We all work in Revit our own way. Some people work through sheets to get to the views, while others work through the project browser and click on the view name. Everyone who has worked in Revit knows that Revit is good at using generic naming. The problem with generic naming is that there is no way of knowing which view it you want. You can set up your view browser so it sorts by sheets, but if you are using generic names, there is still no way to know which view is which. If you have all your wall sections just Section 1, Section 2, etc. then there is no way of knowing what each wall section shows.
Everyone and their firms have their own naming standards and feel it is the only way to be done. There are also government-mandated ones that firms have to follow. Ultimately the standard needs to make sense and be easy to use. Early in my career, an old architect told me to make everything "Idiot Proof". He meant that no matter who was added to the project they come onto the project and into the model and be productive immediately. The last thing he wanted to do was spend time training and getting the person up to speed.
What makes an "Idiot Proof" system?
- Ease to understand
- Ease of use.
- Describes the view in the way you intended.
- Documented reason for it being the way it is
A few added benefits of an "Idiot Proof" system.
- Less time spent on training.
- Less time spent on figuring out what view is what while working in the model.
- External consultants can easily determine what the view is.
- The use of the system makes for easy review and enforcement.
While discussing this topic with Michael Freiert he sent me this quote which sums up the idea. "Naming conventions should be humanly readable to the extent that they provide referential context, intuitive taxonomic hierarchy, and regular syntax to allow for simple machine hierarchy however, like a library card catalog - the data within the object they helped locate is more important than the nomenclature itself"
So what should you do at the minimum?
- The view name needs to describe the purpose and location.
- The name needs to make sense.
- Don’t use names only you understand.
- I once had an architect name view names with "HollyHo". When asked why he told me "Holly because I created it on December 22 and Ho for Santa Claus"
- Try to avoid weird naming prefixes such as below. Keep it easy to use.
- An example would be "A_EXEL-"
- "A" - Architecture
- "EX" - Exterior
- "EL" - Elevation
- Unless you knew the system it meant nothing and it was hard for people to learn even though it was documented.
There are many ways to do an easy system, here are some examples. In this case "Level" - "Description" is the system I used. Remember these are only examples and not the only solution
Floor Plan
01 - Floor Plan Level 1 - Area A
01 - Floor Plan Level 1 - Area B
Wall Section
North-South Section - Grid B
East-West Section - Grid 1
Exterior Elevation
North Elevation - Area A
North Elevation - Area B
North Elevation - Overall
Interior Elevation
Unisex bathroom (Room 101) North Wall Elevation
Unisex bathroom (Room 101) East Wall Elevation
Enlarged Plan
01 - Enlarged Restroom Plan - Level 1
The key is to have one agreed way to do it and get as much buy-in from everyone as possible. Document it for everyone's use and make sure that it is enforced. In a future blog post, I will discuss ways to enforce its use.
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