metric and imperial unit dont matter

[Justin Marchiel]

I didn't realize it before, but if you are working in a metric drawing, you can type out a dimension in imperial units (ie12") and it will return to soft conversion in metric.

Works backwards in an imperial drawing too. type 3000mm and you will get the imperial soft conversion.

calculator conversion are not longer required.

Justin

[ws]

Yes, it's a really useful feature of Revit but for some reason not widely known...the trainer doing my Revit Essentials course didn't know about.

Here in the UK we mix Imperial and Metric all the time, and it is very useful for working on old buildings, when you are referring to existing Imperial scale plans - you can just enter the values straight into Revit without bothering to convert them first.

Autodesk UK would do well to list it as a significant feature as it is a big time-saver.

[justin.taylor]

Yup but not only can you enter Metric 5000 for 5000mm or 5m for metres, then feet and inches, but there is also a hidden calculator within the dimensions:

http://www.revitup.co.za/_mgxroot/page_10779.html
really useful....check it out

[ws]

It's very good... I'm used to something similar in Nemetschek Allplan - where you don't need to preface calculations with the '=' sign... but you can't use Imperial without changing the Units setup.

(Neither are quite up to my Construction Master Pro desk calculator where you can multiply feet and inches by metric and come out with an answer in either - imported at vast expense from the US)

Real-world usability in Revit is the best I've come across - at least once you've got your content sorted out ;)

[Henry D]

Thanks for this one! I have to flip between metric and imperial all the time...this will help me a lot.

[Joef]

What would be really nice is to be able to create dual (metric / imperial) dimensions.

[ws]

Agreed - I have to dual dimension most of my plans - many clients in the UK prefer Imperial but the Authorities insist on Metric for planning applications and suchlike - so I do both.

[Dimitri Harvalias]

William,

Can't you just do the contract docs in imperial and then change units when you print for submission?
We have the same kind of issues in the colonies with building authorities so I know how it goes. In general though, I don't think they would be as worked up about 'silly' metric values that get hard converted from imperial as the client or trades might in the reverse direction.

[dbaldacchino]

That would be a neat little project for a line based detail component family. Of course dims work better, but you could create a dim-like family that would report both units. One could conceiveably lock it to geometry so it flexes when these change. Of course I'd prefer if this functionality was added to Revit. It's available in Autocad Architecture ;)

[justin.taylor]

You probably do know this, but just in case you can use both metric and imperial dimensions in the same model...just click on a dim style, edit it and duplicate then switch the Units Format from project to not use project settings and then apply imperial.

[ws]

That's the only way I've found of doing both in Revit (and Allplan as it happens).

Dimitri - it seems that Imperial dims just will not die in the UK - the Authorities don't mind it as long as we use Metric as well.

UK clients mix and match them also - a client asked me for a 27,000 ft2 storage building... and then said it mustn't be more than 3 metres high at the eaves (this is why I bought the Construction Master Pro calculator) ;)

[clog boy]

We're 100% metric (Netherlands), and it just makes sense. I mean, how many inch is a foot? How many foot is a yard? How many yard is a mile? Is it the same in the US and the UK, Schotland, Ireland? How do you guys calculate miles per hour to yard per second?
Ofcourse, everyone knows how to measure inches and feet roughly without a ruler or another measurement system other than their own body. But we Dutch people are generally tall and have big hands (big feet and mouth too ; ) while we also hire peope from abroad (read: cheap immigrants) to have parts of the actual construction done.

Back on topic. Revit is inteligent that way. You can input formulas and Revit will know what to do. You can say, for instance, =(1780cm/2)-150" and Revit still makes sense of it. Revit is good with numbers, and can roughly understand what they mean. Revit is like Excel for architects.

[cstanley]

I so wish we were metric... flipping brilliant. i've only worked on a handful of metric projects, and was always very comfortable...

(A-sized sheets would be nice, too.)

[kbsheppard]

(if a thread for this already exists please point me threre)

Could someone please tell me how revit handles metric vs imperial units? (I know it's not like autocad where an object needs to be scaled.) If I understand correctly a tile is a tile...305x305[12"x12"] and when I change units revit simply grabs a differnt tape measure. Right?

If this is so then why are there two families, m_tile.rvt & tile.rvt? If I understand correctly it is for the family names and that the 305x305 Tile, Ceramic is exactly the same physically sized object as the 12"x12" Tile, Ceramic.

Therefore, could we simply not just decide on a unit of measure and double up the family name types, one with metric words and one with imperial words but both with the same physical size. (I tested this quickly by opening the w shape.txt file and making a copy of one of the entries and then simply changed the name to an imperial designation and all seemed to be fine. So ok a metric 305 beam may be 304.2mm and an imperial 12" beam may actually be 302.1mm but since we're making two entries we could adjust these sizes as well.)

I hope this won't sound too agressive, but is it correct then that why there are two families, in two library folders all segregated and all, (m_tile.rvt & tile.rvt) of exactly the same object, of exactly the same physical dimensions is so that people who only speak " don't get all worked up by having to see mm?

[clog boy]

I think we have two libraries because of the project units setting. I wouldn't like to open a family, think 'darn it's Imperial' and change the project units. For me it's just open, do my thing, load into project. By the way during installation you can decide what library(s) will be downloaded.

[LRaiz]

Imperial families are indeed usable in metric projects and visa versa. Revit simply reports measurements according to desired display units.

However separate metric and imperial libraries are useful because

Families in these libraries come pre-populated with types reflecting sizes typically used construction. They don't use 5' 8" high doors in metric countries.
Type names are reflective of parameter values.
Construction details are often different in imperial and metric countries.


HTH

[Scott D Davis]

They don't use 5' 8" high doors in metric countries.

In Imperial countries, I'd have a tough time with 5'-8" doors too, considering I'm 6'-2"....8)

I think Leonid meant 6'-8", a standard in residential construction.

[kbsheppard]

So I may be taking this thread a little off topic but...

Is there anything "wrong" then with taking my imperial library & merging it with my metric one? What I mean is, assuming metric as a "base" unit, is there some reason (maybe in the coding of the prog.) that i can not:

- make 1 family called window
- have a type: 3'-0" that is actually 915mm
- also have a type 915 that is actually 915mm


Maybe a little later we can also talk about the library organization as well :)

[Dimitri Harvalias]

I think it's a matter of hard conversion vs soft conversion.
Some products come in true metric modules (eg acoustic ceiling tile that is actually 1200 x 600, not 1220 x 610, the hard metric conversion of 2'x4' tile)
If you set up a part in true imperial untis and then open it in a metric file then it will report 1" = 25.4mm.
The workaround is to set up all your dim styles with rounding values. Not someting I like to do just so the numbers don't look strange.

[clog boy]

In Imperial countries, I'd have a tough time with 5'-8" doors too, considering I'm 6'-2"....8)

I think Leonid meant 6'-8", a standard in residential construction.

lol that's also what I thought... My length is roughly 1780mm. By the way doors in the NL are typically 2015, 2115, 2215 or 2315mm tall and 780, 830, 880, 930, 980 or 1030mm width. I usually have the door size parametric and everything else in relation to that, and save it to several types. Same goes for paper sizes.

So my families are typically useless for people who use the imperial system :p