Your step-by-step guide to learning Autodesk Revit Architecture This detailed introduction to Revit Architecture features straightforward explanations and real-world, hands-on tutorials to teach new users the software's core features and functions.
Presented in the context of real-world workflows, and using real-world projects, each chapter contains a discussion of the "why" and "how" that is reinforced with a step-by-step tutorial so you'll gain practical and applicable experience with the core features of Revit Architecture. The new pedagogical approach emphasizes learning skills to help you prepare for the Revit certification exams.
- Learn at your pace with step-by-step exercises, illustrated with full-color screenshots and downloadable Revit tutorial files
- Work with floors, ceilings, walls, and curtain walls
- Use modeling and massing to explore design ideas
- Use the Family Editor to create and manage families
- Understand effective worksharing, BIM workflows, and file management
- Use rendering and visualization techniques to make your design come alive
- Prepare for Revit certification exams
With Autodesk Revit Architecture Essentials, you are only a step away from better, faster building design.
Table of Contents:
Foreword xix Introduction xxi
Chapter 1 Introducing the Autodesk Revit Architecture Interface 1
Understanding the User Interface 2
Exercise 1 1: Use the Properties Palette to See Dynamic Updates of Properties 3
Exercise 1 2: Explore the Content of Your Project with the Project Browser 4
Exercise 1 3: Use the View Control Bar to See Frequently Used View Properties 6
Exercise 1 4: Navigate with the ViewCube 8
Creating a Simple Layout 9
Exercise 1 5: Create a Floor 9
Exercise 1 6: Create Walls 11
Exercise 1 7: Create Levels 12
Exercise 1 8: Change Wall Type 14
Exercise 1 9: Place Interior Walls 16
Exercise 1 10: Place Doors and Windows 18
Exercise 1 11: Space Elements Equally 20
Now You Know 23
Chapter 2 Walls and Curtain Walls 25
Understanding Wall Types and Parameters 25
Basic Walls 26
Stacked Walls 28
Curtain Wall Types 29
Hosting Elements in Walls 29
Creating Wall Configurations 30
Exercise 2 1: Create Wall Configurations 31
Exercise 2 2: Host a Door in a Wall 33
Modifying Wall Parameters 34
Exercise 2 3: Modify Wall Parameters 34
Editing and Resetting Wall Profiles 36
Exercise 2 4: Edit and Reset the Wall Profile 37
Exercise 2 5: Attach and Detach the Top/Base 38
Cutting Openings 40
Exercise 2 6: Cut Openings in a Curved Wall 40
Splitting Walls 41
Swapping Walls 41
Creating Curtain Walls 42
Exercise 2 7: Create and Customize a Curtain Wall 42
Exercise 2 8: Modify Curtain Wall Type Properties 46
Editing Wall Profiles 49
Embedding Curtain Walls 50
Exercise 2 9: Embed and Edit Curtain Wall Profile 50
Curtain Panels 52
Adding and Removing Grids and Mullions 52
Exercise 2 10: Add and Remove Curtain Grids and Mullions 52
Exercise 2 11: Customize Curtain Panels 54
Now You Know 56
Chapter 3 Floors, Roofs, and Ceilings 57
Creating Floors 57
Exercise 3 1: Create a Floor by Sketch and Pick Walls 58
Exercise 3 2: Edit the Floor Boundary 60
Exercise 3 3: Create Sloped Floors 61
Exercise 3 4: Create an Opening with the Opening by Face Tool 65
Exercise 3 5: Create an Opening with the Shaft Opening Tool 66
Creating Roofs 69
Exercise 3 6: Create a Roof by Footprint 70
Exercise 3 7: Create a Roof by Extrusion 72
Exercise 3 8: Create Slope Arrows 74
Exercise 3 9: Create Multiple Roof Slopes 76
Adding Ceilings 78
Exercise 3 10: Add Automatic and Sketch Ceilings 79
Exercise 3 11: Create a Bulkhead 83
Exercise 3 12: Add Lights and Rotate the Grid 85
Exercise 3 13: Slope the Ceiling 86
Now You Know 87
Chapter 4 Stairs, Ramps, and Railings 89
Creating a Generic Railing 89
Exercise 4 1: Create a Generic Railing 90
Creating Stair Configurations 93
Exercise 4 2: Create a Stair by Component 94
Exercise 4 3: Create a Stair by Sketch 98
Exercise 4 4: Customize and Create a Component Stair Landing 100
Exercise 4 5: Create a Multistory Stair 103
Exercise 4 6: Host a Railing to a Stair 106
Exercise 4 7: Edit Railing Top Rail and Slope 109
Designing Ramps 112
Exercise 4 8: Create a Ramp and Edit the Boundary 112
Now You Know 116
Chapter 5 Adding Families 117
Understanding the Model Hierarchy 117
Exercise 5 1: Creating a Model Hierarchy 118
Working with System Families 121
Loading System Families 121
Exercise 5 2: Transfer Project Standards 122
Exercise 5 3: Place System Families 123
Working with Component Families 124
Exercise 5 4: Create a New Family and Load It into a Project 125
Employing Hosted Families 127
Exercise 5 5: Work with Hosted Families 129
Exercise 5 6: Place Face-Based Families 130
Working with In-Place Component Families 133
Exercise 5 7: Modify an In-Place Family 133
Finding Content 134
Now You Know 136
Chapter 6 Modifying Families 137
Modifying 3D Families 137
Exercise 6 1: View Scale and Detail Level 138
Exercise 6 2: Assign Visibility to Detail Levels 142
Family Categories 146
Exercise 6 3: Edit the Family Category 147
Exercise 6 4: Update a Family Insertion Point 149
Exercise 6 5: Modify Hosted Components 153
Modifying 2D Families 159
Exercise 6 6: Edit a Tag Family 159
Exercise 6 7: Edit a Profile Family 161
Exercise 6 8: Update Detail Components 164
Repeating Details 167
Exercise 6 9: Modify the Title Blocks 169
Family Tips and Best Practices 172
Now You Know 174
Chapter 7 Schematic Design 175
Importing a 2D Image 176
Exercise 7 1: Import and Scale a 2D Image 176
Designing with a 3D Sketch 178
Exercise 7 2: Link a 3D Sketch 178
Exercise 7 3: Add a New Level 180
Exercise 7 4: Calculate Mass Floor Area 182
Exercise 7 5: Reload a Linked Sketch 183
Creating Revit Elements from a Mass 184
Exercise 7 6: Create Floors from a Mass 184
Exercise 7 7: Create Walls from a Mass 184
Exercise 7 8: Create a Curtain System 186
Exercise 7 9: Create a Roof from a Mass 187
Now You Know 188
Chapter 8 Rooms and Color Fill Plans 189
Defining Rooms in Spaces 189
Room Tags 190
Room Boundaries 191
Room Separation Lines 192
Deleting Rooms 192
Exercise 8 1: Add Rooms and Room Tags 192
Exercise 8 2: Modify a Room Boundary 196
Exercise 8 3: Delete a Room Object 198
Generating Color Fill Room Plans 200
Exercise 8 4: Add and Modify a Color Scheme 200
Exercise 8 5: Add Tags and Color Fills in Section 203
Now You Know 205
Chapter 9 Materials, Visualization, Rendering 207
Materials 207
Exercise 9 1: Define a Material 208
Exercise 9 2: Assign a Material 210
Graphic Display Options 211
Exercise 9 3: Presentation Elevation View 212
Exercise 9 4: Presentation 3D View 214
Exercise 9 5: 3D Exploded View 216
Rendering 217
Exercise 9 6: Render a View 217
Exercise 9 7: Interactive Rendering 220
Exercise 9 8: Cloud Rendering 221
Now You Know 222
Chapter 10 Worksharing 223
Configuring Worksharing 223
Exercise 10 1: Enable Worksharing 224
Exercise 10 2: Create the Local File and Worksets 227
Exercise 10 3: Assign Elements to Worksets and Control Visibility 229
Saving to the Central Model 232
Exercise 10 4: Open and Close Worksets 234
Worksharing Display Modes 236
Editing Requests 238
Worksharing Best Practices 240
Now You Know 241
Chapter 11 Details and Annotations 243
Creating Details 243
Detail Line 244
Region 245
Component 245
Arranging Elements in the View 246
Repeating Detail Component 246
Insulation 248
Detail Groups 248
Linework 250
Exercise 11 1: Enhance a Detail with Regions 251
Exercise 11 2: Add Detail Components and Detail Lines 254
Exercise 11 3: Create a Repeating Detail Component 257
Annotating Your Details 259
Dimensions 259
Tags 259
Text 260
Exercise 11 4: Add Dimensions to Your Detail 260
Exercise 11 5: Add Tags and Text to Your Detail 264
Creating Legends 268
Exercise 11 6: Create a Legend 268
Now You Know 270
Chapter 12 Drawing Sets 271
Schedules 271
Understanding Schedules 272
Exercise 12 1: Create a Window Schedule 272
Exercise 12 2: Create a Room Schedule 276
Exercise 12 3: Create a Sheet List 280
Placing Views on Sheets 282
Exercise 12 4: Arrange Plan Views on a Sheet 283
Exercise 12 5: Adjust Crop Regions 288
Exercise 12 6: Add Schedules to Sheets 290
Printing Documents 291
Exercise 12 7: Explore the Print Dialog Box 291
Now You Know 295
Chapter 13 Workflow and Site Modeling 297
Understanding a BIM Workflow 297
Staffing a BIM Project 300
Project Roles Using Revit Architecture 300
Architect 301
Modeler 302
Drafter 302
Adding Team Members to Fight Fires 303
Modeling a Site 304
Toposurface 305
Building Pad 306
Exercise 13 1: Model a Toposurface 307
Exercise 13 2: Create a Building Pad 309
Performing Quality Control on Your Model: Keeping an Eye on File Size 310
Purging Unused Families and Groups 311
Managing Links and Images 312
Cutting Down on the Number of Views 312
Dealing with Warnings 313
Now You Know 315
Chapter 14 Repeating Objects, Best Practices, and Quick Tips 317
Repeating Objects 317
Optimize Performance 320
Figuring Out How Much RAM Your Project Will Need 320
Reducing File Size 321
Utilize Best Practices 322
Use Quick Tips and Shortcuts 325
Locate Additional Resources 330
Now You Know 331
Appendix 333
Index 343
About the Author :
About the Authors
Ryan Duell is a principal quality assurance analyst for Autodesk Revit and previously worked at an architectural firm in Boston on projects ranging from single-family residences to large commercial jobs. He also teaches Revit at the Boston Architectural College.
Tobias Hathorn is a licensed architect and user experience designer for FormIt. He has honed his knowledge and experience with Revit—especially the Graphics and Rendering features—over the past 7 years in the quality assurance and product design groups.
Tessa Reist Hathorn is a licensed architect practicing in the Boulder, Colorado area and has worked on everything from residences to the Kansas City Performing Arts Center.
