Explore the process of linking an architectural model in the course BIM 322, Revit MEP for plumbing. This article dives into the specifics of linking the architectural model, making sure all elements line up correctly and the importance of maintaining alignment across different software like Navisworks or Clash Coordination.
Key Insights
- The architectural model serves as the context within which the plumbing system has to operate, and thus it is essential to link it and ensure its proper alignment at the beginning of the course.
- Levels in the linked architectural model need to match with the levels in the Revit MEP model to ensure correct viewing and alignment of the models. This includes ensuring that the positioning is set to auto internal origin to internal origin.
- Using the copy monitoring feature in Revit, the user can create live copies of specific elements such as levels or grids in their models while keeping track of the location of these elements in the linked model. This feature assists in maintaining alignment across different versions of the model.
Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.
Welcome back to the video course content for BIM 322, Revit MEP for plumbing. In the previous video, we went ahead and laid out a little bit about what the course is going to be and started our file. In this next video, we're going to go ahead and link in our architectural model and get that squared away.
We always want to go ahead and start with a background typically, because plumbing needs the context of the building to go ahead and work in. So what I'm going to go ahead and do is link in an architectural background that is going to be our school project. And if you've taken, say, the Revit mechanical course, the building will be very, very familiar to you.
It's pretty much the exact same building. So what I want to go ahead and do is I'm going to go to my Insert tab up here at the top. I'm going to go to my Link Revit, come here, in your BIM 322 file downloads.
So you may need to go to, say, your Documents. So I can go like This PC, Documents, VDCI, my 322 file downloads. You should see Linked Revit as a folder in here.
I'm going to go into my Linked Revit folder, and I'm going to select my MEP Architectural. Everything here, positioning, I want that to be Auto—Internal Origin to Internal Origin. This is actually a really important step that you want to make sure you go ahead and get squared away.
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By default, Revit now goes to this setting, but in earlier versions of Revit, it did not go to this setting. So you want to make sure that you're going Internal Origin to Internal Origin. That is so when you export out and people maybe reassemble in, say, a different software like Navisworks or Clash Coordination, everything lines up appropriately.
I'm going to go ahead, hit Open, and it's going to bring that in. You should see your Revit file, the architectural background, pop in. Now we've linked it in, but we need to make sure some things line up, i.e., the levels and those kinds of items.
So I'm going to go ahead and go into an elevation. I can go into an elevation, or I can cut a section. I'm going to create a section to start looking at this.
And I'm going to go up here to Section, create a section view. I'm just going to drag it across the entire width of the building. Then I can select that.
With it selected, I can right-click, hit Go to View, and here we are. So you see that we've brought in some levels. We have a Top of Footing level.
These are all part of the linked Revit model. We want to go ahead and make sure our levels are aligning with their levels. You can see my Level Two and my Level One here.
But I also don't have the Top of Footing, the Wing Roofs, Library Top, Parapet, Gym. So this is one way of looking at it. I want to go ahead and get my Level Two to match up with the architectural Level Two.
So I'm going to go ahead and select it. I'm going to click on my parameter here and change it to 13 feet. My views are hosted to these levels, right? If my Level Two is below their Level Two, I'm not going to see what I should be seeing.
Let's take a look at this in 3D. I'm going to go up here to my—what I call the little house on the prairie—go into my 3D view, and there we are. So there's two different sets of levels.
My levels do represent in 3D. So you can see I have my levels over here, and then I have my levels here. These levels are part of my live model.
These levels are part of the Revit link. So just be mindful of that. What I want to go ahead and do is copy-monitor the levels that I don't have, and then I'm going to monitor the levels that I do have—Level One and Level Two—to Level One and Level Two of the architectural model.
So copy-monitoring allows us to make live copies of elements, specific elements, like levels and/or grids, in our models while keeping tabs on the location of those elements in, say, the linked model. So let's say that the Architect at some point said, "Oh, hey, Level Two needs to go to 14 feet to allow for more interstitial space or for whatever reason." If I had Level Two monitoring their Level Two, I would get an alert that said, "Hey, this level element has moved."
"What would you like to do? Would you like to move your level? Do you want to reject the difference?" So on and so forth. So I'm going to go over to my Collaborate tab. I'm going to go to Copy/Monitor, and I'm going to go to Select Link.
I'm going to hover here and pick on my linked architectural file. The first thing I want to go ahead and do is monitor my Level One to the linked model's Level One and my Level Two to the linked model's Level Two. So I'm going to go Monitor.
I select the element I want to monitor, which is my Level One. And what is it monitoring? It's monitoring this Level One, pick. You'll know when it's monitoring—you'll see that it has this little symbol right here.
This kind of stays the same size on the screen regardless of my zoom level, but you can see this guy here, there. And then the same thing, I'm going to go Monitor. I'm going to click on Level Two.
I'm going to click on the Level Two I want to monitor. There we go. So I've monitored the elements I want.
Now I need to copy the additional ones. So I'm going to go over here to Copy. I'm going to go ahead.
And once I've picked Copy, I can go ahead and go to the elements, and only the elements that I'm able to copy-monitor, which is quite a bit. Notice how my roof is not showing up, but I could copy-monitor walls. I can copy-monitor fixtures, and we'll get into that.
But I want to just copy-monitor the levels. I'm going to actually copy-monitor all the levels just so I have them. So I'm going to click on the TOF or Top of Footing.
I'm going to click on—it's going to go ahead and give me a little warning here. And that's perfectly fine. Just close that if you get it.
I'm going to pick on this one, pick on this one, and pick on this one. Now I actually have those exact levels in my model. I can go ahead, hit Finish.
And there we are. If I hit Escape, you can see now I actually have those levels in my model. My other levels are still here.
So there we go. Let's go ahead and save the file.