learning revit

[xxehsomxx]

Hello,
I’m a fourth-year architecture student, and I need to learn Revit as part of my studies.
I already took a course
I’ve consulted with my colleagues, and been told that watching video guide (like Lynda’s Revit essentials) is recommended for getting familiar with the software. I tried to watch the video guide, and it wasn’t easy to apply what was learned. The contents were scattered to my opinion.
Do you think that learning the software through a book would be more effective?
If it would do the work, can you recommend on one? A book that deals with one project that you develop in each exercise or chapter.
Thanks a lot,
Jonatan

[Karalon10]

Welcome to the forum, this will be your new point of call for all things revit, trust me on that, this forum is an excellent resource with vast and varying professional specialisations and s I still learn stuff daily from here just by reading others problems and solutions.

That said, like all things learning and applying are two different beasts.

What I would suggest is trying to do a small project yourself from start to finish and you will quickly find out where your shortcomings are.
It depends exactly what point you are at in your learning, but at a certain point it just comes down to using the software 8 hours a day and asking a ton of questions, or autodidactic learning if you do not have someone to teach you directly.

For books the "mastering revit architecture/structure" etc is a good resource but I am not aware of any one book that goes step by step through a project.

There are some basic outlines to keep in mind that will apply to every project, so if you can master those or at least understand them you will be well on your way.

I train people to use Revit for production, I am not a consultant trainer, I train people within my own field, and within my company and often also associates or sub contractors for projects from time to time.

My training course is 2 or 3 days (depending how many people are attending) roughly outlined as follows:

Presentation of software and familiarization with the interface and user options.
Explanation of terminologies (ribbons, project browser, properties dialogues etc)
A more detailed look at the project browser - navigating the project and explanation of why standardized naming formats are important for the browser.
Explanation of Revits hierarchy of 3D objects (Category, Family, Type and occurance etc)

Then we start work on a project
Because I work in structural we need to import the architectural plans and set up the project so I focus on linking/importing architect files and
Geopositioning, project information and setting up project coordinates (I still struggle with this myself)
Once links are done and project info set up, we set up grids. (Which gives me the X and Y component done)
Now I set up levels by importing sections/elevations and set up the project Z component.

With the positioning done, and my X Y and Z components in place, I can start modeling.
So the next part is on how to model, I start with foundations, and work my way up trying to give best practice methodologies for each category.
I also introduce other little workflow tips such as the calculator within the temporary witness lines when we select an object for example.
We go into more detail about "BIM" and how to try and leverage as much as we can from our project and how important category and family type choices are to that end product. And view range is included here as we work through levels. Also modeling tools such as the align tool vs move tool and other little tips that I learned from my experience.

Once we have some of the project geometry modeled I pass on to documentation of the project showing how all of the 2D drafting tools of revit work, including tagging and exactly how tags work, spot elevations and coordinates, slope tag and view management (scale detail levels etc).
We also talk about view duplication and the difference between duplicate, duplicate with details, or duplicate a dependant view. I also explain exporting and show some tools that can be used for coordination with other partners or sub contractors on the project (design review for example)
Then we place on sheets and explain how the title block works and what it reports and how to manage the title block information and general presentation tips for view placement etc.

The last part I assume everyone has kept up if not we do some revision and reinforcement of subjects as needed, but assuming they kept up we continue on refining documentation and presentation including revisions, exporting, printing etc.

If we've got through all of that pretty quickly, I then might show some more advanced modeling tools such as sweeps, blends, adaptive points, conceptual volume modeling...in short a brief introduction to the pure modeling tools available in revit that often structural modelers dont use because the OOTB elements in general are sufficient in majority of cases.

[biff]

From what i have seen eric wing's book contains tutorials. But i love the mastering book, it sees students through 3 years of studies.

[asintoras]

Watch all of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op36cRhgFWY
They are great!

The Mastering Revit is a good book, but there is also a very good pdf tutorial (you are going to spend many days working on this, but it is worth doing it), which you will find here: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/file...r_guide_en.pdf
It is old (Revit 2011), but you would manage to find the differences in the GUI and keep moving forward.

Hope this helps!

[Andrew P]

Hello,
I’m a fourth-year architecture student, and I need to learn Revit as part of my studies.

Just out of curiosity, why do you need to learn Revit? is it a requirement for one of your studios or is it a separate Revit class where you can get credits for?

[DaveP]

Welcome to the world of Revit!
I teach a Revit overview class at a local community college
I use Dan Stine's books as my syllabus and I think they are exactly what you're looking for.
He's got several different "flavors" depending on if you want residential or commercial and if you need MEP or not.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=daniel+stine+revit+book&tbm=shop

He starts with an overview, then a small project, then for the last 2/3 of the book builds up a sample project, working on the same building all the way through.

[JeffH]

The Mastering Revit is a good book, but there is also a very good pdf tutorial (you are going to spend many days working on this, but it is worth doing it), which you will find here: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/file...r_guide_en.pdf
It is old (Revit 2011), but you would manage to find the differences in the GUI and keep moving forward.

The PDF you linked to is technically not a "tutorial" it is just the User's Guide or "Help" for Revit from 2011. It is pretty much the same information that is found in the on-line help but the online help IS updated for interface changes, includes videos on topics, and is regularly updated for errors and generally to enhance topics. I would suggest using the online help over the out dated PDF.

[xxehsomxx]

Thanks everybody for your help!

[xxehsomxx]

It is requirement for the studio i take next semester. The studio deals with details in the building, and the instructor encourages the students to use revit for that purpose.

[biff]

With what you have watched on lynda etc. now model your own house. Best way to learn.