IMAGINiT Building Solutions Blog

Alternate Ways to Handle Revisions in Revit

Today we have a post from Dennis Dixon one our Application Specialist in Toronto:

This will link your sheet list schedule to your title blocks and allow you to have a separate set of revisions of which can be controlled on individual sheets or in mass quantities! It takes a little time to set up, but really helps for companies that require 2 separate revision management solutions. You could also dive deeper with Dynamo to create a script for printing sheet sets according to a specific parameter or revision! Food for thought!

PREP WORK

1. Create 3 Shared Text Parameters for Alternate Revision Date, Alternate Revision Number and Alternate Revision Description
2. Create 1 Shared Yes/No Parameter for Alternate Revision #
3. Add the Shared parameters for Date, Number and Description as labels into the Titleblock
4. Apply the Alternate Revision # Shared Parameter as a visibility parameter to Alternate Revision Date, Alternate Revision Number and Alternate Revision Description
5. Load the new titleblock into the template and nest all 4 of the Shared Parameters listed above as instance based Project Parameters for Detail Items, Views and Sheets.
6. Repeat above for all subsequent revisions

SHEET LIST

1. Add Alternate Revision # into your sheet list, along with Sheet Name and Sheet Number
2. Add a Calculated Value and name it Alternate Revision Symbol
3. Choose the type as Text and insert the following Formula: if(Alternate Revision #, "Insert Symbol Here", "")

Repeat above for all subsequent revisions.

Dynamo – Lego Extraction

Today we have another post from Carl Storms one our top Application Experts here at IMAGINiT:

I thought I would share a little sneak peek at my session “Dynamo – Everyone’s Doing It” that I will be giving at AU this year in Las Vegas. Well the session is not a lab, I will be including sample exercises of much of what is covered. This way the people that attended and play along when they get home or back to the office after a long week of learning in Vegas.

In this exercise we look at one way to extract simple information out of the Lego model.

1. From the dataset open the following file: rvt in Revit.

2: Start Dynamo from the Manage tab.

3: From the Start Page, under the FILES section begin a new Dynamo graph.

4: Under the File tab in the Menu Bar select “Save As…” and name the file

  

Finding out how many Lego pieces are in our model using different nodes and methods.

5: Under the Revit heading in the Library, open “Selection”, and then click on the Select Model Elements node (make sure it’s Elements with the s on the end) to place it on the canvas.

 

6:You will notice that the node is yellow, this is because we have not selected any elements from the Revit model yet. Before you select the content in Revit you need to click the “Select” button on the node, then return to the Revit model and select everything in the view.

7: Once the Revit elements are selected you will see the Revit element IDs displayed in the Select Model Elements

8: Now search for a Count node to add to the canvas, using the search method of your choice.

9: Next we connect the two nodes with a wire to see the results after hitting the “Run” button if your execution bar is not on Automatic.

10: The results can be viewed by either hovering over or selecting the data preview area of the Count node. You can also keep the results visible by selecting the pushpin icon.

11: You can also see the results by adding a 3^rd node, the Watch node and connecting it to the “count” output from the Count node.

12: Both ways return the same results, 212 Lego pieces.

You can download the dataset for this exercise here.

If you enjoyed this small sample, be sure to stop by for the full session at AU in November. You can find out all you need to know about the session by clicking the link in the class code AR16178.

Revit Tip – Revisions on Sheet

Today we have another post from Carl Storms one our top Application Experts here at IMAGINiT:

No matter how much you use Revit or even how long you have been using it there is always something new to learn. The other day while doing a Lunch & Learn session one of the attendees told me something I never knew and it blew my mind.

I was talking about put revision on sheets in Revit at the time of my mind being blown. I got the question of how do you get a revision to show up in the revision schedule without having to draw a cloud. Now I have been working with Revit since 2008, and I always thought this process was a bit of a pain because you really couldn’t do it without a workaround…the old cloud on the side of the sheet trick.

So I begin to explain that there isn’t really a good way to do that and that you need to just draw a small cloud off the side of the sheet (so it doesn't print) and then the revision will appear on the sheet. Just as I’m finishing my demo to go along with my explanation, someone very quietly says “excuse me, but there is a way to do that actually”. They then processed to explain how it is done. Basically, while you are in the view of the sheet you wish to have the revision appear on, with nothing selected, you scroll down the properties of the view (in the properties palette). There under Identity Data is something called “Revisions on Sheet” with an Edit… button.

When you select this button you have access to all the revision in the project, and you simply but a check beside the one(s) you wish to appear on the sheet.

I thanked the attendee for sharing and let them know they had just blown my mind.

After the Lunch & Learn, I went back to see when this feature came into being, and I couldn’t find out. All I did find out was that it was a feature as far back as Revit 2014.

So I guess the moral of the story is never be afraid to share what you know. That, and it’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

Until next time

Carl “Old Dog” Storms