Revit 4D

[ajayholland]

I’ve just wrapped up Westfield’s first complete Revit pilot project. It’s a small renovation and expansion at an existing mall, in conjunction with the addition of a new department store. We’re extending an existing interior court to the new store entrance and adding new skylights. There are also some major structural alterations including the relocation of two columns.

I’ve learned that in the shopping center business, a cardinal rule in these types of projects is to minimize disturbances to existing (revenue producing) tenants. Accordingly, in this case Westfield will construct a large skylight on an exterior structural steel frame before cutting an opening in the existing roof.

http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums/phpBB2/download.php?id=1685

To illustrate the construction sequence to consultants and contractors alike, we expanded our model to four phases, (existing, structural reinforcement, enclosure, interior finish), and included a sheet of cutaway axonometric views depicting the various stages.
Incidentally, the building permit was issued with no request for drawing corrections, which some here attribute to the visual quality of the Revit product.

After an inspiring webcast hosted by AutoDesk product manager Ken Stowe, I expanded the number of phases to twenty, and subsequently produced a DWF/PDF slide show to step through the assumed sequence of demolition and construction. I’ve attached a low-resolution version of the DWF document for anyone’s edification.

The context for this exercise was exposure to a demonstration copy of Project 4D software from Common Point, Inc. Developed at Stanford University in conjunction with Disney Imagineering, the software links imported 3d geometry (VRML format) to activities defined in MS Project, Primavera, and other scheduling software. This could be a nifty tool, but I had to export the model to AutoCAD for VRML output, which tagged the model objects with layer names from the “export layers dwg” setup file. What’s needed is a direct translator between the two programs.

For Revit to perform as an effective “4D” construction management tool, I believe there will be a need for a hierarchy of phases and sub-phases, and possibly the ability to re-order their sequence in the “Phases” dialog. I agree with Peter J on the need for additional, user defined graphic overrides.

I also found that in certain views, I wanted to depict the demolition of objects that may have been removed over several model phases; currently only the previous phase may be shown as “demolished”. Objects removed in previous phases cannot be displayed. I need an option that allows me to show a number of previous phases as demo. As a work-around, I used the transparent overlay trick to display objects demolished in a phase other than previous.

A. Jay Holland

[Yikes! Can't attach my DWF file. Check back later.]

[PeterJ]

I think there would be plenty of takers fpr a look at this. You can attach a zip file, so why not zip up the dwf, which probably won't compress it significantly but will get it uploaded.

The jpg is nice teaser, by the way.

[nrenfro]

Our firm has been very interested in this concept of assigning time to Revit Elements. We were able to get AEC Software to come up with a way to get their FastTrack product to read a Excel file output of a Revit model. The thought is that all the building components could be accounted for and the builder/contractor could then assign the 4th dimension of information, time. If anyone is truly interested in this concept I would love to hear from you. Currently AEC has put the project on hold sighting they need proof that their is a market for this type of application. Time after time we receive calls into the office that a project has run into trouble because something was missed causing unnecessary expense, or time delays.

[David Sammons]

I am particularly interested in the 4D aspect of Revit for addition and alteration projects. I believe it has tremendous potential for these types of projects since they depend on critical time parameters such as phasing and sequence of construction.

So far I have not had the opportunity to apply 4D to these types of projects but it seems that it could be very valuable during both the design and construction phases of a project.

Dave S.

[truevis]

...For Revit to perform as an effective “4D” construction management tool, I believe there will be a need for a hierarchy of phases and sub-phases, and possibly the ability to re-order their sequence in the “Phases” dialog. I agree with Peter J on the need for additional, user defined graphic overrides.

I also found that in certain views, I wanted to depict the demolition of objects that may have been removed over several model phases; currently only the previous phase may be shown as “demolished”. Objects removed in previous phases cannot be displayed. I need an option that allows me to show a number of previous phases as demo. As a work-around, I used the transparent overlay trick to display objects demolished in a phase other than previous...
I think with the new Filters feature, you've got what you need. You can add whatever parameters work for you and override objects' display with Filters.

PS: Very cool presentation you made.

[david.kingham]

If your interested in connecting your revit model to MS Project give Kevin Yu of Innovaya a call (503) 439-9375 tell him I sent you....Ask about his Visual Simulation software