Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Aaron Maller – The Beck Group AB5432- Your project is well beyond pushing the limits of a single Revit model, and you have to document and detail it. What is the correct workflow? Groups? Linked Files? If you use links, there are now two ways to document the project: tagging through links (post 2011) and the by linked view (2008/2009) method. We will cover the costs and benefits of each. We will also cover segregation— should you break the model or the group? Should the sheets and the details be in one model or spread out? How does information from one model show up in detailing at the other? We will cover both options. How do you manage content across 15 models for one project? What files do you dimension and tag in? What can't links and groups do? When do I combine links, design options, and view templates? We will also look at an 8-story new build, with full shell and interior fit out, done with linked files, design options, and view templates. Learning Objectives At the end of this class, you will be able to:     Use Model Groups, PLUS Detail Groups, PLUS combinations Use File Links for more than just Consultants Scopes Manage the Project Team and Project using all of the above Know what to expect, and how to move about the project efficiently About the Speaker Aaron is currently the BIM manager at The Beck Group, specializing in Autodesk® Revit® implementation. His current role includes streamlining Revit workflows and exploiting its efficiencies among the architectural, design, and construction groups at Beck. He also provides Revit infrastructure management and training for all users. His work experience includes implementing and supporting Revit in a variety of offices, and using Revit for all phases of architecture (from design to construction administration) on projects of varying scopes and genres. Passionate about Revit and architecture, Aaron is an avid contributor on RevitForum.org (twiceroadsfool) and is active in the Revit community. Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Groups- When and Why? Making Model Groups- Select elements in Revit, and press the Create Group button from the Modify Ribbon. From there, duplicate definitions are made by using the Edit/New > Duplicate command, and there is a “Canvas Mode” called “Edit Group.” Remember: NO command is finalized until the entire group is “finished.” 2 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Things Groups Do well:     Vertical circulation Cores (Group each floor, copy > paste >aligned selected levels) Furniture layouts / Open office Systems Storefront / Curtain** (recommended grouping every Revit CW in project) Typical Room layouts Things Groups Do NOT do well:  Entire Floor Plates  Hosted elements without their hosts (Anything Floor hosted without slabs, etc.)  Anything with larger “canvas time” of Twenty Minute Model Groups with Detail Groups: By including Detail Items when making a Model Group, or by selecting the Attach command during Edit Group, one can include: Dimensions, Tags, text, Keynotes, Detail Lines, Generic Annotations and Symbols, as long as they only reference things inside the Model Group. You can attach more than one Detail Group to each Model Group, allowing you to create many “Annotated Views” of each Model Group. This allows you to make “many drawings” of each model group, ready for insertion in to your next project. 3 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Limits of Groups as part of an office Library Some items cannot be “brought in and overwritten” in a project file, by the group.      Anything Profile Based Families with varying Instance parameter or Type Default parameter values Some variations in Family Types Anything hosted (Work Plane Based must have the “Work Plane” as well) Line Based does not work 4 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Groups as the “Previous Phase Legend” Using model Groups in a Previous (or future) Phase, other than your actual project, allows you to have a “Legend” view without the limitations of the Legend Tool: Revit Legend Limitations:      Cannot alter Instance Parameters (of anything) Shared / Nested families with differing categories from object placed fail to show Face Based Family Orientations are wrong and not changeable Revit Curtain Walls cannot have Mullions or Panels (instance based) Cannot tag or intelligently note live objects “Previous Phase” Legend:      Place Model Groups in the past phase (same model groups from project) Annotate Model Groups in past, place views in project (no need to isolate) Demolish items in Phase prior to Existing Conditions No view or schedule in “Real world” will ever show quantities or objects TIP: Keep a 3D view set to “Annotation Demo” Phase, Phase Filter: Show Previous and Demo: Everything should be red. 5 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Links - When and Why? On larger projects where Links are desirable I use the system below to decide how to break up the Links. Where the “Systemic” system is used to break up Links, I break up the Worksets by geography. Where the “Geographic” system is used to divide the Links, the worksets are broken up Systemically. This system allows the team to work in the most efficient fashion, without stepping on one another in worksharing. LARGE HEIGHT (tall): Systemic System of Breakup: Skin: Has all of the elements of the Exterior Skin Core: Has all of the elements of the Vertical Circulation Cores Floor Plates-Podium: Has all of the repetitive File Links for the Podium height Section of the Building Floor Plates-Intermed: Has all of the repetitive File Links for the Intermediate Height Section of the Building LARGE FOOTPRINT (short): Geographic System of Breakup: Area 1: Has all of the elements of Area 1 (Skin, Interiors, Vertical Circulation, Equipment, etc) Area 2: Has all of the elements of Area 2 (Skin, Interiors, Vertical Circulation, Equipment, etc) Area 3: Has all of the elements of Area 3 (Skin, Interiors, Vertical Circulation, Equipment, etc) 6 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Link Documentation- The History Pre 2009- Functionality to show Annotations from Plans/RCP in Linked Files 2009- “By Linked View” Functionality expanded to Sections / Elevations. This meant having the view In both files. (In a coordinated Location). It also meant that VG settings were by the Linked View in the Linked File (unless set to Custom) but that some View properties (Crop extents, etc) were by the Parent Model. 2009 also added the functionality to “selectively include” view properties in to a View template, which was pivotal 7 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! 2011- The ability to Tag items that are in a Revit Link appears. This opens up the possibility of not having to use By Linked View workflow at all. There are limitations, however: Rooms cannot be tagged (Why???), and Keynotes cannot be used. Options are then limited to:    Partial BLV setup (for Room Tags in Plans) Unintelligent Room Tagging Full By Linked View setup (the old way) By Linked View- What it means The workflow of “By Linked View” meant (and still means) that views get created and coordinated in two locations: They get created in the Parent Model (where the drawings are), and then they get created in the “File Link” as well (Where the items are modeled, and annotated). Then in the Parent Model, you go to VG: Rvit Link: “File Link” and set the View from By Host View to “By Linked View,” which tells it to inherit the annotations and some view settings, from a specific view in “File Link.” This wasn’t without issue: 8 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! View alignment- On a pitching roof, if the section markers in both files are not in identical spots, you will notice since the notes and tags will be maligned. Circular Referencing- Dimensions to Grids and Levels would get lost in the Workflow. To avoid this, Grids and levels had to be Copy/Monitored in to the Linked files. Then in Main (Documentation), shut off in the Main Model, and shown in the By Linked View model settings. This meant not being able to adjust grid heads in the views. 9 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Link Time Stamp issuesFile Links are loaded as they are queried upon File Open, or Manage Links – Reload. They do not update at SWC. This can cause problems if more than one person is in the file WHILE someone on the team is setting views in the Parent Model to By Linked View: If another team member has a File Link that does not have the View in it (If the view was recently created), then their subsequent SWC will actually UNDO the setting on the view in the Main Model. Recommended Workflow: Have users create the views in the Links all at once, then set them to By Linked View the following day. 1 Day lag time generally means everyone will have opened a new Local (Reloaded the Link). 2012- The ability to Tag Rooms, and use Keynotes is extended to Linked Files. “Reconcile Hosting” dialogue appears as a way to track “orphaned tags.” Workflow is finally in place to not need By Linked View. Dimensional References still have the potential to remove themselves, but this occurs in non-linked files with the same types of edits (Mirror, delete/recreate, disjoin, etc) 10 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Linked File- Practical Limitations?   Model PERFORMANCE is more important than Model Size o The two do not always relate Example Project: o By Linked View Workflow o Full Arch, Interiors, FFE, Structural, MEP, AV, FP and Site Model o Total Model size: 1.29GB (9 files, 17 instances total) o 1300 Views in Main (Corresponding views in Links) o Workable on Hardware from 2 years ago (XEON 2.66, 8GB RAM, Nvidia Quadro FX 3500 (191.78 drivers). Linked Files as Floor Plates A building with identical (or similar) Floor plates can benefit from the use of Linked Files as Floor Plates, to eliminate redundant modeling. The Floor Plate can (later) incorporate options to differentiate between the variations in Floor plans. 11 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Variations as Design Options Using a combination of Design Options (In the File Link) and View Templates (in the Main Model), extensive differences between the Floors can be achieved, without needing separate models or separate Levels in the linked file. This is beneficial, as it means less redundant modeling/grouping of the Core and Vert. Circ, and less Family Content and Standards management (less File Link Types, just more instances). 12 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! Managing the Design Options Since post-2009 View Templates can now be made to Include or Exclude particular view settings, we can make a View Template that affects nothing but VG: RVT Links. Using that, we can expand the Link TYPES to show all of the Linked INSTANCES. We can set each Linked File Instance (Floor Plates) to show different Design options, based on which Floor they are. Then, we can append these settings in to our Default View Templates, to they affect every new View created Tip: Remember… Someone has to do this in your Consultants files as well! 13 Autodesk® Revit® Links, Groups, and Documentation: How to Make It Really Work! 14