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August 2nd, 2012 Top of footing elevations are commonly found on a structural foundation plan, and many structural engineers like to show the top of footing elevations within their footing tag. Footing tags that are a home to many pieces of information offer a concise way to provide a range of information in one location. The only downside to this approach is that a straightforward method to include the top of footing elevation in a foundation tag does not currently exist out of the box. This article outlines a method to provide a top of footing elevation in a foundation tag.
Out-of-the-Box Options
Out of the box, there are two options for showing footing elevations. The first option is to simply use the elevation at the bottom of the footing. This instance parameter is available in all out-of-the-box footings, and a tag referencing this parameter is also available. The argument in favor of this approach is that everything is available out of the box, and little to no effort is required to use this tag. The negative aspect of this option is that a structural engineer would have to change the tried-and-true way he has shown footing elevations on his drawings, as well as slightly altering the information provided on the planshowing bottom, instead of top, of footing elevations. This option is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Out-of-the-box foundation tag with elevation at the bottom. The second out-of-the-box option is to use a spot elevation to show the top of footing elevation. This information may be shown separately from that shown in the footing tag; however, in an effort to keep consistent the look of their drawings both pre- and post-Revit use, structural engineers have tended toward placing the spot elevation next to or below the footing tag. If a company uses a footing tag that has lines or boxes around each piece of information, there is a blank location on top of which the spot elevation is placed. A positive for this approach is that drawings can continue to look the way they always have, and all of the same information continues to be available in the same location. The negative is that the footing tag is now two pieces and as a result, moving the tags around on the plan can leave orphaned spot elevations. Chasing these around can be a bother and misplaced elevations are easily overlooked, so plans may eventually get to the contractor with stray
footing elevations. One might argue that this is not a major concern since design intent is not compromised; however, why not avoid the forthcoming request for information (RFI) to clarify footing elevations?
A Different Approach
Many seasoned Revit users, this author included, would argue to first utilize out-of-the-box options before creating something custom. Even if the out-of-the-box option forces a change in how drawings look or how they are presented, if the information is greatly the same, or at least conveys the same design intent, why spend the added time to go about it differently? Function over fashion, in a manner of speaking. With that said, the following outlines a custom workaround that will allow top of footing elevations to be included in a footing tag.
both the shared and project coordinates, then this will have to be incorporated in to the calculated value. In this example, this has been handled by adding a parameter called Datum and setting it to the proper elevation. Setting the datum value can be achieved quickly by altering the sorting/grouping settings to group all of the footings into one row and then changing the value all at once. To calculate the actual top of footing elevation, add the foundation thickness to the elevation at the bottom, and then add the datum value, if applicable. The calculated parameter is illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Calculated parameter with Datum. The convenient feature of calculated values in schedules, as opposed to formulae in families, is that there is an ellipsis () button that allows the user to browse to and select the other parameters, so typos are less likely. With adding the calculated value, the accurate top of footing elevation will appear in the schedule next to the top of footing shared parameter that needs to be manually input. A Revit user could then simply input the proper value to match the calculated value and the elevation would then appear in the foundation tag. A suggestion here would be to group the foundations by their calculated top of footing elevations, and then input all of the values, thus only requiring that a user type any common elevations once. If this technique is used, be sure to ungroup the foundations and show all instances once the elevations are entered. Ending the process at this step would provide a simplified way to manually enter all of the top of footing elevations, but it would not entirely solve the issue that the footings may move and the elevations will have to be managed. Yes, having the accurate elevation immediately available will aid in the management process, but it could be even easier.
Figure 3: Check
Figure 4: Conditional formatting The Check column can be a hidden field, if so desired, because including this step causes any incorrect values (not the check value) in the schedule to turn red, thus making it extremely easy to identify and to edit the incorrect values. Another approach is to make the check value a yes/no parameter, instead of length, that tests if the calculated value equals the manually entered value. The conditional formatting can then be set to turn the inputted value red if the yes/no check parameter returns a no. The yes/no return may be a more straightforward test output, but knowing the total difference between the calculated and the manually entered value may be useful. Either method will work, but one or the other may be of more use to the user. Once the schedule is expanded for the other structural foundation values, a calculated value as well as a separate check field will be required for each structural foundation family. However, the conditional formatting can include multiple criteria, so simply add a test expression for each foundation family to the inputted top of footing elevations conditional formatting.
After the schedule is completed, the only remaining step is to use it, and to remember to occasionally check that values are not coming up red. When the foundations and the tags are originally placed, the elevation field will be blank, so that helps to remind the user to visit the schedule. Then, as long as the schedule is checked prior to issuing the construction documents, the structural engineer can be confident that the top of footing elevations are accurate. Utilizing the schedule in this manner takes the otherwise long process of checking the manually inputted elevations and turns it into a shorter and much simpler task. The schedule also adds a level of automation that will reduce errors. Figure 5 shows tiled windows of the completed schedule (the check column is shown here, but would typically be a hidden field, as previously noted), and the foundations with their tags.
Conclusion
As with all workaround solutions, this method is not perfect for all situations. However, the tags, the schedule, the equations, and the formatting can all be altered to fit most conditions. There is at least one available add-in that addresses a similar issue within Autodesk Revit Architecture, so someone out there may have created an add-in for this problem. Furthermore, an add-in, or perhaps even a little extra coding could potentially be created to carry out the matching of the calculated values and the input values (i.e., make column A equal column B) so there may be an even easier method out there. To conclude, there are viable out-of-the-box options for conveying the elevations of footings. However, if a structural engineer would like to have a way to include specifically the top of footing elevation in the foundation tag, and would like the elevation value (almost) automatically populated with the correct value, with little management or maintenance of those values, then the above method is a viable option that has been successfully used on several projects. Desire (Dezi) Mackey, PE is a structural engineer with Martin/Martin in Denver, Colorado. She serves as treasurer and on the board of directors of AUGI, she is President of the Denver Revit Users Group and has spoken at Autodesk University and Revit Technology Conference. She and her husband, Brian Mackey, own BD Mackey Consulting, a BIM consulting firm. Dezi can be reached via email atdmackey@martinmartin.com or on Twitter @RevitGeeksWife.
Figure 1: Multi-segment grid lines Dimensioning: Some nice little enhancements include a Diameter tool to complement radiuses, splitting dimension chains into multiple strings, and new equality text features. Within the dimension type properties, equality text can be customized and then users can choose which kind of equality text they wish to use for each dimension instance. This will be great for all of those equally spaced beams on floor framing plans.
Figure 2: Equality dimensioning Materials: Autodesk is making a major overhaul of the materials library, extending assets to include appearance plus thermal and structural properties. This involves a new user interface that will take some getting used to. You will want to check over the material assets, especially if youve customized materials in previous templates. Beam and column materials now have a consistent Structural Material name, which allows the structural material to be scheduled. This will facilitate better interoperability with analysis software.
Figure 4: Wall assembly properties Wall and Floor Structural Materials: Walls and floors can now be refined within one of the structural layers in the core boundary to define the Structural Material. This will enable the analytical object to take on the physical material assets of that layer, enabling us to utilize multi-layered walls and floors for analysis.
Figure 5: Modify parts An additional feature is the ability to divide parts with a gap and a custom profile. A perfect example of this is precast concrete wall panels. Now we can maintain the original construction of a wallas well as the parts it is made ofwith proper construction joints.
Figure 6: Split with profile Assembly Drawings: The next step towards facilitating fabrication is the workflow to create shop drawings. Assemblies are a great fit to do this. Once an assembly is defined, six new view options have been added for creating detail section views around the outside of the assembly. Assembly views can now be placed on project sheets and project views placed on assembly sheets. Element creation tools are now available in edit assembly mode. Assemblies will have an origin, allowing the assembly type to be changed for an assembly instance, and provide a local coordinate system, which can be used to determine how the assembly geometry is displayed in views on a sheet.
Structural Reinforcement
Fabric: Structural Fabric Reinforcement is a new element that can be hosted in structural floors, foundation slabs, and structural walls. This is an item that was typically covered in detailing, but can now be accounted for in the
model. The layout functions are easy and intuitive, which can help builders get a quick and accurate estimate of how many sheets of wire fabric theyll need on the job. I can imagine similar tools surfacing later for such things as metal decking.
Figure 9: Fabric reinforcement Host a Rebar: Area and Path reinforcement can now host a rebar. This new behavior makes these elements containers for hosting structural rebar in a manner similar to how beam systems and trusses host structural framing. The prior behaviors have been maintained and the user can control which behavior is used in the Reinforcement Settings dialog on the Reinforcement panel of the ribbon. Layout rules such as a fixed number or maximum spacing for Area and Path reinforcement have been updated to follow Rebar Sets. You can now display rebar elements in floors, walls, or foundation slabs; schedule rebar; and remove the area or path system to expose the individual rebar elements. Units have also been added for structural rebar: Reinforcement Area and Reinforcement Area per Unit Length. Rebar Snapping: Another good rebar improvement attends to snapping and alignment to fillets and hooks. It is now easier to avoid interferences and collisions with other rebar while placing a rebar/rebar set in the fillet or hook.
Figure 10: Rebar snapping All of these new features are getting us very close to a complete rebar detailing package that can be leveraged by multiple parties from design to fabrication. Since most rebar detailing packages are 2D, this model-centric workflow may very well turn heads in the industry.
Structural Analysis
Anybody who has attempted to round-trip a structural design from Revit Structure to analysis software knows that the process isnt exactly straightforward. There is typically some preparation before doing so. Now that structural analysis is becoming embedded into the product and cloud analysis is on the brink of reality, tools are needed to bring the documentation model even closer to the analytical model. Thats where a string of new features comes into play. Manual Adjust: When setting up analytical floors, edges need to be aligned with analytical supports such as beams or walls. To do this task, one would select the auto-detect alignment method. If that didnt succeed in automatically detecting the closest support, than one could align them using grid lines or manually placed reference planes in every location. While this was achievable, it was a daunting task for complex projects. To address this, Revit Structure 2013 now allows direct manipulation of slab edges and corners (see Figure 12). In addition, new instance properties of analytical elements have been added to facilitate identification of analytical elements such as Member Number, Surface Number, Foundation Number, Node Number (Analytical Nodes), and Comments. Openings: Floor openings can now be ignored on a case-by-case basis. Each opening in an analytical model will have a check box when performing an Analytical Adjust (with the floor selected and the Openings tool selected) that can be simply unchecked when the user wants to remove the analytical opening but keep it in the physical model (see Figure 11). Thatll be handy when simplifying the analytical model from all of those small openings. Links: Where analytical beams and columns dont quite come together, we need to set rigid links between them. This was previously done by turning on automatic Rigid Links. An update has been implemented that renames these to Analytical Links and distinguishes the links to be either manual or automatic. These links have types that allow the user to configure link release conditions (see Figure 13). These improvements will greatly simplify the task of prepping the model for structural analysis.
Figure 13: Analytical links Greg Hale is a BIM Manager with SWBR Architecture, Engineering & Landscape Architecture. His main focus is on the implementation and practice of Building Information Modeling. Now specializing in Revit and Navisworks, he provides training, implementation strategies, product optimization, and best practice to designers, building owners, contractors, and educators. Greg is a licensed professional engineer, a regional leader in BIM and VDC, and has spoken at many professional events. In addition, Greg is co-founder of the RocCity Revit User Group, PSMA Design Technology Group, co-chair of the NCS Wave Task Team, and an active member of NCS and NBIMS. He brings a passion to design and the progression of integrated practice.
When multiple items are selected, it is a common practice to use the Filter option that appears on the ribbons Modify/Multi-Select Contextual tab only when multiple items are selected. This is shown in Figure 1. Alternately, one might use a keyboard shortcut such as FF to activate the filter. One may have even noticed that there is a tiny filter symbol at the bottom right of the screen, on the Status Bar (see Figure 2). What is lesser known is that clicking on this symbol will activate the filter command.
In addition to rotating a component prior to placement, the space bar can also be used to rotate or flip elements (or multiple elements) that are already placed. Using the space bar to rotate after placing a component can be a little troublesome because the base of the rotation is the insertion point of the component, so rotating in this manner may require more moving and aligning. The flipping works with any element that has a flip control (the two little blue arrows that appear when an element is selected). For example, select a wall, or several walls, and use the space bar to toggle the walls interior/exterior sides. Another application of the space bar concerns elements that use the offset option. While sketching an element with an offset option, the space bar will toggle the direction of the offset (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Toggle the offset direction with the space bar. Finally, when doing anythingfrom drawing a line to changing a dimensionthe space bar can also be used in place of the feet and inches symbol. So instead of typing 54, for example, simply type 5 4 and the result will be the same. Using the dash key also works in the same manner as the space bar (5-4), which is useful because the dash is one of the keys on the number pad. Please note, however, that the dash approach only works between feet and inches; a space is still required between whole and fractional inches (i.e., 5-4 works, but 5-4-1/2 does not).
Just in case it has not been said enough, the following is a list of some of the useful applications for the tab button: cycle through elements in a congested area; instead of just one segment, select a chain of walls or lines; select only a segment of chain of walls (select the first one and then press tab while hovering over the last desired segment); instead of one at a time, select connected beams all at once; cycle through snap locations (end point, intersection, and so on).
Figure 5: Modify temporary dimensions. Here are two bonus tips about temporary dimensions. First, in the graphics tab of the Revit options in the application menu (the big R), the size and opacity of the temporary dimension text can be edited. If it is too small or is being obscured, simply change the options (see Figure 6).
Figure 6: Edit temporary dimension text appearance. The second bonus tip is that the default locations of temporary dimensions can be changed under Manage Tab: Additional Settings: Temporary Dimensions (see Figure 7). This is useful if a user would prefer always to dimension wall faces and/or opening widths instead of their centerlines.
Pick Lines
Its a good idea to remind beginners about the Pick Lines option. Instead of drawing a line, wall, grid line, etc., between two points, select the Pick Line and then select another line, grid, element, etc., to create the desired element. Add an offset to the pick lines (on the options bar), and very quickly create elements, such as grid lines, with accurate spacing. This is illustrated in Figure 8.
Figure 10: Orient to View to see one floor. The way this command works is to adjust the section box such that it mimics the view range and the crop region of the selected view. To return to seeing the entire 3D model, either turn off the section box in the view properties, or manually stretch it back.
If a new Revit user is an AutoCAD veteran, one piece of good news is that the object snaps are greatly similar from one program to the other; it is just a matter of learning what snap options are available in Revit, where to find all of them, and when they are particularly useful. Tutorial literature likely points out the snaps options dialog box, found on the Manage tab, which provides much useful information. What a newer user might not know, or might forget to use, are the two-key shortcuts for snaps and the snaps overrides. To use a particular snap, type its two-key shortcut while drawing an element (the shortcuts are shown in parentheses in the aforementioned dialog box). For a particularly useful application of the two-key snap shortcuts, try using the snap centers shortcut to rotate about the base point of an element with a very large radius. To temporarily turn snaps on or off, right click while drawing an element to find the snaps override options. These tools are well known for users of other programs, but are often forgotten when working in Revit.
Figure 11: Create Similar on the ribbon. The Create Similar command activates whatever command is necessary to create a new instance to match the type of an existing element. For example, selecting a wall and clicking Create Similar activates the wall command and sets the type of the wall to match the one selected; and then the user may then draw another wall instance. This command is particularly useful for several reasons. It matches an elements type without the user having to know that type and without having to navigate through the (occasionally long) Type Selector looking for something specific. One may just copy elements to achieve a similar outcome, but then the user is left modifying, moving, and altering the new instance after it is placed. Also note that copying will not only copy the desired element, but also any hosted elements. For example, copying a wall will also copy all of the doors and windows in that wall. While extremely useful, the Create Similar command is not without its flaws. It only matches type properties, not instance propertiesor at least not all instance propertiesso, for example, it will create a wall of the same type, but not of the same height. Strangely, however, it will match location line settings, which is an instance property.
Conclusion
The items discussed above are just a handful of the Revit Structure basics a beginner may not learn right away, but having this knowledge would affect a beginners speed and productivity. So many excellent tips and tricks are omitted from basic Revit training, so hopefully this article brought to light some of those topics, or at the very least provided a reminder of topics to discuss with beginners.
Some of these topics, along with many more, have been or will be discussed on my blog, which can be found at www.bdmackeyconsulting.com/blog. Desire (Dezi) Mackey, PE, is a structural engineer with Martin/Martin Inc. in Denver, CO. She serves as treasurer and on the board of directors of AUGI. In addition, she is a board member of the Denver Revit Users Group and has spoken at Autodesk University and Revit Technology Conference. Dezi and her husband, Brian Mackey, own BD Mackey Consulting, a BIM consulting firm. Dezi can be reached via email atdmackey@martinmartin.com or on twitter @TheRevitGeeksWife.
Analytical Model
The analytical model in Revit has been something of a mystery. It has gotten a bad reputation over the years. It is there whenever you create the physical model, so there is no escaping it. Figure 1 shows the difference between the analytical and physical models.
Revit Architecture users hated it because it is always visually getting in the way. Revit Structure users hated it because it cannot be changed easily. In Revit 2012, these problems have been solved. The biggest change is the ability to edit the analytical model. One element added to the edit model is the reference point or analytical node shown in Figure 1. The analytical node now controls the ends of the analytical beam lines. The analytical node or reference point, as it is called, in the mass family editor is the most powerful modeling tool Revit has to offer. This article will discuss how to take advantage of this very special gift that was given to all users in Revit 2012 and how to edit the analytical model and then apply those changes to the physical model. Before we do that, lets first take a step back and examine what changes have been made to the analytical model in Revit 2012.
Figure 3: The Analyze ribbon commands. Note: The procedures described in this article for adjusting the analytical model is limited to Revit Structure. However, these methods may be used on Revit Architectural and MEP models if opened in Revit Structure. Lets discuss what happens to the relationship of the physical and the analytical models when the analytical model is adjusted. Lets take the one-story framing example shown in Figure 1. If one end of the middle analytical beam is moved 2-0 away from its physical beam end and the physical beam end is later moved, the relationship or offset remains the same as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 6: The adjustment handles on the analytical node. Also, analytical nodes can be hosted onto other elements including analytical beams. A hosted node will appear as a small sphere while a non-hosted node will appear as a large sphere as shown in Figure 7. Contrast this with the end of a physical beam. There is no way to tell by looking at the end of a physical beam if it is hosted to its supporting girder.
Figure 7: Hosted and non-hosted analytical node. Another unique characteristic of an analytical node is the ability to set the hosted nodes location based on a relative location along a hosted curve as shown in Figure 8. It is not possible to do this with the end of a physical beam. In the example in Figure 8, the node/end of the analytical beam is half the distance from the end of the analytical girder.
A Complex Adjustment
Lets use what we just learned and what was illustrated in Figures 7 and 8 on a real example. Consider the following girders in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Curved girder framing example. If, for example, you wanted to place three physical beams at the points of a curved girder that was made up of a spline curve, how would you do it with only the physical model? You could cut sections at each location in plan along the points, but this would not be accurate and it would be very time consuming. The better solution is to use the adjust analytical command. Follow the steps below for the solution. Draw the three physical beams in plan. Make sure to start and end each beam on the curved and straight girders as shown in Figure 9. Turn on the analytical model line and click adjust analytical. Select the analytical nodes of each beam and select the pick new host command as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10: Adjusting the analytical node via Pick New Host command. Place each analytical node at approximately the points of both girders, if they are not already located there. Select each node point and change the dimension parameters in the properties box, as shown in Figure 8, to measurement type = normalized curve parameter and normalized curve parameter = .25, .5, and .75 accordingly. This will set the beams at exactly at the points along the girders length as shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11: Adjusting the analytical node to the points. Note: Make sure that each analytical node of the ends of the analytical beams are hosted and appear small. If you have trouble placing the analytical nodes on the curved girder, place the nodes first at the end of the end segment of the curved beam. Finally, adjust the physical model to match the analytical model.
Figure 12: Adjusting the physical model to align with the analytical model. Go to the 3D view> select align > select the end of adjusted analytical node > select the end of physical beam as shown in Figure 12. Repeat these steps for each end of the beam that frames into the curved girder. Ignore the unjoin element message. Also adjust in plan each end of the physical beams that frame into the straight girder. The resultant framing is shown in Figure 13. Note: As shown in Figure 4, the analytical model moves relative to the physical model so you may find it necessary to click the analytical reset command for each analytical beam.
Conclusion
Based on these examples, it is clear that using the analytical model to create/adjust the physical model is very helpful. Only two examples were presented; however, these methods may be applied to all types of structural framing. Marcello Sgambelluri is the BIM Director at John A Martin & Associates Structural Engineers in Los Angeles, CA, USA. He has been using Autodesk products for over 15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max, and Revit Structure. He is a member of hte ASCE-SEI BIM committee and speaks at structural professional conferences across the country. Marcello teaches classes at Autodesk University that focus on free-form modeling in Revit and he beta tests the yearly releases of Revit Structure. He can be reached at marcellojs@johnmartin.com.
Worksets
The first step in preparing a project for multiple users is to divide your model into logical groupings of objects that are set up for single-user access. In Autodesk Revit this object grouping is achieved with worksets. When setting up the worksets, you must take into consideration the size of the project, each persons task, and the size of the team. Workset naming should be related to the function and/or location of the objects that will be in that grouping, which will allow new team members to easily adapt to the project. To enable worksharing, select the Worksets tool located on the Collaborate panel.
When you first activate worksets, a couple of things happen. First, the initial dialog box is automatically moving levels and grids to a workset and then assigning everything else to a different workset. Some default workset names are provided in the dialog box; however, you can change them at this time.
Figure 2: Worksharing default worksets Other standard groupings that happen automatically when you activate Worksharing are Families, Project Standards, and views. This is important so if one user is annotating a view, another user cannot be doing the same. To create a new workset select New in the worksets dialog box. Note that worksets also can be turned on and off in different views. When you create them, you can have them on or off in all views as default. This is very useful if you are modeling something you do not want to appear in all views.
Figure 4: Create a local copy Another way to create a local copy is to make a copy of the Revit Central file in a browser window, place it somewhere locally, then rename the file. To ensure you are connected and synchronizing your changes to the Central file, you can check the settings in the Synchronize drop-down on the Collaborate panel.
Figure 5: Synchronize settings If the Central file ever becomes corrupt, misplaced, or deleted and unrecoverable, you can change a local copy into a new Central file. When you open up your local Revit Structure file you may get an error that the Central file has moved. You can accept this error and still get into your local copy of the Central file. Then you can save your local file as a new Central file.
Figure 6: Create a new Central file Once the new Central file is established, other users can make a new local copy of the Central file and it will be up and running in no time.
Figure 7: Worksets borrowed Recommendation: Make your user name descriptive enough so other team members can identify you. In a large firm, adding your phone extension to your username is useful in case someone needs to talk with you to collaborate. To set your user name, select options from your main application drop-down menu.
Figure 8: Setting your user name If you select an element belonging to a workset that someone has borrowed, you need to place a request to edit that element. To do this select the element and click the Make element editable button indicated in Figure 9. If no one is editing that element it will open to make it available to you. If someone else has that element you will get an error and need to place a request to edit.
Figure 9: Make element editable If you place a request to edit an element the user will get a notification alerting them of your request. If they grant you permission, they need to synchronize with the Central file. Once they synchronize, you do the same to receive the permission to make the edits.
Figure 10: Request notification There are a couple of ways you can get a status on your editing requests. First, you can select Editing requests from the Collaborate panel. Second, there is a counter for the number of requests next to your active worksets.
Figure 12: Number of requests Recommendation: When you are done working and performed your last synchronization, DO NOT forget to relinquish all your worksets and elements. Do this by selecting Relinquish All Mine from the Collaborate panel.
Visibility
All views in your Revit Structure model have visibility settings that allow you to globally turn on and off items that belong to a workset. When worksets are activated in a model, a workset tab can be found in the visibility settings of a view.
Closing Tip
There will be an occasion when you are in a collaborative environment where a team member forgets to relinquish a workset he/she had control of. To make it even worse, this team member may not be in the office and you need to work on some elements that belong to that workset. The workaround for this is to change your user name to that of the team member, then relinquish the workset. Once the worksets are relinquished, synchronize with the Central file. Finally, change your user name back and continue to work on the file. The caution I must add is to make sure the user synchronized his/her changes to the Central file otherwise, any changes that users made will be lost. Follow these rules, recommendations, and tips and you will have success collaborating with your team. Dont be a traitor and break the rules! The team will suffer the consequences.