Learning Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2013

Reference planes increase the accuracy of your model. They help you not lose focus on the basics in terms of laying out a building.

Learn how setting a level creates a view, one that can be an elevation, a perspective, a section, a schedule -- any way you can think of to see and use your model.

Levels control how your walls begin and end; change the elevation of a level, and you change the properties of the associated walls.

A building section is a "slice" through the model, adding a new, dynamic, view -- one that it updates automatically.

We'll edit the profile of a wall within a building section.

Sometimes we don't want a section to follow a straight line; here, we'll add a "jog" so the section reveals an area inside a wall.

Callouts are a type of view, similar to a section, which creates a new view by enlarging an area.

Let's see how to add a perspective view aiming down the hallway.

Elevations give a straight-on, 2D view of a vertical surface; now let's create some and modify their markers.

We have used most of these commands at least briefly, but let's cover them together and in detail so we can get into more important model manipulations.

When adding multiple similar items, create a linear array and you can modify many of the items' properties all at once.

Revit's Align tool rescues us when we've placed or moved something not entirely accurate!

The Split Element commands allows us to break an area or object into pieces that need to be moved or defined separately. We'll also cover Trim (which eliminates excess lines) and Offset (which creates a displaced copy ofan object).

Revit's version of the old-fashioned copy and paste process allows you to align the pasted content based on their original location.

Dimensioning is a way to find out whether we've done anything inaccurately. And changing a dimension lets us reposition objects with precision.

We'll test-drive the Linear, Angular, Radial, Diameter, and Arc Length dimensions.

We continue to add dimensions, as they should be the principal means for placing and positioning your model.

As you continue to model, you'll learn many more properties and behaviors of dimensions.

Revit text has some limitations. But let's add some standalone text and some text with a leader.

It's time to place and build a floor, including defining the materials and thicknesses and pitch.

You can add finishes to your floors, from terrazzo to marble to carpet.

Not every room on a floor will have the same material. We'll split the floor to place tile in the restroom, and we'll pitch the floor to a floor drain.

We'll punch a shaft opening for a future elevator, and include some symbolic lines so the opening is clearly marked on every level.

We'll finally close in our building. The tools and commands for a roof are very similar to those for floors.

Even a "flat" roof can't be truly flat, so let's taper this roof in several directions for good drainage. (We'll leave the actual drains to the plumbing engineer!)

Next, we'll plan a roof and a dormer to the hall connecting the two wings of the building. We'll work with view ranges, because the corridor roof is lower than the wings.

We need to modify the walls and floor joins first, because it'll be easier to do that now than it will after we construct a roof. And dormer is not a one-button action! So there's a lot to do here.

The protruding section on the west wing gives us the chance to build a free-form roof with a radial pitch, using extrusion and a command called Attach Top Base.

Let's beef up the fronts of these skinny roofs.

Finally, the last roof: a slope arrow sets the slope of a one-way roof on the west wing.

Walls and grids: which came first is a chicken-and-egg question. Here, see how to construct and modify a grid that can be used to design walls.

Add a structural plan, and manually include some structural columns

Add some independent structural beams, either one-by-one or by defining a space and letting Revit fill it with framing.

The external canopies around our exit doors get some brace supports.

The trick when placing foundation walls is to know how to work relative to our view range.

First we'll add piers. Then we'll create strip and spread footings: linear and rectangular areas (respectively) that are dependent on a wall or column as their host.

We're going to insert some automatic two-by-four acoustical ceilings.

Let's add some nicer ceilings: a cherry veneer.

We'll punch a hole in one of our cherry-veneer ceilings, to make room for an architectural appointment.

Some lights are hosted by a wall, some by a ceiling. Once we have a specialized light in place, we'll create a camera view to see how they work in render.

It's time to convert the empty spaces into actual lavatories. We'll use the various object families to add sinks, toilets, and more.

We'll add troffer lighting in the main rooms, aligned to the acoustic ceiling grids; plus wall sconces in the hallways.

We'll add a multistory staircase, with multiple turns and landings, in the east wing entry area.

Where each staircase meets a level, we add some additional railing extensions.

Revit will calculate the length of a ramp you sketch. We'll add two floor slabs under the steel canopy, then L-shaped ramps that meet those slabs.

Revit keeps track of every object; you can build a schedule from your model, and you can modify objects in the model by editing the schedule!

When we add a curtain wall to the east entry, we can build a schedule for the wall and then extract a list of the materials from that schedule.

Revit won't let you duplicate items that really shouldn't be duplicated, such as a grid number or placing the same view on more than one sheet. When you need text to appear on multiple sheets, place a legend.

We haven't tagged every item as we placed it; here's how to place a tag after the fact.

Line weights in Revit are associated with an object and object type, not with a particular layer; so your lines will plot correctly no matter who views or prints them.

We'll draft over the top of a section of the model. Masking and drafting allow us to add more visual detail.

Introducing the Family Editor: We change some brick families so we get the detail we want every time we use this material.

We add some detail lines and detail components to include some angle for brick relief and some bolts.

We have our regular crop region doing the actual cropping, but what if we need to include note text that extends out of the region while excluding text that really should be cropped? Here's how.

A drafting view is completely detached from the model, letting us draft on a blank area; then, using a detail group, we can re-incorporate that drafting into the model.

See how to key our drafting view into our drawing, by adding a section and calling out another view altogether.

You don't want to redraw everything your firm has created for decades; so here's how to bring in an AutoCAD drawing, create a new model, and insert views from another model.

Revit is a two-way street between graphics and data; here's where we start taking advantage of that to build sheets.

When we drag a view onto a sheet, Revit creates a "viewport"; when you click that, you can alter the view itself (for example, to bring items back in that are "spilling" off the view).

Once we fill out a special dialog, we can add the revision bubble to the sheet and revision numbering is handled automatically. We'll cloud some areas to display these revisions.

Here we create a new project and a sheet within that project, then transfer information between projects.

You don't need to manage files to get your printing right, and batch plotting and invisibles are handled with ease.

We can place or sketch rooms to be named so that people can recognize and use them.

There are a lot of rooms in this model, and a schedule will help track wall finishes and floor and ceiling types in each; it'll also help jump to a particular room to work on it.

We can color-code our floor plan based on the room names. And of course the whole scheme updates automatically if we change the rooms or change the color coding!

See? I told you the color coding would update if we edit a room!

Let's split out model into the three regions (west, connector, and east) and see how we can work with them separately and together.