Useful commands in Revit architecture depend on each stage of the project. At the beginning, when drafting the floor plans for example, there is more use of commands from the Modify tab like Align, Trim and Move. Whereas, in the latter stage of the project when you must put it on the sheets and make schedules, commands like Room Tag, Dimension and Detail Line are used more often. Therefore, in this blog I will explain 5 useful commands from Modify tab and 5 useful commands from the Annotate tab.
Useful commands in Revit Architecture for initial drafting
When starting a project with a floor plan, the Modify tab is used very often. It helps to edit an initial drawing and is mainly used to make small changes. The most useful commands are:
- Align: Helps to align one element to the other. It is used very often to make sure everything is in line with each other.
- Trim / Extend: Most frequently used to enclose or complete a form by either trimming unwanted elements or extending elements.
- Split Element: Used to split an element and connect it to other elements without having to delete and redraw elements individually, it is more convenient to use this command. After splitting the element, each of it can have different properties and materials.
- Offset: Moves or creates the similar element for example a wall or detail line at a specific distance that is perpendicular to its existing position. It is quicker to use this command than having to move or create an element individually at a certain length.
- Array: Used to create an array of the selected element such that you can specify the distance between each element, and it is applied to the complete array set. This is also an easier way to create multiple similar elements at one time rather than individually.
Useful commands in Revit Architecture for creating final drawing package
The final stage of any project usually involves creating sheets and specific schedules that meet the project requirement. The commands used at this stage are mainly from the Annotate tab. The commands are as follows:
- Tag Room: Used to Tag each room so that when you create a schedule, you can find values for specific parameters such as the Area for each tagged room. Adding these in plan and section views can be helpful to differentiate each room.
- Dimension: Displays aligned dimension for selected elements in plan and section views to provide annotation on the drawing. This is used when specific dimensions need to be highlighted as per the project requirement.
- Model group: Used to create a group of elements. For example, making a group of the furniture can allow the user to easily relocate the entire group than individual furniture component. This is helpful when you have multiple levels where each level is the same so grouping elements makes it easy to copy.
- Detail Line: They have various purposes from detailing a part of the model such as a section or as a drafting tool that does not affect the model. As they are also only visible in a specific view, they can be used for tracing and making sketch lines.
- Text: A simple command that can be mainly used on the sheets to add additional information about the plans, section or 3D model. They work as a normal textbox on the sheets/
In conclusion, useful commands in Revit Architecture largely depend on the different work stages and they all serve a different purpose even though some commands such as those from the Modify tab are used more frequently than the others.
Author
Pranjali Deshpande
I am currently working as an Architectural Assistant in NU Concepts here in the UK. I started working in September and doing this Revit Course was a part of my initial 3-month training at the practice from ADMEC Multimedia Institute. I am originally from Mumbai, India and started working as soon as I finished my Undergraduate from Manchester School of Architecture.