Unfortunately I have not had enough time to update lately due to work commitments, I haven’t even had time to approve comments to posts, so I feel that it’s time to make a worth while post and address one of the building blocks of a Revit project that I often see done incorrectly, the initial setup of the project itself.

Overview
When setting up an incoming model, the level of preparation will depend on two key factors

• The relationship of the engineering team to the architectural team (shared project office or remote)
• The size of the project. Large projects require additional consideration in regards to the impact on computer performance

In the instance where the engineering and architectural teams are co-located, it may be a consideration to directly link the architect’s live model into the engineering model. In this case, the architectural model would not be cleaned by the engineering team—request with the architectural team prior to project startup that ‘consultant views’ are provided for linking into the engineering model.

In the instance that the engineering and architectural teams are not co-located, it is the responsibility of the lead project modeller to clean the architectural model files before they are linked in. An original copy of the model should be kept in it’s ‘as sent’ state (located in \project number\in\date) so that if a mistake is made during the cleaning process, an untouched copy remains to safely start over with.

Large Models
For extremely large projects, consideration needs to be taken on the affects of computer performance, memory usage and overall performance of engineering models-particularly potential performance issues during the co-ordination phase.

Large models can be split physically into separate files, or split into separate worksets that can be unloaded as required to increase overall model performance. Discuss with the project architect their strategy. In most cases it is sufficient to unload unrequired architecture. If it is deemed necessary to split the engineering models, take into consideration how this may affect elements such as beams, columns, ductwork, cabling and pipework.

Preparing the Model
The basic level of cleaning consists of the following steps

• Open the file
• Check the ‘Detach from Central’ tick box
• Click yes on the warning dialogue
• Check the ‘Audit’ tick box

• Open the ‘Manage Links’ dialogue
• Remove all links that are not found
• Change all attached links to overlays

 

• Remove unrequired views
• Delete all sheets, schedules, legends, drafting views and sections
• Purge all unused elements

 
 

Setting up the Linked Model
The first step will be to start a new project using your organisation’s standard template relevant to your discipline.

• Use transfer project standards to copy project information from the architectural file. This ensures that the information matches.
• Link the architectural file using origin to origin
• Acquire co-ordinates from the architectural model (outlined below)
• Turn room bounding on for the architectural model
• Pin the architectural so that it can not be moved.

 

Acquiring Shared Coordinates

After the link is inserted, from the manage tab, select Coordinates -> Acquire Coordinates

The status bar will update to say ‘Select a linked project from which to acquire shared co-ordinates’ – select the link you wish to acquire the co-ordinates from.

There is no prompt to indicate the co-ordinates have been acquired successfully. A quick way to check that it has worked is to try acquire the co-ordinates again—you will receive an error stating that the co-ordinates have already been synchronised.

 

 

 Model Location and Origin
The whole project team shall work on the models set up with identical locations and origina co-ordinates (as outlined on the previous page). It is essential that the location and the weather data are set correctly to enable energy analysis.

In Revit 2011 and later, Google Maps has been integrated within the location tool. This allows for the easy location of the project for correct energy analysis.

• Type in the location to the search box, click search. Once found, this is now the project location.
• Under the site tab, ensure your site is correctly named.

 Grids and Levels Setup
It is the architect’s responsibility to set up the grids and levels for the project.

Floor and ceiling plans will need to be created for each discipline. Use the copy/monitor tool to create levels and grids within the engineering model.

    

• From the ribbon, select Collaborate -> Copy/Monitor -> Select Link
• Select the link you will be copy/monitoring the grids and levels from
• Select each grid and level to populate the engineering model

 
Creating Views and Plans

• From the ribbon, select Views -> Plan Views -> Floor Plan
• In the New Plan dialogue window, select the levels required from the list box. Verify the correct scale is used.

 

 

Enabling Worksets and Worksharing
Revit files contain everything related to the entire job, all the views, sheets, schedules, are all located within the one file. To allow more than one person to work on a Revit project at the same time, worksharing needs to be enabled. Until worksharing is enabled only one person will be able to work on the model at any one time.

Consideration needs to be taken when creating worksets. Plan ahead of time taking into account the size and complexity of the project and the number of services being documented within the model.

 

 

To enable worksets, select the worksets tool from the Collaborate tab on the ribbon

The worksharing dialogue will appear, informing you that it will break the model into two worksets; Shared Levels and Grids, and Workset1. Rename Workset1 to something that makes sense within your model. It is a good idea to relate it to the architecture, as all the models which have been linked so far will be moved to this workset.

The active workset shown in the collaborate tab of the ribbon is similar to the active layer within AutoCAD. Every object placed in the model will be placed in the active workset.

Saving to Central
The final step in the project setup is to save the file as a new central file. After enabling worksharing, by default the Revit file will automatically save as a new central file.

 Working on the Model
To work on the file, simply locate the saved central file and before opening, ensure that the ‘create new local file’ check box has been ticked. This will automatically create a new local file, using your computer username as a suffix, located in My Documents