Note: This article is written and published in Ukrainian and is a translated version of the original published here.
And so, what means of Revit can provide the proposed sequence of building construction, and most importantly, the introduction of changes at any time? Again, let me remind you that the name of the product is an abbreviation for Revise Instantly, which speaks for itself and without further ado. Personally, I believe that in Revit, as in chess, there is a harmony of interactions. At first, as soon as we start playing them, we usually set ourselves the goal of learning, then not losing, then winning, and eventually achieving absolute skill — checkmate in a certain time and number of moves. Similarly in Revit, there is a project — like a chessboard, there are pieces — like families, and there are design process controls that determine the strategy and tactics of the game: Phases, Options, Groups, Links and Worksets. Let's start with Stages.
We are constantly in the time interval between Past and Future, namely in the Present. And just like today, right now we will live it, so we will remember it in the Future, but already as about the Past. And we should not think today about the Past, as it was or could be, but we should think about the Future, what it will be and the most important thing that we can still influence. After all, Time is the most valuable thing we have and what we must learn to manage. Therefore, I believe that in Revit the most basic management tool is Stages — timestamps between the Past and the Future, which can be created according to the accepted design sequence, for example, Terrain, Concept, Frame, Façade, Planning. Depending on the location of the Present, or the current Stage, the elements of the model are divided into: Existing, Demolished, Temporary and New. How?
If the element was created earlier, it is an Existing and can become Demolished if at the current Stage its existence has ceased. A new is an element that was created at the current Stage and can become Temporary if it existed only within its boundaries. Thus, in Revit we can travel freely in time — plan the Future and make changes at any time Past, work and reflect on views and specifications the state of the Present we need. This is provided by separate parameters of the rollup and wear stages in the properties of the elements, as well as in the properties of the views, the parameters of the attitude to the stage and the filter of the graphics override.
Of course, this management tool is designed to create projects for the reconstruction of buildings and structures, but it can also be perfectly used in conventional design, especially for making changes during construction. Unfortunately, there are Revit not enough tools to fully support the real process of erecting a building, but it is possible to export the model to Autodesk Navisworks, which allows you to solve this problem.
But any Time, any Present can have its Options. Now you are reading these lines, thinking about each word, its meaning and meaning, rereading several times... Or maybe not. Maybe quite the opposite, they quickly looked through a paragraph and postponed it for later... I only dare to assume that at best the knowledge presented will be useful, only with a time difference - someone earlier, and someone later. In life, we constantly find ourselves faced with a choice that requires us to make an unambiguous decision that will determine the Variant of the course of events — our, and not only our, Future. At the same time, at first we can only assume the degree of its correctness or quite the opposite - we will make final conclusions only over time and will not be able to turn everything back in order to live another version of events. This is how our reality works, but not in Revit 🙄.
During design, at any time, if there is even the slightest doubt about making a particular decision —Yes or No), you can create a Variant shape, layout, designs, arrangement of elements, etc. In this case, it will not be necessary to copy the entire project, the entire building or the project file, but only the necessary elements. After all, in reality there are Variants of individual events, and not the whole Life as a whole, but only one of the Options is accepted by us as the main one. In Revit similar, only with the difference that other Options will exist in parallel, which we can return to at any time or delete if necessary. At the same time, within each of the Options, elements can have their own values of the parameters of the stages of construction and demolition — exist differently in space and time. To display different Variants at the same time, you can create appropriate views that are permanently assigned to them.
But if you really want to manage the design process, you need to follow the principle that is as ancient as the world -"Divide and Conquer". Oddly enough, it is successfully used not only in politics and sociology, but also in computer science during the development of algorithms. The point is to recursively divide the problem to be solved into two or more subproblems of the same type, but of smaller size, and combine their solutions to get an answer to the original problem. Partitions are performed until all subtasks are elementary. How to apply this principle in Revit?
Let's consider an example of planning solutions for a simple building and try to highlight the elementary components. At first glance, it seems that there are only 2 out of 6 identical floor plans (upper/left and lower/middle) with the exception of areas marked with different colors, the elements of which can be combined into a Group. Accordingly, when editing grouped elements, changes will occur in both layouts — we get at least 2 times time savings. After looking closely, we come to the conclusion that all layouts are identical if we apply rotation and display operations to them. As a result, we get one Group and a maximum of 6 times time savings when making changes. But usually the external contour forms the façade of the building, can be repeated on all floors and must have a fixed position, and the internal one can be arbitrary and occupy any position within it.
As a result, we apply the principle of dividing the elements of one Group into its components of its subgroup of the outer and inner contours, as well as areas. Then we can combine groups with each other. For example, include area elements in the inner contour, and the inner contour in the outer one. Or create a Floor Layout Group, in which to include the necessary Groups separately or in an already combined form. The number of such combinations is limited only by imagination, but I advise you not to exceed more than three investments. Ask in what cases it is worth creating a Group? Usually, if there are more than one recurring cases of the same placement of elements in the project, it is preferable to proceed solely from production necessity. For example, having thought over the principle of grouping at the Zoning Stage, you can apply it at the Planning Stage, but already using walls, openings, rooms, etc. Thus, you can create Groups, as well as their combinations:
- by floors (load-bearing, external and internal structures...);
- by layout (office, apartment, balcony, bathroom...);
- by purpose (furniture, equipment, decoration...).
The only drawback of Groups is the lack of opportunities to specify them and determine the elements that make up them. In the 2012 version, the long-awaited Assembly appeared, which to some extent compensate for these shortcomings of grouping, and also allow you to get separate views and sheets. A convenient tool especially for designers, for example, for obtaining working documentation for the reinforcement of individual elements of the load-bearing frame. Unfortunately, Collections do not yet allow you to create nested combinations, as in the case of grouping, and in case of changes, they automatically create new Collections, which is not always convenient. This is partly solved by using them in conjunction with Groups.
It remains to briefly consider the most important thing in the Management design process — Worksharing and the means of its implementation. The main tool is Worksets, which allow you to distribute Elements, Views, Settings and Families among all design participants and regulate access to them. At the same time, on the most democratic principles, according to the principle: Whoever gets up first gets his slippers"😁. On the one hand, such a method will initially lead to absolute uncontrollability of the design process, and on the other hand, it will force the team to communicate more with each other and more carefully plan their actions as a whole later.
In the final case, interactions between adjacent sections of the project are regulated using the External Links, as well as the tool Copy/Monitor (Copy/Monitor). The data, of course, must be stored on a file server or in the Autodesk Construction Cloud service, which has been fully supported since Revit 2019. In conclusion, I will note, as one brave colonel told me -"Only the sun is above the frames!". And no matter how wonderful the tool is, and no matter how expensive it is, if you do not have personnel and do not have the desire, then all this is a useless effort.
Note: This article is written and published in Ukrainian and is a translated version of the original published here.
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