Revit MEP
product focus
2012
Lighting levels per space
If there are any tools you find yourself or others creating on every project, add it to the template and save time on the next project.
Family Library Surely you have spent hundreds of hours developing a library of families to be used on all projects. Where do you keep them? Each release of Revit requires the files to be updated. Otherwise you have to wait for them to be updated on demand each time they are used. I start out by copying the out-of-the-box library to a file on the network, and then I copy my existing library to a subfolder of the same directory. Then I upgrade the previous library (using the automated script provided with the installation) to a file within the out-of-the-box content. Finally I point the Library Path (found under “Places” on the File locations Tab) to the company library file. Then should I need something from the OOTB content, I insert as normal, but only need to press the up arrow on the file browser dialog to get to the OOTB location; very convenient. Another thought—as you are building content that requires the use of annotation symbols, save a copy of the annotation symbol and place it on your new symbols and abbreviations page. Now how about the volumes of vendor-provided content? I love that they are on board with Revit and are making content for us. That makes our models much more accurate. A word of warning: while some of this content is ideal, some of it is less so for a variety of reasons. In all cases, they likely do not match, or even come close to matching, your company standards. So plan to adjust pen weight assignments, connector type and value settings (very often ignored), and add any shared parameters used for scheduling. July 2011
In all fairness these settings could not have been built into the parts and satisfy everyone’s different standards. Next, the parts will need to be flexed—make sure they can stretch and adjust as expected. Lastly, make sure they are not too detailed. If every nut bolt and screw is modeled, the file size will likely be an indicator. About the worst family file I have seen available for download was an AutoCAD polymesh’s that had been exported out and loaded into a generic family (with each size change loaded as a separate polymesh). They printed as black blobs of toner and had huge files sizes. So now that some ideal content has been found and modified to meet the company standards, either adopt them as part of your standard library or keep them separate in a nearby location. I keep ours on the first level of our company standards directory, and call it vendor-provided content. One big reason to keep it separated is to allow for the Frankenunit. The what? Many jurisdictions, state, and federal projects require three or more equivalent models of equipment to be interchangeable for use on any project. This is an attempt to keep a level playing field and prevent unfair favoritism. However, this means while we have this nice accurate vendor-provided equipment that fits perfectly in the ceiling from vendor A, Vendor B, who is 6 inches deeper, might win the project. And if theirs doesn’t fit, it’s our fault. To account for this on most pieces of equipment, we create a Franken-unit that has the worst dimensions of all the possible bidders for a given project. This makes a strong argument for building your own parts and pieces.
Details & Schedules Don’t worry about details and schedules—there is already a system in place for the AutoCAD® ones, and you can just im
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