Revit Architecture Introduction

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REVIT

ARCHITECTURE

WHITE PAPER

An Introduction to Revit Architecture

Revit

software is the Autodesk platform for building information modeling, built on parametricbuilding modeling technology. Discipline-specific applications available or planned on thisplatform include RevitArchitecture, Revit MEP, and RevitStructure software applications,as well as products for integrated modeling for building services engineering, analysis, anddocumentation. Products built on the Revit platform enable customers to take full advantageof technology to improve their businesses and gain unparalleled improvements toproductivity, coordination, and quality of building information modeling, from concept throughconstruction.

Revit Building software is the building design and documentation system that works the wayarchitects thinkit treats design information in terms of the entire building, rather thanseparate floor plans, sections, elevations, and schedules. And fully parametric changemanagement increases coordination and quality, while providing the most accurate and up todate information for decision making.

Purpose-built for building information modeling (BIM), it simply offers you a better way of

working so you can improve your businesses with better work completed more easily.

In the Revit Architecture parametric building model, every drawing sheet, every 2D and 3Dview, and every schedule is a direct presentation of information from the same underlyingbuilding database. As you work in familiar drawing and schedule views, Revit Architecturecollects information about the building project and coordinates this information across allother representations of the project. The parametric change technology in Revit Architectureautomatically coordinates changes made anywherein model views or drawing sheets,schedules, sections, plans, renderings you name it.

Revit Architecture supports all phases of the building process, preserving all information frombeginning to end. The same model that is rendered in design generates quantities exportedto an estimating database after construction documents are prepared.

For more information about building information modeling and Autodesks strategy for theapplication of information technology to the building industry, please see our white paper onthe subject at www.autodesk.com/bim .

Contents

Contents ................................................................................................... 1An Overview of Revit Architecture ..................................................................... 2

Revit Architecture - Building Information Modeler ................................................ 2Support for the Building Team ....................................................................... 3

Concepts and Features of Revit Architecture ........................................................ 3Bidirectional Associativity ............................................................................ 4Integrated Scheduling................................................................................. 5Visualization and Presentation ...................................................................... 5Changes in Section Views ........................................................................... 7Coordinating with Consultants ....................................................................... 8Working in Large Teams ............................................................................. 8

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http://www.autodesk.com/buildinginformationhttp://www.autodesk.com/buildinginformation


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AN INTRODUCTION TO REVIT ARCHITECTURE

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Working with Large Projects ......................................................................... 9Support for Unusual Geometry .....................................................................10Sharing Data with Other Applications .............................................................11Integrated Site Modeling ............................................................................11

Improving the Design and Construction Process ...................................................12Summary .................................................................................................13

An Overview of Revit Architecture

This section introduces the history and design philosophy behind Revit

Architecturesoftware.

Revit Architecture - Building Information Modeler

Work was begun on the software that was to become Revit Building in late 1997 by thetechnologists responsible for introducing the first parametric CAD (computer-aided design)technology to the mechanical CAD market. In less than a decade, that software transformedmechanical CAD from an industry that worked only on 2D graphics to one that worksprimarily on digital models.

Applying this same idea to the building industry required that two basic problems be solved.The first problem was ease of use. Because CAD technology can be difficult to use, manyfirms have many employees who simply do not use CAD. The solution was to create aproduct in which items of interest to architectsthings like walls, windows, and doorsaremodels of their real-world counterparts. So, to draw a wall, you simply select a wallcomponent. Windows are windows, doors are doors, and these objects relate to each other inways that model the real world. For example, windows are contained in walls, and you cannotplace a door in a wall on top of a window. You must be able to move or alter walls or other

components, yet still preserve your design intent. Most significantly, you need to be able tochange the behavior of a component, or the way it relates to the rest of the design, withoutprogramming or coding of any kind.

The second problem was scale. Even though the mechanical CAD industry was usingparametric technology to design big products like airplanes as digital models, the technicalchallenge of handling relationships among components in a building model remained to besolved. In a typical building with hundreds of thousands of components, the issue of changepropagation had inhibited the development of architectural design software. Yet, automatingand tracking change is the one thing good software shoulddo.

A new technology was invented to solve these two problems: a context-based parametricchange engine. In this technological breakthrough, the burden of change is transferred fromthe user to the parametric change engine,vastly improving ease of use. The change engine

keeps track of the relationships among components in the building model. As a result, thecomponents themselves can be digitally represented as things architects and other buildingprofessionals are familiar with.

Its a basic division of labor. In 2D drafting systems, you draw lines and keep track of whatthey all mean. In a building information modeler, you sketch digital representations of thingsthat behave the way you expect, and you rely on the computer to keep track of them. Theconcept is simple: making CAD easy to use is a matter of making the computer work harder.

Revit Architecture is a building design and production software system in which your designand all the interrelationships among the elements of that design are tracked, managed, and


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maintained by the computer. In addition, it gives you complete control over consultantcoordination and construction documentation as natural outputs of the design and changemanagement process. Revit Architecture is to 2D drafting as a relational database is to apunch card.

Support for the Building TeamRevitfor revise instantlywas introduced first to the architectural community and offeredsupport for architectural design and documentation. However, the underlying technology, thebuilding information model and the parametric change engine, is engineered and optimized tosupport the creation and management of information for the entire building enterprise. Thebuilding information model is an advanced database infrastructure that supports theinformation needs of the building design and production team. Revit Architecture extends thepower of this information infrastructure to structural layout, construction, and site design workfor the building project.

The work products of the building team, their deliverables, are most often graphic, textual,or tabular presentations of information created by individual project team disciplines but arealso with increasing frequency specifically formatted digital data. A program analysis diagramby an architect, a bracing elevation by a structural engineer, a site-staging plan by a builder,and a quantity survey by a construction manager are examples of graphic, textual, or tabulardeliverables. A DWG file underlay that an architect provides to a mechanical engineer, aspreadsheet documenting all the leasable area in a speculative office building, and arelational database of all materials required to construct the building are examples of digitaldeliverables.

The creation of information in the building design and production process is both concurrentand continuous, but the production of these deliverables is only sequential and intermittent.The episodic creation of deliverables is a hindrance to the building design and productionprocess and takes effort away from the real work of the team. Conventional software tools forthe building industry have automated discrete tasks of information presentation. Theproduction of plans, visualizations, cost estimates, and quantity take-offs are each supportedby specific, purpose-built tools. This has perpetuated the sequential and intermittent

presentation of information in a process that is naturally concurrent, continuous, and iterative.It has also created artificial technology boundaries between disciplines and project teammembers.

The application of advanced information technology, the building information model andparametric change management, to the building design and production process addresses itsunderlying information needs. The building information model enables deliverables to beavailable concurrently with the design and production process. Because deliverables areavailable concurrently, the energy required to produce them manually or through task-specificsoftware tools is reduced, and that energy that can now be spent on the direct design andproduction effort.

Fundamentally, the building information model makes information in the form of deliverablescontinuously available to project team members in the way they need to see it and areaccustomed to seeing it.

Concepts and Features of Revit Architecture

This section provides an overview of some of the more important features in RevitArchitecture that contribute to a better design environment, enhanced productivity, and fasterconstruction documents. For a more detailed look at Revit Architecture, we encourage you totry the product itself. Revit Architecture is available on CD or by download atwww.autodesk.com/revitarchitecture. The CD package includes a printed copy of Getting


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Startedguide, a step-by-step tutorial that demonstrates the power and functionality of RevitArchitecture.

Bidirectional Associativity

Bidirectional associativity in Revit Architecture helps ensure that any change to the

relationships among objects is concurrently reflected by the parametric change enginethroughout your design. Bidirectional associativity is at the heart of the mechanism by whichRevit Architecture maintains consistency in your model at all times.

Figure 1: Bidirectional associativity means Revit Building allows you to easily lock in design intent.

Bidirectional associativity is applied automatically to every component, view, and annotationin Revit Architecture. Consider what happens when you alter a dimension annotation (Figure1). When you edit a dimension, you change the underlying geometry of the object associatedwith that string.

What may not be apparent is that bidirectional associativity is notan editable property of thewall. You dont turn it on or off. In Revit Architecture, bidirectional associativity is automaticand managed at all times by the parametric change engine. This is the essence of makingthe computer do more work and enabling users to make changes at will. Bidirectionalassociativity in Revit Architecture is universal, meaning that you need not refresh orregenerate any view, annotation, sheet, or other component. Contrast this behavior with other3D add-ons to 2D drafting systems, which often require you to edit in one view to reflect inanother or which require refreshing ancillary views or annotations.

A designer can lock design intent into the model by aligning two interior walls and thenclicking a lock icon to instruct the parametric change engine to always maintain this condition.The change engine is capable of handling locked intent across the entire model and featurestechnology that manages all associativity so that Revit Architecture is able to scale to largebuildings while maintaining consistency at all times.

In Revit Architecture errors do not creep into a design. To change the size of a wall, all youneed to do is directly manipulate the wall or the dimension annotation, and the softwareautomatically updates all other annotations and components to reflect the change. And it allhappens right away.


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Integrated Scheduling

Integrated scheduling in Revit Architecture is an excellent example of how a parametricchange engine can deliver real results in your projects. Schedules in Revit Architecture are

simply another view of the integrated model. As you would expect, bidirectional associativitymeans that when you change something in the view, the schedule changes. And when youchange a component in the schedule, the component changes in all associated plans,elevations, sections, and other views.

Figure 2: Integrated schedules in Revit Architecture are always accurate.

Figure 2 shows an example of a schedule with a plan, section, and two 3D views displaying awall that was moved. Using conventional CAD products, this would require significant rework.In Revit Architecture its a snap. All you do is select the components to be deleted orchanged, make the change, and let the parametric change engine reflect the changethroughout the model.

Visualization and Presentation

Revit Architecture makes it easy to create and modify presentation materials directly in themodel. Impressive presentation materials do not require add-on products.

Revit Architecture includes AccuRender

raytracing and radiosity (see Figure 3). In Revit

Architecture you can use AccuRender for rendering, and for export and import of bitmap andother graphic file formats. Revit Architecture also features walkthrough animation exportableto AVI files, interactive panoramic file export, procedural plants, and full control of range,resolution, and image sizing. Rendered images can be saved in the project and included onplottable sheets just as any other view, drawing, or schedule in the project. Renderings canalso be created at any size and resolution, and can be saved outside the project in variousgraphic file formats for presentation and publication. Revit Architecture includes PANTONE

color matching for complete accuracy of your printed and plotted output. Revit Architecturealso includes support for RPC content from ArchVision, and several RPC files areincluded with the product. This innovative image-based rendering technology is capable of


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reflecting rich detail through synthesized image data rather than relying on complex geometryto represent objects in 3D.

Figure 3: Revit Architecture includes AccuRender for in-product visualizations.

Revit Architecture also effectively automates tasks that have previously required manydifferent tools and significant expenditures of time. Consider how Revit Architecture createscolor-filled diagrams that show space utilization, material usage, or other categories of space.

Figure 4: Color-filled diagrams can be produced for an unlimited number of categories.


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In Figure 4 the designer is filling in the names associated with each room in this building.Revit Architecture automatically color-fills the plan and updates the legend on the plan.

The designer has added a new room to the list, and Revit Architecture will changed thelegend and associated a new color with the new department. Although this exampleillustrates departmental usageand totals the square footage in the accompanying

scheduleRevit Architecture is capable of creating color-filled diagrams for any number ofcategories, such as floor finish or public/private space analysis.

Changes in Section Views

Section views are an especially powerful illustration of the potency of a parametric changeengine. In Revit Architecture, you can draw a section simply by using the section tool andindicating where you want the section cut. Flipping the section is as simple as toggling thesection head. Most importantly, you can move the section line anywhere you want in plan,and Revit Architecture re-presents the section view rapidly and accurately.

You can create a section through this building by simply drawing the section on the plan view.Revit Architecture can cut the section precisely where instructed to do so. You can open thatview by double clicking directly on the section tag.

Figure 5: Create sections quickly and easily.

This is not a static viewtheres no such thing in Revit Architecture. This is a live, parametricview of the model, and you can place windows, doors, and other components or modify any

part of the design directly in the section view. In Revit Architecture, any changes made insection are automatically reflected everywhere else in the design.


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Figure 6: Sections are parametric views and are always consistent.

Coordinating with Consultants

Revit Architecture, using Autodesks RealDWG toolkit, not only provides the DWGcompatibilityallowing import, export, and linking of your AutoCAD

databut also supports

import, export, and linking to DXF files and MicroStation

DGN files. Revit Architectureenables you to always provide up-to-date underlay shell drawings and other deliverables toyour consultants.

Exported files present the proper level of information expected by AutoCAD or MicroStation

software users when opened in those systems. The component and element categories inRevit Architecture are properly mapped to the layering standard of your choice, specific setsof geometric entities appear as blocks, and the correct pen and plotting information isprovided in an associated file. You can also bring native DWG files directly into RevitArchitecture to use as reference geometry, library components, or as the starting point for anew design. In addition to direct support of DWG and DGN file formats, any CAD system thatsupports these file formats can work effectively with Revit Architecture.

Working in Large Teams

Revit Worksharing distributes the power of the Revit Architecture parametric buildingmodeling environment across the project team. Revit Worksharing provides a complete range

of collaboration modes from entirely on-the-fly simultaneous access to the shared model,through the formal division of the project into discrete shared units, to complete separation ofproject elements or systems into individually managed linked models. Revit Worksharingallows the team to choose the best way to collaborate and interact based on their workflowand the project requirements.

Revit worksets enable communication, collaboration, and coordination across multiuserproject teams. Worksets enable team members to select the portions of the project they areresponsible for; check them out from the single, integrated building information model;change them at will; and then check them back in. When returned to the shared model,


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worksets reflect all changes back into that model with full bidirectional associativity,maintaining consistency across the entire project.

Figure 7: Worksets enable large teams to collaborate using a single building information model.Worksets are dynamically reserved and released by team members over the network as they work. TheWorksets dialog box always shows current information about who is working in what workset.

Worksets can be thought of as a distributed building database, one in which the entire teamcan move from stage to stage, process to process, to easily and quickly create whateverportion of the project is required. With Revit Architecture, the computer works harderproviding consistency across multiple team memberswhile the essential ease of use is

maintained and the integrated model preserved during the entire design and documentationprocess.

With Revit Architecture, large teams can now work in a model-based environment on majorprojects in a distributed mode while relying on the computer for consistency. In Figure 7,some parts of the building have been marked editable and some have not. Those that are noteditable are available for other users to edit; here you see the project standards worksetwhere the team shares common design parameters that are being changed so that the entireteam can benefit from a global revision.

Working with Large Projects

Large projects involving multiple buildings or building wings can be developed by linkingtogether several separate Revit Architecture project files (Figure 8). Users can work on the

files individually while the building geometry from the other individual linked files is visible.Presentation materials and other deliverables, including all the parts of the project assembledtogether, can be prepared from the linked files.


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Figure 8: One Revit Architecture project model can be linked into another Revit Architecture project todevelop composite deliverables of projects involving multiple buildings or building wings.

Support for Unusual Geometry

Revit Architecture supports architects and designers in creating their most imaginativedesigns within the industrys most powerful building modeler, as shown in Figure 9.Designers can use splines to easily create free-form sketches for walls, roofs, floors, andfamily (parametric building content) elements. Advanced wall geometry provides tapered andbattered walls, cornices and reveals, and curtain walls spanning any two lines, arcs, or

splines. Roof geometry supports 3D-path sweeps to create fascias, eave conditions, andsoffits for the most detailed roof designs. Roofs can incorporate skylights within anycondition. The ability to divide wall faces and other surfaces into multiple separate regionsenables designers to sketch and describe areas of different appearance, design, color, ortexture on any model surface, providing highly detailed renderings and other documentation.

Figure 9: Revit Architecture supports the most elaborate geometry while maintaining a faithfuldescription of the building project. Here, this curtain wall is made up of schedulable mullions and glazingpanels.


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Sharing Data with Other Applications

Revit Architecture provides for export of the building information model to industry-standardopen database connectivity (ODBC) compliant relational database tables. Using the digitalquantification of the building and any of a number of common analysis tools fromspreadsheets to traditional cost-estimating packages, industry professionals can now reliably

estimate what is in a building project and how much material is needed. Using RevitArchitecture to create this business data minimizes the expensive and error-prone activitiesof measuring a building from drawings and recalculating results when the design changes.Substantial reductions in cost and scheduling rework and error along with increases in qualityresult from the unique ability of Revit Architecture to automatically provide business data froma model created simply by drawing the building.

Figure 10: Revit Architecture integrates the building information model with the site. Parking spaces areparametric components placed in plan and scheduled in bidirectionally associated views of the projectdatabase.

Integrated Site Modeling

Revit Architecture is the first building modeler to integrate parametric site modeling. Sitesurfaces can be imported from existing survey information or created using Revit Architectureand coordinated with the building design. You have direct control over triangulated surfacesand contour displays. Revit Architecture components placed on the terrain automatically find

the terrain surface to attach to, and, because the site is an integral part of the overall project,section cuts automatically reflect changes in the terrain should any part of the building bemodified.

Parking spaces and plant materials are parametric components placed in the RevitArchitecture model (see Figure 10). Parking spaces are inventoried and scheduled in themodel, and plant materials are scheduled by their proper scientific names.

Now, designers can study grading, create realistic sections, and further reduce preparationtime for construction documentation.


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Improving the Design and Construction Process

In Revit Architecture, the design and documentation process is a cycle of team-based tasksthat are constantly iterating from stage to stage, not a series of discrete, serial steps endingin a set of construction documents. Revit Architecture is the single, integrated tool you use tomove through the entire process. Here, we il lustrate just a few of the common tasks you mayhave in the design and documentation process. The objective isnt to detail features; its toencourage you to rethink your use of CAD by demonstrating how Revit Architecture helpsyou create construction documentation directly, while making it easy to cycle through differenttasks in your project.

Revit Architecture Maker is a powerful conceptual design and modeling environment thattakes any overall building form described conceptually and maps it to real-world buildingentities like roofs, curtain walls, floors, and walls, allowing for a cumulative understanding ofthe relationship between expressive and built form as the design develops.Massing capabilities in Revit Architecture enable multiple iterations of the earliest designconceptsmuch the way you would create models from rigid foam blockswhile protectingthat investment of time and effort by allowing the massed forms to be developed all the wayinto construction documents.

Figure 11: Revit Architecture Maker conceptual modeling environment.

Revit Architecture also supports phasing information in the building information model.Drawings that represent different phases of construction are easy to create.

Revit Architecture allows each component to be assigned to a phase, which determines howit is displayed at various points in time. And, because every view in Revit Architecture isalways associated with the model, the phased components and views automatically reflectany changes to that model.

Finally, Figure 12 shows a series of sheets ready to be printed or plotted for a well-documented construction project.

Sheets in Revit Architecture are what you see is what you get, meaning that you canchange the scale of the elevations, plans, and so forth, without complex layer management


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(there are no layers in Revit Architecture). You can even make design changes directly onthe view contained on the sheetand be assured that Revit Architecture will reflect thatchange automatically throughout the model. Call-out annotations are up-to-date and accuratebecause the parametric change engine is responsible for keeping them current, not the user.

Figure 12: Construction documents are easy to produce and revise at any time in Revit Architecture.

Summary

The Revit Architecture software for building information modeling enables building design andproduction professionals to use a single, integrated digital model from the beginning of aproject through to completion, and on into the lifecycle of the building. It does this byproviding the easiest-to-use interface available for the building industry coupled with asophisticated parametric change engine that transfers the burden of coordinating changefrom the user of the design tool to the computer, where it belongs.

For more information about Revit Architecture, please visitwww.autodesk.com/architecture.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, DWG, DXF, RealDWG, and Revit are registered trademarks ortrademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and other countries. All other brand names, productnames, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alterproduct offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for

typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.Occasionally, Autodesk makes statements regarding planned or future development efforts forour existing or new products and services. These statements are not intended to be a promiseor guarantee of future delivery of products, services, or features but merely reflect our currentplans, which may change. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect any change in circumstances, after the statements are made.

2007 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Revit Architecture Introduction