Revit Model Groups are a wonderful thing. They allow capturing repetition in the building model, and provide a way to tag through the groups, maintaining unique instance properties of the contained elements for scheduling. Determining best practices for Revit Model Groups has been challenging and a moving target. Some old rules no longer apply. I love the fact that The Factory has been making strides in improving group functionality and stability from release to release. For instance, mirroring works very reliably in Revit today, versus 2 years ago it was verboten. Here are my first two good rules to begin with that are hard and fast (until some new feature makes them obsolete one day), and they are:
Constraints on elements will bust the group, whenever the conditions of the constraints change. My best example of this is: You cannot have walls with level-attached tops inside a group if any floors you wish to place those groups on another level that has a different floor to floor height.
Instances of Groups must be composed of identical elements. Like an AutoCAD block, if you remove an element from one, it is no longer contained in any other instances of that group. (R.I.P. April 15, 2008, with the ability to Exclude elements from an instance of a group – Hooray!) But, there’s a catch. Beware of hosted elements.
For this article, let’s focus on Rule #1.
The sneaky thing is: You may observe the behavior for walls inside groups is benign. As you may know, elements such as a wall can be given either an explicit height, or have its upper extent constrained to a level, floor or roof element, or a reference plane. Since nested elements must remain consistent in every instance of a group, those which contain walls that are top-constrained to a level, attempt to respect the resultant height of the constraint to the next adjacent level. At least the walls do not break the group if placed on levels whose floor-to-floor height varies. An override for Top extension is auto-magically placed on the new nested wall instances to keep them consistent, and no warnings are displayed. You have to be mindful of what really happened. A properties override, if you will, was assigned to the new walls during their creation. Looking at the walls from an section or elevation may not show any difference. The original constraints are still present so… can we do it?
Not So Fast! Remember this: If you attempt to change the height of your levels, you will be in a severe amount of pain. The feared warning will come up stating: “Group instances of the same type do not contain identical members.” When you are presented with the option to Fix Groups… Revit simply asks you to ungroup or make unique groups for the naughty thing we just did. Rule number 2 still applies.
Recommendation: Be cautious
So, it might be best to create groups for large room-based compositions which include walls to be designated by the level the were created for. New groups should be created for the other levels, and so on… You should ask yourself whether the walls are helping or hurting you if inside a group. I’m not saying you shouldn’t, but you should consider the consequences. Because of all this chicanery, I still recommend for cases such as demising walls, or any other conditions where walls are to be stacked one on top of the other, don’t model these per floor, and certainly don’t place them in groups. You may be better served to model them with a single-spanning wall starting on the lowest level and connected to its uppermost limit. This is easier to make changes, and accomplishes an efficiency with less geometry in the model. Think shaft walls, plumbing chases, and tenant separation walls, as these are critical to be sure they actually stack. Unless you are building a construct-ability model, don’t build it the way it will be constructed in reality, but to convey design intent. Structural engineers and contractors will probably argue with me on this one, but at least in the early stages of design, it is a far easier thing to manage the building model this way.
Got any best practices of your own that you wish to share? Feel free to add comments, or drop me a note from the contact me page.
Jason you hit the nail on the head with this statement: “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.” So true when it comes to transforming a business. Especially when adopting BIM. What a great observation, and an invaluable tool the book “Good to Great” is in our current challenging business climate. With the profession experiencing the single highest unemployment rate, and good firms closing their doors forever, there is an army of eager talent out there waiting for the right opportunity.
Revit is a disruptive technology, which makes it frightening for some, but exciting to others. Revit and the BIM workflow it fosters has the power to transform the practice of architecture, in conjunction with IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) and sustainable design. With these tools, we need to figure out as a collective industry how to go from good to great. Read on for more of Jason’s insight, which is the first in a series of drawing parallels to the lessons from this excellent book:
Revit has some embedded videos in the help system. The first time you discover these, it feels like you’ve discovered an unopened gift. As the excitement builds, you click on the link to play the video lesson. If you are on a 64 bit version of Windows, you will be caught in an endless ritualistic loop of installing the Flash plugin, clicking a link and seeing a broken image tag. It is as if one must know a secret handshake to get the videos to play. Alas, it is not your fault. You have chosen a modern, shiny new system, presumably for the access to vast quantities of RAM. It must be assumed that such an advanced user needs no access to these ‘help’ videos. Well it isn’t, and this time there’s little Autodesk can do to fix the problem, short of using some other technology to deliver the videos.
I’ve run across this problem myself, and solved it in much the same way as Harlan describes below. One of the baffling things is that 64 bit operating systems have been available for more than a few years now. You would think that a company such as Adobe would have been more on top of the move to 64 bit. Read on for the fix:
If you are running 64 bit Revit and you try to run a video from the Help files, you will notice that it doesn’t play. It will prompt you to install Adobe flash, and then the video will not run.
Currently Adobe Flash Player does not support playback in a 64 bit browser. It is possible to run it on 32 bit browsers installed on 64 bit systems, but unfortunately Revit will default to the 64 bit browser in Help. Click here for more information on Adobe’s schedule for Flash Player 64 bit support.
So, to view the videos, you can do the following:
Launch the Help menu.
Open the document with the video and select the video link.
Right click inside the dialog and select Jump to URL.
Copy the text from the Current URL dialog.
Launch 32 bit Internet Explorer and paste the contents into the address bar.
Click here to view a short video illustrating this process.
A couple of critical Hotfixes for Revit have been released today and last week. I would have posted about the first earlier, but Autodesk University as well as more frequent Twitter activity sapped all my blogging powers. Do a quick search for #AU2009 on Twitter… So, I must recharge my batteries now and prepare a series of recaps for you all in the coming days. Hold on tight.
The first fixes some issues with wall editing! Boy if that isn’t something every architect and structural engineer needs… as well as some MEP folks. You should seriously consider applying this hotfix. Thanks to Harlan for sharing.
A new Wall hotfix has been posted. This hot fix applies to Revit Architecture, Structure, and MEP and addresses a issue that causes a crash when modifying or deleting walls. Files are included to fix Update Release 2 or the Subscription Advantage Pack, so make sure you download and install the correct files. Also, make sure to go over the readme files included.
Secondly, there is a hotfix that only applies to those who have installed the RAC (Revit Architecture) Subscription Advantage Pack. Does it repair the broken Classic Mode hack? Sadly no. But you will have control over the graphic display of Structural elements after applying this repair. Everyone else, move along, there’s nothing to see here.
A new hotfix was released today for anyone running the Revit Architecture 2010 Subscription Advantage Build # 20090925_1815. After applying the Subscription Advantage Pack for Revit Architecture 2010, the structural settings dialog is no longer accessible. The included hotfix will resolve this issue. I have included both the technical solution with additional information as well as a link to the hotfix below:
BIM and cloud computing have traditionally not been very close friends. What is interesting, is that there are companies out there innovating. There are model servers, data exchange formats, cumbersome and expensive hardware solutions that don’t really address all the issues.
Does this mean that the competition is moving ahead. Maybe, but technology leaps come in shifts, not incremental change, and the development of the BIM sharing in ArchiCAD 13 is simply a redo of a tool they already had. If you managed to click through and watch the video on Teamwork, it is less impressive than the article makes it out to be. Revit can add color to worksets as well with filtering, and while doesn’t have chat, there are already many standalone technologies for this. All of this seems really distracting to getting work done. There has to be better ways to manage a project and improve communication. It may not be the right path.
Is that a pie in the sky, or SAAS?
One possible alternate future in Autodesk Labs may be just what we all need: Project Twitch. Sure this is being touted as a way to try before you buy AutoCAD, Inventor, Maya and Revit without the ability (yet) to save and print. There is a real potential for this to become something beyond play. This is true Software as a Service (SAAS), which seems to hold the possibility of reducing many obstacles to adoption. What obstacles? Well, collaboration, as in the solution above, would be a hurdle not requiring a lot of hardware or convoluted rights management to access parts of the building, it would just work. It would remove the barriers of geographically dispersed teams, and allow better and more reactive collaboration the way Revit currently works.
SAAS when done well, can help reduce hardware and operating system upkeep and could potentially become much less of a burden on IT departments and cost-concious design firms who could use a bit of a break after the last 18 months. This would open up your favorite design tools, like Revit to any platform you wish to use such as; Windows, Mac OSx, Linux, PS3, or whatever… OK maybe not a Commodore 64, but most anything.
Again, this is just a possibility. Two things need to happen; there needs to be an increase in trust from the industry that hosted data and applications are secure and highly available, and secondly there needs to be an improvement in performance. While just a technology preview, Project Twitch is not yet ready for replacing a locally installed application that works even when the power goes out. Someday… just maybe it will. OK, stop daydreaming and get back to work.
It always fascinates me the way folks who use Revit on projects are so willing to share their work, their process and their joy with the rest of the AEC community. This project, by _Space Architecture (http://www.spacegroup.co.uk/), really shows how the whole project team benefits from using Revit as their BIM solution to the benefit of better architecture and a happier client. View the video, it’s really informative as there are interviews with the design and construction team members right down to the tradesfolk getting the work done and resolving collisions before they happen in the field.
Looking for ways to save money on training? Why not attend a short focused event that will provide high value at an affordable cost? The following topics are announced:
Nov 13 @ 10AM PST – Integrating: Revit with Ecotect – 2 hours
Nov 23 @ 10AM PST – Secrets of Revit Conceptual Massing – 2 hours
Integrating: Revit with Ecotect
Looking for ways to integrate sustainable design into your current workflow, or simply a way to work smarter? Perform analysis of building designs when it has the most potential rewards, during conceptual design. Seating is limited, so sign up today.
Topics Covered:
Using Revit conceptual models
Preparing a Revit project model
Export options for gbXML
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Optimum Ecotect import settings
Considering site and weather conditions
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Performing early daylight and thermal analysis
Iterative design and optioning
View the full course information, and sign up today at EventBrite.com
Secrets of: Revit Conceptual Massing
Revit Architecture 2010 has some very powerful conceptual design tools, but for those migrating from earlier versions of the software using these new tools can be daunting at first. If you want to understand how to create flexible, parametric building forms this class is for you. We will cover the essentials of the conceptual mass editing environment, as well as how to create sophisticated organic forms. Seating is limited, so sign up today.
Topics Covered:
The Conceptual Design environment
The Importance of building jigs
Pros and Cons of choosing a modeling method
Working with legacy massing objects
From box to organic form
Subtleties of the environment
Surface rationalization
Creating and extending panel families
Extracting data for design analysis
View the full course information, and sign up today at EventBrite.com
Other News:
Additionally, full course sample agendas are now released for Revit Architecture 2010 and Ecotect Analysis 2010. For more information visit the Training page.
The Revit Architecture production training is part of the Productivity. Fast!™ implementation system. This allows you to get up to speed quickly by combining training with a live project and applied concepts. Mentoring and project assistance is provided ‘just-in-time’ so you can get your work done and capture lessons learned. Below is this four-part system of implementation which allows an entire office, or just a single pilot project to be completed with confidence. Each of these activities is a four-day period, which may be delivered all at once, or as project and team needs require.
Essentials Course
Advanced Course
Project Mentoring and Best Practices (Checkpoint)
Project Quality Assessment (Post Evaluation)
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OK, so it’s not really a house, but perhaps a really good house wine. Every once in a while you find a very intriguing use of technology in architecture schools. Lately, the amount of good work has been not scarce. In this example, however there is evidence of biomimicry, parametric scripting, simple rendering using ambient occlusion, and using Ecotect to present sustainable analysis data in very compelling and rich ways. Bravo Andrea!
There should be a content bill of rights or something to ensure that you are receiving the best quality Revit families for use in your projects. Good content can really add value to the design and documentation process, and bad content can make working in Revit less than fun. I’ve downloaded some really unusable items and even had the unfortunate experience of watching poorly built content sail through a QA process. Why does this happen? Is it lack of training, experience, communication, or is it a result of lack of documented process and specifications?
COMMENTS WELCOME
I’m working on co-authoring a series of articles, whitepapers, or some guide that will assist in the process of finding, evaluating, and augmenting Revit families for use in your firm. Ultimately, it comes down to identifying what is most important to you, the users. I would really like this to be a conversation, to aid in the planning of this work. Please add your comments to this post, sharing your horror stories, pet peeves, or ah-ha moments as you work with Revit families.
