Hello, welcome to this video! Let's get a general and complete overview
on the newest Autodesk Revit 2020 and see all the features you need to
know to start using it!
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Autodesk Revit is a building information model (BIM) product used to
model inside architectural and structural environment, realizing floor
plans, buildings and houses. It opens on the Home page, where you can
start from a new or existing project on the left or pick a ready
template on the right.
Inside Revit you can work with two main kinds of projects: the Families
and the Models. The Families are single object designs which are often
imported as ready templates among different Revit projects; the Models
represent a complete building design also made by Family templates.
In addition you can work on either an Architectural, a Structural or a
System project. The Architectural project is based on buildings with
walls, doors and roof; the Structural one is more focused on materials
and building skeleton; whereas the System project is dedicated to tubes,
conductors and networks. You can go to Learn above to get extra help and
information from the official Autodesk page.
As for this beginner video, we are going to see all the basic features
you need to know to realize a very simple building from scratch, starting
from a new architectural Model project.
As you open a new project, the whole Revit workspace shows up, with the
Ribbon on top, with all the tools and features contained inside Revit;
useful panels on the left and a big preview of your project in the center.
You can return to the Home page anytime by going to the Home button in
the top left corner.
To start drawing you can use all the tools collected inside the
Architecture, the Structure and the Systems tab, divided according to the
kind of design you are looking for. As for this simple building, we will
just see the main tools inside the Build section of the Architecture tab.
Some of these show a down arrow, collecting other tools related to the
main one. You can hover over each of these to get more information and
tips.
Any building is usually made from the bottom to the top, designing first
a basic floor by using the Floor tool.
When any tool gets enabled, several drawing tools appear under the green
Modify tab, in order to define the object shape. Inside the Draw section,
enable Line, Arc or Spline to draw each straight or curved side of the
floor. In case of Line and Spline you go on dropping consecutive sides
as long as you fix points on the workspace unless you use the Escape key
to stop drawing.
You can also draw closed regular shapes with the Rectangle, the Polygon
and the Circle tools, fixing the necessary points. You can use the Escape
key to undo your drawing in progress.
Revit has several drawing aids to support your design. Measurements are
provided on sides, radius and also angles in respect to the horizontal
direction. You can also type from your keyboard to insert precise values
on the current drawing step. If the units used are wrong, you can define
these by going to Manage and then to Project Units.
You also get snappings to the main object keypoints, such as endpoints,
midpoints, centers and also extensions and directions through dashed
guidelines. You can set all the snapping options by going to Manage and
then to Snaps.
As long as you use the drawing tools you remain in Edit Mode, where all
the objects dropped are temporary pink sketches without any color or
volume yet. You can use Cancel Edit Mode to undo these sketches or Finish
Edit Mode to apply these drawings and render these. Consider that the
Floors are made just in case the sketches form a closed shape.
Make sure to save your project often using CTRL+S. The first time you save
define the project name and where to save it. Models are saved as .rvt
files with all the options, the properties and the objects created inside.
After the floor, you can start dropping the walls with the Wall tool.
Use the drawing tool inside the Modify tab to follow the floor contours:
the walls will merge automatically where they intersect on vertices. Also
use your mouse wheel to zoom in and be more precise.
The walls are made with their base on the ground plane, spreading in
height as it is defined in the top left corner.
In this preview you won't be able to see any height on the walls. By
default this preview uses a 2D view from top to bottom called Level 1, as
you can see from the tab on top. To check your walls in a full 3D view you
can create one by going to the View tab and then to 3D View. Then, you can
change point of view on the right with the 3D View Cube and its
circumference and use the Full Navigation Wheel to move with Pan, Zoom,
and 3D rotate with Orbit.
All the 2D and 3D views available are listed inside the Project Browser on
the left, that you can open with a new tab by double-clicking on these.
Besides the 3D View, you have three kinds of 2D views: the Floor Plans,
the Ceiling Plans and the Elevations.
The Floor Plans show your project from top to bottom on a fixed height
level, such as Level 1 (the ground plane) and Level 2 (10 feet or 4000
millimeters from the ground). These are used to drop all planar structures
easier and also to fix the walls base - which always follows the Floor
Plan chosen.
The Ceiling Plans are similar to Floor Plans and used to place and show
ceiling grids on the buildings.
The Elevations show your project from each of its sides: East, West, North
and South. These are used to check all the objects that spread in height,
including the Floor Plan levels, represented through dashed lines complete
with name and height level from the ground. These Elevations also appear
on the Floor Plan views as small blocks.
You can also create new Floor Plans and Elevations. To create a Floor Plan
view, open any Elevation view and then go to Level under the Architecture
tab. Then fix two points to define the height level and use the Escape key
to apply.
Whereas to create a new Elevation view, open any Floor Plan view and use
Elevation under View. Place the Elevations needed and use the Escape
key. Then, adjust the view range and depth by clicking on the triangle
and set the angle and point of view by selecting the Elevation block.
You can rename, manage and delete these views by right-clicking on these
from the Project Browser panel.
Once walls are defined, you can start dropping windows and doors on these.
On any Elevation or 3D view, enable the Door tool to place a door with its
base on any Floor Plan level or wall base. Use the Window tool to drop
windows freely. Doors and Windows are ready object templates called
Families that you can browse in size and kind from the Properties panel on
the left.
You can also import other family templates by going to Insert and then
to Load Family, browsing inside your computer. To place these, enable the
Component tool and select the family inserted from the Properties panel.
When no tools are enabled you are in Selection Mode, where you can click
on any floor, wall or family to select these and start editing them with
the Modify tab on top.
Once the object is selected, this will be shown in blue color: you can
cut, copy and paste it by using CTRL+X, CTRL+C and CTRL+V and delete it
with the Delete key. You can also undo any action made by using CTRL+Z.
In case you select walls, you can adjust their height by using their
vertical arrows directly.
Inside the Modify section you have several editing tools you can apply to
the selected object, in order to move, make copies, rotate or mirror it.
Remember to hover over these tools to get help and suggestions on how to
use these.
As long as you select these objectsw, you always edit and work
entirely. You can use the Edit button under Mode to enter inside the Edit
Mode and change the object shape itself by editing any of its
subcomponents, such as edges and vertices.
In case of floors and walls, the Edit Mode allows to change the basic
shape by either using the Line, the Arc and the Polygon tools used to draw,
or moving each single side or vertex on the object.
In case of Families you can use Edit Family to edit and customize their
templates separately.
To undo or apply your modifications, use Cancel or Finish Edit Mode.
You can also select multiple objects or subcomponents in Edit Mode to move
and edit these in the same way. Just hold down the CTRL key and click on
each element. To cancel any selection, just use the Escape key.
Once the current floor is finished, you can apply the ceiling to it.
Enable the Ceiling tool and click within the wall contours. The ceiling
created is usually kept hidden and is visible only on dedicated 2D views
called Ceiling Plans.
At this point you can continue with a second floor or finish with a roof.
Both of these objects are dropped on a reference plane called Work Plane,
which is, by default, the ground plane. You can show the reference plane
by clicking on Show under Work Plane to see where it is located and use
Set to change the Floor Plan to use as reference.
To design a roof, choose the highest Floor Plan as Work Plane and enable
the Roof tool, using the drawing tools to define its base. When applied,
the roof is created by adding slopes on each of its base sides. This
is made automatically as long as you have Defines Slope enabled for each
of the sides that show a triangular icon.
If you create the roof with no slopes at all, this will be completely
flat and you will be able to fully customize it with the Shape Editing
section above. You can use Add Point and Add Split Line to add vertices
and lines on the roof and then use the Escape key and Modify Sub Elements
to move and edit these to define the slopes. Use Reset Shape above to
undo all and come back to a flat roof.
To adjust the object preview use the Visual Style button at the bottom.
Whereas to get a more realistic preview you can go to the Render button
under the View tab.
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