• Home
  • Training Books
  • Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Feedback
    • Contact
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookie Policy

CADnotes

CAD Tutorials and Best Practices for professionals and students

  • Featured
  • AutoCAD
    • AutoLISP
  • Revit
    • Revit Architecture Basic
    • Revit MEP Basic Tutorial
  • Inventor
  • MicroStation
    • MicroStation Basic Tutorial
  • CADnotes on YouTube
You are here: Home / Revit / Defining Your Typical Design as Group

Defining Your Typical Design as Group

July 17, 2009 by Edwin Prakoso Leave a Comment

Revit Group It’s inevitable when I teach Revit to AutoCAD users: they will compare and ask if they can do it in Revit. One of most popular question is, “I always use AutoCAD blocks for my typical design. So if there’s any changes, all of them that use the same definition will also updated. Can I can do that in Revit?”. Yes. You can create typical building components in Revit, and they can be updated automatically.

We use group for this purpose. Let’s say I create a typical room for a hotel like this in Revit. I select the door and 3 walls: top, bottom, and right. I didn’t include the left wall because it will overlapped when I arrange the rooms later.

typical room

After you select those objects, you will see in your ribbon, contextual tab: create group. Click it, and give a name like typical room or something.

create group

Now you can arrange your typical room to the building layout. You can copy your group, array it, or mirror it. You might have to add several more walls and windows after that. Mine is simple as below.

typical room in layout

Now, let’s try to change our typical room design. Select one instance of the group, any of them will do just fine. Then click edit group in your ribbon, contextual tab. What you will see next, is similar to block editor in AutoCAD. Make any modification as necessary. I add a bathroom inside our typical room. You may add toilet, sink, bathtub, and furniture in your hotel room.

After you’ve done all the modifications, click finish in contextual tab.

finish

You will see all your typical room updated to the new design!

Let’s explore a bit more about this feature. You might want to collaborate with other designer. Maybe an interior designer. You can send them the typical room design, then request them to send it back when he’s finished. Here’s how to do it.

Expand groups in your project browser, until you find your group name. Right click, then select save group. You can save it as RVT, the same extension as Revit project.

available groups

You can share your RVT file to a shared folder, and link your group in Revit model to that file. Your colleague can modify that file, and you can continue your entire layout. Your model can be updated instantly for any design changes. But first, we have to link our groups to that file.

Let’s go back to your hotel design. Select one of your groups, right click, then select select all instances. This will select all instances that using the same definition.

Click link in your ribbon, contextual tab. Revit will ask you, whether you want to replace it with a new project file or existing project file. Select replace with an existing project file.

link confirmation

Now find your typical RVT design file that you’ve shared to your colleague. Click open. Now your groups are linked to that file.

Ask your colleague to modify that file. Or you can close your project then modify it. If you don’t close it first, the link to your project will be broken. Open your project again, then you should already see your changes.

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as a Solution Consultant in Datech Solutions, Tech Data Indonesia. I've been using AutoCAD since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld magazine and I am also active in Autodesk discussion forum. I'm a member of Autodesk Expert Elite, an appreciation for individuals who give contributions to the Autodesk community.
Connect with me on twitter or LinkedIn. If you want to have my new articles sent to your email inbox, you can subscribe to the newsletter.

Filed Under: Revit

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Login
Notify of
guest

guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Join Our Free Email Newsletter
  Thank you for Signing Up
Please correct the marked field(s) below.
1,true,6,Contact Email,2 1,false,1,First Name,2 1,false,1,Last Name,2

Featured

AutoCAD Script to Create Classic Workspace Automatically

Do you want to use AutoCAD Classic interface but the steps are difficult to follow? Just download this script and run it. It will create a Classic Workspace almost like magic!

Recent Articles

  • Revit 2024.1 Update is Released
  • What’s New in Revit 2024: Bending Detail
  • What’s New in Revit 2024: The Dark Theme

Advertisement

New on CADnotes

  • Revit 2024.1 Update is Released
  • What’s New in Revit 2024: Bending Detail
  • What’s New in Revit 2024: The Dark Theme
  • Autodesk Build: Using Assets for Progress Tracking
  • My Home on the ACC Unified Platform

Meet the Authors

avatar for
avatar for
avatar for
avatar for
avatar for
avatar for

Get Connected

CADnotes on FacebookCADnotes on InstagramCADnotes on TwitterCADnotes on YouTube

© 2009 – 2023 CADnotes · Feedback · Privacy Policy · Become an affiliate

wpDiscuz