Revit Standards

Time to put together an Manual that will explain how this Revit Structure works and how to keep it moving forward. Right now I am starting very basic. Here is a outline of how I am thinking of documenting what we have and where it is.

1. Purpose
2. Scope
3. Background Discussion
4. Abbreviations
5. Responsibilities
6. Procedures

These 6 categorizes I start with every time when crating a Manuel of any kind. This is just a 1st go at this so I am keeping it as a draft.

First thing I will go over is where things are on the network. Explaining how things are structured and why they are there.

Next I will go over each one of the Categories and go into detail a little more of how and what to save there. This will be the fun one since there are like a million Families out there and we need to make sure to keep them under some kind of naming convention that everyone can follow.

Last will be some other sections that are very important and should be in some type of structure.

Templates
Layering Scripts
Schedules
Shared Parameters
And whatever else I might have missed.

This is just an idea right now so I am not too worried about how this goes. Once I have everything written down then I will start massaging everything and making sense of it all.

Revit Family Structure

It’s time to start organizing all this Family data in some order to keep it simple.

Step one using the Out of The Box stuff as a starting point.
Created some folders on the network to match Revit Arch. 2009 and making it my own. Creating my own folder for Schedules, Layering scripts, Company Templates, and Shared Parameters. These folders will be able to be modified by select individuals that will help me standardize and maintain all this great material we have and will create.

Step two maintain and keep it growing but not let it become a monster.
What I mean by that is, everyone wants to do their own thing when it comes to families. I am coming up in a document that will go over how each family should be created and what it needs as far as parameters or labels.

Step three moving this to a better format.
I have looked at software that helps you organize Families and it’s all so difficult to use and expensive. So I am thinking of creating a Web site that will hold all this data and allow users to download and upload documents. I just will need to set some rules to make sure step two is followed each time someone adds something to the Intranet.

Right now I am at the meeting stage, getting the declines together and making sure I am not missing anything they might need.

Going BIM

So with our company going BIM here is my first and biggest issue. Standards, with AutoCAD and Revit both running right now in the company at the same time managing all this information is a nightmare. Between plotting issues, fonts, layouts and title blocks you have a pretty good headache. On top of all that add 5 offices into the mix and you got yourself a four alarm fire each and every week.
· With AutoCAD I have standard Folders in-place at each office location. These folders hold all the menu’s and standards specific to that office and to all the disciplines.
· Each office has to have some customization with plotters and CTB files and HDI drives.
· The title blocks and drawing information must be corrected every now and then as well.
· We also have a very large library if details, blocks and schedules I need to look after.
· Last but not lease you add the human factor into the mix, people always change things or think they are fixing something because it doesn’t look right and change a standard on a drawing.
So what can we do different to make this easier? More to follow once I have a few minutes to wright again :)

My First Post

Hello Bloggers,

I wanted to start something new for the working man on my day to day life as a CAD-BIM Manager. There are a million sites on CAD, Revit and whatever other software that is out there. But so few about the people who are trying to implement this stuff and make it work for their companies.