Subscription Advantage Pack for Revit

Well Boys and Girls following on from the video conference I’ve just attended with the Revit Product team, here are the highlights of what is going to be included in the Subscription Advantage Pack for Revit 2010.

Rather than releasing separate extensions like they have done in the past, Autodesk have bundled these all up as a complete release with a number of new features which is due October 22 (2 Days time if all goes well)

improvements include:-

• Enable shortcuts for additional commands
• Additional shortcut commands
• A new UI to control the shortcuts
• Conditional formatting in all products
• DWG export improvements
• Text formatting – from shortcuts
• Find and replace text
• Model lines to Detail lines and back
• Link file improvements
• API improvements
• Autodesk Revit Model Review
• Revit DBlink
• Image modeler will now be included so you can create point cloud data from images and
• export this to DWG and import this into Revit
• Wood Wall Framing tool

Revit Architecture gets all the features they wanted from a Revit Structure Port:

• Curved beams
• Beam copping
• Create Trusses
• Tag beam systems
• Slab directions and decking
• Slanted columns
• Split with Gap

Revit Structure advantage features will also include:-

• Insulation tool
• Placing 3d beams from geometry references in imported 3d drawings
• Control beam length tolerance
• Wood Framing
• Interferences of Reinforcing bars
• Bridge Design Modules
• "A" ansd "W" User defined parameters to be available in Schedule Field
• Placing 3D beams from geometry references in imported 3D drawings
• Countrification Content for China, Russia and Italy
• ADS now available in 64 bit

Structure Extensions

• Wood Framing
• Interference of Reinforcing Bars
• Bridge Design Modules

Revit MEP advantages features will also include:-

• Temporary dimensions in layout mode
• MEP performance improvements
• Content Countrification for China, Russia,UK, International
• New Electrical content for the US to be available as download from Subsription Centre
• Communications, Fire Safety, Security, Data, Nurse Call, Power.

So who was there in no particular order:-

Autodesk:- Wai Chu ~ Revit Structure Product Manager, Anthony Hauck ~ BIM Design Product Line Manager, Scott Latch ~ Revit Architecture Product Manager, Richard Taylor ~ Platform Feature Product Manager, David Pothier ~ Revit MEP Product Manager, Betsy Werra, Armundo Darling & David Mills

Bloggers:- David Harrington, Gregory Arkin, Jeffrey Pinheiro (aka The revit Kid), James Van, David Light, Richard Taylor, Robert Manna, Kelcey Lemon, Robin Capper and Yours Truly.

Sorry if I missed anyone.....

Great Event can't wait to get my grubby little hands on the software

For screen shots of new features see http://bimboom.blogspot.com/2009/10/revit-subscription-pack-photos.html

NEWS ~ Subscription Advantage Pack for Revit

Last week I received a Revit Blogger Day Invitation from Autodesk Marketing to attend a small web event between members of the Revit product team and a handful of active Revit bloggers.

Autodesk are preparing to release new Revit functionality to Subscription members and have extend the invitation to a handful of active Revit bloggers to have the opportunity to get a pre-release look at the functionality.

The web meeting /teleconference is being held using Adobe Connect to host the web conference.

I had never heard of this particular product but found a tutorial about it’s use on YouTube from a Google search (don’t you just love Google and YouTube)

There is no NDA for this event, and I’ve been informed that once the presentation starts, I’m welcome to blog about it (or tweet, etc). Thus this posting timed to post at the start of the web meeting / teleconference.

We have been asked not to recording the presentation and posting it to YouTube. The content that has been created is intended for active bloggers and not the broader audience.

Only functionality that’s being released in the upcoming Subscription Advantage Pack is to be discussed at the meeting.

So keep your eyes open, once the meetings over in about an hour and a half, active bloggers will post about the highlights of the upcoming Subscription Advantage Pack. I will upload information about the meeting and what's coming as soon as I've completed typing it up.
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Revit Structure 2010 Essentials Training

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The Training Course that we attended last week was run by Excitech who provided Autodesk Official Training Guide Learning Autodesk Revit Structure 2010 Essentials training manuals for the delegates.

These kinds of courses rely on having a tutor who not only knows their subject but has the necessary communications and teaching skill to impart their knowledge, Ian Garwood was our course instructor and he scores highly on both counts.

We did not stick to the exercises contained within the manual, but covered all the topics in the manual and on the course objectives. Each delegate built a slightly different model based on what Ian showed us or asked us to do, which brought up different problems that needed to be resolved as we went along.

This course was one of the most informative and enjoyable that I’ve been on for some time. I would definitely be asking for Excitech and Ian again, when its time for the advanced course.

In the back of the manual are two disks a trial version of Revit 2010 and CD that contains all the data and drawings needed to complete the exercises in the manual. This CD creates an Autodesk Learning folder on your computer. The required exercise files are installed in a folder that corresponds to the product and title of the course.



The manual is provided electronically so that it can be opened and placed beside Revit so that you don’t have to keep looking down at the paper manual and then back up to the screen (great for us old people with varifocals)

The manual with its’ software is so new that you can’t find it on Autodesk estore, however Excitech managed to get it for the course and they also can provide it for £64.00 plus VAT

If you would like to order the manual or book a training course contact Rhys Lewis of Excitech on 0845 370 1549
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Learning Curve ~ Piles and Ground Beams

After what feels like and is months of waiting, I finally have access to Revit 2010!

The company I work for have finally installed Revit 2010 on the network and booked formal training…… “yippee”

As soon as I discovered about the new ribbon and the change in user interface, I lost interest in playing with the trial version of Revit 2009 at home and wanted to wait until I could get my hands on 2010.

I knew I would be able to use a fully working copy. You can’t save your work with the trial version after 30 days, you can you can only go so far with learning on a trial version that can’t save what you have created.

After being set up with right to the subscription centre I harvested all the software and supporting material so our IT guy could install on the network as we have purchased four licences.

Not naming names but, the reseller who supplied our company sent 2009 boxes and we are still awaiting a boxed set of software for RST2010. In the mean time I have spoken to one of the older more established UK resellers that I’ve dealt with in the past who have very kindly sent me a trial box and software. You may have seen my posting about the getting started manual not being supplied in the box.

So the first thing I did was download the RST 2010 Tutorials (metric version) off the Autodesk web site

My objective is to play with Revit in advance of the course so that I can make sure I get answers to questions that have cropped up during my pre course play time and thus get the maximum out of the training.

In a discussion "Making the transition to REVIT" on the 2D and or 3D Top CAD Experts Group on Linked-In it’s been muted that Autodesk suggests the best way forward is

1. Self exploration in the program
2. Class room training
3. Establish standards/templates
4. Pilot Job (w/consultant if needed)
5. Refine standards/templates

Which I was very happy to see as this was the logical conclusion I had come too and is my approach to making the transition to Revit.

Looking at step 1. ~ It still begs the question “Why take the getting started manual out of the trial pack” ….. back to the plot…

I started working my way through the tutorials, but was itching to start modelling something real. I’m currently working on a few housing schemes and one is so none rectilinear that it begs attempting in Revit 2010. (there’s nothing like jumping in at the deep end)



I loaded the AutoCAD drawing and traced the layout, and made the piles short at the moment as normally in AutoCAD you would only show the tops and have a break (Ummm can this be done in Revit? note to self, must ask when on the training course)

I placed grid line along the centre of all the beams and turned off the bubbles both ends on those that I only wanted centre lines shown on.

For some reason there were occasions where intersections of grid line not at right angles to one another were not found when placing the columns (piles) (Check this when on the training course)
What I did not appreciate at the beginning was that the grid lines would not show because the elevation was not perpendicular to the grid lines, and I drew this layout a couple of times trying to find out what I was doing wrong, until my query was answered on AUGI forum (what a great resource for peer to peer support).

Next Learning Curve posting will deal with the problems I found with the shape of the beams on plan and walls and floors …..

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Revit Structure 2010 Shortcuts Quick Reference

There are many predefined keyboard shortcuts for Revit Structure 2010 commands.

This lists the shortcuts by Ribbon Item

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I have printed out two copies, placed them back to back, then encapsulated them in plastic using a laminating machine to keep nearby as a Quick Reference Card.

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This is version 2 of the 2010 Shorcuts Quick Reference

UK Revit Register now a Group on Linked-In

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Click on the Linked-In logo to get to the UK Revit Register Group


The Group provides UK Revit Users with a Discussion Area or Forum, post News Items and the facility to advertise Jobs directly to Revit Users or Companies that use Revit.

You can subscribe to a weekly or daily email re activity on the group, or follow a discussion.




This resource will only be as good as the membership makes it.........

Don't Delay Join Today!

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Families Guide for Revit have finally arrived

Families Guide for Revit Structure 2010 have finally arrived

A guide that contains conceptual explanations, hands-on tutorials, and reference information to help you understand how to work with Revit Structure families.

Refer to the Readme for details and instructions.

English - Imperial

rst_families_guide_documents_i.zip (zip - 2516Kb)

rst_families_guide_datasets_i.zip (zip - 14868Kb)


Readme (txt - 4Kb)

English - Metric

rst_families_guide_documents_m.zip (zip - 2484Kb)

rst_families_guide_datasets_m.zip (zip - 14132Kb)

The Revit Families Guide is also available for Revit Architecture 2010 and Revit MEP 2010


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Getting Started with Revit Structure 2010

After what feels like and is months of waiting, Revit 2010 is here. The company I work for have finally installed Revit 2010 on the network and booked formal training, and I've bought a new PC for home that will run Revit.

As soon as I discovered about the ribbon and the change in user interface, I lost interest in playing with the trial version of Revit 2009 at home and wanted to wait until I could get my hands on 2010 plus be able to use a fully working copy. As you can't save with the trial version after 30 days, you can only go so far with learning on a trial version.

After being set up with rights to the subscription centre, I harvested all the software and supporting material so our IT guy could install on the network as we have purchased four licences.

Not naming anyone but, the companies chosen reseller sent 2009 boxes and we are still awaiting a boxed set of software for 2010 from them. In the mean time I have spoken to one of the older more established UK resellers who have very kindly sent me a 2010 trial box to my home address.




From the outside there is not a lot of difference between 2009 and 2010 the difference is what’s inside the box…..


In the 2009 Trial there is an A5 Read This First sheet and a Getting Started Manual that has a Steel Project reading from one end, turn the book over and upside down and you have a Concrete Project the other end of the book.

It was this book that I was after. Historically its’ always been available to download from the Autodesk web site (historical version are still there), But this time I could not find it on the web site for 2010.


When I opened up the 2010 box and looked inside there are now only two disks not three, as AutoCAD and Structural Detailing now being provided on a single disk but there was nothing else!

I telephone the reseller who had sent me the disk and asked had they forgotten to include the little manual and Read This First sheet, or had someone removed it before dispatch because this box is 20mm wide and has the grips to hold the missing manual.

After a little investigation they come back to me and informed me that as a cost reduction exercise Autodesk were no longer shipping the getting started manual with the trial disk!

Thinking that perhaps this individual was incorrect or misinformed, I contacted another UK reseller who has verified that it is no longer provided.

OK think I, it has to be on the CD, they are saving paper, trees and the environment and it will be in adobe format on the disk……nope not even the user manual appears to be there all you find are these:-
Autodesk, if you’re reading this, and I know you do visit the blog from time to time then this is a real backward step if you want people to have a go at flying Revit Structure, how on earth do you expect them to have a meaningful trial of the product by not including the little manual…. You are doing yourself no favours and Revit Structure and injustice.

What's your suggested Min. Spec. for RST2010?

After many years of faithful service what was my high spec home laptop has died and needs to be replaced. Wanting to run Revit Structure at home I thought I would look at what the suggested minimum and recommended specifications for 32-bit machine to run Autodesk Revit Structure is:-

The Autodesk page at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=12538734

Gives a Minimum Systems Requirements for 32-bit Autodesk Revit Structure of:-

Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz processor or equivalent AMD® processor
3 GB RAM, 1 GB if no rendering is required

But gives a System Recommendation for 32-bit Autodesk Revit Structure of

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor or equivalent AMD processor
4 GB RAM recommended

OK so it seems they are suggesting a min spec to load it and a recommended spec to run it!

Excitech have a document on their web site that recommends CAD Workstation Specifications at http://www.excitech.co.uk/Autodesk_2010/revit_structure_2010/documents/recommended_workstation_specs_2010.pdf

Entry Level ~ Min 2.66GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo processor with 3 GB RAM

Mid Range ~ Min 3.0GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo processor with 4 GB RAM (with 3GB switch)

Power User ~ Min 3GHz Intel® Xeon processor with 8 GB RAM.

I would like to ask a couple of questions of people visiting this blog

1) What specifications of Revit workstation are you currently using?

2) Have you found that RST 2010 is running slower than 2009 and is this making consider upgrading the spec of your Revit workstations?

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e-Learning for Revit 2010 on Subscription soon!

Autodesk Business Center have just answered a question that I asked from the subscription centre.

The e-Learning for Revit 2010 will be available as follows :-

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Revit Architecture e-Learning is planned for end of June.

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Revit Structure and Revit MEP e-Learning launch is scheduled for early – mid July.

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Autodesk MyFeedback Portal and Forums Closing May 30th 2009

I've been participating on Autodesk MyFeedback over the last few years. It’s a method by which you can participate in the development and improving Autodesk products.

Autodesk have just sent an email to participants informing them that the current MyFeedback platform has grown way beyond its originally designed structure and they are looking to introduce a new Autodesk Feedback Community over the next few month.

They are also reorganizing the management of Autodesk betas. Beta projects will be managed individually on this new community by each of the four Autodesk Divisions.

They will be retiring MyFeedback on May 30th 2009, and will be moving future betas to our new Autodesk Feedback Community server.

The new Autodesk Feedback Community is located at http://beta.autodesk.com/ .

You can sign up at http://beta.autodesk.com/signup now.

So instead of complaining about what did not make it in the next version or bugs that are in the program, get on the inside and help find those problems and develop those features before the next version of the program is released!
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Revit Structure Services and Support ~ Lack of Content

Skill BuildersAutodesk Revit Structure Skill Builders are advanced learning exercises that focus on accomplishing a specific task.

Families GuideA guide that contains conceptual explanations, tutorials, and reference information to help you understand how to work with Revit Structure families.

As you will see from my last few postings I’ve been poking around the Autodesk Revit Structure Services & Support area of the Autodesk web site for information to download.

Looking under the How–to–Articles Menu. I’ve found that although there is a nice description of what should be available there for downloading, there is nothing to be found under either Skill Builders or Families Guide!
Has someone forgotten to upload the information?

Does the information Exist?

Is it coming soon and if so when?

For previous versions of Revit Structure the Getting Started Concrete Project and Getting Started Steel project were also available for download. I have not been able to find these for 2010 anywhere either.

If anyone from Autodesk is looking (and I know you do, because it shows up on my sitemeter information) then please email me with some answers to my observations and questions.

Here is the link to the Autodesk Revit Structure Services & Support area
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=13113125&linkID=9243180

I will let you know when anything appears!

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Where to Download a Trial Version of RST 2010

Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2010—English


Click on the Image on the left to link to the page where you can download the new 2010 version of Autodesk® Revit® Structure as a standalone and as part of the AutoCAD® Revit® Structure Suite 2010 software.


It is available to registered users of Autodesk Revit Structure 2010 or AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite 2010 software, and is subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that appears during installation.
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It works for 30 days then can be used as a viewer.

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The file size is 1.8GB

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Click Here

To see the Whats New in Autodesk Revit Structure 2010 Video

Where to find the Revit Structure 2010 User's Guide

When you download the Trial version of Revit Structure the User's Guide is not part of the download.


To get a copy of the Autodesk Revit Structure User’s Guide which describes concepts, and provides step-by-step procedures as well as quick reference information, click on the image of the User Guide on the left or use this link http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=13113118


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RST2010 Keyboard Shortcuts Development via Excel

David Harrington has posted an Excel spreadsheet he is using for development of RST 2010 Keyboard Shortcuts on the AUGI Forum at http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?p=969878#post969878

Many commands are repeated over and over as they exist on different ribbon menus. As such, developing a workable list is difficult since duplicate commands can easily get different key assignments as one moves about in a text file with over 1,400 lines.

I was in the process of trying to reformat the original shortcut reference sheet I made for 2008 and had got this far when I saw his posting on his blog.

[Project shortcuts]

Home tab ~ BM,WA,CL,SB,BR,BS,FT,CM,GP,LL,GR,RP

Insert tab ~ None

Annotate tab ~ DI,EL, DL,GP,TX,F7,TG

Modify tab ~ MD,MA,AL,TR,SL,OF,CP,RC,LW,SF,PT

Analyze tab ~ LD,AA,RAArchitect & Site tab ~ None

Collaborate tab ~ RL,RW,ERView tab ~ VP,VG,VV,TL,WC,WT

Manage tab ~ SU,UN

[Model family editor shortcuts]

Create tab ~ CM,GP,RP

Insert tab ~ None

Detail tab ~ GP,DI,TX,F7

Modify tab ~ MD,MA,AL,TR,SL,OF,GP,PT,SF

View tab ~ VP,VG,VV,TL,WC,WT

Manage tab ~ UN

Family Editor tab ~ None

[Annotation family editor shortcuts]

Create tab ~ LI,GP,DI,TX,F7

Insert tab ~ None

Modify tab ~ MD,MA,AL,TR,SL,OF,GP

etc. etc etc....

Some of the logic behind the initials has gone, especally for us UK users now a coping is a notch CP was CoPing now its Notching which has nothing to do with CP

RC was Remove Coping its now Notching Remove

SB was Structural SlaB but now it's Structural Floor ??????

There appear to be a few new shortcuts and a few that seem to have dropped of the map

There is more but I have only just started looking....

Revit 2010 Localisation Enhancements!

What is a Localisation Enhancement? I hear you cry……

Basically because Revit is a USA produced and based product and the Americans speak “English Jim but not as we know it” they use construction terms that are different to those that we use in good old Blighty

So Localisation Enhancements really means country specific terms.

The following USA terms that have been in the product pre 2010 have been changed in the UK installation, but just to confuse the user the online Help,CHM and shortcut files still reflect the US terms.

Now come on Autodesk if you could manage to tweak these terms when resigning the User Interface (UI) why oh why could you not run a "find and replace" in a word processor on the Help and Tutorial CHM?

It seems that the product development team always spoil the ship for a hapeth of tar….

USA Term .......................UK Term

Girder.......................... Primary
Joist ........................... Secondary
Horizontal Brace ............. Plan Brace
Purlin .......................... Tertiary
Coping ........................ Notching
Coping Distance ............. Notching Distance
Remove Coping .............. Remove Notching
Coped ......................... Notched (mostly appear in warning messages)

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Autodesk Help to Displaced Workers!

What is a displaced worker?
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That’s American, Canadian or a politically correct term for the unemployed Designer, Architect or Engineer.

Autodesk have recognised that these are difficult times for Designers, Engineers and Architects. So they have now extended their Autodesk Assist Program from Students (see posting in December 2008) to the unemployed to enable them to “Extend their skills and improve their employability”.

This Autodesk Assist Program is being launched in North America, and Autodesk hopes to roll the program out in other countries over the next few months.

You can listen to Steve Blum (Senior Vice President America's Sales for Autodesk) discuss the program in a video on the Autodesk YouTube channel.

So when will the Autodesk Assist Program be available in the UK?

I have no idea! the Autodesk YouTube Channel video says 4-6 months.

I have asked questions and when I get answers I will let you know.

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Revit Zone is a great resource for Articles too

Revit Zone is a great resource for Articles , this a must visit web site if your new to Revit. Link to Articles Page currently there are 51 Articles available


A Beginners' Guide to Revit
A graphical analysis of Families, Types and Instances
A Parametric Rafter
Arrays: Linear Arrays
Creating a custom Door and Side Screen (part 1 of 2)
Creating a custom Door and Side Screen (part 2 of 2)
Creating a Drawing List
Creating a Shell Roof
Curtain Systems: A basic introduction (1 of 3)
Curtain Systems: A basic introduction (2 of 3)
Curtain Systems: A basic introduction (3 of 3)
Custom Model Components: Creating an Electrical Socket
Custom Model Components: Part 01: Introduction
Custom Model Components: Part 02: Component Types
Custom Model Components: Part 03: Families, Types, Instances
Custom Model Components: Part 04: Building Blocks
Custom Model Components: Part 05: Solid versus Void
Custom Model Components: Part 06(A): Parameter Power!
Custom Model Components: Part 06(B): Parameter Power!
Custom Model Components: Part 07: Independent versus Hosted Components
Custom Model Components: Part 08: Family Templates
Custom Model Components: Part 09:The Family Editor (1 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 09:The Family Editor (2 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 10: Reference Planes & Lines (1 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 10: Reference Planes & Lines (2 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 11: Adding Parameters (1 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 11: Adding Parameters (2 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 12: Solid Extrusions (1 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 12: Solid Extrusions (2 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 13: Solid Sweeps
Custom Model Components: Part 14: Defining Materials (1 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 14: Defining Materials (2 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 15: Defining Types (1 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 15: Defining Types (2 of 2)
Custom Model Components: Part 16: Testing your model
Custom Model Components: Part 17: Using your model
Dependent Views explained
Massing: Part 1 of 5: The Basics
Massing: Part 2 of 5: Adding Floors
Massing: Part 3 of 5: Adding Walls
Massing: Part 4 of 5: Adding a Curtain System
Massing: Part 5A of 5: Adding Roofs
Massing: Part 5B of 5: Adding Roofs
Organising your Views and Sheets into Folders
Phases explained
Phases: The Default Phase Filters (Part 1 of 4)
Phases: The Default Phase Filters (Part 2 of 4)
Phases: The Default Phase Filters (Part 3 of 4)
Phases: The Default Phase Filters (Part 4 of 4)
Section Boxes: A journey to the centre of your model
Who says you need Walls to form Rooms?

TenLinks Daily e-zine

TenLinks Daily ~ The Latest CAD & BIM News, Articles, Reviews and Events Newsletter also available at click of the logo...... Try it!

Design Productivity Journal

The Design Productivity Journal forms an exciting resource for information on Computer Aided Design which is published by Excitech. It provides articles on a whole range of topics including:-

BIM & Revit
CAD software reviews
Design management processes
Project and design productivity systems
Company and project design case studies
Industry news
IT management
Latest design hardware guides

The DPJ is published in printed form and is also available on the web.

To view back issues select the library of DPJs or search the library via the menu items to the left of the Excitech dpj Journal web page. You will need to register to download the articles.