Revit 2013 - View Reference Tags

I've have actually been meaning to post this for about 6 months now, but I'm so busy these days I rarely get around to these types of things.  I've got a weeks break and can't help myself, so here is a quick tutorial on the new View Reference Tags.

In 2013 Autodesk added the ability to allow a View Reference Tag to reference almost any view (not legends) from almost any view.  Previously View Reference Tags were exclusive to Dependent Views and Matchlines.

Some tricks I thought of immediately were placing a "smart" view reference tag in a string of text that references some standard details or alike.  Or how about showing where 3D views are taken in plan and being able to graphically print them and hyperlink to them?

In TEXT

to a 3D View

The below video shows a quick snapshot of these in action.  But to create them simply:

1. Create a new Generic Annotation
2. Go to Family Category & Parameters and change the category to View Reference Tag
3. Place labels for the detail number and sheet number and draw your desired symbology (note, I always make my tags parameter so I only ever have one tag type per family category, this is typically done through visibility parameters controlled by integer values to switch between them)
4. Save the family and load it into your project
5. Switch to the view you want to place it in
6. Swith to the View tab and in Sheet Composition choose View Reference
7. Edit Type, and select the view reference tag you wish to use from the drop down
8. OK
9. Now you can start placing in the view your require it!  NOTE: you can place them in 3D views also but you need to ensure you lock the view orientation.

I hope someone finds this useful!

Revit 2012 - AS1428.1-2009 Door Circulation Checker

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I still haven't posted the video and datasets from RTC2011, I will do it when I get a spare few hours, need the incentive to sit down and record it all!

In the meantime I thought I'd share a little freebie, especially useful for all Australian users.  I have compiled a detail component family to graphically represent disabled circulation requirements as per AS1428.1-2009 to match Figure 31.  It has been setup to be completely fool proof, that is if you set any values that don't comply to this standard, you will get a nice large warning advising that the door doesn't comply.

It has some pretty darn long nested conditional statements (each about half a page of single line text) to match the requirements.  To help manage such long formulas I used an Excel spreadsheet to compile the formulas directly from the table.

Hope all find this useful.  Please let me know if you do as it may give me incentive to post some more...

Technically you could nest this family directly into your doors and use some formulas to to have it set to the appropriate sizes.  However, you may find that when you flip your door it will flip around the centre of the extents of the family and not about its origin.  A really annoying limitation of Revit that drives me nuts!!

Door Circulation Family.

Download it here and the Type Catalogue of standard sizes here.

Revit Technology Conference USA & Australia - June / May

For those of you that I interested I'll be running 3 classes at the above events.

1. Architectural Advanced Families (LAB)
2. Structural Advanced Families (LAB)
3. One Model (Revit Server, Worksharing API, Bluestreak, Security - Is it possible yet?)

I was really hoping to have the content of the Labs be directly based from the attendees requests.  However, so far the response has been far from overwhelming.  Especially considering that the Labs at the Australian event are sold out and wouldn't be surprised if the USA event isn't too far behind...

I'd really like the attendees to feel as though they've not only learnt something at the lab, but also to go away with something useful in terms of family content that they can use in their firms...

I plan on writing the 5 or so hours of training content over the Easter break so if you do have some suggestions please post your comments below!!  Remember, this is advanced some I'm going to touch some tricky topics including:

• Referencing Parameters
• Nesting
• Arrays
• Adaptive Components (depending on the suggestions)
• Family Type parameters
• Formulas (Conditional, Mathematical, Rounding, Trig etc.)
• Type Catalogues
• Shared Families
• Nested Detail Components
• Detail Level Control
• Best Practice
• Reference Planes / Lines / Points

I'm still contemplating whether I take the approach of setting up a bunch of half complete families and then we just tackle the tricky parts, or whether we go through the entire process of creating an advanced family from start to finish?

Otherwise I'll just pick some complicated stuff at random and hope that the bulk of people find the content useful.

BTW, I also believe that the Australian & New Zealand Revit Standards (ANZRS) for family creation are going to be released at this years event.  I've reviewed it and it is an excellent set of guidelines for creating families that will work with all disciplines and standardise online content if adopted by Autodesk Seek as well...

Making a completely parametric mobile crane - Final

Hi Everyone,

Again, sincere apologies for the delay in updates.  Please watch the below 3 videos for the final explanation of how I went about making this family.  Comments always welcome and any recommendations for what people what me to show next.

Cheers.

Revit 2011 - Creating a Parametric Shade Sail using Adaptive Components

In this video I'll demonstrate how something can be easily made very parametric using adaptive components for a tension structure such as a shade sail.

KAUST: Breakwater Beacon Inauguration

After 4 months of documentation and modelling, and finally construction, the Breakwater Beacon is finished.





















Designed by Daniel Tobin & Jamie Perrow of Urban Art Projects and the Plaza by Liam Proberts of Fairweather Proberts, Cadway and specifically myself, were given the difficult tasks of taking the complex design and producing accurate and complete documentation in order to realise this design.


Working with the Structural Engineers, Robert Bird Group - Lance Barton, strict construction tolerances were given that were part of the design constraints.


I then took these design constraints and constructed a highly robust Revit Family with over 70 parameters and numerous complex formulas (conditional statements, trigonometry and algebra). By creating parameters and using the API to calculate the true lengths of the edges of the hexagonal rings we were able to automate a lot of the shop drawing creation for the precast concrete elements. Within Revit we were able to directly and automatically extract weights and volumes to supply to the Structural Engineer for calculation.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all straight forward. Early in the design process I had to go through a number of iterations of my family whilst the construction technique was established. That is, which sections were Precast Concrete and which sections with Cast in-situ. The main issue being that the cast in-situ was a different colour to the precast concrete which wasn't a desired architectural outcome.

From there the Lighting Designers, Norman Disney and Young became involved and we worked with them to set out recessed lighting locations directly in the precast pieces themselves and documented their exact locations.

The Structural Engineers calculated 3 lifting points for each piece that simplified the lifting process so the natural centroid of the piece was already correct when lifted by the crane and lowered into position.

From here it was a process of placing all the individual hexagons and adjusting their many parameters to suit the concept design. As we were using Revit, as we placed the elements more and more of the documentation was also being completed. We were given tolerances for the spacing of the pieces to work with and then for every piece we supplied 12 coordinates to locate the precast members onsite (6 vertices internally and externally). Every single piece was different in shape and the internal faces of the precast members were completely faceted so the Revit family had to completely triangulate the faces.

Finally once all these pieces were placed, we then had to specifically model up the 4 different entrance frames which also had a steel framed core. We supplied the centroid points of the void spaces to the structural engineer and produced shop drawings for the many segments that then framed the doorways.


The final stage to be completed is the entire plaza level which should now be well underconstruction to immitate the Giants Causeway.

If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to post a comment. I hope some find this information useful or interesting.