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Revit Structure 2013
by: Ammar Berrou
What Time Has Taught Me
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aking a quick BIM marketing presentation is different from a real design project that involves BIM. And a huge project compared to a normal project is about the same as comparing a normal project to a presentation. A project may be described as huge if its model size exceeds the norm for mainstream projects for reasons such as large area, complex geometry, or an extremely fine level of detailing. Workflow rules change, hardware get more expensive; and add to this the team members’ differing skill levels.
it’s always preferable to do the extra manual work yourself in order to avoid lengthy regeneration times.
This article shows some lessons learned from a 2.3 million sq. ft. project with a complex, organic shape.
• Worksets are like AutoCAD® layers, meaning users may mistakenly put elements on other worksets. This means periodic maintenance should be run to keep the data segregation.
NOTES ON WORKFLOW 1. Manual Versus Automatic A “happy go lucky” novice design software user, when given two choices—Yes and No—by default always selects Yes, no matter what he’s asked. What time has taught me: The safe answer is No! Always reply with “No” to Autodesk® Revit® offers if you do not understand what you are being asked and if you can’t find someone to answer the question for you. For example: Do you want to automatically do this or that…”. Either you or your computer will do extra work. In huge projects, the computer wins and I’ve learned 48
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2. Worksets Versus File Linking To share a project among a team, worksets are the first thing that comes to our experienced Revit mind. What time has taught me: In huge projects, linking models might be better, for the following reasons.
• In worksets, all elements are in the same file. In other words, these elements socialize (interact) with each other. Remember the happy-to-lucky novice guy will reply with “Yes” to the dialog prompt asking: “Do you want to attach intersecting walls to the bottom of the slab?” This causes big trouble. Constraints will erupt here and there, sometimes even without consulting you. • Splitting the project to segregated links (Xrefs) by discipline and/or project sector makes it far easier to read, understand, and maintain the project. On the opposite side, cons might include: • Any change on families, settings, etc. needs to be applied on more than a file; however, Revit extensions can easily overcome this issue for you. November 2012