Revit - To Purge or Not to Purge?

Purging is a question we get at Ideate all the time.

Who’s afraid of the big bad purge button?

I was! When I started my first Revit MEP project, I was still waiting to get trained formally and I thought “How different can it be from AutoCAD MEP?” Not realizing that the files in Revit are going to be larger than my AutoCAD files, I wanted to get the file size down. What do we do in AutoCAD? Purge. So, I did, much to my dismay. This event so traumatized me that I never again hit the purge button.

For years I would clean my files by removing unused views and limiting .dwg files, but never the purge command. That was silly, but we all have developed avoidances from things we’ve done in our life.

Well, yesterday I ventured back into the purge command in Revit MEP 2012. I could actually feel my blood pressure rising as I moved my mouse the purge button. “Am I going to make a mess of this file?” kept running through my head. Then, the dialog box popped up and it didn’t look anything like what I remembered.

The dialog box allowed me to Select None and the pick the elements that I was sure I no long needed.

File maintenance has its own workflow. Check for unused views (sections and 3D views are the biggest culprits), check for .dwgs (Ideate Explorer for Revit can help), and I now will use the Purge command in the Manage tab without any heart palpitations.

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Lana Gochenauer, LEED AP,
MEP Solutions Application Specialist
Lana has a wealth of real world experience, having used Autodesk products on projects from hospitals to universities, restaurants to corporate office headquarters, from strip malls to tenant fit-up. Most recently she focused on coordination drawings/models with MEP contractors, and fabrication from the model. Lana successfully ran her CAD business and worked as the CAD manager for an international MEP engineering firm in Seattle. Lana is a Certified Autodesk Trainer and NECA certified electrical estimator. Currently pursuing her MBA in Sustainability and based in the Ideate ATC in Seattle, Lana provides training and services for AutoCAD MEP, Autodesk Revit MEP and Autodesk Navisworks. @LanaGMEP

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What's New in Ideate Explorer for Revit 2012

Large projects can be difficult to navigate - but not with Ideate Explorer! We’ve added two significant improvements to Ideate Explorer 2012: Speed and Access to Worksharing information.

We’ve re-engineered our search engine to make Ideate Explorer 2012 at least two times faster than the previous version. A 280 MB file now takes around one minute to index all objects. Finding the objects you need has never been easier.

Now, in version 2012, Ideate includes Workset data. In this image, the Keyword Search is being used to show all the items with the word “curtain” and on Level 6. When the first instance of Curtain Wall 1 is selected, the properties panel shows the new fields for both Workset and Edited by (only if it’s a worksharing enabled project).

Sorting your project by Workset is sure to become another critical project auditing methodology. With the new View drop-down option to organize by Workset you can easily scan the contents of each Workset and find objects that have been misplaced.  In this screenshot, for example, we can see that several items have been mistakenly placed within our Links and Shared Level worksets.

To fix this problem using Ideate Explorer:

1. Select the checkbox next to each incorrect instance
2. Exit Ideate Explorer
3. Using Revit Properties palette, switch the Workset parameter to Workset1 or other appropriate Workset choice.

Ideate Explorer lets you easily search your Revit project for hard to find elements so that you can quickly make the edits you need. Ideate Explorer is the number one tool for auditing Revit projects and nipping them in the bud.

Check out the What’s New video for Ideate Explorer 2012 on YouTube or on Screencast.

Learn more at ideateexplorer.com.

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Glynnis Patterson,
N.C.A.R.B. – Director of Services
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 Development Services at Ideate, Inc. and continues to work with AEC clients across the nation, developing, and implementing best practices solutions. In her spare time Glynnis is a member of the Morristown Environmental Commission and builds Lego projects. @GVPinNJ

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Existing Ceiling Grids in Revit

In the last Revit Architecture class that I instructed at Ideate, Inc., a student had a great question that I thought I would share here.

We were discussing the topic of ‘Phasing’ in Revit, and the student was trying to figure out how to show the ceiling grid in the existing ACT ceiling ‘grayed out.’ Changing the Existing Phase Graphic Override to a gray color would only change the outline of the ceiling to gray, but what about the 2x4 ceiling tile pattern?

The answer was to change the color of the surface pattern in the Existing Phase Graphic Overrides to gray, see screen shot below:

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Shruti Harve,
LEED AP, AEC Solutions Application Specialist
Shruti holds a Master of Science degree in Architectural Computing from University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom and is LEED accredited. Her experience includes working in Architecture and Construction firms in India and the United Kingdom as well as Structural Engineering firms in the Bay Area providing design, 3D modeling and drafting services. At Ideate, Shruti provides training and support for Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, 3ds Max, Ecotect and AutoCAD Architecture.

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Classroom Training - Open Classes

Know It. Ideate Training.

Position yourself to land dream projects. Tap the full potential of your software solutions. Increase your facility, fluidity and capability to maximize the value of your precision software tools.

Here are a few of the training opportunities Ideate has to offer in the coming days:

8.9-11::San Jose
Revit MEP Mechanical and Plumbing Fundamentals
8.10-12::Portland
Revit Architecture Fundamentals
8.15-16::Portland
Navisworks Fundamentals
8.15-17::San Francisco
3ds Max Design Fundamentals

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