If you haven't already been using it, the Autodesk cloud rendering service is a must have for all Revit enthusiasts. I will run through how the process works below. The first thing you need to do is check that you have update 2 for your Revit installation. If not, you can download them from the links below:

The time has finally come! The Autodesk 2013 products were released on 27th March 2012. The AEC industry has been eagerly awaiting the news of new features and programs almost since the release of the 2012 products, and this year, it certainly sounds like Autodesk have exceeded themselves. As the NDA was lifted yesterday, a lot of the folks working over at Autodesk have been going blog mad about the new features, which I love! 

Curtain walls are one of the first major hurdles users face when creating simple projects in Revit Architecture for the first time. An example of one of the problems you could face would be that when you create joining curtain walls through an angle, Revit does not automatically generate the best design option for you. Instead it will give you a default option as seen in the image below. 

Today I am posting a small tutorial about creating dormer / dormer openings in Revit Architecture. It is a very simple process but has a few steps, so if you are having problems with dormers or interested in learning, continue reading.

The first step is to create some temporary walls as shown in the image below, indicated by the red rectangle. You should place these walls on the level under your roof, if you only have 2 levels, that's fine, they will be cleaned up later and will not be visible. As usual take note of which wall type you are using. 

Kiwi Codes Solutions are a small company based in New Zealand providing custom API programs for Autodesk Revit products. Some of their previous releases include Revit Family browser, NZS 3604 Calculator and the Bracing calculator. The new project browser is an alternative solution for your standard Revit project browser. 

I found this video a few weeks ago which showed one of the new features in the 2013 release of Autodesk Navisworks. This Autodesk Navisworks Learning video shows you how you can work with Revit models in Navisworks. You'll learn how to open Revit files in Navisworks, see how the Revit properties are imported with the model, and learn how to improve your workflows with the switchback functionality. This is one of the features in the 2013 which further aids the collaboration process between parties using different software packages.

A post by Rob Clark on his BIM Implementation blog followed up by my response:

So, I want to put a thought out there.   I’m sure it’s not original, but I’ve never heard anybody suggest it and I am beginning to wonder why.

Today I am just posting a short blog post about Autodesk's BIM curriculum, which contains some useful videos and tutorials I found a while back on Autodesk's website. I have worked through the curriculum and found many elements of it to be extremely useful. For newly graduated students, and anyone who is new to the process of BIM, I would highly reccomend this 'BIM curriculum' as a good starting point to bring you up to date with what you need to know.  

Roofs are a key aspect to any architectural building and have, in the past at least been a complex object to design and dimension. With Revit, our job is made a little easier. There are many different types of roofs you can choose from to fit your design. 

Above are an example of some of the different roof options you have in Revit, along with an image showing how to design that particular roof. Click through the images to view a standard flat roof all the way up to a custom abstract roof by extrusion.

Shortcuts are an important and effective way to speed up and enhance your designs with Revit. Not only will they save you a lot of time when using them effectively, but will also create a much smoother and enjoyable experience for the user. If you are not already familiar with the shortcuts, in my opinion the best way to learn them is just through using the software, and taking note when selecting tools to use in your ribbon. (If set, Revit will notify you of the shortcut command of each tool on the ribbon.)

When working on large projects, you may notice significant performance issues with your Revit model. Whether this will be long loading / saving times or trouble navigating and viewing your model. At one point or another I think we have all experienced these issues and it can be a massive drain on your time if you do not deal with the issues and take steps to prevent such problems. As a general rule, your Revit model should not be above 300MB in size for large projects, unless you have a 'Super computer' you will probably notice your Revit slowing down significantly when your file becomes anywhere above 150MB. 

In the fourth part of my 'Creating Revit families' series I will be demonstrating how to design and model a 3D coffee/tea cup in Revit. If you are new to creating families and wish to learn some more of the basics, you may want to check out Part 1 - Parametric cube, Part 2 - Parametric table, Part 3 - Parametric window If you are already familiar with creating basic families, and you want to learn about some of the more advanced features of creating families used in the Coffee cup family (revolves, sweeps, blends etc.) then continue on to the following instructions: