overcaffeined1745
2003-07-12, 10:40 AM
I'm very new to Revit (began using it last March). I've recently completed my first relatively "big" work with it. The project is not finished yet, but it has already arrived to an stage complex enough so that I had to use a substantial % of the functionality in Revit.
During the work, I was writing a list with all problems I found. I just thought that some other forum members could be interested in reading this list of problems, so I decided to post it. Perhaps some people might like to know what kind of problems a newbie can find when doing the first big stuff with Revit.
The project consists in several residential multistorey buildings, summing a total of 170 apartments. These apartments were modelled as groups for convenience.
NOTE: Several of the items in the list are caused by the fact that I don't want to use detailing tools until the project arrives to a more advanced phase. I choose Revit for working 100% in 3D with a virtual building model. I agree that some stuff must be 2D, but it was my choice to not use the Revit 2D tools for fixing 3D bugs or problems. I want to use 2D for 2D, not for patching problems.
The list:
---------
-Doors appear in sections in which they shouldn't if the section line is relatively near the door. This forced me to discard some sections and choose less interesting sections instead.
-Some wall joins don't clear at all, or clear partially. There's no apparent reason for this, because if you make an array of a group that has walls, the same walls when meeting at the same angle may clear or not on each group instance.
-In order to successfully wrap layers of exterior walls, I had to define a "false core". Some structural layers had to be put outside of the core so that they correctly closed air/thermal layers at windows and doors.
-The walls wrapping line at openings appears in sections. I have some openings that require wrapping but have no window, so the wrapping line is quite annoying in sections.
-The "join geometry" tool may fail to clear the common line of two floors which are on the same level and have a side in common, even if both floors have the same material. It sometimes works, sometimes not. Also, it may clear in plan but not in section.
-The common edge of two joined walls can sometimes be visible in hidden line 3D views even if it's correctly cleared in all plans, sections, elevations, etc.
-Because of a bug that caused the elevation parameter of some families to grow when they're included in groups, it was impossible for me to insert groups in levels other than level 1. Since I used groups for apartments, I had to create two files: One with all apartments on level 1 only (for detail views of the apartments). And other file with no apartments at all, just exterior walls (for perspectives and general sections).
-Structural columns lost the concrete pattern in one of my buildings (I checked all visibility and materials settings, but no way).
-When an structural column is partially embedded in a wall, the separation line between them is drawn as a projection line instead of cut line (I guess this is because I used the "join geometry" tool to join them, but I was forced to do so, because otherwise the wall could obscure the column in some views.
-Structural columns needed to be manually joined with floors in order to be drawn as cut lines in plan views. Otherwise, they showed as projection lines and projection fill pattern.
-If the drawing is very complex, snapping may fail to detect some lines. It behaves like if snapping said "I can just process up to 500 lines - I'll ignore the rest". This problem doesn't happen in simpler views.
-Monolithic stairs (created following the Autodesk Tutorial) have unwanted lines in sections (specially the line which divides the landing and the run - it should be a continuous concrete element, so the line shouldn't exist).
-Balusters appear "flying" above the treads in monolithic stairs (they try to be on the stringer, but the stringer is "open", so they appear to "fly").
-Suddenly, all walls, ceilings and ceiling lamps disappeared from one of the RCP views. I re-applied the same view template as to the rest of RCP views, but it didn't fix it. It was the only RCP view with this problem (fortunately I had already printed it!). It's strange, because I didn't touch such RCP view since the time when I printed it, so it's quite unlikely that I modified any of its settings.
During the work, I was writing a list with all problems I found. I just thought that some other forum members could be interested in reading this list of problems, so I decided to post it. Perhaps some people might like to know what kind of problems a newbie can find when doing the first big stuff with Revit.
The project consists in several residential multistorey buildings, summing a total of 170 apartments. These apartments were modelled as groups for convenience.
NOTE: Several of the items in the list are caused by the fact that I don't want to use detailing tools until the project arrives to a more advanced phase. I choose Revit for working 100% in 3D with a virtual building model. I agree that some stuff must be 2D, but it was my choice to not use the Revit 2D tools for fixing 3D bugs or problems. I want to use 2D for 2D, not for patching problems.
The list:
---------
-Doors appear in sections in which they shouldn't if the section line is relatively near the door. This forced me to discard some sections and choose less interesting sections instead.
-Some wall joins don't clear at all, or clear partially. There's no apparent reason for this, because if you make an array of a group that has walls, the same walls when meeting at the same angle may clear or not on each group instance.
-In order to successfully wrap layers of exterior walls, I had to define a "false core". Some structural layers had to be put outside of the core so that they correctly closed air/thermal layers at windows and doors.
-The walls wrapping line at openings appears in sections. I have some openings that require wrapping but have no window, so the wrapping line is quite annoying in sections.
-The "join geometry" tool may fail to clear the common line of two floors which are on the same level and have a side in common, even if both floors have the same material. It sometimes works, sometimes not. Also, it may clear in plan but not in section.
-The common edge of two joined walls can sometimes be visible in hidden line 3D views even if it's correctly cleared in all plans, sections, elevations, etc.
-Because of a bug that caused the elevation parameter of some families to grow when they're included in groups, it was impossible for me to insert groups in levels other than level 1. Since I used groups for apartments, I had to create two files: One with all apartments on level 1 only (for detail views of the apartments). And other file with no apartments at all, just exterior walls (for perspectives and general sections).
-Structural columns lost the concrete pattern in one of my buildings (I checked all visibility and materials settings, but no way).
-When an structural column is partially embedded in a wall, the separation line between them is drawn as a projection line instead of cut line (I guess this is because I used the "join geometry" tool to join them, but I was forced to do so, because otherwise the wall could obscure the column in some views.
-Structural columns needed to be manually joined with floors in order to be drawn as cut lines in plan views. Otherwise, they showed as projection lines and projection fill pattern.
-If the drawing is very complex, snapping may fail to detect some lines. It behaves like if snapping said "I can just process up to 500 lines - I'll ignore the rest". This problem doesn't happen in simpler views.
-Monolithic stairs (created following the Autodesk Tutorial) have unwanted lines in sections (specially the line which divides the landing and the run - it should be a continuous concrete element, so the line shouldn't exist).
-Balusters appear "flying" above the treads in monolithic stairs (they try to be on the stringer, but the stringer is "open", so they appear to "fly").
-Suddenly, all walls, ceilings and ceiling lamps disappeared from one of the RCP views. I re-applied the same view template as to the rest of RCP views, but it didn't fix it. It was the only RCP view with this problem (fortunately I had already printed it!). It's strange, because I didn't touch such RCP view since the time when I printed it, so it's quite unlikely that I modified any of its settings.