Autodesk Revit

White Paper

An Introduction to Autodesk Revit

The Autodesk® Revit® platform for building information modeling is a complete architectural
design and documentation system supporting all phases of design and all the architectural
drawings and schedules required for a building project. From massing and conceptual
studies through the most detailed construction drawings and schedules, Autodesk Revit has
tools that provide productivity, coordination, and quality for the building team.
For more information about building information modeling and Autodesk’s strategy for the
application of information technology to the building industry, please see our white paper on
the subject at www.autodesk.com/buildinginformation.

Contents
An Overview of Autodesk Revit .................................................................................. 2
The Autodesk Revit Building Information Modeler....................................................... 2
Support for the Building Team................................................................................. 2
Concepts and Features of Autodesk Revit .................................................................... 3
Bidirectional Associativity ....................................................................................... 3
Integrated Scheduling............................................................................................ 5
Visualization and Presentation................................................................................. 6
Changes in Section Views ....................................................................................... 8
Coordinating with Consultants............................................................................... 10
Working in Large Teams....................................................................................... 10
Working with Large Projects ................................................................................. 11
Support for Unusual Geometry .............................................................................. 11
Sharing Data with Other Applications ..................................................................... 12
Using Autodesk Revit for Structural Layout ............................................................. 12
Integrated Site Modeling ...................................................................................... 13
Improving the Design and Construction Process ......................................................... 14
Summary.............................................................................................................. 17

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 An Introduction to Autodesk Revit

An Overview of Autodesk Revit

This section introduces the history and design philosophy behind Autodesk Revit.
The Autodesk Revit Building Information Modeler
Revit Technology was founded in late 1997 by the technologists responsible for introducing
the first parametric CAD technology to the mechanical CAD market. In less than a decade,
that software transformed mechanical CAD from an industry that worked only on 2D
graphics to one that works primarily on digital models.
Applying this same idea to the building industry required that two basic problems be solved.
The first problem was ease of use. Because CAD technology can be difficult to use, many
firms have many employees who simply do not use CAD. The solution was to create a
product in which items of interest to architects—things like walls, windows, and doors—are
models of their real-world counterparts. So, to draw a wall, you simply select a wall
component. Windows are windows, doors are doors, and these objects relate to each other
in ways that model the real world. For example, windows are contained in walls, and you
cannot place a door in a wall on top of a window. You must be able to move or alter walls or
other components, yet still preserve your design intent. Most significantly, you need to be
able to change the behavior of a component, or the way it relates to the rest of the design,
without programming or coding of any kind.
The second problem was scale. Even though the mechanical CAD industry was using
parametric technology to design big products like airplanes as digital models, the technical
challenge of handling relationships among components in a building model remained to be
solved. In a typical building with hundreds of thousands of components, the issue of change
propagation had inhibited the development of architectural design software. Yet, automating
and tracking change is the one thing good software should do.
A new technology was invented to solve these two problems: a context-based parametric
change engine. In this technological breakthrough, the burden of change is transferred from
the user to the parametric change engine, vastly improving ease of use. The change engine
keeps track of the relationships among components in the building model. As a result, the
components themselves can be digitally represented as things architects and other building
professionals are familiar with.
It’s a basic division of labor. In 2D drafting systems, you draw lines and keep track of what
they all mean. In a building information modeler, you sketch digital representations of
things that behave the way you expect, and you rely on the computer to keep track of
them. The concept is simple: making CAD easy to use is a matter of making the computer
work harder.
Autodesk Revit is a building design and production software system in which your design
and all the interrelationships among the elements of that design are tracked, managed, and
maintained by the computer. In addition, it gives you complete control over consultant
coordination and construction documentation as natural outputs of the design and change
management process. Autodesk Revit is to 2D drafting as a relational database is to a
punch card.
In April of 2002 Revit Technology Corporation was acquired by Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk
Revit is now Autodesk’s strategic authoring application for the building industry and its
platform for future building industry applications.
Support for the Building Team
Revit—for “revise instantly”—was introduced first to the architectural community and
offered support for architectural design and documentation. However, the underlying

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technology, the building information model and the parametric change engine, is engineered
and optimized to support the creation and management of information for the entire
building enterprise. The building information model is an advanced database infrastructure
that supports the information needs of the building design and production team. Autodesk
Revit extends the power of this information infrastructure to structural layout, construction,
and site design work for the building project.
The work products of the building team, their “deliverables,” are most often graphic,
textual, or tabular presentations of information created by individual project team
disciplines but are also with increasing frequency specifically formatted digital data. A
program analysis diagram by an architect, a bracing elevation by a structural engineer, a
site-staging plan by a builder, and a quantity survey by a construction manager are
examples of graphic, textual, or tabular deliverables. A DWG file underlay that an architect
provides to a mechanical engineer, a spreadsheet documenting all the leasable area in a
speculative office building, and a relational database of all materials required to construct
the building are examples of digital deliverables.
The creation of information in the building design and production process is both concurrent
and continuous, but the production of these deliverables is only sequential and intermittent.
The episodic creation of deliverables is a hindrance to the building design and production
process and takes effort away from the real work of the team. Conventional software tools
for the building industry have automated discrete tasks of information presentation. The
production of plans, visualizations, cost estimates, and quantity take-offs are each
supported by specific, purpose-built tools. This has perpetuated the sequential and
intermittent presentation of information in a process that is naturally concurrent,
continuous, and iterative. It has also created artificial technology boundaries between
disciplines and project team members.
The application of advanced information technology, the building information model and
parametric change management, to the building design and production process addresses
its underlying information needs. The building information model enables deliverables to be
available concurrently with the design and production process. Because deliverables are
available concurrently, the energy required to produce them manually or through task-
specific software tools is reduced, and that energy that can now be spent on the direct
design and production effort.
Fundamentally, the building information model makes information in the form of
deliverables continuously available to project team members in the way they need to see it
and are accustomed to seeing it.

Concepts and Features of Autodesk Revit

This section provides an overview of some of the more important features in Autodesk Revit
that contribute to a better design environment, enhanced productivity, and faster
construction documents. For a more detailed look at Autodesk Revit, we encourage you to
try the product itself. Autodesk Revit is available on CD or by download at
www.autodesk.com/revit. The CD package includes a printed copy of Getting Started
with Autodesk Revit, a step-by-step tutorial that demonstrates the power and functionality
of Autodesk Revit.
Bidirectional Associativity
Bidirectional associativity in Autodesk Revit ensures that any change to the relationships
among objects is always instantly reflected by the parametric change engine throughout
your design. Bidirectional associativity is at the heart of the mechanism by which Autodesk
Revit maintains consistency in your model at all times.

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Figure 1: Changing dimensions alters the model’s geometry.

Bidirectional associativity is applied automatically to every component, view, and annotation

in Autodesk Revit. Consider what happens when you alter a dimension annotation (Figure
1). When you edit a dimension, you change the underlying geometry of the object
associated with that string.
What may not be apparent is that bidirectional associativity is not an editable property of
the wall. You don’t turn it on or off. In Autodesk Revit, bidirectional associativity is
automatic and managed at all times by the parametric change engine. This is the essence of
making the computer do more work and enabling users to make changes at will.
Bidirectional associativity in Autodesk Revit is universal, meaning that you need never
refresh or regenerate any view, annotation, sheet, or other component. Contrast this
behavior with other 3D add-ons to 2D drafting systems, which often require you to edit in
one view to reflect in another or which require refreshing ancillary views or annotations.
In Figure 2, notice that the designer has locked design intent into the model by aligning two
interior walls and then clicking a lock icon to instruct the parametric change engine to
always maintain this condition. The change engine is capable of handling locked intent
across the entire model and features technology that manages all associativity so that
Autodesk Revit is able to scale to large buildings while maintaining consistency at all times.
In Autodesk Revit errors do not creep into a design. To change the size of a wall, all you
need to do is directly manipulate the wall or the dimension annotation, and the software
automatically updates all other annotations and components to reflect the change. And it all
happens instantly.

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Figure 2: Bidirectional associativity means you can easily lock in design intent.

Integrated Scheduling
Integrated scheduling in Autodesk Revit is an excellent example of how a parametric change
engine can deliver real results in your projects. Schedules in Autodesk Revit are simply
another view of the integrated model. As you would expect, bidirectional associativity
means that when you change something in the view, the schedule changes. And when you
change a component in the schedule, the component changes in all associated plans,
elevations, sections, and other views.

Figure 3: Integrated schedules in Autodesk Revit are always accurate.

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Figure 3 shows an example of a schedule with an elevation displaying two windows that the
client wants to delete. Using conventional CAD products, this would require significant
rework. In Autodesk Revit it’s a snap. All you do is select the components to be deleted or
changed, make the change, and let the parametric change engine reflect the change
throughout the model.

Figure 4: Changes can be made to schedules anywhere, any time.

In Figure 4, the two windows have been deleted. Note that after the windows have been
deleted—from a view already placed on a sheet, by the way—the windows have also been
removed from the schedule. What is even more interesting is that you could just as easily
change the type of those two windows in the schedule and Autodesk Revit reflects that
change in all the appropriate views of the model, as well as directly in the sheet.
Visualization and Presentation
Autodesk Revit makes it easy to create and modify presentation materials directly in the
model. Impressive presentation materials do not require add-on products.
Autodesk Revit includes AccuRender® raytracing and radiosity (see Figure 5). In Autodesk
Revit you can use AccuRender for rendering, and for export and import of bitmap and other
graphic file formats. Autodesk Revit also features walkthrough animation exportable to AVI
files, interactive panoramic file export, procedural plants, and full control of range,
resolution, and image sizing. Rendered images can be saved in the project and included on
plottable sheets just as any other view, drawing, or schedule in the project. Renderings can
also be created at any size and resolution, and can be saved outside the project in various
graphic file formats for presentation and publication. Autodesk Revit includes PANTONE®
color matching for complete accuracy of your printed and plotted output. Autodesk Revit
also includes support for RPC™ content from ArchVision™, and several RPC files are
included with the product. This innovative image-based rendering technology is capable of
reflecting rich detail through synthesized image data rather than relying on complex
geometry to represent objects in 3D.

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Figure 5: Autodesk Revit includes AccuRender for in-product visualizations.

Autodesk Revit also effectively automates tasks that have previously required many
different tools and significant expenditures of time. Consider how Autodesk Revit creates
color-filled diagrams that show space utilization, material usage, or other categories of
space.

Figure 6: Color-filled diagrams can be produced for an unlimited number of categories.

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In Figure 6 the designer is filling in the departments associated with each office in this
building. Autodesk Revit automatically color-fills the plan and updates the legend on the
plan.
In Figure 7, the designer has added a new department to the list, and Autodesk Revit has
changed the legend and associated a new color with the new department. Although this
example illustrates departmental usage—and totals the square footage in the accompanying
schedule—Autodesk Revit is capable of creating color-filled diagrams for any number of
categories, such as floor finish or public/private space analysis.

Figure 7: Updating space utilization is as easy as updating the schedule.

Changes in Section Views

Section views are an especially powerful illustration of the potency of a parametric change
engine. In Autodesk Revit, you can draw a section simply by using the section tool and
indicating where you want the section cut. Flipping the section is as simple as toggling the
section head. Most importantly, you can move the section line anywhere you want in plan,
and Autodesk Revit re-presents the section view instantly and accurately.
In Figure 8, you can see that the user is about to create a section through this addition to a
home by simply drawing the section on the plan view.
In Figure 9, Autodesk Revit has cut the section precisely where instructed to do so. You can
create additional sections or modify this one at any time. If this section has been placed on
a sheet, you can modify it directly from the sheet.

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Figure 8: Create sections quickly and easily.

This is not a static view—there’s no such thing in Autodesk Revit. This is a live, parametric
view of the model, and you can place windows, doors, and other components or modify any
part of the design directly in the section view. Autodesk Revit ensures that any changes
made in section are automatically reflected everywhere else in the design.

Figure 9: Sections are parametric views and are always consistent.

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Coordinating with Consultants

Autodesk Revit, using Autodesk’s ObjectDBX™ toolkit, not only provides the industry’s best
DWG compatibility—allowing import, export, and linking of your AutoCAD® data better than
any other system—but also supports import, export, and linking to DXF™ files and
MicroStation® DGN® files. Autodesk Revit enables you to always provide up-to-date
underlay shell drawings and other deliverables to your consultants.
Exported files present the proper level of information expected by AutoCAD or MicroStation
users when opened in those systems. The component and element categories in Autodesk
Revit are properly mapped to the layering standard of your choice, specific sets of geometric
entities appear as blocks, and the correct pen and plotting information is provided in an
associated file. You can also bring native DWG files directly into Autodesk Revit to use as
reference geometry, library components, or as the starting point for a new design. In
addition to direct support of DWG and DGN file formats, any CAD system that supports
these file formats can work effectively with Autodesk Revit.
Working in Large Teams
Autodesk Revit worksets enable communication, collaboration, and coordination across
multiuser project teams. Worksets enable team members to select the portions of the
project they are responsible for; check them out from the single, integrated building
information model; change them at will; and then check them back in. When returned to
the shared model, worksets reflect all changes back into that model with full bidirectional
associativity, maintaining consistency across the entire project.

Figure 10: Worksets enable large teams to collaborate using a single building information model.
Worksets are dynamically reserved and released by team members over the network as they work.
The Worksets dialog box always shows current information about who is working in what workset.

Worksets can be thought of as a distributed building database, one in which the entire team
can move from stage to stage, process to process, to easily and quickly create whatever
portion of the project is required. With Autodesk Revit, the computer works harder—
ensuring consistency across multiple team members—while the essential ease of use is

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maintained and the integrated model preserved during the entire design and documentation
process.
With Autodesk Revit, large teams can now work in a model-based environment on major
projects in a distributed mode while relying on the computer for consistency. In Figure 10,
some parts of the building have been marked editable and some have not. Those that are
not editable are available for other users to edit; here you see the project standards
workset—where the team shares common design parameters that are being changed so
that the entire team can benefit from a global revision.
Working with Large Projects
Large projects involving multiple buildings or building wings can be developed by linking
together several separate Autodesk Revit project files (Figure 11). Users can work on the
files individually while the building geometry from the other individual linked files is visible.
Presentation materials and other deliverables, including all the parts of the project
assembled together, can be prepared from the linked files.

Figure 11: One Autodesk Revit project model can be linked into another Revit project to develop
composite deliverables of projects involving multiple buildings or building wings.

Support for Unusual Geometry

Autodesk Revit supports architects and designers in creating their most imaginative designs
within the industry’s most powerful building modeler, as shown in Figure 12. Designers can
use splines to easily create free-form sketches for walls, roofs, floors, and family
(parametric building content) elements. Advanced wall geometry provides tapered and
battered walls, cornices and reveals, and curtain walls spanning any two lines, arcs, or
splines. Roof geometry supports 3D-path sweeps to create fascias, eave conditions, and
soffits for the most detailed roof designs. Roofs can incorporate skylights within any
condition. The ability to divide wall faces and other surfaces into multiple separate regions
enables designers to sketch and describe areas of different appearance, design, color, or
texture on any model surface, providing highly detailed renderings and other
documentation.

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Figure 12: Autodesk Revit supports the most elaborate geometry while maintaining a faithful
description of the building project. Here, this curtain wall is made up of schedulable mullions and
glazing panels.

Sharing Data with Other Applications

Autodesk Revit provides for export of the building information model to industry-standard
open database connectivity (ODBC) compliant relational database tables. Using the digital
quantification of the building and any of a number of common analysis tools from
spreadsheets to traditional cost-estimating packages, industry professionals can now
reliably estimate what is in a building project and how much material is needed. Using
Autodesk Revit to create this business data eliminates the expensive and error-prone
activities of measuring a building from drawings and recalculating results when the design
changes. Substantial reductions in cost and scheduling rework and error along with
increases in quality result from the unique ability of Autodesk Revit to automatically provide
business data from a model created simply by drawing the building.
Using Autodesk Revit for Structural Layout
Autodesk Revit presents information to each design team professional in exactly the way
they are accustomed to working with it. Thus, for a structural engineer, framing plans and
bracing elevations are presented using structural engineering graphic conventions, while the
architect views the same building database as architectural floor plans and building sections.
For the structural engineer, the steel framing is shown as labeled, diagrammatic lines, while
the architect sees the same steel framing in its actual dimensions, which is necessary for
coordination.
Structural bearing and shear walls shared between the architect and the structural engineer
are identified in the building information model. Bearing walls are available in the structural
engineer’s view of the database for framing; architectural walls are not available for framing
and are not included in the structural view of the building model (see Figure 13).

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Figure 13: The structural framing plan, the architectural floor plan, the architectural building section,
and an isometric of the structure are all views of the same fully coordinated building database. The
selected beam (in red) is displayed appropriately for either the structural engineer or the architect in
all views.

Integrated Site Modeling

Autodesk Revit is the first building modeler to integrate parametric site modeling. Site
surfaces can be imported from existing survey information or created using Autodesk Revit
and coordinated with the building design. You have direct control over triangulated surfaces
and contour displays. Autodesk Revit components placed on the terrain automatically find
the terrain surface to attach to, and, because the site is an integral part of the overall
project, section cuts automatically reflect changes in the terrain should any part of the
building be modified.
Parking spaces and plant materials are parametric components placed in the Autodesk Revit
model (see Figure 14). Parking spaces are inventoried and scheduled in the model, and
plant materials are scheduled by their proper scientific names.
Now, designers can study grading, create realistic sections, and further reduce preparation
time for construction documentation.

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Figure 14: Autodesk Revit integrates the building information model with the site. Parking spaces are
parametric components placed in plan and scheduled in bidirectionally associated views of the project
database.

Improving the Design and Construction Process

In Autodesk Revit, the design and documentation process is a cycle of team-based tasks
that are constantly iterating from stage to stage, not a series of discrete, serial steps ending
in a set of construction documents. Autodesk Revit is the single, integrated tool you use to
move through the entire process. Here, we illustrate just a few of the common tasks you
may have in the design and documentation process. The objective isn’t to detail features;
it’s to encourage you to rethink your use of CAD by demonstrating how Autodesk Revit
helps you create construction documentation directly, while making it easy to cycle through
different tasks in your project.
Massing capabilities in Autodesk Revit enable multiple iterations of the earliest design
concepts—much the way you would create models from rigid foam blocks—while protecting
that investment of time and effort by allowing the massed forms to be developed all the
way into construction documents. Changes made to the model in later phases are reflected
in the massing studies, so the architect can switch between massing and shell modes at will.
Figure 15 shows the earliest ideas for a headquarters building being developed with
massing capabilities in Autodesk Revit. This model can be developed into the completed
design without losing the value inherent in the original massing study. Even with the model
in this preliminary state, Autodesk Revit recognizes that the massing sketch is composed of
real-world entities. The model at this stage has important, persistent characteristics,
including walls and volume. These persistent characteristics are valuable for a number of
uses, including early cost estimation.

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Figure 15: You can revise massing models at any time in Autodesk Revit.

Figure 16: You can easily generate detailed cost reports from massing studies.

In Figure 16, rich, historical cost and construction data has been used to generate a
parametric cost report from the massing study. Note that even though no effort has yet
been spent in specifying the types of electrical systems in this building, the parametric cost
report can extract intelligence from the model, so it can make accurate estimates for many
building systems, including power systems. Other systems, such as the mechanical system,

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are also priced based on experience. (Means CostWorks® cost reporting is currently
available only in North America.)
Although model-based massing and cost reporting are impressive, a major challenge is to
preserve the value of the model as the design and documentation process progresses,
increasing in both the size of the team and complexity of the requirements for information
from the building information model. Until now, modelers have not supported the design
and development cycle well once it progresses beyond simple massing or concept design.
Autodesk Revit supports phasing information in the building information model. Drawings
that represent different phases of construction are easy to create. Figure 17 shows a
demolition hammer indicating which fixtures are to be demolished in a specific phase of a
project. Autodesk Revit allows each component to be assigned to a phase, which determines
how it is displayed at various points in time. And, because every view in Autodesk Revit is
always associated with the model, the phased components and views automatically reflect
any changes to that model.

Figure 17: Phasing enables you to manage time—the fourth dimension—in the building information
model.

Finally, Figure 18 shows a series of sheets ready to be printed or plotted for a well-
documented construction project.
Sheets in Autodesk Revit are “what you see is what you get,” meaning that you can change
the scale of the elevations, plans, and so forth, without complex layer management (there
are no layers in Autodesk Revit). You can even make design changes directly on the view
contained on the sheet and be assured that Autodesk Revit will reflect that change instantly
throughout the model. Call-out annotations are up-to-date and accurate because the
parametric change engine is responsible for keeping them current, not the user.

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Figure 18: Construction documents are easy to produce and revise at any time in Autodesk Revit.

Summary
The Autodesk Revit building information modeler enables building design and production
professionals to use a single, integrated digital model from the beginning of a project
through to completion, and on into the lifecycle of the building. It does this by providing the
easiest-to-use interface available for the building industry coupled with a sophisticated
parametric change engine that transfers the burden of coordinating change from the user of
the design tool to the computer, where it belongs.
For more information about Autodesk Revit, please visit www.autodesk.com/revit.

Autodesk, Inc.
111 McInnis Parkway
San Rafael, CA 94903
USA

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Revit, ObjectDBX and DXF are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and
other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

© Copyright 2002 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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