Building sections vs wall sections-best practices

[jwilhelm]

I am curious how people are developing/representing building & wall sections
I have found it expeditious to show building sections at a coarse level of detail
and have used them as an underlay for developing more detailed building sections, however
I suspect that it may be prefereable to build the model in more detail such that the building sections are shown in high detail showing alll the materials and additional info is drafted on top of the building sections when doing wall sections. I would be interested in seeing how people are approaching this. any takers?

[gbrowne]

Personally, I do sections in low detail and do call outs of junctions in high detail, which seems to be how you do it. I think there are those out there who detail model in 3d, so details are "pre drawn" as it were, but that is beyond me...

[BomberAIA]

I do it the same. I cut 1/4" building sections and callout all the details at a higher scale, 1-1/2" & 3"=1'-0"

[Rols]

Likewise. 1/8" and 1/4" building sections are at a low detail level and left "as is". Wall sections and details, anything larger than 3/8" scale are at medium or fine detail level and are drafted over.

[Doug]

I do a lot of residential work. My walls have a sweep built in for the plates, exterior materials have ht adjustment for top & Bottom. Foundation walls are made in 2 layers with adjustable top, I can do my brickledges that way. Doors & Windows have headers built in, just need to change the depth. Roof overhang has fascia Gutter frieze bds built into the sweep.

Cut my sections... most of it is there for me to note up.

Most of these tips are from this forum.

Revit is GREAT!!!
Thanks Guys!!!

[kyeric]

Doug,

Is there any way you could explain a little more about what you are talking about with your residential work? I find that the more that I learn about Revit, the more I would like to know the best work-throughs with people that have learned the hard way before.

I appreciate any tips!!!

Thanks.

[kpaxton]

Well, this thread hits the nail on the head as to what I was going to post a question about...

When you're doing the 1/8" & 1/4" sections and leaving coarse, are you leaving them 'as-is' or making them so they are greyed or blackened (filled-in)? I almost find the stick drawings a bit too cartoonish.

This is one of the major complaints from the 'AutoCad' group in our office.... The smaller sections they're used to seeing contained all (or most of) the information the larger scale details would show (lineweights adjusted for scale, of course). Granted it did look nice.

We're pretty much doing it (or trying) as Rols and Bomber are doing it. Leave the detail up to the...errr... Detail.

My question actually is this (especially on LARGE projects) - Are people trying keep the detailing within the main Revit model, or are they having to 'hybrid' the set and do the detailing in AutoCad? And if so... are you bringing the details back into the model or keeping them out and printing in Acad?

Kyle

[Doug]

Eric

Attached is a file showing some of the wall type I use on residential projects. The walls contain a sweep for the top & bottom plates. They are adjustable for interior wall material thickness. I can vary the exterior material height at will both the top & bottom of the wall.

When I do it exposes a blank wall & I paint that wall with the texture I want (siding in this case. There are so many ways to construct a wall with has much or as little detail you want to include.

My Roof overhangs vary so I usually do a custom sweep. Note in this case I included a detail component Gutter & a crown mold. The detail component does not show up on the model. If you want that detail you can add to the sweep. Again add as much or as little detail you want.

The Door Headers are adjustable for wall & interior finish thickness. Door has a nested panel for the door so I can swap them out at will.

Hope this helps!
Enjoy Revit!!! Its a great tool.

I also do this on my commercial projects.

Again most of these tips come from this forum... Thats Guys!!!

[kyeric]

Sweet.

Thanks Doug, I appreciate the help. Just getting my head around all the different ways there are to do things in Revit is almost a bad thing (just kidding)...But it is nice to have people that have been there before point out what they do to construct their building model.

And Kyle, you are right in your advice to me before... So this is a pointer for all of the newbies out there too. Take files from different sources and reverse engineer them. You can find out many things that you are doing wrong, just by taking apart someone else's work.

[Wes Macaulay]

My question actually is this (especially on LARGE projects) - Are people trying keep the detailing within the main Revit model, or are they having to 'hybrid' the set and do the detailing in AutoCad? And if so... are you bringing the details back into the model or keeping them out and printing in Acad?Depends on what you mean by 'large'. We've got a 100mb file -- a convention centre -- for which plans, sections and elevations are being done in Revit, including washroom interior elevations.

The details are being done in AutoCAD, and not linked in because there are simply too many to deal with via linking.

Other offices, including the one I'm working with now, do most detailing even in large projects right in Revit. The only details we get from Acad are done by those folks in the office who haven't the time to learn Revit.

[Les Therrien]

Doug,

Thanks for posting that sample file.
It's given me a lot to think about.

[Rols]

My question actually is this (especially on LARGE projects) - Are people trying keep the detailing within the main Revit model, or are they having to 'hybrid' the set and do the detailing in AutoCad? And if so... are you bringing the details back into the model or keeping them out and printing in Acad?

Kyle

Good (timely) question, Kyle! I have a 14 story hotel being done by the worst student in my office. This guy is truly an old dog trying to learn a new trick. He's just not getting it.
Anyway, last week he explained that a deadline was quickly approaching and he needed to round up some standard Autocad details in a hurry. He suggested that we print plans, elevations and building sections from Revit and then print wall sections and details from Autocad.
Granted, I've been known to be a grouch around the office, but I told him that if he really wanted to do that, I would export the whole damned project back to Autocad because there would be no use in keeping it in Revit at that point.
After my blood came back down to a simmer, we imported the Autocad details into Revit. That way we could still take advantage of Revit's AWESOME referencing. That's the best part of doing CD's in Revit!
One thing to watch out for is that when you import Autocad material, Revit creates styles for EVERYTHING (text, hatch, lines) and these extranious styles can really pile up.

[sbrown]

In an ideal world I highly recommend converting acad details into revit details and detail components. This is a great teaching opportunity and is something the "draftsman" in your office can bite off without having the modeling experience. It lets them participate in revit and the project without messing up the model. For typical details I would even have them work in what I call a detail project. Its just a sep. project file that contains drafting views of common details, ie a window and door detail project. They can open that file, import the dwg, recreate in in revit using revit detail components(have them do the detailing training and creating a detail component. Then you just open this project and copy/ paste the details you need. In my old office we even showed the secretary how to do this simple task, she would be recreating our detail libraries and making detail components of kawneer/pella etc dwg files while she was answering the phone. It will help so much in the long run to start to abandon your old autocad details because you will find yourself struggling with text and dimenstions, leader arrowheads and wanting to modify the detail slightly for each job that you will spend more time in the long run touching up your acad details, then you would recreating them and building a new clean library.

Sorry I wrote so long, I just highly believe in detailing in revit being far superior/easier then cad.

[Shaun v Rooyen]

Depends on what you mean by 'large'. We've got a 100mb file -- a convention centre -- for which plans, sections and elevations are being done in Revit, including washroom interior elevations.

The details are being done in AutoCAD, and not linked in because there are simply too many to deal with via linking.

Other offices, including the one I'm working with now, do most detailing even in large projects right in Revit. The only details we get from Acad are done by those folks in the office who haven't the time to learn Revit.

Hey Wes, we've been down this road before (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=18783) . It seems some of you struggle with commitment.

We are now working with two 200mb files. All work and I mean everything, including the last nut and bolt, as always is done in Revit, NO ACAD.


In an ideal world I highly recommend converting acad details into revit details and detail components. This is a great teaching opportunity and is something the "draftsman" in your office can bite off without having the modeling experience. It lets them participate in revit and the project without messing up the model........

........ I just highly believe in detailing in revit being far superior/easier then cad.

Scott I agree whole heartedly. It's all or Nothing.
I still don't understand why anyone would want to seperate the project, and make it "Dumb" so to speak?? All the tools are there.