Drawing Details in Revit 2

[DHKpeWI]

I am looking to learn how to use Revit Structure to draw details. I have been watching videos on Youtube, but many of them assume some knowledge of Revit. Do you know of good videos on line that explain the basics of using Revit particularly for drawing details?

Thanks

 

[charliealphabravo]

Autodesk's Revit Structure and Robot Structural Analysis are pretty poorly supported I think as far as tutorials and manuals. We have Revit and are looking for a structural package but might have to go a third party solution.

 

[dcarr82775]

I think REVIT is complex enough that you probably need to breakdown and take a couple of day class. At that point you can at least use REVIT

 

[hawkaz]

Good luck. Revit is a powerful tool, and I think it will be worth it in the end, but it is not Cad. You can throw most of what you know about Cad out the window. Plan on a significant learning curve and plan on projects taking 2-3 times longer to draft.

 

[dhengr]

What a wonderful advancement in technology and in our profession. The software has truly become an end in itself. It’s damn near impossible to use if you don’t make a full time job of it, and it only takes 2 or 3 times longer to do the drafting. To hell with the real engineering, they didn’t tell us anything about that in school, not enough time. That’s real progress. Pretty soon we’ll know everything about nothing, but not have the vaguest idea about how the structure or its details actually work. But, since we can make interferences show up in flashing pink, and rotate them 360° about any axis, we’ll know there is no interference btwn. our beams and the bldg. across the street. And, we’ll still have the mechanical guys cutting the bottom 2/3rds. out of our beams to fit a 3/4" water pipe into the wrong place.

 

[hetgen]

Hi DHKpeWI try lynda.com/ the have good training videos for beginner.

dhengr Lol

 

[asixth]

Autodesk's Revit Structure and Robot Structural Analysis are pretty poorly supported I think as far as tutorials and manuals.

I think Revit is pretty poor in general. I know that the CAD technician's that I have using it aren't CAD technicians because they don't know how construction works, cannot for the life of them produce a construction drawing which even resembles a construction drawing, and are not skilled with using computer aided design / drawing software but Revit is too complicated for it's own good and for the most part unusable.

 

[steellion]

I guess I'll be the one to fly the Revit flag and say that I like it. Yes, there is a steep learning curve, and yes, it will take longer to draft. However, once you get the hang of it it takes maybe 20-30% longer, not 2-3 times as others have suggested. You can also take advantage of links to structural analysis software like RAM, so you can start your drafting with the column and beam sizes already imported and in the correct location, which is a huge time-saver. For a simple, rectangular building, I don't see much value added, but as the project geometry increases in complexity, the clash-detection that others are bemoaning can be a life-saver. The thing about Revit is: you can't fake it. Two things cannot exist in the same point in space, just like they cannot in real life. One thing I will say is that we don't use "smart" details for our drafting. What actually goes on the sheets are 2D sections similar to CAD. We just use the smart sections to see how each component relates to each other. If you try to cut smart sections for the design, you can end up with some ugly drawings at the end (especially if something moves).

 

[sbouvia]

I think one of the hardest issues to overcome, is that in CAD we have had these typical details, and typical conditions denoted on many drawings for a long time. These will have to be re-created in Revit, and like steellion said you cannot have two things occupy the same space. 3D details are awesome sometimes, however if you do not draft them correctly and something moves it can be a big issue later if the drawings are not QA/QC'ed before they leave the shop. The program still requires the engineer/drafter to realize what is occurring in the structure, and I believe it requires the engineer/drafter to understand what is going on in the structure even more than in CAD. In CAD I can draw my structural drawings and not even know that something doesn't make sense, however in Revit if I start modeling something and then look with the architectural links I can see that what I have drawn just doesn't jive. It is a steep learning curve, however it can be done, when I first started here I didn't think I was going to be able to do anything in Revit, now I am a fairly proficient modeler. I am a structural engineer and not a drafter, so when we model things we look at what is going on with the whole structure rather than just some drafter who is just modeling to get the sheets to appear correctly. What will also make projects be able to be drafted faster is to have as library of typically used detail components (dynamic blocks in CAD), this greatly speeds up the detailing process and makes for more standardized drawings. There are a lot of settings that need to be hashed out correctly with all the parties involved before the set can look like its CAD counterpart. The biggest note of all is that Revit is not AutoCAD, there are some things that just will not look the same no matter what you do, and that is hard for some people to deal with. I know change is hard and it might be painful during the process but in the long run it should be worth it. Just my two cents.

 

[spats]

steellion,

One of the main problems I have with Revit is that you have to create the model in Revit to import into RAM (or similar software). This makes you create a complicated model without knowing what any of the beam and column sizes will be... it's the old story of the chicken vs. the egg. Revit needs sizes, so you wind up putting in "guessed" sizes, or just make everything W14x22 beams and W10x45 columns. Once to export the analytical model to RAM, you have to manipulate the sizes, and then import back into Revit. Unfortunately, the RAM Revit Link has all kinds of problems with trying to bring your model back into Revit... it doesn't work very well. I'm not slamming RAM... I love RAM, but the Revit link is not ready for prime time, and I'm sure other products have the same kind of problems with such a complicated architecture as Revit.

I guess we're getting off subject. The question was about details, but I had to throw in my two cents.

 

[steellion]

Spats, my procedure is as follows:
1) Take Revit or CAD file from architect, convert each floor into a DXF. (I'm really the most interested in importing the grid, especially for a complicated project)
2) Import DXF's into RAM. Add all framing in RAM.
3) Once I am comfortable with the sizes in RAM, export to Revit.
4) Perform necessary clean-up in Revit.
5) Any future changes to framing will be done directly to the Revit model.

The RAM-to-Revit model link isn't perfect, and it probably never will be. Bentley and Autodesk are direct competitors in producing analysis and drafting software, so I feel fortunate that it exists at all.

 

[cmbyrd77]

DHKpeWI, I think some peope might be getting off course a little bit. Have you tried going to Autodesk's AUGI website. It's a forum similar to this full of Revit users. I will agree with most that it is tedious, but I do believe it's worth it in the end once you get the hang of it. I've been fortunate enough to work with the program long enough and had excellent CAD techs that know the program to make me like it.

With that being said, it's pretty much depends on how much you model in your 3D model. Typically what we do is model just the basics and then cut the sections to where it will just show line work. Sometimes you need to do masking regions to hide things you don't want, then it's just a matter of brining in detail components. We are blessed with having a whole seperate BIM team that creats any detail components we need that Autodesk doesn't provide.

 

[bolt45]

REVIT has saved us drafting time. You just have to put the time in learn how to use it efficiently.

It is great for cutting sections.