1. A Revit Roundtable Revit Best Practices
A “check up” for our Revit practices.
A Revit Roundtable

2. What does the phrase “Best Practices” mean?
Open discussion in encouraged and required.

3. Here are a few broad, yet simple, objectives of the discussion
Here are a few broad, yet simple, objectives of the discussion. At the end people should be more informed, aware, and ultimately relieved by the progress we’re making.

4. A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to any alternatives because it produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing things, e.g., a standard way of complying with legal or ethical requirements.
Best practices are used to maintain quality as an alternative to mandatory legislated standards and can be based on self-assessment or benchmarking
Open discussion in encouraged and required.

5. People have been “bucking the system” in every platform there is
People have been “bucking the system” in every platform there is. Even in CAD people drew, organized, and printed sometimes as they saw fit instead of adhering to the agreed upon standards. Revit, however, makes these sorts of shenanigans very obvious because of the collaborative digital environment in which we work. In other words, there are fewer places to “hide” the fact you’ve gone rogue.

6. People have been “bucking the system” in every platform there is
People have been “bucking the system” in every platform there is. Even in CAD people drew, organized, and printed sometimes as they saw fit instead of adhering to the agreed upon standards. Revit, however, makes these sorts of shenanigans very obvious because of the collaborative digital environment in which we work. In other words, there are fewer places to “hide” the fact you’ve gone rogue.

7. Why are BPs so important for Revit?
Open discussion in encouraged and required.

8. BENEFITS TIME IS MONEY STANDARDIZATION INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY
There are countless benefits to having drawing and modeling habits and standards. All of them ultimately are related to the bottom line. Time is money.

9. INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY
But ultimately, that’s what all this hard work is for. So we CAN be better/smarter/faster. Why not work that way?
INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY

10. INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY
Especially if we’re going to continue to have large projects and short deadlines.
INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY

11. Where to BPs come from?
Open discussion in encouraged and required.

12. WHO DEVELOPS THE STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES?
So if we’ve spent all this time developing standards….all this time trying to inform people about the standards….all this time trying to enforce the standards…..WHY THE HECK ARE SOME PEOPLE NOT FOLLOWING THE STANDARDS?!?!?
REVIT

13. GMC REVIT COMMANDMENTS
WHAT ARE THE RULES?
GMC REVIT COMMANDMENTS
THOU SHALL NOT HIT ENTER WHEN TYPING IN A TEXT BOX. TYPE THE ENTIRE NOTE THEN ADJUST THE BOX SIZE
THOU SHALL TRY TO DRAW WALL SECTIONS CUTTING IN THE SAME DIRECTION. THAT WILL ALLOW COPYING AND PASTING BETWEEN SIMILAR VIEWS FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENT
THOU SHALL NOT UNLOAD A CONSULTANTS REVIT MODEL JUST BECAUSE IT’S IN YOUR WAY IN YOUR VIEW
THOU SHALL NOT WRITE TEXT ON THE SHEET
THOU SHALL NOT PUNCTUATE THE END OF A NOTE
THOU SHALL POPULATE THE SHEET FROM BOTTOM RIGHT TO TOP LEFT
THOU SHALL NOT STRING SEGMENTS OF SPACES WITHOUT THEN STRINGING AN OVERALL DIMENSION
THOU SHALL NOT NUDGE MODEL OR DETAIL ELEMENTS
THOU SHALL PLACE A VIEW ON THE SHEET THEN PROCEED TO WORK IN THE SHEET. THIS IS CRITICAL DURING CD PHASE
THOU SHALL USE OPAQUE DIMENSION STRINGS WHEN OVERLAPPING DRAWING ELEMENTS, ESPECIALLY WITH A PATTERN
THOU SHALL NOT HAVE LEADERS AT THE BOTTOM OF NOTES. JUSTIFY LEADERS AT THE TOP OF THE NOTE
THOU SHALL SPELL CHECK ALL DRAWINGS. “HANDRAIL” IS ONE WORD. “BRAKE METAL” NOT “BREAKMETAL”. “GRILLE” NOT “GRILL”
Thou SHALL NOT draft in parts of doors in elevations that are not coordinated with the door schedule
 Thou SHALL assign a view template immediately after creating a view
 Thou SHALL turn off or edit crop regions as needed for printing
 Thou SHALL delete all unnecessary reference planes from the project when you are done using them
THOU SHALL SAVE TO CENTRAL REGULARLY
Revit Commandments from on high. This is a compilation of items the Revit Rangers noticed in the past two projects the majority of the group worked on (Pelham Elementary and Leeds K-2).

14. The SHALLS
THOU SHALL TRY TO DRAW WALL SECTIONS CUTTING IN THE SAME DIRECTION. THAT WILL ALLOW COPYING AND PASTING BETWEEN SIMILAR VIEWS FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENT
Thou SHALL assign a view template immediately after creating a view
THOU SHALL POPULATE THE SHEET FROM BOTTOM RIGHT TO TOP LEFT
THOU SHALL PLACE A VIEW ON THE SHEET THEN PROCEED TO WORK IN THE SHEET. THIS IS CRITICAL DURING CD PHASE
THOU SHALL USE OPAQUE DIMENSION STRINGS WHEN OVERLAPPING DRAWING ELEMENTS, ESPECIALLY WITH A PATTERN
 Thou SHALL turn off or edit crop regions as needed for printing
 Thou SHALL delete all unnecessary reference planes from the project when you are done using them
THOU SHALL SPELL CHECK ALL DRAWINGS. “HANDRAIL” IS ONE WORD. “BRAKE METAL” NOT “BREAKMETAL”. “GRILLE” NOT “GRILL”
Let’s focus on the Good things we should do. The Shalls. The rule is to draw all wall sections/building sections facing the same direction The exterior of the building should be on the right and the interior of the building is to be on the left. Text is to be justified to the left regardless of which side of the view it is placed. (Exceptions: Where the view depth should be set as to see intersecting walls, beyond). Sections should also be grouped by area, not starting from a single point on the plan and working your way around. For example with a school, all storm shelter sections should go onto a sheet together. All typical classroom sections belong on a sheet together. All cafeteria sections belong on a sheet together. This is also true of details, elevations (interior and exterior). Compartmentalize for ease of construction. Furthermore, all titles on sheets should be specific in nature to orient the viewer to a specific location. Refrain from using generic titles such as “Detail”, “Section”, “Elevation”, etc. Refrain from using room numbers in titles to avoid conflict if edited. Always align titles on sheets to the bottom left side of the view.

15. The SHALLS
THOU SHALL PLACE A VIEW ON THE SHEET THEN PROCEED TO WORK IN THE SHEET. THIS IS CRITICAL DURING CD PHASE
There is nothing more frustrating than to sanity check your work and make sure the sheets are ready to print and come back and find this. This is evidence that someone was working in a view instead of the sheet. Always make a view, assign a view template, drag it onto a sheet, then WORK ON THE SHEET. Also, be mindful of view depths of sections and elevations so that these tags/symbols do not show up in unrelated views. Also, immediately upon creating a view, set the “Do not show at scales courser than” value.

16. The SHALLS
THOU SHALL USE OPAQUE DIMENSION STRINGS WHEN OVERLAPPING DRAWING ELEMENTS, ESPECIALLY WITH A PATTERN
Don’t make the contractor hunt for your dimensions. In areas where hatches and other busy linework make reading dimensions nearly impossible, opt for an opaque text style of dimensioning. Using the Opaque dimension is the default style for all text.

17. The SHALLS
THOU SHALL USE OPAQUE DIMENSION STRINGS WHEN OVERLAPPING DRAWING ELEMENTS, ESPECIALLY WITH A PATTERN
Dimensions are critical items that should not get lost in the crowd.

18. The SHALLS
 Thou SHALL turn off or edit crop regions as needed for printing
Now that we are utilizing the crop box for creating boundaries in sections and elevations we must be vigilant to make sure they are turned off in views where they should not be printed.

19. What are some global BPs?
Open discussion in encouraged and required.

20. The SHALLS THOU SHALL SAVE TO CENTRAL REGULARLY
Your daily routine should include making a new local file from the central file. Saving to Central should be a frequent act. Reloading latest without saving back to the central file is a strict NO NO. After long periods of time without local saves to the central file, the central file will refuse to let you save. You will get an error that says “Revit cannot reconcile the local file with the central file”, then you have a really tough hill to climb to get the work you’ve done into the central. The worst case scenario is you corrupt your file to the point that not even Autodesk can recover it. The take away, don’t work more than 30 minutes without saving to central (decide how much of your work you are willing to lose.). When working with people in remote offices, get on a saving schedule and stick to it to make the lag time bearable. Never walk away from your desk without saving first. The last thing you should do at the end of the day is save and compact your local model to the central file. Then start the next day with making a new local.

21. The SHALLS THOU SHALL SAVE TO CENTRAL REGULARLY
Stop working with your head in the sand. Save to Central!

22. The SHALL NOTS $*!#$%^& THOU SHALL NOT NUDGE MODEL OR DETAIL ELEMENTS
ALWAYS use the MOVE command to move drawing elements! NEVER nudge (use the arrow keys on your keyboard) and NEVER drag. This causes a chain reaction of fractional inaccuracies throughout your drawings. Building to 1/256” is impossible! If you want something moved 2”, select it and either type 2” as your command is being executed, or select it and let Revit prompt you that the distance is 2”. NEVER NUDGE drawing elements. Nudging and dragging is only acceptable for relocating views and annotations.
$*!#$%^&

23. The SHALL NOTS
Thou SHALL NOT draft in parts of doors in elevations that are not coordinated with the door schedule
Don’t ever use “smoke and mirrors” for ANYTHING that affects multiple views, schedules, or consultants. A radical example would be to have an exterior elevation that shows a door with a large transom that has been created using masking regions in lieu of a modeled element. This affects the ceiling heights, door schedule, wall sections, and every consultant. Stop the madness.

24. The SHALL NOTS
Seriously? Diagonal down…Diagonal down EXTRA small…Diagonal down Really small….Diagonal small 2…DIAGONAL DOWN-SMALL….
Sometimes it is necessary to make additional filled regions to created detailed floor patterns and elevations. A helpful suggestion is to name the pattern for the material for which the pattern was created. That way, you don’t run the risk of a pattern winding up in the wrong detail. For example, instead of “Diagonal Down – really truly small no I mean it this time small”, say “VCT-4”.

25. The SHALL NOTS
THOU SHALL NOT UNLOAD A CONSULTANTS REVIT MODEL JUST BECAUSE IT’S IN YOUR WAY IN YOUR VIEW
THOU SHALL NOT HIT ENTER WHEN TYPING IN A TEXT BOX. TYPE THE ENTIRE NOTE THEN ADJUST THE BOX SIZE
THOU SHALL NOT WRITE TEXT ON THE SHEET
THOU SHALL NOT PUNCTUATE THE END OF A NOTE
THOU SHALL NOT HAVE LEADERS AT THE BOTTOM OF NOTES. JUSTIFY LEADERS AT THE TOP OF THE NOTE
THOU SHALL NOT STRING SEGMENTS OF SPACES WITHOUT THEN STRINGING AN OVERALL DIMENSION
THOU SHALL NOT NUDGE MODEL OR DETAIL ELEMENTS
Thou SHALL NOT draft in parts of doors in elevations that are not coordinated with the door schedule
Let’s not look at some of the tomfoolery that went on in the last two projects and never to them again.

26. The SHALL NOTS
THOU SHALL NOT UNLOAD A CONSULTANTS REVIT MODEL JUST BECAUSE IT’S IN YOUR WAY IN YOUR VIEW
THOU SHALL NOT HIT ENTER WHEN TYPING IN A TEXT BOX. TYPE THE ENTIRE NOTE THEN ADJUST THE BOX SIZE
THOU SHALL NOT WRITE TEXT ON THE SHEET
THOU SHALL NOT PUNCTUATE THE END OF A NOTE
THOU SHALL NOT HAVE LEADERS AT THE BOTTOM OF NOTES. JUSTIFY LEADERS AT THE TOP OF THE NOTE
Familiarize yourself with the temporary hide option, tabbing to select single items in a linked model to hide, adjusting the view template settings to hide items in linked models…there are numerous ways to get your view clean. DO NOT UNLOAD!
Type text then adjust the text box. Do not hit enter. This is not AutoCAD. Do not write on the sheet. Be conscious that you are in a view on the sheet when typing. Notes are tag, not sentences, so they are not to be punctuated. Always justify your text to the left (even when on the right side of a view) and have your leaders justified at the top.

27. Key word: COMMUNICATION
Open discussion in encouraged and required.

28. NO SURPRISES
Then we spent countless man hours trying to keep people informed and on track. Think Tank Thursdays, Revit Template Manuals, GMC Revit Blog, Revit Tip of the Day s…So no one should be surprised by anything in this presentation.

29. Key word: ENFORCEMENT
Open discussion in encouraged and required.

30. Are you a rebel?

31. RESISTANCE
REVIT
Why are some people going rogue?

32. OVER POLICING
NOPE!
This what’s NOT going to happen. No one is going to stand over you making sure you stick with the program. Everyone is getting paid as professionals and frankly “Ain’t nobody got time for that”.
WORKERS
REVIT

33. INTIMIDATION
NOPE!
REVIT
No one is going to threaten you life…again.

34. NOPE!
No one is going to hold a gun to your heads to draw better/smarter/faster.