Whats Been New Lately (Well, in Revit 2014 & 2015 at least ;)

2014
AUTODESK Says:
Platform Enhancements
The following enhancements apply to all editions of the Revit software.
Modeling

Creating parts: Parts can now be generated from wall foundations, slab edges, fascias, and
gutters. See Create Parts.
Switch join order: Use this tool on the Modify tab to reverse or unify the order in which
elements, such as structural floors and beams, join with each other. See Switch Join Order.
Conceptual design environment:
o Arc by point sketching. You can now select the Start-End-Radius Arc tool to sketch
an arc by point curve in your massing project. See Drawing Overview.
o UV grid alignment. You can use the Align tool to align the UV grid on a planar
divided surface by using a straight edge of the surface as a reference, or an external
reference. See Aligning UV Grids to a Reference.
Project parameter values can vary by group instance: When creating an instance project
parameter (Text, Area, Volume, Currency, Mass Density, URL, Material, and <Family Type>
only), you now have the option to allow the value to vary for different group instances. The
user can edit the parameter value for an element in a group instance without changing the
value for corresponding elements in other group instances. See Create Project Parameters
and Create Shared Project Parameters.

Project documentation, annotation, and views

Non-rectangular crop regions and callouts. Now you can change a rectangular crop region
or callout view to a non-rectangular shape. See Editing a Crop Region. You can also create
non-rectangular callout views.
Materials: Enhancements to the Material Browser dialog include the following. See
Materials.
o The Material Editor functionality has been integrated into the Material Browser
dialog. To edit a material, select it in the Material Browser, and edit information in
the tabs in the right pane, now referred to as the Material Editor panel.
o You can now assign, sort, and organize materials by class.
o When displaying a project material in the Material Browser, the hand icon
displays in the right pane of the Appearance, Physical, and Thermal
tabs indicating how many materials in the current project share the same asset. If
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the hand displays a zero, the asset is not shared (used) by any other materials in the
current project. The asset is only used by the currently selected material.
o The Show\Hide Library button has been added to the project material pane. This lets
you collapse the library panel if you need to display more items in the project
materials list. See About Material Libraries.
o The Material Parameters dialog is now modeless, so you can view and change
custom material parameters more quickly. Specifying Custom Parameters.
Schedules:The following tools and enhancements improve the look and function of
schedules.
o Schedulable categories: You can now schedule the following families and properties.
See Create a schedule or quantity.
Families: Generic Models, Entourage, Structural Path Reinforcement,
Structural Area Reinforcement, Structural Fabric Area, Structural Beam
Systems, Detail Items, Pads, Levels, Grids, Architectural Columns, and Roof
Soffits.
Phase properties: Phase Created and Phase Demolished.
o Adjusting room-aware families: You can modify room-aware families to report their
rooms correctly in a schedule. See About Room-Aware Families.
Room calculation points: A room calculation point is now available to
families that are room-aware, such as furniture, casework, specialty
equipment, and generic models. You can adjust the position of this point to
correct families that do not report their rooms correctly. See Modify the
Room Calculation Point.
From/To room adjustment: From Room and To Room calculation points are
available to door and window families. You can adjust the position of either
point to correct families that do not report their From/To rooms correctly.
See Adjust the From Room and To Room Calculation for Doors....
o Schedule formatting and layout: The following formatting tools are now available
for schedules. See Modify schedules.
Grid view formatting: You can now apply column shading, borders, and font
overrides. Insert and delete rows or swap parameters from the ribbon.
Precision sizing of rows and columns is also available.
Format Units tool: You can now open the Format Units dialog from the
ribbon.
Calculated Values tool: You can now open the Calculated Values dialog from
the ribbon.
Clear Cell tool: You can select and clear the contents of multiple title cells
from the ribbon.
Grid view synchronization: Grid views and sheet instances now update to
reflect changes. If you adjust the grid view, the sheet reflects those changes.
Formatting visibility: Formatting now displays on sheets and is available to
print from a sheet view.
Column indexes: You can now quickly select entire columns using the
indexes at the top of each column.
Schedule title formatting: You can now insert rows to the title area and
apply the new grid view enhancements. You can also merge cells. Additional
formatting includes adding images, project parameters, and plain text.

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Grid and sheet size alignment: Grid and sheet instance sizing are now
coordinated.
Conditional formatting: You can now allow conditional formatting to display
on sheets and print from a sheet view. See Format a schedule.
Text types: You now specify title, header, and body text styles by selecting a
system text type. See Format a schedule.
Embedded Schedule Enhancements: When adding columns to an
embedded schedule, 2 schedule categories are available with which to
select parameters.
Displace elements: Available in any 3D view, including perspective, this tool helps you create
displaced views. The new Highlight Displacement Sets tool on the View Control Bar
highlights the elements that have been displaced. See Displaced Views.
Alternate dimension units: You can display alternate dimension units along with the primary
units for all permanent and spot dimension types. This feature allows you to simultaneously
display both imperial and metric values in drawings. To use alternate dimension units for a
specific dimension type, such as Aligned, modify the type properties for the Aligned
dimension type. See Define alternate dimension units.
Change sort order of multiple items: You can now select multiple detail items or imported
raster images, and use the Send to Back, Send Backward, Bring to Front, or Bring Forward
tools to move them all in one operation. See Sort the Draw Order of Details.
Print option for regions: A new print option allows you to determine whether the edges of
masking regions and filled regions cover other lines. See Set Up Printing.

User interface and productivity

Double-click editing options: Double-clicking a parameter, such as a parameter value

displayed in a room tag, now consistently allows you to edit the parameter. Also, new user
interface options allow you to configure the double-click behavior to edit the following
elements (see User Interface Options):
o families
o sketch-based elements
o views and schedules on sheets (activate view)
o assemblies
o groups
o component stairs
Dockable windows: The following windows can be moved and resized, and either floated or
docked:
o Project Browser
o System Browser
o Properties palette
o Reconcile Hosting window

They can also be grouped so that several windows (represented by tabs) occupy the
same space on the screen. See Dockable Windows.

Selection enhancements: New options allow you to determine whether you can select link
elements, underlay elements, pinned elements, and elements by face in a model. You can
set the Drag Elements on Selection option so you can move an element without selecting it
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first. You may want to disable these options when having trouble selecting a particular
element in the model, or to avoid inadvertently selecting or moving elements. See
Controlling the Selection of Elements.
Reloading links to CAD files: If you reload a linked model that points to a view in a CAD file
that is no longer available or that is not suitable for linking, you are prompted to choose a
different view. See Unloading and Reloading Linked Models.
Data from lookup tables is now stored within the family, eliminating the need for external
CSV files: Use the Manage Lookup Tables tool while editing a family to import, export, or
delete lookup table data. See Managing Lookup Tables.
Temporary View Properties: You can now temporarily apply a view template from the View
Control Bar. See Selecting a Temporary View Template.

Import/Export

Point cloud enhancements: A new point cloud engine allows you to link RCP and RCS format
point clouds into a project. The Point cloud tool can also be used to index raw format point
clouds to the RCP/RCS formats. New visibility and graphics override options allow you to
control the color mode for the point cloud display. See Insert a Point Cloud File and Change
the Color Mode for a Point Cloud. For pre-2014 models that include linked PCG format point
cloud files, see this important upgrade procedure: Upgrade a Revit Model with Linked Point
Clouds.
Textures, line patterns, line weights, and text are now included in 3D DWF exports.
DWG/DXF export: The following layer standards for exporting DWG and DXF files have been
updated to reflect the latest changes. See About Exporting to CAD Formats.
o American Institute of Architects (AIA)
o ISO standard 13567
o Singapore standard 83
o British standard 1192
Imported forms: When an imported instance containing 3D solid geometry is exploded in
the Family Editor environment, the 3D solids are now preserved. Each 3D solid becomes a
free form element, which can be used for cutting, joining, and other form operations. These
free form elements can be edited by dragging the shape handles on planar faces. See
Exploding Imported Geometry.

Analysis

Energy Analysis for Autodesk Revit : Now in addition to performing energy analysis using
conceptual masses, you can perform whole building energy analysis using Revit building
models. The building elements simulation option creates analytical geometry directly from
your Revit building model and sends it to Autodesk Green Building Studio for evaluation.
Once the analysis is complete, you can review and compare results as you continue to
iterate the model. Use Energy Analysis for Autodesk Revit to help inform your design
decisions. See Energy Analysis using Building Elements - Quick Start and Energy Analysis
using Building Elements - Detailed Workflow.

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Performance

Optimized view navigation: A new feature on the Options dialog boosts performance by
disabling some graphic effects when you are navigating a view. To learn more, see
Optimized View Navigation.

Architectural Enhancements
The following new and enhanced features apply to Revit Architecture and Autodesk Revit.

Stair by Component:
o Additional Location Line options for stair run creation: Two new run location line
options, Exterior Support: Left and Exterior Support: Right, allow you to align to the
exterior of either side support when creating a run. See Select the Run Component
Tool and Specify Options.
o Modify actual run width before or after stair creation: Modify the new Actual Run
Width option on the Options Bar when creating a run to change the run width value.
To modify the actual run width after the run is created, in stair assembly edit mode,
you can now select the temporary dimension for the run width and change the
value. See Select the Run Component Tool and Specify Options and Modify Stair
Dimensions.
o Modify the landing shape: New controls are available on the automatic landing to
modify the landing leg length (where the landing connects to the runs). See Reshape
a Landing in Modify Stair Components Using Direct Manipulation Controls.
o Automatic landing reshape behavior: Unless you drag the control on the outer edge
of an automatic landing, the position of this edge remains fixed when you modify
the runs or use the other landing controls to change the landing shape.
o Automatic landing creation: When creating a U-shaped stair with runs of varying
widths, the automatic landing is created with a depth matching the width of the
narrowest run. The landing depth can be changed after creation using the direct
manipulation control or the temporary dimension.
o Accurate modification support: Temporary dimensions can now be used to modify
the run width, the landing depth on U-shaped stairs, the radius of a spiral run, and
the distance between stair components. Listening dimensions display for the straight
run length and the arc run radius and angle.
o Snapping reference improvement: You will notice more snapping capabilities when
creating and modifying stair components. For example, run to run vertical,
horizontal, parallel, and perpendicular snapping is available when you drag the stair
path end control.
Segmented elevation view: You can now split elevations into segments that are orthogonal
to the view direction just as you can for sections. See About Segmented Views.
New sample model: A new sample architectural model, rac_basic_sample_project.rvt,
shows an example of how you can use Revit tools to build a model and document the
design. Learning Links connect you to help topics that describe how to use features or add
elements.
o To open the model, click its thumbnail on the Recent Files window (click View
User Interface Recent Files).
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In the project, the schedule on the title sheet provides a list of available learning
links and indicates the views to open to access them.
1. In a view, click a blue question mark symbol to learn about the nearby item.
2. In the Properties palette, click in the Learning Link field, then click
to
open the related help topic.
3. Click the Content Reviewed check box on the Properties palette to track
your progress through the Learning Links.

MEP Enhancements
The following new and enhanced features apply to Revit MEP and Autodesk Revit.

Dividing systems: Use the Divide System command to divide a duct or pipe system
consisting of multiple systems into individual systems. See Dividing Systems.
Plumbing template: A plumbing systems template is now available when creating a new
project. The plumbing systems template includes systems for drainage (rain water) and
waste water (soil, waste, and vent). The mechanical systems template still includes piping
(plumbing) for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning services. Templates for the UK differ
slightly and include more pipe fitting content, including cast iron and various types of plastic.
See Creating a Project from the Application Menu.
Add air terminals on duct: You can place unhosted air terminals directly on duct. Revit MEP
includes new air terminal content (grilles and diffusers) for use with this feature. See Place
Air Terminals.
Cap open ends for duct and pipe: You can add caps to open duct and pipe segments,
fittings, and accessories based on routing preferences. See Adding a Cap.
Routing preferences support caps: The routing preferences now supports caps for duct and
pipe. See Specifying Routing Preferences for Duct and Specifying Routing Preferences for
Pipe.
Specific angles for routing duct, pipe, conduit, and cable tray: You can specify the angles
Revit will use when drawing duct, pipe, conduit, or cable tray. See Specifying Angles for Duct,
Specifying Angles for Pipe, or Specifying Angles for Conduit and Cable Tray.
Calculation methods for duct and pipe for straight segments: Third party developers can
create calculation methods installed as add-ins to take the place of default calculation
methods within Revit. You can specify different calculation methods for straight segments of
duct and pipe in Mechanical Settings. For duct, you can specify a method for calculating
pressure loss. See Mechanical Settings for Duct. For pipe you can specify methods for
calculating pressure loss and flow. See Mechanical Settings for Pipe.
Calculation methods for duct and pipe fittings and accessories: Use the Loss Method
parameter on the Properties palette to select the pressure loss method for duct and pipe
fittings and accessories. Use the Loss Method Settings option to edit the settings for the loss
method. See Specifying a Pressure Loss Method for Fittings and Accessories for Duct and
Pipe .
Pipe dimension project unit: In the Project Units dialog, you can now specify a project unit
for Pipe Dimension. See Setting Project Units.
Specify radius/diameter dimension for connectors: When editing the family for a fitting,
you can use the Round Connector Dimension parameter to specify whether radius or
diameter are used for pipe, duct, conduit, and cable tray connectors.
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Structural Enhancements
The following new and enhanced features apply to Revit Structure and Autodesk Revit.

Reinforcement: Several enhancements have been made to structural reinforcement tools.

o Reinforcement rounding has been added to Revit Structure. You can now specify
rounding parameters for structural rebar. See Modifying Reinforcement Settings.
o

o
o
o

You can now calculate the overall length of rebar shapes in the Rebar Shape
Parameter dialog. This is implemented to accommodate UK standards and
documentation. See Rebar Shape Parameters.
You can now assign rebar to disregard hooks when specifying shapes. This
improves definition of rebar shape codes according to European standards and
extends structural workflows into the fabrication process. See Modifying
Reinforcement Settings
You can now define tangent hook length parameters for a rebar type with the Rebar
Hook Length Parameter dialog. See Rebar Hook Length Parameters.
New lap-splice stagger positions have been added to Fabric Reinforcement. See
Positioning the Fabric Sheet Lap-Splice.
You can now apply overrides to the default host constraint behavior on a selected
rebar element. Rebar constraints apply to rebar cover, other rebar instances in the
host, and the host surface. See Applying Rebar Constraints.

Positioning for structural framing: You now have greater control over the location of beam
and brace geometry in relation to the location line and the position of beam ends.

These features are available to steel beams and braces.

o
o

The location line is now visible when you select a beam or brace.
You can justify the geometry of a beam element in relation to its location line. Adjust
justification parameters in the x and y directions uniformly to the element, or
independently to each end. See Using Justification Parameters.
You can offset the geometry of a beam element from its location line. Adjust offset
parameters in the y and z directions uniformly to the element, or independently to
each end. See Using Offset Parameters.
You can increase or decrease the length of geometry of a beam element from the
end of the location line of a non-joined beam or brace end by using built-in
parameters (not family parameters). See Start and End Extensions.
You can increase or decrease the distance of geometry of a beam element from the
face of a joined element by using new parameters. See Modifying Beam Instance
Cutback (Medium Fine Detail).

Structural analysis: Improvements to the analytical model include

o The analytical node parameter Connection Status distinguishes the following
connection statuses: Connected - Auto-detect, Connected - Linear, Connected Surface and Unconnected. The Connection Status parameter is schedulable.
o You can filter, schedule, and tag using analytical link properties.

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Including analytical and physical element information in one schedule which lets you
identify properties between analytical and physical models.

Improved functionality of the Wall Adjustment tool. Now you can also adjust
analytical walls in relation to nodes of analytical floors and analytical
foundation slabs.

Analytical model view control icons allowing you to display and hide analytical
model in the current view.

Multi-rebar annotations: Now you can annotate multiple rebar and rebar sets with a single
tag. Use these annotations to tag each bar in rebar sets with detailed fabrication and
construction information. See Multi-Rebar Annotations.

Revit Server
When you use Save As to overwrite a model on the server, link references are maintained.
For more Revit Server enhancements, see New in Revit Admin.
Parent topic: Whats New?
Related Information
Upgrade Information for Autodesk Revit 2014
New in Revit 2014 Installation
Administrative Changes in Revit 2015

David Light Says:

Architectural & Platform

Displaced Views
Dockable Windows Framework & Enhancements
Material UI overhaul
Non rectangular crop regions
Room calculation Point
Schedules
Selection enhancements
Split Elevations
Temporary View Templates
View navigation performance
Multi Selection - bring to front & send to back
Stairs & Railings
Double click to edit
Point Clouds
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Structural

Multi-Reference Annotations
Structural Analytical Model Improvements
Reinforcement Rounding
Rebar Constraints
Welded Wire Mesh Constraints
Enhanced Rebar Shapes
Rebar Length Calculation for UK Shapes

MEP

CSV File Removal - Ability to embed CSV data into a family.

Divide System.
Air Terminals on Duct - Ability to place Air Terminal families directly on Duct
segments.
Plumbing Template
Cap Open Ends
Angle Constraints
Building Performance Analysis
Energy Analysis for Architectural Building Elements - Ability to automatically
generate an Energy Analysis Model from a typical Revit model made of
architectural building elements.
GBS Analysis App Feature

Displaced Views

Displaced views are an exciting new feature which literally allows you to rip apart your
model as an exploded view. The clever thing here is that any displacement of components is
only effected in that view & not the whole model.

The feature works in 3d views & perspective views only, allowing you to create
diagrammatic assembly views of how the building goes together. Not this feature also works
with assembly views & parts. The concept is very easy to implement. Go to a 3d view, select
a few elements, then choose the displacement feature from the modify tab > create. Then in
canvas use the 3d widget to drag the components away from the main model, its that easy. If
you are not happy with their position, a reset button allows you to return the elements back to
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their original location. The path feature allows you to automatically draw a line from the
original position of the elements to its displaced location. You can control the linestyle of this
line from objects styles & visibility graphics.

Another thing about the path feature which may not be that obvious, is that there are 2 path
style types. A straight line (the default) & a jogged line type, which is useful when you need
to drag the elements further away from the model for clarity.

Dockable Windows Framework & Enhancements

When you are using Revit you just cant get enough screen real estate. You decide to get 2
monitors, but space always seems to be at a premium. I am not sure why, but I guess its
natural when you have a multi document, multi view application. In previous releases of
Revit you could dock the project browser, properties palette, system browser & reconcile
hosting browser in different locations but they always docked adjacent to one another or at
various positions around the screen. Revit 2014 now allows you to dock each window to
combine them as tabs at the bottom of dialog windows. OK, its not a massive enhancements
& auto-hide would have been a nice addition as well, but this new window framework
structure will certainly benefit those that are tight for screen space or utilize a-laptop.

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Materials

So after last years fiasco with the material UI, Autodesk decided to go back to the drawing
board. A good friend of mine & fellow Revit Guru, Aaron Maller literally lost hours of sleep
trying to get his head around the Revit 2013 material user interface to make it work like
2012! If you know Aaron, buy him a beer & he will literally rant for hours about the mess
which is the Revit 2013 material UI. I am not sure what Autodesk were thinking, but I am so
glad to say that the 2014 UI is soooooo much better. Everything is obvious, in a tabbed layout
dialog. The UI is easier to navigate making materials easier to locate & select. In 2013 the
material browser & editing dialog boxes were separate which was the core issue to the
problem! This made the whole process of material editing unbelievably frustrating as
workflow process was confusing. With both material browser & editing now merged back
into one single common dialog, stability & common sense has returned to the material editing
process. Yes!

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Non Rectangular Viewports

So non rectangular viewports have been on my Revit wish list for some time. In Revit 2014
we now have this added functionality for view crop regions and callouts. In essence the user
can customise the shape of the crop region using Revit sketching tools.

Select the crop region, then choose the Edit Crop tool from the ribbon & sketch away. But
before you get too excited, you are still only limited to rectangular shapes, no curves are arcs
my friends. This feature will work on any crop region including plans, ceilings plans,
elevations, sections, detail & section callout views.

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Room Calculation Point

Once you have been using Revit for some time, you recognise that Revit needs to start to
think a little smarter; it should know where things are. Whether you think software should be
smart, is a debate for another day. But the introductory of a Room calculation point setting
for family types which are room aware such as doors, furniture, casework, speciality
equipment and generic models starts to help. This new function allows families which are
placed in a project to know where they belong.

For instance, sometimes a

piece of geometry might be located outside a room or space, which results in no values being
reported to where the element actually is. The new Room calculation point allows the user to
specifically move the location of the calculation point to a desired space within a model so
that the element then knows where it belongs and can report this when scheduling. [Edit: See
image next page]

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Schedules

Schedules; what would we do without schedules in Revit? They provide us with access to
data in a way which was not possible using traditional CAD drafting approaches. I would
suggest that anybody who is serious about building information modelling will know the
power & possibilities that Revit scheduling functionality offers. Scheduling gives you access
to data which you can utilise in many, many ways. We can capture integrated data; we can
use schedules to input data. Neither the less, scheduling within Revit was not without its
limitations, but Revit 2014 sees a major overhaul of the scheduling functionality. The
interface for creating schedules in Revit remains the same, although new categories have
been opened up, so we can now schedule architectural columns, detail items, entourage,
generic models, grids, levels, pads, roof soffits, structural beam systems, structural area
reinforcement, structural path reinforcement and structural fabric area.

Another nice minor enhancement is the ability to schedule phases created & demolished.
However, more importantly we are provided with far more control over how we can format
schedules. Text styles can be used to control the formatting of titles, headers and data within
a schedule. Cells and text appearance can be overridden for cells in titles sections and
columns. The Schedules are far more aligned with an Excel type appearance, so what you see
is what you get, with more alliance between the schedule view & what you actually place on
a sheet. You will find a new ribbon interface allows you to control the appearance of the
schedule and if you understand the basics of Excel style column formatting, then this is going
to be a total breeze for you to learn and implement.

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Selection Enhancements

I believe one of the biggest challenges any new user has when starting to work with Revit is
the way you select elements. Those that have been using Revit for some time, have learned to
live & adapt to Revit element selection peculiarities. But I have seen countless occasions
when Revit newbies select elements & screw things up. No fault of their own, its just a
different process from what they are normally use to. Yet Revit does not make it easy during
the transition process. To improve the way you can access & select elements, Revit 2014 has
introduced a few improvements adding to what has always existed. There are now four
selection options, which can be accessed via the modify tool or via the status bar. Each
options has two states, either active or in-active. The options included Select Links, Select
Underlay Elements, Select Elements by face, Drag elements on selection. With the select
links function, if this behaviour is not enabled & you use the modify & move tools, this stops
you accidentally selecting links or CAD linked files. Select underlay elements, again if this is
not enabled, then you cant select, modify or move underlayed elements.

Select elements by Face, now this is a biggie for me. With this feature enabled you can select
a face of an element or by clicking at the edge. This now makes the whole process of editing,
say a floor, a lot easier as you can select the face rather than having to grab a bunch of
elements & filtering. If you dont have this feature enabled, then its as it was before, you
need to click on the edge of element or filter & select. Drag elements on Selection replaces
what was press & drag. With the feature enabled, you hover over the element, press down the
mouse & drag. Revit will then move the element. If this feature is not enabled. If you hover
over a model elements, AC point, callout, grid, section, scope box or detail, pressing and
dragging will result in the element NOT moving. It should also be noted that the settings are
stored per user in the Revit.ini, so can be set as part of your deployment.

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Split Elevations

Not sure this is noteworthy, but we have been able to do split sections for some time. But the
functionality has been extended to elevations, allowing us to do split elevations. Now before
you get over excited, its not what you think it is! It the same as the section tool, thats it.
What would have been very nice to see is the ability to unwrap elevations to create true
elevation representations!

Temporary View Properties

Revit 2013 introduced some welcome improvements to view templates; the Temporary View
Properties feature on 2014 takes this a little further. In the view control bar you are provided
with access to Temporary View Properties. What this feature does is always you to change
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the view properties of a view without impacting the saved view state. The concept behind this
is to potentially reduce the need for working views as you can quickly enable a Temporary
View, apply the view template to better understand the impact of the view template without
actually having to apply it. You can switch between different view templates which you have
created & once you have finished, just select the reset feature to go back to the original state
of the view. If you do enable the temp view, it has no bearing on the view for printing & also
has no influence on the view when using worksharing.
Perceived Performance

If I had a pound or even a dollar for how many times Ive heard users complain about how
slow Revit is at times, Id be a very rich man. The reality is, on some tasks Revit can be slow,
but then if you consider what is happening under the hood, then maybe you might assess the
situation differently. But then again, the reality is we want everything instantly! We want out
email now! We want everything on tap, on demand & we no longer accept waiting. Over
recent years we have seen multi-threading functionality introduced to some aspects of Revit.
Speaking with the development team, its not a case of just flicking a few switches &
tweaking the code to make Revit suddenly become a super multi-threaded wonder app. Its a
complex problem, due to the way Revit works. Saying that, one area which Revit certainly
needed a kick was on screen redraws when zooming, panning & orbiting a model. So the
Revit dev team have made some tweaks to improve graphic performance by automatically
turning off graphic intensive effects during view navigation. This works in 2d & 3d. What
actually happens is that the graphic effects are suspended during camera manipulation & then
instantly redrawn to the screen once you finish the operation. Its a little disconcerting at first,
but once you get us to it you will value this improvement, Revit certainly feels quicker.
Multi- selection

A minor enhancement, but a vital one, is the proper implementation of the Bring to Front /
Send Back ward tool. This now works as you would expect it. When you select multiple
elements, be it detail elements or images you can reorder them correctly.

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Stairs & Railings

As this review is typically biased towards the architectural enhancements, we will look at
these. With Revit 2013, we saw the introduction of the new component based stair as well as
enhancements to the railings. Revit 2014 sees the component stairs developed even further
with a few minor tweaks to the railings. The way a stair joins a floor or slab has been
improved. Any precast stair can now be join to a floor or slab. You can now quash the
additional riser created in a plan representation when a monolithic stair meets a landing.

There have been developments made to the way you manipulate landings. Each landing,
when selected, has controls to each edge which makes the process of editing the landing a lot
easier.

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When you draw a stair, two additional location line options are provided. You now have
exterior support left & exterior support right as well as actual run width settings. These can
be set in the options bar when creating the stair.

Autodesk put a lot of work into how stairs were represented with the component based stair.
But as ever, things can always be improved. With 2014, the stair path arrow can now be
displayed at top of landing. With the monolithic stair, the plan representation stair no longer
displays an additional risers at half landings. The way snaps work with stairs also receives
some enhancement. For example, we can now have a parallel snap, allowing us to reference
other elements such as reference planes, walls, beams when you are creating straight stair
runs. Another snap enhancement is the ability to parallel snap to riser lines when dragging the
direct manipulation controls of a landing. All these snaps just provide a better fit / finish
when working with the stair creation process.

One of the first things I noticed with component based stairs in Revit 2013, was the loss of
temporary dimensions. Love or hate them, they are fundamental to the Revit modelling
process in my humble opinion. Temporary dimensions are your best friend when making
changes or tweaks to elements. With Revit 2014, Autodesk dev temp have listen to user
feedback & component based stairs get temporary dimensions to control landing size,
component position, stair width & radius of spiral stairs.

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Sadly we havent seen any further enhancements to railings in 2014, but we do get some
defects fixed, such as if end with riser is unchecked the railing will now be parallel with the
stair run. Handrails would disappear in some views, this has been addressed.
Double Click to Edit

Maybe, Im old school, but 2013 saw the introduction of double-click functionality to edit
certain elements, after many user requests. But with any enhancements, sometimes there are
trip hazards. Users who are rather trigger happy with double clicking, end up going down
rabbit holes as they start editing something they didnt mean to. But with care & precision,
you learn to adjust. In line with functionality introduced into Vasari as well as Revit LT, we
can now edit the following elements by double clicking.
Element type
Assemblies
Schedules on Sheets
Views on sheets
Wall(EditProfile)
Floor(EditBoundary)
Ceilings(EditBoundary)
Roof (Footprint)
Roof (Extrusion)
Slab (Edit Boundary)
Beam System (Edit Boundary)
Railing
Stairs
Edit Extrusion (Form)
Edit Revolve (Form)

Double-click behaviour
Edit assembly mode
Open schedule view
Activate view
Edit profile
Edit boundary
Edit boundary
Edit boundary
Edit boundary
Edit boundary
Edit boundary
Edit railing
Edit stairs
Edit form
Edit form
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Edit Sweep (Form)

Edit Swept Blend (Form)
Edit Blend (Default to edit
Base)
Truss (Edit Profile)
Rebar
Reinforcement
Opening Cut
Filled Region
Revision Cloud
Split Face element

Edit form
Edit form
Edit base
Edit profile
Edit rebar
Edit rebar
Edit sketch
Edit sketch
Edit sketch
Edit sketch

So to protect those that may be a bit too hasty when using the double click functionality; in
the options, the user can now customise the double click settings.

One other minor, but useful tweak is when editing a parameter in a tag, a parameter takes
priority when you double click on a parameter label.
Point Clouds

Laser scanning & data capture is now common place to the BIM process. There are plenty of
surveying firms & even contractors using laser scanning equipment, as the cost of ownership
has reduced, to capture large quantities of data about buildings as point clouds. This data,
albeit it huge in size, is being used for modelling of existing conditions as well as cross
referencing the Building Information Model (design intent) against what is built on site. Revit
has had the ability to link in point clouds for some time, but Revit 2014 sees the
implementation of a completely new engine.

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What this is, is the inclusion of the Alice labs acquisition within Revit. What I have tested is
astonishingly fast, throwing a 5 gig cloud data file around in Revit was amazingly smooth.
Linking the point cloud into a Revit project is exactly the same, but there are more point
cloud file types available. You do need to index the point cloud data structure for the engine
before loading it in. If you select a raw dataset to be inserted into Revit, you will be asked to
index the data. Once indexed the resulting RCS file can be linked into a Revit project. Crop
regions & sections box tools allow you to control the visibility of the point cloud. But with
visibility graphics you can also override the colour mode of the point cloud.

There are 5 options available for colour modes of the point cloud.
<No Override>: This will display the point cloud in the colours specified in the source file,
if they are available.
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Single Color: will displays all points in the point cloud in a single colour that you can
specify.
Elevation: will display the points in the point cloud using a gradation of colour between the 2
colours (Max Elevation and Min Elevation) that you can specify.
Intensity: displays the points in the point cloud using a gradation of colour between 2
colours (Max Intensity and Min Intensity) that you can specify.
Normals: displays the points in colours relative to the direction of the point normal (the
direction of reflectance of points when initially captured). For example, all points with a
normal direction "up" will have a consistent colour.
You can still snap to planes detected within the point cloud when using snap functionality,
but we still have some way to go before we can start to automatically convert point cloud
data into smart objects. This will come, but for now just being to reference reality into a BIM
environment starts to close yet another gap in the BIM process.
Some of the other paraphernalia

So included below are few other enhancements which are worth knowing about. Not earth
shattering, but they all go a long way to the fit & finish process of existing functionality.
When you divide a surface in the conceptual massing environment, you can adjust the u/v
angle with the align tool. You can specify a default divisions to surface settings, which will
be retained in the project for subsequent uses of the divide surface tool.

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This one I am genuinely excited by. When you import a solid into a family, you have the
ability to fully explode the solid. What this actually does is turn this into an element which
you can actually do something with! Whilst you cant actually edit the form, you can
manipulate the resulting freeform elements with direct manipulation handles. You can also
cut, join the geometry with form functionality tools. Now all we need is Revit to be able to
read parameters from other tools!

When working in the conceptual massing environment, you can use a 3d start end radius
Arc, which creates a 3d arc. The points of the arc can be hosted on reference geometry.
To solve a particular COBie requirement, you can allow parameters to vary between groups.
You can control values so they are aligned per group type or values can vary by group
instance.

There are a raft of minor tweaks to interoperability. Substantial work has taken place to
ensure IFC export gets IFC certification in accordance with buildingSMART international
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standards requirements. DWF files now support textures, line patterns, lineweights, colours
as well as sun paths. DWG / DXF export sees further improvements to how Revit dimensions
export to AutoCAD. When a DWG or DXF file is linked into Revits project environment,
import / links only list the views the imported / linked file appears in via the visibility
graphics dialogue box. If you delete a view with a linked DWG file you can now re-establish
a new reference view, rather than having to remove the linked DWG file & then re-link it in.
One other minor, yet critical improvement is the ability to control dual units in dimensions.
Any dimension can display both units say metric & imperial. Just by simply going to the
dimension style & enabling Alternate Units, then picking the Alternative Units Format you
can display two different dimension formats in a dimension string.
Summary

So here endeth this years

round up / sermon of new
Revit functionality for the
release of 2014. What do I
think? Good..actually very
good. Im not just saying that; there is some honest improvements to aging functionality
which needed to be modernized as well as bundle of items which I would refer to fit & finish
functionality. Sometimes you need that, so you can take stock and improve the whole user
experience. I really like the displaced views tool, thats a cracking enhancement in my
opinion & schedule functionality update is very much welcomed. Alignment with how Excel
works & functions, is very nice. Revit 2014 feels snappier and smoother in operation. But.
there is always a but..I want to see developments to site tools, nothing as dynamic as say
Civil3d, just the ability to model proper roads, pavements & terrain. We need better ways to
create & control railings & custom railings. I never thought I would say this, but text
formatting! Autodesk, just do it. We talk up BIM, with plenty that are developing models, yet
deliverables still remain 2d. Disagree with me if you like, but right now 2d information is not
going to disappear anytime soon. Improving how we link in notes & formatting of text is
something we just need to enhance to improve the overall completion of the tool. Working in
perspective views, can it be that difficult? Those kids over at Vasari team have cracked it.
Non-photo realistic enhancements, squiggled line presentation views. More graphics card
GPU enhancements & finally its time curtain walls got an injection of love. I dont want
much do I?
Music[Edit: to] listen to when formulating this review - Above & Beyond anjunabeats vol. 10
http://www.anjunabeats.com/anjunabeats-volume-10-mixed-by-above-and-beyond-availablenow#.UT__9Rwqx8E
Posted by David Light

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2015
AUTODESK Says:
See Also

New in Revit 2015 Subscription Advantage

Topics in this section

Architecture and Platform Enhancements in Revit 2015

Learn about software improvements for architecture, performance, and the Revit
platform.

Structural Engineering Enhancements in Revit 2015

Learn about software improvements for structural engineering and analysis.

Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineering Enhancements in Revit 2015

Learn about software improvements for MEP systems and related analysis.

Add-In Enhancements in Revit 2015

Learn about software improvements for Revit-related add-ins.

Administrative Changes in Revit 2015

Learn about changes to the administration or management of the software.

Installation Changes in the 2015 Release

Upgrade Information for Revit 2015
Some new and changed features of Revit 2015 require upgrades for projects and
family files, or they result in certain behaviors of which you should be aware.

Architectural Enhancements

Dynamo: Encode design intent with visual scripting that leverages the Revit API to enhance
and extend model behavior.
Solon Integration: Personalize the building performance analysis experience in Revit by
defining a dashboard with charts and results that are important to you. The central webLARUG | Whats Been New

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based Solon management environment allows you to create charts and configure
dashboards for all of your company Revit users from a central collaboration environment in
Green Building Studio.
Energy analysis: To better support the analysis of large models, several methods have been
implemented to reduce memory usage.
Wall joins: To simplify the control of wall joins in a plan view, you can now select multiple
intersected wall joins with a single click, and choose to allow or disallow joins on all the
selected walls with a single click. If you choose to allow joins, you can then specify a Display
option (Clean Join, Don't Clean Join, Use View Setting). See Specify Wall Join Cleanup
Options.
IFC references and phases: Use existing geometry in a linked IFC model as references for
dimensions, alignment, snapping, and hosting of some face-based families in the Revit
model. When you link an IFC file, its elements are assigned to a default phase. Before using
IFC Import, Link, or Export, go to Autodesk Exchange Apps for Autodesk Revit and download
the latest edition of IFC for Autodesk Revit to take advantage of up-to-date
improvements.
Shaft openings: To streamline the creation of a shaft opening, the Base Constraint value
now defaults to the level of the current activated plan view. (See Cut a Shaft Opening.) The
instance properties have also been reordered to be consistent with families with similar
properties: Base Constraint, Base Offset, Top Constraint, Unconnected Height, and Top
Offset.
Adaptive point orientation: To improve clarity, the adaptive point instance parameter
Orientation is now Orients to, and the selectable orientations have been renamed. No
functionality has changed, only the names. See Adaptive Point Orientation.
Site design: Performance enhancements result in improved edit and regeneration times for
complex toposurfaces, subregions, and building pads.
Perspective views: Certain modeling capabilities are now available in perspective views: (See
Work in a Perspective View.)
o Editing tools: Move, Align, Pin, Unpin.
o Reset Target tool: Restores the position of the camera target to the center of the
field of view.
o Toggle between the perspective and parallel representations of the 3D view.
Reference other view: To search the list of available views for reference, enter keywords to
locate the desired view. This feature is available when you are creating views for callouts,
sections, elevations, and details, and you select the Reference Other View option (or modify
a reference view). Also note that the Reference Other View option now displays on the
Reference panel of the ribbon instead of the Options Bar. See Reference a Drafting View and
Search.
Reveal constraints: To see all dimension constraints and alignment constraints in a view, use
the Reveal Constraints mode, available on the View Control Bar. See Reveal Constraints.
View updates: Performance enhancements result in faster updates to views that contain
multiple instances of families.
Revit links: Further enhancements result in improved performance for cases where Revit
link instances are loaded but not visible in the view (such as when they are outside the crop
region).
PDF Export enhancements:

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Share your designs as electronic PDF files with automatically linked views and
sheets. Each view tag in the PDF file is a hyperlink. Click a hyperlink to jump to that
view or sheet in the PDF file. See About Printing to PDF.
o Avoid lengthy or unintended print jobs. If you choose to print multiple views and
sheets to individual PDF files, you cannot cancel the print job once it starts. A new
message warns you of this issue and allows you to cancel the print job before it
starts. Instead, consider printing the views and sheets to a single PDF file. See
Troubleshooting: Printing Views and Sheets.
Schedules: To easily add a data row to a schedule, use the Insert Data Row tool, which is
available directly on the Rows panel instead of within the Insert drop-down. The new
position of this tool makes it easier to add a data row to a room schedule, area schedule, key
schedule, space schedule, or sheet list. See About Modifying Schedules.
Select host for tags: To specify the host element for a tag, select the tag and use the Select
Host tool. See Select the Host for a Tag.
Annotate stair treads and risers: To streamline the process of adding number annotations
to treads or risers in a component stair run, specify default properties before placing the
annotation. These default property values persist for tread/riser annotations added to the
model. See Number Stair Treads and Risers.
Thin lines: To improve consistency between Revit sessions, when you use the Thin Lines tool,
the setting is stored in the Revit.ini file. When you launch Revit, the stored Thin Lines setting
is used as the default. See Graphics Settings in Revit.ini.
Export Models with Lines that Coincide: When exporting a Revit model to a CAD format, you
can decide whether to maintain model lines that coincide with other lines in the same space.
See About Exporting Models with Lines that Coincide.

Structural Enhancements

Rebar: When reinforcing concrete elements, you can now place rebar in any 2D view. Place
rebar in plan views, elevation views, and section views using the new placement plane tools.
See Place Rebar.
Snap to model lines for structural elements: To expedite and improve the modeling
workflows, the following snapping enhancements are available for structural elements. See
Snaps.
o You can snap to an imported and non-exploded CAD drawing.
o Similar to the behaviors when placing structural walls and slabs, all structural
elements now snap to the geometry of imported drawings.
o 3D snapping has been enhanced.
o Snaps such as nearest, endpoint, and midpoints are available when defining
structural elements along model lines.
o Additional snap locations are available along model lines for structural framing
elements, structural columns, trusses, and isolated foundations.
o When you place non-hosted loads, you can now snap to model lines.
Alignment reference: When changing the alignment reference of beam end geometry in a
join, you can now select multiple framing element instances and change their alignment to a
common join reference. You can also reset multiple changed references.
Change reference: To reset setback framing elements, use the Change Reference tool.

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Structural framing orientation: When refining your model, you can flip structural framing
elements and maintain joins, as well as setback, geometry, and justification modifications.
See About Structural Framing Orientation.
User interface for structural elements: To improve productivity during structural modeling,
take advantage of the following enhancements:
o The Offset drop-down button for framing justification tools has been removed. The y
Offset and z Offset tools now reside directly on the Justification panel. See Offset the
Physical Geometry of a Framing Element.
o The properties for point loads, line loads, and area loads are reorganized and
regrouped in the Properties palette. Tooltips for these properties have also been
implemented. See Point Load Instance Properties, Line Load Instance Properties, and
Area Load Instance Properties.
o The analytical properties for structural elements are reorganized and regrouped in
the Properties palette. Tooltips for these properties have also been implemented.
See Structural Column Analysis Properties, Beam Analysis Properties, Brace Analysis
Properties, Structural Floor Analysis Properties, Structural Wall Analysis Properties,
Wall Foundation Analysis Properties, Foundation Slab Analysis Properties, and
Isolated Foundation Analysis Properties.

MEP Enhancements

Sequence for power circuits: To specify the sequence in which power circuits are created,
use the Electrical Settings dialog. See Electrical Settings.
Most recently used panel circuiting: When you create a circuit, Autodesk Revit
automatically connects to the most recently used panel for the current session. In addition,
you can now search the Panel drop-down list. See Select a Panel or Transformer for the
Power Circuit.
Move circuits: To move a circuit directly to a target slot without disrupting other circuits, use
the Move To tool. See Move circuits on panel schedules.
ASHRAE table information: To identify the table that is applicable for the current condition,
the ASHRAE Table Settings dialog displays the graphical representations associated with the
duct fitting tables. This enhancement is helpful when you specify Coefficient from ASHRAE
Table as the loss method for duct fittings. See Specify a Pressure Loss Method for Fittings
and Accessories for Duct and Pipe.

Multi-Disciplinary Enhancements

Search: To quickly find the content you need, use the new search feature in the Type
Selector or in drop-down lists. Click the Type Selector or a value field in the Properties
palette or a dialog table, and enter keywords to search for. See Search.
File upgrades: To help you understand the consequences of file upgrades, new dialogs
indicate the release of a file and the release to which it will be upgraded. In many cases, you
have the opportunity to cancel the upgrade before it completes. See About Opening Models
that Require an Upgrade.
Edit/load a family: To close the family automatically after it is loaded into a project, use the
Load into Project and Close tool in the Family Editor. See Load the Current Family into a
Project.
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Properties palette: Keep your context in the Properties palette when you scroll, select a
property, and then click outside the palette. This behavior can be helpful, for example, if you
are selecting different family instances in the model to compare their properties.
Pin/Unpin icons: To determine whether an element has a relationship with a host system,
select the element to see its Pin/Unpin tool icon. A different set of pin/unpin images (

) is used in the drawing area to indicate a relationship with a host, such as a curtain wall
panel or a beam in a beam system. The behavior of the pin has not changed (clicking it still
allows you to override the properties for the element), but the subtle difference (small link
in the image) adds a visual indicator that this pin is different than the standard pin that locks
an element in position. The Pin/Unpin tool icons on the ribbon have not changed. See Unpin
Elements.
Import/link position: To streamline the process of inserting a Revit model or a CAD file, the
default positioning is now Auto - Origin to Origin. If you change the default, the option you
select for Positioning becomes the default for the current Revit session. The software
remembers one default option for Revit models and another default option for CAD files.
See Import and Link Options.
Revit link in a closed workset: To understand why a Revit link is not visible in model views,
check its status in the Manage Links dialog. The status In Closed Workset now displays for a
Revit link that is in a closed workset. See Manage Links Dialog.

Configuration Changes
In the Revit.ini file, the following settings are new or changed in this release:

Colors section: The new BackgroundColor setting replaces the InvertBackground setting in
the Graphics section.
Graphics section: The ThinLinesEnabled setting is now supported. The InvertBackground
setting has been deprecated and is no longer supported.

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