Revit Learning Club Blog

DWG Software

2012-01-03T09:31:00.000-05:00

Just want to view a DWG quickly? I have found nothing better than Free DWG Viewer from Brava.

If you need editing and measuring, etc. DraftSight is free CAD software from Dassault. It requires registration, but it's rather heavy-duty and the price is pretty good.

Autodesk has some Free DWG viewing software. Last time I tried their TrueView app, I found it to be just too big to be convenient for a quick viewer because it seems to be full AutoCAD with all of the editing tools turned off. It would surely be the most accurate, though, because it's from the mother ship. Design Review is also said to work to view DWGs but this is what you see if TrueView is not installed:

Great Freeware for Revit Work

2011-12-21T16:46:00.001-05:00

Here is some software that I like to install on any computer I am using:

Some brilliant tiny freeware has been published by Mike Lin:
PathCopyEx PathCopyEx.msi Adds an item to the right-click menu of any file in Explorer that copies the text path to the clipboard. This is very useful in Revit when you have to enter a filename (DWG import, etc.) and save lots of clicking up and down folders.
StartupMonitor is a small utility that runs transparently and notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup.
Startup.exe http://www.mlin.net/files/StartupCPL_EXE.zip is an applet that allows you to easily configure which programs run when your computer starts. Even new computers usually come with plenty of unneeded apps that run at startup.

CCleaner also has a startup configurator and is nice for cleaning the recycle bin, the registry, and uninstalling programs among other functions.

Clipboard Help+Spell is a text-based clipboard utility that keeps an accessible list of all of the things that you copy to the Windows clipboard. (Not to be confused with Revit's clipboard which is separate and has no history). It also has spell check and change case functions.

On-line Alarm Clock reminds you when to wake up or leave. I also use it to remind me when to move my car in Boston when it's at a meter. Just don't leave it unattended because it has a very annoying alarm sound.

Time Card Calculator & Timesheet Manager a great on-line calculator for converting work start and stop times to decimal hours.

Invoicera is a rather full-featured om-line invoicing app. It is free for up to three clients.

Total Commander a super powerful alternative to Windows Explorer. Has a built-in FTP client, too. Search *.00??.r?? to find your Revit backups. (Not free per se but has just one nag screen.)

Air Duct Calculator -- who needs a cardboard ductulator?

ninite.com lets you install many different app all at once. Great for setting up a new computer quickly. FastStone Image Viewer is a great app there for viewing and light editing of your images. Chrome, VLC, Winamp, Avast anti-virus, CutePDF are all splendid apps.

Gadwin PrintScreen -- great utility for screen captures. Grabbing a rectangular area of your screen and putting the image in an email is an effective way of communication.

CleanMem is good for if you are running out of RAM when working with large RVTs. It seems to help performance. It can make the difference between painfully slow performance and being able to work if your RAM is limited.

AutoHotkey is a free utility for Windows. With it, you can automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. Repetitive Revit tasks may also be automated. A code snippet example is:

#IfWinActive, Revit
#r:: ; hotkey Start Render
IfWinNotExist, Rendering
Send, rr
WinWait, Rendering, Uncompressed image s
IfWinNotActive, Rendering, Uncompressed image s, WinActivate, Rendering, Uncompressed image s
WinWaitActive, Rendering, Uncompressed image s
Sleep, 100
Send, {TAB}{ALTDOWN}r{ALTUP}
Sleep, 3000
WinWaitClose, Rendering Progress
Sleep, 300
WinWait, Rendering, Uncompressed image s
WinActivate, Rendering, Uncompressed image s
WinWaitActive, Rendering, Uncompressed image s
Send, {TAB 3}{ALTDOWN}x{ALTUP}
WinWait, Save Image, Previous folder(Alt+
Sleep, 400
Send, !n
Sleep, 400
Sendplay, c:\temp\Render-%A_Now%.jpg
Send, !s
SoundPlay, %A_WinDir%\Media\ding.wav
return

Which makes the Win+r key start a rendering and then save the image in the c:\temp folder when finished. YMMV.

Revit 101 for Thursday, October 27, 2011

2011-10-26T12:37:00.000-04:00

This Thursday, 6pm, at Microsoft Waltham, we'll cover:

The basics of Revit Families

Reference planes
Constraints
Parameters
Kinds of solids
Sketches
Flexing the model
Voids

Making perspective views
Navigating perspective views
Rendering

Download http://www.truevis.com/Files/Mixed_Use_from_class_10-12.zip if you'd like to use my model from the previous week.

Drop-ins remain welcome ($25) if you are at all familiar with Revit's interface. This will be the last class.

Hiatus

2011-09-14T16:13:00.000-04:00

We have been meeting every Monday since the spring of 2010 with an original Revit lesson. I am thinking of taking a hiatus. Let's see in a month or so if there is enough demand to start up again.

Please email me if you'd be in for more Revit Learning Club starting in October or November.

For Monday, September 12, 2011 - The Family Editor

2011-09-11T20:13:00.000-04:00

Let's look at Revit's Family editor. What do all of those tools do? What are some of the issues that one needs to know to make content in Revit?

Some subjects to cover:

Different kinds of Family Templates
Subcategories
The Reference Plane tool
The Reference Line tool
The Void tool
The Extrusion, Blend, Revolve, Sweep, Swept Blend tools
Profiles
The Load into Project tool
Parameters
Flexing the model
The Control tool
The Model Text tool
Etc.

For further study, see The Families Guide -- "A guide that contains conceptual explanations, hands-on tutorials, and reference information to help you understand how to work with Revit Architecture families." http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=13376394

This will also be the last meeting of our 8-week session. Revit Learning Club may go on hiatus after September 12th.

Revit 101 is starting 6pm, Thursday, September 1, 2011

2011-08-31T10:30:00.005-04:00

It is a chance to start learning Revit Architecture or to review some of the things you know about the software. Eight Thursdays, 6-8pm, starting September 1, 2011.

Address: Microsoft's Seminar Facility, 201 Jones Road, Waltham, MA 02451. There is free parking.

See more about the course in in the original announcement.

For Monday, August 29, 2011 - A Kitchen Diagram

2011-08-27T11:36:00.002-04:00

The inspiration comes from this article about a kitchen in Design New England magazine:
http://digital.designnewengland.com/designnewengland/20110708#pg38

How might we make such an image and list intelligently using Revit?

Here's how it could come out:

The schedule and the color scheme are both parametric and not just drawn in.

For Monday, August 22, 2011 - Phases and Design Options in Renovations

2011-08-22T12:33:00.001-04:00

We will practice Revit's Phases and Design Option features.

The concept is a large house to apartment conversion. There is an existing building with some rooms that are getting converted into a studio apartment.

First, we will model existing construction, then indicate what gets demolished during the project. Next, we will show two proposed options for the renovation. Appropriate views will be put onto sheets for presentation, they may look something like this:

If we have time, we can also look at (Revit) Parts and phases. Once you make Parts from an element, you can set the phase and the demolished-in phase of the different bits of that element.

Revit 101 Offered in Waltham, Massachusetts Starting Sept. 1, 2011

2011-08-18T17:46:00.002-04:00

Due to strong interest, another Revit 101 group class is planned. We will cover the basics of Revit Architecture over eight two-hour sessions. Thursdays, 6-8pm, starting September 1, 2011.

The venue is Microsoft's Seminar Facility, 201 Jones Road, Waltham, MA 02451. It is convenient to Routes 128, 2, and the Mass. Pike; there is free parking and wi-fi.

The fee will be $160 for the full 8-week session, two hours per week. If people want to drop-in, the fee will be $25 per session. A prerequisite for dropping-in after the first session is a familiarity with the Revit user interface.

Bring a laptop with Revit Architecture 2012 installed (and a mouse). No Revit license is needed since you will not have to save any files. Watching only (without a laptop) is an option, too.

RSVP to design@truevis.com ; this is contingent on at least eight people committing to attend.

The plan is to model and document as much of this mixed-use building design as possible:

For Monday, August 15, 2011 - Complex Roofs

2011-08-12T00:03:00.001-04:00

The inspiration comes from a house by John Libby:

Some of those roofs are quite challenging to make with Revit.

We will attempt to model the different roof shapes from the photograph. We will use roofs by footprint, extrusion, and in-place. The use of voids in in-place families are required, too.

Some tricks and odd methods will be shown.

For Monday, August 8, 2011 - Assemblies

2011-08-08T12:37:00.001-04:00

We will make an Assembly. Here is the help page with a video about it:

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Revit/enu/2012/Help/Revit_User's_Guide/0325-Build_th325/1144-Construc1144/1155-Assembli1155/1156-Assembli1156

The inspiration is this awning frame from http://www.simplifiedbuilding.com/projects/awning-frame :

Let's model a simple building to put it in context. We will model the structure of the frame and at least one connector Family.

We will make an Assembly which will have its own views for documentation.

Those views can be arranged on the Assembly's sheet.

We may have to use some tricks with Parts to get the wall and floor to appear correctly in the Assembly.

If you are following with your laptop, it will absolutely require Revit 2012 -- older versions do not have the Assembly or Parts features.

For Monday, August 1, 2011 - Phases, sheets, views, etc.

2011-07-31T15:40:00.002-04:00

We'll model a large box store. It will have three phases -- existing, phase 2, and phase 3. We'll set up the phases, views, sheets, phase filters, and phase overrides. We will continue to model the floor plan and set the phases of the elements appropriately. If elements are demolished, we'll set their appropriate parameters.

The whole floor plan is too large to fit on a sheet at 3/32" scale, so we will need to make "dependent views". Matchlines and view references will be required. View and sheets list schedules will be shown.

For Monday, July 25, 2011 - Tribeca Loft Detail

2011-07-24T23:29:00.000-04:00

I've had a request for more family creation. The inspiration comes from http://www.amandamartocchio.com

How many different families will be required to make that scene?

For some of the accessories, let's use a SketchUp imports. Please download these:

Just don't download any version 8, because Revit can't read that version of SketchUp.

The result could look something like this:

Installing Revit 2012 Update #1

2011-07-24T20:32:00.002-04:00

To get the update, run the appropriate one of these for your operating system:

Autodesk_Revit_Architecture_2012-x86_Update 1 (exe – 145 MB)
Autodesk_Revit_Architecture_2012-x64_Update 1 (exe – 171 MB)

This blog post shows some of the things that are, and are not, fixed in that update:
http://jasongrant.squarespace.com/jason-grant-blog/2011/7/11/revit-2012-update-1-what-is-fixed.html

For Monday, July 18, 2011 - Urban Planning

2011-07-15T08:30:00.001-04:00

This inspiration is from an article about a proposed Harlem charter school in The Architects Newspaper.

We'll practice methods of making an image like this in Revit:

This screenshot from Google Maps will be useful -- please download its big version (click on the image and save it to your laptop):

A preliminary result in Revit might look something like this:

New Eight-Week Session of Revit Learning Club to Start July 18th

2011-07-12T22:03:00.002-04:00

We are a go for the next session.

We will continue to meet At KI, 115 Broad Street, Boston, MA. After 6pm the building's front door locks, so come around the corner to the metal gate on Wendell St.

The new time will be Mondays from 6:15pm to 8:30pm -- an extension of a quarter hour. The new fee will be $160 pre-pay or $25 per session for drop-in.

Suggestions for new subjects are welcome.

There will be no Revit 101 at this time. I suggest being able to know your way around Revit's interface as a prerequisite for Revit Learning Club.

Our goals are success, effectiveness, and profitability using Revit in our professions.

For Monday, July 11, 2011 - Room Finishes

2011-07-10T21:11:00.000-04:00

How to express floor finishes and their transitions parametrically?

Well, it's easy enough to input the data in a room schedule.

It's also easy to make a color scheme to see the parameters quickly.

A trick is to make a Room Tag that has four types with arrows that show floor finish transitions. We'll practice how to do that.

What about if there is going to be an accent color which will be applied to one wall of a room? Think about it. How could that be shown?

For Monday, June 27, 2011

2011-06-24T15:55:00.001-04:00

The inspiration comes from a church-to-loft conversion article in Boston Home magazine:

How can we make a window like that? What about modelling the wooden structure? Let's try it. Here is my version:
hidden line

realistic

rendering

Revit 101 will be having its last meeting. We will do some massing analysis and make a parametric Family.

Vasari and Nucleus

2011-06-22T09:46:00.008-04:00

Vasari is freeware this year and is a version of Revit 2012 that seems to be limited to massing and some analysis.

Combined with Nucleus, which should also run in regular Revit, there are some crazy things that can be modelled.

Here is a funny shape, rendered:

Some videos about the subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4xY7W795FE&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1numYBbDaT8&hd=1

For Monday, June 20, 2011

2011-06-18T22:59:00.001-04:00

Revit 101 at 4pm:

Site -- topo surfaces, pads, subregions, etc.
Area plans
Importing and exporting AutoCAD drawings
Using an imported DWG as the basis of a topo surface

Please download this file that has two DWGs in it: http://www.truevis.com/Files/ISO_lines.zip

Revit Learning Club at 6:15pm - A solar house:

The Inspiration came from http://www.adobebuilder.com/solar-adobe-house-plan-1310.html

Turn this:

Into This:

Download the large versions of the first two images (which you get to by clicking on them) if you want to use them for tracing.

For Monday, June 13, 2011

2011-06-08T13:13:00.002-04:00

Revit 101 at 4pm

We will explore views, sheets, details, and printing.

Revit Learning Club at 6:15pm

The inspiration is this roof detail from a website about keeping water out of a building:Here it is, interpreted in Revit:

We can also examine methods of using keynotes, dimensions, notes, and tags in 3D views.

Getting to Demo mode in Revit 2012

2011-06-07T01:10:00.000-04:00

The answer is found at:
http://revitclinic.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/04/revit-2012-license-switching-and-demo-mode-.html

The "new" Viewer mode is in the Start menu and appears to be equivalent to Demo mode:

When starting, this message displayed:

For Monday, June 6, 2011

2011-06-03T10:33:00.001-04:00

Revit 101 at 4pm -- we will practice interiors: partitions, furniture, groups, schedules, stairs, openings.

Download http://www.truevis.com/Files/Tutorial_Building_2.zip for an RVT to work from.

Revit Learning Club at 6:15pm -- we will model and attempt to render a scene of a reflecting pool. Walls, floors & roof, roof by mass face, camera view, navigation wheel, sun settings, render settings, and materials.

Inspiration:

Model:

Rendering:

PS: After 6pm, come around the corner to the gate on Wendell Street and knock for entrance. (The mouse cursor in the image below is indicating the gate.)

Voids in un-hosted families can be used to cut objects in projects in Revit 2012

2011-05-23T23:32:00.000-04:00

I mentioned and demonstrated the use of this feature tonight.

A post on Revit's Wikihelp site shows a good example. See http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/index.php?title=Revit/enu/Community/Tips_%26_Tricks/Modeling/Cut_with_unattached_family_instance_voids

It also helpfully shows which categories can be cut.

For Monday, May 23, 2011 - Custom Casework

2011-05-23T12:02:00.001-04:00

The inspiration is from an ad in Design New England Magazine by Amory Architects:

We can practice some methods to get this sketch modeled in Revit:

It's not particularly easy; we'll see how far we get in the time alloted.

Any interest in MEP or Structure?

2011-05-17T10:49:00.000-04:00

Please let me know if you, or someone you know, would like to learn and practice some Revit MEP or Structure.

The venue would be Microsoft's office at 201 Jones Road, Waltham, MA. There is free parking and it is near to Route 128.

Probably it would be during the week in the daytime, but it might also be possible to do in the evening. What is your preference? The fee would be the same as the Revit 101 class, which is $10 to $12.50 per hour with an 8-person minimum. Bring-your-own-laptop format.

What Revit 101 is doing

2011-05-17T00:05:00.000-04:00

We have started using this tutorial as the basis of our class. It's a nice size for us, and anyone can watch the original authors' methods.

Redacted from http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=revit2011_english :

Getting Started Tutorial

"Getting Started" is the first tutorial of a series of three tutorials for Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011...

	View the handout
	Download the datasets
	Watch the tutorial videos on YouTube
	Download the complete tutorial file

Revit Learning Club For Monday, May 16, 2011 - Flood Hazard Vents

2011-05-13T16:58:00.000-04:00

A bulletin from FEMA, Openings in Foundation Walls and Walls of Enclosures, shows how to place emergency flood vents in foundations.

Photo:

Revit:

We'll model enough of a house to make the detail below.

From the publication:

Revit:

It will require a flood vent family that can be based on a Window template.

PDF from manufacturer:

Revit:

PS: BFE means "Base Flood Elevation".

For Monday, May 9, 2011 - ICA Lobby Stairs & Ramp

2011-05-09T12:03:00.000-04:00

For Revit 101 (4:00pm) we'll go over the editing commands in Revit and do some more modelling basics.

For Revit Learning Club (6:15pm) we will model something like the ramp & stairs that go to the gift shop at the ICA in South Boston.

It will take a combination of railings, in-place models, and a rather complicated RFA with an embedded RFA in it for the balusters to get the railing done. The rest is just walls, floors, stair, and ramp.

Realistic + Show Edges:

Renderings:

For Monday, May 2, 2011 - Lofted Roof

2011-05-01T01:35:00.003-04:00

Revit 101 will start at 4pm at KI.

For Revit Learning Club (6:15pm) we will make a mass surface which is a loft of 3 splines.

The mass can then be used to make a roof by face.

We can place columns and attach their tops to the roof.

We can put in some trusses and edit what kind of structure the trusses use.

The top of the trusses can be attached to the roof.

We can copy the mass + roof down a couple of feet and use that roof to attach the bottom of the trusses.

That fake roof will have to be hidden in all views that see it. That could be accomplished by putting the fake roof on a workset that is off by default; but in this case we will just use EH (element hide) in the various views.

We can change the roof to "sloped glazing" which essentially turns the roof into rectangular panels and mullions (like a Revit curtain wall or curtain system).

Revit Architecture 2012 installation

2011-04-28T11:32:00.002-04:00

Revit Architecture 2012 download is at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=16841348 or directly at http://revit.downloads.autodesk.com/download/2012RAC_RTM/Autodesk_Revit_Architecture_2012_English_Win_32-64bit.exe

The installer unpacks the installation to "C:\Autodesk\Autodesk_Revit_Architecture_2012_English_Win_32-64bit\"
You may have to run "Setup.exe" there. Allow a few hours to do it. A reboot may be needed for the install.

After 2012 is installed run

Autodesk_Revit_Architecture_2012-x86_Update-2 (exe – 250 MB)

for 32-bit Windows or

Autodesk_Revit_Architecture_2012-x64_Update-2 (exe – 280 MB)

for 64-bit Windows

Revit 101 Class Offered

2011-04-27T17:59:00.006-04:00

I am offering basics of Revit class -- "Revit 101" -- starting this Monday, May 2, 2011 for eight weeks from 4 to 6pm at KI (a furniture showroom) -- 115 Broad Street, Boston, MA (directions).

Some subjects to be covered:

Revit's user interface
Modeling basics
Visibility and graphic controls
Schedules
Drafting
Links (Revit and DWGs), imports, and groups
The basics of families (custom content)
Sheets, plotting, and publishing
Collaboration (worksharing)

We will be using Revit Architecture 2012. Bring a laptop with it installed or just watch. No software licence is needed -- students can use Revit's free demo mode. Download at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=16841348

For Monday, April 25, 2011 - Cien House

2011-04-22T23:53:00.002-04:00

The inspiration is Cien House, Pezo Von Ellrichshausen Architects, Concepción, Chile:

It looks like a good candidate to use a window with instance parameters for its height and width. Make a face-based window family with a void in it that will cut through both walls and roofs.

A rendering:

We can reproduce the architect's 3D section drawing

We can also schedule the windows by their Mark values:

Please download the large version of this image to trace:

For Monday, April 18, 2011 - Elevator Lobby with Design Options

2011-04-16T13:16:00.001-04:00

The inspiration is this elevator lobby:

Let's model it to some extent in Revit using walls, reference planes, floor, materials, doors, roof by footprint, in-place roof (revolve), sloped glazing, join geometry, etc.

Now, our imaginary client is getting sick of rectangular shapes and wants a proposal for using round elevator towers. We can use Revit's Design Options to make a matrix of four options of round or rectangular shapes for the each of the elevator towers.

We'll look at how to get things into, and out of, Deign Options.

We can set four views' design options to display our matrix -- either East, West, neither, or both will show the round towers.

and put them on a sheet.

Final decision:

Art Gallery Walkthrough Video

2011-04-14T08:41:00.001-04:00

Who wants to learn how to do this? It's a walkthrough of how I imagine the Paula Rego Museum gallery might look like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN8X5QlOuq8

For Monday, April 11, 2011 - An Art Gallery

2011-04-06T17:39:00.002-04:00

The inspiration:

(Interior photo of the Paula Rego Museum)

The goal:

(Realistic) (Rendering)

Use:

Walls, wall joins, add a sweep profile to a wall definition, materials, in-place wall void, ceilings, in-place ceiling sweep, face-based family with height/width/material as instance parameters, decals, etc.

Files:

Please download this -- it has a profile, and images for the painting decals and the flooring material: http://www.truevis.com/Files/2011-4-11.ZIP

Three Revit Tutorials About Topography

2011-04-04T22:32:00.002-04:00

These videos can help you review some of the subjects covered tonight:

For Monday, April 4, 2011 - Site Methods

2011-04-04T11:37:00.000-04:00

Please download this file for use on your laptops -- it is a survey DWG: http://www.truevis.com/Files/2011-4-4.zip

I hope to cover these subjects:

Property Lines and their Tags
Property line segment schedule
Making a topo surface in Existing Phase
Split Surface
Discuss Phases for topography
Graded Region (makes duplicate topo surface and demolished the existing)
Cut and Fill Schedule
Split surface
Topo materials
Site Settings
Pads
Bring in a survey DWG
Set True North from survey DWG
Make topo surface from survey DWG's contours
Specify coordinates at a point
Elevation Base -- Project vs Shared
Do Graded Region & Cut and Fill Schedule again
Place a Pad
Make foundation walls and footings for a garage

Section Boxes in perspective views

2011-03-28T16:25:00.000-04:00

One can turn on a 3D Section Box in perspective views. It's in the View's Properties.

A trick is then to use the View Cube to get an overall view, manipulate the Section Box's extents,

then use the Navigation Wheel's Rewind to get back to the original camera position.

Also, the solids' cut material when in Course Detail Level is controlled by a special Material called "Poche".

Some Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 Tutorial Videos

2011-03-24T09:40:00.000-04:00

Autodesk have published many tutorial videos at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AutodeskEd#p/c/B3DC6A8DE288C013

Look for the ones with titles like Step00/14-Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011-English Tutorial1/3

Data sets may be found at http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=revit2011_english

For Monday, March 21, 2011 - Refining the model and shadow animations

2011-03-22T14:03:00.004-04:00

Let's take last week model and keep working on it.

To make the brise de soleil do more, we can add some glazing behind it. This can be accomplished by embedding a curtainwall. The horizontal elements don't have to be rectangular and can be shaped by a profile. Walls and roofs can be made more specific.

We can find the True North using a map service like Google Maps. Simply take a screenshot and put it on the site plan to know how much to rotate True North to approximately where it should be.

Next, we'll set the project's actual location in the world:

This will be enough information to start creating some (presumably accurate) solar shading animations.

This video was made using two Revit animations and some video editing software:

If time allows, we can do some detailing using Material Tags:

For the starting model, please download this file http://www.truevis.com/Files/2011-3-28.ZIP , it has last week's RVT that I made, a mullion profile RFA, and some useful images.

Sun settings for tonight's project (March 21, 2011)

2011-03-21T15:34:00.003-04:00

Even though I could have used location, date, and time to place the sun, I used azimuth and altitude relative to view just to get it similar to the photo.

If you ever want to use actual sun settings, remember to also set True North of the project for shadows to be correct.

For Monday, March 21, 2011 - Kinds of Walls

2011-03-16T09:43:00.001-04:00

The inspiration is this photo of the Ingleside Branch Library in San Francisco, California:

Modeling some of it will require modifying and placing walls, wall openings, curtain walls, mullions, curtain panels, materials, profile, fascia, roofs, soffits, floors. We'll look at how to get the shadows where we want them.

We can use some images of plans and sections for tracing. Please download this file http://www.truevis.com/Files/2011-3-21.ZIP , which has some helpful images and a curtain panel family.

A great freeware utility - Clipboard Help+Spell

2011-03-14T23:07:00.005-04:00

It's very useful when using Revit. Changing case, and holding a list of clips are the features I use the most. Revit's spell checker is limited, so if you need to spellcheck the names of views or such, this utility can help. From its website:

Clipboard Help+Spell is a text-based clipboard utility with the following features:

Database stores history of all past text clipboard entries for easy viewing, modification, and search
Use it for keeping hierarchical notes - search, sort, filter by text, modification date, last view date
Super easy and super fast search function - or use complex filters if you need them - you'll never have a problem finding a note again!
Organize your notes and clips any way you want - show them all or view by group or category; view your clips any way you like
High-quality spellcheck - underlined mistakes; learning spellchecker
Configurable hotkeys for common functions
Powerful text formatting options - make your own presets for common functions
Simple functions for copying and pasting into and out of other applications

Download v1.45.02

For Monday, March 14, 2011 - Construction Documents

2011-03-14T09:55:00.003-04:00

Take last week's model and make a CD set from it. Some of the things planned to be covered are: Scope boxes. crop regions, structural tags, structural elevations, putting views on sheets, hiding elements (EH) and categories (VH), notes, title blocks, select all (SA), reset reference planes to 3D extents, view scales, view templates, dimensions, changing dimensions' rounding, save rendering to project and put on sheet, renaming views (F2), leaders (free end vs attached end), structural schedules, showing hidden lines, view list schedule, text, sheet sets, print to DWF or PDF, 2D vs 3D on datum elements, etc.

Please download http://www.truevis.com/Files/2011-3-14.ZIP which has the starting RVT and some other files, or you can work on your own project from last week.

I recommend installing CutePDF Writer from http://www.cutepdf.com/download/CuteWriter.exe -- it's a free PDF printer driver.

Revit Learning Club to Continue Again

2011-03-08T08:34:00.002-05:00

Seems there is enough commitment to keep going for another eight weeks from March 14, 2011. Thanks to everyone for keeping this group happening. I hope we continue to find it a valuable thing to do.

Change of venue for tonight -- we will meet at BSA

2011-03-07T11:29:00.001-05:00

KI is unavailable for tonight (3/7/2011) so we will meet at the Boston Society of Architects building, 5th floor, 52 Broad Street, Boston, MA. We will meet at the usual time, 6:15pm.

The theme remains exposed structure.

For Monday, March 7, 2011 - Exposed Structure

2011-03-02T18:48:00.001-05:00

The inspiration is this entranceway:

To model it we will need to use Truss, Beam, Column (architectural and structural), Brace, Group, Roof, In-Place Family, Fascia, Profiles, Grid, Ref. Plane, Materials, Array, etc.

Making a standing seam roof look good is a challenge and we will look at some methods to get that done.

For Monday, February 28, 2011 - An iconic scene

2011-02-25T15:46:00.004-05:00

The inspiration is part of a French racing simulator building.

Modelling some of this scene involves modifying stairs, railings, curved walls, wall reveals, levels, a floor, curtain wall as railing, making a perspective view, creating lighting fixture content, etc. It is a rather difficult scene to recreate, but I think we can handle it.

For Monday, February 21, 2011 - Elevation Tricks

2011-02-16T10:30:00.004-05:00

The inspiration is this New Jersey cottage:

It will require columns, roofs, radial arrays, dormer openings, windows, in-place families, etc. to start modelling the facade.

We can apply some techniques to make a nice elevation of it.

Here is the elevation, just plain:

Here it is with silhouette edges, linework, and shadows:

And with some extraneous categories turned off, combined with a background image on a sheet:

Please download http://www.truevis.com/Files/2011-2-21.ZIP -- it has the background image and an RVT of the cottage ready to do the elevation appearance refinement upon.

There are also some crazy tricks you can do using other software. This one is a mash-up of SketchUp (free version) and Revit:

For Monday, February 14, 2011 - Parametric Arrays + Revisions

2011-02-11T15:57:00.000-05:00

Revit can use parametric arrays. We will model a chest of drawers with a parametric number of drawers. Here is the inspiration:

We will make it just one column of drawers to keep it simple.

It also uses an embedded family for the drawers.

We will also go over the revisions feature of Revit. Practice how to add and manage revisions in a project.

Please download http://www.truevis.com/Files/2011-2-14.ZIP , which contains files to help with the day's meeting.

For Monday, February 7, 2011 - Historical Tower

2011-02-07T12:42:00.003-05:00

Let's do some historical architecture. It can really be a challenge in Revit. The inspiration is a tower at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in Lowell.

We'll see how much of this we can accomplish in under two hours.

To model this, we will need in-place components, a line-based family for some of the trim, wall sweeps, roof fascia, profiles, tricks with railings, etc.

Please download this window family: http://www.truevis.com/Files/Window-Pella_DH_Architect.rfa . It came from revitcity.com , one of the many places to get Revit content.

For Monday, January 31, 2011 - A Locker Room Proposal

2011-01-27T13:22:00.002-05:00

The inspiration is from the proposed renovation plans for the Arlington Boys and Girls Club.

Please download this image to trace.

The result could look something like this in Revit (within our time constraints):

It uses a color scheme, based on the "Department" parameter of the rooms.

Here is the tricky part. What methods might we use to make a 3D representation of a color scheme?

For Monday, January 24, 2011 - A Tiny House and its Presentation

2011-01-24T03:08:00.003-05:00

We will model a tiny house. All kinds of Revit tools will be needed.

We can put its various views and other images on a sheet with an artistic flourish. I shall show the trick of how to show an exploded view of a building.

(View its PDF)

Here is a rendering of the completed model:

For Monday, January 17, 2011 - Sloped Glazing

2011-01-12T12:19:00.002-05:00

How can we model something like this?

This Edwardian conservatory will require a "Sloped Glazing" roof, stacked walls, curtail walls, an in-place model with a swept profile for the gutter, a curtain panel family for the transom windows, etc.

Besides modelling this building, I will also show how to model the ornaments on the roof. They are work plane-based families with a solid sweep around a tiny square path

Bonus for Monday, January 10, 2011 - Plantings from SketchUp Models

2011-01-07T23:53:00.000-05:00

Download the tree SKP from
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=c51cd05dfaf7705702cea0bb24c9da2&prevstart=300

And we can put the SketchUp 3D model into an RFA to use in our design.

For Monday, January 10, 2011 - Area Analysis

2011-01-07T16:33:00.001-05:00

Make an Area Plan, color scheme with legend, modify area tags, create area schedule with totals, use shadow casting in plan, property lines, etc.

Here is the inspiration (please download the image to trace):

And here is the result from Revit:

For Monday, January 3, 2011 - Massing

2011-01-03T13:14:00.000-05:00

How would we model something like this house in Revit?

The answer is to use Massing, then add Walls by Face.

We will look at some aspects of the Massing feature of Revit and use that house as a goal.

Your result may look roughly like this:

(It obviously needs some refining to make it match the first image.)

Some files to help you with this effort have been collected and may be downloaded at http://www.truevis.com/Files/2011-1-3.ZIP

For Monday, December 20, 2010

2010-12-20T15:42:00.004-05:00

We'll model some of this scene from ‘House in Macinhata da Seixa’ by Nuno Brandão Costa Arquitecto. It may involve floors, a vertical opening, walls, stairs, curtain walls, mullions, railings, materials, reveals, profile family, customizing a door family, a line-based family, an in-place family, split-face, etc...

Photo and Revit rendering:

For Monday, December 13, 2010 - Collaboration -- Worksets and links

2010-12-13T12:16:00.000-05:00

I will demonstrate how to use Worksets in Revit.

Enabling Worksets
Making new Worksets
Changing Worksets
Relinquishing borrowed elements
Editing Requests
Synchronizing with Central

Practice together -- Using Links in Revit

Linking origin-to-origin
Copy/Monitor
Reloading Links
Coordination Review
Adjusting Links' appearance
Using Linked Views
Linking back to other RVTs

To follow along, download the files contained here:
http://www.truevis.com/Files/2010-12-13.ZIP

For Monday, December 6, 2010

2010-12-02T17:52:00.006-05:00

We will practice Revit's Phases and Design Option features. First, we will model existing construction, then indicate what gets demolished during the project. Next, we will show two proposed options for the renovation. Appropriate views will be put onto sheets for presentation.

Project for Monday, November, 29, 2010

2010-11-29T15:01:00.002-05:00

We'll model the facade of Iwamoto Scott's PS House. It will involve defining curtain walls which will be embedded in regular walls. Floors, columns, roofs, materials, "disallowing wall joins". levels, grids, tracing images, etc. will be needed.

If you want to have the same images that I used for the project, I recommend downloading http://www.truevis.com/Files/Images_PS_House.ZIP

Original Photo:

Revit Rendering:

Original Photo:

Revit Rendering:

Topics for Monday, November 22, 2010

2010-11-22T13:35:00.000-05:00

By request:

Importing a 3D survey DWG (Please download this - http://www.truevis.com/Files/survey.dwg )
Moving the DWG appropriately
Setting True North
Creating and tagging property lines
Creating Topo Surface from imported DWG
Adding contour labels
Specify Coordinates at a Point
Project vs Shared type parameter on Elevation elements
Using Mass to populate a building site
Changing Mass material
Spot Elevations and using them to set the height of a Mass

Rendering of Tonight's Model

2010-11-15T13:18:00.001-05:00

This is a rendering that I made today, similar to the source image. We will be modelling this scene, tonight.

For Monday, November 15, 2010

2010-11-12T13:57:00.000-05:00

Let's model the scene below designed by Alberto Campo de Baeza. It will involve walls, floor, roof, architectural columns, curtain wall, custom mullion profile, custom fascia profile, wall reveals, defining walls & materials, making a camera view. We can also attempt to match our camera view with the image. Please click on each image (to get the original) and download both of them to your laptop.

Render material:

Getting Educational Licences of Autodesk Software

2010-11-10T22:12:00.000-05:00

Students, educators, military veterans, and the unemployed may be eligible. See:
http://students.autodesk.com/
http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=assistance_home

Revit Learning Club to Continue

2010-11-09T09:49:00.001-05:00

We got a large enough commitment last night from eight-week pre-payers to continue holding Revit Learning Club.

The group's fees are now $120 pre-pay for eight weeks of meetings (which will start November 15, 2010) or $20 for drop-in.

Thank you all for keeping this going. I continue to welcome suggestions for subjects to cover.

AUGI AEC Edge - Latest Issue Published

2010-11-09T09:41:00.001-05:00

Lots of BIM/Revit articles
http://digitaleditiononline.com/publication/?i=49355 to view or get its PDF.

Files for Monday, November 8, 2010

2010-11-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

Please download http://www.truevis.com/Files/2010-11-8.ZIP -- they're images to help make today's model. Here is a rendering that I made today:

Monday, November 8, 2010 - Last meeting?

2010-11-05T08:52:00.000-04:00

We had a good run, but attendance has been too low to make it worth it for me lately. Unless I can get at least nine people to agree to come for eight weeks with a pre-pay, we are going to stop meeting. Thanks to those of you who have attended and I hoped you were able to use some of what you learned. -- Eric Boehlke

Agenda for meeting:
Model the exterior of Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House. This will involve structure, floors, roof, roof fascia with profile, curtail walls, and making a custom stair.

For Monday, November 1, 2010

2010-11-01T14:56:00.000-04:00

Model a parking lot -- import an image to trace, rotate andscale image, model elements using Floors,edit topography of "floors", load and place parkingcomponents. Review of material takeoff schedules.

Please download this image for tracing:

For Monday, October 25, 2010

2010-10-25T12:12:00.000-04:00

Let's model a pool. That involves a topo surface, Pad, Floor, Wall, in-place model, surface pattern, custom rendering texture, a rendering, etc. We will also do a material takeoff.

Please download these files to your laptop:

For Monday, October 18, 2010

2010-10-18T08:39:00.004-04:00

Let's model a simple building, add an image in a drafting view for the wall detail, and make door and windows schedules. Please download the wall detail image for use in the project.

For Monday, October 4, 2010

2010-10-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

Framing:

How to do a framing plan from model elements

How to do it with 2D drafting -- that's using Detail Items, Filled Regions, Text, and Tags.

NESEA Green Buildings Open Houses

2010-09-29T16:18:00.000-04:00

Eric R. sent a reminder that there are many "green" buildings having open house this Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010

See http://www.nesea.org/greenbuildings/

For Monday, September 27, 2010

2010-09-27T10:23:00.000-04:00

Making views: Duplicate with detailing or without, dependent view, sections, details, RCPs, 3D sections, legends
Creating an electrical plan and an electrical legend

Self-Reporting Credit to AIA

2010-09-23T11:31:00.004-04:00

If attendees of Revit Learning Club would like to self-report credit to AIA, here is the link:
http://sparky.occe.ou.edu/ouaia/authentication/login.cfm?role=Member One can simply sign-in with one's AIA number and be directed to the form. Please be sure to use Eric Boehlke as the presenter, not the BSA.

For any questions questions on how to report one's credits, please ask Ms. Jennifer Rufo, Continuing Education and Operations Manager for the BSA, jrufo@architects.org or 617-951-1433 x239

For Monday, September 20 , 2010

2010-09-14T09:24:00.000-04:00

Let's do steel structure: Columns, Beams, Beam Systems.

For content, let's do a Face-based Family, perhaps a skylight that has a void which cuts its host.

For Monday, September 13, 2010

2010-09-09T10:58:00.000-04:00

1. Profiles and creating them, Wall Sweeps and Reveals, adding profiles and other modifications to Wall definitions
2. How to use voids in Families

Amazing Stair Pictures

2010-08-31T00:39:00.000-04:00

StairPorn is a weblog showcasing cool stairs from around the world.

Can we model stairs like those with Revit? We can try...

Search Revit User Assistance with Google

2010-08-26T13:52:00.001-04:00

I composed two new Google custom searches:
Search Revit Architecture 2011 User Assistance
http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=004015717744081354290:ys_t2lgx9yw

Search Revit Architecture 2010 User's Guide
http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=004015717744081354290:ozknhikkyi0

For Monday, August 30, 2010

2010-08-25T09:05:00.000-04:00

Build a foundation and maybe a bulkhead to get out of it.
Practice changing-out embedded Families parametrically. Example: changing leg styles under a tabletop

Let's have a nice big group. Please tell your colleagues about it.

For Monday, August 23, 2010

2010-08-20T17:10:00.000-04:00

1. Landscaping -- Make a topo surface, split the surface into different regions like driveway and sod, place plantings, make planting schedule

2. Create content using a Type Catalog. A Type Catalog is a comma-delimited text file that drives parameters of Revit Families when they are loaded into a project. If you have Microsoft Excel, that helps with Type Catalogs but it is not necessary. Please install Excel on your laptop if you can.

Goals for Monday, Aug. 9, 2010

2010-08-07T22:51:00.003-04:00

It's summertime, lets model a stoop
It's hot inside, let's model a ceiling fan (face-based)

For Monday, August 2nd, 2010

2010-07-31T09:22:00.001-04:00

Ceilings, reflected ceiling plans, ceiling-mounted light fixtures, making a coved ceiling
Shared families -- what they are and how to use them

Subjects for Monday, July 26, 2010

2010-07-22T18:32:00.000-04:00

Shared parameters -- what they are and how to use them
Make a family with a shared parameter, make a tag to show the data in that shared parameter

For Monday, July 19, 2010

2010-07-14T12:46:00.000-04:00

First Half:
Groups

Second Half:
Key Schedules / Schedule keys

Subjects for Monday, July 12, 2010

2010-07-09T12:34:00.000-04:00

Floors with slopes
Profiles
Fascias (also fascias as in-place family)
Gutters
Soffits
Drafting Views

If you can, download http://www.culturedstone.com/technical/docs/flashing/dwg/flashingdetail12b.dwg for use in our Drafting View exercise.

Theme for Monday, June 28th, 2010: Slopes

2010-06-24T11:37:00.005-04:00

Learn how to set slope units to either decimal degrees or rise/12"

Make:

a complicated roof
slope annotations in section
spot elevation dimensions
a sloped balcony
ramps

PS: No meeting on July 5th -- KI closed for Independence Day

For Monday, June 21, 2010

2010-06-17T09:07:00.003-04:00

I'd like to show printing, including sheet sets
How to make and present an interior design

Subjects for June 14th, 2010

2010-06-07T23:19:00.001-04:00

Setting-up a Revit project: Views on Sheets, Sheet List, Project Information, etc.
Grid Lines
Grid Guides on Sheets
Customizing a title block
Revisions in Revit

Some Subjects for June 7, 2010

2010-06-02T11:39:00.000-04:00

Setting True North
Sun Path Simulation – Revit Architecture 2011 enables you to simulate the path of the sun to better understand the impact of the sun in relation to your project and its surroundings. The sun path displayed in the context of your project can be directly manipulated on the screen, allowing you to control the position of the sun at any point within its range of movement. This picture shows the image of sun path simulation:
Making a sun shadow animation
Making a walk-through animation

Notes on Keynotes

2010-05-24T13:59:00.000-04:00

Some things that I'll talk about tonight.

The default Keynote file is at C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RAC 2011\Imperial Library\RevitKeynotes_Imperial.txt

The Help says "Changes made to the keynote table are not available in the current project session of Revit Architecture" but that's not true, I could just Browse for Keynote File again and the keynotes were updated.

Keynote format -- from Revit's Help:

Keynotes are defined in a tab-delimited text file. The first portion of the text file is reserved for major headings/categories (the parent values). The remainder of the file is for sub-headings/categories (the child values). A tab-delimited file requires the use of the Tab key to create spaces between data entries.

Changes made to the keynote table are not available in the current project session of Revit Architecture. Changes are available when the project is closed and reopened.

You can use Microsoft® Excel or a similar spreadsheet application to manage the data, then export it to a tab-delimited file format.

Sample Keynote Text File

CSI Main Category/Heading (parent value)

11000 [tab] Division 11 - Equipment

CSI Master format sSb-Category/Heading [tab] Sub-Category/Heading Description [tab] CSI Masterformat Main Category/Heading Value (parent value)

11060 [tab] Theater and Stage Equipment [tab] 11000

11061 [tab] Acoustical Shells [tab] 11000

For sub-categories of sub-categories

11060.A1 [tab] Counter-Weight Rigging [tab] 11060

Sample User Keynote Text File

For User Keynotes you can place them in front of the CSI structure by using the following format:

Main/Heading/Parent Category

00000 [tab] Division 00 - User Notes

Sub-Category/Heading/Child

00001 [tab] User Note 1 [tab] 00000

00002 [tab] User Note 2 [tab] 00000

For sub-categories of sub-categories

00001.A1 [tab] User Note 1a [tab] 00001

Our Venue

2010-05-23T23:29:00.015-04:00

This is our location -- KI (a furniture showroom) -- 115 Broad Street, Boston, MA. Enter under where it says "115 Broad", walk straight through the foyer on the ground floor.

I have always found parking to be easy to find nearby. The meters are active until 8pm. If you park at 6pm, you'll need 10 quarters (for two hours) to park for the rest of the night.

The lobby outside door locks at 6pm, so come around the corner to the gate on Wendell Street and knock for entrance. (The mouse cursor in the image below is indicating the gate.) http://goo.gl/maps/k4Pr for an interactive view.

For Monday, May 24, 2010

2010-05-18T15:08:00.000-04:00

I'm considering speaking about Filters in Revit. Then, Keynotes.

Video about Filters:
http://www.screencast.com/users/Duelllleud/folders/Jing/media/4ceac9d0-ec13-4660-9763-1039677921d1

Videos about Keynotes:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9119783558032135607#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzqV0qMflUw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GtirsAiSQg&feature=related

If you watch those, you'll be ahead of the game on Monday.

For May 17th , 2010

2010-05-11T14:05:00.000-04:00

How to make compelling elevations
How to make perspective views
Shadow casting
Making a rendering

Please ensure that you have Revit Architecture 2011 installed and running on your laptop. Demo mode is okay for this group.

PS: There will be no meeting on Memorial Day, Monday, May 31, 2010

For May 10th, 2010

2010-05-09T08:54:00.001-04:00

I'm thinking:

First half: Site -- topography and Pads. Import topo surface from DWG.
Second half: Schematic design with massing -- make mass, divide into levels with floors in the mass, make a gross floor area schedule with totals.

For Monday, May 3, 2010

2010-04-30T08:52:00.005-04:00

First half: Revit Stairs & Railings

Please download these two files on to your laptop, they are very useful samples:
http://www.truevis.com/training/files/Railing Samples.rvt
hhttp://www.truevis.com/training/files/Stair Samples.rvt

Also download this, it's a Stair crib sheet that shows what the parameters do:
http://davidddriver.com/Product/Freebies/Revit/Stairs_crib_sheet.pdf

Second half: Revit Phases

If you want to study beforehand, here are some descriptions of Phases in Revit:
http://revitclinic.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/time-to-phase.html
http://www.revitzone.com/revit-fundamentals/62-phases-an-overview-of-revit-phases

Revit Architecture 2011 User's Guide

2010-04-26T23:10:00.001-04:00

This book covers many of the aspects of Revit:

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/revit_architecture_2011_user_guide_en.pdf

Going through it will help almost any Revit user. It's a mere 1836 pages!

Revit Architecture 2011 Video Tutorials

2010-04-26T10:38:00.001-04:00

Here are about 22 video tutorials put out by Autodesk for Revit 2011:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=14844953&linkID=9243097