Revit 2014 Learning Links in New Sample File

I mentioned the annotation families that function as learning links the other day. I should also mention the corresponding schedule provided in the file too.

It is called "How Do I". The schedule is a list of all the "?" families that have been used. You can select one and use the Highlight in Model button to find where it is. The "What View" column lists the view you'll find it in too. They've included a column for "Reviewed?" so you can check each of them off as you work through each topic, nice for a beginner to track their progress. In the image below I added a column for "Learning Link" (URL parameter) which lets me click on the URL to browse to the WikiHelp topic right away.

2013 Central States Revit Workshop Registration

Registration for the next workshop opened 9 days ago, very sorry to be so slow to mention it.

Please let me encourage you to consider spending a couple days (August 15-16, 2013) at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha soaking up Revit information and wisdom. I attended and participated in a couple sessions last year. It was good fun, well worth your time and a great bargain.

Here are a few important links:
Welcome
Location
Schedule
Speakers

REGISTRATION

Come mingle with and hear special guest speakers Paul Aubin, Brian and Desirée Mackey (and maybe their BIMbino), Birgitta Foster, Andrew Jizba and Chuck Mies.

New Selection Features and Keyboard Shortcuts

The new selection options that I mentioned earlier are accessible via keyboard shortcuts too by the way. This question was asked at a recent user group meeting but wasn't answered explicitly other than to say, "I think so". Well they can!

Tables of Data in Revit

One of the more subtle things that the new schedule features allow in Revit 2014 is creating a table of data that may not be tied directly to elements within the model. For example residential projects that I've worked on in the past were required to document how the proposed design or remodel fits within the property boundaries and required setbacks, or stated another way...zoning compliance. In the past I've written about creating tables using a family to accomplish this. Now we can do this, all within the schedule header itself (notice I used Comic Sans?).

The Revit Clinic posted an example of this for jamb conditions yesterday, check it out! These are the steps their post provides:

First, create a new schedule and either choose a category you do not have in your project, or alternatively filter the schedule so nothing displays in the body section.

Then under the Schedule Properties > ‘Appearance’ tab, un-check ‘Show Headers’. Now you unmerge the default title row and add additional rows, text, parameters, images, shading, etc. And you still get the specific control to resize the column and row dimensions.

Two tips:

First use the ‘Clear Cell’ tool to remove the default schedule view name. You can then use that cell to enter any data you wish.

Second, set up your cell sizes before adding new rows. The new rows will use the previous row for cell number, size and formatting:

Window or Door Frame Positioning

We quite often want to be able to move a window or door assembly back and forth within a host wall. This is easy to do as long as the assembly is moving "in" but doesn't need to move beyond the host in the opposite direction. A relationship between reference planes does not generally like to be reversed. We usually get yelled at with a message like this.

When we want the flexibility to move something from or toward something else we need to define an alternate reference point, reference plane in this case. If we place a reference plane in front of the exterior side of the host we can set it far enough away to provide enough room to move the assembly without generating an error message.

In the image above I can move the Frame Offset reference plane "outside" the exterior face of the wall by using a negative dimension value and toward the Interior by using positive values. The fixed dimension value of 12 inches defines the reference offset value I used in the formula column. This means when I enter zero for Frame Offset that the assembly will be flush with the exterior of the wall. Here's what it looks like using a negative 8" offset to move it outside, from the exterior face.

There are firms that use multiple walls to define the layers of what many people use one wall with layers for. When you place walls next to each other a door or window family is hosted by one of them. If you need to move the family "forward or backward" you need to be able to change the notion of what host reference plane is relevant. This is one approach to solving the problem.

Revit 2014 Sample File WikiHelp Links

After enduring the painful download, unpack and install process that literally took from Friday morning to Sunday night I got to run the shipping version of Revit 2014. It took over 30 minutes to open the first time, but AutoCAD took over an hour. I think there is something seriously wrong with my computer but all the usual things check out fine. I digress...

[Edit: I apologize if you read this before. I had View References on the mind, but these are just Generic Annotations. Thanks to Jeff Hanson for the reminder.]

The new sample file includes new help references.

These are Generic Annotation families that take advantage of the URL parameter to let you navigate to the WikiHelp page related to the features or elements that the documentation team placed a reference next to. Wherever you see a help "?" select one and then in the Properties Palette click on the sneaky "Browse" button (little button that appears with the ellipsis "..." at the right of the URL parameter field)

I wrote about using the view references before, to simulate a "next slide" arrow for presentations instead of using Power Point. View References do not have the URL parameter but Generic Annotation families do. Using the URL means we can do the same thing except browse to specific items on our network or elsewhere via the internet without storing the data inside the Revit model itself. These are not entirely new concepts since the URL parameter has been in Revit all along and View References are not new, but not very old...but it is a nice twist on how they are applied.

Imagine the office training project files pointing users to office standards or other code practices etc. Something to think about.

Is it Too Late to Change

Whenever I spend time in the Revit Family Editor I run into past decisions. Sometime they are my own and quite often they belong to somebody else. I've always encouraged people to develop good habits when it comes to using and defining reference planes. I've even been teased about wasting time in a demonstration by naming each reference plane even though doing so wasn't pertinent to the topic. Habits...

I recently encountered a bunch of families that were built by a few people for their project. I was asked to make some changes so a part of the family could be scheduled separately. That meant making use of the concept of making a family "shared". A family that is nested into another is only treated as a symbol when we see it a project. A family that is nested AND Shared is loaded into the project as an actual separate family (appears in the project browser) as well as being visible as part of the host family. This special condition allows for scheduling nested parts as though they are unique parts, apart from the host, as well as permitting us to place them separately. This subject could easily be few separate posts.

While I was digging in I noticed that few if any of the reference planes were named. I also noticed that most of them did not redefine the original reference planes so that they made sense in the context of the family itself. By that I mean that people will use the default Center (Front/Back) or Center (Left/Right) reference planes as a "left" or "right" or "front" or "back" or something...but not rename/redefine them as such. That means that when we examine a family the "center" (the reference plane that Revit thinks is center) of the family is really an edge or side. Autodesk's own content isn't immune to this either.

In this situation I thought like a mechanic, if I've already dropped the transmission I might as well fix some things that I can't get to otherwise, or "while I'm in here"...

Sadly if a project is using this content and people have done things like put hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them in their models, bad things can happen, when they are reloaded. As Mr. Maller says... it can be a "screwtastrophe". Families that have dimensions referencing them in the project will generate the dreaded "dimensions must be deleted" messages as soon as you reload them. Specifically if you change the IsReference status of a reference plane and reload the family Revit can't find the original reference plane anymore. Worse a family might shift its location, particularly if being swapped out for a different version.

I don't think it can be overstated or stressed enough, content needs to be created carefully and good habits need to developed and observed. It may not be too late to make changes but it can be painful.