Roof design in Revit®, whether steel or timber, poses certain difficulties to this day. It’s a process requiring high precision from the designing, drawing, and manufacturing points of view. On top of that, mistakes can easily sweep into the project at any stage. The continual advancement of modeling software brings much-needed speed and efficiency for architects and structural engineers. But how can we ensure smooth sailing right from the concept stage through to technical documentation and manufacturing? The key in every BIM or standalone project is to lay a solid foundation, i.e. to produce a rigid geometry using proper modeling techniques and have sufficient understanding of Revit’s functionality.

In the case of roof design, it’s important to model the roof in line with native Revit rules and constraints. For example, modeling a roof by picking already-existing walls is the best way to go (if possible – sometimes it's not).

This free, 30-minute webinar will be about designing parametric unitized curtain wall systems in Revit® from a practical standpoint. What you'll see is the workflow for using our Curtain Walls & Panels BIM software to efficiently design highly-detailed unitized elements. See how to insert hundreds of details (such as mullions, transoms, window glass holders and drainages, pressure plates, cover plates, insulators, infills, connection brackets, gaskets, bolts, etc.) throughout a Revit model and generate fabrication information (shop drawings and cut lists) with the views, schedules, and drawings you need.

AEC industry professionals involved in the design or prefabrication of facades: engineers, designers, BIM coordinators, and managers at companies that design or manufacture facades for commercial, residential, or industrial (mainly commercial) buildings – we invite you to sign up below for this informative webinar about how to bring your curtain wall design process to the next level of automation. The webinar will be held twice on April 16th, so please register for the session that's more convenient for you.

Session	Most convenient for:	THURSDAY, April 16, 2020
1	Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania	10:00-10:30 AM Central European	REGISTER
2	Americas, Europe	10:00-10:30 AM US Central	REGISTER

In this free, 30-minute webinar, we'll give an expert-level introduction to framing prefabricated timber and steel roof and floor truss systems of any shape or complexity, perform structural analysis, and generate custom shop drawings using the Truss framing tool that's part of our Wood/Metal Framing Roof BIM Solutions for Revit.

The result you'll see is trusses generated for both a Revit roof of simple geometry and also for a roof of a more complex shape. And even though the Truss Builder is part of our Roof Framing software, it can also be used to frame truss floors, which we'll show as well. To finish off the tutorial, we'll sort all trusses and structural members and produce shop drawings.

The webinar will be held twice on April 15th, so please register for the session that's more convenient for you. Architects, engineers, BIM managers, drafters, builders, manufacturers – all AEC industry professionals involved in the design or prefabrication of timber or steel trusses: we invite you to join us for this free webinar. Sign up below to discover how to bring your truss design process to the next level of automation and reduce manual tasks to a minimum!

Session	Most convenient for:	WEDNESDAY, April 15, 2020
1	Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania	10:00-10:30 AM Central European	REGISTER
2	Americas, Europe	10:00-10:30 AM US Central	REGISTER

In this free 30-minute webinar we'll give an expert-level tutorial of how to use our Precast Concrete design software for Revit, showing how it streamlines the modeling, detailing, and documentation process for structural engineers, drafters, and BIM modelers. What will you get out of this webinar? We'll get into specifics like splitting Revit walls into precast wall panels and then automatically inserting connections, grout tubes, plates, and lifting anchors on all of them based on predefined configurations. As you may know from experience, modeling reinforcement for precast walls and beams takes hours to do manually, so instead we'll generate rebar automatically. And the long, tedious process of making shop drawings with proper dimensions and views will be done in a jiffy during this webinar using our Precast Concrete software tool.

The webinar will be held twice on April 9th, so please register for the session that's more convenient for you. We especially invite out-of-box Revit users and those thinking of switching from AutoCAD 2D to the BIM platform to join in!

In this free 30-minute webinar we'll give an expert-level tutorial of our Wood/Metal Framing Wall BIM Solutions for Revit. The result you'll see is a multi-layer timber/steel project with custom, multi-element framing member layouts and complex L,T, End connections; distributed connectors, fasteners, cuts, and supports; sheathing layouts; and automatically generated shop drawings with gravity points, tags, and dimensions inserted just the way you want and material schedules as well.

The webinar will be held twice on April 8th, so please register for the session that's more convenient for you. Architects, engineers, designers, drafters, BIM managers – we invite you to sign up below!

Following the release last November of our Wall Reinforcement tool for placing rebar in precast concrete wall panels in Revit, we got feedback from a lot of users saying they were interested in being able to group rebar.

Well, now you can! Creating rebar as sets brings advantages in dimensioning, getting information for construction without drawings, and also setting visibility of the set in views.

So in addition to some small tweaks and fixes, these settings have been added to the Wall Reinforcement Configurations window to create rebar sets. Just select the type(s) of reinforcement that you want to create as a rebar set...

...and voilà!

In this free 30-minute webinar we'll give an expert-level tutorial on how to create penetration holes for ducts, pipes, conduit, cable trays, and beams and how to control their parameters in a Revit® project using our Cut Opening BIM Solution. The result you'll see is a structural project with openings in the walls and floors for various MEP elements from a linked file and with user pre-defined offsets. All openings will be tagged to provide information about their size, shape, elevation, and dependence on the MEP system.

The webinar will be held twice on April 7th, so please register for the session that's more convenient for you. It's especially for MEP engineers & coordinators, structural engineers, architects, and BIM coordinators. Join us!

Our Wood Framing and Metal Framing BIM software for Revit has gotten another round of new features. Among the latest enhancements: more flexibility to control brace groups (including adding partial brace groups and allowing braces to run across openings), separate preassemblies for joined openings, special layouts for paneling, and to align the secondary stud system with the Project Base Point.

Current users of Wood/Metal Framing Wall/Floor/Roof, be sure to get these updates installed via the TOOLS4BIM Dock and start benefiting from them today.

Let's get into the new features that have been included in the latest version.

1. Separate Preassemblies for Joined Openings

This feature lets you make separate preassemblies for openings that are part of a joined opening — and the preassemblies will exclude other elements (like top plate supports, etc.) that extend across the joined opening. You can find this option to create separate preassemblies for joined openings in the 'Modify Configuration Settings' tab of the Default Framing Parameters window:

In this example of a joined opening consisting of a door and a window, we want a separate preassembly for the door and another for the window. Since the top support runs the width of the joined opening, it will not be included into either preassembly.

During the past year we implemented over 40 updates to our Wood Framing and Metal Framing BIM software for designing walls, floors, and roofs of prefabricated timber and light-gauge steel framed buildings in Revit®. Enumerated below are the top 31 enhancements (it was hard to choose!) that were made from February of 2019 to February of 2020.

These updates include new features and requests made by clients. (Click a topic to scroll down for details.)

Framing updates (Feb 2019 - Feb 2020):

1. Align Stud Spacing with Frame and Opening Sides
2. Split Sheathing by Openings and Prioritize Merging
3. Expanded Possibilities for Joined Openings
4. New Options in Link Wall/Floor/Roof
5. Split Studs by Brace
6. Multi-frame Assemblies
7. New User Interface
8. Framing Reports & Suggestions
9. Validate Walls
10. Custom Studs/Joists, Top Covers, Top Plates, Blockings/Noggings, Bottom Plates and Bottom Pads
11. Custom Ridge Studs and Edge Joists
12. Variable Joists
13. Manage Connections
14. Splitting Parts using Special Rules
15. Modify Sheathing/Paneling
16. New Numbering Technology
17. Generate and Modify 3D Grids Created by One Roof Line
18. Generate Trusses by 3D Grids and Auto-Array throughout a Roof
19. Complex Truss Roof Framing
20. Create Uniquely Shaped, Parametric Truss Families even for Multiple Roofs
21. Modify Trusses using the Truss Builder
22. Terminal Truss Roof
23. Replacing Trusses
24. Overhang Framing
25. Create separate preassemblies for each joined opening
26. Add transportation braces (even across openings)
27. Align Secondary Stud System with Project Base Point
28. More options for brace groups
29. Special layouts and splitting options for paneling
30. Minimum dimensions for openings to be framed
31. Toggle configuration visibility

By Povilas Sindriūnas, AGACAD Architectural Engineer & BIM Application Engineer

Challenges posed by poor Revit model management ultimately affect all parties involved in the project-handling and BIM processes. That’s why it’s important to be familiar with various tools and techniques that can bring your modelling and coordination to the next level. In previous articles we discussed Revit’s Inbuilt Warning System and Audit Tool and helpful modelling techniques. In part III we’ll look at what makes models sluggish and some additional tools for Revit model management.

Larger Revit models often get clunky with excessive modelling, inappropriate LOD, or improper modelling techniques. Here’s a list of things that slow models down:

• Number of warnings — and severity
• File size, amount of annotation, and complex geometry
• Hardware – workstation, servers and network (underperforming hardware)
• Irrational model structure