Revit 2017: Simplify Models with Revit Parts

I am excited to share a new workflow with you Ideate developed when a valued customer asked the following:

"What is the best workflow if I am creating a shear wall with furring on each side and need to be able to demolish the furring portion, sometimes just on one side? In addition, I want to control the height of each furring wall separately from the core.

Is my only option to create three walls? This gives me what I want to see, graphically and I can adjust the height of each wall independently, but now I have to manage three walls, which can be tedious and time consuming."

After pondering what the customer was trying to achieve, the first thing that came to my mind was “Revit Parts!"

In my opinion, Parts is an underutilized tool that can provide you more flexibility with all of the different pieces of your system family assemblies.

To dive into this new workflow, checkout my short video on how to turn your wall assembly into Parts, allowing you to demolish portions of the wall and control the height of each furring wall individually.

Thank you for reading! For more information on Revit and other Autodesk products, and information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, please visit our website.

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Emily Clark

AEC Application Specialist

Emily Clark holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Kansas State University, and has over 19 years of experience in the Architecture industry. Her experience includes working for a number of Architecture and Design/ Build firms in the Western United States. She has been a Project Designer, Intern Architect, BIM Manager and Design Technology Manager. She has contributed to the completion of projects ranging from high–end custom residential to Education and Healthcare design. She has worked with multiple platforms and her passion for BIM has enabled her to help transition firms and advance with technology. At Ideate, Emily provides training and support for Revit Architecture.

Check Your Fire Ratings with Ideate BIMLink

Did you know that Ideate BIMLink provides an abundance of additional Revit ‘related’ data that can enhance quality control processes? You may be familiar with this concept of related data, because it aligns with how Revit schedules work. Within a Revit schedule, for example, it is possible to create a schedule of Generic Model elements and also include related data about the Rooms or Spaces in which these elements are located. Within the Ideate BIMLink environment, however, a far richer list of related data is available. This opens up a wealth of possibilities for sophisticated data management. 

Look for “Select available properties from:” option found at the bottom of the “Available Properties” list within the Properties tab. For example, when editing a “Door” link you will see the drop-down option as shown in the image. 

The Door Type link with additional available properties shown

Note that Type-based links, such as a Door Type link, will have different options for the available properties. While instance data includes spatial data lists such as Level, Coordinates, Rooms, Spaces, etc., Type data will only include these (non-spatial) related data lists: Project Information and RVT Link.

The Door “instance” link with additional available properties shown

Many BIM Managers have shared with us the significance of this data to their quality control tasks and as they do so, we capture each of these workflows as a sample link definition. One such example can be found within the sample link called “Doors-Check_Rating”. This link, found in the \Architectural subfolder and shown below, highlights the use of one of these extra parameters: Host Wall: Fire Rating.

Finding “Doors-Check_Rating”

The inclusion of the fire rating property means that you will be able to view the list of all door instances alongside with the wall fire rating data. Now you can ensure that 2-hour walls have doors that are adequately rated.

View all door instances alongside wall fire rating data

This sample link is one of over 140 samples that ship with Ideate BIMLink. Be sure to look through this sample content to master your BIM data and build your own quality control processes.

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About the Author

Glynnis Patterson, NCARB – Director of Software Development
Glynnis is a Registered Architect and has worked within the BIM industry since 1998. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, she has worked as an architect, educator and construction site manager. Glynnis is currently the Director of Software Development Services at Ideate, Inc. and continues to work with AEC clients across the nation, developing, and consulting on solutions to Building Information Modeling challenges. In her spare time Glynnis does volunteer work for eclcofnj.org and growitgreenmorristown.org. @GVPinNJ

This article was originally posted on the Ideate Software blog.

Trim / Extend Multiple Elements in Revit 2015

In Revit 2015, users now have the ability to trim and/or extend multiple elements using a selection box. In previous versions of Revit, this feature was unavailable, therefore, users had to select individual elements to trim and/or extend.

In Revit 2015, simply select the Trim/Extend Multiple Elements button, then select the trim/extend reference boundary, and finally, click and drag your mouse over the elements that you want to extend or keep. You can also still click to select individual elements to trim and/or extend and do a combination of individual selections and selection boundaries under the same command.

Check out the video Autodesk Revit 2015: Trim/Extend Multiple Elements

Also, for information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2015 releases for Revit MEP, Revit Structure, Revit Architecture, AutoCAD and more: ideateinc.com/2015

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Sash Kazeminejad, LEED AP
AEC Application Specialist
Sash Kazeminejad brings proficiency in Autodesk solutions including AutoCAD and Revit Architecture to Ideate customers. His industry experience includes project management, IT, and staff design for Hennebery Eddy Architects in Portland, Oregon. He has completed seven divisions of the Architectural Record Exam, leads Revit workshops, is LEED AP accredited and is on track to achieve California licensure in 2013 with Oregon to follow. In his academic life, Sash was awarded a Montana AIA Scholarship, earned a BA in Environmental Design, an MA in Architecture from Montana State University (MSU) and taught Building Information Modeling (BIM) and related topics at MSU Gallatin College. As a Revit Architecture Autodesk Certified Professional, Sash provides Revit Architecture training and support for AEC firms.

Get it. Know it. Use it.