Key Plans

Key plans are something that are included on almost all architectural drawing sets, and unfortunately Revit does not have a tool for this.  Yes you could duplicate plans, and modify visibility graphics, but because you can only place one instance of a plan view on your sheets at any given time, you would have to create a key plan for every sheet where one is required.  Instead, I propose the following method.

Duplicate one plan view and place the view onto a sheet. Scale the view to a key plan size (typically an engineering scale).  While the view is on a sheet, use detail lines to trace the outline of the building areas you need.  Keep in mind, you will not be able to snap to the exact building geometry, but this is a key plan after all.  Now, you might ask, why not just trace the building geometry in the view.  You could do that; however, that would make the following steps a little more difficult.

Now that the building areas are drawn, select all the detail lines you create on the sheet and cut them to the clipboard.  Open a new generic annotation template and paste the detail lines in the view.  Because we are using a generic annotation family for this scenario, it was important to draw the detail lines on the sheet in the step above.  The generic annotation family does not have a scale - it is always 1:1 and sheet views are also a 1:1 scale.  This eliminates the need for scaling the detail lines.  Had we created the building outline in a modeling view, we would have to scale the lines down in our annotation family - which at best becomes an exercise in trial and error.

What I like to do next is create filled regions and text illustrating different work areas.  I then assign these to Yes/No parameter so I can toggle them as need when loaded into a project.

I save my family to the specified location in the project directory. Load into the project and place onto sheets.  If you are like me and want to have the key plan in the same spot on each sheet - no problem. Select the key plan annotation, copy to clipboard, choose Pase>Aligned to Selected Views.  All your sheet views will pop up and using your CTRL or SHIFT keys, select the sheets that need a key plan.

Granted, there is little intelligence to this method as the key plan will not update with changes to the model; however, the method is quick and bypasses the limitations of making key plans from floor plan views.


Enjoy,
Make it, don't fake it.

Interior Elevation Profiles

As many of us are aware, Revit does not profile interior/ exterior elevations automatically.  Now granted, profiling a space does not absolve the contractor(s) from building what is indicated on the drawings, but I think that taking the extra couple minutes to profile speaks more to graphical clarity than anything else.  We are designers after all.  Why shouldn't our drawings look nice?

There is nothing really earth-shattering here, but what I like to do is us a masking region to generate the interior elevation profile.  I trace the shape of the room using a line style that has a wight of 4 (5 could be used for scales larger than 1/4"=1'-0").  I then draw a rectangle outside the limits of my elevation crop region using the invisible line style.  The area between the two boundary lines is "wiped-out", leaving you with a profiled interior elevation.  Pretty simple, but effective.

Callouts Variation

Here is a callout method I like to use in our documents to give them a little hand drafting flair.  This has become so popular with our users, I have included this as a standard callout type in our template file. Here is what I did.

1. Using the Manage tab, I used the Additional Settings pull-down menu and created a new callout type.  I changed the callout head to "None" and increased the corner radius to 5/8".
2. Next I created a new callout view type and assigned the new callout tag to the view, so now I have this option available when creating callout views.
3. Next I create a line style that mimics the callout boundary - this will come into play later.

Now that I have created all my parts, I generate my callout view.  This will still add the callout to your project browser; however, you will notice that there is no callout head - just the boundary.

1. inside the callout view, I create a masking region "donut", where the inner circle has the callout boundary line style applied and the outer circle is an invisible line style.
2. Once I have the masking region cropping the view the way I like, I place the view on the sheet.
3. I use dashed lines to connect the two callout boundaries.

A relatively simple way to add that little extra something to your documents.

Enjoy,
Make it, don't fake it.

Schedule Indent Feature Wish

I would like to follow up on THIS post.

After generating notes for our documents this way for a while, I have developed a method to give the impression of an indent. It still is not perfect, but it is much better than the CTRL+ENTER alternative.  The following image is the end result.

This is what I did:
I added a new parameter to the key schedule, and called it "Order" or some such and made it a text parameter.  I then modified my schedule sorting to use the new parameter.

With the new parameter, I then ordered the notes to create my grouping.  To give the illusion of "indents", I left the key name filed blank.  You can see from the finished schedule above, that the text stays justified to the column formatting and does not recognize bulleted lists.

Although this will accomplish the task, how nice would it be to have an indent feature in schedules, or at least the ability to add a field that could function as an indent

Enjoy!
Make it, don't fake it.

Using Schedules for Notes

Here I want to talk about an alternative to creating blocks of text that eliminates the "jumping" effect when editing. Generally to avoid this, one might generate a legend view where each piece of the note is an individual line of text.  Yes, this will prevent the "jumping"; however, not very efficient when you have to edit.  Therefore our office has moved to using schedules to better help with this task. I have outlined our process below.

Take for example GENERAL DRAWING NOTES:


First we generate our schedule by choosing an object category that is not used in our day-to-day workflow.  In our case, this is the Mass category.  The next step is important, but easy to miss. Once you have decided on your category, choose the Schedule Keys radial button.  By assigning this schedule as a schedule key, you can insert rows as needed without having the physical object in the model. Next, give your schedule an appropriate name.

Next you will define your schedule properties, and this is where you have to be careful. You will notice that your Available Fields are limited to Comments.  Well this is great, but if I have more than one of these type of schedules (ie. GENERAL PARTITION NOTES, GENERAL DEMOLITION NOTES, etc..) you will notice that the Comments field is no longer available.  When dealing with key schedules of the same category, you can only use a parameter once.  What I like to do is create a unique parameter for each one of these general schedules I create.  In this case I will create a parameter called Gen Dwg Notes.  Be sure to change the Type of Parameter to "Text" as this defaults to Length.

Now that the schedule is created, I rename the header to "GENERAL DRAWING NOTES", sort the schedule by key name, and modify my formatting and appearance to office standards.  Now I am free to add and remove rows as needed.

This method is really nice because it makes it easy to manage, sort and organize your notes.  Because this is a schedule, you can place them on multiple sheets (if needed) and updating one will update them all.

A finished schedule might look like:

 Enjoy!
Make it, don't fake it.

Room Names - How Long is to Long

Here is something that keeps surfacing with Revit users - what do I do when my room name is to large for my room? This is really common when dealing with overall floor plans at small scales. To address this issue, this is the method I currently employ.

1. Create a shared parameter (I usually use something like "Room Abbreviation".
2. The shared parameter is then loaded into a Room Tag family and used as the reporting name.
3. This family is saved as Room Tag-Abbreviated (note: I also do the same for tags that include SF, Name Only, Number Only, and combinations thereof).
4. I then load the shared parameter into a project (this usually happens a lot so you may want to do this in the template file).
5. The shared parameter is assigned to the Room category. (I also like to group it under text so it does not get lost in the room identity data. Also be sure to select the Instance radio button.)
6. Finished. Now you can swap out your standard room tag with the abbreviated room tag.

Now, why go through all this trouble you might ask?  As stated earlier, this can be used to abbreviate your rooms in smaller scale plans or where the name just doesn't fit in the room. In the attached image, I have the start of a reflected ceiling plan and the scale is 1/8"=1'-0". I have a Storage Room, Machine Room, and Elevator. These rooms use the abbreviated room tag.

You also may be asking, why use a separate tag? Why not type in the abbreviation as the room name? The reason is simple. The "Name" parameter in the default Room Tag family is what Revit uses to report the room names in the Room Schedule. If the abbreviated room name were entered, this is what would show in the schedule. Thus the abbreviated room tag is used. This way the proper room name is preserved in the schedule, while the abbreviation is used in plans.

SPANNING MULTIPLE LINES
Another reason you may want to create/use the abbreviated room tag is for instances where the room name needs to span multiple lines. I like the abbreviated room tag for this application because it allows me to control where I break the room name.

This is what happens WITHOUT the abbreviated room tag:
The label in the default Room Tag family (this is true with any tag) has an "invisible" boundary around it that only shows up when highlighted in the family. Left untouched, this boundary determines the limits of the text. When the text exceeds the limit, the text wraps.

Usually what happens here is that the user will edit the family, stretch the limits, and reload the family. Well, unless they "save as", this will update the other room tags in the project, thus modifying their limits, which may be undesirable.

This is what happens WITH the abbreviated room tag:
Because this is a custom room parameter, and probably not scheduled (except for coordination), you can force multiple lines without having to edit the family. This gives the user control over where the room name is split, in addition it will not affect your proper room name. To do this, select the room object you want to edit. Under the room properties, locate the custom parameter. Place your cursor in the editable field where you want to split the text and use the keystroke combination Ctrl+Enter. This will force a second line, or third, or fourth... Note that this method can ONLY be used through the properties of the room. This does not work at the tag level.

The other reason I like to use this method with abbreviated room tags is that if you were to preform the same operation (Ctrl+Enter) with the actual room name, this will force a second line in the Room Schedule as well.

I hope this gives you some idea as how you can manipulate room tags to work for you.

Remember - Make it, don't fake it.