AutoCAD to Revit: Where do we begin?

MICHAEL ECHAVE: Hello, everyone. My name is Michael Echave. I'm a senior AEC Technical Specialist at ATG USA. And today we're going to be talking about AutoCAD to Revit: Where do we begin?

Little autobiography about myself. I'm an Autodesk Certified Instructor. I'm a Senior AEC Technical Specialist. My primary background is in structural design. I've done commercial, residential, industrial, and mechanical projects. I have transitioned many firms from AutoCAD to Revit, which we will be talking about today.

Some fun little facts: I live in Arizona. Over here on the right hand side is a picture of what we classify as trees out here in Arizona. And there's a bobcat at the top of it. Now, these trees are very spiny, they're not fun to hug at all, but for some reason bobcats have the ability to climb up them. And I thought this was a really cool picture to share with all of you of that.

I like building desktops. And I also have a sweet tooth.

Course description. Today we'll be talking about the transition from AutoCAD to Revit. And sometimes we don't have that ability to decide which design software we'll be utilizing. Maybe we've been utilizing AutoCAD all of the time for our design projects, and now we're being requested to design in 3D, using Revit, and we don't know where to begin. Right? Maybe we have done some 3D design in AutoCAD where we're understanding where things are going in terms of height, location, rotation maybe, more in a section from our 2D plan sets. But now we're being asked to create a 3D model. And how do we transition from creating a 2D set into a 3D set and utilizing a completely different software? What is our roadmap going to look like?

Usually we're a little afraid to kind of embrace this new atmosphere. And what I'm here to do today is to help you transition smoothly, learn some terms, learn the user interface, and all of those items when we go through this journey together.

Our learning objectives today are going to be, talking about Revit UI. So the Revit user interface. As well as where do we begin? Standards we should put in place. And what should we leave behind?

Before we talk about Revit terms, we should talk about the design process. Our long established way of AutoCAD process is creating plans, from there maybe we sub out our 3D model that we need to create to a different firm, then we create from our plan views. We create sections, elevations, the good old racetrack, I remember that. Where you create your plan views then you draw lines down to create your elevations, to also help you then create your sections. And then from there, we're creating our CD sets.

And then sometimes things change, get updated. We have to go back and do repetitive tasks of double backing, checking to make sure things that have changed are correct as we go through that process.

Now we're entering this new design process, right? We've been instructed, or we are leaping into the unknown of going into Revit. What is this new design process, right? It's labeled as BIM process. Building Information Modeling System. And Revit is one of those solutions as well.

What is this Revit design process? It's 3D modeling. About 95% of the time we are designing in 3D when we're designing a project. In Revit, we create from our 3D model plan sets, elevations, and sections. We can also create and generate reports from there as well as schedules. Because all of our information is hosted within the model itself. This parametric design workflow is what we're going to be talking about.

You're going to hear me reference a lot about parametric design. What is parametric design? It is a term that refers to a relationship among all elements of the model. You're also like, hey Michael what are these elements? Don't worry, we have another slide later on talking about modeled elements within our design project. But for now, parametric design is discovering the relationship between this information and our elements that are being placed within our model.

And these relationships are created either automatically, so right off the gate, Revit does have some automatic relationships with elements that we have within our project. We could also add some of these as well. This parametric design flow also helps us create that redundant process of double checking and make sure when things have changed, we updated accordingly in the correct areas.

Within this new workflow within Revit, its parametric. So if I were to change the size of a member in one place like a column, I changed it from a 10 by 20 to a 10 by 22, is it going to update on my schedules? Is it going to update the tags? All of that information does get updated. So this process becomes more efficient as we go through when we're designing in Revit.

Next, let's talk about the user interface. You have to know what the user interface terms are for us to go through and search, learn more about the Revit environment.

And when we open up Revit, this is a newer version of Revit. I'm in 2021. 2022 has come out, by the way. If I'm in an older version, it will open up like this in terms of 2018 and below. Now if we are opening up in a newer version you will be presented with a home page. To get to this view you are going to click this button right to the right of the R. This will allow you to see this home page.

Now let's talk about the user interface as a whole. Up here at the top, which I just directed us to the switch screens, is the Quick Access Toolbar The Quick Access Toolbar is commonly used commands. Sometimes you'll see other users if you're watching YouTube videos or Googling items, The Quick Access may be docked down below. You can do that by selecting the down arrow and saying, dock below. That allows you to have more space when you're adding more Quick Access commands.

These are just quick access to commands that we're frequently using. By default, when we open or install Revit, we're going to see this same Quick Access Toolbar. The reason why folks have it below, is because when we're adding more to our quick access here, it'll start to fill out to the right. If it's up at the top, it'll actually stay in the place and you'll have to find your new ones underneath the down arrow. Which for me, is very confusing. It's harder to get access to them, it's not really quick picks, that's why a lot of folks have it below.

I'm unfortunately, well fortunately enough to be an instructor, but unfortunately, I can't have things changing because I'm teaching people from the new user interface. But I would recommend docking it below if we're having more of those quick picks.

Next, what we're going to be talking about is our Status Bar So our Status Bar down here below, for all of us in the AutoCAD realm we're used to having our command line something we reference to. This resembles that here as well. Right down below here, on the bottom left, our screen shows also our Status Bar It's going to tell us what we need to do next.

So if we're in a command it'll say, let's say for instance, rotate. You're going to pick your origin then pick your origin of rotation. It's going to give you a list of things to do next.

To the right of that, you have your Work Sets. Now, Work Sets is probably a new term for you. You can write it down. There also be some things about it in your handout as well. But one great thing that Revit allows you to do is create Work Sets This allows work shared enabled models. So if you have a large project, a creeping deadline, and you need multiple users to work simultaneously on a project, you can actually have a work shared enabled model. Allowing you to work simultaneously with project partners on your server.

Now if you wanted to do this collaboratively in the cloud, you would use a different application that Autodesk has called BIM Collaborate Pro. Again, you have that ability down here below.

To the right of that, you have Phases So if we were to create any additional Phases, Phases are great to have within your project if you're having multiple phases like existing, new, or maybe poor phases. You have the ability to go through and set Phases that have different visual representations per phase.

To the right of that, it's just quick click access to things like, you don't want to select Links For those of us that don't maybe know what Links are in Revit, they're like Xrefs in AutoCAD. Maybe you don't want to have the ability to hover over one and select it, and then move it around or something. You have something like a pen that you can go through and use. So these are just items that you can go through and select from. And this is our Status Bar.

Next, what we're going to be talking about is our File Tab. Our File Tab allows us to go and say, new, maybe we're going to go and open a new project. Or we're going to click open or save. Maybe save as. Or export out to a DWG. Maybe we're taking this transition from AutoCAD to Revit. We're not going to go back into the AutoCAD environment, but we still need to export out DWGs. We do have that ability in Revit.

One great tip I like to always offer up, is under Options down here, you will then go from Options to User Interface and double click under the Options, under Customize. What happens when we're modeling elements, and again you're probably like, Michael you keep referring to elements, what are these? Don't worry, we have another slide later on to talk about them.

But, what happens when you double click on an element by accident? When we're new into Revit, we're moving our mouse, we may double click something, and a whole new window opens up. That's because it's a family editor. I highly recommend under Options, you go from Options to User Interface, double click on Options, under Customize. And when it says, Edit Family, you will say, Do Nothing.

This will be in our handout as well if we're not able to write it down. And again we'll have a Q&A area if you're wondering, hey Mike well what does this actually mean? Can you show me? Feel free to ask me in the Q&A section and we can definitely go in depth about this as well.

Next, is our Ribbon Tab. Our Ribbon kind of shows us, hey, this is familiar. In AutoCAD it's the same thing. We have Ribbons and then we have Control Panels below. So this looks somewhat familiar as we're going through here.

For this instance, I have the Structure Tab selected. You have other tabs like Steel, Pre-Cast Systems. We can even see where the highlighted one, Architecture, is selected. You have Walls, Doors, more commands pertaining to architecture. We're in the structural field. So we have more commands pertaining towards the structural end. They have then panels below them like Structure, Connections, maybe we're going to take the time to model connections. Or maybe even Foundations, some Reinforcement. Maybe we're not going to cover Reinforcement in detail. We want to actually have it modeled in our project, we want to create a Bill of Materials, and schedule that information.

Or adding Components or maybe Openings. These are things that we can add directly into our project. When you hear people referencing to things they'll say it's in the Structure Tab, under the Foundation Panel. From there you have Wall Command or Isolated Footing Command. That's how these are usually structured. And this is our Ribbon Tab.

Next, what we're going to be talking about is our Options Bar. I like to call it Dynamic Options Bar. The reason is because it changes per whatever command you're in. But usually it populates right here as well. So if you move your Quick Access down below, it'll be below your Quick Access and you'll have your Options Bar.

And what this Options Bar is, we have here I've selected the command of Column, and it's giving me options before I place it. We're designing in this 3D world now. We're not going through and placing a representation of a column, of just the outline. We're actually going through and placing it 3D. What's the height, start, and location and rotation? We have to think about all of that when we're getting ready to place an element. And that's exactly what we're going through right here. It's saying, hey Michael, do you want to rotate this column after you've placed it? Do you want to place it from the level you're at, down? Or do you want to, if you hit the dropdown, it'll say Height, or do you want to go up? Or do you want to place it at a different level than you're currently at? So again this is your Options Bar. I like to phrase it my Dynamic Options Bar.

Next, is our Properties Palette. Now our Properties Palette contains several parts for instance properties and also type properties. Right here I have the Column command selected again. And it's giving me instance properties for the very instance of this W49 that I'm going to place. Again, what base level is it going to be at? Is there going to be a top level? Or maybe materials? You can assign this parametric data to it so that it schedules material takeoffs. What is the volume of it for dimensions? Or maybe more identity data. We've talked about phasing a little bit earlier. What phase is this going to be on? And it's specific to the one element that we're going to be placing.

Now if we globally wanted to edit all of our 10 by 49s, which again we're reducing that rework, right? If we wanted to globally change some of the information, like all of the material needed to change specific to this W10x49, you can edit the global type of these. And that is going through and selecting the type here.

You also have the Type Selector. Which one are we picking? If you click this box up here, it brings down your Type Selector, here, like over on the right hand side, and you're able to select from which type you want to place. So I selected a 10 by 49 to start out with. But as you can see, I have some components loaded in. Such as the concrete rectangular column, 12 by 18. Or some different W shapes as well.

Next, is our Project Browser. If you need to go through and navigate through our project, this is the way to do it. We get to see our views here laid out, such as level one, level two, some analytical views, which we'll talk about during our checklist, elevations. We can create legends. We can create schedules and sheets. There's also a family breakdown into here. So these component elements that we're bringing in, or families, or groups, or Revit links.

Back to our Revit links items, they're like Xrefs, if we're talking about AutoCAD. In Revit, they're links that are brought in that we're using maybe to design from or to coordinate with. That is our Project Browser.

Our next one is our Tabs. We have V Tabs, here. I'm pretty sure everyone has used Google Chrome before. And even Microsoft Edge has tabs now. Within Revit, if you're using 19 and above, you will have Tabs. Anything below, I get frustrated when I go to 18 because I don't have Tabs anymore, but it allows you to see the tab views in terms of whatever view is open. We just talked about our Project Browser over here in the bottom left. If we double clicked on a view in here, it would open up in its own tab. And in its own tab we can switch through different views to allow us to see what's happening.

We have parametric data now. We're not designing per plan, then creating our elevations from those plans. We're generating our model, which is then creating our views for us.

Again, we can have that Window Tab feature, which I just did. The hot key for that is WT or TW to tile back to the other view we had before. With this tile view though, we can see what's happening in terms of parametric. If I were to go down in this 3D view and select some type of peer, or maybe the floor, I would be able to see it in view one. Or if it is being captured in my North view, I would also be able to see it. It's parametric data that we're working with. These elements are hosted. When we're using them we'll be able to see them in whichever view they are being selected in if we have a tile view like this as well.

Next, is our View Control Bar. With our View Control Bar, we have the ability to go through and change the way the view representation is shown. As we see here, we have a medium view, if we look at our tabs. And then we have a course view on the right hand side.

Down below is our View Control Bar where we can change these settings. We can change the scale. It's currently at an 1/8 of an inch equals a foot. Then directly to the right of that, there's a box and this controls our view display. Right now, I have it set to medium. It's showing the full representation of the model element. For this instance, these are framing members. These are wide flange members. And I can actually see the flanges and the web as a dashed line between.

To the right, we have what usually is representative of when we're in our AutoCAD environment. This is our course level. So we can quickly change the view to represent these elements the way we want them to be shown, specific to the view, which is great. There's also some additional settings that you have the ability to select from in your View Control Bar as well. But just remember if you're looking up, trying to investigate, this is called your View Control Bar.

Next, what we're going to be talking about is our Revit Elements. Our Revit Elements allow us to input this data, bring in modeled elements, and this is what we're going to be talking about until we get a better understanding of the terminology. If we're trying to look up any information or maybe we're referencing our hand out, and you're like, hey, what are these? I talked a little bit about it before. Now we can get a better grasp of what these elements are.

To start out with, we have Model Elements at the top left here, which are also classified as Families. Then we have Host Elements, such as System Families, like a wall, which can host other Families to it. For instance, a door is a Hosted Family that has to have a host element for me to actually place it in my project.

Directly to the right, we have Component Families, which are Loadable Families, like columns. We've been referencing columns for majority of this presentation of talking about columns and how they're being placed, what height, depth, location-wise where we're placing them at. And these are Loadable Families.

Next is View-Specific Elements, which are Detail Components or Detail Elements. Which kind of resonates with us in the AutoCAD world. It resembles almost a detailed block. We have these blocks that we can bring in. Same thing in Revit. We have these 2D Detail Components that we can bring into our 3D design environment that are specific to the view that they're placed in. We've been talking about Parametric Families, like this Component Family. If I place it in the height of it and capitulates to a specific view, I will be able to see it.

But a Detail Component can only be represented in a specific view that it is placed. It is 2D. But the difference between a Block, and we can say, a Detail Component, is that it can also host this parametric information. So if we needed to schedule any of the items from these Detail Components, we can host that parametric information and display it in a schedule. Which is great as well, because hey, maybe I have a different one that I want to load in with a different size, but I still want to schedule it. Will that data still be showing up in our schedule if I change the size? Yes it will, if you do it correctly.

If you have any questions, again, we have a Q&A area so feel free to reach out and ask me in there.

Next, is our Annotation Elements. This is a great one. I always get oohs and ahs when I'm training. This is a tag that is tagged to a column. It is a Component Family that was placed. It is not a Detail Component. It's not a 2D detail representation of the column. It is a Detail Component at a view level. And from here it was tagged it's a W 10 by 49.

So let's maybe have this parametric click now. What if I change the size to a W 10 by 12? Will the tag update with it? It actually will, because it's a Parametric Family, in terms of the column. And the annotation is grabbing the information from the column itself. So I don't have to go back through, double check, remember where I changed this thing at, where else was it placed in my model, or in my plan sets, I guess I would say. Model more being towards Revit I already know it's going to update the data specific to that when I change the size.

Next, what we have is View Elements, such as Plans, Sections, and Schedules. Those are also updating. If I decide to go through and cut a section, it will actually show me what building elements have been placed in my model. I don't have to worry about doing the good old racetrack where we have our plan set and then we draw lines down to show where it is. Right here, it's live data as we're cutting our sections from any view that we're in or any elevations, the data is going to be updated accordingly.

After that is Schedules. Hey, can I go in and change something in my schedule? Like all of my columns C1s to a different size, will all of those C1s change in my entire project? They will. Again, if you do it correctly. If you have any questions about that, you can ask in the Q&A time, or reach out to me on LinkedIn. You can just search my name, you'll find me there. Again this can all be parametric when you're doing it correctly.

Next, is Datum Elements, such as Levels, Grids, and Reference Planes. Now usually, the grids are already placed in the coordination model. What we're doing is just doing more of a copy monitor to make sure things don't change. And, of course, the Structural Designers or Engineers, if we need to change something, we coordinate that with the coordinating parties, and then we update accordingly from there.

Then we have Levels. So the height of the building, the different locations. Levels also get reference to different views that we're at. So, floor plans, sections, all of those good items. We also have reference planes that help us design in our Design Environment as we go through. Maybe we need to reference to something or just get a rough sketch of something, we can go through and place our Reference Planes as we're going through in our Design Environment.

But those are our Revit Elements. Again, if you have any questions, feel free to write them down. We'll have a Q&A time for you to ask any questions. Hopefully we can dive into Revit and show you some things as well if you have any questions relating that you want to see.

Next, is, Where do we Begin? Great. We've conquered what this design process is, the user interface. We've talked about Revit components. Now the next objective was where do we begin? Where do we begin to model?

Now for this one, I decided to create a checklist for everybody. This is a great way for us to go through and kind of hit a target list. Some of these terms we may not know now, but at some point we will know them and we can refer back to this for us creating a design.

First and foremost, what we need is a Coordination Model. Maybe we don't get a Coordination Model, we're just starting from scratch, that's fine as well. But usually you're starting with the Coordination Model. Now, a key point to Coordination Model is Revit version. So unlike AutoCAD, you cannot go backwards. In Revit, you can only go forward. So it is apparent that you, as a coordinating team, figure out which Revit version you're going to be using.

Also, project location. Usually as the Structural Design Team, the project location is already set up when we link in a coordinated model. We don't really have to do too much more to move forward. But if there is something that needs to be talked about, it should be happening in that coordination meeting. And then when we link in the coordination model, we can start off.

Linking in our Coordination Model, we talked about links. They almost seem, or kind of correlate, with Xrefs. Now, one thing I always recommend when we're first starting out with Revit, is when we link in a model and we're in a view, set your View Display to Coordination, please. By default, and we'll talk about templates next, it is set to Structure. So use Coordination if we're linking in a model and we're trying to design from that Coordinated Model.

Next, is Copy Monitor. Completely foreign to us right now, probably. But you should only be Copy Monitoring levels and grids. I wouldn't do floors or walls. But you can, just be aware they're duplicates. If we do anything coordination-wise, we're going to have two of the same in our model. If that's not an issue, do know there's an update in 2022 where we can turn off some of the substrates within our walls. The downside of copying in architectural walls into our structural project, is we're going to see any of the furring that they have within their items, or any veneer, or any of those items.

Next, is Columns and Grids. So Grids should have been copied and monitored. If we needed a place anymore, then we can place our columns. Our foundation items, such as our foundation walls, any retaining or bearing footings, and isolated fittings as well.

We'll then go through and place our Structural Framing, Individual Beam Members, Beam Systems are great use case for joists. Make sure, though, when you're placing your individual Beam Members under that Dynamic Options Bar or Options Bar, that you select the Individual Beam Members to be girders, so if you use an automatic placement in Beam Systems, they can be automatically placed.

You can also go through and place bracing, trusses. Little quick tip for trusses, is if you have an oddly sloped or rigid roof placement and you're trying to create this custom truss, instead of going through the long task of creating a custom truss, if you already have a layout that is similar that for the webs, and top and bottom cord, use that. And then use the Attach to Top feature. So get ready to place your Truss Command. Then when you've placed it, you can select the truss. You'll have an Options in your Command Line at the top, or in your Ribbon under a panel. And it'll say, Attach to Roof. So you will attach it to there, then it will follow the design of that roof.

Next, is our Structural Slabs. We'll be talking about placing, not talking, we'll be placing in foundation, structural floors, and roofs. We'll also be placing in structural reinforcement. Now this is up to you, do we need to schedule any of the reinforcement? Can it just be conceptualized in actual view? Those are your options for that.

Next, is our Structural Analysis. Revit isn't an analysis software. But you do get an analysis model out of it. So there's two types of modeling. Well, there's two models in Revit. There's your physical model and then your analysis model, which you can then export out to an analysis software and run an analysis for it.

Then, you have your CD Sets. So just like in AutoCAD, in Revit, you can create your CD Sets, creating your details, and also generating your schedules as well. Again, those schedules are parametric. So any of the data changes at any point in time, it will update with it automatically as well.

Any questions about this, save it for the Q&A. I'll be there to answer any of your questions as well.

And if we're watching a recording, you can also reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any questions pertaining to any of this.

Next, is Standards We Should Put In Place. Now, a company template, we may already have one in AutoCAD. Maybe we haven't ever heard of a template. That's OK. If we've used Microsoft Word or Excel, when you hit New, that's a template. We need to create a Company Template so we have standards put in place as we're going through.

Now, as we start out in Revit, when you hit File New from Template, you have the ability to select your version in terms of discipline. I recommend checking out the other disciplines they have some great schedules. Or you can just hit Structural, that's where you'll start out. With and then start implementing your standards. Like, what text types do you use? Or maybe Dimension Styles with whatever Arrow Leaders you use as well.

Going through and setting these and starting your templates. Those are a .rte extension. You can also have a .rvt if you wanted to, as your template. Just be aware it could be overwritten. The only reason why you would want to have a .rvt as your template, is because you want to have a template that already has work shared enabled, which we talked about before, which is having that live collaboration. Simultaneously collaborating on a document. That's what you would do.

And to end it from there, as well is a template is a living and breathing document. You don't just create your template, hey, we're done. We're good to go. You actually need to keep updating it. Updating your Components. We're talking about that parametric. Some of it's already starting from out of the box, having that data. But you can add more to it as well. And adding those updated Component Families into your project, your template, is key to your success. It's a living, breathing document. You don't just create it and you're done.

Next, is What Should We Leave Behind? So maybe we're still going to use this hybrid of AutoCAD and Revit environments. Maybe we are just going to do the full leap and leave AutoCAD behind and just use Revit. Or maybe we're just going to use it once. Who knows? But what should we be leaving behind?

It's more of a mindset of what are we going to leave behind? You should leave behind the mundane nature of repetitive tasks as we embark on this new adventure. We don't have to worry about going through, double backing, making sure things were updated in the correct area. Because we have this new parametric 3D design that we're going through. Everything is updating. We have an efficient process. We can even meet deadlines quicker because we can have that simultaneous collaboration on projects if we needed to as well. We have more reporting, more schedules that we can create, that are parametric and host a ton of data within our Design Project.

Reflection. What did we learn today? We learned that Revit UI terms help us search through and look for more information. We also talked about where do we begin? How do we start our projects? We created a checklist to go through that we can check off as we're designing. We talked about our templates for standards that we should put into place. We also talked about leaving behind that mundane task of repetitive tasks as we continue onward in our design process, creating a more efficient workflow.

We will leave it to the Q&A now I look forward to speaking to all of you and any questions you have. Thank you for attending today. Again, my name is Michael Echave. Thank you.