Empty System Panel is Missing

So, it turns out the curtain panel 'Empty System Panel' family has been missing from most of the default Revit templates since at least 2017.

This thread has tracked the problem for the last few years.

If you are not familiar with this important system family, it allows you to create curtain wall screens, (no glass between mullions) such as the one below.

However, whilst these two screen appear the same, only one of them can manipulate it's shape or attach to slope roofs. 

You see, to make things nice and confusing, there is an 'Empty Panel' loadable family available in the default library that comes with your Revit installation. However, it is a LOADABLE family, not a SYSTEM family. The system family comes with special powers that allows its shape to be manipulated. Anyone who has ever tried to attach a curtain wall with custom panels to a slope roof before, or has come across this empty panel problem, will likely have encountered this error message:

The beauty of the system Solid, Glazed & Empty panels, is they allow for this manipulation without throwing up this warning. 

Finally, being a system family, it isn't loadable, just like walls, floors, roofs and ceilings to name a few. Therefore, the only way to get this into your project should you need it, is to copy and paste a curtain wall that uses the empty system panel family into your project. For some, this may not be so easy if you don't have a copy of a pre 2017 template lying around.

I by chance had one on file and have saved this to a blank template which now lives in one of my cloud storage drives so I will ALWAYS have it on hand if when I need it. 

Hopefully Autodesk take my problem report I logged today seriously enough to fix the next release template. 

The Big Update - A List of Updates from Revit 2016 to Revit 2019

Are you using an older version of Revit? Perhaps you are using a version going all the way back to Revit 2015 or Revit 2016? The question I have been asked numerous times over the last month is, why should we upgrade?
The release of Revit 2019 last month is well worth consideration and the argument to upgrade from older versions of Revit, in my opinion, just got a lot stronger. 

This decision also needs to be weighed against signing up for a subscription licence. Autodesk hasn't been doing so well introducing subscription to it's business model. There are endless discussions in the forums and unhappy customers. The ever increasing cost of licences has made it a hard (& bitter) pill to swallow. That together with the long and well documented history of Autodesk's fairly slow development in general, has left many people happy to settle on there final perpetual licences of 2016 / 2017. (The new "Collections" don't help either).

There has been some improvement though, more transparency from the development team and since the Revit Ideas kicked off, more interaction with customers about what we want in the software. The Revit Blog also posts a roadmap, to let you know where development is heading.
So I think, for many offices, Revit 2019 may be worth a closer look in considering a possible upgrade as I believe the list of enhancements and day to day productivity gains since Revit 2016 to the now current Revit 2019, is too many to be ignored.

I have had to go back to using Revit 2016 for a number of months now in one of my jobs. I still use Revit 2018/19 regularly so going backwards so many versions has really made it obvious to me some of the updates and performance improvements I have taken for granted.

Out of interest, I decided to compile a list of all the note worthy Architectural & multi-discipline updates & enhancements to Revit since the 2016 "Release 2" update that was only available to subscription customers at the time. 

I enjoyed compiling this list, it was a good refresh and reminded me of a few minor updates that I had forgotten about myself.  

This turned out to be a lengthy post, so in an effort to keep it as concise as possible, I have simply listed the change/enhancement and only in some cases a short explanation. If you need more info on the update as well as a list of all minor, MEP & structural updates, I have provided all the links to the "What's New" articles as well as links to my past posts on new features. 

What's New in Revit 2016 - Release 2 

Detailed explanation of the R2 updates by the Revit Cat

• Global parameters
• Cancel print / export jobs (rather than previously only being able to cancel one sheet at a time)
• Family editor - Visibility preview
• Family editor - Filter voids & solids
• Revit Links - Unload 'for me' option allows you to unload a link without effecting others when syncing
• Worksharing - When detaching models, "_detached" is now appended to the file name instead of just a blank file name
• Underlay - New properties and terminology has been created in the properties to make it more clear of the underlay conditions
• Filters Dialog - Now listed alphabetically and sorted in a tree structure for rule-based and selection-based filters
• Reference plane names can now be added directly in the model area
• Perspective views - More tools becoming accessible while in perspective views
• Wall joins can be nominated in the options bar prior to placing walls
• Railings "preview" option added
• Rendering - Autodesk introduces "Raytracer" a faster rendering method than the old Mental Ray. This now moves towards CPU rendering instead of previous GPU rendering. 
• Energy Analysis tools improved & expanded
• PDF Links - When you create a combined PDF in Revit, the references in PDF's create live links to the corresponding sheets

Noted Performance Improvements:

• Occlusion culling / Draw visible elements only - Best in 3D views
• Colour fills now completed as background process

What's New in Revit 2017 

Important Upgrade Information

My previous post on the Revit 2017 release.

My previous post on the Revit 2017 text issues.

Detailed post by Revit OpEd 

• Text editor & Text measurement - This was a big update. I wrote several posts following the 2017 release and they are well worth a read as there were many issues at the time relating to text measurement in particular.  
• Depth Cueing - New graphic display option for elevations & sections
• Rendering - Raytracer becomes the only method of rendering
• Schedules - Combined parameters & full view templates for schedules
• Family editor - Calculated values in annotation tags
• Family editor - Sub categories for reference planes
• Reference plane category for filters added
• Keynote Legends - Only shows keynotes visible in the view
• Global parameters - Further enhancements after the 2016 R2 release.
• Hosted railings on components - Ability to host railings on faces of floors, slab edges, walls or roofs
• Dynamo - Now included as part of the Revit application install
• Worksharing - With the new inclusion of *'Collaboration for Revit' (C4R) the method to enable worksharing has changed. You now need to click the 'Collaborate' button on the collaborate ribbon. More info here. 

Noted Performance Improvements:

• Display of walls - Revit now regenerates walls only for those visible in the drawing area. If a wall is very small, it displays as simplified lines allowing for faster navigation. 

*Note: As of Revit 2019, C4R is now replaced with BIM 360 Design

What's New in Revit 2017.1

• Dynamo Player - Run dynamo scripts from the dialog in lieu of opening the application
• Model in perspective views - More Modify commands available
• Repair Central Model - New tools to attempt to fix corrupt central models

Noted Performance Improvements:

• Support for 4K monitors
• Model in perspective views

What's New in Revit 2017.2

Minor fixes, nothing major in my opinion. See the 2017 article. 

What's New in Revit 2018

My previous post on the Revit 2018 release.

• New File tab - This replaces the application menu button (a.k.a "the big R")
• Railings host to topographic surface (fantastic feature)
• Multi storey stairs - Multistory stairs automatically adjust if level heights change (Stairs by sketch no longer available)
• Schedule model groups & RVT links
• Add parameters to model groups, RVT links and schedules - You can now create custom project parameters for these new categories. 
• Coordination Models - Ability to link Navisworks models into Revit for coordination as an underlay
• Railings & Type Properties - Dialog improved to allow access directly to top rail and handrail properties
• Worksharing Monitor & Transmit a Model addins now installed with Revit 2018
• Project Sub-categories for reference planes
• Parameter tooltips expanded throughout the interface
• Symbols in text notes now available
• Print command added to the quick access toolbar
• Labels now use rich text formatting, consistent with text notes 
• FormIt Converter - Improvements in the FormIt converter all transfer of materials into Revit

Revit 2018.1

• Browser organisation for schedules - Ability to sort the schedules list in the project browser, similar to views and sheets. (Still can't do this for legends)
• Dynamo Player Upgrade - Dynamo player now supports running scripts with inputs. 
• Railings re-hosted - The sketch of Re-hosted railings will now appear on the new host

Noted Performance Improvements:

• Updated graphics & hardware options - This includes a new Hardware tab.

Revit 2018.2

• Expand/Collapse Project Browser via new right-click commands
• Fill Patterns dialog - The dialog has been improved including a new search feature and ability re-scale imported patterns. 
• Section Box shape controls - Functionality has been improved to make selection of shape handles more reliable, resulting in less miss-clicks (of geometry behind)
• Family loading - Revit remembers the last folder from which you loaded families during the current session. 
• Family editor - Column widths in the family types dialog are now maintained in the current session. 

Revit 2018.3

• Mainly fixes of reported issues and the introduction of Revit Cloud Worksharing (formerly Collaboration for Revit)

What's New in Revit 2019

My previous post on the Revit 2019 release.

• Tabbed views - Faster and easier navigation of multiple windows over single and dual file use
• Multi-monitor support - Many offices run dual monitors, now the primary software in your office can maximise this investment.
• Levels in 3D views (grids still not available in 3D views unfortunately)
• OR in filters - More complex and flexible filtering rules can now be created
• Uncropped perspective view - Allows you to work in full screen perspective views
• Scope boxes can be applied in 3D views
• Double fill patterns - You can now combine drafting and model hatch patterns. This change has been pushed through-out the Revit interface including the materials browser. 
• Renaming level for corresponding views - This dialog box can now be turned off (Finally!!!)
• Delete level warning dialog - If you attempted it, deleting levels was very time consuming. This simple dialog makes life much easier and deleting levels can now be done a little more confidently with a full list of effected elements. 
• Slow double click to rename views available
• Railings can be split outside of sketch mode
• Software version of files now visible in Open dialog
• Dimensions for curved objects in section views (perpendicular) now available
• Materials & Physical assets - The improvement to the physcial assets in Revit will see your render quality get an upgrade courtesy of the factory. Enscape have also been quick to update their software to take advantage of these new materials. 

It's a long list isn't it!? Sadly, many would still not be impressed. This is always going to come down to how everyone uses Revit differently. 
One item of development that is typically overlooked though is performance. Whilst there are key performance updates that are noted above, it is the performance updates "under the hood", that have also had an impact in ensuring models remain speedy as the software improves (and hardware) improves. 

As I always say though, participate in the Revit Ideas forum and Autodesk Feedback Community if you want to have a say!

Revit 'Course Detail Level' for Structural Components

Something that can often catch new users out is the structural steel components in the default Revit library. 

There are so many visibility options in Revit, but when it comes to families, aside from the typical project visibility issues, often the settings in the family itself are overlooked. 

If we take the above example using the structural steel components, most of these families have been built with the course detail tick box turned off under 'family element visibility settings'. 

The families will instead display thick lines at this detail level. If you have ever seen structural engineering sections, you will notice this display. 

Personally, for my Architectural drawings, I have never had a need for either of these settings but I know structural engineers use them all the time. I have simply made a copy of this library content and modified each of the families for use in our projects. 

Tip! Something else to be mindful of with the structural families, particularly the SHS or RHS members. These components have 2 extrusions within the family.
You will notice one extrusion with filleted edges (this is on fine detail level) and another extrusion in the same place with a hard edge, (this is on the medium detail level). Occasionally I find this causes issues with dimensions or using the measure tool as Revit can't find the face in fine detail level. Changing to medium detail level always fixes the problem as you can now find the 'edge' of the element. Something to keep in mind for next time!

Revit Convert Lines Greyed Out

I had something unusual happen to me today. I was working in a family and wanted to convert some model lines to symbolic lines. The problem was, the 'convert lines' button was greyed out, so Revit wouldn't allow me to convert the lines. (I couldn't get it to grey out again though, more below, but this is the button I am referring too).

After a bit of head scratching, I realised it was simply because Revit wasn't detecting a work plane to drop the line onto once converted. 

In writing this blog, I thought I would try and replicate the issue in a new family...except, I couldn't.
I tried removing reference plane names, deleting previous work planes and I even successfully got the Revit workplane to report <not associated>, yet I couldn't get the 'Convert Lines' button to grey out again. Weird. 

If I work out a way, or find something on the forums I will update the post, but for now it seems like one of those rare events. At least now I know what the fix is.

 

My Revit Ideas

*Updated 8th October, 2017
In my last post I spoke about the black hole that is becoming of the Revit Ideas Forum. Whilst I was a bit critical of things, I do think it is a great way for users to have a say and also to learn about what others think is important. 

I have posted a few ideas myself, some popular, others less so. I was starting to lose track of them, so I decided to keep a live list of my own ideas here in this post together with there status. I will update the list when/if I post new ideas. I encourage you to vote for ideas in the forum (as well as my own of course), if you think they are something you would like to see implemented in the future. You can even leave a comment if you having something to add or post your own idea! (Just do a good search before posting!)


In no particular order, my ideas so far...
Red = Under Review (Fingers crossed!)
Magenta = Implemented (Woo! See latest release)
Green = Accepted (It's coming...eventually, see the *latest Autodesk Roadmap)
Blue = Future Consideration (In other words, don't hold your breath)
Grey = Archived (Your idea was either a: unpopular and few people though it was a priority at this time or b: Lost in the black hole of 3000+ other ideas and hence, not voted for c: Autodesk have reviewed the idea and decided it is not worth marking as a future consideration)

• Measure in 3D Tool (Similar to SketchUp or FormIt)
• Schedule Material 'Mark' Parameter in Lieu of Material Name
• Doors to Report Walls They Are In
• Temporary Unisolate / Unhide
• 'Edit' Symbol for Material Editor (in lieu of hidden 3 dots)
• Selection Toggle for Design Options (To Replace 'Exclude Options' Tick Box)
• Sun Path Diagram Automatically Update When Changing Orientation
• Clean Up the Revit Ideas Forum
• Insight 360 Web Interface - Show Compass on the View Cube
• Insight 360 Web Interface - Heating & Cooling Loads Visualization Sticky
• Insight 360 Web Interface - GBS Interface Stop Scrolling Back Up
• Dimension Walls When 'Wrapping at ends' is Active (Limitation)
• *Filled Regions - Instance Parameters for Opaque/Transparent Setting
• *'Recent List' for Linestyles (Similar to walls)
• 'Search' Function for View Reference Tool
• Include Underlay Settings in 'Temporary View Properties' Mode
• *New Project Parameters Not Included in View Templates
• Families - Cuttable vs Non-Cuttable
• View Range for Ceilings
• Warnings Dialog Box Overhaul
• 'Create Similar' for Symbolic & Model Lines (in families)
• View Name Bold Under Sheet Names (when activated)
• Area Scheme displayed in Area Schedules
• 'Place an Image' Button (for previously loaded images)

Revit Ideas Forum - 12 Months Later...

In May of last year Autodesk announced at the then Revit Technology Conference (now known as BiLT) the new Revit Ideas Station. A short time later I mentioned and collated some of the top ideas at the time.

So, 12 months later, how is it all going? Well, ideas have been coming in thick and fast. In fact, there have been so many ideas, Autodesk seem to be struggling to maintain the forum. I started getting so annoyed by repetitive ideas myself, I even wrote an idea about the idea forum! You can see it here. Repetitive ideas due to the lack of searching before posting & the lack of filtering tools are some of my biggest gripes. Then there are the ideas that are actually just complaints. Many users shared my feelings, with the "idea" gathering over a 100 votes in less than 2 months plus a healthy discussion on what can be done to try and improve it. (I realise that some of these problems are out of Autodesks control such as users posting repeat ideas but providing a tool set to manage them IS in their control). 

One positive I have seen come out of the idea and subsequent discussion is a significant jump in the number of ideas being marked 'archived' and repeat ideas being combined. (Autodesk have told us the 'report' icon under the idea, can be used to help them with this and to provide a link to duplicate ideas when reporting). 

One of the other problems with the forum is ideas simply getting lost. I blame the extremely vague filter category of "Gathering Support" for this one. How do I know they are lost and not just a bad idea? Repeat ideas. You see what happens is, an idea pops up, it get's 20+ votes in a few weeks, yet search for the duplicate idea written months earlier and it only has half a dozen votes. The problem is now, they have been relegated to somewhere between page 5 and page 144. What's that saying about the second page of a google search result??

At the time of writing, there were 162 pages or almost 3000+ ideas. That's about 250+ ideas per month!! How are you supposed to see this many ideas, let alone vote for them without good filtering tools? Well you can't and considering this isn't Autodesk's first ideas forum for one of their software applications, I am surprised they didn't come up with something better. Although, admittedly, the number of ideas in the other forums is, in most cases, less than 500. So maybe the popularity of the station was underestimated?

My latest thoughts on improving the idea station is to have the ability to filter or categorise ideas by tool, instead of the vague tagging categories of 'User Interface' or 'Multi-discipline'. 
For example, let's say you had an idea about design options. You would go to the forum and select or search from a list of tools in Revit. You would find and see only the ideas relating to 'Design Options'. Furthermore, they could be filtered by discipline, vote count, status, date, author, etc. If you can't find what you are looking for, write an idea and categorise it accordingly. This may even help Autodesk see what the discussion is around a particular tool set. 

"There are a lot of tools in Revit" I hear you say? Yes there are, but here is some food for thought... In another 12 months, assuming some slow down of ideas pouring in, there will be well over 5000+ ideas. Good luck sifting through all of them...

Lots of Revit Schedules - Managing Your Model Data

Schedules aren’t just there for documentation purposes. They can be a great tool in managing your model data and components.

Take a basic room schedule for example; even though a room schedule may not form part of your typical documentation set, they are the best way to quickly identify rooms ‘not enclosed’ or ‘not placed’. When you delete a room from the project, doing so from the model environment prompts the following warning…

‘A room was deleted from all model views but still remains in this project. The room can be removed from any schedule or placed back in the model using the Room command’.

Use the delete row button in the schedule ribbon to completely remove the room from the project.

Another example of a must have schedule in your project is a ‘View List’ schedule. Large projects can have hundreds if not thousands of views to manage. Ensuring all the right data is in place through the properties panel of each view is a tedious way to manage so many views. A view list schedule will give you a global look at the parameters related to all your views in the project. View templates can expedite much of this data entry. 

When it comes to sorting your schedules, there isn't much choice. Naming convention is the only option really. You can't custom sort schedules in the project browser the same way you can for views. We all wish we could! It has made its way to the Autodesk Idea forum HERE, but in the meantime I typically prefix schedules created solely for data management with '_Manage'. This keeps them together and clearly identifies there purpose to other users.

I make 'working views' of most schedules. This allows me to place instruction for users to help with data entry and I format a number of columns to make it clear where data is needed. All working schedule headings are shaded yellow for easy identification whilst in the schedule.

Another advantage of separate working schedules is the issue with text wrapping. Only when a schedule is placed on a sheet does text wrapping occur. The schedule itself, does not text wrap. A few releases back, Autodesk made a change that meant the column width adjusted in the schedule, matched the column width on the sheet. The downside to this is narrow columns adjusted on the sheet, makes the column difficult to read in the schedule view, because there is no text wrapping. Staff would adjust columns to work in the view ruining the formatting of the schedule on sheets.

Hopefully one day schedules will be viewed as 'what you see is what you get'. 

Don't limit your use of schedules to just what you need for project output, use them for model management as well, it will save you a whole heap of time. Combine this with Dynamo or addins such as Ideate BIM Link and you have some very powerful tools for controlling data.  

The Rewind Navigation Tool in Revit

I was reminded of the 'rewind' tool today and with it, learnt something new!

We all navigate 3D models and camera views often throughout the day. One thing that has always caught me out is accidentally orbiting a camera view, forgetting that I would not be able to get back to the view angle I began with...at least I thought. Cue the rewind tool!

The rewind tool allows you to retrieve previous views from the navigation history that is retained for each view opened. The tool saves thumbnails of previous views states as you navigate within the view. 

Where can you find the rewind navigation tool? There are a couple of methods. The first is to look for your Navigation Bar in your model view. It typically docks just below the view cube.

If you cannot see it, ensure you have it turned on via the User Interface button on the View Ribbon.

You can also activate the Navigation Wheel via the built-in shortcut SHIFT+W.

To 'rewind', just hold down the rewind button on the navigation wheel and drag your cursor to the left or right to return your view back to the desired location! Easy!  

Always a good day learning something new!

It is also worth mentioning, you can always lock your 3D views using the 'Save orientation & lock view' via the visual control bar...

Deleting "Built-in" Dimensions in Families

When you start a new family template in Revit, you may find preset dimensions. 

For example, if you open the door template (Metric Door.rft), we are presented with a 'Width' dimension & a 'Frame Projection Ext' dimension in the 'Ref.Level view. 

What you may have also discovered is while you can delete the 'Frame Projection Ext' dimension, you can't delete the 'Width' dimension. At least that's what it seems at first...

If we take a closer look at the parameters, we discover that out of the factory, the 'Width' parameter is marked as a 'Built-in parameter' where-as the 'Frame Project Ext' is not. 

Width Parameter is "Built-in" & cannot be edited.

Frame Projection Ext. Parameter can be edited.

I don't know the reason why the factory does this, but the good news is, there is a way to delete this dimension so you can apply it elsewhere, and here is how.

Instead of selecting the dimension in the traditional method, tab to select the dimension line instead. It is the same method as deleting a dimension from a string of dimensions. The tab method will highlight the line the dimension sits on. Click this and now hit delete.

Revit 'Purge' Dialog Needs Updating

Autodesk have in recent releases started attending to dialog boxes in Revit, to allow us to adjust the sizes dialog sizes. Distinctive dots in the lower right corner of the dialog indicates it is resizable. The warnings dialog is another example of a dialog box that is currently not resizable. 

The purge dialog is yet to get this treatment, but something I haven't noticed before is when you slide over to see the full type name, it's cut off, completely. The graphics don't refresh and we can't scroll to the side anymore. 

Time for an update me thinks!?  

Revit Masking Regions in Model Families

I was messing around with a model family a colleague downloaded today. We were having problems with visibility of elements. I needed a refresh on masking regions and so I dug up a familiar article and good explanation from the Autodesk Knowledge Network titled 'About Masking Regions in Model Families'. It gives 3 examples on how to control where masking regions are drawn in model families using the 'Draw in Foreground' parameter.

You can find the link here. 

Image: Autodesk Knowledge Network

Installing Revit 2017, Service Packs & Insight 360

**Updated 1/02/2017
Teaching semester is going to start soon and students will be using Revit 2017. There have been a number of updates & hot fixes since 2017 was released in April last year so I thought I would consolidate what you need to do and where you need to go to get the latest.

Revit 2017

1. Visit: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/download

2. Select 'Free Education Software' 

3. Search for, download & install Revit 2017 using your student ID. 

Service Packs

There have been 2 service packs released. You will only need to install Service Pack 2 as this includes Service Pack 1 updates. 

1. Click Here to go directly to the Service Pack 2 web page. 

2. Scroll down the page and click the execution file as shown in the image below.

**So on the day this was posted Revit 2017.2 was released! Reading the release notes, 2017.2 "contains the fixes included in previous Autodesk Revit 2017 patches". Therefore, I have removed previously posted links for 2017.1 & the UK terminology hotfix now included in 2017.2. If you still require these links, visit previous posts here & here. 

Revit 2017.2

Direct download Link is HERE. This will automatically start downloading the update. 

The file is Approximately 475mb in size. 

More information on 2017.1 & 2017.2 including new features:

• Autodesk 'Inside the Factory' blog post on new features
• Release Notes - information on issues resolved
• Update Readme file

To confirm you have installed all service packs correctly, open Revit and check the version number. 

To do so, click the drop down arrow next to the help icon and select 'About Autodesk Revit 2017.2'. 

The release number should be: 20170118_1100

Insight 360 Plugin

Download the latest Insight 360 plugin HERE. For more information, visit my previous post. 

Content Libraries & Templates Missing

If after installation, you realise you are missing content libraries & default templates, visit this Autodesk Knowledge Network Link to install content. 

That's it, you're all done! 

As always, I encourage users to download Revit addins. For some recommendations visit my previous posts:

• A Few Favourite Revit Apps (Update coming soon!)
• Revit Selection Box vs Coins Auto Section Box

Dynamo

At the time of writing, the latest Dynamo update was version 1.2.1. To install the latest version visit the DynamoBIM website HERE.