KC RUG

No, this isn't a post about a carpet store in Kansas City.  It's an invitation to all Revit users in the Kansas City area to attend the new K.C. Revit User Group.  KCRUG meets once a month at various locations in the metro K.C. area.  Architects, engineers, designers, CAD Techs, contractors and anyone else interesting in learning about Revit and BIM in general are welcome.  Meetings are held on the last Thursday of each month from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.  Dinner and drinks are provided by the group sponsors (Mid-West CAD and Applied Technology Group).  For more information, check out the official KCRUG website.

Scheduled Rotation

This is not a little known secret or a new feature in Revit, but did you know you can rotate a schedule? I've never had the need to do it, so I've never even thought about it.  The only application I could think of where this would be useful is for a revision schedule on a sheet titleblock/border.  Simply click on the schedule, and in the options bar, select 90° clockwise or 90° counterclockwise.

Revit 2011 Update #2

Go get it!

Revit Architecture

Revit MEP

Revit Structure

goBIM

What to view a BIM model on your iPhone or iPad?  Well, there's an app for that!  Check out goBIM.  Looks like it currently supports Revit 2010 & 2011 and Rhino.  I haven't test it out because the only Apple product I own is a three year old iPod.  If you've had any experience with this application, please leave a comment  below.

Hiatus

Is anyone still reading this blog? I just realized I haven't posted anything since December 2009!  My apologies.  I've been too busy I guess with family, a new job, and life in general.  I think those are good enough excuses, don't you?.  Since my last posting I've had a slight career change.  I am now working for a company called HNTB as a BIM Technical Specialist.  I am part of a small team responsible for company wide BIM (mainly Revit) training, support and implementation as well as R&D of new BIM technologies.  It has been quite an adjustment transitioning from the design/production side of the business into more of a support role, but I enjoy it. Anyway, I'm going to make an effort to post to this blog more frequently now so stay tuned.


Jason

Type Catalogs

Type Catalogs are nothing new to Revit, but are something I recently dove into. So, I thought I'd share some information about Type Catalogs for those of you who may not be familiar with them.

First of all, a family type is a subdivision with a family of elements. For example, a supply diffuser family might have various face and neck size combinations (or types) defined for the family file. Each diffuser type may vary in size, but share the same parameters and have a similar graphic representation. Therefore, it is logical to group these together in one file as opposed to creating a family file for each size. There are two ways to define family types. The first is to create the family types within the family file itself. When you load this type of family into a project, all of the family types that are defined within the family are loaded. This results in many unwanted family types that become part of the project file, thus increasing the file size. The second way is to use Type Catalogs. According to the Revit MEP help glossary of terms, a Type Catalog is a "list of model elements that belong to a particular family type but that differ in size or other characteristics". Using type catalogs allows you to only load the sizes, or types, you need from a list. By only selecting the types you need, you reduce the project size and limit the number of items listed in the type selector for that family. A Type Catalog is a comma-delimited text file that defines parameter values for each family type. You can use spreadsheet or database software, such as Excel, to define family types and their parameter values to automate the process of creating the comma-delimited text file. This is a much more efficient method than defining the parameter values within the family file itself.

Below is an example of at type catalog list that will appear when you load a type catalog family:

You can sort by any parameter to help narrow down your choices. Then, simply select the family types you want to load into your project:

When you go place an instance of the family in the project, only the family types that you loaded will appear in the type selector (shown in Revit MEP 2011):

A few important things to note about type catalogs:

• The type catalog text file that is associated with a family must have the exact same file name. For example:

Supply Grille - Louvered - Rectangular Neck.rfa

Supply Grille - Louvered - Rectangular Neck.txt

• Family files and their associated Type Catalogs must be located in the same folder.

• Instance parameters are typically not included in Type Catalogs.

I won't go into how to create a type catalog in this post. However, the Revit MEP help section has a very good explanation of how it all works and gives a good example you can use to get started.

Happy Holidays!

I want to wish all of my fellow Reviteers a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Maybe Santa will bring us new Revit MEP features in 2010.

-Revit Garage