Ironman Revit

Some days Revit just doesn't work for you. Then you get a reality check and are shown what can be achieved with a whole lot know-how, a LOT of hours and a significant amount of persistence!

This morning, that reality check came in the form of Ironman. You can head over to 'Revit Swat' to see how it was done. Impressive! 

Image: Courtesy Revit Swat Blog

Many of us have seen it before, but we can't talk about complex Revit modelling without referring to Marcello Sgambelluri's Revit Elephant. This thing isn't just a rigid model, oh no, its parametric! 

You can find more information about this crazy elephant at Buildz blog. You will also find a stop motion animation of it moving!

Australasian Revit Technology Conference 2015

I am going! Are you?! The Australasian Revit Technology Conference on May 14 -16. 

I can't wait, very much looking forward to this year, as last year I was only able to attend the one day in Melbourne. This year though, I am up to the Gold Coast for 3 days to absorb as much as I can about what the latest news and techniques are in Revit & Building Information Modelling. 

If you haven't registered yet, its not too late. Registrations close on May 8. The schedule has also been updated as of late last week. Quite a number of changes as a matter of fact and some repeat classes too, probably due to popularity and a lengthy waiting list. 

I'll be sure to give a report when I get back on some of my favourite sessions. 

Latest on Revit 2016

Blogs listing everything new about Revit 2016 has been much slower this year. Not sure why? Maybe because there wasn't many updates reported by Autodesk on release? 

Well, its turning out to be a 'hide and seek' affair. Steve at Revit Oped has been posting a number of blogs lately finding all sorts of hidden items not initially mentioned by Autodesk. So head on over to his blog for some of the latest...

You can find more sources of information at 'What Revit Wants'. There are even some videos here.  

Revit 2016

The release of Revit 2016 this week means information is slowly trickling in about updates, so there doesn't appear to be any comprehensive lists as yet but Autodesk does have a few items on its website here. 

Yesterday, In The Fold posted a few things here as well and Chris Price over at Revit Rants has put together a nice list too with a little more explanation. 
Before you start reading though, don't get too excited. If you upgraded to R2 (subscription only update) last year and kept to date (up to release 7 now), then you have essentially seen most of what Revit 2016 will have to offer, including site designer tools. There are a few new features but from what I have read, most of the updates have been noted as performance gains and fixes. 

On the flip-side, if you have no idea what the 'R2' updates are, then you are in for a treat with Revit 2016. Many of the updates that we saw with R2 have become daily usage tools for myself, so much so, that I don't like when I am having to use non-updated versions or 2014.  

As for the rest of us, we will have to wait and see, I will keep in touch with the usual blogs and post links as more info pops up over the next week or so. 

p.s. Autodesk's website also has a comparison between Revit & LT here.

Blogs; what I am reading.

You can't write about Revit blogs without mentioning Revit Oped by Steve Stafford. Steve's blog is infamous within the Revit community and he is a regular presenter at RTC with 'What's new' in latest releases.

It's updated regularly and the information is always educational and of great quality. If you have read some of my blogs you will have seen a few links in the past to some of his articles.

For something old, see Revit Zone by Ian Nichols. Ian writes some really good easy to read step by step blogs about Revit. I always send beginners to this website for the fundamentals section which has blogs on things like view range, levels and design options.

This brings me to something new. Last year Ian began a new site over at BIMscape where most of his new articles will appear. So if you like Revit Zone, BIMscape will also be worth keeping in touch with.

For something different I have recently started reading The Midnight Lunch by Ceilidh Higgins. It's not always about Revit and captures design in general, however Ceilidh is an interior designer and writes from a different perspective, hence why it peaked my interest.

Practical BIM by Anthony McPhee is another blog I enjoy reading. Anthony's blogs are often about discussion in practically applying BIM in the real world of design offices. His articles have sometimes caused some debate over at LinkedIn, but I think that's the point. Afterall, discussion and debate on relevant topics can breed new ideas and our approach to BIM and its use in the industry.

Other rated blogs I keep in touch with worth mentioning: In no particular order....

What Revit Wants by Luke Johnson

The BIM Jedi (Formally The Revit Jedi) by Scott Chatterton

The Revit Kid by Jeffrey Pinheiro

Revit Add-ons by Tim Grimm

The Revit Geek by Brian Mackey

Creating a Basic Window Family

I am asked often how to go about creating a basic family. I created a 2 part video last year for a colleague who was learning Revit. They wanted to know how to build a basic window family. See below for the method I use when creating this family. Over the next few months, I may expand on this example and slowly build varying complexity into the same family. 

Creating a Basic Window: Part 1 (Geometry)

Creating a Basic Window: Part 2 (Materials)

Video's created by Damien Ferlazzo.

Drawing Technologies

Revit Schedules: Grouping Headers

We can group headers in Revit schedules to create a new header above. It would look something like the image below.

Example 1

To do this, select multiple header cells > Group (from the Titles & Headers panel). This will create an empty cell above the selected cells that will allow you to type any text. Some examples can be seen below.

Group Headers

Example 2

Example 3

To remove the group header, select the cell > Ungroup (from the Titles & Headers panel).