How to Filter Walls BY LEVEL in Revit

 

This "Community Quick Tip" talks about one approach to filtering walls by their levels.

File this one under, "why can't Revit just be able to do this?!".  In this tutorial we mix a little Revit and Dynamo to show you how you can filter a Revit wall by it's host/base level.  Something that is NOT possible out of the box...

I know, crazy... Right?  

Well, hopefully this tutorial will help!

Continue reading to see my approach to this out of the box Revit limitation...

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)...

How to Split a Wall Sweep in Revit (Community Quick Tip)

Happy final Monday of 2020!!  Thank goodness... Am I right?

Today's video is the first of a mini-series I am calling "Community Quick Tips".  Essentially, these are video versions of longer question and answer conversations had over on the BIM After Dark Community.

In this video I answer Emil's question within the community about splitting wall sweeps.  I show two different approaches to splitting a wall sweep (hint, you can't just use the split tool).  

Click here or the image above to view the video tutorial...

Learning Revit, together.

Also, don't forget, you can save 30% off your membership if you join before the end of the year.  Click here to lean more or join now...

Corrugated Metal Walls in Revit ("Butler" Buildings) - Quick Tip Edition

In this short tip I demonstrate one possible solution to modeling corrugated metal walls (like "Butler Buildings") in Revit...  This is just one way to approach it... There are many!

Enjoy... 

Curtain Wall Corners in Revit (Quick Tip Edition)

 

In this short video I walk through some options for modeling curtain wall corner in Revit. We talk about butt-glazing corners, standard corners, and more... Enjoy!

Tutorial - Filtering Revit Rooms by Phase in Dynamo

Last week I walked through how to create 3D room tags in Revit and place them using Dynamo (click here to check it out).  Some of you guessed where I would go next with this tutorial... "What about phases?!"  Well, this week is a follow-up tutorial that will walk through the process of filtering out rooms by their respective phase.

Don't forget to download my FREE printable "Desktop Cheat Sheet" to follow along...

Tutorial - Creating 3D Room Tags in Revit and Dynamo

Placing 3D Room tags in Revit has proven to be an extremely useful technique for me these days.  It gives me the ability to make quick 3D images with Room Names and Numbers.  Additionally, it has helped tremendously in the 3D coordination process when loading our Revit files into Navisworks or BIM 360 Glue and in model based quantity takeoff when loading our models into Assemble.

In the tutorial below I run through how to create the 3D Room Tag family and how to write the Dynamo script to place it from scratch... Oh, and there may be a bit of information on the upcoming semester of DIY Dynamo... ;)

Revit Tutorial - Adding Depth to Your Elevations (Redux)

I posted a tutorial over five years ago that illustrated how to add some serious depth to your elevations in Revit (Click here to view that post and tutorial).  The concept of creating better looking elevations is clearly a pain point for many Revit users because the aforementioned video has been viewed nearly 27,000 times! Technically, this tutorial is still relevant and the technique can still be used today.  So be sure to check it out.

Fortunately, the process of adding depth and making better looking elevations is a lot easier thanks to a new feature in Revit (introduced in 2017) called "Depth Cueing".

I decided to not only create a new video tutorial about how to use depth cueing, but also dig into the feature and really understand how it works. 

Continue reading to view the new Adding Depth to Your Elevations tutorial and my notes on how it works...

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 - Missing Secondary Contour Lines (Topo Tip)

File this post under "random things that are good to know about Revit".  Although, it seems to come up more than you would think...

Have you every had a topographic model within Revit not display the secondary contour lines?  Look closely at the two topographic images above.  What is different?  Notice that the model on the left is missing three sets of secondary contour lines (the dashed lines that represent 1'-0" of elevation change).

Why?

Keep reading to find out....

Revit Tutorial - Line Weights and Silhouettes

There area  few things to keep in mind when creating "illustrated" graphics with Revit.  What do I mean by "illustrated" graphics?  I mean anything exported out of Revit as an image file for use in presentations or other mediums.  For example, diagrammatic images (like the one below) or maybe images like the exploded axons in this post...

Example Diagrammatic Image...

I thought I would put together a simple post that helps shed some light onto how you can control line weights and "vector" looking graphics in Revit.  Believe it or not, one of the best ways to control your graphics is using the view scale...  

Continue reading to find out what the heck I am talking about...

Revit Tip - Auto Section Box Using Scope Box

This is a simple tip that can help improve your efficiency, improve live model viewing, and assist when exporting part of your building(s) to other formats.  I discovered this a while back when I had to export a large project by level for viewing on iPads in the field.  All 15 floors had to be sliced and exported.

Keep reading and you will see why this technique helped me achieve my task....

2 Years Later - Top Ten BIM After Dark Videos...

As of this past Thursday (December 10th) the BIM After Dark series has been live for two years!  I know, it's hard to believe... As of today, BIM After Dark has 907 awesome customers and counting!  The feedback has been incredible and I am learning as much from you as I hope you are from me.  Both Volume 1 and Volume 2 have exceeded expectations and I am truly humbled.  Additionally, I will be publishing the release date for Volume 3 very soon... 

In honor of the two year anniversary, I went through the many posts relating to the BIM After Dark videos.  Some of them are direct segments extracted from the videos and others are simply related to either Volume 1 or 2.  I thought it would be fun to rank them based on page views and compile a list of the top ten...  keep reading to see the hottest topics over the past two years from Volume 1 and 2...

Practical Dynamo - Apply Parameter Values (Using Saved Selection Sets)

For the next installment of the "Practical Dynamo" mini-series I am going to expand on the last script (which utilized Dynamo to apply parameter values to multiple objects).  The previous script worked but you have to manually select the elements and add them to your node in Dynamo.  This can be cumbersome and also cause you to select elements twice if you are trying to add something like a building area parameter.

My first solution was creating save selection sets... Then using those sets to isolate the elements, select the elements in Dynamo, run the script, un-isolate, and repeat... Yeah, I know...  It sounds ridiculous.  Well, my first rule of thumb in Revit (and now Dynamo) is if it seems like its taking too long there is probably a better way to do it... So I found a better way...

Practical Dynamo - Apply Parameter Values

(Image: Dynamo Primer)

I have been posting little screenshots on Twitter of current Dynamo scripts and people seem to love them.  One of the cool things about Dynamo is you can see a simple snippet of all the nodes and recreate the script pretty effectively.  Its a method I have used when learning Dynamo.  It helps me to use different nodes, search for packages, and understand logic.  Well, I thought it would be a good mini-series here on the blog.  The first script I am going to show you is very simple but includes some nice booleans, logic, and nodes.

Continue reading for a practical use of Dynamo, applying a parameter value to all selected elements...