My Favorite (3) Things in Revit 2020

April 19, 2019 Martha Hollowell

By Martha Hollowell Orcutt

It is always fun to see what the experts at Autodesk come up with throughout the year. Since they have moved to a subscription service there are more frequent updates but the “big” release always seems to come out in the spring. Today I want to look at three of my favorite things in Revit 2020.

Legend Views

This might sound like a small thing, but it is great that you can now use Copy to the Clipboard to place a Legend on multiple sheets very quickly. Place the legend in the right place on one sheet and then use Paste Aligned to Selected Views to put it in the exact same place on other sheets. This could be very useful with a Key Plan that needs to be on every sheet as shown below.

2020 Legend Select Views

Path of Travel

A typical part of a building design includes life safety diagrams that point out how people get out of a building. Codes frequently require specific distances to exits and so it is important to be able to record that information in the building model. The Path of Travel tool analyzes these distances between two points specified in plans, as shown below.

2020 B-path of travel sample

  • Path of Travel lines can be tagged and information included in schedules.

How to: Use Path of Travel Lines

  1. In the Analyze tab> Route Analysis panel, click 2020 Path of Travel button(Path of Travel).
  2. Select the first point for the line of travel.
  3. Select the second point for the line of travel.
  4. Depending upon the Route Analysis Settings, the route is calculated.
  5. Tag the travel lines as needed.
  • Load the Path of Travel tag from the Revit Library in the Annotations

Route Analysis Settings

You can specify categories of elements that impact the analysis and placement of travel lines. For example, in the sample below, only the door category is ignored in calculating the route. 

2020 B-Route doors only

Then, in the sample below, all categories are ignored, so you can calculate the distances between exits and the building diagonal.

2020 B-route no categories

  • In the Analyze tab> Route Analysis panel title, click 2020 Settings_Arrow(Route Analysis Settings).  In the Route Analysis Settings dialog box (as shown below), select the model categories you want to include or exclude.

2020 B-rout analysis Settings

 

Tag and Schedule Elevation Parameters for MEP Elements

Another seemingly small change that can pay big dividends in quality of design is the use of Elevation parameters for a wide variety of MEP families that can be used in tags and schedules. For example, you can create a schedule that shows the elevation from level for the various electrical fixtures in a project.

2020 Electrical Fixture Schedule with Elevation from Level       2020 Electrical Fixture Schedule with Elevation from Level

The following elements now include the Elevation from Level parameter:

  • Mechanical Equipment
  • Plumbing Fixture
  • Lighting Fixture
  • Lighting Device
  • Sprinklers
  • Electrical Fixtures
  • Electrical Equipment
  • Data Device
  • Communication Device
  • Fire Alarm Device
  • Nurse Call Device
  • Security Device
  • Telephone Device
  • Specialty Equipment

 

Question:

There are plenty of other enhancements in Revit 2020. What is your favorite? Post a comment below and let us know.

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