Troubleshooting Revit MEP

A 20 minute video from Autodesk's Harlan Brumm and Jerry Lee Smith covering:

Overview of the Revit MEP Workflow

• Create new project using MEP template
• Save Arch model as central file on server
• Link in models using origin-to-origin
• setting links to be room bounding
• copy/monitor levels
• Setting up views and apply view templates to views
• create levels to account for plenum spaces

Troubleshooting Spaces and Zones

• space not visible in view
• rooms are "unoccupied"

Troubleshooting Revit MEP Performance

• Not following workflow
• not creating logical systems
• large connected duct networks
• complicated families
• poorly connected elements
• Limit color schemes
• place endcaps on open ducts
• ensure flow direction on connectors is correct

Autodesk Publishes Framework to Help AEC Professionals Implement BIM Process

The Autodesk BIM Deployment Plan is a Free, Web-accessible Resource Offering Tools and Guidance Based on Real-World Practices for building industry professionals interested in implementing Building Information Modeling (BIM). Tools offered in this resource provide a practical framework for AEC stakeholders, and can be used by individual organizations on specific projects. The BIM Deployment Plan includes:

• BIM support materials for owners, architects, engineers, and contractors
• Templates to streamline multi-discipline communications
• Recommendations for roles and responsibilities
• Best business process examples
• Software suggestions for an effective BIM environment

DOWNLOAD the BIM Deployment Plan Here

SAN RAFAEL, Calif - Autodesk, Inc has announced the availability of its Autodesk BIM (Building Information Modeling) Deployment Plan: A Practical Framework for Implementing BIM, a new web-accessible resource for building industry professionals. Aimed at all AEC stake-holders, including owners, architects, engineers and contractors, the free guide includes support materials and a framework based on real-world applications of BIM. Tools offered include templates to help manage multi-discipline communications within a BIM project, as well as suggestions for the roles and responsibilities of each party in a BIM process-based project, best business process examples and suggested software to support an effective BIM environment.



“The BIM Deployment Plan is helping us develop a BIM implementation process best suited for the technology needs of the project and tailored to the abilities of the players involved. It is also helpful in defining clear roles and responsibilities for the execution of workflows on our jobs.”



As the building industry continues to evolve, technologies such as visualization, simulation and analysis are fundamentally changing how projects get delivered. Now more than ever, collaboration and transparency are essential and effective for anticipating and reducing problems related to cost overruns, schedule, scope and quality. Autodesk has been at the forefront of BIM technology adoption including the creation of a portfolio of software products that facilitate a BIM solution.



“New technology is creating enormous opportunities for the building industry to improve processes and outcomes, and many organizations still need guidance on how to share information as well as streamline project communications,” said Phil Bernstein, FAIA, Autodesk vice president of building industry strategy & relations. “The Autodesk BIM Deployment Plan was designed to help companies navigate the entire process via one collaborative framework and subsequently deliver projects faster, more economically and with reduced environmental impact.”



“As strong advocates of BIM, we can develop building design strategies that are extremely well integrated and coordinated, substantially increasing our efficiency and lessening the building time – all of which allow us more time to create inspiring designs for our clients,” said Dick Thomas, vice president at SHP and executive director of 2enCompass. “Now taking this a step farther, The Autodesk BIM Deployment Plan has helped us further advance BIM project implementation by better documenting stakeholder roles and responsibilities and most importantly, helping us deliver the right information from the project model to the right people at the right time to drive our project forward.”



“Communication and collaboration amongst strategic team players is vital to the success of our projects,” said Mark Konchar vice president at Balfour Beatty Construction, Washington division. “The BIM Deployment Plan is helping us develop a BIM implementation process best suited for the technology needs of the project and tailored to the abilities of the players involved. It is also helpful in defining clear roles and responsibilities for the execution of workflows on our jobs.”

Download the Revit Model Style Guide V2.1

From Autodesk's Seek Manufacturers website, you can find the latest Revit Model Style Guide.

Autodesk has put out another revised version of the Model Style Guide. The purpose of this guide is to define Autodesk guidelines and standards for model content creation in Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure. Model content refers to the two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional standard component families that are used to create elements that represent manufactured content (for example, windows, furnaces, heat pumps, and structural steel members).

By following the guidelines and standards in this guide, content creators will ensure the portability and performance of their content, and fulfill the necessary distribution requirements for the Autodesk Seek web service. The Autodesk Seek web service requires:

• the uniform display of products offered by a single manufacturer
• complete, consistent, and accurate presentation of product data across manufacturers
• the full use of Autodesk Seek search capabilities

Go with the leaders. Working with industry experts and standards organizations, Autodesk has developed the Revit Model Style Guide to help you develop consistent, useful Revit models that design professionals can use with confidence.

Revit Model Style Guide
(zip - 3910Kb)

Implementing Autodesk® Revit® MEP: A to Z

Implementing Autodesk® Revit® MEP: A to Z


Event Year: Autodesk University 2009
Class ID: MP322-1

Primary Speaker: Todd Shackelford

Class Information
Class Type: 90-Minute Class
Expertise: Intermediate
Industry: Building
Primary Track: MEP Design and Engineering
Primary Software: Revit MEP

Class Audience
CAD managers, IT managers, and engineering professionals

Class Description
This class will outline a framework for transitioning to Revit MEP. From setting expectations and defining goals for Revit, building information modeling (BIM) and integrated project delivery (IPD) to plotting the construction documents, we will walk through the checklist of elements required to help Revit really work in your office. Along the way, this class will demonstrate how to defuse the landmines of a Revit implementation, and some clever Revit tricks will be exposed to smooth the transition.

Key Learning

• Understanding the role of Revit MEP in BIM and IPD
• Creating a Revit MEP template for success
• Creating MEP Families that work for you
• Revit MEP transition tips
• What not to do

Revit MEP View Templates

One of the advantages of Autodesk Revit is that each view has individual graphic, scale, discipline, phase and view range settings; and changes to these parameters only affect the selected view. The view visibility of categories and subcategories can be set and saved to a view template (similar to layer states in AutoCAD). Two examples of different views of the same level are shown below.

These view specific settings can also be a disadvantage when you have to use the same settings on another view. When you duplicate floor plans to create furniture, fire safety or area plans for different levels, you change different view settings for each type of plan. Instead of repeating the effort of changing each parameter every time you create these views, you can save them as View Templates. These can then be applied to other views. They can also be applied to new views as the default view template.

To create a View Template, set your desired view parameters, then from the View pull down menu, select Save As View Template. A dialog box will appear to let you apply a name to the view template. Additionally, you can set it by right mouse clicking (RMC) on the View name in Project Browser.

Note that Autodesk Revit 9 has slightly different terminology on the pull down and RMC menus. Instead of Save as View Template, it has the more descriptive, Create View Template from View.

You can also duplicate and rename existing View Templates from the Settings pull down by picking View Templates. All methods will bring up the View Templates dialog where you can review and change the parameters that you want applied to other views.

Within the Autodesk Revit Help is a list of the modifiable settings that can be saved to View Templates. However, it leaves out some of the parameters illustrated above that can also be set. Even though the crop region settings aren't shown in the View Templates dialog, I noticed that if the View Property Crop Region is checked on in both views, the crop region visibility state can be saved and set with a View Template.

The Autodesk Revit Help screenshot list of modifiable View Template Properties is shown below.

You can apply these saved view settings (View Templates) to other views by using the View pull down and selecting Apply View Template. This can also be done by RMC on the view name in the Project Browser and selecting Apply View Template. Multiple views can also be selected and set at once in the Project Browser.

Another way to apply a view template to multiple views is to RMC on a sheet and selecting Apply View templates to all Views. This will apply it to all the views that have been placed on the sheet.

The Apply View Template command opens up the Select View Template dialog where you will see all the View Templates that have been saved.

In the Select View Template dialog, you can also check a box to show Existing views, which will display existing views and also the view templates. Another option is to turn on All view types, which will show all view template types in the project. These existing views and view types can be used as a template to apply their view settings to other views. The third option is to Apply automatically to new views of the same type.

The View Template can also be applied through the Element Properties dialog for a view.

You may first use View Templates for plan views to control object visibility, lineweight and screening, but it is also useful for saving model graphic and shadow settings for 2D and 3D presentation views, as shown below.

Changes to the parameters in a View Template are not automatically applied to views that were assigned the View Template. There is no live link between them. If you change settings to the View Template, you need to reapply the modified template to those views it was set to originally. It will overwrite previous view property settings. The best location to change or create new View Templates based on others (duplicate) is by accessing View Template in the Settings pull down menu. You can also set parameters in a current view and save with the same name as an existing View Template. You will see a dialog stating that the template exists and asking if you want to replace (overwrite) it.

View Templates can be embedded in your Project Template and they can also be copied between projects by using Transfer Project Standards from the File pull down menu.

Deletion of view templates is only available in the View Options dialog. Deleting a View Template will not affect any existing views that it had been applied to previously.

Autodesk Revit 8.1 can only create and apply View Templates for geometric views. Autodesk Revit 9 allows View Templates for schedules as well, as shown below. The formatting of the schedule can be saved as a View Template and applied to single or multiple schedules at one time.

View Templates not only help standardize the look of construction document sets, but they also help you achieve it with less work.