With the release of the Autodesk Revit 2024: Site Planning and Design guide, you will see some new site tools. The change has created quite a buzz, with some users happy about these tools and others missing the old tools. The jury is still out on the benefits of this big change so let me outline some of the new terminology, key features, and new design features that you can expect in 2024. Below shows the Massing & Site tabs from 2023 and 2024.
New from Revit 2024
Old from Revit 2023 and later
Understanding the new terminology:
1. Toposolid (new) vs. Topography (old)
Toposolids are solid geometry that can be manipulated like system elements. Toposurfaces (topography) are surfaces that can only be manipulated using the massing and site tools.
Think of the new toposolid as the love child of the Revit floor and toposurface. The toposolid is the result of combining the best qualities of its parent elements – the structured layers of the floor and the artistic contours of the toposurface – creating a versatile and visually pleasing entity with both practical and visually appealing features.
2. Sub-Divide (new) vs. Subregion (old)
Both the Sub-Divide and Subregion tools are designed to modify the existing toposolid or toposurface, creating localized changes without separating surfaces. While both tools serve to modify areas on a toposolid or toposurface, Sub-Divide focuses on offsetting the surface, while Subregion emphasizes the modification of properties within the defined area.
Common questions about the new features:
1. What do we do now that Split Surface and Merge Surfaces is gone?
You are now able to use the Split Element modify tool to split the toposolids. To join a split toposolid, you can use the Join tool, but when you hover your cursor over the split area, you can still see the split. So, the joining of the toposolid is not a true join.
2. How do we create a building pad without the Building Pad tool?
With the Building Pad tool gone from the 2024 release, a lot of users are asking what to do now. There are a few ways that you can create a building pad, and the easiest for me was using the Split Element tool because I could control it better than the Sub-Divide, which only gives you a surface in the positive direction. You can also utilize a void to cut away the surface. The only negative I have found with using a void to cut away from the toposolid is that if you need the cut and fill calculations, the void cutting the toposolid is ignored.
New features:
1. You can now use Cut Geometry.
Because the toposolid is now a cuttable element, you can use the Cut Geometry tool to cut a foundation wall and footing away from the toposolid.
2. You can convert or keep your existing topography when upgrading your Revit models to 2024.
When utilizing a toposurface for generating a toposolid, it's important to consider the following points:
- Sub-regions within the toposurface will automatically result in toposolid sub-divisions. However, some sub-regions might encounter issues, particularly those containing numerous loops. For instance, a parking lot with medians designed within a single sub-region may fail to generate properly.
- Elements such as building pads will not be generated automatically. Instead, utilize the Split Element modify tool or use a mass void to manually carve out the toposolid after its creation.
- Railings will re-host onto the toposolid, whereas trees, parking elements, and custom families will require manual re-hosting.
- To maintain the original sub-region appearance, you may need to modify the surface materials of the sub-divisions. Sub-divisions will adopt the material of the corresponding sub-regions within the toposurface.
I hope you like the latest changes and find them useful!
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