Quick Tip on DWG Export

In Revit 2013, you can hide reference planes when exporting to dwg.  Previously, my DWG exports looked great except for all those reference planes.  Although they don't plot, they still show up like any other line when open in autocad.  Lets just say they severely cluttered the design.

I couldn't find any way to get rid of them, well, now we have one.  You can find this under the general tab in the export dialog box.

Small Multi-Trim/Extend Tip

Basic but never fully grasped or utilized this command in Revit.  Usually it was because I was detailing at the end and was in a hurry either way...

Did you realize that once you initiate the multi trim/extend command you can choose multiple cutting lines?

For example you pick a line and trim 3 that cross it.  Now you have to do the same thing for a perpindicular condition.  Instead of cancelling out of the command, click into white space on the screen.   Then choose the line you want to cut w/ and get started again. 

Pics later, but wanted to write it down while it was on my mind. Can eliminate several commands this way, so hey, free money.

R O T A T E!

What happens when you are 2/3 of the way thru your project and Project North suddenly becomes Project West?  Not as simple as you think and it not as simple as it probably should be, but I digress.

Two ways I know of.

Under MANAGE > PROJECT LOCATION > POSITION > ROTATE PROJECT NORTH
    Should be the easy way to do it, but I couldn't get it to work.  It left me with errors I couldn't fix.

The other way to do it is to Mirror the Project.
Under MANAGE>PROJECT LOCATION>POSITION>MIRROR PROJECT

This worked perfectly, I had very little text in my project at the time, so the effects were minimal, my model elements flipped perfectly.  Much better than I expected.

So there you go.......

UPDATE: Another way you might accomplish this would be to change the origin point angle.  Find the origin point (Circle with an X, you might have to mash? the light bulb to see it) but you can change the elevation and the rotation there

RISA v10

New version of RISA was released in April.  Looking forward to the improvements this year for the Revit-RISA link.

http://www.risatech.com/index.html

Forcing Beams to Adjust with Column Height Changes

Revit OpEd: Two Minutes with Beams and Columns:

Shows a way to keep your beams attached/aligned to the top of column OR a desired offset distance below the top of the column.  Could be very useful! Thanks!

Smarter Everyday!

Randomly found this great YouTube channel...Similar to RocketCity Rednecks, in content and person.  He's a mechanical engineer from Huntsville.  I wasted a whole night of work watching the videos.

Check it out!
Smarter Everyday

Ipads & Construction

Good Article that www.therevitkid.com linked.  We are seeing this rapidly being adopted.

How Tablets will Transform Construction