Mastering Autodesk Revit 2017 for Architecture

Marcus Kim is a Senior Business Consultant with Autodesk, focusing on Enterprise adoption of Revit and BIM workflows for AEC customers. He has provided BIM services to domestic and multi–national customers around the world. Lance Kirby is a Senior AEC Business Consultant with Autodesk. He specializes in accelerating the adoption of BIM and VDC practices among owners and their supply chain of designers and contractors. Lance has helped produce everything from fast food kiosks to federal prisons. Eddy Krygiel is a Principal Business Consultant with the AEC team at Autodesk Consulting. He focuses on BIM and technology workflows for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) clients, and has handled projects from single–family residential to office, federal, civic, and aviation clients.

Introduction xxv
Part 1 • Fundamentals 1


Chapter 1 • Introduction: The Principles of BIM 3


The Fundamentals of a BIM Approach 3


The Management People Inside a BIM Project Team 4


Staffing for BIM 4


Understanding Project Roles Establishing a BIM Execution Plan 9


The Optimization of BIM Processes 10


Identifying and Planning BIM Uses 12


Gather 13


Generate 14


Analyze 15


Communicate 16


Realize 20


The Integration of Tools Inside a BIM Workflow 21


What Is Revit? 22


The Bottom Line 22


Chapter 2 • Applying the Principles of the User Interface and Project Organization 25


Understanding the User Interface 25


Accessing and Using the Application Menu 26


Using the Quick Access Toolbar 27


Using the InfoCenter 27


Getting to Know the Ribbon 28


Using Other Aspects of the UI 31


Navigation Methods 39


Defining Project Organization 41


Introducing Datum Objects 41


Using Content 53


Working with Views 55


Managing Your Project Model 70


The Bottom Line70


Chapter 3 • The Basics of the Toolbox 71


Selecting, Modifying, and Replacing Elements 71


Selecting Elements 71


Selection Options 73


Filtering Your Selection 73


Using Selection–Based Filters 74


Selecting All Instances 74


Using the Properties Palette 75


Matching Properties 76


Using the Context Menu 77


Editing Elements Interactively 78


Moving Elements 78


Copying Elements 81


Rotating and Mirroring Elements 82


Arraying Elements 84


Scaling Elements 87


Aligning Elements 87


Trimming or Extending Lines and Walls 88


Splitting Lines and Walls 89


Offsetting Lines and Walls 90


Preventing Elements from Moving 90


Exploring Other Editing Tools 93


Using the Join Geometry Tool 93


Using the Split Face and Paint Tools 93


Copying and Pasting from the Clipboard 94


Using the Create Similar Tool 96


Using Keyboard Shortcuts (Accelerators) 96


Double–click to Edit 97


Modeling Site Context 97


Using a Toposurface 98


Creating a Toposurface from a Points File 101


Creating a Building Pad 105


Generating Property Lines 107


Cut/Fill Schedules 109


The Bottom Line 111


Chapter 4 • Configuring Templates and Standards 113


Introducing Project Templates 113


Customizing Project Settings for Graphic Quality 114


Discovering Object Styles 115


Using Line Settings 117


Defining Materials 121


Defining Fill Patterns 130


Preconfiguring Color Schemes 136


Increasing Efficient View Management 138


Organizing Views 138


Creating and Assigning Filters 141


Using View Templates 144


Creating Custom Annotations 147


Introducing Tag Family Fundamentals 148


Creating a Custom Door Tag 149


Customizing View Tags 151


Starting a Project with a Custom Template 156


Strategies for Managing Templates 157


Aggregating Template Data 157


The Bottom Line 161


Part 2 • Collaboration and Teamwork 163


Chapter 5 • Working in a Team 165


Understanding Worksharing Basics 165


Enabling Worksharing on Your Project 167


Types of Worksets 169


Creating a Central File 169


Selecting a Starting View 172


Creating a Local File 173


Using Worksharing Usernames 175


Organizing Worksets 177


Moving Elements between Worksets 179


Managing Workflow with Worksets 182


Saving Work 184


Saving at Intervals 186


Loading Work from Other Team Members 186


Using Worksharing Visualization 187


Managing Workset Visibility in View Templates 189


Closing Revit 190


Disabling Worksharing 191


Understanding Element Ownership in Worksets 192


Understanding Editing Requests 193


Placing an Editing Request 194


Granting an Editing Request 196


Relinquishing Permission 197


Using the Worksharing Monitor 197


Collaborating in the Cloud 198


A360 Collaboration for Revit 199


The Bottom Line 199


Chapter 6 • Working with Consultants 201


Preparing for Collaboration 201


Managing the Coordination Process 202


Using Linked Models in Revit 206


Shared Positioning 207


Using Project Base Point and Survey Point 210


Using Worksets to Organize Linked Models 216


Summarizing the Benefi ts and Limitations of Linked Models 217


Using Linked Models—Exercises 218


Using the Coordination Tools 221


Using the Copy/Monitor Command 222


Using the Copy/Monitor Command—An Exercise 225


Using the Coordination Review Tool 227


Using the Coordination Review Tool—An Exercise 229


Using Interference Checking in 3D Coordination 230


The Bottom Line 234


Chapter 7 • Interoperability: Working Multiplatform 235


Examining Interoperability on a BIM Curve 235


Inserting CAD Data 236


Using Predefined Settings for Inserted CAD Data 236


Importing versus Linking 238


Using Options during Importing/Linking 239


Manipulating Inserted CAD Data 240


Using Inserted 2D Data 244


Setting Options for BIM Conversion 244


Using CAD Data for Coordination 245


Linking Details 246


Using Inserted 3D Data 248


Using CAD Data as a Mass 248


Using CAD Data as a Face 250


Using CAD Data as an Object 253


Exporting CAD Data 255


Preparing a List of Views for Exporting 256


Settings for DWG Exports 258


Exporting 2D CAD Data 263


Exporting 3D Model Data 265


Exporting to SketchUp 265


Using IFC Interoperability 268


The Bottom Line 275


Part 3 • Modeling and Massing for Design 277


Chapter 8 • Advanced Modeling and Massing 279


The Massing User Interface and Functionality 279


Creating Mass Geometry 282


Creating an In–Place Mass 283


Placing a Mass 288


Creating Mass Floors 289


Scheduling Masses 290


Massing Surfaces 292


Using Free–form Building Massing 297


Dissolving and Rebuilding 303


Creating Formula–Driven Massing 310


Creating a Generic Model Mass Family 310


Creating a Complex Mass Family 322


The Bottom Line 330


Chapter 9 • Conceptual Design and Design Analysis 331


Analysis for Sustainability 331


Creating a Conceptual Mass 332


Modeling an Adaptive Component 333


Building the Massing Framework 341


Energy Modeling 347


Conceptual Energy Analysis 349


Energy Analysis Setup349


Running Energy Analysis Simulations 355


Detailed Energy Modeling 359


Exporting to gbXML 360


The Bottom Line 366


Chapter 10 • Working with Phasing, Groups, and Design Options 367


Using Phasing 367


What Can You Phase? 369


Implementing Phase Settings 371


Illustrating the Geometry Phase 376


Using the View Phase 379


Creating and Using Groups 384


Creating Groups 385


Modifying Groups 387


Creating New Groups 388


Excluding Elements within Groups 390


Saving and Loading Groups 392


Creating Groups from Links 394


Using Best Practices for Groups 396


Making Design Options for Design Iteration 397


Creating Design Options 398


Editing Design Options 400


Viewing and Scheduling Design Options 401


Removing Design Options and Option Sets 402


Combining Phasing, Groups, and Design Options 405


Phase 1: Demolition 406


Phase 1: Proposed 408


Phase 2: Demolition 409


Phase 2: Proposed 411


Scheduling 412


Using the Design Option Tool 415


The Bottom Line 418


Chapter 11 • Visualization 419


Explaining the Role of Visualization 419


Understanding View Controls 420


Setting the Detail Level 421


Working with Graphic Display Options 422


Working with the Section Box 434


Understanding Analytic Visualization 436


Project Parameters 436


Setting User–Defined Parameters 440


Identifying Design Elements 443


Setting Solar and Shadow Studies 444


Understanding Photorealistic Visualization 446


Rendering Sequence and Workflow 446


Creating Perspective Views 447


Locking Your View 450


Creating a Walkthrough 451


Exporting a Walkthrough 454


Rendering Settings 456


Using Monochromatic Views to Examine Context and Lighting 459


Adjusting Lighting and Interior Renderings 463


Placing Artificial Lighting 465


Manipulating Light Groups 466


Assigning Materials 471


Rendering in the Cloud 472


The Bottom Line 474


Part 4 • Extended Modeling Techniques 475


Chapter 12 • Creating Walls and Curtain Walls 477


Using Extended Modeling Techniques for Basic Walls 477


Creating Basic Wall Types 477


Adding Wall Articulation 487


Modeling Techniques for Basic Walls 495


Creating Custom In–Place Walls 502


Creating Stacked Walls 503


Creating Simple Curtain Walls 506


Designing a Curtain Wall 508


Customizing Curtain Wall Types 517


Creating Complex Curtain Walls 522


Dividing the Surface 523


Dividing the Surface with Intersects 525


Applying Patterns 526


Editing the Pattern Surface 527


Editing a Surface Representation 528


Adding Definition 529


Creating Custom Patterns 538


Limiting the Size of Pattern–Based Families 539


Using the Adaptive Component Family 541


Scheduling Pattern–Based Panels 543


The Bottom Line 544


Chapter 13 • Modeling Floors, Ceilings, and Roofs 547


Understanding Floor Types 547


Modeling a Floor 547


Creating a Structural Floor 550


Modeling Floor by Face 554


Defining a Pad 554


Sketching for Floors, Ceilings, and Roofs 555


Modeling Slab Edges 555


Creating a Custom Floor Edge 557


Modeling Floor Finishes 560


Using a Split Face for Thin Finishes 560


Modeling Thick Finishes 561


Creating Ceilings 563


Understanding Roof Modeling Methods 564


Constructing a Roof by Footprint 566


Applying a Roof by Extrusion 570


Roof In–place 571


Creating a Roof by Face 572


Creating a Sloped Glazing572


Using Slope Arrows 573


Using Additional Roof Tools 574


Using Advanced Shape Editing with Floors and Roofs 577


Creating a Roof with a Sloped Topping 578


Applying a Variable Thickness to a Roof Layer 579


The Bottom Line 580


Chapter 14 • Designing with the Family Editor 583


Getting Started with a Family 583


Understanding In–place Families 584


Choosing the Right Family Template and Category 585


Choosing between Hosted and Nonhosted Family Types 588


Creating Other Types of Families in the Family Editor 589


Understanding the Family Editor 591


Developing the Framework for a Family Component 593


Creating the Necessary Reference Planes, Lines, and Points 593


Using Dimensions to Control Geometric Parameters 598


Reviewing the Differences between Type and Instance Parameters 602


Organizing Solids and Lines in a Family Editor 606


Modeling Techniques in the Family Editor 610


Creating an Extrusion 610


Creating a Sweep 612


Creating a Revolve 617


Creating a Blend and Swept Blend 618


Nesting Families 621


Troubleshooting Techniques 624


Doing a Visibility Check 624


Applying Parametric Arrays and Family Type Parameters 625


The Bottom Line 628


Chapter 15 • Creating Stairs and Railings 631


Designing Stairs and Railings 631


Reviewing the Key Components of Stairs and Railings 633


Reviewing the Basic Rules of Stairs 633


Working with Stair Components 635


Reviewing the Components of Railings 635


Creating Stairs 643


Understanding the Stair Tools 643


Using the Components for Customizing Stairs 649


Creating Stairs with Other Tools 663


Annotating Stairs 665


Creating Railings 667


Creating a Custom Railing 669


Creating Glass Railings with the Curtain Wall Tool 674


Using the Railing Tool for Other Objects 675


The Bottom Line 679


Part 5 • Documentation 681


Chapter 16 • Detailing Your Design 683


Creating Details 683


View Types for Detailing 683


Working with the Detailing Process 686


Detailing Tools 687


Using the Detail Line Tool 687


Using the Linework Tool 688


Using Filled Regions and Masking Regions 690


Adding Detail Components 695


Repeating Detail Component 699


Using Line–Based Detail Components 702


Drafting Insulation 703


Creating Detail Groups 704


Adding Detail Components to Families 705


Reusing Details from Other Files 708


Using CAD Details 708


Using Details from Other Revit Projects 709


The Bottom Line 713


Chapter 17 • Documenting Your Design 715


Documenting Plans 715


Calculating Space Using Room Objects 715


Creating Area Plans 718


Adding Area Objects 722


Modifying Area Plans 725


Creating Schedules and Legends 726


Creating Schedules 727


Using Legends 738


Laying Out Sheets 739


Adding the Area Plan 740


Activating a View 740


Using Guide Grids 742


Adding the Schedule 743


Finishing the Sheet 745


The Bottom Line746


Chapter 18 • Annotating Your Design 747


Annotating with Text and Keynotes 747


Using Text 748


Using Keynotes 752


Annotating with Tags 764


Inserting Tags 764


Using the Tag Toolset 766


Adding Dimensions 769


Using Dimension Equality 772


Customizing Dimension Text 772


Editing Dimension Strings 775


Using Alternate Units776


Annotating with Project and Shared Parameters 778


Creating Project Parameters 778


Creating Shared Parameters 782


The Bottom Line 790


Part 6 • Construction and Beyond 791


Chapter 19 • Working in the Construction Phase 793


Using Revisions in Your Project 793


Creating a Revision Cloud 793


Placing Revision Clouds 797


Tagging a Revision Cloud 798


Disabling the Leader 799


Using Digital Markups 799


Publishing to Design Review 800


Modeling for Construction 805


Creating Parts 806


Modifying Parts 807


Scheduling Parts 814


Creating Assemblies 815


Creating Assembly Views 816


The Bottom Line 818


Chapter 20 • Presenting Your Design 819


Understanding Color Fill Legends 819


Making a Color Fill Legend for Rooms 820


Customizing a Color Fill Legend 824


Modifying Other Settings 826


Using Numerical Ranges for Color Schemes 827


Presenting with 3D Views 830


Orienting to Other Views 830


Annotating 3D Views 833


Editing Viewport Types 834


Creating “Exploded” Axonometric Views 835


The Bottom Line 841


Chapter 21 • Computational Design with Dynamo 843


Getting Started with Dynamo 843


Downloading Dynamo 844


Installation 844


Opening Dynamo 845


Understanding the Dynamo UI 846


Connecting Nodes Makes Data Flow 848


Node Structure 848


Using Nodes 849


Organizing a Definition 851


Using Visual Programming 852


Additional Dynamo Tools 856


Code Blocks 856


Managing Data 857


Geometric Manipulation and Analysis 860


Revit to Dynamo to Revit 862


Category, Type, and Element Selections 862


Interoperability 864


Package Manager 865


Additional Resources 866


The Bottom Line 866


Part 7 • Appendixes 869


Appendix A • The Bottom Line 871


Chapter 1: Introduction: The Principles of BIM 871


Chapter 2: Applying the Principles of the User Interface and Project Organization 871


Chapter 3: The Basics of the Toolbox 872


Chapter 4: Confi guring Templates and Standards 873


Chapter 5: Working in a Team 874


Chapter 6: Working with Consultants 875


Chapter 7: Interoperability: Working Multiplatform 876


Chapter 8: Advanced Modeling and Massing 877


Chapter 9: Conceptual Design and Design Analysis 878


Chapter 10: Working with Phasing, Groups, and Design Options 879


Chapter 11: Visualization 880


Chapter 12: Creating Walls and Curtain Walls 881


Chapter 13: Modeling Floors, Ceilings, and Roofs 882


Chapter 14: Designing with the Family Editor 883


Chapter 15: Creating Stairs and Railings 884


Chapter 16: Detailing Your Design 885


Chapter 17: Documenting Your Design 886


Chapter 18: Annotating Your Design 887


Chapter 19: Working in the Construction Phase 888


Chapter 20: Presenting Your Design 889


Chapter 21: Computational Design with Dynamo 890


Appendix B • Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting 893


Optimizing Performance 893


Use Best Practices 896


Quality Control 901


Keeping an Eye on File Size 901


Using Schedules 907


Reviewing Warnings 910


Other Tips and Shortcuts 912


Additional Resources 915


Appendix C • Autodesk Revit Architecture Certification 917


Index 921