Ok, so many of you have seen my previous blog post on how to model barrel roof tiles.  Many of you have requested the profiles and I have been glad to share. However, I was never completely happy with the result as the method cannot stack the tiles in both directions. I have come up with a better method that is actually easier and can have a true barrel roof tile appearance.  Note, this should be done only previous to a project’s completion as it will eat up your system resources.  Click on the image to better see how it appears.

This is done by using a parametric curtain panel family.  This panel is then used as the default panel inside of a Roof Curtain System.  Depending on the slope of your roof, you will change the type parameters of the family to match the slope of your roof.  You can also change the overlap distance of the roof tiles.  The only thing that would make this perfect is a cover for the Hips and Valleys of the roof.  If anybody has any idea how to do this please share!! Once again, I will be willing to share this family to those who request it.

Want more flexibility in how your schedules appear? There’s a somewhat hidden option that is REALLY easy to miss.  Revit seems to be good at hidding the features that make you say “DOH!”  These are the kind of issues that I want to feature in my blog because there are alot of them.  Anyway, to get your schedule fields to group together as shown in the image above all you do is drag across whichever fields you want to group and right click (Make sure you have the schedule open. You can’t do this on a sheet).  Then select ‘Group Headers.’  (See image below) You then end up with a blank row only above the fields you selected.   Type whatever text best describes the new group.  In the example above I typed ‘WALL FINISHES.’  Good Luck!

Ever wonder how to model or render a clay tile roof in Revit?  Well, I did at one time till I read a post on Revit City a while ago.  You can do this but *warning* your file may become quite cumbersome depending on how much roof you’re doing.  I recommend doing just a small portion or whatever portion is visible in a rendering… The rest can just be model fill pattern.

Begin by modeling a normal roof. Copy and paste this roof into original position and then move vertically a few inches so it’s “hovering” over your existing roof.  Change its type to “System Family: Sloped Glazing.”  This allows you to treat your roof as you would any curtain system with grids and mullions.  In the properties specify a grid vertically every 6 or 7 inches.  Also in properties change “Curtain Panel” to be “Empty System Panel : Empty.” Finish property settings.  Then create some mullion types.  Create one for the concave downwards and one for concave upwards.  Then specify every other curtain grid to its respective mullion type.  It’s really as simple as that in theory though the process can be time consuming because you have to manually specify every other curtain grid.  You may also have to play with the new “roof’s” height.  If any of you would like, I can provide you with the profiles that I used for both mullion types.

You can apply this concept to your standard floor or roof joist framing as well (See Image). If this doesn’t suit your fancy still and would like another option, you can use balusters as a railing and force the balusters to appear as your soffit framing.  But that’s another blog post entirely.

Did you know you can change the plane of a profile sketch? Yup! Just drag it! That’s all there is to it.  If you are either in “profile sketch” or “profile pick” mode and you haven’t drawn a shape for your profile yet, then all you do is grab the green crosshairs and drag the plane to another line.  This can save a little time especially if you have an existing section in which you’d like to draw your profile sketch.  Some views are better than others to draw these profile shapes (the more “straight on” shot the better). This gives you added flexibility in doing so.  (See before and after images)

Click on images to enlarge

This is a trick I learned the hard way. First though, here’s a bit about subregions:

• They are NOT toposurfaces. They are precicely what they are called: SUB REGIONS. The Revit Help File states: It merely defines an area of the toposurface where you can apply a different set of properties, such as material.
• Subregions must be drawn in closed loops.

I have read in other blogs that you cannot draw any part of a subregion’s boundary outside of a toposurface’s boundary.  This is untrue.  In fact, I rarely draw a subregion boundary that doesn’t have some part of it “hanging off the edge” of it’s intended toposurface.  The key is to have MOST of the lines of your boundary on your intended toposurface. I have made a video that I hope explains this procedure.  Enjoy!

Here’s a little trick for those of you who Must place a filled region directly into a sheet view… I know that most of the time you’d be much better off by creating a legend view for an instance such as that shown above.  However sometimes it may be nice to just create a typical symbol legend the old school way and copy that around to each new project. 

 The solution?

All you need is ANY autocad file with a hatch in it.  Import this file onto a sheet, then explode the import.  Among all the resulting garbage, you are left with a filled region.  You can then modify it to fit your needs.  Need more? Just copy the existing filled region around and then modify. 

Anyway, that’s my tip of the day.. errr.. week. I’m back to my brand new Revit 2009!

I’m back! If who haven’t used the stacked wall feature in Revit, you are missing out! It has come in handy just recently on a project I’ve been working on. Stacked walls allow you to design some pretty neat wall types that you may have thought never were possible. It also allows you to do some neat layering as well. See both the screen shot and the video.

Revit often offers many different ways to go about things. Some ways are obviously better than others depending on the situation. The catch is that it usually takes a good deal of trial and error until users learn the best procedure that fits certain situations. Once a solid understanding of this is achieved, a lot of time can be saved.

I’ll be the first to admit that my first Revit project was done much differently than how I would draw it today. I believed that in order for a storefront glazing system to appear correctly, you had to first edit the shape of its host wall to then fit your storefront. So I would proceed by placing the two walls, one inside of the other and then editing the profile sketch of the host wall to fit my glazing. How embarrasing for me..

The problem with this is what happens if my glazing needs to change in size? Or what if my host wall needs to move in any direction? Both walls acted independently of each other. The fix for this? Check out the video! It’s my first so please don’t be too critical..:)

I should note also that you can place MULTIPLE walls, not just two. Example, a wall within a wall that is within another wall etc. I plan on adding additional videos that cover the “overlooked” items in Revit that really shouln’t be. For now, I gotta figure out how to make that video more clear!!

This can frustrate many a Revit user.  It’s happened to everybody: You’re drawing along, pleased at the pace Revit allows you to work when all of a sudden, you realize that your finishes aren’t cleaning up properly.  AHHH!  I hope to provide some insight:

How Revit cleans joins:

• Revit Architecture connects high priority layers before connecting layers with the lowest priority.
• When layers join, the join cleans up if the 2 layers have the same material. If the 2 layers have different materials, a line appears at the join.
• Each layer must have a function assigned to it for Revit Architecture to match layers accurately.
• Layers inside the core of one wall pass through layers of higher priority that are outside the core of the joined wall.

Pop Quiz: Since it has been explained to you, can you tell what must happen to the wall join as shown above?

The walls are almost configured properly.  However, the horizontal insulation must be moved inside of the core in order to cut through the air space that shares it’s same priority level. Remember, insulation and air space share the same function (See below).  Therefore, it would be incorrect to change the air space’s priority to 4.

Layers can be assigned the following functions:

• Structure [1]: Layer that supports the remainder of the wall, floor, or roof.
• Substrate [2]: Material, such as plywood or gypsum board, which acts as a foundation for another material.
• Thermal/Air Layer [3]: Provides insulation and prevents air penetration.
• Membrane Layer: A membrane that commonly prevents water vapor penetration. The membrane layer should have zero thickness.
• Finish 1 [4]: Finish 1 is typically the exterior layer.
• Finish 2 [5]: Finish 2 is typically for the interior layer.

Some of you may have already browsed over to my “Portfolio” page.  I use a viewer called Freewheel by Autodesk.  It is a very powerful sharing utility and that is why I use it to share some sample work. Please allow me to explain why I think this is big.

Freewheel allows multiple users to collaborate online on files of the .dwf format.  What is .dwf? It’s Autodesk’s version of PDF.  Everybody knows that the PDF format is pretty much universal and will appear and print the same way on any computer or printer. DWF is a “pdf” for softwares such as Autocad and Revit.  Freewheel is an application that allows online viewing of any dwf in any browser.

I should note that this is not a tutorial in how Freewheel is used or installed into a browser.  I merely wish to display its capabilities.  It goes like this: Say I have something to share with you. So I upload a .dwf from my project onto the Freewheel server (this can be done with one mouse click from within Revit or Autocad and is free). I then send you the link to the private online sharing session I just created.  After you type your name, you then enter the session and you’ll see something like the picture above.  Any user can then feel free to orbit, pan, circle, draw and markup the drawing, be it 3D or 2D.  

Even though most of you have probably stopped reading because you’re now excitedly trying to install this into your own web interface I encourage you to read on… This means that the communication barrier that keeps many firms from outsourcing will have to be re-thought.  Firms can now outsource their projects and still feel like their draftsman is just down the hallway!

I offer a drafting service that I believe is superior.  I have tried to overcome my ego by downplaying the size of Marathon Drafting.  And I believe I’ll benefit from doing so. 

Here’s why large drafting companies often fail:

• Too much overhead.  They have to pay the accounting department, human resources, benefits to all their employees, vacations etc.. and still make a profit.
• Often ineficient.  If somebody wants to make a revision they don’t want to talk to a receptionist who then has to take all their information and pass their request down the line.  HUGE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM.  Stuff won’t get done the way they want it.
• Impersonal.  Who wants to talk to a Executive Project Analyst anyway?
• No personal accountability.  If a drafter doesn’t get it right… oh well, they’ll bill additional time to make it right.

Ever hear the term: Big government = Big money? Same goes for drafting businesses.  I’m small.  I’m myself and I’m proud of it.

So I guess Autodesk has apparently released a list of improvements made in the 2009 version of Revit.  I’m feeling pretty good now knowing that my subscription fee is paying off.  I’m super excited about the upcoming changes.  Here’s why you should be:

• Better view template managing
• The ol rendering engine got the boot! Mental Ray Rendering will bring much better rendering output to Revit.  This is huge! Old renderings were plain ugly..
• Text overrides for dimensions.  Sounds simple but we’ve wanted it a long time
• Added forms of mass geometry.
• We can now rotate schedules on sheets. I’ve personally waited a while for that one!
• More robust library

This was just announced yesterday so I’m sure there’s more to come. I can’t hardly wait!

You might be asking yourself, “Why a blog? Isn’t this guy running a business?”  Let me explain.  First off, this blog will not make me huge amounts of money.  You know that and I know that. I am primarilly interested in experience.  Experience is what matters.  I believe I’ll learn a lot by logging my Revit thoughts and I’ll be better off in the long run as a result.  Knowledge is power after all. I also want to run an open business too where clients know that what they see, is what they get.  I encourage anybody to contact me with questions or concerns or ideas.  I have opened up the registration on the blog so if you have any neat tip in Revit please post it.  I also believe in sharing files.  There is nothing better than a well built Revit family.  The kind that will work throughout all aspects of design (Conceptual, documentation, scheduling & rendering).  I have a handful myself and would love to share them.  Have I made myself clear?  HEY WORLD!!! I’M HERE TO HELP!!