Share your favorite tips, tricks and workflows in Revit!

[Viveka_CD]

Hello Awesome community!

I wanted to make a thread about sharing your favorite tips, tricks, or workflows found within Revit. From hotkey combos to those really essential tools that everyone may not know about, this is the place to share!

I've set the ball rolling below with some simple cool tidbits 'using formulas in fields' that people may not be aware of.

If you have a requirement to reduce the size of an architectural element, maybe a wall which needs to be cut down to half its size - you can use a formula in the 'unconnected height' field, input =20' 0"*.5 and yes the wall's height is reduced by half! Don't forget to use the '=' sign in front of your formula!

Please, share your tips too! Feel free to use images and screencasts!

Best Regards,

[Karambaki]

AutodeskHelp is proud to present Karam Baki, a young Expert Elite member hailing from Jordan, in this edition of Expert Elite Highlight series. At 21, Karam is already recognized as a top user and expert of Revit. Follow along the videos created by Karam on integrating Revit, Fusion 360 and Dynamo to create a fluid workflow of a Voronoi pattern

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this workflow is Freedom.

The freedom of designing free-forms and organic, fluid Architectural forms.
It's true that Revit can design it, but let's face it, when it comes to Fluidity, it's trickier to achieve them in Revit without incorporating a lot of formulas and a lot of calculations.

But this is where the help of other tools can come in handy. Using Fusion 360's T-Spline environment can be valuable in these situations.

This workflow explains how to properly link Fusion 360's forms with Revit.

In addition, the infamous Voronoi pattern is pretty difficult to achieve using Dynamo's out-of-the-box nodes,
I'm sharing with you a workflow that contains a custom-made package (Synthesize toolkit) to help achieve the great results.

EXAMPLES 

Please refer to some samples below, each example completed within 10 minutes.

 

HIGHLIGHT

I will be going through the main topics below:

1. Software Requirements
2. Package Requirements
3. Understanding the Praxis chart
4. Exercises

Let's get started!

1. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

I will be utilizing the different software below in this workflow:

• REVIT
  

  Commercial version: http://www.autodesk.com/products/revit-family/free-trial

  Student version: http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/revit

• FUSION 360
  

  Commercial version: http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview

  Student version: http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/students-teachers-educators

• DYNAMO
  

  Official website: http://dynamobim.org/

  Note: Revit 2017 now ships with Dynamo,so it should already be installed by default. However you can update it optionally from its website or inside Dynamo when it first launches inside Revit directly
  
  

2. PACKAGES REQUIREMENTS

Synthesis Toolkit in Dynamo

i. Start a Project, then open Dynamo from the 'Manage' tab inside Revit.

ii. From the Menus inside Dynamo, you will find Packages on the Menu bar

iii. Search for Package : Synthesize. Click on it then install the latest version (Dynamo will notify you about any updates if needed)

3. Understanding the Praxis chart

Here I have utilized Autodesk Praxis tool to help visualize the workflow. You can understand it by watching this quick 5 minute video (It's easier to explain it verbally than writing it down):

Open the Praxis chart HERE. 

Follow along in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZHJvQu8N-k

PRAXIS CHART: 

 4. EXERCISES

EXERCISE 1:

 Using the Revit way with Dynamo (approx: 25 minutes) 

Watch the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5cOxBHqIpc

EXERCISE 2:

Using the Fusion 360 with Dynamo and Revit (approx: 20 minutes) 

Watch the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_cgeGa1Qmg

EXERCISE 3:

 

 General troubleshooting and Bugs, along with some tips and tricks (5 minutes) 

Watch the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7goQpkMAur4

 That's it from me, hope you've enjoyed my video blog on creating Voronoi patterns using Revit, Fusion 360 and Dynamo! 

About KARAM BAKI

Karam Baki is an Architect currently studying in the University of Jordan.

He started his Revit journey in 2009 when he was only 16 years old.
Now when he's 21, he became an Autodesk ExpertElite,

He's one of the Top StudentExperts at the StudentExpert Network.

Also, Autodesk have requested a step-by-step of his rendering technics regarding to 360 Cloud Rendering to be classified as "360 RenderingPro"

Karam has been invited to participate in the Inside The Factory "Gunslinger" Events for Revit Architecture, to meet and work with the creators of Revit.

He's also considered a leading expert in Jordan for Revit, instructing at the University of Jordan while still a student in it. Karam has created many projects for various clients as well, although he still has not graduated.

Check his students' work at this facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/revitelites

Check his own work at Autodesk Gallery : https://gallery.autodesk.com/users/BPT3NVQXP4A2

Please join us in praising Karam for his excellent work using Autodesk tools. We'd like to thank Karam for the workflow he's created for the AutodeskHelp Expert Elite Highlight series, and for his contributions in the Revit community. We hope his work will inspire many more young folks to explore and test out the creative world of architecture.

For more articles like these, please subscribe to the AutodeskHelp blog to learn about helpful product tips and updates.

[Karambaki]

Thanks Autodesk for this, I only shared a thing that I found useful for Architects to improve Revit's ability of designing, instead of just drafting,

[dzanta]

Great article and videos...I followed all the YouTube videos you posted...lots of possibilities with this new found understanding of Revit, Dynamo anf Fusion 360...Thanks!

[CharlesBerteaux]

this is another great share! keep up the good work buddy!

[Karambaki]

Thank you for your comments dzanta and CHBIV007, am glad that you liked it 🙂

[wittenb]

Congrats Karam!! What a great workflow. We are proud to have such great Student Experts share their knowledge with the community.

[BIMologist_]

Karam

Masha'Allah awesome job.!

Also if you can fix the hyper link in Exercise 2

https://www.youtube.con>m/watch?v=r_cgeGa1Qmg

when you click there is a > sign and it says page not found.

Thanks

[Azmeera.M]

Salam @BIMologist_ - Thank you for pointing out the link error, I have made the correction. 
We are very happy that you've enjoyed Karam's article! We value the contributions. Best, Azmeera

[Karambaki]

Thank Bjoern (wittenb), am pleased to share knowledge and inspire other Expert Elites and Student Experts around the globe,

And Nauman, thank you for pointing this out, 
Glad you liked it, there's also an update to this, am publishing it soon on the Youtube channel, which allow fully manual control in addition to automatic layout of the Voronoi and Delaunay grids, stay tuned for it 🙂

Also thanks Mokhtaa for the correction

All the best,
Karam

[oiakintaro1 · Accepted solution]

Hello! Thanks for all the support on the forum, really appreciate it.

I completed my first project(there is always more you can do but...) .

I am reviewing my workflow, how I did things and any way I could be  more efficient and effective.

I was making a steel portal frame. For me there were 4 processes.

1. Understanding the brief and drawing every single component out on paper.

2. Making the components as revit families using metric generic models and reference planes

Also doing little things like rotation, void extrusion etc.

3. Fitting in

This was where I had to adjust the familes fitting them together on a project

4. Making it buildable

This was where I added the sections, schedule etc to my work

So far some of the ideas I have had to improve my workflow have been:

+Focus on doing a few main objects accurately and be rough with the others so I can get on to stage number 3 quicker.

+Using less reference planes

+Using the wall feature and roof feature in projects

+Figuring it how to use the beams in projects - but it is not at the right size

I would be grateful for any hints and tips and resources into how I could make any of the four processes faster.

Also find my screencast below where I talk a bit more about the process I went through.

Thank you in advance!

[borakin1]

So good! Thank u.

[barthbradley]

Alright Viveka, I’ll help you to get your thread going here with one that always pleases. 

Is anybody out there bothered by an ugly Thumbnail Preview for a family they built? Did you know that you can change it quickly and easily?

Here’s how:

Open the family and create the View you’d like to see as the Thumbnail Preview Image. Name that view something snappy like “Thumbnail”, and then…now follow closely; this is the tricky part…open the “Save As: Family” Dialog box, and press the “Options” button in the lower-right corner. This will open the “File Save Options” dialog box. There you will see “Thumbnail Preview” with a “Source” drop-down box listing all the views in the Family. Select the view you just created. Press “OK” and then “Save”. That view is now the Thumbnail Preview Image for that family. 

Wicked cool, huh? I know somebody out there thinks it is.

Enjoy!

[pippa.birchall]

Hello,

We recently posted an article and Dynamo graph on how to align text or labels with detail lines onto our blog. For those who are interested how to do this you can view it here: Revit Dynamo Graph to Align Text or Label with Detail Lines. 

Any feedback is appreciated!

Thanks 🙂 

[Sahay_R]

My two cents.

1) Anyone frustrated with the fact that Revit only creates sweeps in one direction? Here's what you can do - divide up the curve, create smaller sweeps in individual families, nest into a final family, tweak the assembly. Do remember that the resulting product may not be absolutely precise and applying parameters may not be an option! For anything too complex, 3DS Max may be the best option......

2) The big three of creating complex families - lock to reference planes NOT geometry, nest families, associate parameters. 

[Viveka_CD · Accepted solution]

Hello Community!

I wanted to share this awesome post by @italonge on Dividing a Mass Surface

Here you go:

Set 3 planes to work. 

So I draw the lines, Spline, I guess. Place several points. Draw one line then copy and paste it.

Form created!

And move each point from XYZ axes. New mass ... tweak the edges using the edge point ...move X and Y axes to make a rounded line.

Image below with edges moved above and the original points without X and Y axes moved.

I moved others points above, I guess If I had more points it would be easier to reach the form that I wanted... Finally, I divided it and selected the hexagonal pattern. Few distortions but can fine tune them.

Kudos @italonge and thanks for sharing this!

Regards,

[Sahay_R]

Another one. If you have too many Annotation families cluttering up your Project Browser, try nesting similar families into one as Types. Easy-peasy. Less scrolling!

[jmaguerogranados]

Here is a  tutorial to export your level curves (contours) to .DWG format from google earth

exportar sus curvas de nivel al formato .DWG desde google earth

Hoy les traigo un tutorial para que exporten sus curvas de nivel al formato .DWG desde google earth,  el cual les va a servir para levantar su terreno en revit .... mas preguntas me las dejan abajo y por favor delen muchos kurdos !!!!

[Radish_G]

Hi @Sahay_R,

Is it possible to share a video, to explains the workflow to achieve this.

[infoLQ8HY]

That is a seriously cool trick. Oh the possibilities. I am wondering whether this could be combined with terrestrial laser scanning