New to Revit and need help!

[jtocci]

I took a basic Revit course about a year ago and I am now trying to use it on my first project which is a small guest house.

Since everything is customized, should I be modeling objects? For example, an exterior stair made of large slabs of granite?

If so, could someone guide me in the right direction for a tutorial?

[MNsnowtaTy]

I'd say it's really up to you as far as what you want to model and not model. You don't need to model everything to get the point across, but if you want that 3D highly Detailed look to whatever the case may be then go for it.
The larger the project the more space all that detailing takes up in the future to slow your project down, so just remember that.

[SkiSouth]

Work the tutorials first if its been a year. The 4th stage of "Reviting" is when the family editor eats you up. so you might want to go light on a lot of custom families if you're on a schedule.

[jtobin.68416]

I think the tutorials are a good place to start, but I also recommend checking out cadclips.com. http://www.cadclips.com

This is a great site with Revit video tutorials, many are free, and there are tons more available for a fairly low subscription. They’ve now added tutorials on Revit Structure and recently, MEP so it’s even better.
Probably won’t deal with your immediate stair issue, but for out-of-the-box capabilities it’s great.

Regarding modeling the stairs, it really depends on whether the stair is a regular stair with repetitive riser/tread components, or is this a custom stair made of non-uniform slabs?
If so, then build it like it would be built in real-life, with separate floor slabs.

One thing to keep in mind about Revit is to not take the tools too literally. We look at them as routines, rather than as literal objects. For instance, the railing tool can be used to create sunshades around the building; a beam is a linear object with certain taggable properties such as length;. sidewalks are floors. etc.
Also, there’s often more than one tool available. For instance instead of a beam you can sometimes use a line-based generic object. You kinda have to evaluate the pros and cons of each.

So it pays to think about what you're trying to do. If you want to post a picture of your intent, I’d be glad to weigh in with better direction. This forum is a great place for that.

John Tobin