Managing LARGE & COMPLEX Sites in Revit and Twinmotion (Replay w/Links)

 

On last night's episode of BIM After Dark Live I broke down how my team and I manage large, complex, and phased scenes in Revit & Twinmotion 2020 to create construction logistics/phasing plans, aerial views, and more... There are a lot of aspects to this session for Revit: - Model setup of super large scenes (acres upon acres of land). - Use of Container models using the design teams files. - Managing multiple phases, fencing, and more... Then, there are all the lessons learned when using Twinmotion 2020 with these large scenes, such as: - Export/Import Tips for less crashes. - Managing Phases/Sequencing, etc... - More efficient and stable model refreshes on large scenes - Best trees and material settings for aerial views. - Best lighting settings for aerial views...

Follow along as I walked through two different projects with their own unique approaches to creating large site models in Revit and managing how those scenes are built in Twinmotion.

Also, it's worth watching this episode to see how nervous I was while running two instances of Twinmotion 2020, two instances of Revit, and streaming live to YouTube from a 2K monitor... Talk about risky!

Continue reading to view the replay and all of the links mentioned (as well as the Twinmotion light settings I walk through at the end)...

Revit Tutorial - Streamlined Topography (Auto-Clicker Update)

Way back in 2011 I posted a tutorial showing how you can use a simple little tool to streamline your topography creation.  This is especially valid if you don't have a CAD file and are using an image file of contours, etc... If you are still making topography by clicking every little contour point, and giving yourself carpal tunnel in the process, you need to see this tutorial.

Well, that tutorial is still relevant today, but, the Auto-Clicker software I link to does not work on Windows 10...

I still use this technique today when modeling topography from image files so I thought it would be helpful to re-post it and add the Windows 10 download link...

Keep reading to view the tutorial and download "Auto-Clicker" to streamline your topography creation in Revit....

Revit Tip - The "Site Settings" Dialog

Well, I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks...

Last week, I posted about missing secondary contour lines.  Until now, my solution was to simply move the topography up so that there were no "negative" contour values.  Ivan (from BIM Level) commented on the post and flipped my world upside down.

After over ten years of using Revit, I found a dialog box that I have honestly never even seen before...  I can admit it.  Ivan, you've humbled me.


Continue reading to learn about the "Site Settings" dialog and where it is located...

Revit Tutorial - Calculating Cut / Fills Using Building Pads

Pablo, my colleague and friend from sunny San Diego, emailed me one day asking about cuts and fills in Revit. This was his email:

"Hey I got a question for you. I have placed a few building pads on our site and I am trying to find out if there is any easy way to get the excavation volume of the void left behind from the building pad? I have scoured the internet but all references to volumes of excavation refer more to the cut/fill tools in Revit (which I can do but am too lazy). I just thought that there might be some property related to the building pad that would tell me how much topography is being imprinted with the building pad..."

Continue reading to view my response and discover how to calculate cuts and fills in Revit...

Revit Toposurface Sub-Region Annoyance #BIM Battlefield

Dear Autodesk,

Please allow the "create similar" command to create a new sub-region and not an entirely new toposuface.

Thanks,

- Jeff

Revit Tutorial - Walls the Follow Topography (Intersection Method) #RTCUSA

As I mentioned earlier I was fortunate enough to attend 2 out of 3 of Marcello's RTC classes.  The second, and final, class is when he introduced the intersection method.  It is one of those things where after you see it you say, "Duh!  Why didn't I think of that?!".  Well, Marcello was nice enough to post a little tutorial explaining how he used the intersection method and another little workaround to make the bottom of a wall follow the topography lines in Revit...

Click here to see the tutorial....

Oh, and I urge you all to follow his blog.  It might not have 3 posts a day but the quality of every post is worth a look...  I mean, just look at this image of his Revit cow....  Insanity.

Revit Tutorial - Streamline Topography : Auto Clicking

Have you spent hours clicking millions of little dots to create beautiful site models in Revit? Are your survey CAD files ever able to use the "create topo from import" tool? Do you believe Revit site model's have given you carpal tunnel syndrome? Well, have I got a tip for you!!!  This will go well with my older Studio Topo Tip posts:

• Studio Topo Tip 1
• Studio Topo Tip 2 
• Studio Topo Tip 3

Simply set a time interval for your clicks (I suggest 200-250 ms) and use F6 to start the clicking and F2 to end the clicking... see video for more information.

Click here to view the video tutorial via YouTube
Click here to view the video tutorial via Screencast


Click here to download the Auto-Type / Auto-Click Software


**EDIT** (02/19/18)  The original Auto-Click software is not compatible with newer version of windows.  To download the latest version of Auto-Clicker click here....


Click here to thank Garry for unknowingly making hundreds of thousands of people very happy!




Autodesk, any ideas?

Tutorial - Studio Topo Tip - Part 1 (Remastered)

For those of you who watched the "Studio Topo Tip - Part 1" video that I posted you may have notices the part where I had a mind blank.  I completely forgot how to use the "Resize" tool in Revit to scale the topographical image.  (In my defense, I had to use AutoCAD for the last two days in work ... yuck).

Juan emailed me and reminded me how to use the Resize tool.  We will call the last post one option and this post the second, quicker, option to scaling and image in Revit.  Thanks for reminding me Juan.

Topics Covered:

- Scaling an Image in Revit using the Resize Command

Tutorial - Studio Topo Tip - Part 1 (Option 2 - Resize)

I apologize if those of you who are not new to Revit were thinking "Why the hell is he doing it that way?"  I thought the same thing.