Individuals from Charles River Software started the development of
Revit in year in1997. In 2000 the company was renamed Revit Technology Corporation and on April 5, 2000 in Cambridge, MA the first version of Revit (1.0) was released. First offered as a software lease, Revit was the first parametric building modeler specifically designed for the AEC industry. Its technology offered the model concept with an easy-to- use platform designed to enable architects, engineers and contractors life-cycle planning for building projects. Revit's intelligent design environment encouraged design revisions because there was real-time synchronization of the documentation. On February 21, 2002, Autodesk announced plans to acquire Revit Technology Corporation. The acquisition meant more research, development and improvement of the software. Since purchasing Revit, Autodesk has developed three versions of Revit for the varying building design disciplines: REVIT ARCHITECTURE, for architects and building designers (formerly Revit Building). REVIT STRUCTURE, for structural engineers. REVIT MEP, for mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers (formerly Revit Systems). Revit is intended to be a major component in Building Information Modeling. A main function of Revit is to eliminate redundancies such as having multiple models across industries. Currently, architects, consultants, general contractors, and manufacturers all create their own models and databases from information handed down in a chain of command. BIM intends to replace this approach with a more centralized one. Revit models created in different disciplines (Architectural, Structural, and Mechanical) can be linked and/or combined into one model. This allows a single model and associated database to be kept, ensuring that all parties have the latest information and that there are no errors in translation. Revit also utilizes its rendering engine to remove the interpretation from complex geometries, allowing more intricate designs to be made and understood. Revit uses the term 'family' to describe a discrete definition of a part of the building model. There are many Categories of Families, but three main types: System, Component and In-Place Families. A hierarchical system is used, where a Family tells Revit how to make something, a Type (of a Family) forces certain parameters to be applied, and an Element (or Instance) (of a Type) is the actual part of the building model.
UNDERSTANDING REVIT PARAMETRIC ELEMENTS Every element in Revit is considered a family, and each family belongs to a category.
Figure : Essential categorization of Revit elements Revit uses a classification system to organize all the families in the model. This system of organization is based specifically on the AEC industry and is set up to help manage relationships between classes of elements as well as the graphical representation for each class.
MODEL CATEGORIES Model Object categoriesthe first tab in the Object Styles dialog boxinclude all the real world types of objects typically found in buildings. These object categories include elements such as walls, floors, roofs, and furniture, along with other categories that make sense in an architectural project.
ANNOTATION CATEGORIES Annotation Object categories include all the annotations, symbols, and descriptive data added to a view to describe the building. These are listed in the second tab of the Object Styles dialog box. Most annotations are view-specific 2D elements and appear only in the view in which they were created. Examples include dimensions, tags, callouts, and text notes. Annotations such as sections, levels, and grids are 2D graphics, but they have 3D characteristics and appear in other views. These elements (levels, grids, sections) appear in many views thanks to BIM application functionality. Levels, grids, and section marks extend throughout the model and can be edited from multiple views. You dont need to draw these elements in each view as separate, disconnected graphics. With Revit, theyre truly 3D annotations. (Levels, grids, and section marks never appear in 3D views.)
VIEWS Views are also considered parametric elements in Revit, and they have many properties to help you define how they should display information. A view doesnt change the model in any way it only acts as a filter through which you view the model. This also applies to schedules and material take-offs. Although schedules are more abstract ways to think of a view, theyre still parametric views into the model. PLAN VIEWS The floor plan view is the default view in a new project. Most projects include at least one floor plan. SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS Elevation views are part of the default template in Revit Architecture. When you create a project with the default template, 4 elevation views are included: north, south, east, and west. It is in elevation views where you sketch level lines. For each level line that you sketch, a corresponding plan view is created.Provide sections , elevations, exterior elevations and interior elevations directly without any delay in time. 3D SECTIONS Helps to clip the viewable portions of a 3d view 3D VIEWS You can create perspective and orthographic 3D views in Revit Architecture. Perspective 3D Views Orthographic 3D Views PERSPECTIVE 3D VIEWS Perspective 3D views show the building model in a 3D view where components that are further away appear smaller, and components that are closer appear larger. You can select elements in a perspective view and modify their type and instance properties. When you create or view a perspective 3D view, the View Control Bar indicates that the view is a perspective view. ORTHOGRAPHIC 3D VIEWS Orthographic 3D views show the building model in a 3D view where all components are the same size regardless of the cameras distance.
TYPE AND INSTANCE PARAMETERS A parametric element is something that can change size, material, and graphic look but is still the same fundamental element. Most elements in Revit are designed with parameters that allow for the creation of variations of a base type. Take a typical Revit door family as an example. Each family can have many types built into it, where each type typically represents a variation in size, material, color, or other defining characteristic. Although each type can vary in shape and size, the base geometry for each type is derived from the same family. Depending on how the family is built, parameters can affect either the type or the instance. A change of type parameters affects all instances of this type in the same family used in the model, whereas instance parameters affect only the selected instance. This is an important distinction: you can change instance properties only when you have an element selected, but you can change type properties without selecting anything.
BIDIRECTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS Objects with parameters that can be edited are nothing new in the world of software. But what makes Revit unique is its ability to go beyond 3D objects with parameters and create relationships between objects. This ability, which includes the parametric relationships and the underlying change engine, is a core technological advantage built into Revit. Another powerful manifestation of interrelationships occurs among walls, floors, roofs, components, and levels. They all have explicit relationships to levels, so that if a level changes elevation,all elements associated with that level update automatically. Not only do the bases of the walls attached to a level change, but the tops of the walls attached to this level also change.
CONSTRAINTS
During the design phase, you may want to apply some dimensional rules to the design and make sure they arent altered. These rules might be a minimum hallway width for code compliance or a maximum office square footage for a particular user. Whatever the restriction, Revit dimensions make it possible to lock it down and create a constraint. This constraint is independent, but its related to the dimension. If you delete the dimension, you can keep the constrained condition and know that the model will maintain those relationships. The point is that a dimension can be much more than a 2D annotation.These design rules are used all the time, but not many software applications let you capture this design intent in the model. If you run a dimension string from level to level and lock the dimensions youre locking the relationship between these elements in the whole model. By locking down elements, you make it harder for other elements in the model to break this important design intent and thus keep the model more intact and predictable.
REVIT FAMILIES Revit families are used to create your model. There are three overarching methods for creating families in Revit: System families Component (Standard) families In-place families
The difference between them lies in their creation method, in what context theyre created, and the types of parameters available. Lets review each of these types of families.
SYSTEM FAMILIES Model system families are made up of a limited set of categories: walls, roofs, floors, ceilings, stairs, railings, ramps, mullions, curtain panels, mechanical equipment, and toposurfaces(topography). For example, to make walls you can just start drawing (placing a wall), whereas to make a floor or roof, you enter a Sketch mode in which you define the outer shape with lines that then generate a 3D model of the floor. For stairs and railings,you enter a more detailed Sketch mode that has additional features not available for floors or roofs. When making toposurfaces, you use a Sketch mode that lets you edit 3D points specific to toposurfaces. As you can see, system families all have slightly different creation methods.You can create new types of system families by duplicating existing types and editing their parameters. If youve been using Revit for any length of time, then this method of duplicating a type to create new types should be familiar territory for you. You cant create new categories in Revit. These categories are predefined within Revit and limited to the list available. This is primarily to maintain control over the graphics from project to project.
System families are also used for many annotation categories, such as sections, elevations,levels, grids, text, and dimensionsthey arent limited to model elements. Another characteristic of system families is that you cant save them outside of your project toa shared library as a standalone component. Even so, its still possible to reuse system families in other projects. To transfer system families between projects, go to the Manage tab, and from the Project Settings tab, choose Transfer Project Standards to display the Select Items to Copy dialog box.This dialog box gives you a feel for the number of different types of system families used in a Revit project.
COMPONENT FAMILIES Component or standard families are created outside of the project environment using the Family Editor. Theyre stored in an external library (folders on your hard drive) and can be loaded into a project for use at any point. Every component family belongs to a specific Revit category so that when its loaded into a project, it adopts the graphic rules defined for its category in the Object Styles dialog box. This guarantees graphic consistency throughout your project without your having to manage changes to new families constantly. This also guarantees that when you schedule a category, you get all elements that belong to that category.
For example, if you find a lighting fixture family on the Web and load it into your project,it will use the Lighting Fixtures object style in your project to represent the family. It will be scheduled with other lighting fixtures. You arent forced to open the family and adjust line weights or colors or add metadata to the element, because this is all controlled at the project level. This illustrates the value of having a fixed number of categories to manageyou can rest assured that the project wont inflate with endless, oddly named layers that are difficult, if not impossible, to decode.Component families have their own file format extension (.rfa) and can be stored outside the project environment for later use in other projects. Revit ships with a predefined folder structure to help manage the vast numbers of families available. Go to the Insert tab and from the Load from Library panel, choose Load Family to see how Revit organizes information. To create variations of a component family, duplicate an existing one in the project and modify its properties. To make more radical geometrical changes to the family, you need to open it in the Family Editor and change the form there. The process of editing a family supports an iterative design workflow: by selecting any family, you have the option either to edit its properties or to open it in the Family Editor and make changes to it and then load it right back into your project. Families can be complex, but at least you wont need to learn any specialized scripting languages to create smart, parametric content. This goes for all forms of component families, from totally parametric windows and doors to one-off pieces of furniture or lighting fixtures.Revit provides a set of starting family templates you can use to make content from scratch. When you want to start creating a new library element (family), you first need to select the correct template. To open a template, go to the
the type of element you want to make, and the template will open. Embedded in each template are smart behavior characteristics of the family youre creating. Doors, windows, balusters, casework, columns, curtain wall panels, entourage, furniture,massing elements, generic objects, and plantings are all examples of standard Revit family categories. To move families between projects, you can copy and paste them or save your families to disk and then load them into another project.
IN-PLACE FAMILIES In-place families are custom elements that are specific to a project and the conditions of the project. An in-place family accesses functionality available in the Family Editor in the context of a project environment. The model grays out and becomes unselectable when you make such families. A nonvertical, sweeping wall shape is a good example for when you would use an inplace family. You can copy and paste in-place families from project to project, but you cant save them as RFA (Revit projects have the extension .rvt, Revit families .rfa) as you can with standard families.
OVERRIDING THE REPRESENTATION OF ELEMENTS There are no layers in Revit. Revit uses object categories and subcategories (not layers) to define the graphics for each element class as well as to control visibility (which is the purpose of layers in other software). The Object Styles dialog box (accessed from the Manage tab, in the Project Settings panel, under Settings) establishes the default graphics for every category; however, in any view, you can override these graphics using the Visibility/Graphics Overrides dialog box(on the View tab, in the Graphics panel click Visibility/Graphics). The two dialog boxes look very similarthe difference is that Object Styles shows the defaults preset for a project, whereas Visibility/Graphic Overrides is the place to review and make changes to those default settings on a per-view basis. The same familiar categories and subcategories displayed in the Object Styles dialog box are displayed in this dialog box as well.The same level of visual control for line weight, color, and pattern is provided here but in a slightly different interface. In addition to line overrides, you can override cut and surface patterns and choose to show a category as halftone, transparent, or at a different level of detail.Changes made using this dialog box are applied only to your current view.The same categories are used to control the visibility of elements in a view. You can turn off entire categories, subcategories, or individual elements in any view.
DESIGN VISUALIZATION You can use Revit Architecture to generate a photorealistic image of a building model so you can present the design to clients or share it with team members. Revit Architecture renders 3D views with various effects and contents, such as lighting, plants, decals & people. Capture design ideas in a photorealistic state.With easy user interaction, high quality output and faster render times.Mental ray rendering engine enables superior design presentation . DETAILING Take advantage of the extensive detail library and detailing tools. Create, manage, and share your own detail library. CONCEPTUAL DESIGN Easily create expressive forms to produce an overall massing study. Import conceptual massing from applications such as rhino, sketchup, and Autocad 2007. DESIGN OPTIONS Develop and study multiple design alternatives to make key design. Present multiple schemes to your clients easily. SCHEDULES Schedules are just another view of the revit architecture model.A change to a schedule view is automatically reflected in every other view and vice versa. MATERIAL TAKE OFF Appropriate for sustainable design and checking material quantities in cost estimates.Simplifies the tracking of material quantities .
AUTODESK 2D &3D DWG INTEGRATION Revit architecture supports publishing a model to 2d or 3d dwf format.Communication of design information in a lightweight format for nontechnical participants in the project review process
ABOUT THE PROJECT: It is a double storied building, location near to Sreekaryam. Area is 2500 sq.ft. It was very easy to create model using revit architecture. It reduced my stress on spending time for creating model. Its a Spanish style residential building.