We now have a Tapered Concrete Beam Family.

Which can be found in \MasterDocs\Cad\Revit\Waterman Library\Families\Structural Framing and is called W_FRA_C-Rectangular Taper Beam

As you would expect it is fully parametric and allows you to enter the Haunch details and adjust the end angle if it is sloping.

We have created a new Multi Category tag

that looks at comments. So any object be it a beam, column or even a filled region can have it's comments tagged. So rather than putting in ordinary text add some comments and use W_T-MCA_[Comments] which can be found in \Masterdocs\CAD\Revit\Waterman Library\Families\Annotations

There is now a Concrete Circular Column Family

in the Waterman Library. It's called W_COL_C-Circular and is where you would expect.
We have also tweaked the other Concrete column families. so if you are already using them you may want to reload the latest.

We have added a new Schedule to our Template.

This new Schedule will give a total weight of steelwork as long as you have used the Waterman Families in the model. I'ts also dependant on a material being assigned to the steel ( i.e. not left to be ).
You can also copy and paste this schedule into existing projects from \Masterdocs\CAD\Revit\Waterman Library\Families\Schedules but, again I would point out it will only work correctly if using Waterman Families and Materials are assigned.

We have added an A3 Portrait drawing sheet.

This can be found in the usual place MasterDocs\Cad\Revit\Waterman Library\Families\Drawing Sheets and is named in accordance with our naming convention W_TBL_X_A3PGroup.

We have changed the way our Drawing Sheets are named.

Basically bought them in line with the rest of the Waterman Naming Convention.

They can be found in MasterDocs\CAD\Revit\Waterman Library\Families\Drawing Sheets and for example an A0 sheets is called W_TBL_X_A0Group.

We Have also changed the way you select your office address. These can now be changed via the Instance Properties and a drop down list.

They have been loaded into the Waterman Template.

We have changed the way the drawing banner works.

It no longer needs to be a Legend and you change the text to suit. As we have made it an Annotation Symbol and it's Instance Properties can be change the usual way via the drop down.

It can be found in Masterdocs\CAD\Revit\Waterman Library\Families\Annotations and is called W_ANO_X_Banner.

It is also loaded into the Waterman Template

It seems that there is a Network Licensing "bug" in RS2010.

Which kicks in if you leave the software idle for 10 minutes or so ( which is easy to do without even realising it ), after which time Revit will give back the license. Then when you carry on working you won't be able save as you will have entered Demo Mode.
The only way to get the license back is to exit Revit and fire it up again.

The answer until Autodesk sort this problem out ??
Save regularly.

Turning off individual elements in a linked Revit model

We often have the need to link Revit models to each other and then "Hide in View" certain bits and pieces.

As you will know if you hover over the linked model Revit will put a box around it and display some information about it.

If you hover over the item you wish to hide and hit the tab key to will be able to select it and then hide in view.

Ever wanted to stop two walls joining in RS2010 ?

This is still an operation that needs doing prior to modelling the second wall. Unless someone out there knows how to do it after the event ?

So .... Draw your wall then go to the Modify Tab and find the Wall Joins icon.

Then hover over the end of the wall you want to stop joining wait for the box to appear and select the end of the wall.This will wake up the Disallow Join button.

You now also get a nice little icon showing wich walls have been stopped from joining.

Rotating an individual view is very straight forward in Revit.

Select the Crop Region and then just use the rotate tool.

Showing hidden lines of in-place Families.

Quite often In-place Families families don't show their hidden lines and the show and remove hidden line tools are disabled when the graphics style is set to hidden line.

Strange but true.

If you switch the view discipline from Structural to Architectural then these tools are enabled.

Apply the hidden lines by first clicking the object you want to see through, then the object you want to see under.

Remember to switch your view back to Structural afterwards.

Detail View: Detail as opposed to a Section: Bulding Section.

If you want a view on sloping roof and have been stumped by the fact that normally Section Marks are restircited to Vertical or Horizontal. just change them to Detail View: Detail
and you can then draw them at any angle.

After setting up a work plane etc.. this can help enormously when trying to set out bracing.

Service Holes Through Beams ....

We have developed a Family to help with showing Service Holes through Beams and these can be found in \Masterdocs\CAD\Revit\Waterman Library\Families\Steel\Service Holes and it is fairly evident from the name of the Family as to the shape of the hole. Using these Face Based Families along with Opening By Face you can achieve something approaching the Waterman standard in Coarse, Medium and Fine. The lines on plan ( which come with the Family ) depicting the hole are locked to the hole tself. Therefore change the size or move either and both will stay together. I will now try and explain the procedure required to obtain the results shown above.

Let's start with the circular hole ( W_GEN_Beam Service Hole Circ.rfa ). When loaded this can be found under Generic Models.

Go to an elevation of the beam and drag and drop the circular hole family onto it. In this view the outline of the hole is shown in invisible lines, although you can still see and select them when you hover over them as is normal in Revit.Then using Opening By Face cut a hole directly on top of the invisible lines. Use the Pick Lines for the top half and lock the two together.Draw the bottom half using the Line Arc tools.Finish sketch. You now have your opening locked and aligned to the invisible lines in the family.

Change the Service Hole Diameter in the Element Properties and the physical hole will also change.
Thus ensuring the two are always in sync.

If you look on plan the result should be similar to the example at the beginning.

I would also recommend grouping the two together. Then you can be confident when deleting or moving the hole that you get everything.

Now the Slotted hole ( W_GEN_Beam Service Hole Slot.rfa ). When loaded this can be found under Generic Modles.

As you expect the first part is identical to the Circular Hole. After placing the slotted hole go to the Openning by Face nd use the pick lins for the two semi circular ends and lock them.Then draw in the connecting lines without locking and aligning them. This is important because if you do you will over constrain the hole and start getting error messages. Finish sketch. You now have your opening locked and aligned to the invisible lines in the family.

Change the Service Hole length or depth in the Element Properties and the physical hole will also change.

Now the Rectangular hole ( W_GEN_Beam Service Hole Rect.rfa ). When loaded this can be found under Generic Models.

As you would expect the first part is identical to the previous two holes.

After placing the rectangular hole go to the Opening by Face and use the Pick Lines for the four sides and lock them. Finish sketch. You now have you pening locked and aligned to the invisible lines in the family.

Change the Service Hole length or depth and the physical hole wil also change.

There are also accompanying Tags for use with these Service Holes and they can be found in \Masterdocs\CAD\Revit\Waterman Families\Annotation and they are called W_T_GEN[Comments][Service Hole Width][Service Hole Depth].rfa W_T_GEN[Comments][Type Name].rfa W_T_GEN[Comments][Service Hole Diameter].rfa They will Tag the holes as shown in the example at the beginning.

Section Marks show up at 1:100 but not at 1:200

even though the plan area shown is exactly the same !!

This question seems to come up every now and then and the answer is easy. Once you know it.

If you look at the element properties of the section mark you will see " Hide at scales coarser than " if the value is 1:100 then they won't show at 1:200.

Ever considered a career as a steel erector ?

Just putting the final touches to the worlds tallest building.
The "Burj Dubai" @ 2,260 ft / 801m !!!

Ever wanted to stop two walls joining ?

We have two walls that have a 75mm expansion joint betwen the ends. When trying to model this initially we couldn't get the walls to stop joining "automatically" until we noticed the Edit Wall Joins button which wakes up the Disallow Join button.

Easy now we know !!!!

Thanks to Simon Jones for showing me this.

Changing CAD files to a new workset ...

We have probably all done this.

When creating a workset for our Cad models if you forget to uncheck the box that says "visible by default in all views". Every time you create a view all the Cad files come in with it.
There is a fix.

Create a new workset making sure you uncheck the "visible by default in all views".
Then make the old workset editable by picking the button towards the bottom of the right of the window.
Then close the window and reopen it.
Highlight the old workset and pick the delete button on the right.
You will then be prompted where to move the information on the old workset.
Select the new workset.
The old workset disappears and you can then rename the new workset to whatever you like.

Thanks to Mike Jones for this tip.

Following on from the "Re-Branding" post yesterday.

I received a couple of comments on the way I had done things and after looking into it I've changed the drawing sheets and templates slightly.
So if you re-loaded the drawing sheets yesterday you will have to do so again to be up to date.

Thank you to those that took the time to point out a better way.

We have been re-branded and as a consequence our logo has changed.

I have updated our Revit template, but, any projects that are already up and running will need the new drawing sheet loaded in. Unfortunately in Revit you will have to do this manually.
The new sheets can be found in \masterdocs\CAD\Revit\Waterman Library\Drawing Sheets
If you are using any project specific drawing sheets these will also need updating to show the new logo. If you require any assistance doing this then please contact me.

We have a new Family for putting recesses in slabs.

It can be found in \masterdocs\cad\revit\Waterman Library\Families\Slabs and is called W_GEN_Square Recess.rfa

Once loaded it will appear in your project browser under Geneeric Models.

Once loaded you can drag and drop it onto your slab, but, the trick is to select Place on Face from your options menu.

Once in place you can resize it by using the drag handles or via element propertes.