Metric and Imperial Areas in Schedules

Here's a quick tip on how to create a schedule to show the same information but use different units of measure. I've been pondering whether this was too "simple" to post, but it did have me scratching my head for a while yesterday! After all I'm allowed to post newbie tips too ;) At first I thought I might have to place two schedules side by side, but as we shall see, it's not necessary.

Start by creating a room schedule and add the fields you want. Let's say you added Area and you left the units to use project settings, which are typically Imperial for us in the US (it's about time we move to metric!). Now what if I want another column to list the Area once again but in different units? Once we move the Area field from the "Available" column to the "Scheduled" column, we cannot add it again. So how do we get around this?

The answer is simple: create a calculated value. Don't get stuck thinking that this is just used for complex formulas. This can be as simple as being equal to another parameter. So simply type in "Area" as the formula, give it a name (such as Area_M) and you're set. Now go to the Formatting tab, select the newly created calculated value and change the units by clicking the Field Format button. This technique can also be used for length parameters or anything else that can be reported with different units.

Metric and Imperial Areas in Schedules

Paying for Families

As the famous saying goes, "You get what you pay for".

We obviously don't want to pay for families, but one way or another, we're shelling out money to scour the web to find good content or to build our own. Whether you're hiring someone to build families for you or buying them ready-made, it costs time to communicate intent and check the work. Need I say more?

By now you might have heard about Turbosquid for Revit. As the description on the site goes, "Revit Market is designed specifically for Revit users to buy and sell Revit families, scenes, and visualization content." So if you have any families you would like to sell, I encourage you to post them. Or if you're short on time, maybe you'll find what you want at a reasonable cost. You never know, it might even cost you less at the end!

If you read my long posts about BIM content a while back, you know how I feel about the subject. Content is a complex topic, especially when it comes to leveraging BIM throughout the entire life-cycle of a project. I still think that ultimately, the companies that manufacture building products need to provide this content themselves. Only then can the design team trust the accuracy of the data. And would we pay for it? I don't think they'd dare to charge us ;) I believe competition would take care of the situation. The first manufacturer of a particular product that doesn't charge gets specified the most. And the rest will be history.

Oh, one more thing. Until the end of January, you have the chance to win some cash at Turbosquid. So if you have some spare time, now you have an assignment on your to-do list and you might end up a little richer in the process!

Paying for Families

Beams with sloped edges

Steven Debooy, a fellow blog reader, recently asked me if it was possible to add a parameterized void at the end of a beam to cut it at a slope. That question prompted me to write this post about how one can achieve that result.

a) Adding a void to the beam is a possible solution. I posted a family in the Structural AUGI forums in 2007. Feel free to reverse engineer it and find out how it works. My example has 2 voids instead: one handles positive angles and the other handles negative angles. The user inputs an angle in one parameter, and 2 calculated parameters evaluate that input and return the correct result.

b) In the 2009 Revit family of products, one can use the Opening by Face tool to achieve the same result. Using this tool to cut the end of a beam, one will get a warning stating that "Opening partially cuts its host". It's not a serious warning (I guess), but it is meant to inform the user that something could potentially be wrong, as usually an opening is meant to have beam material surrounding the entire sketch perimeter! This is the best option if you want to create custom shaped cuts on the fly.

c) This method makes me mad. Why? Because it's only available in Revit Structure (come on people!). NOTE: As of the Subscription Advantage Pack, this functionality is also available in RAC2010. Thanks Factory!  Aaaanyway, You can sketch a reference plane and then use the Cut Geometry tool to trim the beam against the reference plane (actually you can also trim against a grid). Non-linear cuts are not possible with this technique.

Beams with sloped edges

My First Revit Project - Part 2

The Dedication of a project is a special event, and today we can officially say that our team completed our first Revit job successfully in our office. We started designing & modeling three years ago, the school has been occupied since August 2008, withstood Hurricane Ike with some minor damage (walkway canopies) and today was the official dedication.

Below are some pictures I took as I walked the building after the ceremonies were over. One cannot help remembering the tough times and the lessons learned over the course of a project like this. I couldn't help noticing things that got built differently, but you have to let go at some point! There are things beyond one's control, and as long as you learn from those cases (if there's a lesson to be learned that is), then all is well that ends well. Thanks to everyone involved in making this project a success and I hope you enjoy the photos.

My First Revit Project - Part 2

Welcome to 2009!

I hope you all had a great holiday, some good rest and perhaps new toys. For me it was a good break of doing very little and a lot of relaxing at home. Now it's time to get back up to speed!

And what better way to kick things off than with some inspiration? I think this sets the right tone for the rest of the year. We all need a little something to keep us going. Every now and then I glance at my favorite quotes and update them on this blog too (see sidebar). Who knows, maybe you can relate to them too :)

Welcome to 2009!