In my previous post I talked about the use of snap shortcuts.

Even if you don't use them, revit will tell you what it'll snap to. Not only by highlighting the objects/lines in your drafting view, but also in the status bar on the bottom right:

(Just saw that today and thought I'd share... :) )

As stated here, Revit enables you to rotate the view to align with any horizontal or vertical wall you like.

Revit also gives you multiple other way to align with or stand perpendicular to walls, lines, groups and a host of other objects. Sometimes this can get confusing and if you have many different directions represented in one drawing.

To make things easier when drafting, use these shortcuts to make Revit snap to the point you want:

Shortcut	Snaps To
SI	Intersections
SE	Endpoints
SM	Midpoints
SC	Centers
SN	Nearest
SP	Perpendicular
ST	Tangents
SW	Work Plane Grid
SQ	Quadrants
SX	Points
SR	Snap to Remote Objects
SO	Snaps Off
SS	Turn Override Off

This is, of course, on the basis that you haven't changed these shortcuts in the KeyboardShortcuts.txt file.

I have highlighted the ones that I think are the most useful.

In response to a comment from W. left with this post, I thought I'll compile a list of things that have made my Revit faster:

• Close all views that you do not need at the moment.
• This is especially true when saving as Revit re-calculates all open views after saving.
  
• Only have one file open at a time.
  
• Use constraints with caution.
• Turn off shadow(s) until you want to print.
• Keep your template and your project file as clean as possible.
• Close Revit during lunch.
  
• When working with central files:
• Create a new local file every day.
• Regularly compact the central file.
• When working with single files:
• Don't. Still make a central file out of it, put it on a server, and work in the local file.
• Work in a local file that resides on your own computer. Don't put files on a server unless it's the central file.
  

I hope this helps.

PS: Please also check here. 

[Post edited 17-11-09, 16:22]
[Post edited 19-11-09, 10:08] 

[Post edited 30-03-10, 10:10]

Autodesk has released what they call the Subscription Advantage Pack. You can download it via the website or just by going to your subscription center in Revit (as long as you have a subscription).

To check out the advantages, watch this video.

What I really like is the way the Modify-tools stay available even when you are already modifying.

So, for example, I select an object and click on move. - Damn, I wanted to copy, not move. - Up until now I had to escape out, reselect the object and start again.

That is now no longer neccessary as the copy-tool is still available, even after I have already started the move command. Nice, especially if you have selected numerous objects.

Earlier today we ran into the problem that when creating a section in one plan view, it would not be visible in another plan view, not even as a hidden object.

Turns out that Revit seems to assume that when you create a section in a view with a certain scale (1:100 for example), that this section should only be represented in views with a scale smaller than that.

In other words: Revit automatically sets the Hide at scales coarser than - property to whatever scale the view is you created the section in:

And if you are working in views with different scales, this can lead to a lot of confusion.

So, next time you are missing a section symbol in a plan view, check this setting first.

We are currently working on a fairly complex design with walls going in many different directions. To keep walls parallel is a challenge:

Things would be soooo much easier if I just could rotate the view so that the important outside wall is horizontal. So Google, here I come...

And, hey, there is a way! And it is rather simple:

1. Make sure the view is aligned to Project North
2. Disply the Crop Region
3. Select the Crop Region
4. Rotate the Crop Region

Your view will be rotated along with the Crop Region.

Simple but effective, as Revit will now not only align to parallel or perpendicular lines but also to the horizontal and vertical.