About the Book

Revit Essentials is a unique learning resource that features concise, straightforward explanations and real-world, hands-on exercises and tutorials to teach new users the software's core features and functions. Each chapter opens with a quick discussion of concepts and learning goals and then briskly moves into an approachable hands-on exercise that readers can follow to gain confidence using the software. Each chapter features compelling full-color screenshots to illustrate tutorial steps, and chapters conclude with a related and more open-ended project to further reinforce the chapter's lessons. Readers can download starting and ending files for the exercises and additional learning tutorials so that they can start anywhere in the book and compare their results with the pro's. There's also information to help users prepare for the Revit certification exams.
The book begins by introducing users to Revit's interface and powerful tools. Using a workflow-based approach that mirrors how projects progress in the real world, the book then guides readers through schematic design considerations; creating walls and curtain walls; designing floors, roofs, and ceilings; and adding stairs, ramps, and railings. Readers then learn how to work with families, groups and phasing, as well as rooms and color fill patterns. This revision includes a great new chapter on rendering and visualization, and it also explores effective work sharing, details and annotations, creating compelling drawing sets, professional workflows. It concludes with tips and tricks drawn from the authors' extensive experience.
The hands-on exercises in Revit Essentials gets all users up to speed on the program's core functionality so they can quickly become productive with the software. The full-color book also features dataset downloads so readers can jump in anywhere as well as compare their work to the pro's. New pedagogical elements include a stronger emphasis on skills rather than tools, starting and ending files for every single exercise, and more clearly defined exercises that better separate the step-by-step instructions from the "why" discussion.

About the Author

Ryan Duell is a senior quality assurance analyst for Autodesk Revit and previously worked at an architectural firm in Boston on projects ranging from single-family residences to large commercial projects. He later became the firm's BIM manager, focusing on managing Revit standards. He also teaches Revit at the Boston Architectural College and contributes to the Revit Clinic (revitclinic.typepad.com). Tobias Hathorn is a licensed architect and user experience designer for Revit. He previously worked at BNIM architects on a million-square-foot IRS Paper Processing Center using Revit. Tobias has honed his knowledge and experience with Revit- especially the Graphics and Rendering features - over the past 6 years in the quality assurance and product design groups.Tessa Reist Hathorn is a licensed Architect practicing in the Boston Area at Austin Architects and has worked on everything from residences to the Kansas City Performing Arts Center. Tessa also teaches Revit at the Boston Architectural College. All three authors are frequent presenters at Autodesk University.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Introduction Chapter 1 Introducing the Autodesk Revit Architecture Interface Understanding the User Interface Exercise 1 1: Use the Properties Palette to See Dynamic Updates of Properties Exercise 1 2: Explore the Content of Your Project with the Project Browser Exercise 1 3: Use the View Control Bar to See Frequently Used View Properties Exercise 1 4: Navigate with the ViewCube Creating a Simple Layout Exercise 1 5: Create a Floor Exercise 1 6: Create Walls Exercise 1 7: Create Levels Exercise 1 8: Change Wall Type Exercise 1 9: Place Interior Walls Exercise 1 10: Place Doors and Windows Exercise 1 11: Space Elements Equally Now You Know Chapter 2 Walls and Curtain Walls Understanding Wall Types and Parameters Basic Walls Stacked Walls Curtain Wall Types Hosting Elements in Walls Creating Wall Configurations Exercise 2 1: Create Wall Configurations Exercise 2 2: Host a Door in a Wall Modifying Wall Parameters Exercise 2 3: Modify Wall Parameters Editing and Resetting Wall Profiles Exercise 2 4: Edit and Reset the Wall Profile Exercise 2 5: Attach and Detach the Top/Base Cutting Openings Exercise 2 6: Cut Openings in a Curved Wall Splitting Walls Swapping Walls Creating Curtain Walls Exercise 2 7: Create and Customize a Curtain Wall Exercise 2 8: Modify Curtain Wall Type Properties Editing Wall Profiles Embedding Curtain Walls Exercise 2 9: Embed and Edit Curtain Wall Profile Curtain Panels Adding and Removing Grids and Mullions Exercise 2 10: Add and Remove Curtain Grids and Mullions Exercise 2 11: Customize Curtain Panels Now You Know Chapter 3 Floors, Roofs, and Ceilings Creating Floors Exercise 3 1: Create a Floor by Sketch and Pick Walls Exercise 3 2: Edit the Floor Boundary Exercise 3 3: Create Sloped Floors Exercise 3 4: Create an Opening with the Opening by Face Tool Exercise 3 5: Create an Opening with the Shaft Opening Tool Creating Roofs Exercise 3 6: Create a Roof by Footprint Exercise 3 7: Create a Roof by Extrusion Exercise 3 8: Create Slope Arrows Exercise 3 9: Create Multiple Roof Slopes Adding Ceilings Exercise 3 10: Add Automatic and Sketch Ceilings Exercise 3 11: Create a Bulkhead Exercise 3 12: Add Lights and Rotate the Grid Exercise 3 13: Slope the Ceiling Now You Know Chapter 4 Stairs, Ramps, and Railings Creating a Generic Railing Exercise 4 1: Create a Generic Railing Creating Stair Configurations Exercise 4 2: Create a Stair by Component Exercise 4 3: Create a Stair by Sketch Exercise 4 4: Customize and Create a Component Stair Landing Exercise 4 5: Create a Multistory Stair Exercise 4 6: Host a Railing to a Stair Exercise 4 7: Edit Railing Top Rail and Slope Designing Ramps Exercise 4 8: Create a Ramp and Edit the Boundary Now You Know Chapter 5 Adding Families Understanding the Model Hierarchy Exercise 5 1: Creating a Model Hierarchy Working with System Families Loading System Families Exercise 5 2: Transfer Project Standards Exercise 5 3: Place System Families Working with Component Families Exercise 5 4: Create a New Family and Load It into a Project Employing Hosted Families Exercise 5 5: Work with Hosted Families Exercise 5 6: Place Face-Based Families Working with In-Place Component Families Exercise 5 7: Modify an In-Place Family Finding Content Now You Know Chapter 6 Modifying Families Modifying 3D Families Exercise 6 1: View Scale and Detail Level Exercise 6 2: Assign Visibility to Detail Levels Family Categories Exercise 6 3: Edit the Family Category Exercise 6 4: Update a Family Insertion Point Exercise 6 5: Modify Hosted Components Modifying 2D Families Exercise 6 6: Edit a Tag Family Exercise 6 7: Edit a Profile Family Exercise 6 8: Update Detail Components Repeating Details Exercise 6 9: Modify the Title Blocks Family Tips and Best Practices Now You Know Chapter 7 Schematic Design Importing a 2D Image Exercise 7 1: Import and Scale a 2D Image Designing with a 3D Sketch Exercise 7 2: Link a 3D Sketch Exercise 7 3: Add a New Level Exercise 7 4: Calculate Mass Floor Area Exercise 7 5: Reload a Linked Sketch Creating Revit Elements from a Mass Exercise 7 6: Create Floors from a Mass Exercise 7 7: Create Walls from a Mass Exercise 7 8: Create a Curtain System Exercise 7 9: Create a Roof from a Mass Now You Know Chapter 8 Rooms and Color Fill Plans Defining Rooms in Spaces Room Tags Room Boundaries Room Separation Lines Deleting Rooms Exercise 8 1: Add Rooms and Room Tags Exercise 8 2: Modify a Room Boundary Exercise 8 3: Delete a Room Object Generating Color Fill Room Plans Exercise 8 4: Add and Modify a Color Scheme Exercise 8 5: Add Tags and Color Fills in Section Now You Know Chapter 9 Materials, Visualization, Rendering Materials Exercise 9 1: Define a Material Exercise 9 2: Assign a Material Graphic Display Options Exercise 9 3: Presentation Elevation View Exercise 9 4: Presentation 3D View Exercise 9 5: 3D Exploded View Rendering Exercise 9 6: Render a View Exercise 9 7: Interactive Rendering Exercise 9 8: Cloud Rendering Now You Know Chapter 10 Worksharing Configuring Worksharing Exercise 10 1: Enable Worksharing Exercise 10 2: Create the Local File and Worksets Exercise 10 3: Assign Elements to Worksets and Control Visibility Saving to the Central Model Exercise 10 4: Open and Close Worksets Worksharing Display Modes Editing Requests Worksharing Best Practices Now You Know Chapter 11 Details and Annotations Creating Details Detail Line Region Component Arranging Elements in the View Repeating Detail Component Insulation Detail Groups Linework Exercise 11 1: Enhance a Detail with Regions Exercise 11 2: Add Detail Components and Detail Lines Exercise 11 3: Create a Repeating Detail Component Annotating Your Details Dimensions Tags Text Exercise 11 4: Add Dimensions to Your Detail Exercise 11 5: Add Tags and Text to Your Detail Creating Legends Exercise 11 6: Create a Legend Now You Know Chapter 12 Drawing Sets Schedules Understanding Schedules Exercise 12 1: Create a Window Schedule Exercise 12 2: Create a Room Schedule Exercise 12 3: Create a Sheet List Placing Views on Sheets Exercise 12 4: Arrange Plan Views on a Sheet Exercise 12 5: Adjust Crop Regions Exercise 12 6: Add Schedules to Sheets Printing Documents Exercise 12 7: Explore the Print Dialog Box Now You Know Chapter 13 Workflow and Site Modeling Understanding a BIM Workflow Staffing a BIM Project Project Roles Using Revit Architecture Architect Modeler Drafter Adding Team Members to Fight Fires Modeling a Site Toposurface Building Pad Exercise 13 1: Model a Toposurface Exercise 13 2: Create a Building Pad Performing Quality Control on Your Model: Keeping an Eye on File Size Purging Unused Families and Groups Managing Links and Images Cutting Down on the Number of Views Dealing with Warnings Now You Know Chapter 14 Repeating Objects, Best Practices, and Quick Tips Repeating Objects Optimize Performance Figuring Out How Much RAM Your Project Will Need Reducing File Size Utilize Best Practices Use Quick Tips and Shortcuts Locate Additional Resources Now You Know Appendix Index