October 27, 2016

Revit Construction Sequencing: Task Name with View Filters

A Revit model can be organized for export according to the sequence of construction. This sequence for assembly can be appended and assembled in the proper order in Navisworks Timeliner. This makes the Navisworks project scheduler’s task much easier regarding co-ordination of effort.

Since Revit lets you use custom shared parameters, such as “Task Name,” you can assign a construction sequence to Revit Categories and Parts. It also lets you apply View Filters (color overrides), allowing you to color code them according to task. Since View Filters can be turned off/on in a view, you can create views to export the construction sequence. See details in the example below. The building used in the example is from a proposal for a prefabricated house as designed by Eduardo Fernando Catalano in 1945.

Once these tasks are in Navisworks, they can be assembled within the Timeliner feature, and saved out to create a simulated construction sequence.
Color coding using View Filters to visually confirm assignment to a task
Both Revit Categories and Parts can have an assigned task. Parts are sub-divisions of a Revit Category, such as the concrete pours within a floor.

Concrete pours for a Floor
The structural construction sequence can then be simulated in Navisworks.

To learn more about how to use Revit and Navisworks for construction sequencing, please watch my accompanying video to this post.

For more information on the software solutions, training, and consulting Ideate provides, please visit the Ideate Inc. website.


AEC Senior Application Specialist
Jim Cowan’s extensive AEC design industry experience, Autodesk design solutions expertise, and status as an Autodesk Certified Instructor have made him a sought after university curriculum developer, instructor, and presenter. Jim’s areas of expertise include eLearning, interoperability between solutions, and overcoming barriers to the adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Educated in Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot–Watt University and in Landscape Architecture at the University of Manitoba, Jim has special focus on sustainability issues: daylight analysis, sun studies, lighting analysis, modeling buildings, and conceptual energy modeling (models with shading devices). You can learn more from Jim on his YouTube Channel.