Category Archives: BIM/Revit

T.I. Test Fit Guidelines

Posted on March 21, 2013 by nmcclure

Test fit requests often precede actual T.I. contracts, and are typically a very basic per-square-footage fee. As such, budgets rarely allow for 3D build-out of existing spaces, and the goal is primarily to get area summaries and office/workstation counts against … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, BIM/Revit | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Why/When to use Shared Parameters

Posted on March 14, 2013 by nmcclure

Revit is an Object Oriented Database, using numeric ‘handles’ to track data fields, and associate them to individual elements, via category definition. This invisible ‘handle’ is more important than the name of the parameter itself in correctly consolidating information. Whenever … Continue reading →

Posted in BIM/Revit | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Converting CAD Details

Posted on March 11, 2013 by nmcclure

Every firm needs to invest time in converting their detail library from legacy CAD format into smart, editable Revit details. This is NOT a ‘push the EASY button’ process, but there are different methods with different (in value and future … Continue reading →

Posted in BIM/Revit | Tagged , , , , , | 1,127 Comments

Points on Point Clouds

Posted on January 28, 2013 by nmcclure

Having had the past pleasure (uhem) of working with client-provided point clouds, I was excited to view the AU2012 session on ‘Scan to BIM: Point Clouds Reloaded” presented by Kelly Cone of Beck Group. While a handout will never be … Continue reading →

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Protected: Revit Resource Files

Posted on January 17, 2013 by nmcclure

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Guiding a model team

Posted on December 3, 2012 by nmcclure

I’m often doing ‘forensic analysis’ on project files – either for new clients, or in some cases, reviewing past project files before an upcoming new scope of work.  A primary aspect of reviewing models is not just finding issues, but … Continue reading →

Posted in BIM/Revit | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

View Creation Workflow

Posted on November 26, 2012 by nmcclure

While the standard view creation process in Revit works well for the simple production of callouts from overall plan views, most larger projects find they need transitional views – Overall to Partial to Enlarged Area, THEN to details.  These additional … Continue reading →

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Linework of embedded elements

Posted on September 27, 2012 by nmcclure

Users often complain about ‘missing lines’ where complex assemblies overlap/embed into each other: The easiest resolution for this is to use the Join Geometry tool, and select the two elements that overlap, however if the elements are (as in this … Continue reading →

Posted in BIM/Revit | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Highlighting Affected Parameters

Posted on September 20, 2012 by nmcclure

I like to give credit where credit is due – and this aspect of working formulas into parametric families deserves a bit of praise – when selecting parameters in the Family Types dialog, the view will highlight the parameters that … Continue reading →

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Smart Group Origins

Posted on September 17, 2012 by nmcclure

When creating Groups of elements, Revit creates a default origin point at the ‘center of mass’ of the selection set.   It’s easy to simply accept it, name your group and proceed with placing it numerous times throughout your project. The … Continue reading →

Posted in BIM/Revit | Tagged , , | 2 Comments