Entering measured distances into Revit LT Architecture

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am new to Revit. When for example drawing interior walls the dimensions I entered are different to what I specified when measuring it afterwards. I would for example measure the width of a room as 3000 mm and using the line exterior finish draw the wall, but when I measure it afterwards it would be less, say 2890mm.

How can I be sure that what I measure wall-to-wall is used correctly in Revit?

I would really appreciate any guidance.

Andree

[Anonymous]

When using measured distances placing walls, you have to be sure you are using the correct wall justification in the options bar.  IMO, the best method is to draw your walls then use the temp dimensions to move them to the correct location.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, will give it a go with the temporary dimensions.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I am learning. I am however still struggling to change some dimensions to reflect correctly the measured dimensions? Please see image below with related comments/questions.

Specifically for the wall dimensions as indicated on the image (large circle) I am unable to change it to measure from the inside of the wall (as I physically measured it at 3068 mm)?

Also can one add new temporary dimensions? Sometimes the distance you want to change is not given by any of the available temporary dimensions.

Would really appreciate assistance.

Andree

[David_W_Koch · Accepted solution]

My experience has been that it is often easier to place an item close to where I want it, and then adjust its position afterwards, to get it exactly where I want it, than it is to try to place the object precisely initially.  The temporary dimensions that Revit displays when selecting an object are very useful in making that final adjustment efficiently.

Those temporary dimensions will measure to a Wall's centerline, regardless of the justification used to place the Wall.  But you can use the round blue grips that appear on the witness lines of the temporary dimension to reposition the witness line(s), if desired.  The witness line that is on the selected object can only be moved to other positions (if any) on the selected object.  The other witness line can be moved to have the dimension measure to a different object that the initial one Revit chooses.  When moving a witness line with the grip, if the target object is a Wall, Revit will again favor the centerline.  To select another position on the Wall, such as the face of the Wall, hover the cursor near the desired face and then tap the TAB key.  The highlight will shift from the Wall centerline to the Wall face, and if you then release the left mouse button, the witness line will reference that face.

NOTE:  If you have multi-component Walls, and the View displays the common edges between components, you can also tab to those edges.  You may want to activate Thin Lines and be zoomed in when doing the tabbing so that you are certain you are getting the desired location for the witness line.

This brief Screencast shows how a Wall can be placed at a desired clear face-to-face distance from another Wall using the techniques noted above.  If the image is too small to see when viewing it embedded in this post, you can expand it to full screen by selecting the double diagonal arrow icon at the right side of the black bar below the Revit window in the Screencast.

[SteveKStafford · Accepted solution]

Manage ribbon tab > Additional Settings > Temporary Dimensions - will let you change the bias for the temporary dimensions from Wall Centerlines, Center of Core, Faces or Faces of Core. It also defines the bias for doors and windows to be either Centerlines or Openings.

As David's screencast demonstrates you can manipulate the grips on temporary (and permanent) dimensions to reference different parts of a wall, door, window or even an entirely different element. It doesn't show that you can also click on the blue dot grips like a button and cause them to jump to a different location line reference. The jump will move from face to face to centerline and continue in they cycle each time you click on the grip. The same is true of doors and windows (or other families) when they are built correctly. The dimension will jump from centerline to side to side and repeat.

FWIW, it isn't a bad idea to place permanent dimensions (like his video shows) to help fine tune the sketch of a floor plan. I purposefully used the word sketch because Revit is intentionally sketchy when working with walls, doors and windows. Sure we can enter precise values for length as we sketch a wall but Revit is just as happy to let us sketch out shapes, rough partition locations etc. When Revit was being created it was a reaction to the nature of CAD increasingly influencing us to want to accurately place walls at the outset because it was more work to refine or adjust them afterward. Ironic that takes time to get used to it after all these years of using AutoCAD or Microstation etc.