The What and Why of Parameters in Revit

The What and Why of Parameters in Revit - Exercise

In this exercise, we are going to walk through the types of parameters in Revit and examples of why you want to use them, including with schedules, tags, and filters.

  1. Open the Small Medical Center-Parameters.rvt project. This project is in Revit 2024. 
  2. Select one of the interior walls around the exam rooms, such as the example shown below.



  3. In Properties, review the instance parameters.  
  4. In the Structural section, select the checkbox beside Structural (as shown above). This makes a change only to this one wall. Note the additional parameters that become available, as shown below.



  5. Click Edit Type, as shown above. This opens the Type Properties dialog box. If you make a change in this dialog box, all the elements of this type in the model are updated.  
  6. Scroll down to the Identity Data section and note that the Type Mark is I1 (Interior Wall 1). Change the Type Mark to I12.



  7. Click OK to close the dialog box. Note that all the tags for that wall type update to show I12.  
  8. Select one of the I12 tags, then select the I12 label to modify it. 
  9. Change the label back to I1 and press <Enter>. 
  10. A warning displays confirming that you are making changes that could potentially affect many elements, as shown below.



  11. Click Yes to confirm you want to apply the changes. Now ALL the tags for that wall type change to I1. 
  12. In the Project Browser, expand Schedules/Quantities (all) and select WALL SCHEDULE.  
  13. The wall schedule includes various fields of the different wall types, as shown below. Note the Structural Usage column.



  14. One of the wall types (I1) does not display Non-bearing in the Structural Usage column. This is because one of the walls was changed to Structural in an earlier step. 
  15. Switch back to the GROUND FLOOR plan and select just the wall you made the change to earlier.  
  16. In Properties, clear the check from Structural. 
  17. Return to the WALL SCHEDULE view and the schedule updates. Now all walls are listed as Non-bearing.



  18. Return to the plan view. 
  19. Open the GROUND FLOOR Fire Rating view. Filters using the Fire Rating parameter have been assigned so that each fire rating displays in a different color.  
  20. Zoom in on the stairs. There is a wall that is not the correct fire rating for the stairs, as shown below.



  21. Select the wall and change it to Basic Wall: 1_2HR_Stud-MTL-3-5/8″, as shown below. The color of the wall updates to red like the other 2-hour fire ratings.



  22. Save the project.