A million ways to view Revit

Last week this blog reached a big milestone: 

One million views.   

OK, some of those viewings may be bots and a few were admin views, but it is still a big deal for me.  It is great to know that so many people out there are interested enough to look at this blog, and hopefully spend time reading the content.  It is also really rewarding when I meet people at conferences and user group meetings, and they tell me that the blog has helped them out (so they must be reading it).

Top Ten Blog Posts

By far the most popular is the post on stair path arrows in Revit.  What this tells me is that this is still a huge issue for people - ever since Autodesk created the 'New Component Stair' tools, and totally changed the stair path annotation method, it has confused users.  Autodesk have not only confused people, but they have continued to neglect the issue for 7 years (?) and have still not fixed the bug that prevents you from copying and pasting stair path arrows from one view to another - shame on you Autodesk.

In the top ten are five blog posts on stairs and railings - yes it is still a part of Revit that people need a lot of help with.  I hope that my blog posts have made life a little easier for people - although I do need to do some updates for the recent tweaks to the software, such as the new multi-storey stair tool.

Number 2 on the list is Copying Views between Revit projects - the reason this is confusing is that each view type has a different method of copying or transferring views. 

One way to get Autodesk to fix some of these issues is to vote on their Revit Ideas wishlist site.  Here is my list of things that I think should be voted up the list.

Revit Ideas Wishlist Voting

Autodesk created the 'Revit Ideas Wishlist' a while back - yes I know it is flawed and has a lot of rubbish on it.  However, I know that the Revit Product Managers do actually look at it and monitor the votes.  It is not the only thing that decides what goes into future Revit upgrades but it contributes to the discussion - so I like to support it, in particular the sensible ideas that are posted on it.

I do believe that we should mainly be voting for things to be done to the core software that cannot be done by API, Dynamo or Add-ins - as those things can be done quickly by others (or yourselves).

Here are some of the better ones that I think should be voted up (including some that I have posted):

Please go to the Revit Ideas forum and vote for any of these ideas that you agree with:

Model Stability (& Pins)

Allow us to change 2D extents of pinned sections - just like we can for grids and levels.  Then we could leave those sections pinned all the time and not risk losing attached annotation.

Persistent Pins - pins that reinstate themselves after you have modified the element once

Parameters

#1 wish regarding parameters is to allow Shared Parameters in Key Schedules  - this would unlock so much potential in Revit, and the API just can't get in there to solve it.

There are several outstanding Global parameter requirements:

The first is oh so simple, but would be a huge deal for us:
Enable global parameters to associate to Floor ‘Height Offset from Level’ system property

Enable global parameters to associate to Array Numbers

Enable creation of an Area Reporting Parameter for use in Global Parameters

For more detail  refer to Global Parameter wishes

Stairs & Railings

There are so many things that need to be fixed on stairs and railings, that I have created a list of requests just for Stairs and Railings.

There are a couple of basic ones that just need to be done to improve stair arrows - not much more than bug fixes:

• fix the broken Copy & Paste function for stair path arrows.
• Tag All Untagged - Stair Path Arrows

 

Families

Are you intensely irritated by the default setting for face-based family placement being 'Place on Vertical Face'?  I think that 99+% of users would like it to be changed (not to mention BIM managers who have to deal with confused users not understanding why they can't place ceiling fittings).
Vote her to  make the default 'Place on Face'

 

Form Creation

Creating forms in the Conceptual Massing Environment is fraught with problems - some of them could be alleviated by the following two capabilities:

Control profile order during form creation

Select Path during form creation

There are oh so many more things that need to be fixed in Revit - but since Autodesk concentrate on such a few, we need to target which ones would genuinely benefit the most people.  And we shouldn't ask Autodesk to spend time on things that can be done by some other means (API, Dynamo etc).

Have a look at the latest updates to the Autodesk Revit development roadmap to see what is planned or has been recently delivered.

Revit Stair and Railing Enhancement Requests

Do you think that the Revit Stair and Railing tools are good enough for typical Revit modelling?
No?  I thought so.

Well, Autodesk seem to think that they have fixed stairs and railings in v2018.  Well, yes, the new multistorey stair tool is a great improvement on the old system, and it has certainly improved how it handles railings.  But there is an awful long way still to go, particularly with railings.

Autodesk are now taking user input to the Revit Ideas website very seriously - yes they are listening to our requests on that site, and the number of votes really makes a difference.

Here is what we need to do:   vote for all those stair and railing issues that urgently need attention.

I have looked through the list of ideas on the website.  Since it is quite hard to navigate through all those duplicate ideas and requests for things that already exist (where people just need a bit more training), I will try to make it easier for you by creating a few links to ideas that I think need to be voted up.  I was going to wait until I had comprehensively reviewed all the wishlist items, and gone through all my own requests and comments on this blog in the past, then added some more wishlist items - but I think it is too important to wait.  I will add to this list in due course.

Please add your votes to any ideas that you support:

Stairs

Stair annotation:

• Allow rename or delete of stair path system family; Fix stair path arrows so that we can quickly add a path to multiple views
• fix the broken Copy & Paste function for stair path arrows.
• Tag All Untagged - Stair Path Arrows
   
• Make Stair Number Text Have Type Properties
   

Stairs & Views:

• "Show hidden linework" function should work on component stairs (actually it used to work on the old sketch stairs, but is broken on component stairs).  This is doubly important now that the old stair by sketch command has been removed from v2018.
• Ability for stairs below to obey view range (or cut mark on stairs going down?)

Stair modelling

• Component stair end in landing option
• Automatically cut a hole in floor above when creating a stair?  Too dangerous? Or a good idea?
• Stairs - More Functionality - this one is a repost of the original request that gathered much support but was labelled as 'Implemented' by Autodesk when multistorey stairs were imporoved in v2018.  The author does not consider any of its content to be implemented - (core & finish layers to stairs, more parameters, control over end conditions etc)
• Allow stairs to join structural elements such as beams
• Allow stairs and ramps to join walls and floors (same deal as above but it has lots of votes already)
• Allow Boolean Cut Void operations on stair components - so we can create irregular shaped stairs & landings without converting them to sketches

• Explode a v2018 Multistorey Stair back to separate stairs per level

Railings

Railings Generally

• Railing Overhaul - Resolution of Limitations - This is a comprehensive request to fix many things about railings from Chris Price (Mr Spot), who is an expert on Revit railings

Railing view properties

• Make railing terminations visible in plan view
• Allow railings to be visible in a Reflected Ceiling Plan - 
• Schedule Railing posts and balusters

 Railing Modelling

•  Please make Railings more user friendly - 
•  Railing baluster spacing 'Shrink Pattern to Fit' option
• Unchained Railings - allow a break in the railing sketch 
• Give us Control of Railing Offset from Path Default Property

• Fix Railing Toprail/Handrail Inside Corner Transition

• Start and End Indents on Handrail Support Spacing
• Horizontal rails to have start and end indent/offset (to match start/end baluster space)

• Rationalise Railing Materials so we don't need to duplicate numerous linked families for one material change

If there is something that you want to see added, please create your own stair or railing 'Revit Idea' on the Autodesk site - specific detailed requests, please (one item per request).   If I can understand them clearly, and they have not already been implemented in v2018, I'll add them to this list.  Please do not create any more general requests to improve railings - just vote for the 'Railing Overhaul' one from Chris Price, listed above.
More to be added soon . . . . 

Revit Stair Path Arrows at Different Scales

My blog post on Revit Stair Path Arrows has had more hits than any other topic; and it continues to be near the top of the list each month - so it is obviously a problem issue for many people.

One thing I did not really cover in that post is how  to handle stair arrows at different scales.

Stair Arrows and Scale

Stair path arrow types need to be set up for each different scale that you want to use – because the arrowheads behave like symbols or tags (they change with scale); this is unlike the old arrows, which behaved like model lines (not affected by scale).

Arrowheads

First you need to set up the arrowheads for each scale:

• 1:50 or 1/4” to 1’0”

• 1:100 or 1/8” to 1’0”

• 1:200 or 1/16” to 1’0”

Text Size

Make sure you have suitable text types set up for each required stair path arrow scale

 

Stair Path Arrow Types

Then set up a different Stair path arrow type for each scale – these will reference the preset arrowheads and also text styles:

The important things to change for each scale are:

• Arrowhead Type (system families as described previously)

• Distance to Cut Mark – I usually make this a calculation of “Tread depth/ Scale factor”, so that the arrowhead stops on the first riser line beyond the cut mark, if that is what you prefer graphically.
      250/50 = 5mm
      10” / 1/4” to 1’0” = 27/128”
      250/100 = 2.5mm
      10” / 1/8” to 1’0” = 27/64”
      250/200 = 1.25mm
      10” / 1/16” to 1’0” = 7/128”
• Text Type – adjust this so that it is the smallest readable size (unless you want larger text). Set up from Text panel of Annotate tab on ribbon

Duplicate types for each scale, and change the 3 properties:

• 1:50 or 1/4” to 1’0”

• 1:100 or 1/8” to 1’0”

• 1:200 or 1/16” to 1’0”

Things that typically do not need to be changed include:

• Start from Riser &  End at Riser   - unticking these would cause erroneous locations for arrowheads if your stair starts or ends with a tread (but will not affect stairs that start/end with runs).
• Show Arrowheads to Cut Mark    - causes arrowheads to disappear on views where cut marks are shown (but they still show when the full run is displayed)

Properties that you might want to change include:

• Start Symbol Type   - if you want to put a dot or circle to indicate the start of the stair
• Full Step Arrow   - makes the arrow the full width of the run
• Line Shape at Landing Corner   - can be straight or curved on angled landings
• Draw for Each Run   -  creates a separate arrow on each run, which may be useful on unusual stairs such as 'T' shaped stairs where the path arrow is not created correctly:

Refer to Revit Stair Path Arrows for more information on using stair path arrows