1. What is Revit Architecture?

Revit is Autodesk’s platform for building information modeling (BIM). Built on the Revit® platform, Revit® Architecture software is a complete, discipline-specific building design and documentation system supporting all phases of design, construction documentation, and even fabrication. From capturing conceptual studies through the development of the most detailed construction drawings and schedules, Revit-based applications help provide immediate competitive advantage, deliver better coordination and quality across project phases and disciplines, and can contribute to higher profitability for architects, designers and the rest of the building team.

At the heart of the Revit platform is the Revit parametric change engine, which automatically coordinates changes across the project—in model views or drawing sheets, schedules, sections, plans, and more.

2. What is building information modeling (BIM)?

Building information modeling (BIM) is the creation and use of coordinated, internally consistent, computable information about a building project in design and construction. The ability to keep this information up-to-date and accessible in an integrated digital environment gives architects, designers, engineers, builders, and owners a clear overall vision of their projects and contributes to the ability to make better decisions faster, helping increase project quality and profitability.

For more information about building information modeling and Autodesk’s strategy for the application of information technology to the building industry, see the white papers and other information at www.autodesk.com/powerofbim.

3. In addition to Revit Architecture, are there other industry-specific applications built on the Revit platform?

Revit® Structure software is a fully integrated modeling, design, and documentation system for structural engineers and drafters that takes full advantage of the Revit platform’s change management technology. Revit Structure offers BIM for structural engineering firms.

Revit® MEP software is the BIM solution for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering design and documentation.

4. What is AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite software?

AutoCAD® Revit® Architecture Suite bundles Revit Architecture and AutoCAD® software together, with a single serial number and authorization code. This combination enables you to maintain your investment in technology and training, while offering the BIM competitive advantage and the flexibility to move to a new technology platform when you’re ready. For more information about AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite, visit www.autodesk.com/revitarchitecturesuite.

5. What are the important new features in Revit Architecture 2009?

Revit Architecture 2009 continues to deliver superior design information to support better design decision-making by introducing new design and visualization features, adding more control and flexibility to existing features, and better leveraging performance and integration. Here are a few of the key features in Revit Architecture 2009:

Design Visualization: Better experience your architectural projects, even before they are built, with Revit Architecture 2009. A proven, powerful tool with roots in the entertainment world, the mental ray® rendering engine is now available for your architectural projects. The advanced capabilities of mental ray in Revit Architecture 2009 enable accurate visualizations through the Autodesk® FBX® file format and easy interoperability with Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2009 design software.

Swept Blend: Extending the range of what is achievable during conceptual design and family creation, swept blend functionality offers more opportunity to express complex forms.

Autodesk 3D UI: The Autodesk 3D UI includes ViewCube™ and SteeringWheels™ technology, two intuitive, interactive scene navigation tools that offer a familiar experience across multiple Autodesk 3D design products. The 3D UI enables you to navigate 3D scenes easily and effectively, regardless of your level of experience. Your extended team can apply the same software skills across different products and disciplines.

Dimension Improvements: Dimension improvements offer new flexible options for expressing dimension text by conveying more than just length values in the dimension string. New dimension text enables you to add a variety of supplemental text to a dimension string without damaging the integrity of the building information model by overriding dimension values.

Revision Schedules: Enhancements give added flexibility and control to the display of revision schedules. New attributes enable you to reverse the direction of schedules and to control whether they build dynamically or remain a fixed size. In addition, a new Issued By property has been added and schedules can be rotated on title blocks to achieve the various needs of individual firms.

Advanced Rendering with 3ds Max 2009: Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 design software introduces new lighting simulation and analysis technology, advanced rendering capabilities, and workflows that integrate with popular Autodesk products such as Revit Architecture 2009. Through Autodesk FBX, an open-standard, platform-independent 3D file format, Autodesk 3ds Max significantly enhances interoperability with Revit 2009–based products through the accurate import of lights, materials, and cameras.

These and other features take advantage of the continuous and immediate availability of high-quality, reliable, and coordinated information—efficiencies that users have come to expect from purpose-built software for BIM.

6. How does Revit Architecture 2009 help with Sustainable Design?

Revit Architecture 2009 offers a rich set of capabilities that support better sustainable design decision making. For example:

• Calculating material quantities to support cost estimating and study design analysis against LEED® criteria is greatly simplified through the use of the material takeoff feature.
• Revit Architecture 2009 sun studies enable designers to quickly analyze sun positions and solar effects while informing the design process.
• Designers can export building information, including materials and room volumes, to gbXML (green building extensible markup language) to perform energy analysis and study building performance.

Using design options easily develop and evaluate multiple sustainable design alternatives. Visualize, quantify, and present any combination of schemes to inform the decision making process.

7. How does Revit Architecture 2009 support conceptual design to fabrication workflows?

Revit Architecture 2009 software extends conceptual design information beyond the conceptual design stage. Purpose-built for BIM, Revit Architecture 2009 provides the ability to quickly define abstract architectural concepts and then accurately transform those ideas (or the forms from disparate models, such as those coming from Autodesk® Maya® or other generic modeling tools) into rationalized architectural ideas comprising constructible building components. Revit Architecture 2009 is based on the use of coordinated, consistent, and computable information about a project - information which can be used throughout the building design process; from early conceptual design stages, as well as during production documentation phases, construction, fabrication, and even building lifecycle management.

8. Revit Architecture 2009 handles modeling well, but what about conventional drafting and detailing? Do I still need AutoCAD for that?

Designers can work entirely in Revit Architecture 2009 to generate construction documentation. AutoCAD software is not required.

For more information about producing construction documents in Revit Architecture or interoperability with AutoCAD software and other CAD systems, see the Autodesk white paper on the subject at www.autodesk.com/revitarchitecturesuite.

9. How does Revit Architecture 2009 work with large teams and projects?

Worksharing in Revit Architecture 2009 distributes the power of the Revit parametric building modeler across the project team. Worksharing provides a complete range of collaborative modes, from on-the-fly simultaneous access to the shared model, through the formal division of the project into discrete shared units, to complete separation of project elements or systems into individually managed linked models. Worksharing enables team members to choose the best way to collaborate and interact based on their workflow and project requirements.

10. What are families in Revit Architecture, and how many are there in the library?

All elements in Revit Architecture are based on families. The term family describes a powerful concept that helps users manage data and make changes easily. It refers to an element’s ability to have multiple types defined within it, each of a different size and shape. Even though the types can look completely different, they are all still related and come from a single source, hence the term family. Changes to a family or type definition ripple through the project and are automatically reflected in every instance of that family or type in the project. This capability keeps everything coordinated and saves users the time and effort of manually tracking down components to update.

The Revit Architecture library contains thousands of families and includes components in both imperial and metric units. Revit Architecture family files are also available from the Revit Architecture web library (accessible from within the product) and from other publicly accessible websites. Each family file can produce many components. Because each file typically includes several sizes or types, the number of parts available is in the tens of thousands.

Frequently Asked Questions (pdf - 75Kb)