CAD Gorilla - Contract Revit BIM

10/26/2024

thoughts of engineers

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05/20/2024

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06/01/2023

What is BIM?
BIM is a collaboration tool; hence one cannot collaborate in a vacuum. BIM is the process of defining, organizing and sharing information between architects, engineers, GC & owners. The one thing I consistently see when small firms attempt to transition from CAD to BIM is holding onto old ways of thinking. They mistakenly think Revit is ‘CAD on steroids’ & one can just dive in & figure it out. I’ve never felt good about someone who was self-taught Revit. The mindset that anyone can do this, if pushed hard enough, is a fallacy & foolish.
BIM is a new way of creating Construction Documents; the architect begins the design collaboration process, building the Arch 3D model, then first consults with the structural engineer. That Engineer, creates his 3D model with the Architect’s model linked. Then as the issues (clashes) between Arch & Struct models are being worked out, the Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing models are begun, with Arch & Struct models linked. Later comes Civil, Landscaping & Interior Design – all linked together as needed. Each of these consultant’s models are embedded with information which can generate schedules & takeoffs. That’s where much of the return is. Those models are regularly brought together for design collaboration & clash detection.
But some firms may not be ready or willing to transition. Only one non-BIM consultant or subcontractor on a project can muck up the process, making information exchange more difficult or clash detection useless. Also, one Reviteer taking shortcuts (using 2D Components or drafting instead of 3D Families or modeling) usually leads to errors. There are instances where those are ok, but novices don’t know when & why.
Another thing I see is thinking that as long as someone has experience ‘in the platform,’ he can learn another discipline, quickly. That is also very not true! I’ve seen this also. A small Arch firm hired a PI&D modeler to do residential modeling. That is like asking a Tennis Pro to all of a sudden be adept & at ease in Table Tennis – sure the moves look similar, but the muscle memory is different, the swing is different, the force is different!
Each discipline of Revit- Arch, Mech, Elec, Plumb, FP, Structural – is designed around the actual systems in the real world.
• Revit Structural is based on actual structural engineering – engineers developed it – it takes an engineer to use it, at least one must be mentored by an engineer. There are virtual beams & columns with strengths & sizes & connections engineered. Trusses aren’t lines representing a type, they are Families of each truss type, with accurate sizes of each component, with appropriate virtual fasteners & reinforcing to industry standards & to code.
• Revit for MEP is based on all the systems in those disciplines;
- Mechanical has ducts & equipment & air pressures & volumes & heat gain – that is Mechanical engineering.
- Revit Plumbing begins with basic pipe types, but each system must be developed; supply (hot & cold), waste, gravity / pressurized, with different types of pipes & there many connections & terminations. Each of the pipe assemblies & each plumbing fixtures has to meet spec & code & work with the architecture & structure.
- Electrical Revit is also a virtual system – not just a bunch of lines representing circuits & rectangles representing breaker boxes or meters – this requires electrical engineering.
- Fire Protection requires another system pipe types & sprinkler heads & connections to main supply & volume, pressure, spread, etc, engineered to code.
I can testify to this because I worked, briefly, for a structural firm and an MEP firm, both assisting their transition from CAD to BIM.

05/30/2023

Why you should model to LOD3:

05/09/2023

As I was drinking my tea this morning, I noticed the window frame was off plumb by 1/4" - so I got the tape out & I was wrong! It was off by 3/8". Must have gotten that from dad - he would walk in a building, point & say that header is off by 1/8".

05/08/2023

I keep seeing posts about software letting us down. A lot of the time, I believe it’s not the software that’s the problem, but the users. I have been creating accurate building sections & precise details from the 3rd year of my career. I am an artist – I can draw what I see. I am also a builder, so I know the building components & how they go together. I learned how to detail working with the “gray-hairs” CA architects – I helped solve problems for the contractor. This made it much more evident why we do plans, elevations, sections & details in the first place. If you can put yourself in the GC’s shoes, you will be better able to create a decent set of CDs.

03/07/2021

bad design everywhere!

Coming up are some more designers who created the worst designs imaginable.Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n-ClyrY7isPart 2: https://www.youtube.com...

09/25/2020

The History of Linetypes & Colors
Back in hand drafting days, thicknesses of lines were determined by whichever pencil one drew with & how fine a point it was sharpened to & its softness or hardness of lead. Then came manufactured mechanical pencils. If you were drawing the slab & columns you would pick up a 0.7mm ( #2). When you got to finishes you picked up a 0.5mm
In the days of CAD, (2007 was my last year of production in ACAD) linetypes were determined by line-type code. Many linetypes came ready-made with the ACAD Program: Hidden, Dashed, Centerline, etc. But typically, all firms created additional linetypes to distinguish elements from one another. An architect would want to show Dashed Above (bulkheads, soffits) & Dashed Below (footings, or building elements below a second floor) so there’s 2 additional distinct linetypes. Then they would need to have a dashed line to show openings in a plan (elevator, shaft) If they did truss layout, they would need another dashed or hidden linetype to depict trusses. If they also did the structure, (residential beams & posts or columns) they would need linetype to represent beams.
The thicknesses of those lines would have been determined by the color assigned. This was originally due to pen plotters; each colored pen had a given thickness, so each line in CAD would be the thickness of whichever of 7 pens (colors) it was assigned to. This also required translation from the software to the plotter settings via a CTB. This was an integral part of Computer Aided Drafting. Each firm had their own settings, so if you imported another’s drawing, you would have to translate their pens, to properly plot with your settings. Even when pen plotters were replaced with inkjet, the convention of (virtual) pens & colors remained. Image 1

This is a CAD Floor Plan: colors of lines determined line thickness when plotted.
At the firm I stayed with for 8 years I remember Magenta was the thicker line, & color 11 (what I named Coral) was the lightest line. So the structure (slab edge & columns) would be magenta. Dimension lines & arrow leaders or finishes would be color 11. Blue was for plumbing, cyan was for ceilings, yellow was for electrical & orange was for mechanical.
Revit Line Styles preserve some of the same CAD linetype conventions. Revit out-of-the-box comes with the minimal line styles a drafter would need. The thickness of these lines is determined by Line Style settings. The pattern of lines (dashed, hidden, centerline, etc.) is determined by line pattern. I want to make a point here: ACAD was always customized by each firm, according to their needs & office standards. So far I have seen few firms that customize Revit to the extent they did ACAD & I attribute that to ignorance that it can & should be done.

These are the standard pre-determined Line Styles. Notice most of them are black. Image 2

But because Revit is NOT drafting (for the most part) but modeling, one requires a lot more customization. In a floor plan, which is typically cut at 4’-0”, you might have several co-planar lines, or lines very close together. So I have found it very useful to create line styles with colors & patterns to represent different components or features.

Also as you will notice, when I create a snippet of a Revit model, I have made the background black. This is also something we did in CAD, to mitigate eye-strain. So the colors you choose should be easy to see on the background your firm agrees to use. Image 3

This is a working Revit Floor Plan of a post-tensioned slab.
You see I have dimensions in orange – I always create a dim style named Layout, that is extremely precise. This is for my use, to layout a project to precise dimensions. In a view that is printed, I use the firms standard dimension style - & that is usually white, easy to distinguish. That is the point of using colors – to immediately distinguish between like components. You’ll notice my walls are white, the post-tension cables are green, the column grids are cyan. I even made the Structural link columns & slab edge plum. Image 4

This is a working Plan & Section at an elevator, for coordination with Structural.
Here is how I customize the structural link elements to be plum & magenta – this is done via Custom Setting to Display Linked Model: Image 5
To be consistent in all views, create a view template with matching link settings. This way all the lines of slabs & all columns in any view will be the same color. You can also customize the material pattern & color. Just go slow on this – there is such a thing as too much customization. I usually make all the structural model link a hue of magenta, because then I can readily distinguish it from the white architectural slab & temp. columns. This is my way of coordination – which I learned from years as Project Coordinator in CAD.

03/18/2019

now this would be handy!

https://www.buildfore.com/blog/we-built-an-xbox-controller-plugin-for-navisworks

Users of all ages and abilities have a frictionless way of moving around the model. Move in all directions, all at the same time. - Feb 13, 2019 by Daniel Fahmi VP Operations, Co-founder at Buildfore

02/19/2019

how wood veneer is begun

02/15/2019

Now this is intelligent design!

02/08/2019

These A+Award-winning women are bringing unique architecture to reality around the world.

12/17/2018

Nearly half of architecture students are women. Why are so few sticking with the industry after graduation?

11/10/2018

Making heritage buildings sustainable is just as important as preserving their history – and they can offer energy-efficiency lessons of their own

11/07/2018

Base Constraint, Top Constraint

10/04/2018

this is why we meet building code