Category Archives: Architecture

Revit Architecture topics

View Templates and Area Plans

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In previous posts I spoke about the great new features, and some cautions of view types and templates in 2013.  While setting up area and code plans I noticed that there is a slight variation in how to assign view templates to area plans.  Since area plans are accessible via the View >> Plan View drop down the capability to edit the type properties isn’t there.  However they can be created by going to Architecture >> Area >> Area Plan, however the Edit Type button in the New Area Plan dialog box is greyed out.

If you select an Area Plan that has already been selected the Type Properties can be accessed, this is where the default view template associativity can be set.

2013 Stair and Handrail Quirk 2

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As I am setting up my new template for 2013 I will be posting all the little quirks I find so everyone doesn’t have to bang their head on the keyboard as I am doing.

At first glance these tools look great, however once you get into the nuts and bolts of them you will find many different quirks.  Today’s quirk is with the Handrail Type and Top Rail and how they display, or how they don’t display.  One of the values both of these have in common is the capability to have a fillet radius at all the joints.  A really nice feature for this release, however the plan views don’t display them, unless the views’ detail level is set to Fine.  Note this is only for PLAN views, all other views display them correctly.

Be cautious however, because sometimes the top rail will disappear when these are adjusted.  I haven’t found the exact reason why this happens, I am still digging into this issue.

 

I don’t want all of my plan views to display in fine so I wanted to show a Visibility Graphics tip to everyone.  The far right column of the Visibility Graphics dialog box allows for an individual category to be set as desired.  For Rails in 2013 I have set this to be Fine so that all fillets will be displayed in plan views.

 

I also am puzzled at the inconsistency of when rails above are being displayed.  In the image below you can see in the inside handrail is displayed all the way up the stair, however the outside rail disappears at the landing.

If anyone has a solution to any of these quirks please comment and let myself and the world know.

2013 Stair and Handrail

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While setting up a new template for one of my clients I noticed an interesting issue (I would call this a bug) with handrails and precast stairs.

In Revit 2013 one of the small changes to stairs was the “End With Riser” (as well as “Begin With Riser”) value was changed to an instance based value.  When creating precast stairs this value is unchecked by default.  The issue is not with the stair itself rather with the handrail that is created.  When this value is unchecked the handrail does not remain parallel with the run of the stair.

Once the “End with Riser” value is checked the rail becomes parallel again.

So how do we resolve this issue if we need the run to not end with a riser.  Edit the path of the rail and make the lines align with the top tread of the stair, then select the sketch line at the landing and make the value for it to be flat.

I have submitted this to Autodesk and hopefully we will get a good answer back.  Or at least have the issue resolved in a service pack.

Show Room-Space Tag from previous Phase

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When working with phases in Revit one complaint is that you can’t show rooms from a previous phase.  This is where composite views on sheets works like a charm.  Composite view means more than one view placed on top of each other on a sheet.  Set up a plan view with the phasing set to New Construction and set the Visibility Graphics as desired.  Set up another view with the phasing set to Existing, only display Rooms and Room tags in this view, only tag the existing rooms to be displayed (Note: in Visibility Graphics the Room Tags can be set to Halftone to display similarly to existing phase). Once both of these views are created drag the views onto the desired sheet.  Revit will align the files nicely on the sheets.  The last step is select one of the views, usually the existing room tag view, and change the viewport to one with out a view title.  The room name only view can also be duplicated with dependancies if you need to show the room names on more than one sheet.

 

Beams Tied to height of Columns

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When Revit 2012 was released there was this new feature on structural beams that didn’t get addressed in any of the “NEW” documentation.  I stumbled across it during a training session and have been using it so much that it has become second nature to me.  This week while using this tool one of my clients saw it and had no clue it was even there.  So I told them that I would blog it so they can have documentation on it.

If you have a a beam connected to a column, similar to what is shown (element types can vary), there is a value in the instance properties of the beam called “Start/End Attachment Type”.   This property can be changed to End Elevation or Distance, by default the value is End Elevation.  End Elevation maintains the value of the beam to the placement level and Distance orients the value to the join location on a column.  So if you are wanting the beams to move up and down with the top (or bottom) of a column then you simply change this value to Distance.

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Once the value is changed to Distance then you will see two new properties show up for the beam, “Attachment Distance” and “End of Referenced Column”.  Attachment Distance option allows a user to put in a value for an offset of the beam to the top of the column, so that the beam will still move up and down with the column just be that given value away.  End of… allows the beam to be either associated to the Top or Bottom of the column.