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Revit Structure 2015
The main goal of SmartAssemblies is to help Revit users simplify the assemblies workflow. This unique application solves many headaches of Revit users who need to prepare a large amount of documentation to the construction industry. It can save hundreds of hours of work required for shop drawing creation, because it gives Revit Structure users incredibly speedy workflow, easy control process, and error prevention. Smart Assemblies enables you to prepare shop drawings for many selected reinforced concrete elements. The “Update Assembly” feature will automatically update any changes in the project to all selected assemblies. Figure 3: Smart Assemblies rules for Autodesk Revit shop drawings
for every view, schedule, view/schedule template, tag, legend, and title block. Also it adds “weight” and “mass” parameters to the assembly and calculates true weight and mass values automatically. Mandatory condition for weight and mass calculations: Every element has to have material assigned with “density” value. Assembly Sheets are automatically generated by predefined user template. Users can point to where every assembly view or schedule has to be placed. When compared to plain Revit software, the Smart Assemblies application allows you to predefine view templates, schedule templates, title blocks for the future assemblies and to put assembly views into the same place on all sheets. Also, it allows users to create two or more sheets if needed.
Automatic assembly updates The very convenient Smart Assemblies feature is an automatic update. If there are changes in the model, Smart Assemblies can save time when updating your existing assemblies. After any change in the project, the structural engineer simply needs to select the assembly and update it with the “Update Assembly” feature. Smart Assemblies provides a detailed report with warnings after making or updating the assembly. Every assembly is displayed with a separate color that indicates its status, allowing Revit users to easily understand what assemblies are up-to-date or should be updated. The report can be exported to a PDF if necessary. All assembly updates happen in real time, which helps users avoid mistakes and control all process of shop drawings creation easily.
Figure 4: Smart Assemblies update 16
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This powerful Revit-based BIM solution is compatible with Revit releases 2013-2015. Try this helpful application and you’ll see that preparation of shop drawings could be very easy. You can save hundreds of hours per project using Smart Assemblies for the automation of shop drawing creation. You will not need to add dimensions to assembly views or compose shop drawings manually anymore!
Add-ons for automated framing layout The next high challenge for structural engineers who use Revit Structure is a demand to create a full framing layout in 3D that should be very accurate. Also, it is desirable for the framing process to be creatively flexible so as to be able to correctly form things such as cripple hips and a wide range of cut outs, let-ins, doubling up, raking cuts, junctions in larger sized ridge beams, and the like. I know from my practical experience that not a few Revit Structure users need to get additional tools for Revit for automatic roof or whole building framing. Revit has a tool to automate the layout of frame of a building, but its functionality is rather weak. Therefore, structural engineers often seek and apply any third-party program whose functionality allows them to simplify the framework process and shop drawing creation. One of the examples of excellent third-party products could be the AGA CAD BIM solution Wood & Metal Framing Pro, which consists of independent modules Rafter+, Truss+ RT, and Wall+. Revit users have been using them for a few years, with positive results. The first Revit add-on, Rafter+ by the AGA CAD team, was designed for Revit 2009 version. This addon for roof frame construction was developed when we discovered that Revit, at that time, didn’t have anything like the ArchiCAD module for wood framing. Talking to customers and getting feedback, we decided to expand Autodesk Revit’s capabilities. After Rafter+ was released, we got a huge interest from Revit users. That success showed us that we were headed in the right direction. After that, a whole series of other productivity enhancing framing products was released. These products include the Wood & Metal Framing Pro suite, whose separate June 2014