Session Number 13

Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates
Class Description
This hands-on lab follows on and is aligned with the lecture. So you have
just migrated to using Revit Structure and you have begun modelling your
project. You then put your sheets together and print them out for your
project manager. The next response isn't what you wanted to hear "yuck!".
Your drawings reflect your model well enough, but they don't reflect the
years of effort that went into your former drafting standards. Its okay, not
all is lost. There is time to do it right, to actually make your documents look
like you did them and not some robot!
Key Learning Objectives
1. Uncover how to control line weights and what rules.
2. See how to define all styles related to standards.
3. Learn how to manage standards with an eye towards correct.

About the Speaker:

David has been using Autodesk software for over 24 years in the Structural
field with Walter P Moore, a USA based consulting engineering company.
His software experience includes AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture
(ADT/ACA), Autodesk VIZ, 3ds Max, REVIT Structure and Tekla Structures.
An avid writer, he has authored many books on AutoCAD and Revit
Structure and has acted as the technical editor for other publications.
David is currently President of Autodesk User Group International and
currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for AUGIWorld magazine.

Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

Introduction
This lab will take you through the steps towards customizing Revit Structure
to match a specific style of drawing, and we will assume that our most
recent style is one previously controlled using AutoCAD. The challenges in
this process are twofold: one is knowing what the standard is and the
second is knowing where to change it to suit your needs.
I have witnessed many users create standards for use in AutoCAD but in
most cases they customize what is easy to do and bypass truly owning
their own standard. It should be noted that drawings have been made for
eons, whereas AutoCAD has only been around for 25 years. So then why
are our standards that which come from Autodesk? Exactly! We will
address this during our time here.
So before we begin in earnest, here is a short list of some of what we cant
change. For obvious reasons these are areas we will avoid for the sake of
time since we cant make any improvements anyway.
Custom Leader terminators
Different line weights for dimension line and extensions
Dimension text gap control
Native hatch patterns with dots
Native Line patterns with in-line text
User controlled automatic placement of level head indicators
Rotated text values in section heads
Non-blue colour for live view elements

Start Revit Structure

The default Revit Structure template is actually a good place to start, but
if you really want to control as much as you can then starting with no
template will give you a striped down version and be as empty of families
settings as possible. Here are the areas of difference between the stock
template and no template:
Container
Fill Patterns
Line Styles
Line Weights
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Stock Template
No Template
30
7
same line styles but line weights vary
same

Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

Line Patterns
Arrowheads

48
16

13
11

So depending on your needs, you might consider starting with the No

Template option and then simply Transfer Project Standards the
categories you need from the stock template (or elsewhere).
For our purposes here in this lab we will begin with a sample project model
so that we have content to look at while
we do our work.
1. Go to the View tab > Windows
panel > User Interface and select
Recent Files.
2. Click on the Advanced Sample
Project link.
3. Once open, go to view 01 - Entry
Level

Line weights
A line weight is the actual plotted width of line work in a drawing.
Depending on the technology it could be created by a physical pen, a
nozzle that sprays liquid ink, or even a powdered toner that is fused to a
medium like paper. In most applications today it will be done using a laser
printer and actually comprised of dots and have a technical limit of
resolution such as 600 dpi (dots per inch).
For reasons I dont understand
the templates that come with
Revit (including the settings in
No Template) are quite varied
and repetitive. I feel we can
get rid of this and use a more
simple approach.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Manage tab >

Settings panel >
Additional Settings >
Line Weights

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

This opens the dialog. Once open click at the top of all columns except
1:100 and delete them.
This will leave us with one column or scale to edit.
So to begin you have to have a standard to follow. You can use a pen
table you had used in AutoCAD, something new, or even something from
the past. I prefer to use a known standard such as real pens:

1. Edit each row to the preferred size: 1=0.0254mm, 2=0.13mm,

3=0.18mm, 4=0.25mm, 5=0.30mm, 6=0.35mm, 7=0.45mm, 8=0.50mm,
9=0.60mm, 10=0.70mm, 11=0.80mm, 12=1.00mm, 13=1.20mm,
14=1.40mm, 15=2.00mm, and 16=0.0254mm

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

Now that is done we can move onto other scales, if needed. If you want
your pen 1 to be the same across all drawing scales then you dont need
to. These sizes will be used for everything. If however you want to thin up
the pens for smaller scales all you do is Add a new scale and Revit will
copy the 1:100 sizes to the new scale.
2. Choose Add and assign 1:200 scale
Then once you have another column, you can just modify the pens you
want smaller. For example, perhaps at 1:100 you use Pen 8 for the stick
symbol for a Structural Column. But for overall drawing views Pen 8 is too
heavy. Within the 1:200 column change the Pen 8 value to be half of
1:100.
3. Click into the Pen 8 row for 1:200. Change value to 0.25mm
Now when you plot the stick line representation for structural columns will
be thinner at 1:200 and smaller scales than the 1:100 and larger scale.
For the Perspective Line Weights I recommend changing those to all the
same value (0.30mm). Why? For isometric views, in most cases you will not
want to highlight one line or object over another. What you are usually
looking for is a medium pen with good clarity. Choose too thin and the
lines can wash out on prints. Choose too thick and you get blobs of line
work in tight locations.
For the Annotation Line Weights I recommend using the same sizes as in
your model views. Why? In case you need to apply line weight overrides
as well as drawing detail lines, you can utilize line weights that match your
model line work.
4. Click OK to close

Line Patterns
The next logical step in Revit customization is creating Line Patterns. These
are known as Line Styles in AutoCAD and are made up of a series of
dashes and gaps. Im the first to admit line patterns are something of art,
you either like a pattern or you hate it.
If I had any advice on the subject it is look at the pattern as something
that draws attention. Is the line you are creating more important than a
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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

solid line? If so then the pattern needs to be tight (and used with a heavier
pen). If the line you are creating is simply to align or convey placement,
then less gapping is in order (and used with a thinner pen). And then lines
representing something hidden should never be heavier in line weight
than the projection version and certainly not heavier than the assigned
cut line weight.
I disagree with the typical
Revit standard for Grid
and Level lines. They are
too busy. So lets make a
new one!
1.
2.
3.
4.

Manage tab
Settings panel
Additional Settings
Line Patterns

This open the Line

Patterns dialog and you
can see the many types
available. You could
delete all the types but
that would affect all assignments in Object Styles and elsewhere. You are
better served by creating all your types, assigning them and then once
complete remove the types you are not using. Where do we start?
1. Click New
2. Type #Grid Line as the name
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

For Row 1, the type is Dash and the length is 75 mm

For Row 2, the type is Space and the length is 4 mm
For Row 3, the type is Dash and then length is 2 mm
For Row 4, the type is Space and the length is 4 mm
Click OK. *Create a #TBC (10mm/1mm) pattern. Then close.

When completed, it moves to the Top

because of the # and it shows how
the pattern looks graphically.

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

Now as you work you can customize everything in each type container at
once, or deal with objects one at a time. The latter is what we will do now.
To change grid lines you have to edit the Type.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Structure tab
Datum panel
Grid
Create a grid element within the plan view:
Then from the Properties panel click Edit Type.
Click Duplicate to make another type.
Name it #Grid - Bubble End 1, click OK.

8. For the End Segment Pattern parameter assign the new grid line
pattern.
9. Enable End 1 and disable End 2 and click OK.
10. Create another grid much like the first.
Immediately you should notice the difference. One looks like a machine
made (who has that much patience) and the other looks like a grid line
should look.
This process would then be repeated for each line pattern you need,
define and assign it. In some cases the assigning will be done in the next
section.

Object Styles
An object style is actually the combination of several parameters and
they are combined on an object class. You begin by:
1. Manage tab
2. Settings panel
3. Object Styles

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

I believe this is Revits largest dialog, and although it can be daunting, if

you apply a methodical technique to your editing here, you can keep
track of your work.
The challenge is how do you keep track of what you have customized? I
prefer a brute force method.
1. In the Object Styles dialog, expand all categories. Notice only a few
green and light blue parameters.
2. Select all rows
3. Click on any selected Projection line weight
4. Change the value to 16
5. Click on any selected Cut line weight
6. Change the value to 16
7. Unselect all green and light blue
8. Select on any selected Line Colour row
9. From Colour dialog, choose an odd colour
10. Select on any selected Line Pattern row
11. Assign the newly created #TBC line pattern

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

Now what this does is modify the appearance of nearly every model
element that you may have in a model. You could have expanded the
parameters shown by including other discipline filters but I tend to deal
with those on-demand as needed.
Now if we take a look
at a plan view in the
model we will see this
pink colour and
related line pattern.
The next task is then
to work each object
class to the standard
you want.
Correct each object
category parameter
for the proper pen
weight and line pattern. Anything that is still black is either controlled
elsewhere (like the grids) or an annotation or family type of element.
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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

Line Styles
A Line Style, much like Object Styles, is a combination of a line weight with
a pattern. You use Line Styles to draw in Revit. The question comes in then,
what do you customize for? Using it in Revit, or exporting it to DWG? Or
both? To begin
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Manage tab
Settings panel
Additional Settings
Line Styles (consider doing a screen capture of the dialog)
On the Line Styles dialog expand the existing types.
Select all
Change the pen, colour, and pattern as before.

This adjusts all existing line styles that you are either not using, or if used,
would want to customize anyway.
Then to create a new Line Style
8. Click New
9. For the name type #Structural Framing Girder
10. Assign Pen 8 and leave the colour Black and pattern Solid
From here you might consider creating all Line Styles that match one for
one to the Object Styles dialog object categories. Of course you could
just create these as you need.
Now you might wonder why we didnt use something like S-BEAM-STEL like
in AutoCAD. Well you could have but what you will soon discover is that
most AutoCAD standards dont have a one to one match to the Revit
Object Styles dialog (what layer is Hidden faces?). But what we do know is
that the level of layering provided by Revit isnt any deeper than this.
Once in AutoCAD these Line Styles equal Layer Names. We can always
merge layers together in AutoCAD, but breaking layers apart is much
harder.
Once this is done you are now ready to apply Linework on top of lines to
correct style issues, and that Linework matches your Object Styles. You are
also ready if you need to export to DWG with as much delimitation as
Revit can provide.
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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

External Families
One thing to keep in mind is external families. But the good part is they
dont matter. The Line Weight values in them are not inherited when
opened, even if opened from an existing project. The Pen assignment in
the family will simply refer to the Object Styles in most cases.
Now that doesnt mean you should make your external families a messy
place. I suggest keeping them as clean and empty as possible and trying
to match your default template settings as much as possible. It will help
when customizing to have an apples to apples comparison. Lets show
this using a Symbol
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Annotate tab
Symbol panel
Symbol
Place a weld symbol in the drawing area
Escape placement and select it
Click the Edit Family button on the Ribbon

The Weld family is now open for editing.

1. Manage tab
2. Settings panel
3. Object Styles
On this Object Styles dialog we can see only have the Generic
Annotations line category. Lets make a new one.
4. Click New
5. Type #GA - Weld Lines and click Ok to close
The new line category is in and it is under the Generic Annotations.
6. Change the line weight of both to 12
7. Change the colour to magenta

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

8. Click Ok to close the dialog

9. Select the horizontal line (tab to select)
10. Use Type Properties and change the Line subcategory to the #GA
Weld Lines
11. From the Line Weights dialog, change Pen 12 to 0.0254mm
12. Close the dialog
13. Click Load into Project
14. Overwrite the existing version
Once back into the model what we see here is that the new line category
you created was imported and Revit kept the settings. But the lines that
were on Generic Annotations did not. That line category is already in the
model and cannot be overwritten by an imported family. And the line
weight settings as saved in the family, well those are ignored entirely.
So what does this tell us? You are best served by using the Generic
Annotations line style to enable your annotations and symbols to follow a
single line weight control. However, if you are expecting to export your
views to DWG and need to follow specific layers, then using custom line
styles will result in unique layers in a DWG later.

Filled Regions
Filled regions are Revits version of hatch patterns.
1. Create a new drafting view (scale 1:10)
2. Annotate tab
3. Detail panel
4. Click Region. Then on the Properties panel click Edit Type
5. From the Type Properties dialog click Duplicate
6. Name the new filled region #Concrete Transparent
7. Access the Fill Pattern parameter and click the [] button
8. Scroll up and select Concrete and click OK
9. Change the Background to Transparent
10. Change the Line Weight to 3 and click OK to close
Now go ahead and use the Rectangle draw tool and just create a
400mm x 400mm sketch box and then click the Finish Edit Mode button

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

(
). You may need to zoom in to see this. We now have a concrete filled
region you can use in your drawings.
But what if you need to blend your drawings from Revit with AutoCAD?
That concrete hatch pattern looks a bit different. To truly match you need
to import the PAT file that AutoCAD used to define its hatch patterns.
11. Annotate tab
12. Detail panel
13. Click Region. Then on the Properties panel click Edit Type
14. From the Type Properties dialog click Duplicate
15. Name the new filled region #AR-CONC Transparent
16. Access the Fill Pattern parameter and click the [] button
17. Click the New button
18. On the New Pattern dialog enable the Custom option
19. Click the Import button
20. Locate and open ACAD.PAT
21. Scroll down and select AR-CONC
22. Change the Import scale to 0.0254
23. Change the name to #AR-CONC and then click OK
24. Click OK to accept AR-CONC as the pattern to use
25. Change the Background to Transparent
26. Click OK to close
Again use the Rectangle draw tool and just create a 400mm x 400mm
sketch box and then click the Finish Edit Mode button (
). Now you have
a pattern that matches AutoCAD. If you need to adjust the size to better
match the scale you used in AutoCAD you will just need to repeat the
Import and adjust the scale.
If you have other patterns from AutoCAD or elsewhere, you can use this
method to bring all those into your Revit standard template. The great
part about Revit is that the standard you define is in the template itself.
There are no more PAT, LIN, etc. files to worry about.

Dimension styles
The dimension styles in Revit are not as robust as in AutoCAD. About the
best you can do is adjusting the line weights as needed. It may be the
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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

customization you try is simply creating styles for each end delineator you
want to use times 2. You should create styles for both Transparent and
Opaque backgrounds as well as for all font sizes you need. Depending on
your documentation standard you also may need versions for other unit
configurations.

Arrowheads
Within Revit all annotation objects use Arrowheads to provide the
terminator. As with dimensions you cant do too much customization here.
You have to base your standard on one of the predefined arrowheads.
Depending on the type, you get control on the length of the head, the
pen weight, and the angle.

For 2013 we do get a new type to use, a loop.

1. Manage tab > Settings panel > Additional settings > Arrowheads
2. On the Type Properties dialog click Duplicate
3. Name the new type #Loop 3.00mm
4. Change the Arrow style to Loop
5. Change the Tick Size to 3mm and click OK to close
Now begin to place a text object.
1. Annotate tab > Text panel > Text
2. Using the Properties panel click Edit Type.
3. Click Duplicate and name the new style #Arial - 3.00mm Opaque - Loop
4. Change the Leader Arrowhead parameter to #Loop 3.00mm

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

5. Place a leader with the text style and notice the new Loop
arrowhead.

Text styles
Now onto the issue of
fonts, this is a tough area
to really sort out. On one
hand you want to put as
much style (pardon the
pun) into your work. On
the other hand, you
dont want to do more
work than you have to.
When my company first
adopted Revit Structure,
we were coming from AutoCAD where we had used Romans.SHX for
years. The default in Revit is Arial and we were not impressed. So we
decided to switch to Tahoma. It had some character, came with
Windows, and seemed like a decent font (you can tell a 1 from an l).
We went through all the tags and miscellaneous family files to swap from
Tahoma to Arial. Then 4 months later we received an update to the family
files from Autodesk. Rinse, repeat. Then 4 months later we got another
update. Again, repeat.
Then once we got a new version of Revit we decided that the value-add
for the time just wasnt there and we relented and just adopted Arial.
Now that doesnt mean you dont want to own your styles. We still
rename our styles, wherever they may be, with our # prefix. We also
correct the various naming inconsistencies found in the out-of-the-box
families. We use #Font - Size - Background such as #Arial - 3/32 Transparent.

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Making the Revit standard match your standards!

David Harrington, Walter P. Moore and Associates

Closing
Customizing Revit Structure is not difficult inasmuch just a bit tedious. It is
very difficult to customize everything available in one sitting. It is this
reason that I suggest providing a method to know what still needs to be
customized. That way you can work on the customization a bit at a time
and more easily find the locations when they crop up.
One example I found early on is in slabs with metal deck.

In this example of slabs cut in both directions, the black line work
unfortunately cannot be customized (or I have not found it yet). But the
rest of the pink line work can be customized and as I address Floors, cut,
and materials, those lines will become customized to my preferred
standards.
Then of course save this model and continue working. As you come across
areas where you see pink, take the time to investigate and resolve and
save that back into your primary template.
I would think that after a month of using Revit Structure you will have
customized 95% of what you possibly would want to, but odds are that
you will stumble upon things like the slab deck lines. As long as you
following a standard procedure you will be able to fix things and move on
with the work.

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