IMAGINiT Building Solutions Blog

Collaboration for Revit - Lessons Learned

By Heather Alley, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

1. The Publish button is REALLY important.

Originally I thought every time I Synchronized with Central, my latest model would be updated in the cloud, but it turns out this is only partially true. Yes, everyone who has an A360 C4R license sees your changes instantly, or as soon as they synchronize. However, for those people who are not Revit users, and are only part of the A360 Team, they do not see the “live” model. They will only see the changes when you Publish! We went the entire first month of the project not understanding this, and this caused frustration amongst the team.

Lesson: On the Collaborate tab, click on Manage A360 Models, then next to each model there is a Publish button.  It is best to Publish the model 1 day before you really need it, as it can take hours for all of the updated sheets to appear in the cloud.

    

2. Controlling your Views for A360 is important: Including at least one dedicated 3D view for viewing.

When we first started the project, we published specific sheets to the cloud for viewing, but we were surprised when we lost the ability to see the 3D model in the cloud. The reason was: we never selected a 3D view to publish to the cloud, only 2D sheet views.

Lesson: Set up a specific 3D view for continual publishing to the cloud, along with your sheets.

    

3. When you download 1 model, you get all the linked models.

This is a puzzling part of the way A360 works. If your models are linked together, and you need to download 1 model, you will actually download ALL the linked models. We found ourselves explaining to the Construction Manager and Kitchen Designer that although they only wanted 1 Revit model from the cloud at 250MB, they were actually going to receive 1.2 GB as they had to download 12 models at the same time.

Lesson: Prepare your team with the knowledge that downloading one Revit model will actually give them the most recent PUBLISHED versions of all of the models.

4. Retrieving data from old backup models works differently. 

We had a situation where we needed to go back in time to recover just a small part of our model. Our first instinct was to go through Revit and the Manage A360 Models button. By clicking on each model, there is the option to View Versioning. However, if you use this feature, it actually restores the old model and deletes your current work!

Lesson: If you ever need to retrieve a previous version of your model, do so by logging into your A360 Team site online. Click on the specific Revit model Here you can download previous versions locally to your computer, without the risk of deleting your work. Each version listed here is every time you have PUBLISHED, not every time you synchronized from Revit. Another reason to PUBLISH OFTEN!

 

5. It works better than you would expect.

I must admit my expectations were low. I thought my Synchronize times would increase dramatically. I was dead wrong. Yes, the first time you download the model to your local machine, it took a few minutes. That is because you are downloading the entire model for the first time. However, after that, you are only syncing your changes, and this took no longer syncing with the cloud than syncing to my local server.

Lesson: Go for it! Try out Collaboration for Revit on a single project and grow from there. I know you will have a great experience with it.

    

 

Advance Steel Extension for Autodesk Revit 2016

By Veredith Keller, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

One of the best workflows for detailing steel connections is to model the steel framing in Autodesk Revit 2016 and Export the model to Advance Steel 2016 for detailing.

With the Advance Steel 2016 Extension, Autodesk® Revit® 2016 users can quickly connect their models to Advance Steel 2016 using the export, import, and synchronize functionalities to transfer the model BIM data. This interoperability allows users to rapidly produce general arrangement drawings, fabrication drawings, BOMs, and Numerical Control (NC) files for steel structures.

The synchronization of BIM data between applications allows the user to update the modifications without having to re-import the entire structure. Synchronization also reduces the risk of potential errors by offering the possibility to track changes made on the same model in different applications.

Using Advance Steel 2016 Extension, the BIM data from the Revit model can be imported or exported also in other formats such as SDNF (Version 2.0 and Version 3.0), CIS2, IFC, and PSS.

First you will need the Advance Steel 2016 Extension that you can download Autodesk Exchange Apps, and run the installer from this site - Link

Once the Extension is installed, it will appear on the Add-Ins tab:

 Before Exporting, choose Settings from the Advance Steel Extension drop-down.

• I recommend unchecking Export beams shortenings. When placing connections in Advance Steel, it needs the steel framing and columns to be touching.
• If you want to export more than the structural elements from Revit 2016 to Advance Steel 2016 uncheck, Export only structural elements.
• If you want to import more than the structural elements from Advance Steel 2016 to Revit 2016 uncheck, Import only structural elements.

  

• If you have additional Libraries of families you can Add Path and Edit Path is Settings. 
• Pick OK when done.

From Advance Steel Extension drop-down, choose Export. The common file format is Advance export. This will allow to save as a Steel markup language file (smlx).

Use the synchronization process via the Advance Steel extension to update the Revit model with changes made in Advance Steel. From Advance Steel Extension drop-down, choose synchronization.

Synchronization is a process that allows you to update your modifications using the smlx format, without having to re-import the entire structure.
Synchronization workflow:

• Export your model with structural elements from Revit to Advance Steel through the extension, using the .smlx format.
• If you make modifications to the Revit model, re-export the modified model from Revit to a different .smlx file.
• Go back to Advance Steel and load the modified .smlx file, using the synchronization dialog.

Connections and object transfer from Advance Steel 2016 to Revit 2016

A steel connection is an assembly of steel objects and cuts that joins two or multiple steel members (i.e. a connection between a column and a beam). The following images show an example of the most transferred joints, explaining how each type of object is transferred in Revit (i.e. a plate will be created, but a bolt or a beam notch will not).

[Infographic] IMAGINiT Clarity, By the Numbers

Here's a quick rundown of how many hours we're saving people with Task Automation in IMAGINiT Clarity. It doesn't even touch the hours saved by providing the online datasheets and other collaboration tools. Interested in Clarity for Revit? Learn more now.

Revit 2016 New Features

By Nicholas Bowley, IMAGINiT Applications Expert

I always get excited about the next software release to find out what is new and improved. To get you excited about the new release, below is a list of things you'll get to use in Revit 2016. This list is not a complete list of everything that's new, just some of the highlights I've noted.

General platform enhancements include:

• Reveal Constraints
• A new rendering engine
• The ability to filtering based on <blank field> 
• 3d selection box
• Change your background color to any color (not that I would recommend that)
• Another improvement to revision capabilities
• Search capabilities in the project browser and properties palettes
• While they are not always appreciated, there are several performance enhancements in this release as well such as the ability to navigate while the view is refreshing.

Check out the video here for a few of these new features.

Architects will see a few more improvements to the energy analysis tools such as combine building element and mass mode analysis at the same time. Features from Vasari being incorporate into Revit natively or by additional plugins which concludes Project Vasari as of May 15th.

Structural engineers will see another round of improvements related to reinforcing.

MEP engineers may have felt left out in the past release but some engineers will be seeing an entirely new workflow with the incorporate of Fabrication modeling inside of Revit using the same configurations as Fab CADMEP. Related to this will be a new set of schedules, filters, splits, hangers, and show disconnect options. Check out the video here for a quick preview.

What are you looking forward to most? Tell us in the comments!

Fix for Structural Analysis Toolkit 2015 Error in Revit

By Carl Storms, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

If, like me you have been receiving an error related to the Structural Analysis Tool Kit 2015 over the last few weeks since installing Revit 2015 Update Release 6, a fix is here.

 

The image above is of the offending error, and basically it happens because the Structural Analysis Toolkit 2015 was installed before the Revit 2015 Update Release 6 was installed.

Autodesk has just released an updated version of the Structural Analysis Toolkit 2015 that can be downloaded free from the exchange site.

You need to uninstall your current version in order to install the recent one.

Revit - Secret Workset

By Jordan Mussett, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

As a designer doing visualization work in Revit, how do you keep all site elements and entourage from being seen by other disciplines using the Architectural Model? If I create people and plants and coffee mugs in the project, the other designers working on construction documents probably aren’t going to be too happy that they are showing up and need to be hidden. The other disciplines that are using your model as a background probably won’t be too thrilled about the “extras” that you have dropped into the project for visualization purposes.

The solution is within the worksets, but maybe you hadn’t stumbled upon it yet.

I will go ahead and create all the necessary elements for a rendering, cars, RPCs, mock light sources, etc. Then go to the worksets dialogue and create an “Entourage” workset. Be sure to uncheck the box that says “Visible in all Views”. This ensures that each new view that is created in the project, that workset will be off. Place all of the objects that are part of the visualization effort on the created workset.

 

Now all of the objects I created for visualization can be turned off with one check box. The Visibility Graphic Override Dialogue for each view should look like this.

By unchecking “Visible in all views” in the workset setup, we changed how the objects on this workset are displayed globally.

Now what about the linked model?

The same can be true in the MEP model. If I create the same workset, the same way (the name has to match exactly) the entourage elements will be globally off on the MEP side too. Enjoy headache free visualization!

Revit 2015 User Interface Tips and Tricks

By Veredith Keller, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

Learn how to use and customize the user interface to increase productivity and simplify your workflow.

These Tips and Tricks include how to customize the Quick Access Toolbar, how to change the look of the Ribbon, moving Palettes, changing double-click actions and Tab Switching Behavior. This also covers making Keyboard Shortcuts and more.

 

The Four AutoCAD Demons of Revit Detailing

By Jordan Mussett, IMAGINiT Building Solutions

When exploding to convert details from AutoCAD to Revit, what have you heard people say? Wait! Don’t!

Whoever said this knows about the four demons. When you explode AutoCAD files in Revit Projects, several things happen.

#1 The text from AutoCAD is normally converted to new Revit Text Styles but the name and scale probably won’t be right, especially if the text in the AutoCAD file wasn’t annotative.

#2 All AutoCAD layers become a new Line Style. This doesn’t sound so bad but those Line Styles will be the same color as the layers if you preserved the colors when you imported. Additionally, those line styles will most likely carry a weight of 1. These will need to be tracked down and removed.

#3 All Line Patterns from AutoCAD come over into Revit. Revit already has its own Line Patterns, utilizing a different system, so these don’t compute. These will need to be tracked down and removed.

#4 All visible hatches from the exploded AutoCAD file become new Revit Filled Region types. Again, this doesn’t mean quite as much as the others but these will need to be tracked down and removed.

It might not seem like a problem but it normally does become a problem. Revit projects are just like other projects in that one of the main goals is for the entire drawing set to have a consistent look, like one person drafted the entire project. The more illegitimate Text Styles, Line Styles, Line Patterns, and Filled Regions you have to choose from, the better the chances that user 1 is utilizing a certain combination of those four categories and user 2 is utilizing a different combination. This will easily and quickly conquer the effort to create a cohesive, concise set of Construction Documents.

Practical Advice: Convert AutoCAD details etc. in a separate file. Then utilize “Insert Views from File” to bring that converted detail to the working project. This way, all of the demons stay behind in a file that you will eventually delete. One extra step saves the model manager time and headaches.

As a side note, if you want to explode a line segment that is very small, Revit might not convert it. This dimension is somewhere under 1/32”. This is normally rasterized objects or splines and curves.

Multi-Category Schedules in Revit

By Heather Alley, IMAGINiT Applications Expert

While at our local Revit User Group last month I was approached after the meeting by an "experienced" Revit User. He asked if it was possible to list all of the plumbing and electrical requirements in a industrial kitchen as part of a hospital. The issue, he explained, was that Revit separates families into different categories so that Plumbing Fixtures, Specialty Equipment and Mechanical Equipment all produced separate schedules in Revit. He wanted a way to combine them.

I was surprised he had not heard of Multi-Category schedules, and I wanted a way to easily explain this often overlooked schedule type. This white paper walks through each step of creating a multi-category schedule, as well as pointing out some stumbling blocks.

Please note this PDF is on the ProductivityNOW Portal. It is free to view, but if you have not already created your guest login, you'll need to do that before viewing. 

Revit 2015 R2. Site Designer for Revit. What's it really mean to you?

By now you may have heard about a "new release" of Revit that is being called "Revit 2015 R2". This release of Revit adds new features and functionality to Revit 2015 and was released at the same time as a new extension for Revit, Autodesk Site Designer Extension for Revit 2015. The first thing you have to know about the R2 versions of Revit (Revit R2, Revit MEP R2, Revit Architecture R2, Revit Structure R2 Revit LT R2) is:

You have to have an active relevant Autodesk subscription to access the updates. If you have Revit 2015 but your subscription lapsed, you will not be able to get to the update and extension.

That primary piece of information is followed very quickly by this one (call them #1a and #1b):

The R2 release of Revit is fully compatible with regular Revit 2015 software products - the file format did not change.

So... how do you get these updates and enhancements and what can they do to your Revit? I'm glad you asked. To access the downloads, you need to log into the Autodesk Subscription site (subscription.autodesk.com) and find the link to get to your available Product Enhancements. Here is one of the places you can click:

From there, you should be able to scroll down and find links to download the two new enhancements:

The Revit 2015 R2 "application" installs like a service pack - it modifies your existing installation, it does not need an uninstall/reinstall process. (yay!) So what does it add?  Well, the improvements can be categorized into three categories, Power, Performance, and Productivity.

Power: 

• Share more accurately predicted energy performance information in custom dashboards with Project Solon integrated into Revit.
• Use existing geometry in a linked IFC model as a reference for dimensions, alignment, snapping, and hosting of some families in a Revit model.
• Troubleshoot models better with the Reveal Constraints mode making all dimension alignment constraints in a view visible.
• Explore visual programming with the Dynamo interface for computational design which now installs with Revit so you can more easily enhance and extend the power of the Revit API.

Performance:

• Edit and regenerate complex toposurfaces, subregions, and building pads.
• Get better performance of the energy analytical model in Revit, with Revit R2 using less memory when analyzing large models.
• Experience faster updates to views that contain multiple instances of families.
• See faster display of Revit links within views.

Productivity:

• Work in perspective views, making quick adjustments without having to change views with some modeling capabilities now available in perspective views.
• Save more time by editing multiple wall joins together
• Find content more quickly with Search capabilities in the Type Selector and all drop-down lists.
• Navigate PDFs exported from Revit more quickly with hyperlinked views.
• Experience easier interaction with structural elements through user interface improvements.
• Improve productivity with more streamlined Rebar modeling and shop drawings creation.

The full list is too large for me to want to place in this blog, so here's a link to a PDF with all the specifics:

Revit 2015 R2 Enhancement List

Now what about the Site Designer? If you were familiar with EaglePoint's SiteWorks product... well... you know what this extension is all about. Autodesk acquired that technology and is distributing it under this new extension name. Click on the image below for a full size version of the Site Designer Ribbon:

And here's a quick list of what you'll be able to do with this extension:

• Report and schedule areas, volumes, and cut and fill volumes to better understand the impact of site design changes on requirements to move or add fill.
• Iterate conceptual designs and create more realistic visuals of the building site by incorporating grading features directly into the Revit model.
• Better communicate conceptual design ideas about the building site to engineers who can then complete the detailed site design using professional civil engineering tools like Autodesk® AutoCAD® Civil 3D® software.
• Share the appearance of site plan designs for better communication with everyone involved in the project, including owners, architects, designers, planners and civil engineering firms.
• Share a site model between Revit and Civil 3D through Land XML files, improving collaboration between architects and engineers working on a project.
• More quickly add design elements to your site such as berms and drainage swales, minimizing the time required to mass grade a site and to try alternatives at the design development stage.
• Special terrain families within Site Designer provide you with parameters that control widths, cut and fill slopes and other projection settings.
• Locate hardscape components such as streets, intersections, sidewalks, curbs and walls that can follow the existing terrain and have controlled elevations and slopes - all while the toposurface is automatically maintained.

There's a lot of information to absorb here - hopefully it is enough to get you informed and know if you want or need either of these recent updates!

Have fun!

joe