Revit Template

[MARIA1993]

Hello,

I would like to start to create a Revit template.

First of all I have found that the way to create a template is from R menu > create new project template. Is it the way? I want to say, that after you need to just delete the default settings and you to add your families and to define your parameters?

Secondly, I have found that there are many basic items that a 'good' template needs. Can someone give me a guideline from which point to start?


Thank you in advance!!

[Karalon10]

Hi Maria,

This is not as simple a subject as it may appear to be on face value.

It is not really easy to say where to start, it doesn't really matter to be honest, but before you even start on the template you need to decide on some things.

What is the purpose of the template?
This might seem obvious, but I am talking about the minutia here. Such as, will we be using this template to do LOD 1, 2, 3 or 4. LOI 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.

Defining these first 2 parameters before you start will give you a rough idea of exactly what you need to include in your template as far as information on materials, view templates, chargeable families etc might go. And just how detailed and refined those elements need to be.

Are we using it to do structural analysis? Lighting analysis, energy analysis, solar studies, shade projection etc etc etc.
This can also affect how you build your template.

If you wanted to just keep it simple:
Your ideal template facilitates easy, accurate and fast modeling.
It should also facilitate easy, accurate and fast documentation, unless you are only wishing to use your models for 3D presentations. (Again, define your purpose first)

To achieve these basic things you will need, at minimum:
Manage the material appearances
Manage line weights, line types, and other basic drafting parameters such as hatching types, text fonts, colors for hatching and text, manage also your units (do you want to show mm, cm, m...or inches, feet etc.?)
View templates
Symbols, notes, and the general look of your documentation needs to be managed. This might mean editing, or creating things like section heads, special annotations you may have, etc etc.

Stick to basic logic when defining your needs
Who (which discipline)
What (what is the purpose of the template)
When (linked to the purpose, the "when" will allow you to prioritise view templates and other elements. Also this might be, when do I need this template completed by? It may simply be cheaper and more efficient to have an external consultant / specialist create a template to your needs)
How (notice the how part comes later?)

Get your template built logically, otherwise you will end up with a template that does a bit of everything but not quite what you need.

A good way to attack this might also be to look at contracts your company is winning that are demanding 3D, Revit, and/or BIM capability and find out exactly what these contracts are demanding you provide in regards to those things listed. This will give you a solid grounding in understanding the needs of the company in regards to the template.

[MARIA1993]

Hello Karalon10,

Thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it!

[asintoras]

In addition to what Karalon10 already said, think of a template (specially at its initial stages) as a live document that evolves. You might find out that if you do international projects, you might benefit from having a dimension type that shows both Metric and Imperial results. You would have to find out exactly what is the appearance you want your model to show in plans, elevations, sections (scale, level of display, filters, etc.). Perhaps some pre-prepared schedules, depending on the nature of your project. Think about creating a drafting view showing all Line styles and their name, text styles and dimensions at different scales, filled regions, and all your drafting standards.

In the company I work for, I realized that the original template had already pre-loaded a bunch of families, and that was the reason why some projects had such large file sizes, even when most of those families were not being used. In the new template I striped out all families to keep it small, and made sure that our Revit Library was straight forward and provided good quality families, as well as 'seed files' with a selection of the most useful walls, windows, doors, railings/balustrades, stairs, roofs, floors, etc.

[elton williams]

Grab yourself a beer/wine/coffee/something and read this http://www.revitforum.org/tutorials-...-template.html

[ngoc nguyen]

Maria, if you are fresh with Revit, I recommmend that you and your firm should hire a Revit consultant to build the template. This will save you a lot of headache down the road.

<business link removed>

Cheers
Ngoc

[Karalon10]

Ngoc I agree and I have quite a lot of experience building templates but I have not so long ago started work at a place that didn't have a template and chose the consultant route simply because it is cost and time effective.

however even if you choose this route you will still need to define a bunch of things for him to build it for you, and he knows even less about what you company needs than you might...so keep that in mind that even though you engage someone else to do this work you are still going to have to invest some office time somewhere along the line to get it built.

[ngoc nguyen]

Karalon, yeah I have done a number of templates for firms this year and typically I come to their office and have a half day workshop to understand their design processes and tools/ current standards and cultures (office politics if I am lucky enough to know someone in that company too)...All these helped to build a best suited template for that particular firm

[MARIA1993]

I will think about your advice, thank you all of you!

[misobim]

Also, you may want to look over this thread on incorporating worksets into templates for more advanced use cases/to see how others are using templates.