Don’t Say Revit Doesn’t Do Beautiful David Flynn and Mark Thorley designtech.io Join the conversation #AULondon #AU2017
Key Learning Objectives Gain an understanding of the wide array of Revit tools available for concise graphical output
Discover the quirks of many of the features we take for granted or underuse Explore how we can take a rough model to documentation in the best possible manner Learn how to automate lengthy Filter and Graphical processes
About Us David Flynn
Experience David is co-founder at computational BIM consultancy designtech based in London UK.
David has previously been employed at Grimshaw Architects as their global Head of BIM, at KPF, AL_A, Pascall + Watson and mcFarlaneGreen
Projects
About Us Mark Thorley
Experience Mark is co-founder at computational BIM consultancy designtech based in London UK.
Mark’s skillset has led him to be one of the leaders in Computation and tools such as Dynamo. Mark has worked for companies such as Aecom, Grimshaw and Spacezero.
Projects
Overview There are endless options for making your drawn deliverables more concise and clear within the Revit toolset.
Overview There are endless options for making your drawn deliverables more concise and clear within the Revit toolset. We will cover settings and approaches developed by designtech and BPTW Partnership
We will not focus on landscaping, context, backgrounds or Rendering but purely on well drawn 2D Plans, Sections and Elevations. Image by BPTW
Project-Wide Settings Control Hierarchy
Project-wide Settings
Project-Wide Settings Line Weights - Model
Project-Wide Settings Line Weights - Model Revit allows 16 but you should restrict your settings to 6 or 7 standard weights. Similar to the 7 main colours in your ACAD ctb.
Pen #1 is used to control Revit Surface and Cut patterns and Pen #2 controls Ceiling Grids. In our settings, we make #1 and #2 thin enough to not be a concern. Any adjustment is dealt with in Visibility Graphics
Project-Wide Settings Line Weights - Model
Project-Wide Settings Line Weights - Model Revit allows 16 but you should restrict your settings to 6 or 7 standard weights. Similar to the 7 main colours in your ACAD ctb.
Pen #1 is used to control Revit Surface and Cut patterns and Pen #2 controls Ceiling Grids. In our settings, we make #1 and #2 thin enough to not be a concern. Any adjustment is dealt with in Visibility Graphics Use Pen #16 as an ultra-thin line. Revit can go as thin as 0.025mm.
Project-Wide Settings Annotation
Project-Wide Settings Object Styles These are the base settings for all printed graphics
Instead of Layers in AutoCAD we control with Categories in Revit. All Overrides shown later are supplanting these settings. Without a robust Line Weight table, Object Styles are useless.
Project-Wide Settings: Object Styles Ceilings, Floors, Walls - Common Edges are always set to 1 and 1 Hidden Lines are always 1 and 1 with Grey Line Color.
Project-Wide Settings: Object Styles Ceilings, Floors, Walls - Common Edges are always set to 1 and 1 Hidden Lines are always 1 and 1 with Grey Line Color. All Categories with only PROJECTION are set to 2. All others are set to 1 No Sub-categories are heavier than the Category
Editing Options
Ways to edit graphics in view: Visibility Graphics These settings represent ‘in view’ Object Style overrides.
They are the foundation of View Templates and need to be mastered to deliver elegant drawings. Controls are given for elements being cut or elevated. Similar to having a second layer available when an object is cut.
Ways to edit graphics in view: Visibility Graphics - Tips Auto-colour walls by setting them to Course detail level.
Ways to edit graphics in view: Visibility Graphics - Tips Auto-colour walls by setting them to Course detail level.
Ways to edit graphics in view: Visibility Graphics - Tips Use Cut Line Styles to edit how walls show thick and thin lines.
Ways to edit graphics in view: Visibility Graphics - Tips Use Cut Line Styles to edit how walls show thick and thin lines.
Ways to edit graphics in view: Element Override A tool not loved by your Revit manager. Granular control over graphics at object level Very useful when you want to make changes without disconnecting your View Template
Ways to edit graphics in view: Element Override Add a different hatch to a surface or heavier lines around walls. Make Curtain Walls transparent and coloured. Beware; there is no control between glass and mullions.
Project-Wide Settings Linework The most in-depth way to adjust content but also the most obscured. It is difficult to know what was changed at a quick glance and no UNDO button. Can be very time consuming and typically just used to cover gaps in other settings.
In Depth Family Sub-Categories An area of inconsistency in drawings that can be quite tedious to fix.
Image by BPTW
In Depth Family Sub-Categories An area of inconsistency in drawings that can be quite tedious to fix.
Opening Swings are most likely to be incorrectly set. Object Styles and therefore VV rely on consistency in sub-categories
In-View Setups Sun / Shadows 2 section you need to control. Sun Setting and Lighting.
For consistency we always turn on ‘Relative to view’. These only relate to Elevations as shadows in Plan or Section tend to make them slightly cartoonish
In-View Setups Sun / Shadows 2 section you need to control. Sun Setting and Lighting.
We don’t want much colour so we set Sun and Ambient Light to full. Shadows are set low at 20. This allows them to sit well with Halftone line-work across your views.
In-View Setups Sun / Shadows
Image by BPTW
In-View Setups Hidden Lines Hidden Lines can be used to give a wireframe view with full graphic control
In-View Setups Hidden Lines Hidden Lines can be used to give a wireframe view with full graphic control Unlike ‘Visual Style-Hidden Line’, you can control the graphics of the lines.
In-View Setups Hidden Lines Hidden Lines can be used to give a wireframe view with full graphic control Unlike ‘Visual Style-Hidden Line’, you can control the graphics of the lines. As mentioned earlier, these have all been set to Hidden and 128,128,128 in Object Styles
In Depth Transparency Transparency for Railings can add more depth when used alongside Depth Cueing and Filters. Beware that Shadows will not be cast by elements with any Transparency applied Very useful on Roof Plans when glazing systems are present.
Image by BPTW
Improving your workflow
Current Workflow Depth Cueing A new tool added in 2017 Can add great depth to an Elevation or Section Depth Cueing automatically makes your drawings print raster so it is not useful for detailed documentation.
Current Workflow Depth Cueing 1. Near Fade Location. Where the fading of content will begin from. 2. Far Fade Location. Where the fade ends and becomes consistent. Anything beyond this line matches the fade at the line. 3. Fading Zone. The range of fade spans across this region
Current Workflow Depth Cueing For Sections, the Near Plane is consistent as it is the Section Line. So you can add to View Templates but keep in mind, Raster means you are pixelating your drawings.
Current Workflow Depth Cueing For Elevations, view positions vary so they should not be applied to View Templates. Each Elevation needs to be adjusted manually dependent on distance from Elevation Line.
Perfect for Planning drawings but not ideal for technical façade focused drawings.
Current Workflow Depth Cueing For Elevations, view positions vary so they should not be applied to View Templates. Each Elevation needs to be adjusted manually dependent on distance from Elevation Line. Perfect for Planning drawings but not ideal for technical façade focused drawings. Image by BPTW
Image by BPTW
Image by BPTW
Current Workflow Filters Filters provide a way to override the graphic display and control the visibility of elements that share common properties in a view Filters are typically how we can produce drawings that need colour to articulate types such as Walls and Floors.
Current Workflow Filters Filters provide a way to override the graphic display and control the visibility of elements that share common properties in a view Filters are typically how we can produce drawings that need colour to articulate types such as Walls and Floors.
Current Workflow Filters Filters can also be used to create depth in your elevations and sections by creating a project parameter and assigning line weight override.
In this example, we assign weight to different items to highlight primary elements
Image by BPTW
Image by BPTW
Possible New Workflow:
Live Demo
Before
Image by BPTW
Before
Image by BPTW
After
Image by BPTW
Filter Tool
http://designtech.io/download/filters-revit
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