Inside the System

Why is This Checkbox Always Disabled?

The 2011 release of Revit MEP has given many new format options for panel schedules. Some are obvious; the purpose of others are not as easy to figure out. One such option is the control to display multi-phase circuits on multiple rows. While working in the Set Template Options dialog when editing a panel schedule template, have you noticed this option and not figured out why it is always disabled? There is a simple answer. This control only applies to panels that use the One Column Panel Configuration. Typical two column formats will show multi-phase circuits on multiple rows by default, but the one column formats show multi-phase circuits on one row by default. Checking this setting will break out the phases onto separate rows as illustrated by the preview image in the dialog. (Click the image for an enlarged view.)

6/21/2010 4:12:28 PM

Hotfix for Revit MEP 2010 Available - Circuits Lost When Synchronizing With Central

This is to notify all Revit MEP 2010 users that a hotfix has been provided to deal with an issue where circuit data was lost or modified when users performed a save to central.The link and instructions for the hotfix can be found on the Autodesk website here: http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=DL15282292

6/18/2010 10:00:44 AM

Controlling Circuit Naming to Match Local Standards

Circuit naming in Revit MEP has always been based on the standard used in the U.S. For example, if the first two circuits added to a panel are both three-pole, they will be named 1,3,5 and 2,4,6. But what if you are designing in a locale that uses a different standard? What if you would expect those circuits to be named 1,2,3 and 4,5,6 or better yet RST1 and RST2? As part of the new panel schedule functionality in Revit MEP 2011, circuit naming and panel schedule formatting have been made more flexible to allow for different naming standards. The following are the key features to be aware of to create the RST1 example.

First, to make the circuits number down a schedule (1,2,3) instead of back and forth across a schedule (1,3,5), you will want to create a panel family that uses a different Panel Configuration. This new parameter is found by editing the family. Set it to either One Column or Two Columns, Circuits Down. Panels migrated from earlier versions of Revit MEP will be set to Two Columns, Circuits Across by default. The Panel Configuration parameter tells Revit how to number the circuits and where to show them in a panel schedule as they are added to the panel.

Next, set the panel to use By Phase circuit naming. This option is found in the instance properties of the panel.

Then set the labels for each phase to use your standard. This control is found in the Electrical Settings dialog > General node. The labels default to A, B, and C. They have been changed to R, S, and T in this example.

As a result, the circuits assigned to this panel are using my local standard correctly as seen this in Revit MEP panel schedule.

6/11/2010 1:27:54 PM

View Templates

Are you using View Templates? View templates are NOT new to Revit 2011... however, if you are not familiar with them, here is a primer.First, you may ask, what is a View Template?A View Template is essentially a collection of settings that define how to display a view.... in the world of MEP, we have lots of different types of views... duct views, piping views, plumbing views, lighting views, power views, low voltage system views, the list could go on. If you are tediously manually setting up each individual view, you should realize that much of that work could be simplified by using View Templates. Just about all the settings in the view's Visibility/Graphics (V/G) may be applied using a view template. View Templates are found on the View ribbon, Graphics Panel, View Templates > View Template settings. Refer to the product documentation for more info... however, this should be fairly straight forward... the settings here are very similar to those found in View Properties.Alternatively, when you have a view defined as you need, you can right-click the view name in the Project Browser, and select Create View Template From View... This will take the settings of the view, and create a template for you.You'll note that on the right click menu on a view in the Project Browser is Apply View Template...this lets you select a view template and apply its settings to the selected view(s).Another item is Apply Default View Template. The Default View Template is a property of each view (under the Identity Data group). This allows you to set a view template that may be used to 'reset' the settings of the view, without having to explicitly select the view template. For example, as you're working on your duct, pipe, plumbing, electrical, etc, views, you may change the Detail Level to Coarse and the Visual Style to Wireframe to speed things up... however, when you go to plot, you need to revert these back to the default settings as per the Default View Template associated with each view. So, before plotting, just select all the views, and select Apply Default View Template, and each view will be re-configured to your 'standard' settings.As you work on your initial/pilot projects, you will likely be tweaking your views/view templates as you go (it's hard to discern if your view template is 'correct' at the start of a project since you don't have any model geometry defined to see the effect). However, once you have settled on the necessary settings within a project, you can then use that project as a basis for future or other ongoing projects. You can use Transfer Project Standards (Manage ribbon, Settings panel) to copy your View Templates to other projects. If you make use of Filters (many MEP views do) just make sure you also transfer the Filters, otherwise the V/G Override Filters settings in your View Templates may not work as expected.Happy templating!

6/10/2010 3:25:44 PM

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