Useful Info for new Revit users...

[DanielleAnderson]

Hi there,
It's too bad I am posting this on a Friday afternoon, I may have to resurrect it on Monday morning, but I am looking for a little bit of input/advice from all of you Revit users out there...
I am working on a little paper/workbook (not sure about format yet) for our newer users here focusing on what works/what doesn't work (i.e. best practices), helpful tricks, important things to know, be aware of, etc. when using Revit. So, I thought it would be great to hear what kinds of things you would put in this type of document so I can have a well-rounded, wide-ranging bit of information here.
So let me know what you think! :D :idea:

[Batman]

IMO, the document would have to related to a particular project type and the best practice methodology involved in producing the output for that project with Revit.

If this is something thats going to assist new users then it would have to be relative to something they are about to tackle otherwise it may end up meaning nothing to them anyway.

While there are existing tutorials around that take you through the build up of a residence it doesn't cover the workaround methods and advice on how to deal with complex challenges with Revit especially if they were coming across from a ADT or AutoCAD mentality. Perhaps something that went along the lines of a tutorial but with the emphasis on the "unwritten rules" for best practice.

I'm sure there would be plenty of technical solutions being offered up through this forum that would be available for inclusion. One could go on forever with these little ideas on how to do things, however, knowing the format you plan on adopting would certainly help myself, and perhaps others, in knowing what would be useful to you.

This is a great idea of yours and I wish there would have been a structured format for me to follow when I started, it certainly would have saved me a whole lot of heartache.

[Roger Evans]

I think a chapter on Terminology would not go amiss ~ giving clear concise explanation with frequent graphic backup in colour ~ "a picture is worth" etc >> (often an explanation gets lost or tied up with the words used to explain the meaning) ~ Even with advice given here & in the tutorials I often find that I have to read / reread / re reread & repeat again before the basis starts to sink in
If you haven't done so already try teaching a couple of people as you write the "book" ~ I think this may help highlight areas of confusion & would be very helpful to you

Last thought for today ~ mix in a few avi type tutorials

Cheers
Roger

ps (please send me a copy)

[DanielleAnderson]

Good suggestions thus far--especially the idea of a glossary of terms, I agree, Revit has its own language.
To focus the discussion just a bit more, let me clarity the purpose of this document.
We have been using revit in the firm for a little more than 2 years now, starting off with just a couple of power-users in both of our offices. As we have moved toward a more complete implementation of revit in the last 6 months or so (i.e. making EVERYBODY use it), it has become clear to a lot of people that while revit works a lot different from autocad, there are still rules that one needs to follow (for example, we had someone sort of left on their own for a while, and when a more experienced user looked at the model, they noticed that all sorts of horizontal elements such as countertops, roof soffits, etc. had been drawn as floors because this person did not know about in-place families) when modelling.
This document would not necessarily be for brand-new users, but more like people who are new to the software but are able to comfortably maneuver in it. It would be a resource for people to use that would hopefully prevent some of the errors that occur when people try to get clever and trick the software into doing what they want it to do because they are used to tricking autocad into doing things (like forcing dimensions) or just can't quite figure out how to do a particular task.
So, in short, the document would sort of be like a "words from those who have gone before" kind of thing. Since there are all kinds of wise people on this forum, I thought I would ask for advice...

[BWG]

Definitely need to be aware that settings in Revit can make the novice go crazy. It is hard to find and hard to remember where all the little settins are at. A lot are under Settings, but there is a lot that is view specific, right click, tool bar, etc. Family editor is a little different story.