IMAGINiT Building Solutions Blog

NEW Home for the IMAGINiT Building Solutions Blog

We truly enjoy writing blog posts and sharing them. But that’s not all we do. Our new blog site lives on the IMAGINiT Resource Center. 

The IMAGINiT Resource Center offers a searchable index of our older posts, on-demand webcasts, tips and tricks, case studies, whitepapers, and more.

Content from our amazing technical team will continue! We hope you’ll join us: https://resources.imaginit.com/building-solutions-blog 

[Infographic] Top IMAGINiT Clarity Tasks

[Infographic] How Does IMAGINiT Clarity Work?

Coordinate Confusion with Levels in Revit!

Coordinates are vital for many aspects of any Revit project. In fact, coordinates are a part of every Revit project, whether you intentionally interact with them or not. In most smaller projects, and even sometimes in bigger projects you may not even worry about coordinates… at least not that you intentionally think about. But there is one area of every project you do interact with coordinates, and that is with Levels. In a Level’s Type Parameters, you have the ability to set the “Elevation Base” to either Project Base point, or Survey point.

So, what does this mean? This will control the datum Revit uses to display the elevation of a Level.

The default location of the Project Base Point is in the same place as Revit’s Origin (or 0,0,0). If you move it, let’s say down in the Z axis, the elevation dimension on the Level will change (assuming of course, the Level’s Elevation Base is set to Project Base Point.)

note: previous to Revit version 2020.2 the functionality was the same, you just had to unclip the Project Base Point before you moved it.

This comes in handy when you need to set the construction datum to something other than 0’-0”. For example, if you want this to read 100’-0”, you simply move the Project Base Point down 100’ and voila!

If you edit the Level’s Type Parameters and change the “Elevation Base” parameter to Survey Point, the Level’s dimension will instead read based on the location of the Survey Point … Maybe!

This is where there is confusion, and you DON’T EVEN REALIZE IT! The truth is the dimension shown on the level is not actually using the Survey Point as its reference. The Level is actually using the current Shared Coordinate! If you move the Survey point (just as you did the Project Base Point), but leave it clipped, you are also moving the Shared Coordinate location, and in this scenario everything seems to be copasetic and working as intended.

BUT if you unclip the Survey Point, then move it, the location of the Shared Coordinate does not change and neither does the dimension of the Level! So, in fact, the Level’s dimension is not reading from the Survey Point as advertised! It’s actually reading from the the Shared Coordinate location.

This probably doesn’t make a difference in most Revit projects, and you may have never even dealt with this. But you might get frustrated or confused and think something is “broken” if you ever need to set the Levels to read from the “Survey point”, then unclip the survey point and move it to another location.

By the way, the same hold true for the Spot Elevation and Spot Coordinate dimensions!

Notice: Family Corruption in Revit 2020.2

Please be aware that the Revit Team at Autodesk identified a defect in the 2020.2 update/build that is corrupting families in some projects.

On February 4, the team published the notification on Autodesk's Knowledge Network (AKN) along with four suggested workarounds.  Here is the link to the article:  Family Corruption in Revit 2020.2

The team anticipates delivering a hotfix to resolve this issue very soon.  In the meantime, please take note of the workarounds in the above article should you encounter an issue in one of your projects.

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Updates to Revit for Electrical Design

Yes folks it's happening, Autodesk added new features to Revit for Electrical design!

Since the release of Autodesk Revit 2017.1, Revit has evolved enormously to allow design intent to be more thoroughly captured within the model without reliance on third party software or complex and time consuming workarounds.  Two of the new adopted features are important and easy to implement into your current and future Revit projects so they are features that you must know.

First is the Electrical Apparent Load Calculation options now found under Electrical Settings. Keep in mind that this is a project wide setting and only one option can be picked per project. 

 

This allows the default calculation to be set to:

Sum of True Load & Reactive Load

OR

 

Sum Apparent Load

Follow Link for complete list of electrical formulas used in Revit. 

 

The second feature is the Electrical Circuit Pathway which allows for editing of the circuit pathway to Farthest Device, All Devices or Custom. This also includes a total length all in one easy-to-use location.

 

The Custom mode allows for intuitive layout of the circuit path in plan view.

 

You can also work in a 3D view and use the Path Offset feature to fully customize the path with different elevations. 

 

Don't forget to Add or Delete Control Points (by right-clicking the path) to create additional branches.

  

 

 

Want to know if you're getting all you can from your Revit setup? Consider a health check with IMAGINiT.

 

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

[Infographic] Using Point Clouds to Model in Revit: Which Path Will You Take?

Creating Duct Systems in Revit – Where in the system should I start?

By Jordan Mussett, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

There are several different methods to use when creating duct systems. You can create all the duct and let the systems create themselves, which is never really a good idea. Each time you create a piece of duct that is not connected or copied from an existing piece, Revit will make you a new System Name. Example - Mechanical Supply Air 1 (referenced as MSA 1 later), Mechanical Supply Air 2, etc. If you connect them in the correct order, they will consolidate, but not always.

The next method is to create the duct system from the VAV, then add the Air Terminals. The last method we will discuss is when you create the duct system from the Air Terminal, then add the VAV and AHU to the equation, working your way back upstream. It feels backwards because it isn’t typically how systems are designed, or how the designer is logically thinking out the system.

What I am chiefly concerned about is the organization of the systems in the System Browser, and the ability of the software to provide you with the most information possible.

Here is the basic layout I will be working with. The main AHU is in the lower left, there is one VAV in the hall, and supply air terminals spread throughout the other rooms.

I will start with the first method. Not creating any systems and kind of let them create themselves.

The Systems Browser ends up looking kind of like this:

One of the main negatives is the organization obviously. The other downside is that if you wanted the supply air systems to be named or numbered differently, you would need to get into the system editor and change them.

With the second method, I created the supply air systems from the AHU to the air terminals. In the graphic, lower left to upper right.

The System Browser ends up looking a little something like this:

With the AHU at the bottom of the list, the system it falls under isn’t calculating the flow properly. This is in addition to a less than advantageous organizational structure.

Here is the graphic on the last setup:

For this, I would select the air terminals, then select create duct system. I would finish off that system by clicking on the VAV as my source for that system. I would do the same process at the VAV level and select the AHU as the source.

Then the System Browser looks like this:

Notice MSA 1 falls under MSA 2, and that’s what I want. Additionally, when I create ducts to connect all these devices, they will automatically be in the correct system. Finally, the software is able to calculate the flow of all the systems for you.

It might take a little time to set your systems up properly but it will be worth it. Duct drawn from the equipment in the system have the correct System Name.