Archive for July, 2010
Saving a Revit detail view to a library in Revit Architecture 2011
In order to save live Revit detail views to a file outside of the Revit model we will first need to download and install the Subscription Advantage pack from the Autodesk Subscription web site.
Cutting imported 3D geometry
People ask me all the time here in my office about using existing 3D geometry to build their Revit families. My first answer is always NO! If you can build it in Auto CAD or Sketchup, you should be able to build it in Revit.
Single Character Keyboard Shortcuts
Change is hard, but we are in a state of constant change in our industry, and I expect that not to change. Whoa, that sounded pretty deep (or was it just confusing). Any who, a big change a lot of firms are in the middle of is switching from an AutoCAD based process to a Revit based process.
Re-learning Revit: Creating a title block part 1
The first family that I created in Revit was a title block. I figured that I could not plot any projects without a title block, and sure glad I decided to get this out of the way first. A lot of things are dependent on the title block, like a project or progress plots.
The iPhone 4 Guts Wallpaper
I read a post on engadget that showed a cool idea for wallpaper for an android phone. I then decided I wanted to have wallpaper on my iPhone 4 that show the guts of the phone. I went to the ifixit.com web site and looked for a photo that would do the trick, unfortunately I was unable to locate the file. I then decided to post a question on their form asking if there was such a thing. To my surprise I received this reply:
“Good idea! We thought so too, and put wallpapers up about a week ago. http://meta.ifixit.com/View/502/Cool+idea+for+iPhone+4+wallpaper”
Thanks to the ifixit.com guys I have a very cool wall paper for my phone showing its guts!
Bill Debevc
sshaphotos.com
Creating Complex Family Shapes in Revit: Part 1 (coming soon!)
Hello everybody! I thought I’d drop by to announce a new product I’ve just added to my website.
This product is significant because it will be one of the topics on my next post which will be out hopefully by next month. Other topics will be as follows:
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Putting Revit Architecture 2011 to a modeling test
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Creating a tournament size pool table family and its accessories
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Comparison of rendering speeds (Revit Architecture 2009, 2010 & 2011)
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Family file size in Revit Architecture 2011
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Rendering tips for beginners
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And last but not least, the specifications of my new…i7-930 processor based computer!
Please click on the image below to find out more about my new product.
Michael Anonuevo
www.littledetailscount.com
Creating Lights – Revit MEP or Revit Architecture?
We received an email question, asking if light families should be created in Revit MEP or Revit Architecture, or if a manufacturer should go so far as to create one version of a light for Architecture and a separate version for MEP.
Here’s an answer.
UPDATE: While you can create geometry and connectors in Revit Architecture, there are some types of electrical parameters that can only be added in from Revit MEP, including wiring and power information. To see these, go to add a new parameter, and set the discipline to Electrical and then take a look at the available parameter types:
Additionally, if you go beyond Lighting Fixtures into other families, there are a number of other types of families (mechanical in particular, in the “Family Categories and Parameters dialog box) that don’t even show up in Revit Architecture. In the end, any family that has engineering related information ought to be created by that engineering version of Revit (structure included).
Architecture on the left, MEP on the right… similar differences in Structure.
And you should only create it once.
/Begin TMI/
If you create a new light family and look at the family’s “Family Category and Parameters”, RAC can only create “Lighting Fixtures”. RMEP can create “Lighting Fixtures” or “Lighting Devices”. A Lighting Fixture can have a light source in it, a Lighting Device cannot – but it does have the option to “Maintain Annotation Orientation”. If you want the light to have a generic annotation for plan graphics, and have that generic annotation remain in place as you rotate or orient the light (one possible example could be MEP representation of a wall sconce), you might need to have the family be a Lighting Device.
You would then need to nest in a Lighting Fixture with a light source only – no geometry – in the Lighting Device to have this fixture cast light.
It used to be that MEP’s lights were devices, and Architecture’s lights were fixtures, but this is not really the case any longer. If you look at the out-of-the-box content in both Revit MEP and Architecture, all of the lighting families are fixtures.
After everything I wrote here, I would recommend doing the same – make your lights as “fixtures”.
/End TMI/
As always, email any questions or comments to joe@clubrevit.com
UPDATE: Family Creation: Locking Center Points to Reference Lines
I received an email from a reader (thanks, Anthony) asking for clarification on a previous blog post about Automatic Sketch Dimensions here:
He was trying to recreate the situation I had described and was unable to get the automatic sketch dimensions to show up.
In order for automatic sketch dimensions to work, you need to have a labeled dimension in the family. The family I was working on already had multiple labeled dimensions and I neglected to mention this in my previous post. 
Revit Model Review – Do you know?
Do you know of a way to review information inside a Revit model? This question seems to keep popping up in conversations as of late. Not sure why, but it seems that an Autodesk Add-In product that is free to anyone that has Autodesk Subscription, has not been looked at very closely by the Revit User Community. This little tool allows you to dig deep into your Revit model and Review all kinds of information.
Below I have pulled a few excerpts from the help file to give you an understanding of what can be done.
Have a safe and Happy 4th of July Weekend.
I don’t know how many will read this before the 4th, but I wanted to say Happy 4th of July.
For this interested, here is a link that is the full text of the Declaration of Independence. It is a good read.
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html
