Revit Stairs
Whilst browsing the world wide web last night as there was f*@# all on telly again worth watching, until late on when the repeats of Top Gear show (you can never get bored with TG! those guys have the best job EVER!). Anyhow, I came onto Steves Revit OpEd and saw his top 5 wishes for the future Revit 2010 and I have to agree with him.
One of my major bug bears is with Revits stairs... they are so basic and restricting i.e. just simpy extrusions for the treads, risers and stringers... this makes for very basic looking stairs.
Any of you who have seen really nice complex looking stairs are seeing a little trick or work around that we use - and that is to create railings to add certain details to the stairs.
I have been asked several times esp. with the structural engineers how to show components such as C channels for the side stringers / supports etc.
Anyhow... to produce the stair pictured below, I simply created a new Rail-Profile.rfa of the C Channel section and then added it as a bottom rail and switched off the actual stringers in the stair itself.
Now whilst I can create pretty much any type of stair I like using a combination of the stair parameters and railings... this looks ok, but you can't schedule any of this... so please Autodesk, sort this out for 2010!
Pin and Move with Elements
Two really useful little tools are:
Pin Position (Once an object is selected the Pushpin tool with become active - find it next to the Group tool)
Use the Pin Position tool to lock a modelling component in place. When you pin a modelling component, it cannot be moved. If you try to delete a pinned component, Revit Architecture warns you that the component is pinned. A pushpin control appears near the element to indicate that it is locked.
If you pin a component, it can still move if the component is set to move with nearby elements or if the level where it is placed moves up or down.
Secondly:
Move with Nearby Elements
You can specify that lines and components (in the example image below, the toilets) near a wall move a corresponding distance whenever that wall is moved. To do this, use the Moves with Nearby Elements option.
Select the object e.g. toilet, sink etc. then click the Pick Host button to select the hosting object.
Using the Hidden Line tool
"I have an elevation and wish to see the plumbing fixtures through the wall so that I can draw in the pipes etc, but I don't want to use Hidden Line Graphics Style as it shows everything throughout the model. How do I do it?"
I got asked this today whilst in training and though I would write it up quickly in case anyone out there hasn't discovered this tool.
So you have something like this:
So the elevation currenty only shows the outside face of the building and you need to see the plumbing fixtures so that you can draw in the hot / cold and waste piping etc.
Ok firstly set the Elevation View to Hidden Line so that you can see all the objects behind the wall.
Next select the Show Hidden Line tool.
Revit will ask you to select the element you wish to show the hidden lines through - so select the wall. Now select the object/s you wish to appear through the elevation i.e. the toilet, sink etc.
Switch you Elevation View back to Hidden Line Graphics Style and there you have it! Now you can use Detail Lines (Detail Lines only show in the view they are placed in) from the Drafting draw to detail up the plumbing.
Don't forget a good idea / tip would be to Duplicate the Elevation View first so that you can have one view without the fixtures showing and one with.
Controlling Ceiling Grids
Ever wondered how to rotate your ceiling grid?
I often get asked two questions regarding ceilings in Revit:
Firstly "How do I rotate the grid layout?" and secondly, "How do I move the grid to place it so that whole tiles start from certain wall edges?"
This is a very easy process, once you know how of course:
Firstly switch your view to the Ceiling Plan so that you can see the ceiling Fill Pattern.
Select one of the ceiling grid lines (which are a Fill Pattern , applied as the Surface Pattern within the ceiling components Material)
Select on the Rotate tool fro the Edit toolbar. Click to position the rotation origin point (unlike AutoCAD you can choose where the origin is easliy and you don't have to worry about Anti-Clockwise rotation and negative / positive values), Move you cursor either left or right and snap the rotation around by 45 degrees, or just enter 45 and press return.
Next you can use the Align tool (from the Tools toolbar).
Choose the desired wall edge as the reference edge that you wish to start the ceiling grid pattern from, then pick the required ceiling grid line that you want to move. 
Voila! one rotated and aligned ceiling.
Finally here are two extra little tips you can use to control your ceiling grids. These were added by 'Zoltan' a member of the AUGI group. See it's worth joining all these sites as the ideas just flow - Revit for me is all about sharing. Thanks Zoltan:
1. If you want to center the grid in the room, use the move command after selecting the grid and snap one end of the grid and then snap it the the midpoint of the wall.
2. If you want to center a tile in the room, center the grid first and then move it half the tile distance.
Importing DWG files - Controls
When importing DWG data into Revit, did you know that each View in Revit is independent and can therefore display different DWGs in each view?
I.e. Your Ground, 1st, 2nd Floor etc. Can all have different DWGs importedand shown without seeing them all overlaid.
To do this,simply go to the File pull-down menu> Import/Link> CAD Formats, then in the Import Link Options area of the dialogue box set the Linkto Current view only option. When the DWG is then opened, it will onlybe visible in the View you were currently working on in Revit.
You can also control whether the DWG is linked or imported. If you select the Link (instead of import) option, then the imported DWG will behave in the same manner as an XREF in AutoCAD I.e. if the original DWG is updated, then when you refresh the links (File> Manage Links) any geometry that was altered will be updated on the imported files. Geometry also updates if the Revit file is opened and there have been changes made to the DWG (aslong as the pathing remains the same to the source DWG!)
Finally don't forget you can control the viability of any DWG via the Visibility Graphics (VG) in Revit. Go to the Imported Categories tab in the dialogue box where you will see a list of any imported DWG files. You can turn the DWG completely on or off from here, or control whether individual layers are seen.
How to alter the number of Backup files created
This one is very quick and easy.
In the SaveAs dialog box, click on the Options button before saving. Now alter the number of backups that Revit makes to whatever you like.
You can also set what View is used for the thumbnail Preview from this dialog box.... Neat
How to adjust the Temporary Dimension text font size through Revit.ini file?
1. Open Revit.ini file in Notepad. The file is typically located in C:\Program Files\Revit Structure 2008\Program.
2. Add the following line to Revit.ini in [Graphics] section: TempDimFontSizeInPoints=N
Where N is a number larger than 8 (default hardcoded value).
A good starting point is twice the default size (i.e. 16-17).
3. Save Revit.ini.
4. Restart Revit. If the size of temporary dimensions is still small, repeat from step 1 with larger number.
Please note, the [Graphics] section may not exist. If this is the case add a line that contains [Graphics].
Finding a Material quickly in the Type Selector
If you have dozens of materials and you are tired of scrolling through the type selector, then simply type the first letter of the material you wish to select and the list will automatically move to types beginning with that letter...this also works with any list i.e. wall styles, doors etc.
Drawing A Wall
When drawing a wall and the construction is back to front, simply use the spacebar to flip the wall over.
Dynamic Roofs
To dynamically change a roof ridgeline, switch to a 3d view and select the roof to reveal the grip points. Click on the grip and drag upwards to dynamically change the ridgeline.
Walls as well......
Slightly different approach this time. Hold the cursor over the top edge of the wall then using the tab key, cycle through the options until the top edge of the wall highlights grey. Left click to select the edge and the wall should highlight red. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the wall to the required height.
Callouts and Sections
When making new callouts or sections use the option bar to set view scale. Revit automatically assigns detail level to the new views depending on the view scale you set. This can save a few steps in workflow.
Generating Levels
Use the array command to create multiple floor levels and produce all the associated views. Select one marker and then select the array command, next enter the distance required for all levels making sure the "move to 2nd option" is selected and then enter the desired number of levels required.
Building Grids
Use the same method used in creating the multiple floor levels to create a building grid. Place one grid line making sure the numbering is correct. Select the grid and as before, use the array command to create the grid structure.The grid numbering will increment too.
Eastings & Northings
Need to create N/E's coordinates? Go to the Drafting menu and select Spot Dimension> Spot Coordinate.simple. Try the Spot Elevation Dimension on any object in Section / Elevation as well.
Levels, but no Floor Plans?
Why are my Level markers black, and there is no respective Floor Plan?
Well, when you create a new Level, Revit will default to creating a respective Floor Plan, unless you uncheck the Make Plan View in the task specfic tool bar. If you do this then The level is created but is displayed with a black level header (indicating it is not connected to any floor plan in your model)
So the question is, how do you re-associate the level now with a floor plan?
Simple, go to the View pulldown menu> New> Floor Plan. This will open up the New Plan dialog box. Select any levels that do not have an associated floor plan and then click OK.
Revit will generate the new plan views for you and you level markers will now be blue.
