Autodesk Revit Architecture 2014 Essentials: Autodesk Official Press

Beginners will get comfortable with Revit's core features and functions. Current users will have a valuable reference to refresh and hone their skills. And everyone can use this practical book to help prepare for the Revit Architecture certification exams.

• Gets readers up and running on Autodesk Revit Architecture 2014, Autodesk's industry-leading building information modeling software
• Explains core Revit tools, features, functionality, real-world workflows, and BIM concepts
• Covers schematic design, modeling, families, views, creating drawing sets, and more
• Features best practices, rendering and visualization, worksharing, documentation, and annotation
• Provides downloadable starting and ending files, so readers can compare their work to that of the pro's

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2014 Essentials is your perfect introduction toto the powerful industry-leading BIM software.

Chapter 1 Introducing the Autodesk Revit Architecture Interface 1

Understanding the Interface 2

Properties Palette  2

Project Browser 4

Status Bar 5

View Control Bar 5

ViewCube 5

Options Bar 6

Understanding the Interface Workflow  6

Creating a Simple Layout 7

Using Filter, Mirror, and Trim/Extend  8

Adjusting Datums 11

Changing Element Types 13

Using Common Modifying Tools 16

Using Dimensions for Modifying Designs 16

Aligning Elements  20

Rotating, Grouping, and Arraying  23

Aligned Copying and Group Editing  27

The Essentials and Beyond 30

Chapter 2 Walls and Cur tain Walls 31

Understanding Wall Types and Parameters 31

Basic Walls 32

Stacked Walls 34

Curtain Wall Types 35

Creating Numerous Wall Configurations 36

Sketching Walls 37

Picking Walls  39

Hosting Elements in Walls 40

Modifying Walls 41

Instance Parameters 43

Editing Profiles 44

Attaching and Detaching the Top and Base  45

Resetting Profi les 47

Cutting Openings 48

Splitting Walls 49

Swapping Walls 50

Creating Curtain Walls 51

Curtain Grids 52

Adding Mullions 53

Embedding Curtain Walls 55

Modifying Curtain Walls 56

Editing the Elevation Profile 56

Adding and Modifying Grids and Mullions 57

Unpinning and Toggling Mullions 58

Modifying Curtain-Grid Segments 60

Modifying Curtain Panels 61

Going Beyond the Basics 62

The Essentials and Beyond 64

Chapter 3 Floors, Roofs, and Ceilings 67

Creating Floors  67

Sketching 67

Editing the Boundary   68

Creating Sloped Arrows and Floors  70

Creating Sloped Floors via Shape Editing  72

Creating Openings by Sketching 74

Creating Openings with Shafts 76

Picking Walls 80

Laying Out Roofs 81

Picking Walls 81

Creating Slope Arrows 82

Creating Extruded Roofs 86

Adding Ceilings 89

Creating Automatic Ceilings 90

Sketching Ceilings 91

Dealing with Bulkhead Conditions 94

Adding Lights and Rotating the Grid 96

Changing the Ceiling 97

Sloping the Ceiling  97

The Essentials and Beyond 98

Chapter 4 Stairs, Ramps, and Railings 99

Creating Stair Configurations 99

Creating the Generic Railing  100

Creating Your Design Stair  103

Creating a Straight-Run Stair 104

Creating a Straight-Run Stair with Landing 107

Creating Multistory Runs 110

Setting the Host Function for Railings 112

Designing Ramps 114

Creating a Straight-Run Ramp 115

Editing Boundary Conditions 116

Building Railings for Level and Sloped Conditions 118

Using the Set Host Function 120

Editing the Top Rail 121

From Basics to Creative Art  121

The Essentials and Beyond 123

Chapter 5 Adding Families 125

Understanding the Model Hierarchy 125

Assigning Families to Categories  127

Working with System Families 130

Loading System Families 130

Placing System Families 131

Working with Component Families 132

Loading Component Families 133

Using Hosted Families  134

Using Face-Based Families  138

Using In-Place Component Families 139

Finding Content 139

The Essentials and Beyond  141

Chapter 6 Modifying Families 143

Editing View Display and Detail Level 143

View Scale and Detail Level 145

Level of Detail 148

Changing the Family Category 151

Editing the Family Category 152

Editing the Insertion Point 153

Modifying Family Geometry 158

Editing the Family 158

Editing Profiles  159

Detail Components  163

Repeating Details  167

Title Blocks 168

Hosted Components   172

Family Tips and Best Practices 177

The Essentials and Beyond 179

Chapter 7 Schematic Design 181

Working from a Sketch   181

Importing Background Images  183

Accurately Scaling Images   184

Using Reference Planes and Levels  186

Creating and Placing Groups 190

Modeling In-Place Masses 193

Modeling the Base Mass 193

Modeling the Middle Mass  195

Modeling the Upper Mass 197

Working in 3D 198

Creating Mass Floors 202

Scheduling Mass Floors 203

Updating the Massing Study 206

The Essentials and Beyond  208

Chapter 8 Rooms and Color-Fill Plans 209

Defining Rooms in Spaces 209

Room Tags 210

Room Boundaries 213

Room Separation Lines 215

Deleting Rooms 217

Generating Color-Fill Room Plans 219

Adding a Color Legend 219

Modifying Color Schemes 221

Adding Tags and Fill Colors in Section 222

The Essentials and Beyond 225

Chapter 9 Materials, Rendering, and Visualization 227

Using Materials  228

Editing Material Properties of Walls 228

Using Graphic Display Options 231

Presentation Elevation Drawing  231

Presentation 3D Isometric Drawing 235

3D Exploded View  237

Rendering Graphics 238

The Essentials and Beyond 241

Chapter 10 Worksharing 243

Enabling Worksharing 244

Preparing the Central File 244

Creating Central and Local Files 246

Creating the Central File 246

Creating the Local File 247

Adding Worksets 248

Workset Visibility 250

Assigning Elements to Worksets 250

Saving to the Central File 253

Creating New Elements 255

Opening and Closing Worksets 259

Worksharing Display Modes 260

Editing Requests 263

Worksharing Best Practices 264

The Essentials and Beyond  265

Chapter 11 Details and Annotations 267

Creating Details 267

Detail Line 268

Region 269

Component 269

Creating a Detail 270

Insulation 280

Detail Groups 280

Linework 281

Annotating Your Details 282

Dimensions 283

Tags 288

Text 291

Using Legends  292

The Essentials and Beyond 294

Chapter 12 Creating Drawing Sets 297

Creating Schedules 297

Understanding Schedules  298

Making Schedules  305

Creating a Window Schedule 305

Creating a Room Schedule  307

Creating a Sheet List 309

Placing Views on Sheets 313

Adding Floor Plans to the Sheet 313

Adding the Schedules  319

Printing Documents 321

Exploring the Print Dialog Box 321

Exploring the Print Settings  322

Exploring the Print Range 325

The Essentials and Beyond 327

Chapter 13 Workflow and Site Modeling 329

Understanding a BIM Workflow 329

Staffing a BIM Project 332

Project Roles Using Revit Architecture 332

Adding Team Members to Fight Fires 336

Modeling a Site  337

Using a Toposurface 338

Creating a Building Pad 340

Performing Quality Control on Your Model 342

Keeping an Eye on File Size  342

Dealing with Warnings 345

The Essentials and Beyond 347

Chapter 14 Repeating Objects, Best Practices, and Quick Tips 349

Repeating Objects 349

Optimizing Performance 352

Utilizing Best Practices 355

Using Quick Tips and Shortcuts 359

Finding Additional Resources  365

The Essentials and Beyond  366

Appendix: Autodesk Revit Architecture 2014 Certification 367

Index 377