Working with past projects

[Arkman]

We do a lot of projects for the same company. Inevitably we work on a project then later work on that same building again. We finally did this with a revit project.

I'm having trouble with it. When we did the originally project two years ago it was an extensive remodel of a six story building. Now the new project is a small remodel of a floor in that same building. I want to use the most updated revit model so that is the "completed" version of the last project. My problem comes when I open that model up I have all the walls/doors/window and such show up like new when really they are existing now. And all the notes and dimensions are there for the last project.

What is the best way to approach this. So far I've been selecting things and changing them to the existing phase but that seems like a lot of work when there should be an easier way.

Anyone have a good process for taking past projects and reusing the model for a new one?

[patricks]

I would absolutely NOT go around changing the phase of objects, unless you plan to save the file as a new project file (keeping the old project file as it was) and stripping out all the annotations and documentation for this new project.

But even still I probably wouldn't do that. Simply create a new phase after the New Construction phase of the last project, and set up new views referencing that new phase. When set to Show Previous + New, it will display all of your past work as existing.

But you should still save the project as a new file anyway, no matter what option you choose.

[Arkman]

I've already saved the the project as an entirely new project so I'm good with experimenting for now.

I thought about the phasing thing but my problem is that the original project was a huge remodel. Lots of drawings, details, and all that jazz. The new project is a tiny little remodel of an elevator lobby. I don't need all those extra drawings and details in there just to confuse the situation. Does that make sense?

[patricks]

Yep, I personally would leave all the model stuff and remove the details and annotations you don't need. That way, if you have another future project on this building, you'll once again have the latest version with all past work in place.

If you try to strip out other areas of the building you're not working on in this project, then you'll end up with 2 separate Revit models that are both incomplete in terms of existing conditions after this project is finished.