14: Creating Sheets and Printing


CHAPTER 14
Creating Sheets and Printing


Your deliverable product is a set of construction documents and specifications. So it stands to reason that the application you use to produce these construction documents is at its strongest in this arena. Unfortunately, when you see marketing campaigns related to Revit, all they show are huge skyscrapers and realistic renderings. And of course you see the slide of the architect handing a model to the contractor, and then the contractor handing it to the owner. Don’t get me wrong—all that stuff is good, but the most powerful feature of Revit Architecture is its ability to create sheets. You wouldn’t think this is the standout feature; but when it’s 4:30 in the afternoon and the job is going out the door at 5:00, you’ll never go back to a drafting application after you’ve used Revit at the eleventh hour.



  • Creating and populating sheets
  • Modifying a viewport
  • Adding revisions to a sheet
  • Addressing project parameters
  • Generating a cover sheet
  • Printing from Revit Architecture

Creating and Populating Sheets


The first part of the chapter will focus on creating a sheet and how to populate it with views. Although you completed this task back in Chapter 11, “Schedules and Tags,” it’s time to drill into the ins and outs of sheet creation.


Luckily, when you create and populate sheets, Revit holds true to form—that is, you don’t have to start setting up different drawings or models to simply reference them together. You create sheets much as you create most other views, because that is all a sheet is: a view. But a sheet goes one step further. Look at a sheet as a view that collects other views for the purpose of printing.


The objective of the following procedure is to create a new sheet. To get started, open the model you’ve been working on. If you missed the previous chapter, go to the book’s web page at www.sybex.com/go/revit2012ner. From there, you can browse to Chapter 14 and find the file called NER-25.rvt. Now, follow along:



  1. 1. In the Project Browser, scroll down until you see a category called Sheets, as shown in Figure 14.1.
  2. 2. Right-click Sheets, and select New Sheet (see Figure 14.1).
    f1401.tif

    FIGURE 14.1 Selecting a new sheet


  3. 3. In the Select Titleblocks area of the New Sheet dialog box, select the E1 30 × 42 : Horizontal title block. (It’s probably the only one available.)
  4. 4. Click OK.

Congratulations! You now have a blank sheet. The next procedure involves adding views to the sheet by using the click-and-drag method:



  1. 1. On the View tab, click Guide Grid, as shown in Figure 14.2.
  2. 2. In the Guide Grid Name dialog, call the guide Grid 30×42, and click OK.
  3. 3. Select the guide grid, and drag it into place by using the blue grips (see Figure 14.2).
  4. 4. With the guide grid still selected, change Guide Spacing to 3˝ (75mm) in the Properties dialog (see Figure 14.2.
    f1402.tif

    FIGURE 14.2 Adding a guide grid to a sheet.


  5. 5. In the Project Browser, find the dependent view called Level 1 West, as shown in Figure 14.3.
  6. 6. Pick the view, and hold down the pick button.
  7. 7. Drag the view onto the sheet (see Figure 14.3).
    f1403.eps

    FIGURE 14.3 Dragging the view onto the sheet


  8. 8. When the view is centered in the sheet, let go of the pick button. The view follows your cursor. Try to align the lower-left corner of the viewport with a guide grid, and then click. Doing so places the view onto the sheet.

This is how you populate a sheet using Revit—quite the departure from CAD. One nice detail is that the title is filled out, and the scale will never be incorrect. The next step is to begin renumbering sheets so you can create a logical order.


Sheet Organization


If you’ve been following along with the book, you already have a sheet numbered A101. It would be nice if you could give this sheet a new number and start your sequence over. Revit lets you do just that.


The objective of the next procedure is to change the sheet numbering and to add more sheets, allowing Revit to sequentially number the sheets as they’re created. Follow these steps:



  1. 1. In the Project Browser, find the sheet A101 – Unnamed, and right-click.
  2. 2. Select Rename, as shown in Figure 14.4.
    f1404.tif

    FIGURE 14.4 Renaming the sheet


  3. 3. Change the sheet number to A601.
  4. 4. Change the name to SCHEDULES AND GENERAL NOTES.
  5. 5. Click OK.
  6. 6. Right-click sheet A102 (if it isn’t named A102, it’s the only other sheet other than A601, the sheet you just created).
  7. 7. Select Rename.
  8. 8. Change the number to A101.
  9. 9. Change the name to WEST WING FIRST FLOOR PLAN.
  10. 10. Click OK.

Your Project Browser should now resemble Figure 14.5.

f1405.tif

FIGURE 14.5 The reorganized Project Browser


With the sheets organized, you can now proceed to create more. As you do, you’ll see that not only do the sheets number themselves, but all of the sections, elevations, and callouts begin reading the appropriate sheet designations.


The objective of the next procedure is to create more sheets and to add views to them:



  1. 1. Right-click Sheets (All) in the Project Browser.
  2. 2. Select New Sheet.
  3. 3. Click OK to add the title block.
  4. 4. At the bottom of the Properties dialog, select 30 × 42 as the guide grid, as shown in Figure 14.6.
  5. 5. In the Project Browser, find the dependent view called Level 1 East, and drag it onto the new sheet.
  6. 6. Pick a point on the sheet to place the view aligned with the guide grid (see Figure 14.6).
    f1406.tif

    FIGURE 14.6 Adding another sheet


  7. 7. In the Project Browser, double-click the A101 sheet, opening the view. Notice that the view reference next to the match line is filled out with the appropriate designation.
  8. 8. Double-click A102 to open the view again.

In the Project Browser, sheet A102 is still unnamed. The next procedure describes a different way to rename and renumber a sheet:



  1. 1. With Sheet A102 open, zoom into the right side of the view, as shown in Figure 14.7.
  2. 2. Select the title block. Notice that a few items turn blue. If you remember, any item that turns blue can be modified.
  3. 3. Click into the text that says Project Name, and type NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.
  4. 4. Click into the text that says Unnamed, and type EAST WING FIRST FLOOR PLAN (see Figure 14.7).
    f1407.tif

    FIGURE 14.7 Changing the title-block information


  5. 5. Create another sheet using the 30 × 42 Horizontal title block.
  6. 6. Number it A201.
  7. 7. Name it ENLARGED PLANS.
  8. 8. Add the 30 × 42 grid guide.
  9. 9. Drag the following views onto the sheet:

    • Typical Elevator Shaft
    • Typical Men’s Lavatory
    • Typical Women’s Lavatory

  10. 10. Arrange them so they’re in a row, as shown in Figure 14.8.
    f1408.tif

    FIGURE 14.8 Creating a sheet and adding views in a row across the bottom of the page


Now that the first floor plans and typical enlarged plans are placed on a sheet, let’s move on to adding the details you’ve created.


If you feel as though you have enough experience creating a sheet and adding views, go ahead and proceed on your own. Your new sheet will be numbered A301 and be called Building Sections, and you’ll add the views East Corridor Section, West Corridor Section, Section at West Training, and West Wing South Wall Section. Your sheet should look like Figure 14.9.


If you’d like some assistance in putting the section sheet together, follow along with this procedure:



  1. 1. In the Project Browser, right-click the Sheets category.
  2. 2. Select New Sheet.
  3. 3. Select the E1 30 × 42 Horizontal title block, and click OK.
  4. 4. In the Project Browser, right-click the new sheet, and select Rename.
  5. 5. Give the new sheet the number A301 and the name BUILDING SECTIONS.
  6. 6. In the Properties dialog, add the 30×42 grid guide.
  7. 7. In the Project Browser, find the Sections (Building Sections) category.
  8. 8. Drag the section called East Corridor Section onto the lower-left corner of the sheet.
  9. 9. Drag the section called Section at West Training onto the sheet to the right of the East Corridor Section.
  10. 10. Drag the section called West Corridor Section onto the sheet, and place it into the upper-left corner. Be sure you align it directly above the East Corridor Section.
  11. 11. Drag the section called West Wing South Wall Section to the right of the West Corridor Section and directly above the Section at West Training. The alignment lines allow you to accurately place the section. After you have these four sections in place, your sheet A301 should look like Figure 14.9.
    f1409.tif

    FIGURE 14.9 The completed sheet A301


You’ve created a few sheets, and you may want to make some adjustments to the view without leaving the sheet. The next section of this chapter will focus on the properties of a viewport and how to make it live on the sheet so you can make modifications.


Modifying a Viewport


Wait a second. Isn’t a viewport AutoCAD vernacular? Yes, it is. But a viewport in AutoCAD and a viewport in Revit are two completely different things.


In Revit, when you drag a view onto a sheet, a linked copy of that view becomes a viewport. This is what you see on the sheet. Any modification you make to the original view will immediately be reflected in the viewport, and vice versa. See Figure 14.10 for a graphical representation.

f1410.eps

FIGURE 14.10 The relationship between the original view and the viewport


The objective of the next procedure is to activate a viewport to make modifications on the sheet, and also to explore the Element Properties of the viewport. Follow along:



  1. 1. Open sheet A301 (if it isn’t open already).
  2. 2. Zoom in on the viewport West Wing South Wall Section, as shown in Figure 14.11.
  3. 3. Select the view.
  4. 4. Right-click, and select Activate View (see Figure 14.11).
    f1411.tif

    FIGURE 14.11 Activating a view


  5. 5. With the view activated, you can work on it just as if you had opened it from the Project Browser. Select the crop region, as shown in Figure 14.12.
    f1412.tif

    FIGURE 14.12 Stretching the crop region so you can see the entire view


  6. 6. Stretch the top of the crop region up so you can see the entire view.
  7. 7. Stretch the bottom of the crop region down to expose the bottom of the section.
Tags:
Aug 3, 2021 | Posted by in Building and Construction | Comments Off on 14: Creating Sheets and Printing
Premium Wordpress Themes by UFO Themes