Calculating Space Using Room Objects

The simplest way to calculate the space in a building design is to use room objects. Room tags can be used to report room name, department, area, and any of the other properties of a room. These properties can also be scheduled to report the total area of all rooms within a design. With rooms, however, the areas that they report are limited to how those spaces are defined. With the c17-Sample-Building-Start.rvt or c17-Sample-Metric-Start.rvt model open, choose the Architecture tab, and then access the expanded panel under the Room & Area panel. Click Area And Volume Computations, which opens the Area And Volume Computations dialog box. You will see the options for room area computation in the project. The choices are as follows:

• At Wall Finish
• At Wall Center
• At Wall Core Layer
• At Wall Core Center

Because each of these settings affects the entire project, a level of consistency is ensured for room calculations; however, the global nature of the settings makes it difficult to use the room objects for gross area calculations. Room calculations can give you an accurate net area—or carpet area—that refers to the area between the finished wall surfaces considered as occupied space. This value can also be reported in the room tag or in a schedule by selecting the first choice under the Room Area Computation settings, At Wall Finish, in the Area And Volume Computations dialog box (Figure 17.1). Select this option and click OK.

Let’s see how this looks in the floor plans. Activate the Level 2 floor plan. In this view, we have already established the rooms and added room tags; however, the tags do not show the room areas. To modify this setting, follow these steps:

1. Select any of the room tags, and from the Properties palette, choose Edit Type.
2. In the Type Properties dialog box, choose the Show Area check box. Click OK to exit the dialog box.

Now you should see the areas reflected in the room tags, as shown in Figure 17.2. This is because the Show Area setting was created as a Yes/No type parameter assigned to the visibility property of the area label within the room tag family. If you want to explore this functionality further, you can open the tag family. Select the room tag and click Edit Family in the contextual tab of the ribbon.

If you select any one of the room tags, you can also see the area that it is calculating displayed with a red outline (Figure 17.3). When adding rooms, you are not limited to only rooms that are bound on all sides with walls. If you note the lounge and lobby spaces on Level 1, shown in Figure 17.3, there isn’t a wall dividing the two rooms, yet they are shown as being independent of each other. This separation is achieved by using room separation lines, which can be placed with the Room Separator tool located on the Room & Area panel of the Architecture tab. Note that these lines will print and export with other model and annotation elements, but you can adjust their visibility in the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog box. If you decide to change the visibility of the room separator lines and turn them off within a view, they will continue to divide the room objects. You will find these elements in the Visibility/Graphic dialog box on the Model Elements tab, under Lines, <Room Separation>.

Because area calculations using rooms don’t usually include wall thicknesses, let’s look at another way to calculate areas—using area plans.

Creating Area Plans

Area plans are views of the model used to calculate defined, two-dimensional spaces within the model according to prescribed calculation standards but with the added ability to customize the area boundaries. The software allows you to create as many area calculation schemes as you need to depict the design. Area boundaries can exist only in area plans and can be either manually placed or automatically associated with walls. If they are automatically placed, the areas within them will be calculated based on the BOMA standard.

The default project template includes some predefined areas. To add to the list of available area schemes, access the expanded Room & Area panel in the Architecture tab of the ribbon, and then click Area And Volume Computations.

When the Area And Volume Computations dialog box opens, choose the Area Schemes tab, shown in Figure 17.4. Here you can add as many new area schemes as your design requires. For each area scheme, you can create associated plans, schedules, and area boundary layouts; however, be careful not to add too many superfluous area schemes on larger projects because doing so can degrade performance and increase file size.

Create a new area scheme by clicking the New button. By default this will be a rentable type plan based on BOMA calculation rules. You will see a new area scheme in the list. Click in the Name field of the new row and rename the scheme Usable Area (Figure 17.5). Click OK to close the Area And Volume Computations dialog box.

To continue the exercise, you will need to create area plans for your presentation. You can create an area plan from either of two locations: One is located on the Room & Area panel of the Architecture tab; the other is located on the Create panel of the View tab. Follow these steps:

1. From the Architecture tab in the ribbon, find the Room & Area panel, click Area, and then click Area Plan. You are prompted with the New Area Plan dialog box, shown in Figure 17.6.
2. From the Type drop-down menu, choose Usable Area. While pressing the Ctrl key, select both Level 1 and Level 2.

3. Click OK. You are prompted with the option to automatically generate area boundaries for exterior walls. Because you selected more than one level, you will receive a prompt for each level for which a plan is being generated. Go ahead and click OK to generate the plans automatically.

   This creates new area plans under a new node in the Project Browser: Area Plans (Usable Area). The name in the parentheses will always be associated to the area calculation type you used.

4. In the Project Browser, select both Level 1 and Level 2 under Area Plans (Usable Area). Right-click and select Apply View Template from the context menu.

5. In the Apply View Template dialog box, choose Area Plan from the list of view templates, click OK to apply the template, and close the dialog box.

   Note: This method applies the template properties to the views, but it does not associate the template with the views. To permanently assign the view template to the views, edit the View Template parameter in the Properties palette.

   View references, furniture, and floor patterns are turned off based on the settings defined in the view template (Figure 17.7). For more detailed information on using view templates, refer to Chapter 4, “Configuring Templates and Standards.”

   When looking at the area plan on your screen, you’ll notice a thick, purple line running around the inside face of the exterior wall. This is the Area Boundary line. Note that we have changed the default properties of the Area Boundary line type in the figures within this project for clarity. The software has attempted to calculate your plan area based on some predefined rules. For the most part, it does a reasonable job of figuring out where the boundaries are, but from time to time those lines need some adjusting. You will learn over time whether this automation works based on the complexity of the perimeter walls in your designs. If they are complex and not clearly closed, the results of the automated boundary placement may be undesirable.

   In the Project Browser, find the node Area Plans (Gross Building) and open either of the plans. Notice the difference in the application of the area boundaries to the exterior walls. The area boundaries are applied to the outside faces of the exterior walls. In the Usable Area plans (Figure 17.7), the boundaries are assigned to the inside faces of the exterior walls—also adapting to window elements.

   To complete this part of the exercise, you will place additional area boundaries to subdivide the interior space into different spaces.

6. Activate the Level 1 area plan for Usable Area. From the Architecture tab, select the Room & Area panel; click Area Boundary.

   The default drawing method is set to Pick, and in the Options bar, the Apply Area Rules setting is checked. Remember that this setting determines whether the location of the boundary will be affected by the Area Type property of the areas placed on either side of the boundary.

7. Pick the interior walls indicated in Figure 17.8.
8. Activate the Level 2 area plan for Usable Area, and using the same method as in Level 1, add area boundaries to the interior walls indicated in Figure 17.9. You will need to use the Trim tool to adjust the line for the wall at the end of the corridor.

Adding Area Objects

Like room objects, areas need a closed boundary in order to be placed, and they have properties to which you can add attributes that are “taggable.” You can have any number of areas visible in an area plan, but unlike rooms, areas can be seen and tagged only in area plans. In this section’s exercise, you will place area objects within the boundaries you created in the previous exercise:

1. On the Room & Area panel on the Architecture tab, choose the Area tool.

   The Area tool places an area in a manner similar to placing a room, and it gives you a bound area with a large X in it (Figure 17.10). The area of the space bound by the purple boundary lines will be reported as part of the area tag.

2. Place areas in each of the zones defined by the boundary lines in the Level 1 floor plan for Usable Area. To modify the names of the areas, you can select the area object and then modify the name in the Properties palette, or you can select the area tag, click the name, and then type the new value. Change the names of the areas to OFFICES, LOBBY, and SERVICES, as shown in Figure 17.11.

3. Select the OFFICES area (not the tag), and in the Properties palette, change the Area Type property to Office Area. Select the SERVICES area and change its Area Type property to Building Common Area.

   Notice that some of the area boundaries change to different wall faces as the Area Type property is modified. This behavior is based on the BOMA area measurement standards and is dependent on either allowing Revit to automatically assign area boundaries or using the Apply Area Rules option when you are placing the boundaries yourself.

   Rooms are not visible in the area plans, based on the settings in the view templates provided in the sample project. If you do not turn off the visibility of rooms in area plans, you may mistakenly select a room object instead of an area. Always be sure to check the Type Selector to verify that you have selected an area or a room.

4. The next step in our area plan is to follow steps similar to those for Level 1. Activate the Level 2 area plan for Usable Area and place areas in the zones defined by the area boundaries.
5. Rename the areas OFFICES, CIRCULATION, and SERVICES, as shown in Figure 17.12.
6. Select the OFFICES area and change the Area Type property to Office Area. Select the CIRCULATION area and change Area Type to Major Vertical Penetration. Select the SERVICES area and change the Area Type to Building Common Area.
7. Select the area tag for SERVICES, and from the Options bar, activate the Leader setting. This will allow you to move the tag away from the area object without generating a warning. With the SERVICES area tag still selected, move it outside the area boundary lines and adjust the leader line as necessary.

Modifying Area Plans

Like rooms, areas can be modified at any time during the design process. They will be adjusted automatically if the boundary lines are locked to a wall or other element that has been moved as part of the design, or they can be modified manually.

If you delete an area line, you’ll get the warning message shown in Figure 17.13. This message tells you that you have removed one or more of the boundary lines for an area and the software can no longer calculate the area.

If you are in the midst of modifying a space, finish your modifications and replace any area lines that you’ve deleted or removed as part of the design change. Once the area is completely bound, it will recalculate the space.

In this section, you’ve created an area plan that will give you a graphic representation of the space you’ve defined with boundary lines. But what if you want to show this same information in a spreadsheet format? All you need to do is set up a view type in the model that allows you to look at the same information in a tabular format. For this, you can use a schedule.

Creating Schedules

In a project workflow, creating schedules of objects, areas, or quantities is usually one of the most laborious tasks for architects. When this process is performed manually, it can take a very long time and typically results in errors that require validation of the design data.

In Revit, all building elements have information about their properties defined within the model. You also have the option to include additional information with any element. For example, doors have properties such as size, material, fire rating, cost, and so on. All of this information can be scheduled and quantified. Because the schedule is a live tabular view of the element within the model, modifying values in a schedule changes the element in the model, and vice versa.

There are several types of schedules, all of which you can access from the Create panel of the View tab. You can also create schedules by right-clicking the Schedules/Quantities node in the Project Browser. You can create six primary types of schedules:

Schedule/Quantities As the most commonly used schedule type, this schedule allows you to list and quantify all element category types. You would use this type to create tabular views for doors, walls, windows, areas, rooms, and so on.

Graphical Column Schedule This type of schedule can graphically show the structural columns in the project and their attributes.

Material Takeoff This type of schedule can calculate the area or volume of materials across any family category. For example, you might want to know the volume of concrete within the model. Regardless of whether the concrete is in a wall, floor, or column, you can configure the schedule to report the total amount of that material in the project.

Sheet List This schedule allows you to create a list of all the sheets in the project. In addition to the number and name of the sheet, you can include the current revision number, date, and revision description.

Note Block This type of schedule lists the parameters of generic annotation families that are used in your project. These are different from element tags because the values reported in the Note Block schedule come from the annotation families—not the model objects. You can also use a note block to list the annotation symbols (centerlines, north arrows) used in a project.

View List This schedule generates a list of all the views in the Project Browser and their properties. A view list is useful for managing your project because the schedule is a bidirectional view, which allows you to edit many view properties such as name, scale, and phase.

Each of these schedule types gives you the ability to select related element properties that you can mix and match to track elements within the model. When you create a new schedule, you must first select a category of objects to itemize (Figure 17.14). You can also filter the schedule based on the various disciplines by selecting the Filter List drop-down menu at the upper left.

Although the most common schedules are based on a single object category, you can also create schedules that span categories. The first option in the dialog box in Figure 17.14 is the <Multi-Category> schedule. You might want to schedule all the casework, furniture, and furniture systems in a project simultaneously, or all the windows and doors if they are being ordered from the same manufacturer. Although this type of schedule allows you to span multiple categories, many specific parameters cannot be included. First, it is difficult to isolate just two categories (such as windows and doors) in a multi-category schedule. Second, you cannot include critical parameters in the schedule such as length, width, and height. Another limit of this schedule type is that you cannot schedule host elements (walls, floors, ceilings, and so on), only their materials and family components.

CREATING A ROOM SCHEDULE

To become familiar with the general functionality of creating a schedule, you will create a room schedule. You’re going to continue working in the model, c17-Sample-Building-Start.rvt file or c17-Sample-Metric-Start.rvt you opened earlier in this chapter. Later in this chapter, you will apply your skills to create an area schedule based on the previous exercises.

From the View tab in the ribbon, click Schedules ➢ Schedule/Quantities. In the New Schedule dialog box, select Rooms from the list of categories, and click OK to continue. You are then presented with the Schedule Properties dialog box. This is the main interface by which you set, and later modify, any of the organizational or appearance characteristics of your schedules. The dialog box consists of five tabs: Fields, Filter, Sorting/Grouping, Formatting, and Appearance. Let’s step through each of these tabs and examine how they affect the form and function of the schedule:

Fields The Fields tab (Figure 17.15) lets you select the data that will appear in your schedule. The list of available fields on the left will vary based on the category you choose to schedule. If you’ve assigned any custom parameters to those categories, they will be available here as well. Also notice the option Include Elements In Linked at the lower-left corner. Enabling this option will allow you to schedule across multiple files, and it can be a great tool for larger projects. The order of the fields you add to the Scheduled Fields list at the right side (top to bottom) determines the order of columns in your schedule from left to right.

From the list of available fields on the left, add Level, Number, Name, and Area to the list of scheduled fields on the right.

Filter On the Filter tab (Figure 17.16), you can filter out the data you don’t want to show in your schedule. Filters work like common database functions. For example, you can filter out all the sheets in a set whose names don’t begin with the letter A. Or you can filter a material list so that it shows only items containing Concrete. Filters operate only on certain schedule fields. For instance, you can’t apply a filter to the Family And Type field.

Set the first group of filter drop-downs to Filter By: Level: Does Not Equal: Roof 1. Set the second group of filter drop-downs to Filter By: Level: Does Not Equal: Roof 2.

Sorting/Grouping The Sorting/Grouping tab (Figure 17.17) lets you control the order in which information is displayed and which fields control that order. For instance, if you are creating a sheet index, you can choose to sort by sheet number or sheet name, depending on how you’d like the information displayed. You can also decide whether you want to show every instance of an item or only a summary of object types by using the Itemize Every Instance check box at the bottom.

In the first Sort By options, set the drop-down to Level, select the Header and Footer options, and set the Footer drop-down to Count And Totals.

In the Sorting/Grouping tab, you have the ability to summarize the reported information in group footers or as a grand total at the bottom of the schedule; however, you must designate one or more fields to calculate totals in the Formatting tab to display these results.

Formatting The Formatting tab (Figure 17.18) controls the display for each field and whether the field is visible on the schedule. It also controls other elements of the field, such as justification, display name, and orientation of the header. This tab also allows you to use the Calculate Totals check box for use with the footer or Grand Totals options in the Sorting/Grouping tab. Note that you may also need to use the Calculate Totals option for certain numerical fields if you intend to deselect the Itemize Every Instance option in the Sorting/Grouping tab. For example, if you include the Area property of walls and choose not to itemize every instance, the area appears as a blank field in the schedule unless you check the Calculate Totals option.

The Hidden Field option is also an important feature to help you customize your schedules. You can use this option when you need to include a field just for filtering or sorting but you don’t want to see it in the schedule, such as a custom sorting parameter for drawing sheets. You can also select it when you want to use a field as the header of a group of elements in a schedule. For example, you may include the Family and Type fields, but you want only the family listed as a grouping header because you don’t need to show the family name repeatedly in every row of your schedule.

For this exercise, select the Level field and then activate the Hidden Field option. Select the Area field, set the Alignment to Right, and then activate the Calculate Totals option.

Appearance The Appearance tab (Figure 17.19) controls the graphical aspects of the schedule, such as font size and style of text for each of the columns and headers in the schedule. It also allows you to turn the schedule grid lines on and off and modify the line thickness for the grid and boundary lines. For revision schedules, you can also specify whether the schedule reads from top to bottom or from bottom to top.

Select the Outline check box and set the Outline drop-down to Wide Lines.

Once you’ve worked through each of the tabs in the Schedule Properties dialog box, click OK and you will see the working layout of the schedule. The schedule settings can be modified at any time, but this gives you a basis from which to begin. To modify the schedule, you can access any tab of the Schedule Properties dialog box from the five corresponding buttons in the Properties palette when the schedule view is active.

A special tab on the ribbon is active when you are editing a schedule. This ribbon is not available when you select a schedule that has been placed on a sheet but available only in the editing mode. To edit a schedule on a sheet, you must right-click the schedule and then select Edit Schedule from the context menu. The Modify Schedule/Quantities tab shown in Figure 17.20 has many tools that enable you to modify field selection, hide columns, merge cells, and perform other functions that are similar to those found in Microsoft Excel.

In some schedules, such as room schedules, area schedules, and sheet lists, the Insert Data Row button is active. This command allows you to add rows to the schedule in order to prepopulate the project with values before you actually create an element. In the example of rooms, if you first create a room schedule and then generate a list of rooms using the Insert Data Row command, you can place rooms in your model using the predefined data in the Room drop-down from the Options bar.

In addition to the various formatting tools in the contextual tab for schedules, you will find a panel named Parameters. The drop-downs in this panel allow you to select some cells in the schedule and point them to other parameters within the project. As an example, we inserted a row beneath the title row and set the left cell to Project Information: Project Number. The two remaining cells in that row were merged and the cell’s parameter was set to Schedule: Phase using the two drop-downs in the Parameters panel. As you can see in Figure 17.21, you can even change the phase of the schedule directly in the cell of the schedule.

Another key feature of the contextual tab for schedules is the Highlight In Model button. This button allows you to select any element in the schedule and locate that element within the model. Let’s say you want to locate a particular door from your door schedule. Select the respective row in the schedule and click the Highlight In Model button; Revit will pull up a different view with that door highlighted. This technique can be a useful way to locate elements in the model, especially for larger models.

Now that you have an idea of the elements that compose a schedule, let’s explore the workflow with the following two exercises. You will first create a simple wall schedule and then create a Usable Area schedule based on the areas you defined earlier in this chapter.

MAKING A WALL SCHEDULE

In this exercise, you will create a schedule of building elements that is filtered to report only certain types of walls and is simplified to show only a summary of each unique wall type within the project. Make sure you have the c17-Sample-Building-Start.rvt or c17-Sample-Metric-Start.rvt file open, and then follow these steps:

1. From the View tab in the ribbon, locate the Create panel, click Schedules, and then click Schedules/Quantities.

   The New Schedule dialog box opens.

2. Choose Walls from the Category list and click OK.
3. In the Fields tab, choose the following wall properties from the Available Fields list and add them to the Scheduled Fields list (in order):
   • Function
   • Family
   • Type
   • Area
4. Switch to the Sorting/Grouping tab, set the first Sort By field to Family, and check the Header and Blank Line options. Leave the Itemize Every Instance option checked for now.

5. Click OK to close the dialog box and observe the amount of data that is available for this schedule.

   Let’s refine the schedule even further.

6. In the Properties palette, scroll down to find the Edit buttons related to the five tabs in the Schedule Properties dialog box. Click the button next to Filter. Set the first filter drop-down list to Function: Equals: Exterior.

7. Switch to the Formatting tab and select the Function field from the list. Check the Hidden Field option and click OK to view the result in your schedule.

   Note that now only the exterior walls are being listed. Walls with any other function property are not being itemized. Although the Function field is not shown, it must be included in the Scheduled Fields list to be used as a filter.

8. From the Properties palette, click the Edit button related to the Sorting/Grouping tab. Uncheck the Itemize Every Instance option and check the Grand Totals option. From the Grand Totals drop-down list, choose Totals Only.

   

9. Switch to the Formatting tab and select the Family field from the list. Check the Hidden Field option. Next, select the Area field, check the Calculate Totals option, and set the Alignment to Right.
10. Click OK to close the dialog box and observe the final modifications to your wall schedule (Figure 17.22).

In this simple wall schedule exercise, you saw that a large amount of model data can be succinctly itemized and displayed using a combination of parameters within the elements. Only the exterior wall types were itemized, and the total area for each type was reported, including a grand total of all types.

MAKING AN AREA SCHEDULE

In our next exercise, you will create an area schedule specifically for the Usable Area scheme you established earlier in this chapter. The process is similar to that of creating a wall schedule.

If you are working through all the exercises in this chapter, continue with the c17-Sample-Building-Start.rvt or c17-Sample-Metric-Start.rvt file from this book’s web page. To create the schedule, follow these steps:

1. From the View tab in the ribbon, select Schedules and then Schedule/Quantities. From the Categories list, select the Area (Usable Area) schedule type and click OK.
2. On the Fields tab, notice that the available fields in an area table are much more limited than they were in the Walls table in the previous exercise. For this schedule, you need only four fields:
   • Area Type
   • Level
   • Name

   • Area

   Choose those from the Fields list on the left, and using the Add button, move them to the right or double-click the names to move them from one side to the other.

   Remember that the order of the fields in this list will determine the order of the columns in your final schedule. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons as needed to order the list correctly.

3. Next, choose the Sorting/Grouping tab. From the first pull-down menu, choose to sort by Area Type and check the Header and Footer boxes with the Totals Only option. In the second pull-down, choose to sort by Level. Check the Itemize Every Instance option at the bottom.
4. In this schedule, you want to make the areas read as they would in a spreadsheet—right-justified and totaled. Choose the Formatting tab and select Area from the list on the left. Change the Alignment to Right and check the Calculate Totals box. Select the Area Type field and check the Hidden Field box.
5. Click OK to close the dialog box and observe your results (Figure 17.23). The areas placed on each level should be listed under a header and the total area should be calculated at the bottom of each grouped level. Finally, the sum of all areas is displayed as a grand total at the bottom of the schedule.

CREATING A SHEET LIST

Using a sheet list schedule, you can create a tabular view of sheets in your project—even including drawings provided by consultants. This type of schedule allows you to create placeholders for sheets that are not yet created or that will not be a part of your discipline’s drawing set.

In the sample workflow, you have created area plans for the Usable Area scheme. Eventually, you may want to create another area scheme based on departmental spaces. You haven’t created them yet, but you want to create your sheet list, including the area plans that you will create later. To do so, follow these steps:

1. From the View tab in the ribbon, click Schedules ➢ Sheet List.
2. In the Fields tab of the Sheet List Properties dialog box, add the fields named Sheet Number and Sheet Name to the list of scheduled fields.
3. On the Sorting/Grouping tab, choose to sort by Sheet Number and make sure the Itemize Every Instance check box is checked. Click OK to close the dialog box.

4. To begin adding sheets to the sheet list, go to the Rows panel in the ribbon and then click Insert ➢ Data Rows. This will give you a row with the next sequential number based on the last number you entered. Change the sheet number in the new row to G101 and click the Data Rows button again. The next new row should be G102. Change the names of G101 and G102 to LEVEL 1 AREA PLAN and LEVEL 2 AREA PLAN, respectively.

   

   You can continue populating the schedule in this way, adding any sheet names you need or plan to have in the presentation package. Next, you will begin to create a sheet directly from a row in the sheet list.

5. Start by selecting the New Sheet button from the Modify Schedules/Quantities tab on the ribbon. This will give you a dialog box similar to Figure 17.24.
6. Select the type of sheet border you’d like to use from the list at the top. Choose the C size sheet border for this exercise.
7. Select G101 - LEVEL 1 AREA PLAN from the list of placeholder sheets and click OK.

This will create a sheet from the line item in the schedule using the same name and sheet number. The new sheet will appear under the Sheet node in the Project Browser with the correct number and name. You will begin to add views to this sheet later in this chapter.

Using Legends

Legends can become great tools for general notes, key plans, or any other view type that you will want to have consistent across several sheets. It’s also important to note that anything you place inside a legend view—doors, walls, windows, and so on—will not appear or be counted in any schedules. Legend elements live outside of any quantities present in the model.

The Legend tool is located on the Create panel in the View tab. You can create two types of legends from this menu: a legend, which is a graphic display, or a keynote legend, which is a text-based schedule. Both legend types can be placed on multiple sheets, but for this exercise, you’ll focus on the graphic legend. The keynote legend will be handled in more detail in Chapter 18, “Annotating Your Design.”

As part of the sample workflow, you may want to present some of the wall types from your presentation package to demonstrate the Sound Transmission Class (STC) of the walls and the overall wall assembly. Because these wall types will be appearing on all the sheets where you are using them in plan, you’ll make them using a legend.

To make a legend, choose the Legend button from the View tab under the Legends flyout. Creating a new legend is much like creating a new drafting view. You’ll be presented with a New Legend View dialog box (Figure 17.25), where you can name the legend and set the scale. For this legend, name it WALL LEGEND and choose 1 1/2” = 1”−0” (1:10) for the scale.

The legend you’ve created will look like a blank view. At this point, it’s up to you to add content. The simplest type of legend would be adding notes such as plan or demolition notes that would appear in each of your floor plans. You could do this simply by using the Text tool and adding text within this legend view; however, in this example you want to add more than just text.

To add wall types or any other family to the legend view, expand the Families tree in the Project Browser and navigate to the Wall family. Expand this node and then expand the Basic Wall node. Select the Interior − 4 7/8” (138 mm) Partition (1-Hr) wall type, drag it into the view, and insert it anywhere.

With the family inserted into the view, it will appear as a 3’ (1000 mm)-long plan wall. Change your view’s detail level from Coarse to Medium or Fine so you can see the detail within the wall. With that done, select the inserted wall and look at the settings in the Options bar. These options will be consistent for any of the family types you insert. The Options bar for legend elements consists of three sections:

Family This drop-down menu allows you to select different family types and operates just like the Type Selector does for other elements within the model.

View The View option lets you change the type of view from Floor Plan to Section.

Host Length This option changes the overall length (or in the case of sections, height) of the element selected.

Let’s make some minor adjustments to the wall sample in the legend. Let’s change View to Section and change Host Length to 1’-6” (500 mm).

The wall now looks like a sectional element. By adding some simple text, you can embellish the wall type to better explain the elements you’re viewing (Figure 17.26).

Continue the exercise by adding the Exterior – EIFS On Metal Stud wall type to the legend along with some additional text notes to Figure 17.26.

Adding the Area Plan

In the following exercise, you will continue to use the c17-Sample-Building-Start.rvt or c17-Sample-Metric-Start.rvt file saved from previous exercises in this chapter:

1. Open the G101 – LEVEL 1 AREA PLAN sheet in the view window by double-clicking it in the Project Browser. Now, let’s add your first view—the Usable Area plan for Level 1. To do this, simply drag and drop it from the Project Browser onto the sheet. The view will show at the proper scale and with a view title already established. You can then drag the view across the sheet to place it where you’d like to have it, which in this case is centered at the top of the sheet.

   When views are placed on sheets, they are referred to as viewports. Select the view you just placed on the sheet and look at the Properties palette. The instance properties of the viewport are actually the view properties of that view. These properties can be modified at any time in the Properties palette for a viewport that has been placed on a sheet. A viewport also has type properties that determine the view title family, the visibility of the view title, and the formatting of the optional title extension line. We discuss viewport management with greater detail in Chapter 20, “Presenting Your Design.”

   After placing the view on the sheet, you’ll notice that the purple area boundary lines are still visible. If you print the sheet at this point, the software will print those lines as thick, black lines that border your floor plate. This may be undesirable, so you need to do some view management to turn those lines off. One way you can do this is by activating the area plan from the Project Browser and working within the view itself. Since you have the view already established on a sheet, there’s no reason to go back to the original view when you can work on it directly through the sheet.

2. Right-click the view on the sheet and choose Activate View from the context menu. You can also double-click a view placed on a sheet to activate it.

Activating a View

Activating a view is like working in model space through a paper space viewport in Autodesk^® AutoCAD^® software. You’re working on the actual view but you’re doing so while it is placed on the sheet. This gives you the benefit of seeing how changes to the view will affect the layout of the view on the sheet. For example, it could be undesirable to enlarge the crop window for the view to show more information on the sheet. Doing so will take up valuable sheet real estate and should be balanced by the amount of space the other views on this sheet need. You’ll also notice that once the view is activated, all the surrounding materials (the sheet and any other views) turn gray. This is to alert you to the fact that you’re working in the view and are not active on the sheet.

In this view, however, you want to make some modifications to the visibility and turn off the area boundaries so they are not visible when you print. To do this, open the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog box by pressing VG on your keyboard or navigating to the command via the context menu.

In the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog box, pan down in the Model tab (activated by default) and choose the Lines node. Uncheck the box for <Area Boundaries> and click OK. The boundary lines should disappear from the view.

Now you’re ready to get out of the activation mode and add some additional views to the sheet. To do this, right-click anywhere within the view and choose Deactivate View from the context menu. You can also double-click outside the viewport to deactivate the view.

With the view on the sheet, you will want to make some other adjustments to help clean up the sheet layout a bit. One thing you will want to do is modify the view title’s location and length. To do this, select the viewport, and the view title will activate. With the view title active, you’ll notice the blue grip at the end of the title line. By grabbing and dragging the grip, you can shorten the view title. Press the Esc key or click the Modify button in the ribbon to deselect the viewport.

Now select the view title itself—not the viewport—and then click and drag the title closer to the view itself (Figure 17.27).

Using Guide Grids

If you have multiple plans, elevations, or sections that need to be placed at the same location on a series of sheets, the Guide Grid command can help you manage this. Guide grids are nonprinting grids that can be associated with sheets. The grids allow you to snap or align elements such as reference planes, other grids, or crop regions to specific locations relative to the sheet border.

You can create as many unique guide grids as required in a Revit project. First, activate the G101 sheet to establish your first guide grid. Complete the following exercise before placing the next area plan on a new sheet:

1. From the View tab in the ribbon, select Guide Grid from the Sheet Composition panel. Name the new grid C-Sheet Area Plans.
2. When you see the grid appear on the sheet, select it and look at the Properties palette. Change the spacing to 3” (75 mm).

3. Select the outer boundary of the guide grid and activate the Move command (press MV on the keyboard). Snap to one of the grid intersections within the guide, and then move it to the upper-left intersection of the inner sheet border.

   Where you place the guide grid and the spacing of the grid itself will depend on exactly how you plan to use it. In our example, we need to identify only a single common point to which we will align our area plans. The location of the boundary of the grid is not important; the boundary cannot be snapped to.

4. Access the view properties of the sheet and scroll down to find the Guide Grid property. Make sure it is set to C-Sheet Area Plans.

5. Select the area plan already placed on sheet G101 and activate the Move command. Snap to the intersection of the two reference planes visible in the plan and then to a nearby intersection on the guide grid.

   Note that some traditional modifying methods do not work with guide grids. For example, you cannot use the Align command.

6. If you haven’t already done so, create a new sheet using the G102 - LEVEL 2 AREA PLAN placeholder. In the Properties palette, make sure the guide grid is specified and note that it is now in exactly the same location as on the previous sheet.
7. Drag the Level 2 Usable Area plan onto the sheet, and then use the Move command to adjust the location of the plan to the same location as on the previous sheet (Figure 17.28). Note that only crop regions and datum objects will snap to the guide grids; therefore, you may need to activate the area plans and enter Reveal Hidden Elements mode in the view control bar. This will temporarily display reference planes in the exercise file. Deactivate the view and move the viewports into alignment with the guide grid.

If you haven’t noticed already, model views of the same scale will always snap to each other without any special grids. What you might not realize is that this also works between views of different types as long as they are of the same scale. For example, you can drag an elevation from the Project Browser onto sheet G102 and see how it snaps in relation to the plan. Sections can also be aligned with elevations and with plans. Even 3D views can be aligned with each other.

Adding the Schedule

With the largest view, the area plan, on the sheet, you can use the bottom portion of the sheet to lay out your other views. For the second view, let’s add the area schedule you created. To do this, drag and drop it from the Project Browser in much the same way you added the area plan. The inserted view will look like Figure 17.29. You’ll notice some differences in how this view looks from the way a schedule looks when it’s not on a sheet. Specifically, you can now see the header text and the fonts you chose in the schedule properties. You’ll also be able to see the grid lines and their associated line weights from the Appearance tab of the schedule properties.

With the schedule on the sheet, it looks a bit tight. You have the ability to redefine the column spacing so you can make any visual adjustments to the schedule while it is on the sheet to help it read better. These adjustments do not change the actual schedule—just its appearance on the sheet.

To do this, highlight the schedule by selecting it. The schedule will turn blue, and you’ll have a few new grips to help you make adjustments (Figure 17.30). The blue inverted triangles will allow you to modify the column widths. Grab them and drag them left or right to change the column sizing.

You’ll also notice a blue cut symbol on the schedule. This cut symbol lets you break the schedule into multiple vertical columns on the same sheet. This tool can be especially handy if you have a long schedule like a room schedule or door schedule and it has too many rows to fit vertically on your sheet. Selecting this tool will break the schedule in half (and you can break it into half again and again) so that you can take advantage of the horizontal real estate. If you choose to separate your schedule in this fashion, it will still retain all the necessary information and all the portions will continue to automatically fill themselves out dynamically as a single schedule would. You also have the opportunity to change the overall height of the schedule once it is broken up by grabbing the grips at the bottom of the schedule and dragging up and down (Figure 17.31). Doing so will draw or push rows from the adjacent schedule portion so that all of your information is continuous.

To rebuild a split schedule—essentially returning it to a single list—select the schedule on the sheet so it highlights and the grips are displayed. Click one of the move icons and drag the split portion on top of the other schedule segment. The split schedule will then become whole again.

Finishing the Sheet

Now that you have those two views on the sheet, it is a simple matter to add the remaining views. To add the wall legend you created, you will drag and drop it from the Project Browser in much the same way you did with the other two views.

In this case, the wall legend came onto the sheet needing little modification. Following this same workflow, you can also add a drafting view from the imported detail to the sheet, completing Sheet G102 (Figure 17.32).