design ptions are. %e have said when you would &and would not(

use them. et#s get straight into a small worked e/ample. This should give you a good grounding upon
http://www.revitzone.com/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=18400995a9c58ed6cd183e55739106260f58850dhttp://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/117-design-options-an-introduction?tmpl=component&print=1&page=http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/117-design-options-an-introduction?format=pdf


11/92

which to further e/plore the use of Design ptions by yourself. +ou may want to have Revit open and

actually follow along step$by$step.

3o where do we find Design ption; n the )Banage* menuG

!o ahead and click on the )Design ptions* button$ this will cause the Design ptions Control 4anel

to be displayedG.


12/92

n the right of the panel you will notice three main section )dit*, )ption 3et* and )ption*.

dit This is where you will control whether you are editing an ption or not.

ption 3et This is where you will control your various ption 3ets. 8or e/ample, an entrance lobby

may be one set, kitchen layout may be another set, etc, etc

.ption This is where you will control individual ptions. ach ption 3et can have many different

ptions within it. Think of ption 3ets and ptions as a )parent and child* relationship.


13/92

Main Model

The ma1ority of your pro1ect will be fi/ed$ this is what will constitute the )Bain Bodel* with regards

Design ptions. ll Revit elements that are designated as being in the Bain Bodel will be common toall ptions. This is a very important concept and one that you need to fully understand. f there are

certain parts of your scheme that will vary &depending on which ption you are e/ploring(, you need

to move them out of the )Bain Bodel* and into an )ption*.

hope you#ve managed to follow all this so far; Design ptions are one of those Revit concepts that

is much easier to understand if you actually see it in use. 3o that#s what we will do now. am starting

with a fresh, blank Revit pro1ect. have created a very simple s0uare building with a door and a

window in itG.

ot the most e/citing scheme in the world, but ideal for e/plaining Design ptions. ll the elements

have created so far are part of the )Bain Bodel*. This is because haven#t set up any Design ptions

yet. am basically telling Revit that am happy with this part of my pro1ect$ all the elements have

created are going to be in the final scheme no matter what.

3o let#s use Design ptions to study two separate areas of our building. am going to look at options

for the entrance area and also options for a kitchen.


14/92

bring up the )Design ptions* control panel again and select )ew* ption 3et. s soon as click on

ew &under )ption 3et*( you will notice that )ption 3et 9* is automatically created D )ption 9

&4rimary(* is also createdG..

The term )4rimary* in brackets is very much worth discussion now. 8or each ption 3et that you

create &ie for each distinct area of your scheme that you consider options for(, Revit re0uires that you

have a favourite &or )4rimary*( ption. This is the ption that will be shown by default in relevant

Aiews. t will also be the ption that is amalgamated back into the main model when you have

finished your options appraisal and decided on which way to go. The good news is that you can easily

make any of you ptions into the 4rimary ption$ 1ust by the click of a button. 3o for now, 1ust beclear on the use of the 4rimary ption$ rather than worrying about what the 4rimary ption should be.

& hope that makes senseL(

%ith )ption 9* highlighted, select )dit 3elected*GG


15/92

mmediately, the Bain Bodel is greyed$out and am free to start adding elements in order to define

my first optionGG.

+ou will see from the above that have added an internal wall and a door to form my entrance lobby.

This is )ption 9* for my first ption 3et. ow #m going to create a different ption for the entrance

area. go back to the Design ptions control panel, click on )8inish diting* and then select )ew*

under )ption*. 4lease ote t this stage we are simply creating a new )ption* and T a new

)ption 3et*.


16/92

%ith )ption 2* highlighted, go ahead and click on )dit 3elected*. %e are now free to start sketching

out our second alternative design for this area.

Did you notice that once we had gone into )editing mode* for ption 2, all of the ption 9 elements

were not displayed; Eust as you#d e/pect really$ the only elements you can could see where the )Bain

Bodel* elements common to all ptions.

asy isn#t it;L +ou can carry on and create as many variations for the entrance area as you like. ach

one will be created as a new )ption*. >, so what about this kitchen we talked about. To look at

options for the kitchen we need to create a new )ption 3et*. %e do this from the Design ptions

control panel of course.

This time we select )ew* under the )ption 3et* panelG.


17/92


18/92

nd for completeness, we#ll go ahead and create an alternative for the kitchenG

+ou will of course m sure( wish to make you ptions and ption 3et names a little more descriptive.

Eust use the )Rename* command to name them appropriatelyG.

C#mon, admit it That was nowhere near as bad as you thought it was going to be; 3o what#s left to

say about Design ptions. ot much really apart from how to control the visibility of the ptions within

different Aiews5 and what to do once you have decided on which ptions you are going with.


19/92

3o let#s start with controlling the visibility of Design ptions. Eust like most other visual aspects of a

Aiew, Design ptions are controlled by the Aisibility M !raphic verrides panel. nce Design ptions

has been enabled &by creating an ption 3et M ption5 you will note that a )Design ptions* tab is

added to the end of the Aisibility M !raphic verrides panelG.

8rom here you can select any combination of ptions that you wish to be shown in this view. 6y

duplicating this view and then changing which ptions are shown you can easily put together a 3heet

to show the Client what choices are available to them.

>, so the Client has seen the various ptions. They have decided that they wish to go with the

second entrance option but the first kitchen layout. 3o what do you do now. %ell, there are two steps

to this. 8irst of all you need to ensure that for each ption 3et, the ption you wish to go with is the

4RBR+ ption. 3o for our entrance options &ption 3et 9(, we need to make the second ption

into the 4rimary one. 3imply select the second ption in this 3et and hit )Bake 4rimary*. +ou will

notice that the )&4rimary(* suffi/ immediately moves down ne/t to the second ptionG..


20/92

ow all you have to do is use the )ccept 4rimary* command on each ption 3et. This has the effect

of adding the elements from the 4rimary ption T the Bain Bodel. +ou do get a warning that this

is going to delete the corresponding ption 3etG.

!o ahead and do the same for the second ption 3et. +ou have now successfully absorbed your

chosen options into your main model.

nd that#s itL 7opefully you have managed to follow this step$by$step guide and you are ready to have

a play with Design ptions for yourself.

Design Options: Choosing a preferred Option

n this article we are going to look at what happens once you &or your Client( have chosen

a preferredption &-sing Design Options(. +ou can of course 1ust leave all the other options as

they are and work on your preferred option. 6ut this is a little messy and unnecessary. better

solution is to unify your preferred option with the main model and then 1ettison all other design options.
http://www.revitzone.com/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=078a9070ced145bb48a81f605a3199cbc4a5082fhttp://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/132-design-options-choosing-a-preferred-option?tmpl=component&print=1&page=http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/132-design-options-choosing-a-preferred-option?format=pdf


21/92


22/92


23/92


24/92

%hen you hit the )ccept 4rimary* button, you get a warning advising you that all the other

&secondary( options in this ption 3et will be deleted if you choose to continueG..

ssuming that you have indeed settled on a preferred option &as we did with our )ption '*(, go

ahead and choose )+es* to continue. Revit will now proceed to swap all the elements in your 4rimary

ption, over into the Bain Bodel set. Bore than likely you will get another warning$ this time advising

you that you now have some Aiews that are redundant &ie they relating to Design ptions that no

longer e/ist(G.


25/92

!o ahead and choose )Delete* to get rid of these views you no longer re0uire. %hat you should be

left with is a totally blank )Design ptions* control panelG.


26/92


27/92

!rids are nnotation elements. That is, they are not part of your actual model$ like a wall, door or

window would be. 6ut they D appear across different Aiews. 8or e/ample you can draw a grid on

your ground floor plan and it would then appear on the subse0uent floors &ie evels( of your model.

The degree to which the grid will appear in other views is dependent on it#s /tents$ but more about

that later.

grid line consist of two main parts. The grid line itself and the !rid 7eader &ie the bubble at the end

of the grid line(. The default setting is for the grid line to have a grid header at one end only. 6ut you

can have !rid 7eaders at 6T7 ends if you prefer. Eust select a !rid line by clicking on itGGG

+ou can see that there are two small bo/es at the very top and bottom. The bo/ at the bottom is

already checked which causes the bottom !rid 7eader to be displayed. f you go ahead and check

the top bo/ too, you will get a !rid 7eader at both ends of the grid line.


28/92


29/92

7ere#s P grid lines have 0uickly created by copying the first oneGGGG.

ow to get them e0ually spaced all have to do is place a running dimension across them allG..

Then 1ust click on the K symbol &you can make this out in the above image$ it at the top, centre(.

This will then realign all intermediate grid lines so that they are e0ually spacedGG


30/92

ow 1ust select any of the intermediate grid lines. -pon doing so you should be presented with a

temporary dimension to the ad1acent grid lineGG.

+ou can now 1ust go ahead and click on the value of this dimension and change it to whatever you

wish. 6ecause you have already placed an )K-3* constraint on all the grid lines, they will all

ad1ust to the new spacing. &T +ou can use this )K-3* trick to 0uickly )re$space* all sorts of

elements such as walls, detail lines, etc.

Grid Extents

%hat may not be apparent when you first start e/perimenting with !rids is that they are in fact 'D

planes. +ou can see this for yourself if you switch to an elevation viewGGG.

7ere#s a RT7 elevation view of the grid we drew before. +ou can see that the bottom of the grid

)planes* start at evel 9 and rise up above evel 2. +ou can even see that the numbering is reveredbecause we are looking at the !rid from the orth. f we switch to the 3outh levation we would see


31/92

the numbering in the )correct* order. f we create a evel ' which is 7!7R than the !rid 7eaders,

then when we switch to the 4lan Aiew for that evel, we would T see any grid lines on plan.

Controlling the Visibility of Grids

+ou can turn the visibility of !rids on and off in each view via the standard Aisibility M !raphic

verrides panel. !rids appear &as you might e/pect( under the nnotations TabGGG

Grids dont have to be straight suspect that for most of the time your !rid ines are going to be straight$ but they don#t have to beL

%hen you you select the !rid Command, 1ust change the draw tool to an arcGGG.

+ou can now have fun with all sorts of curved grid linesGGG.


32/92


33/92

G.and you will be presented with it#s Type M nstance 4arameters panel.

%sing Grids to control "b&ect location

The other good thing about !rids is that Columns and other structural elements will stay stuck to

them, when the grid spacing is subse0uently modified. f place a column onto a grid lineG..

and then select the column$ +ou will see that the ptions 6ar now has a Check 6o/ titled )Boves with

!rids*GG..

hope this article has given you a flavour of the power and usefulness of Revit#s !rid 3ystemsL


34/92

Levels and Views

n this article we are going to talk about evels and Aiews. To simplify matters #ll start off by talking

about evels, then go onto and Aiews and finally will talk about the relationship between evels and

Aiews. s always, if you have any 0ueries relating to these articles please ask away in our 8orums.

>, let#s get started.

!evels

evels are at the very heart of Revit. n order to use Revit effectively you need to be comfortable with

what they are and how they are used. The easiest way to think about evels is to envisage them asinfinitely large planes, that are always horiJontal and that have a set height in the + direction. +ou can

have as many evels in your pro1ect as you wish. The minimum number of evels you must have is

one.

3o what do we use evels for; %ell, anything that needs to be at a specific height. 8or e/ample a

floor plate, the top of a wall, the underside of a ceiling, the head of a window. evels R used for

setting the heights of your floors, but they are used for a T, T more than that.

%hen you first start a new Revit 4ro1ect using the default Revit template, you are given two default

evels. ach of these has a 4lan Aiew already createdG.

The 4lan Aiew names are )evel 9* and )evel 2* as you may e/pect.

ow if we switch to an levation Aiew, we can see the evel Barkers for these two evelsGG
http://www.revitzone.com/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=13c9aa828c28f715e2c20bd2b58820a52304e5e2http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/59-levels-and-views?tmpl=component&print=1&page=http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/59-levels-and-views?format=pdf


35/92

The evel Barkers contain the evel name and it#s absolute height in the 'D world.

ach evel can have a 4lan Aiew associated with it. 8or e/ample, if you have a four storey building,

you would probably like to have a 4lan Aiew for each of the evels associated with four floors.

et#s summarise what we have talked about so far$

evels are horiJontal 2D planes with no boundary, that reside in the 'D model world evels B-3T have a ame and a 7eight. The 7eights is measured in the + a/is in our 'D model world +ou can have as many evels as you like evels )may* have a 8loor 4lan Aiew associated with them, but do not necessarily need to.

Vie's

Kuite simply, Aiews are how we are able to see our 'D model &and 2D detailsL( and communicate it#s

form and composition to others. Revit has many Aiew Types for you to use. These include$

8loor 4lan Aiews levation Aiews 3ection Aiews 'D Aiews Reflected Ceiling 4lan Aiews Drafting Aiews Camera Aiews


36/92


37/92

3ome Aiews can be generated automatically by Revit. 8or e/ample, when you a 3ection ine &using

the )3ection* tool( Revit will automatically create an associated 3ection Aiew. t will name this as

)3ection 9* by default. +ou can of course rename this to whatever you wish.

The Relationship between evels and Aiews

s we said above, each 8loor 4lan Aiew B-3T have a evel associated with it. f we look at the

properties for a 8loor 4lan Aiew we can seeG..

+ou can see that the )ssociated evel* is set as )evel 9*. This is a parametric relationship. e if we

change the height of evel 9, the 8loor 4lan Aiew will always show the correct representation &ie what

ob1ect you would e/pect to see on this evel(

%hen you create a new evelG..


38/92

Revit will automatically create a new 8loor 4lan Aiew for this evel. 7owever if you choose to create a

new 8loor 4lan Aiew &by use of the Aiew Design 6ar( Revit will need to know what evel this new

Aiew is to be associated with, hence the promptG..

ther Aiews Types behave differently depending on what they are associated with. %e mentioned

3ection Aiews. +ou CT have a 3ection ine without a 3ection Aiew. Conse0uently if you try to

delete a 3ection ine you will get the following promptG.

ther Aiew Types such as 'D Aiews are not associated with anything in particular so can be created

and deleted at will. That concludes this short article on evels and Aiews within Revit.


39/92

Phases: An overview of Revit Phases

n this article we will look at 4hases within Revit. %e will look at what 4hases are, when it is

appropriate to use them and e/actly how they are used. s always on revit.biJ all this will beundertaken by a thorough e/planation and a step$by$step e/ample.

o 'hat are $hases

%ithin Revit, 4hases are distinct, separate time periods &or )milestones*( within the life of the pro1ect.

They can represent either the time periods themselves or the status of the pro1ect at specified points

in time. There must always be at least one phase in a pro1ect. 6y default a new Revit pro1ect comes

with two phases already created. These are named )/isting* and )ew Construction*. +ou can

rename these to anything you like, as well as add any number of additional phases.

*hen 'ould you use phases3o why would you use phases; 6elow are some of the more obvious reasons why you need to use

4hases in your pro1ect$

+ou have an e/isting building that you are refurbishing &or e/tending(. Conse0uently you

need to show the building before D after the refurbishment takes place.

+ou need to show a development that is to be delivered in phases. Conse0uently you need a

se0uence of drawings to represent the pro1ect at every distinct phase.

+ou would like to use Revit to help forecast e/penditure over the life of the pro1ect.

The most common use of 4hases is for the classic )6efore Q fter* &or )/isting Q 4roposed*(

scenarios. e +ou %ant to show your &e/isting( building as it is now and how it is proposed to be when

you have finished work on it.

%ith 2D )dumb CD* programmes, often the easiest way to achieve the above is to draught out the

)as e/isting* layouts, make a copy of them and then re$work these copies to represent the proposed.

This has a number of disadvantages$ not least the fact that you unnecessarily increase the overall file

siJe by duplicating many of the lines and symbols which are not going to change &ie the will be the

same in the e/isting and the proposed layouts( .

The whole ethos behind )6uilding nformation Bodelling 3ystems* such as Revit as to have as little

duplication of data as possible. This is something that will be stating over and over again on Revit

Ione, so get used to itL f there#s only one model, then you have eradicated the possibility for

someone to be working on an out$of$date version.

o ho' does Revit handle $hases
http://www.revitzone.com/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=c87768626fc215296afc0b90431fab3196fdfbd2http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/62-phases-an-overview-of-revit-phases?tmpl=component&print=1&page=http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/62-phases-an-overview-of-revit-phases?format=pdf


40/92

Airtually every component that you create and place in your model has parameters that tell Revit how

that particular component relates to each 4hase. The easiest way to think about 4hases in Revit is to

break down the concept into three separate chunks$

+) ,efining your $hases6efore you do anything else you need to set up your 4hases. t is far easier to do this right at the

outset rather than creating them retrospectively. 3o go ahead and think about what 4hases you are

going to want to show within your Revit model.

f you are working on a completely new build pro1ect on a )clean* site, you may 1ust wish to use a

single 4hase &ie called )4roposed* for e/ample(. f you have an e/isting building that you are going to

add an e/tension onto, you may want to have two 4hases$ )/isting* and )4roposed*. This will then

allow you to show you e/isting building as it is now and also as it will be after you have added the

e/tension.

s with most things in life it is far easier to learn something by actually doing it, rather than 1ust

reading about it. 3o we will work through a very simple e/ample which will hopefully convey to you the

use of 4hases in practise.

3o launch Revit on your 4C and start a new, blank pro1ect. s we stated above, the first thing we

need to do is define our two 4hases. +ou will find the main 4hasing control panel by clicking

4hasesG listed under the 3ettings pull$down menu.

%hen the 4hasing control panel opens you will notice two things$

a( that there is already two phases created for you. They are named /isting and ew

Construction. ndG.

b( That there are three tabs named 4ro1ect 4hases, 4hase 8ilters and !raphic verrides. n this

article we are only interested in the first tab. The other two tabs are related to the more$advanced use

of 4hases and will be sub1ect to a separate article.


41/92

ow we could 1ust leave the 4hase names as they are. 6ut prefer to refer to the before and after as

)/isting and 4roposed*. 3o we will change the 4hase currently named as )ew Construction* to

)4roposed*. To do this simply click your cursor within the te/t )ew Construction* and delete this te/t$

and type )4roposed*

&ote very important thing to realise is that there is a definite order to 4hases. Bake sure that your

)/isting* phase comes before your )4roposed* phase. The first phase is always at the top of the list.

The last phase is always at the bottom.( nce you#ve done this, go ahead and click >. %e now have

our two 4hases and we#re ready to start using them.

-) etting your Vie's to sho' the appropriate $haseThe ne/t thing that we are going to do is create a separate Aiew for the /isting and 4roposed

phases. t is very important to set these up now 68R you start adding model elements.

%hy is it important; %ell, #ll tell you very Aiew you create within Revit has a 4hase attributes

associated with it. Aiews have to have these attributes$ how else would we tell Revit what we wish to

see in that particular Aiew. Bore importantly. %hatever 4hase is set for a particular Aiew, that is the

default 4hase for any element M component created within that view. et me e/plain that again more

simply$ because it is crucial that you grasp this fundamental concept


42/92

%e want a Aiew that shows the /isting phase and we want another view to show the 4roposed

phase. f we add model elements while we are within the /isting Aiew, then those elements will all

have their phase parameter set to /isting by default. ikewise, f we add model elements while we

are within the 4roposed Aiew, then those elements will all have their phase parameter set to

4roposed by default.

f this all sounds confusing don#t worry$ it will all become very clear as we work through our

e/ample. 3o let#s rename our default evel 9 view to /isting. -se the standard method of right$

clicking the view name and selecting Rename.

To create our 4roposed view, we can use the Duplicate command to create a new Aiew based on the

/isting Aiew. ame this new Aiew )4roposed* &you will need to rename the Aiew from the defaultname )Copy of /isting* once it is created(

3o we have our two Aiews called /isting and 4roposed. ow we need to set the 4hase attributes for

each view to ensure they do in fact show us only the /isting and 4roposed respectively. Right click

on the /isting view name and select 4roperties


43/92

This will bring up the lement 4roperties dialogue bo/ for this particular view. f you scroll down to the

bottom of the bo/, you will see the 4hasing parameters for this view. There are two parameters

4hase 8ilter and 4hase. The 4hase 8ilter parameter lets us decide what we want to see in this view. f

you open the drop$down selection bo/ for this parameter you will see there is a default list of various

options to choose from. !o ahead and choose )3how Complete*

6y selecting )3how Complete* this view will show us the model in it#s complete state as of the 4hase

we set in the second parameter. The second parameter is currently set to )4roposed*. !o ahead and

change it to )/isting*

very element that we create or place within this view will be given the phase parameter )/isting*. e

we are saying to Revit, everything we create within this view is to be treated as already e/isting. ow

go through the same process again for the )4roposed* view. 3et the )4hase 8ilter* parameter to

)3how Complete* but this time set the )4hase* parameter to )4roposed*.

3o for this view, every element that we create will be part of the proposed scheme. >. 3o far, so

goodL %e#ve defined our two phases. %e#ve set up two Aiews to show the e/isting and proposedschemes and we#ve set the phasing parameters for each of those views to ensure that they correctly


44/92

show the state of the pro1ect as defined. 3o let#s now create a very simple pro1ect to show how

phases interact with the model elements and the Aiews.

.) etting the $hase attributes for each element /component

nsure the )/isting view" is active and draw a very simple rectangular building. 8or the purpose of

this e/ercise we are only going to use walls, windows and doors. That#s all we need to use to help us

grasp the concept of 4hases. Do not worry about which wall, window or door type you use. Do not

worry about the e/act dimensions of the building. Eust ensure that your simple building model looks

similar to the one in the image below.

+ou will see that the building is a simple rectangle, with P windows and ' doors. There it is$ this is our

e/isting building in all it#s gloryL %hat we are going to do to this building is add a simple e/tension to

one side and undertake some modifications to the e/isting. et#s take this opportunity to now look atthe 4hase parameters for the model elements.

!o ahead and select the wall on the left hand side of the model. nce selected, click on the

4roperties button and scroll to the bottom of the 4roperties dialogue bo/ where you will find the 4hase

parameters.


45/92

+ou will see that there are two parameters relating to 4hases. They are )4hase Created* and )4hase

Demolished*. This is where the real power of 4hasing lies, in the use of these two parameters. The

)4hase created* parameter will always be set by default to the phase that we set for the Aiew. &n this

case )/isting*(

The )4hase Demolished* parameter is where we can tell Revit if this particular element needs to be

demolished &ie removed from the model( at some point in time &ie in one of the phases we have

defined(. 6y default all model elements have their )4hase demolished* parameter set to )one*. That

is, once they are created they are there to stay unless instructed otherwiseL 3elect )Cancel* to put the

lement 4roperties Dialogue bo/ away. ow switch to the )4roposed* view. The view should look like

thisGG


46/92

f this view doesn#t look like this, right click on the view name, select 4roperties and ensure the 4hase

8ilter parameter is set to )3how Complete*.

3o we have two views that look the same, which should come as no surpriseL fter all, we created our

e/isting building$ and we haven#t added any elements to the 4roposed phase and we haven#t marked

anything for demolition.

3o let#s go ahead and add an e/tension to our building. 3witch to the )4roposed* view and add three

wall elements to form a small e/tension to our e/isting building. dd in the two doors and the four new

windows so that your model looks like the one in the image belowG..

8inally, we will demolish the two e/isting windows that now fall within our e/tension.

To do so, highlight one of the windows, bring up its# )lement 4roperties* dialogue bo/, and select

)4roposed* for the )4hase demolished* parameter.

s soon as you click >, you will see that Revit now removes the window from the )4roposed* view M

phase.

Do the same for the other window.

ote The two windows have not been deleted from the model, they have 1ust been removed from thisparticular phase. f you now switch between the /isting and 4roposed views you will see how our


47/92

model changes to reflect it#s before and after state. t is 1ust a coincidence that we names our two view

the same as the two phases. There is absolutely no inherent relationship &as far as Revit is

concerned( between view names and phase names.

ummary and Conclusion

7opefully this article has e/plained the fundamentals of phasing within Revit. To summarise$

Decide &before you begin your model( how many phases you need and what they will be

called.

Define the 4hases &in the correct orderL( within the )4hasing* control panel

&3ettingsH4hasesG(

3et up each individual view to show what you re0uire &ie what phase do you wish to show;

Do you want to see the whole pro1ect or 1ust what is to be demolished; tc, etc(

Bodel you building, ensuring that you are in the correct view to correspond with the phase

you are editing M adding to.

Proect !orth versus "rue !orth

%elcome to this Revit Ione article on )!ro"ect #orth versus $rue #orth*. The facility to flip between

)4ro1ect orth* and )True orth* e/ists within Revit to allow you to both draw &and detail( your building

orthogonally and yet still display a site layout correctly &ie with orth pointing vertically upwards on the

page.

This is one of those strange topics that#s much better demonstrated by a 0uick e/ample that reams of

descriptive te/t. >, so here goesGG

4lease note 8or the purposes of this demonstration we are going to use an utoCD plan that has

been imported into Revit. This is 0uite a good way to demonstrate the concept really, because &if you

are like us( there are 0uite a few times when you will indeed bring a site plan &in utoCD format( into

Revit and then re$orientate it to suit.

7ere is the basic site plan brought into Revit using the )mport CD* functionG.
http://www.revitzone.com/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=694d061c56dcbb0c4f8f7ad56484dbbc7d057f2ahttp://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/114-project-north-versus-true-north?tmpl=component&print=1&page=http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/114-project-north-versus-true-north?format=pdf


48/92


49/92


50/92


51/92


52/92


53/92


54/92


55/92


56/92

different boundaries. !o ahead and click to place a Room element into your model. Then proceed to

place Room elements in all the remaining spacesG.

+ou can see from the above image that each )space* now has a Room element within it. ow let#s

take a look at a Room, or more precisely the Room Tag associated with it. #ll pick one room at

randomG.

Eust like any other parametric model element within Revit &ie walls, doors, light fittings, etc(, Rooms

are capable of being )Tagged*. 6y default, a Room Tag is added automatically when you place a

Room element into your model. f you are familiar with the concept of Revit Tags you will know that


57/92


58/92


59/92


60/92


61/92

%e could not get more basic than that if we triedL 6ut that#s >, we are 1ust trying to look at

the conceptof Room 3eparation, not win an architectural awardL ow you may think we now have a

room &albeit a very simple oneL(, but we have not told Revit that this is a Room. To do so, we switch to

the Room and reaDesign 6arG.

nd use the Roomfunction to define a Room within the four walls we have drawn. 3o first of all we

select RoomG.


62/92

nd click within our four walls to add a )Room*G

ow let#s say that this room is a classroom. nd in the classroom we wish to define one third of the

floor area as a )%et rea*. ow we could 1ust use model M drafting lines to draw a line to represent the

change of floor finish. 6-T et#s also say that we want to define it as a )Room* so that it appears in a

Room 3chedule$ thus allowing us to ascertain it#s area.

8irst of all we select the Room 3eparation functionG.


63/92


64/92


65/92


66/92


67/92

Towards the bottom of the panel you will see the )Room 6ounding* instance parameter. t is set to

True &ie checked( by default. et#s go ahead and uncheck itG.

ow when we try to place a Room in the same position as beforeG.


68/92

+ou will not be surprised to see that Revit is ignoring this wall as it tries to determine the boundary for

the Room.

3o why wouldn#t you want Revit to use a wall to bound a Room; %ell, take a public toilet facility M Rest

Room. f you create the individual cubicles from Revit %alls, you &probablyL( will not want Revit to

treat each cubicle as a separate Room. n this case you would turn off )Room 6ounding* for all cubiclewalls. This would then force Revit to treat the whole room &in which the cubicles are located( as one

Room.

%heet %ets

%elcome to this Revit Ione article on %heet %ets. n this short article we will show you how to create

3heet 3ets. lthough a relatively simple concept in the conte/t of Revit:s power and comple/ity, 3heet

3ets are a really useful productivity tool that will speed up your output with regards printed material of

4D8:s.

4lease note that the concept of 3heet 3ets is universal in the world of Revit$ ie it is applicable to Revit

rchitecture,Revit B4 and Revit 3tructure.

3o what are 3heet 3ets. 6asically they are named collections of 3heets. 3o why would you want to

do this. %ell, over the course of a typical pro1ect you are most likely going to generate many, many

sheets. nd periodically, you will need to print out &either physically or via 4D8( some of these

3heets. +ou will do this for different purposes$ ie presentation drawings for the Client, 3ervices

drawings for a Design Team Beeting, etc. +es, you can select each sheet in turn by placing a tick in

the check bo/ when you come to print. 6ut much more efficient is the creation of any number of

"3heet 3ets"$ which you can then 1ust output by choosing the 3heet 3et name at the time of printing.

3o let:s show you how to do this by e/ample. n the following image you will see the various 3heets,

listed in the 4ro1ect 6rowser......
http://www.revitzone.com/component/mailto/?tmpl=component&link=e0092fe8076c385379f03099989e437cfbdba06fhttp://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/179-sheet-sets?tmpl=component&print=1&page=http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/179-sheet-sets?format=pdf


69/92


70/92


71/92


72/92


73/92


74/92

nd here are the evels that are in this 4ro1ectG.

nd if we take a look at a 4lan Aiew, we can see that we have placed a simple desk and O chairs on

the ground floor. This simple model &with it#s ' evels( is all we need to e/plain the concept of Aiew

Range within Revit.


75/92

3o let#s put the model aside for a moment and cover a bit of the theory. Aiew Range is a group of

parameters that control e/actly what you see in any particular 4lan Aiew. These are )nstance*

parameters, which means that the values they store can be different for each 4lan Aiew in your

pro1ect.

%e find the Aiew Range control panel by looking in the Aiew 4roperties panel for a plan view. 3o

make sure you have a 4lan Aiew selected, look over to the 4roperties 4anel for this view and near the

bottom you will see a button allowing you to edit the Aiew Range settingsGGG

f we go ahead and click on )dit* we get to see the Aiew Range 4anel itselfG


76/92


77/92


78/92


79/92

ow let#s take a look at the )6ottom* and )Aiew Depth* parameters. f we change both the )6ottom*

and )Aiew Depth* heights to 9@


80/92


81/92


82/92

Duplicate View

"he first o%tion #$u%licate &iew' creates a si!%le du%licate of the selected view, ut /012

includes the M/$E1 ele!ents within the view. So here-s a real world exa!%le to show ou

what I !ean.

3ere is ! #1evel 4' view

2ou can see that the view contains oth !odel ele!ents (walls, doors, windows and roo!s)

and a variet of detail 5 annotation ele!ents (Roo! tags, door tags, text ele!ent and

di!ensions) If we use the #$u%licate &iew' o%tion on this view, the result is.


83/92


84/92

And #$u%licate with $etailing', ou will end u% with


85/92


86/92


87/92

8or now, do not worryabout how produced these walls, what tools used, the height of the walls,

their material, etc, etc. et#s 1ust stick with the premise that have defined in plan, four walls.

3o now have a representation of the plan of the building that could print if so desired. 6ut what if

now need an elevation for each of the four faces of my building; %ell within utoCD &and similardumb drafting systems(, would manually draft out each elevation. appreciate that could use

certain tools such as )Copy* to help speed up the process$ but fundamentally )* am producing a new,

separate drawing for each of the four elevations.

ow compare this to Revit. The levations are already thereL do not need to draw them$ have

already modeled the four walls, so 1ust ask Revit to show me what the model looks like from four

different directions. simply click on each levation name in turnG.

nd when click on an levationname &let#s try )orth*(, the screen changes to show meG..


88/92


89/92


90/92


91/92


92/92

ow at this point you#re probably thinking )f that#s the e/tent of what this system can do, then forget

itL*. Do not worryL Revit can handle designs of almost any comple/ity. ver the course of this series

&and through the many other articles and tutorials here at Revit Ione( we will learn how to develop a

complete 6uilding nformation Bodel &6B(.

7ere is an image of a relatively simple building model that can be built in a few hours$ including

materials, lighting, etc....

%ith Revit, you are only limited by your imagination.

01 Revit Fundamentals

Documents

Transcript of 01 Revit Fundamentals