Today while generating some new fill patterns I noticed a small new enhancement to Revit 2017, which I didn’t ever see in the documentation of what’s new.
We now have the capability to stretch the “Modify Pattern Properties” dialog box when generating fill patterns. This means we can now actually see the patter if is a bit larger is spacing. It really is the little things that make me smile when I discover them.
In a previous release of Revit (2015 it believe) we gained the capability to add the elevation of a floor. Not only the elevation but the elevation of the bottom or top, if the floor was structural then we also had Bottom Core or Top Core. This worked great except the fact the it was always using the internal elevation for the value it was representing. We couldn’t use the survey point (shared coordinates) thus most people still used spot elevations for reporting elevations. In 2017 they snuck in the survey point option when creating a tag.
This feature was also added for Structural Foundations, it would be nice to see all categories with an elevation option to have this added, including ducts, structural framing, structural beam systems etc..
For those of you who follow this blog know I often mention simple Right Click commands that I find beneficial to an everyday user. For instance most users have loved the “What Did I Dimension” post a few years back. This tip is along the same line except it works with Tags. If a tag is selected, then Right Click one of the options will be “Select Host”.
I find this extremely helpful when detailing or reviewing floor plans. For example if there is a series of wall tags and one of them appears to be incorrect, does that mean the wrong wall modeled, or did the wrong wall get tagged? How about a detail (assuming it is utilizing tagging and not text), all of the notes are detail item tags and with a “Free End” leader who knows if it is pointing to the correct element. By Right Clicking on the tag and choosing the “Select Host” option it will change your selection from the tag to the element being tagged. With it selected a user can change or verify any property of that object.
Hopefully this simple Right Click feature will help in your daily process.
In 2017 the new feature that railings can be hosted to walls and floors is getting all the attention. However there have been some subtle things that have been added. One thing that myself and Tim Waldock have been requesting is to see the termination families in plan views. This wish has been granted, or quirk has been fixed, depending on how you look at it.
The first image below shows a family in Revit 2016 R2 the second image is Revit 2017
As I am preparing to teach another session on Revit Railings I noticed another small quirk. Again in this example I am using railing supports to act as balusters, a great option when dealing with glass panel.
In this image I have a support to look like gasketing material as well as glass supports, these are associated to the U track handrail. This allows for the glass seam to be unpinned and moved to any desired location.
The quirk arises when the handrail has a value for a fillet radius, even though the Default Join is set to Miter. If the support is unpinned and moved it will move along the radius as if the value were set to Fillet no Miter.
