Possible new user question.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm currently looking into switching from Vectorworks to Revit due to a job application I'm being offered. What I really want to know is if the following floor plan is possible to make in Revit. I just want floor plans to be with color to better show the different things on it and make them more clear.

I also want to know if it is possible to show symbols in a plan view other than just a rendered hidden line view of the 3D part of it, so I can have a simplified version for the plan view and a detailed object for the 3D. Like you have a 2D-plan component for the plan views and e 3D component for all other views.

Thx for the answers.

[LisaDrago]

Welcome to the discussion!

Completely doable. You have control over almost everything... You should make sure you take a really good class, it is not easy to learn on your own, there are a lot of little things that unless they are pointed out youwill never find.

A couple of good books to use from Sybex (you can find them on Amazon) Autodesk Revit Architecture 2013 Essentials and Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2013. I use these all the time while I am teaching.  

You can always post questions here and we will help!

LD

[Anonymous]

After two days trying to recreate the drawing, I can conclude that it is not entirely possible. Not only in color, but in the way you can present things like the stair.

In order to have colors 'behind' hatches, you need to set the display options to consistent colors. You can then have a color fill and a hatch on top of each other for a material. So for the floors, they take over the shade color and the surfuce hatch of their material. The problem with this is that in section, the same color is used and you can't override that color by material. So I get the section hatch and the same shade color, while I need a darker color and the section hatch. Unless I'm overlooking something to make the shade color in section of a material darker.

A solution for objects that doesn't require a surfuce pattern is to set the surfuce pattern to solid and choose another color for the surface and have the shade color used for the sections. But it only works for objects that doesn't require a surfuce pattern and it doesn't work on all objects. The stair object doesn't take over the surfuce pattern but used the shade color of the material.

Making object subcategories also doesn't resolve the problem as you can't override the fill color in views of the subcategories. So that's also a no go. For this system to be more flexible, there needs to be a shade color for both surface and section, or the possibility to have a background color for a pattern.

Otherwise, I find Revit a better program than I thought it would be. It has it's obvious strengths and it does really well for what it was intended to do, but it lacks in versatility. At the end of the day, it seems that you still need other programs to finish the job, while with Vectorworks, I never needed any other program to do all things in an architects office. You can't even export to a vector pdf. On the other hand, Vectorworks' bim capabilities are weak and awkward, but it has tremendoes power in annotations, 2D, 3D modelling and graphical representation.

I really am wondering if Revit users ever using colors for their plans? Colors just can 'brighten' up the plans and really make things clearer.

If someone can prove me wrong, I'm all ears....

[Anonymous]

Some other points I want some answers on:

• It seems you can't specify a certain beginpoint for a line, when nothing else is drawn. You can't seem to work with coordinates. I think this will result in errors being made.
• The snap points and 'grip' you have on objects doesn't feel nice and is really awkward.
• You can't just make a viewport of a 3D view and rerender it before printing. You need to use a workaround by going to your saved view, render it, save it as a picture, and have this picture as the 'viewport'.
• Viewports are just view to your views so you'll end up with many views while the viewports do nothing. It would be better to have juse the views for navigating and have the viewports decide the overrides and view settings so you can have one floor view for navigation and different viewports for different settings of that floor.

Or am I missing something here?

[LisaDrago]

You only gave it two days? How much have you used the program or training?

I have attached an image - you will see that it is has color and hatch. I am in hidden line - so it is possible.

I am not in for proving you wrong - that is not what this community is here for - we are here to help with questions.

I have over 8 years with the program and understand the program. You will need to give it more then 2 days...

You have many questions - It is better to post them indivudally so each one can be answered. You may not get many answers on this.

LD

[Anonymous]

I don't say the program is bad, but it lacks power in graphical representation.

The image you attached is not what I'm looking for. I want the floors to have colored filled hatch in plan and a another colored filled hatch in section (The finish component). I can do this by choosing Consistent colors for both the views, but you can't have a light color for the plan and a darker one for the section because you can't override graphical settings of materials. I just don't find it logical you can set the graphics for materials and not for objects while you can override the graphics for objects but not for materials.

What I meant with "proving me wrong" was just that I could be mistaken in what I'm saying and that I like to hear my mistakes. English is not my first language, sorry for that.