Documenting a Project I (Revit Architecture)

From TOI-Pedia

Introduction

We cover documenting your project. We'll start with showing how to create floor plans, elevations and building sections. These can be used to layout a sheet.


You can document your project in Revit by creating sheets. Sheets are your layouts that are ready to be printed to paper. They can contain various elements, such as plans, elevations and sections of your project, but also detail views, schedules, 3D views and images you import into Revit.


To fill your sheet, you use the views of your project. You'll probably already have the basic views such as plans and elevations. You can create additional views as necessary. There's also a few extra view types available that may be useful for documenting your project, such as schedules and legends.

Each plan, elevation and section view has an associated scale. This is set through the properties of the view and determines the level of detail in the view, the line width and size of text for annotations, tags etc.


Creating Plans

Floor Plan

When you create Levels, Revit automatically creates the associated floor plans (unless you explicitly tell Revit not to). You can use these views for your sheet.

You may want to create additional views, for example to create a plan in a different scale.

  1. On the View tab, in the Create panel, click Revit 2011 Create Plan View.png (Plan Views) and click Revit Floor Plan.png (Floor Plan)
    Revit 2011 New Floor Plan.png
  2. By default, Revit hides the levels which already have a Floor Plan. Uncheck Do not dupicate existing views.
  3. Select the type of plan you'd like to add.
  4. Select the scale you want to use for this view.
  5. Click OK

View Range

Each plan view has a View Range that determines where the cut plane is for that view (related to the associated level). Normally floor plans are cut at about one meter above the floor level. But if you have windows that are positioned high in the wall, they will not show up on the floor plan. You can control this through the View Range of the view.

Click the view in your Project Browser. In the Properties Panel, scroll to the Extents section. Click the 'Edit...' button next to View Range.


Revit 2011 View Range.png


Using the settings of the View Range you control how the plan drawings are generated and whats will be visible.


View Range elements

A View Range (see image to the right) consists of the following elements:

1 - Top
top of the primary range
2 - Cut Plane
height at which the model is cut for the plan
3 - Bottom
bottom of the primary range
4 - View Depth Level
bottom of the (extra) view depth
5 - Primary Range
Elements within the boundaries of the primary range that are not cut are drawn in the element’s projection line style. Elements that are cut are drawn in the element’s cut line style.
6 - View Depth
Elements that are within the view depth are drawn in the beyond line style.

For each you specify an existing project Level to associate with and an offset to this level. Typically for the bottom, top and cut plane you use the Level that is associated with the floor plan and use the offset to determine the height.

The line styles referred to in the overview above can be found in the Line Styles dialog: open the Manage tab. In the Settings section, click Additional Settings and choose Line Types.

Creating Elevations

Elevation

Elevations are best created in the Site Floor Plan. By default Revit creates the north, east, south and west elevations in each new project. To create additional elevations:

  1. Open your Site Floor Plan
  2. On the View tab, in the Create panel, click Revit 2011 Create Elevation View.png (Elevation)
  3. Move your mouse pointer to the position for your elevation. Revit automatically orients the elevation a logical direction for the elevation. You can select alternative directions using your [TAB] key. Click when you're satisfied. You can continue to create more elevations, if you like.
  4. In the Ribbon, click Revit 2011 Modify.png (Modify) to end the command.

You can control the width and view-depth of an elevation. Refer to Elevation Views for more details.

You can set the scale for the elevation by selecting the Elevation View in your Project Browser. In the Properties Panel, right at the top of the properties list, you'll find View Scale.

Creating Sections

Section

Sections are best created in Plan Views. To create an elevation:

  1. Open a suitable Floor Plan
  2. On the View tab, in the Create panel, click Revit 2011 Create Section View.png (‎Section)
  3. In the Draw area, click the first point for your section line, then click the second point to complete the section.

Revit Section Selected.png

To change the length of the section line (what part of the model is being cut), click and drag the blue dots at either end of the section line.

Use the blue arrows to move the rear or side extents (crop region) of the elevation. This controls what will be visible in the section view.

To break the section line, you can use the Revit Section Gap symbol.png (Gaps in Segments) symbol. If you click it, you get additional blue dot handles to break the line in segments. This allows you to tweak the line to prevent it from interfering with other content in your drawing.


Creating a Sheet

Sheets are the layouts that you can use to combine multiple views. Sheets can be printed or exported to PDF. You can also add other elements, such as images or other external files.

  1. In the Project Browser, right-click Sheets (all), and click New Sheet.
  2. For now we're going to use one of the standard title blocks. Click Load.
  3. In the file dialog, browse to Metric Library\Titleblocks and select one of the A4 - A0 metric titleblocks
  4. In the New Sheet dialog, click OK.
  5. In the Project Browser, expand Sheets (all), right-click your newly created sheet, and click Rename.
  6. In the Sheet Title dialog, for Name, enter Presentation, and click OK.
Depending on your needs and preferences for your presentation, you may find the standard title block a bit to elaborate. Refer to Create Your Own Sheet Title Block Family (Revit Architecture) for instructions on how to create your own.

Adding Views to your Sheet

Elevation and Section symbol that show the Sheet Number and Detail Number where the corresponding Elevation and Section can be found

Next you'll want to add views to your sheet:

  1. Make sure your sheet is opened
  2. On the View tab, in the Sheet Composition panel, click View.
  3. Select a view from the list. Better make an independant Duplicate (right click a view in the Project Browser) of the view first, because any changes will reflect on the sheet)
  4. Click Add View to Sheet. Or simply drag the view from the Project Browser.
  5. You'll see the outlines of the view while hovering your mouse over your sheet. Click in your sheet where you want to position the view. Revit creates a Viewport on you sheet with the selected view and creates a title for the viewport.


Note that all views that you've added to your sheet are listed in your Project browser when you click the plus to expand your sheet's content in the Project Browser


When a View is placed on a sheet, for example a Section, Revit will show the Sheet Number and Detail Number (drawing number on the sheet) in the corresponding Section symbol in Views where the Section is indicated.

Aligning Viewports

Aligning views

When you place or move Views to your Sheet, Revit will show you when two views are exactly aligned. This is indicated by a blue dashed line and you will notice Revit snaps the positioning to favor aligned views. For Elevations and Sections this means that the levels are vertically aligned. For Plan Views this origin of the model is exactly aligned.


Viewport Title

Viewport Title with detail/drawing number, title and scale

When you place a View on a Sheet, a Viewport is created with a title. By default the title shows the name of the view. You can change this by selecting the viewport and then clicking on the Title. Or you can change it in the Properties of the View, Title on Sheet parameter:

Revit view properties identity data.png


To move the Title without moving the entire Viewport, make sure the Viewport is deselected first and then directly select the Viewport Title. When you hover your mouse pointer over the Title, a move cursor appears and you can drag it to another location.


When you select the Viewport, you can change the length of the Viewport Title using the blue dots

To change the length of the Title line, you must first select the Viewport. The Title is also selected and two blue dots at either end of the line are shown. You can drag these to change the length. It's strange and counter-intuitive, but that's the way is works in Revit oddly enough.


Sheet Properties

A sheet has several properties. The Sheet Number and Sheet Name are the most important for now, but properties that specify the designer, revision etc. might also be interesting.

Sheet Number
is used in the Section, Elevation and Callout tags to specify on which sheet the indicated drawing can be found
Sheet Name
can be used by the Title Block to have a descriptive name on the sheet. Also useful for yourself in the list of sheets in your Project Browser.

Scale and Best Practices

Drawings need to be readable. There are various settings that control how drawings are displayed and thereby enable you to optimize for readability:

Visual and Detail settings
Control the graphical settings of a view and the amount of detail that is shown. In the Properties window ofthe selecte3d view you can set the View Scale and the Detail Level. Overview drawings (typically 1:100 or smaller scale) should not show too many details, so Views in that scale are usually set to Coarse Detail Level. Larger scale drawings, such as 1:20 or bigger, need to be set to Medium Or Fine Detail Level to reveal the full level of detail.
Cut Pattern
The Type Properties determine the display of an object either cut or in view. Make sure to specify suitable patterns (hatches) and colors that provide enough contrast. These are used in Medium and Fine Detail Level settings for a View. When a view is set to Coarse Detail Level (i.e. scale 1:100 or smaller), the Coarse Scale Fill Color and Coarse Scale Fill Pattern are used instead; these are set in the Type Settings of walls, floors, etc. By default no Coarse Scale Fill Pattern is set. To increase the readability of the drawings, it's common practice to set the Coarse Scale Fill Pattern to Solid, and the Coarse Scale Fill Color to grey or black. To do this, select your Wall, Floor or Roof type and go to it's Type Properties. Under Graphics, change the Coarse Scale Fill Pattern to Solid.
Visibility/Graphics Overrides
Each view has it's own Visibility and Graphics overrides that control which (categories of) objects and annotations are visible and allows overrides for each category, such as a specific color or pattern. This allows you to hide specific parts of your model. You could for instance hide tags and annotations in overview drawings.

Exporting/printing your sheet to PDF

To export your sheets to PDF, you have to use a PDF printer. When you have the Adobe Creative Suite installed, you'll probably have the Adobe PDF already installed on your system (provided that your suite includes Adobe Acrobat Professional).

If you don't have this software, there are two options:

  • Use a computer that has; students of the Faculty of Architecture can use the faculty's computers that should have all the software installed.
  • Use a free PDF printer, such as PDFCreator or CutePDF Writer.


Main Print dialog in Revit

Use the following steps to print a Sheet to PDF:

  • Click the Application Button, under Print, click Print.
  • Select your PDF printer from the list.
  • Click Properties and select the correct paper size in the properties window.
  • Under Print Range, select Selected views/sheets
  • Click Select...


Print Select Sheets dialog in Revit
  • In the Select views/sheets dialog, select the sheet(s) you want to print to PDF.
If you want to print multiple sheets with different page sizes, you have to create separate print jobs for each page size.
  • Click OK to close the select sheets dialog.
  • In the main print dialog, under Settings, click Setup…


Print Setup Dialog
  • You will be taken to the Print setup dialog. Under Zoom, change the selection to Zoom and keep the value at 100%. This is to ensure your sheet will print at the correct scale, as the default setting (Fit to page) stretches your image, thus ruining the scale of your drawings.
  • Under Paper Placement, select Center.
  • Lastly make sure the correct paper size and orientation are selected, and choose your desired color option under Appearance.
The print setup dialog also presents you with the option to either output a vector or a raster image (under Hidden Line Views). This option is by default set to Vector Processing, which is recommended. If your sheet contains shading, shadows or gradients, a raster image will be printed regardless of this setting. Revit will give you a warning when this happens.
  • Click OK to close print setup.
  • Click OK to print the sheet(s) to PDF. Depending on the type of PDF printer you're using, you may be prompted separately to provide a location and name for the PDF file.

Each sheet will be printed to a separate PDF file. If you want to combine those into a single PDF, refer to Combine files into PDF.

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