CAD User Online Article Archive

Review

Reviting stuff!

From CAD User AEC Magazine Vol 22 No 5 - MAY/JUNE 2009

David Chadwick looks at how far Revit has travelled as Autodesk releases a whole family of applications based on the groundbreaking software

You wait months to hear about the latest developments and then, like buses, they all come along at once! Yes, I know they are all part and parcel of the 2010 line-up of Revit applications but, piling in with another metaphor, it's a bit like eating all your Easter eggs by Bank Holiday Monday! So, now I have to go through the highlights of Revit Architecture 2010, Revit MEP, Revit Structures, Navisworks 2010 and Revit Ecotect Analysis in the space of one article. Please bear with me! Actually they have made my job a bit simpler by developing a new user interface with the popular ribbon toolbars - context sensitive menus that change as the users venture into different areas of the application, bringing up the tools they would most use, and providing a similar feel throughout the range.

The ribbon toolbars make it easier to find things. Accompanied by the steering wheel and view cubes introduced in the last release, finding one's way around Revit models is easier and far more intuitive. The software now supports 2 monitors as well, and you can strip off the ribbons and place them wherever you want them to be. Revit appears to have lost its sense of isolation. When it first appeared it was a unique product, and the main problem that Autodesk had was integrating it into the rest of its range. Now it can import files directly from Inventor using a new 'adsk' format via AEC exchange for advanced design fabrication, and the import of components for r P applications - imported models bring with them the connections they need for that application. It can also export data to Civil 3D using the same format, but there is still a bit of work needed on both, as the Inventor import is a one-way street, and models exported to Civil 3D lose all of their parametrics. There is an alternative. You can export Revit models in XML format, allowing users to see previews, view surfaces and pick up warning signs, etc., essentially looking at the elements of a building so that it can be ascertained whether there are problems in putting it in place. It’s early days though, and compatibility and bi-directional traffic in these and other Autodesk applications will only improve.

CONCEPT MODELLING

Previously, Revit lacked the ability to develop concept designs. Hardly a satisfactory situation, given that there are many alternative solutions providing architects with great tools for playing around with shapes and surfaces, such as Rhino and SketchUp. As a result Autodesk has introduced Conceptual Design Tools into Revit, adding new surface tools to the software and allowing users to directly manipulate models by pushing and pulling points in meshes, dragging and manipulating forms to create curves, and inserting parameters to drive forms. There’s something else you couldn't do before - put surfaces on curved forms. Now you can use a spline to create a curved surface, then move it into the model and add materials to it - hey presto, a curved brick-built façade! Tools for creating masses have been added, whereby users can select levels, draw on them, and snap to the next level,

and (in direct competition, I suppose, with Bentley's GenerativeComponents) create and use algorithms to guide the design.

Revit is heading towards providing a complete environment for the conceptualisation, design and analysis of a building - all in one product. Bringing in other Autodesk applications like Inventor is one step in this direction; the possibility of bringing in applications like 3D Studio is another that's currently being looked at in the States.

REVIT MEP

Inventor, of course, is ideal for developing the type of equipment that is used in MEP applications - HVAC equipment, pumps, valves and so on. It is essential, therefore, that such components be available for insertion into Revit models, complete, as we said earlier, with all linkages and connections in place. To make this easier for MEP professionals, Revit and its partners in America are working up a set of industry parameters covering the equipment.

Apart from performance improvements, the biggest thing that users of AutoCAD MEP will notice is the replacement of the design bar with the new ribbon bars. Revit MEP uses the same icons as AutoCAD MEP, and functions in the same way. Autodesk has rationalised the way in which tools are being used, though, to speed up productivity. There is a multi- select ribbon that allows users to choose multiple components and insert them into the model - invaluable with large arrays of components - and frequently used files can be maintained at the top of the family tree, without disappearing off the visible stack, as the model develops (expect a full-length review of Revit MEP in the next issue).

REVIT STRUCTURAL

Following the same pattern as Revit itself, Revit Structural - a full modelling and analysis suite - gives the structural engineer more scope for developing complex structures with conceptual form modelling. They have added some bridge modelling capabilities, beefed up the steel connection modelling tools and provided support for slanted columns.

The Bridge Modelling toolkit contains families of features specifically designed for bridges - a whole separate genre of requirements - including a Wizard for road and bridge alignments, integrating it with Autodesk's civil engineering applications by importing road alignments from LandXML files.

It’s early days, again, as Revit doesn't quite know yet what a bridge deck is, and so can't take it to the next level (suspension and other types of bridges). It does handle parametric bridge structures though - abutments, road decks, piers, railings etc. - and is an ideal bridge modelling tool for civil, structural and other engineers for handling alignments, cuttings, the structure itself, and its construction. Autodesk calls it BIM for bridge modelling. Not fully available as an off-the-shelf package, and it does require a subscription to Autodesk Revit Structures 2010

Slanted columns are also a new feature. It wasn't possible to model such things before, as the analysis software insisted on treating them as a bar, analysing and returning them as a vertical structure. Now, once the column angle has been defined, it remains set.

AUTODESK ECOTECT ANALYSIS

Following its acquisition of Ecotect last year, Autodesk can now empower its users to comply with the EU EPBD Energy Directive, formulated in 2003 - which states that all countries must cut energy consumption by 20% by the year 2020. Hence the drive to make buildings more energy efficient - the current emphasis on sustainable design, which covers everything from energy (light, HVAC, occupant processes) and water (potable, non-potable, storm-water run-off) to materials (site work, structure and finishes, furnishings and equipment) and land use (natural environment impact).

Autodesk's aim is to make environmental analysis an integral part of building design, starting at conceptual levels, conforming to the Revit workflow, and looking at all aspects of a building's performance - providing the results in a clear and unambiguous format.

Boxed with Ecotect is access to Green Building Studio - a web-based service that helps architects put their Revit models through analysis routines that estimate whole building energy consumption, determine carbon emissions, and, by providing a greater understanding about a building's performance, optimise the design for carbon neutrality.

Revit Ecotect Analysis is billed as a complete environmental design tool, and includes tools to assess the impact of solar radiation, lighting, thermal, acoustic, ventilation and airflow, and visual access or impact on the environment.

Solar analysis can depict the incidence of shadows, reflections and solar exposure at any given time of the year, enabling users to modify designs to trap, accommodate or shade interiors from excessive sunlight. Swap sunlight for artificial light and you have the ability to provide building users with their 'right to light'! Ensuring that their needs are met, whilst daylight resources are optimised with energy consuming installed lighting.

Sunlight is also closely linked to the comfort levels within a building. Ecotect analysis can balance heating and cooling loads with natural heating - from the sun and from rooms full of people - to provide pleasant working and living environments. Using statistical reverberation calculations, coupled with strategically placed panels, architects can use Ecotect analysis to calculate the right sort of sound distribution you need for a concert hall, or to create structures that minimise excess noise from adjacent rooms, traffic or any other nuisance.

Ventilation and Airflow contribute to comfort of occupancy, and in some cases can dramatically reduce cooling requirements (and with it, perversely, heating requirements and carbon emissions). Data centres with massed ranks of processors consume large amounts of energy just to keep them cool. Dramatic energy savings can be achieved by, amongst other means, changing the layout of the equipment to maximise airflows within the rooms.

Site visibility and access to outside views means just what it says on the tin, and is accomplished by establishing sight lines inside or outside the building, and relating

these to windows and external objects.

Some of the concepts might be new to some people, so the software comes with full training packages for each of the analysis areas. There is also some overlap between the capabilities of Revit Ecotect Analysis and Green Building Studio, such as natural ventilation, wind energy, photovoltaic collection and thermal performance - hardly a problem, as the results of one can be used to verify the other.

NAVISWORKS 2010

Another well-known software package that has been acquired by Autodesk, and which is now more closely integrated within Revit. It has been given a bit of a makeover as well, and features the same steering wheel and view cube interfaces that the other packages use so well.

The software was developed to provide a means of navigating through a 3D model to interrogate physical aspects of a design, such as finding instances where fixtures and fittings are attempting to inhabit the same space - clash detection. It is also used for measuring and markups - particularly in the process plant industry - and for MEP installations, where additional equipment needs to be installed in the maze of hardware already in place if the as-built structure has been

Sustainable architecture using Revit Ecotect Analysis

adequately recorded and modelled in 3D.

Models can be viewed in their entirety or sectioned to provide closer analysis of specific parts of a building. Using the software’s time-line functionality, coupled with the intelligence of the model, can effectively simulate the erection of a building over a given period of time.

Features of the new version of the software include the ability to group clashes, so that multiple clashes can be dealt with as a single issue, and the ability to orientate yourself and the clash within the context of the model. A separate panel allows users to investigate the progress of dealing with clashes once they have been found, and whether the problem has been solved.

Measuring enhancements of note include the ability to measure between the centrelines of pipes, and the shortest distance between objects. Both are very welcome time-savers.

CONCLUSION

Obviously, with so much to cover, I’ve not able to detail all of the new features in just this one article. That's the problem with all of the releases turning up in one big lump! We’ll be aiming to fill in the gaps over the next few issues, as we look at individual elements of the Revit suite. www.autodesk.com

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