Breaking up a large model, best practice

[Andre Baros]

I was just talking about Revit with someone and the questions came up about large projects with lots of linked models, what's in your "main" model?

My own experience has some architectural element "dominant" and therefore all the other models are linked into that model, but their experience on larger projects was to have an "empty" main model which all the models were linked into, since they were all of equal value and linking was only being used to manage file size. Does your experience favor one method over another? What, if anything is in your "main" model?

[cliff collins]

We start with a Revit Site model.
This usually contains a Linked cad file from the Civil eng., which we then use for setting up Shared Coordinates, generating topo surfaces, parking, walks, building footprints, etc.

Next come the building (s).

In our work we do mostly hotels and casinos, so this would represent a typical model linking scenario:

All Revit models are postioned via Shared Location from coordinates aquired from the Revit Site model.

Links are set to Underlay.

Hotel Shell/Core
Hotel Interiors
Casino Shell/Core
Casino Interiors
Events Center Shell/Core
Events Center Interiors
Parking Garage Arch.
Parking Garage Revit Structure
Parking Garage Revit MEP
Hotel Revit Structure
Hotel Revit MEP
Casino Revit Structure
Casino Revit MEP
Events Center Revit Structure
Events Center Revit MEP

We may have over a Gigabyte or more of data in all of these linked models.
Navisworks will be used to combine them for 4D, clash detection, etc.

cheers.......

[twiceroadsfool]

To answer your original question, i personally use ONE of the architectural models AS the main model, replete with the drawing set in it.

So if i decide its most efficient to break a project up in to 7 revit models, one of those 7 will be MAIN. It will have a portion of the project in it, and the drawing set, with the others set to By Linked View, or whatever.

I suppose you can do 7 Links and an empty one for nothing but sheets and views, but i dont see the need to do it just for consistancies sake.

[TerribleTim]

So what is the actual process used for taking a model that you started as a single model and breaking it up now that it is getting a little "unwieldy"? I'm thinking I may have taken a wrong turn and need some advice on how to break it up now. . .

[bregnier]

One good reason for a dedicated "main" project file is that it provides a separate location for shared or standard details and partition types, cover sheets, etc. This will keep people out of the building file if they want to work on the information in these sheets, and can avoid some worksharing toe-stepping. In fact, in one educational campus project I'm working on this stuff is being kept in a project with no model geometry and links unloaded by default, as everything in it doesn't reference any building geometry. Separation of work is a great reason to use multiple project files, and you'd be surprised how much of a project's file size comes from drafted objects - this "general sheets" file is the same size as any one of our building files!

One thing we haven't really mastered yet is how to make sheet lists with any kind of parametric control with multiple linked buildings. Anybody have an elegant method that doesn't involve stitching together multiple lists or drafting a dumb list by hand?

[ranrus]

I just posted a question in regards to this, we received our model from someone else. It has two buildings in the model and now our civil has moved our north building 8' south. Now I'm trying to break up the model into two buildings, but am having a devil of a time getting it to work with a main model with no geometry in it....

[TerribleTim]

So none of that actually addresses my question.

How do I split up my building into multiple parts? Is it just a simple deal of copying the building and then removing parts from each copy and then linking them together or is there a process I should use or what do you recommend?

Where do you seperate your buildings? By floor? By wing?

[twiceroadsfool]

So none of that actually addresses my question.

How do I split up my building into multiple parts? Is it just a simple deal of copying the building and then removing parts from each copy and then linking them together or is there a process I should use or what do you recommend?

Where do you seperate your buildings? By floor? By wing?

I personally seperate by geography OR system, but it depends on the building typology. For tall buidings i make the floors Links. For larger (footprint) buildings i break them up in to chunks, so that you can load pieces (quads, if you will) and manage to work. Breaking them up by system is less than ideal in those circumstances, since to work in any given area you may need the "Shell", "Interior" and on and on.

But theres 800 ways to skin a cat.

How to actually break it up? Either group stuff, and right click, convert to link.

Or save as, and methodically delete stuff.

The former method is faster. The latter will have your template used, and will have all the same views in it, which CAN be convenient depending on your office standards and whether or not you are setting things up to be done to By Linked View, or not...

[TerribleTim]

Thanks Aaron, that helps a lot.

So here's the scenario, I've got a "T" shaped building that the leg is a seperate function from the rest. I'd like to seperate the building there, but I want to view the building on the sheets as the complete "T" shaped building. How would you accomplish it?

[twiceroadsfool]

Thanks Aaron, that helps a lot.

So here's the scenario, I've got a "T" shaped building that the leg is a seperate function from the rest. I'd like to seperate the building there, but I want to view the building on the sheets as the complete "T" shaped building. How would you accomplish it?

Just as you said. Id have seperate models for the legs. Id link them in. I would handle the detailing/notating/tagging in the Linked files, and id set up the sheets in the Bigger of the two (or three) and have the Linked models set to By Linked View, to show the notations and tags from the Linked Files.

Its fairly straightforward once you figure it out.