Capability

Calculating Length of Curb

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One of the greatest advantages to using Revit, is its scheduling capabilities. If you model your landscape and hardscape accurately, you can create schedules that pull almost any area, quantity, or value, which is great for cost estimating.

schedule_paving01

This is easiest to do with families and parameters that Revit has by default. Floors, for example, come with an Area parameter that automatically calculates the area of any and every floor in the model. But even if a system family does not have the parameters that you want, there is often a way  Continue reading →

Grading Plans, Part 1: Generic Annotations

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One of the most versatile families in Revit is the Generic grading01_symbolAnnotation (this is the same as the Symbol, on the Annotation ribbon). It is commonly used to create symbol-like families, such as keynotes, north arrows, graphic scales, and stamps. But it can also be used to generically annotate a drawing/ view.

In typical Revit standards and best-practices, it is almost always preferable to use a Tag, since a Tag pulls actual information from the object. Generic Annotations are better than just “dumb” Text, but unlike Tags, they will not update if any information about the annotated object changes.

Grading plans are one of the few exceptions to using Tags. Continue reading →

Hardscape, Part 1: An Overview

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There are dozens of ways to model hardscape within Revit. The ‘hardscape’ I am referring to here is primarily the ground plane hardscape, such as concrete, asphalt, pavers, curbs, etc. While there are specific tools for creating stairs, walls, and railings, there is no system family specifically for landscape hardscape. There is also no curb tool. So let’s review the options…

Subregions
Subregions can only be used on a Toposurface. They are just a part of the whole Topo (and will show up in a Topo schedule), hence their name ‘subregions.’ They work well if you want a quick hardscape area draped over Topo and are fine for broad, large-scale visualization. But as Topo, Subregions do not work well as hardscape once you move into finer detail graphics and documentation. Here are the main reasons why: Continue reading →

Shared Coordinates: Site to Architecture

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Shared Coordinates is the key to any multidisciplinary work involving a site/ landscape. If architecture/MEP want to link the site in correctly, coordinates must be shared. Also, shared coordinates are needed to coordinate between Site and MEP.

Before starting the process, be aware:

  1. Shared Coordinates uses the Survey Point as the reference point. So be sure to establish real-world coordinates prior to sharing and be aware you will need to re-share if/after moving the Survey Point.
  2. Sharing Coordinates modifies the linked file that you’re sharing to. This means that everyone must either be out of that link, or synced up and not actively working/ borrowing stuff.
  • The second option is often preferred, as it wastes less time reopening files and links.
  • Before sharing coordinates, I often hop into the architecture file to check who is in the file via the Worksharing Monitor.

So after the architecture file is linked in, located correctly, and the architects are all synced/ out of their file… Continue reading →