Well, as Steve Stafford put it, "Let The Noise Begin" is pretty much nailing it on the head. In the next few days, there is going to be a lot of chatter on the internet about what 2011 will bring to it's users. And for MEP, I think it will be a lot. Enough where processes will change and be more efficient. Over the next couple weeks, I'll be posting videos on demonstrations of some of the new features that Revit MEP 2011 offers and how these features will change the way you work. But in the meantime, here is a summary of what you should expect when the software is released in a few weeks.
Cable Tray and Conduit
In addition to pipe and duct, we now have cable tray, conduit, cable tray fittings and conduit fittings. You can expect to place these types of items in just like you place pipe and duct.
You be able to load various conduit fittings and cabletray fittings....
...and create various family conduit types and cabletray types.
It comes out of the box with various sizes that include inside and outside diameters. You also have control of customizing various cable tray and conduit sizes as well.
You can control the Detail Level and control the Visibility and Graphics of conduit and cable tray to control the display those objects just as you can currently control the display of piping and duct.
You can check for interferences of cable tray and conduit with other types of objects in your project model.
You can schedule cable tray and conduit using the same procedures that you used to schedule pipe and duct. When you draw cable tray or conduit without using the no-fittings opition, it is scheduled as a single run.
Electrical Demand Factors
You can use demand factors to adjust the rating of the main electrical service for a project. This is used since not all electrical equipment will be on all the time.
There are many demand factors that come out of the box, and you can easily create additional demand factors that are needed for the codes in your area. The demand factor can be determined by a constant value or percentage, or by the quantity of connected objects or by load.
These demand factors are assigned to various load classifications which are then assighed to electrical connectors.
Tagging on Placement
There is a new Tag on Placement option that automatically adds a tag for a component when it's placed in the model. Once the tool is selected, you'll have options in the options bar of it's placement.
Companion Flanges
You can add flanges to your pipes and are separate objects than the pipe itself. So when you make an elbow, there are actually 5 components. Two pieces of pipe, one elbow, and two companion flanges. You must make sure that the flanges are loaded into your project and assigned to your pipe type to be inserted automatically. You can, however add flanges manually as well.
Oval Duct
Finally, Revit now has oval duct to add to it's current round and rectangular duct types. Make sure to load the oval duct fittings into your project and assigned to your oval duct type. You have the same parameteres to size oval duct as you did with round and rectagular duct.
Placing Valves and Fittings in Section or Elevation Views
This is another big one. When you have stacked pipe, and need to put a valve on the bottom pipe, you always had to temperarily hide the upper pipe to place the fitting on the lower pipe. And putting a valve on a vertical pipe was difficult and very time consuming.
New Electrical Content
New content has been created for electrical components. Most of the content is located within the Electrical Compnents folder. The content folder is slightly different than in 2010 so be careful when creating your new 2011 library folder.
