Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> What is the point of sections if the detail level is not what you need?

K8vitali

active

Joined: Fri, Oct 5, 2007
36 Posts

just s quick question-  parrametrically speaking, what good are wall sections in revit if the detail level is set to fine, and you still do not have the insulation, the metal studs, clipped on trim to wood blocking and steel beams, etc.?  is it expected that we will still have to "draft" these elements for the level of detail needed to create construction documents?   this may seem like a dumb question, but i am really stuck right now at my office when we are trying to imlement a prototype to show everyone how revit works better overall than CAD.  i understand a learning curve and i love revit, but if i am going to be drafting all my details and end up drafting majority of my wall sections, then what is the benefit of designing parametrically? 

it is awesome that all my elevations are generated, and my generic/less detailed building sections are created, but that is only one element of working drawings. i am not really looking to be sold on revit at this point, because i already am, but what i am looking for is an answer to give people when they ask me this question. so far i dont have an answer and i can't pitch this to my company if i dont have solid ground to fight from.

Please help! any suggestions or comments are welcome...

This user is offline

johnpaulrogers

active

Joined: Thu, Sep 27, 2007
15 Posts
No Rating

Hi K8vitali,  I thought exactly the same when I started using revit a couple of months ago.  What I have found is that it is a pain to initially put all the details on, like insulation and timber studs, but the key is to align and lock the details to the walls etc.  I'm still testings this out myself, but if you lock your detail elements to the right layer in the wall/floor etc, when you move the geometry of the building in any view, the detail elements within the walls will move also in the detailed view.  when it comes to the spacing of the studs for example, if you use repeating details, editing the spacing type parameter will alter the spacing of all the same repeating details.   Also, using reference planes can help refine what gets locked to what.  I hope that helps, I'm still relatively new to Revit, so someone else can probably explain it more concisely.

John-Paul

This user is offline

View Website

K8vitali

active

Joined: Fri, Oct 5, 2007
36 Posts

This user is offline

bauhaus1919

active

Joined: Mon, Mar 20, 2006
219 Posts

Most of the time that people in my office ask me why Revit doesn't do such-and-such automatically, the reason I can give them is that Revit doesn't want to assume it knows how you want your building designed. In some cases it's better that Revit simply makes doing your job easier rather than making your job obsolete.

Locking detail components is a good way to keep them with the wall if the it moves. Also, if you have made an assembly of pieces, you can group them together and then lock the group where you want it to be. Sometimes, that's easier than making sure every piece is joined the right way. Also, be sure to lock it vertically as well as horizontally. For example, if your floor-to-floor changes, you'll want that connection to move up/down just as much as if the wall gets bumped out you'll want the details to shift sideways with it.

The biggest selling point for Revit wall sections that I've been able to use is noting. If you use the keynoting feature and have it put in text instead of symbol you can assign notes to the elements you want noted. For instance, if I need to add a wall section in the building I'm working on now, I cut the section, go to keynoting and click the wall and the full description pops in, drag that note out and place it. Click floor and the description is generated. Revit elements know what they are throughout the project so once you assign a detailing note to an object type, you can use that to your advantage. Also, this keeps notes consistent and if you need to make a change you do it in one place and it updates project-wide. 

And know that detailing on top of Revit wall sections gets easier with practice. I can do a fully detailed, fully-noted wall section in a quarter of the time it used to take in AutoCAD and changes are even faster...especially if Revit changes it automatically and I don't have to do anything but shift some text. Hope this helps.

This user is offline

K8vitali

active

Joined: Fri, Oct 5, 2007
36 Posts

This user is offline

JHanby

active

Joined: Thu, May 25, 2006
177 Posts

This user is offline

View Website

bauhaus1919

active

Joined: Mon, Mar 20, 2006
219 Posts

My default approach is the Align & Lock method. If I want to add brick coursing for instance, I would:

1) Draw a repeating detail line of brick off to the side.

2) Align and lock the face of th brick to the wall face of the masonry layer.

3) Align and lock the bottom end point (grips) of the repeating detail to the brick ledge/foundation/etc.

4) Align and lock the top to the window sill/top plate/coping/etc.

Dimensions can work too. Somethings, like insulation, that are based on a center-line are a little different. I usually string a dimension from edge of stud to center of insulation to other edge of stud, flip the EQ and delete the dimension without Unconstraining. Pick-line works pretty well for simple filled regions. Something to remember is that a filled region is likely to strech if edges are aligned. If you want a constant shape, you can group that single item and then align & lock it where you want it.

This user is offline

Morter

active

Joined: Tue, Dec 23, 2008
2 Posts
No Rating

I'm having a lot of problems with detailing myself. I can see how Revit helps on the conceptual phase, keeping elevations, floorplans and even elemental sections aligned. But once I get to the construction document part, it makes it so hard (if not impossible) to reference your details back and forth. At least I haven't found the best way yet.

I spent a couple of weeks detailing building sections and wall sections hoping that it would be easy to use the callout functions and get the rest of my details from them... But it turns out it is pretty much impossible, so I find myself now redrawing, copying and pasting back and forth making sure that if I make a change somewhere, it's noted everywhere else... cause somehow technically a callout is a view of a view... it won't show the details on that view... And there is no way around that.... so all the time I saved on not doing my elevations and the basic shell of my sections. I'm using it to redraw details over, and over, and over, and over... I keep feeling that I'm doing something wrong... But I can't find any other way... If anyone knows, PLEASE! let me know!...

This user is offline

WWHub

site moderator|||

Joined: Tue, May 16, 2006
13079 Posts

This user is offline

building sections visible but detail view sections NOT visible on all drawings??

2

Structure in detail level:Course?

1

Two different detail items in sections

2

Detail Component Visiblity in Sections

2

Sections, different level/views

4