Category Archives: Revit

Revit Posts

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.

Plan View Types Part 3

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I have posted a few times now about the Revit 2013 new Plan View Types.  I really like this feature, however I found another nuance that everyone should be aware of and hopefully will change with future service packs or releases. 

At first I loved the fact that when levels were created it allowed the Plan Views to all have the same name if they were under different view types.  I still like this, however it seems to be causing issues.

Notice in the image below I have Level 1 and Level 2 views in each plan view type. This is great now if you rename a level or view the capability to rename all of them still exist.

 

Now simply move a view from one category to another. 

 

If that view name already exists then it doesn’t add another number at the end, it simply add up to the next available number. Which seems totally non_Revit like in my opinion why not a (2) at the end?

 I wanted to make everyone aware of this issue. I have already been discussing this with clients to see how they want to impliment and deal with this issue.

Small nuance that could be frustrating however not devastating to a project.  If you want to apply a view template via another view and all of the plan views have the same name how do you choose?  As you can see there are numerous Level 1 views.

2013 Divided Path Command

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I was working on a layout of a panelized system around a tower, and I was using the new Divided Path commannd.  I found it has a limitation of 200 divisions. At first I thought this was going to be an issue but it made me rethink the shape and I ended up with a better solution anyway.  Just a heads up for everyone trying to use the command.

Autodesk Subscription Advantages

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I don’t want to sound like a salesperson here but I think the Autodesk Subscription benefits are easily overlooked by most users.  Usually I go to a firm and only the IT, CAD or BIM Manager even have rights to the companies subscription benefits.  Plus not many users even know what additions are available.  I thought I would write a little post to remind everyone to check them out and to mention a couple of my most used.  As you can see in the image below there are quite a few applications and extensions that are available, (I would like to make a note that they all depend on the software you have on subscription) heck by the time you read this I will bet there are already more they have released.  One of my most commonly used one is the eTransmit for Revit, formerly an Autodesk Lab tool it has been promoted to a subscription benefit.  This tool allows a user to copy a Revit model and dependant files to  a single folder location.  This way when the files is needed for the BIM team it copies the Host file and all linked files to a location, it also marks the Revit Model as transmitted and forces the end user to open it and create it as a new central file, assuming worksharing has been enabled.  I had been using the Structure Generator when it was a Lab tool and I can’t wait to play with it now that it has graduated to a subscription tool.  Take a look at some of the tools and let me know which ones you are using the most.

Revit Schedules Conditional Formatting

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I am a big proponent of using schedules, anyone who knows me has seen me geek out on them.  I also like to use conditional formatting inside of them to help me verify my information is correct.  I did however find a nice bug that came up inside Revit 2013 when using conditional formatting.  In previous releases a conditional format could be used to change the color of another cell, this is where the bug comes in, in 2013 they can only change the color of their own cell.

When trying to check to see if one column is the same as another column I use a Yes/No calculated value to display if the columns match.  This can be done numerous ways this is just the method I prefer.

This way I get a nice Yes or No value in the column line.  Then I can use this value to conditionally format a column(s) to change colors to graphically display if the values match or not.

Which displays the schedule like this…

In 2013 the conditional formatting only works on the cell itself.  In the above picture I am using the Checksum column to change the color of the Occupant Load column, this was done in 2012.  It will upgrade from 2012 and display correctly in 2013, however this can not be done if creating it from scratch.  Autodesk has confirmed this issue and hopefully we will see it fixed in the a future upgrade.  I thought others should be aware of this since I fought with it for an hour before I realized it was a bug…