Small Office Tutorial
Small Office Tutorial
Small Office Tutorial
OFFICE TUTORIAL – in this lesson you will get a down and dirty overview of the
functionality of Revit Architecture. The very basics of creating walls, doors, windows, roofs,
annotations and dimensioning.
I. EXTERIOR WALLS:
1. Start a new project named SMALL OFFICE.
a) Open Revit select New>Project
b) Click Browse….
c) Select template file named Commerical‐Default
d) Click open
e) With the template file selected and
Create new “Project”slected, click OK
f) Save as SMALL OFFICE on your H drive
(See Save Backup Copies)
2. Select Architecture>Build>Wall on the Ribbon, then select Wall‐Architectural.
(TAB > PANEL > TOOL)
** NOTE the Ribbon, Options Bar and Properties Palette have changed to show settings related to
walls. Next you will modify those settings. By default the bottoms of new walls will be at the
current floor level and the tops of walls are set on the Options Bar as shown in the next step.
3. Modify Ribbon, Options Bar and Type Selector to the settings below:
a. Element Type Selector: Click the down‐arrow and sselect Basic Wall: Generic ‐12”
b. Height: Change the height from 14’‐0” to 9’‐0”.
c. Location Line: Set this to Finish Face: Exterior
d. Click the Recantangle icon to allow you to draw the four walls.
CHANGE THESE
TYPE OPTIONS RIBBON CONTEXTUAL
SELECTOR BAR TAB
4. You are ready to draw your walls. In the Drawing Window, cllick in the upper left corner. ***MAKE
SURE you are drawing within the four Elevation Markers.
5. Start moving the mouse down and to the right.
Click when the two temporary on‐screen
dimensions are approximately 100’ (Left to Right)
and 60’ (Top to Bottom) then click on the Drawing
Window to release the rectangle.
***Getting the dimensions exact at this time is
not important….you will make correct later on.
6. Your drawing should look something like the image below. Click Modify to end.
Grip
7. The Temporary Dimensions are displayed until the next action is taken by the user. SO you can now
click on the dimension text and adjust the wall dimensions. Also, by default the Temporary
Dimensions reference to the center of the wall and you can change these by clicking on the grips
located on each Witness Line; each click toggles the witness line location between center, exterior
face, and interior face. TRY IT OUT NOW. (Leave the Witness Lines to the exterior face for the next
step.)
8. Now change the Temporary Dimesions (in Blue), click the top wall to change the side dimension to 60’
and side wall to change the top dimension to 100’. Make sure the Witness Lines are to the exterior
edge of the rectangle.
II. GRIDS:
1. In the next steps you will create grid lines to establish relationships between the
walls and the grids so that moving a grid causes the wall to move with the grid.
2. Click Modify on the Ribbon to finish the Wall tool and then select Architecture>Datum>Grid. Next
you will draw a vertical grid off to the left of your building. Once you have drawn all the grids you will
use a special tool to align the grid with the walls and lock that relationship.
3. First, click down and to the left of your building as shown below. Now, move the cursor straight up
just past the top of your building. Make sure the dashed cyan line is visible, this indicates your line is
vertical and 90°.
Start here
then drag up
4. Draw the next grid line approximately centered on your
building. Use the dashed cyan line as a reference to align
it to the prevous grid drawn.
5. Now draw three more grids. When you are done it should like the image below, three vertical and
two horizontal grid lines. Try to make all horizontal and vertical grids align with each other, click
Modfiy to finish.
6. Now change the horizontal grid lines to
have letters instead of numbers. Zoom in on the 4 bubble, click on it twice and change the 4 to an A.
And the do the same to the 5 bubble changing it to a B.
III. ALIGN:
1. Next you will use the Align tool to repostition the grid lines so they “align” with the exterior face of
the adjacent walls. Select Modify>Modify>Align
2. [Align: first pick] With the Align tool active notice the prompt on the Status Bar, select Wall faces on
the Options Bar next to Prefer and select the exterior face of the wall adjacent to grid line 1. [Align:
second pick] Select grid line grid line 1. BEFORE DOING ANYTING ELSE LOOK AT STEP 3.
3. Click the un‐locked padlock symbol to “lock” the relationship between the grid line and the wall. (This
option is only available at this time, if you miss this you will have to go back and activate the Align
tool again.)
4. Align and lock the remaining grid lines with their adjacent walls. DO NOT worry about grid line 2 in the
center, you will locate that later. BE SURE TO LOCK EACH GRID LINE TO ITS WALL. The grid line
should move to the wall.
5. Click Modify to end the Align tool.
IV. DIMENSIONS:
1. Next you will add dimensions to the grid lines and use them to drive the
locations of the walls and grids and then lock them. Select Modify and the
right‐click anywhere within the Drawing Window, click Zoom To Fit.
2. Select Annotate>Dimensions>Aligned tool.
3. Now you are in the Dimension tool. With the Ribbon, Option Bar and Properties Palette as shown
below.
4. Now select grid line 1, then grid line 2, and finally grid line 3. Now click in the location shown below to
set your dimensions. Notice the EQ symbol with a slash throught it? This means the two dimensions
are not equal, you will fix that in the next step.
5. With the dimension string still selected, click the EQ symbol. The slash will be removed and the
dimensions will now be equally spaced and have this relationship maintained.
6. Next you will add an “overall building” dimension. This dimension can be used to drive the overall size
of your building. Use the Aligned Dimensioning tool to dimension from grid line 1 to grid line 3. Click
Modify twice to end the Dimensioning tool.
7. Select grid line 3, then click the dimension text and type 101 and then press Enter. Revit assumes feet
for dimensions so there is no need to type (‘) for feet and (“) for inch. If your dimension is feet just
type the number. If your dimenison is feet and inches type 100‐2 for 100’‐2”.
8. *****NOTICE how the wall moved by your dimension selection? In Revit you can use dimensions to
“drive” the location of geometry. You need to select the item you want to move and then select the
dimension text to enter a new value. TRY IT, select grid 1 and change the dimension text to 90; see
how the wall moves? Select Ctrl Z to undo and get your dimension back to 101’‐0”.
9. Repeating the previous steps, add a dimension between grid lines A and B, and then adjust the model
so the dimension reads 68’‐0”.
10. WHEN DIMENSIONING JUST REMEMBER BLUE DIMENSIONS YOU CAN CHANGE, BLACK DIMENSIONS
YOU CANNOT.
YES NO
V. WALL SWAP:
1. Next you will swap wall types. You started with a generic wall. This is a common situation in a design
firm; a generic wall is added as a “place holder” until a specific type of wall selection is made.
2. You could change each wall individually, but I want to show you how to change them all at once. Click
Modify and then hover your cursor over one of the exterior walls so it pre‐highlights. (Don’t click yet)
3. With an exterior wall pre‐highlighted, take you hand off the mouse and tap the Tab key until all four
walls are highlighted. (In Revit the Tab key is used to cycle through various items.)
4. With all four walls pre‐highlighted: click to select them.
5. Then on the Ribbon select: Architecture>Build>Wall>Wall‐Architectural> Exterior – brick on CMU
6. Make sure your walls are all facing the correct way. Select a wall and use the Fip Control arrows
to make sure all exterior parts of the walls are pointing out
VI. DETAIL LEVEL:
1. Revit allows you to control how much wall detail you see. On the View Control Bar, located in the
lower left corner of the Drawing Window, set the Detail Level to Fine and the Graphic Display to
Consistent Color.
2. You can see in the two images below, that Course simply shows the outline of a wall type and Fine
shows the individual components of the wall (i.e., brick, insulation, concrete block, etc.)
COURSE FINE
3. Let’s look at the overall building detail. On the Quick Access Toolbar located at the top left click the
down arrow next to the small house. Select Default 3D View, you should see a 3D view of your Small
Office so far. View the brick at Graphic Display ‐ Realistic. (change back to Consistent Color)
VII. MOVING YOUR MODEL IN 3D:
1. Scroll in real close to see the brick. Double click the mouse scroll wheel to zoom all.
You can also zoom all by clicking on the little house next to the View Cube. (Try it)
2. Play with the View Cube hover over surfaces, edges, and directions to see how to use it to move your
model.
3. Hold down shift and the mouse scroll wheel to rotate your model.
4. Hold down Ctrl and the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out of your model.
5. Hold down Alt and the mouse scroll wheel to pan your model.
6. Double click Level 1 in the Project Browser to get back to your floor plan.
VIII. INTERIOR WALLS:
1. Now with the exterior walls established, the grid lines properly placed and their relationships locked
in the project , you can now proceed with the layout of the interior spaces.
2. Select the Wall tool modify the Ribbon, Options Bar,and Poperites Palette to the following:
a. Type Selector: set to Basic Wall: Interior – 4 7/8” Partition (1‐hr)
b. Height: Roof
c. Location Line: Set this to Wall Centerline
d. Turn off Chain
3. Draw a wall from the West wall (vertical wall of the left) to the East wall (on the right).
a. Make sure your cursor “snaps” to the wall before clicking.
b. Before clicking the second wall, make sure the dashed cyan line is visible so you know the wall
will truly be horizontal.
c. The exact position of the wall is not important at this point as you will adjust it in the next step.
4. With the temporary dimensions still active, click the blue text of the temporary dimension, type 22,
and press Enter.
N
W E
S
(North Arrow for reference only)
5. Now you will add more interior walls making them equally spaced throughout this 22’‐0´space created
in the step above.
a. Do not worry about the exact location of the walls, just draw five more interior walls using the
same interior wall type as above.
b. Uncheck “Chain” of the Options Bar.
c. Make sure the dashed cyan line is visible before picking the walls endpoint.
d. Make sure you “snap” to the perpendicular walls.
6. Now you will add a dimension string to reposition the interior walls you just created. You must
specify which part of the wall you want to dimension to (wall centerline, wall faces, center of core,
faces of core).
7. Select Annotate > Dimension > Aligned tool on the Ribbon.
8. On the Options Bar, select Wall Faces.
9. By setting Wall Faces, you force Revit to look only here for dimensioning so you can pick with
confidence and not need to zoom in and out.
10. Select the interior face of the West wall to start your dimensioning string, then change the option
settings to Wall Centerlines to dimension to the center of the interior walls.
11. End with the dimension option of Wall Faces to select the face of the East wall.
12. End the dimensioning by picking somewhere outside of the building in an empty space.
18. Click grid line 3 and change the overall dimension from 101 to 40 by clicking
on the blue temporary dimension, then press Enter.
***YOU clicked on grid line 3 because you used the grid lines to reference the drawings dimensions,
otherwise you would select a wall to adjust room or building footprints. DO YOU GET THIS?*** without grid
lines you would select the wall that you want to MOVE and change the dimension.
19. Notice that the interior walls have adjusted to remain equal and grid line 2 is still between
grids 1 and 3.
20. Select grid line 3 and change the 40’‐0” dimension to 110’‐0”. Notice how the wall moves?
21. Select grid line B and change the 68’‐0” dimension to 38’‐0”. Notice how the wall moves?
22. Your current building should look like the one below. How do you make a certain wall move in the
direction you want? By selecting what grid line or wall you want to move and then changing the
temporary dimension.
23. Ctrl Z to undo the last. Your building should now be 110’‐0” x 68’‐0”. Save you project now.
8. Click to place the door. Revit automatically trims the wall and adds a door tag.
9. When the door is selected the change swing control arrows will change the door swing or what side of
the wall the door is placed. TRY IT NOW.
Clicking this grip toggles the witness line
between center, left, and right face of the wall
Change swing controls
Clicking this grip toggles the witness line
between center, left, and right door jamb
Door tag automatically added
10. Click Modify to finish the Door tool.
11. Click the door, (not the door tag) you just placed to select it.
12. Click the witness line grips so the temporary dimension references the
right door jamb and the wall face.
13. Click the dimension text and change to 4” and press Enter. (You must add
the inch symbol or Revit will put in 4 feet as a default measurement.)
X. MIRRORING DOORS:
1. The Mirror command will be used to quickly create another door opposite the adjacent wall. With the
door selected (not the door tag), click the Mirror > Pick Mirror Axis on the Modify Contextual Tab.
2. On the Options Bar, click Copy. If copy was not selected then the door would be relocated rather than
copied.
3. With the door selected and the Mirror command active: hover the cursor over the adjacent wall until
the dashed cyan reference line appears centered on the wall, keep moving the mouse until you see
this, and then click. Click off to end.
Dashed cyan
reference line
4. As you can see the door is mirrored into the correct location. Revit does not automatically add a door
tag to mirrored or copied items, these must be added later.
5. Now you will copy the two doors to the other rooms. Click to select the first door (not the door tag)
and then press and hold the Ctrl key. While holding the Ctrl key, click to add the second door to the
selection set.
6. With the two doors selected, click the Copy tool and on the Options Bar, select Multiple. With
Multiple checked, you can continue picking “second points” until you are finished making copies.
(pressing Esc or Modify to end the command)
7. Pick three points:
a. First pick: midpoint/centerline of the wall
b. Second pick: midpoint/centerline of the wall
c. Third pick: midpoint/centerline of the wall
8. Pick Modify to end Copy.
9. Now you will add two exterior doors using the same door type. Using the Door tool, add two exterior
doors located approximately as shown below. (match the swing)
XI. TAG ALL (NOT TAGGED):
1. Revit provides a command to quickly add a tag to any door (window, stair, room, etc.) that does not
have one in a current view. The tag can be moved and rotated once placed.
2. Select Annotate > >Tag > Tag All.
3. In the Tag All Not Tagged dialog box, select Door Tags under Category and set Tag Orientation to
Vertical. Click Apply to view your tags, then click OK.
4. All doors should now be tagged.
5. Tags can be deleted, moved, and rotated to suit the
the needs of the floor plan.
6. Click on the exterior door on the bottom left and press
the Delete key on your keyboard. As you can see the
door is deleted and the wall is filled back in. Notice
the door tag was deleted as well, a tag cannot exist
without it’s host.
7. Revit numbers doors as they are placed regardless of what level they are on. Now let’s rotate Door
#1 and renumber the doors going across 1‐7.
8. Click on door tag #1 and in the Properties Panel and
change Orientation from Horizontal to Vertical.
9. To change a door tag number, click on a door tag then click on the tag number. Type in the correct
number and click on an open space in the drawing. Repeat for all door tags. There should be seven
doors now tagged 1‐7.
XII. PLACING WINDOWS:
1. Select Architecture > Build > Window.
2. Notice that the Ribbon, Options Bar and Properties Palette have changed to show options related to
windows.
3. The Type Selector indicates the window style, width and height. Clicking the down arrow to the right
lists all the windows pre‐loaded into the current project
Click here for all window sizes
for this type of window.
4. With the Window tool active, do the following:
a. Change the Type Selector to Fixed: 36” x 48”.
b. Verify Tag on Placement is toggled ON from the Ribbon to place tags when the windows are placed,
select Horizontal.
c. Note the Sill Height value in the Properties Palette. This can be changed to reflect different size
and heights of windows.
5. Move your cursor over a wall and place two windows as shown below. Notice that the position of the
window changes depending on what side of the wall your cursor is on. Tags should be on top of the
wall if not flip the windows using the flip controls. Drag the tag up and align with the other tags.
6. Move the witness grip to the outside of the wall by clicking on the dot.
7. Select the left window and set the temporary
dimension 6. Select the right window and set
the temporary dimension 8.
**REMEMBER the temporary dimensions move
items towards what or where it is selected.
8. Using the Copy command, in a similar to copying the doors in the previous exercise, copy the two
windows into each office. Do not worry about exact dimensions yet.
9. Move the windows to the proper location as you did in Step 7 above. The inside office windows in the
middle of the building are 5’ away from interior walls. The corner office windows on the East side of
the building are 6’ and 8’.
Inside Office Window Dimensions Corner Office Window Dimensions
10. If all windows are not tagged, follow instructions under XI. TAG ALL (NOT TAGGED) to add window tags
for to windows.
XIII. SETTING UP A ROOF:
1. Let’s look at your project in a 3D view.
2. Click the Default 3D View icon on the QAT at the top of your workspace.
3. In the 3D view notice the exterior walls are not high enough do to a previous decision made to set the
wall height to 9’‐0”. You will change that in the next step.
4. In the 3D view, hover you cursor over one of the exterior walls to pre‐highlight it, then (BEFORE
CLICKING) press the Tab key to pre‐highlight a “chain of walls” and then click to select them all at once
5. .Now you will access the properties of the selected walls and adjust the height all at once. In Revit
most any design decisions can be adjusted at any time.
6. In the Properties Palette change the Top Constraint to Up to level: Roof. Click Apply.
7. Setting up a wall to be associated with a level creates a parametric relationship that causes the wall
height to automatically adjust if that level is changed. All the instance parameters in this Properties
Palette are related to this wall type and can be changed to suit needs of a client.
XIV. SKETCHING A ROOF:
1. now that the exterior walls are the correct height you will add a
roof to this small office building.
2. Double click Level 1 in the Property Browser to switch back to a
2D view.
3. Click Architecture > Build > Roof, from the fly‐out menu click
Roof by Footprint.
4. At this point you have entered sketch mode where the Revit model is grayed out and you are ready to
sketch a roof outline. Make these changes to the Options Bar and Properties Palette:
a. Check Defines Slope
b. Overhang: 2’‐0”
c. Check Extend to wall core
d. Base Level: Roof
5. Hover over the West wall (make sure the dashed cyan line is on the outside).
Press the Tab key and then click to select all walls at once.
6. At this point you should have four magenta lines and two points at the corner of the wall you selected,
this represents the perimeter of the roof you are creating.
7. Click the green check mark on the Ribbon to finish the sketch mode.
8. To view your roof, in the Properties Palette click the + sign next to 3D Views
and double click on {3D}.
9. Use Shift and the mouse wheel to rotate the small office building around to look at the back side. Use
Ctrl, hold the mouse wheel, and move the mouse forward and backward to zoom in and out.
10. Click the X in the upper right corner of the Drawing Window to close the current
3D view. This will close the 3D view but not the project or Level 1 view.
***Note: DO NOT click the X in the far upper right hand corner this will close the
entire Revit program.****
11. Double click Roof in the Project Browser, click on the roof edge and scroll down
until you see Slope. Enter 6 for the slope. It will change the roof slope to a 6”/12”
slope.
12. Now you will make Gable Ends on your roof. Click on Edit Footprint.
13. Click the West wall and uncheck Defines Slope. Do the same with the East wall. Click the green arrow.
14. You now have a Gable Roof. Notice the walls do not extend up to the roof. Click on the top of the wall
and select Attach Top/Base. Now touch any roof edge, click in an open space to end.
15. Repeat to the wall on the other side. Close this 3D view.
XV. PLACING TEXT:
1. Make sure your current view is Level 1. If it is not the current view double click on Level 1 in the
Project Browser.
2. Select Annotate > Text > Text tool on the Ribbon.
3. The Ribbon has changed now to display text options and the Type Selector indicates the text style.
This size (3/32”) will be the actual
height of the text on your printout.
4. Set the Ribbon settings to match those above, Click below the floor plan to place the text.
5. Type OFFICE BUILDING – Option A, press Enter then type YOUR NAME, click Modify to finish the text.
6. Change the text size to 1/4”. Double click on the text and in the Type Selector choose Edit Type.
Change the text Type to 1/4” Arial, click OK.
7. Click on any dimension and edit it the same way. Change the
dimension size to 1/4” in the Text section across from Text Size.
8. Your floor plan should look like this now.
9. Change the drawing scale via the View Control Bar at the bottom of your
screen. Change it to 1/4” = 1’‐0”, NOTICE your text, door, and window
symbols change with the current scale. Try 3/32” to see what you get.
Change back to 1/8” = 1’‐0”. This scale adjustment will effect only the
current view.
XVI. PLACING ROOM TAGS:
1. Like a Door Tag, a Room Tag simply lists information contained within
the room. The Room feature searches for areas enclosed by walls; a
valid area is pre‐highlighted before you click to create it.
2. Select Architecture > Room > Area > Room.
3. Set the Type Selector to Room Tag: Room Tag
With Area and make sure Tag on placement
is selected on the Ribbon.
4. By, default, Revit will automatically place a Room Tag at the cursor location when you click to add a
Room element.
5. Click within each room in the order shown below, watch for the dashed reference line to align the tags.
6. Click Modify to end the Room Tag tool.
7. Now each room has been tagged with a Name, Number, and Area.
8. Click on the Room Tag for room number 1 to select it.
9. When a room is selected the text turns “dark blue” which means it is editable. Click on the name text,
type OFFICE and press enter.
10. Change rooms 2 – 4 to also be named OFFICE.
11. Change the name of Room 7 to LOBBY.
12. Leave rooms 5 and 6 alone for now.
XVII. SCHEDULES:
1. From the moment you started this project it was keeping track of all the
different sheets involved with this set of floor plans. A schedule for your
doors, window, and rooms have been filling themselves out since you
inserted them in your floor plan.
2. In the Project Browser, click the “+” symbol next to Schedules/Quantities
to expand that section (if required) and then double‐click on the Room
Schedule to open that view.
3. The information contained in the Room Schedule is “live” and can be changed.
4. Click on the Room Name column for room number 5 and change the
text to read MEN’S TOILET RM.
5. To quickly change room number 6 click on the arrow to the right of
Room and select MEN’S TOILET RM, then put your cursor in front of
MEN and type WO to change the text to read WOMEN’S TOILET RM.
Revit keeps track of all entries in your
schedules so you can use and reuse quickly.
6. In the Project Browser, double click Level 1 and zoom in on rooms 5 and 6. Notice the names have
updated. Revit shares data throughout its different sheets and model plans using the same parametric
value in the project database.
7. Save your project.
XVIII. PRINT TO CURRENT VIEW:
1. The last thing you should know to round off you basic knowledge of Revit is how to print the current
view.
2. In Level 1 view, right click anywhere and select Zoom in Region. Draw a tight box around your floor
plan keeping the box close to the grid marks.
3. Select the purple R in the top left hand corner Print.
4. Adjust your print setting to match those below.
a. Select a Printer: SHS_DraftingColor
b. Set Print Range to: Visible portion of current window.
5. Click on the Setup button to adjust the print
settings shown to the right.
a. Set Zoom to : Fit to page
b. Orientation: Landscape
c. Remove Lines Using: Raster Processing
6. Click OK to close the Print Setup dialog and return
to Print. Do not save settings for future session.
7. Click the Preview button in the lower left corner.
8. Click the Print button at the top of the preview
window.
9. Click OK to print to the selected printer.
10. Print out a 3D view as well.
11. In the Project Browser, click the “+” symbol next to 3D Views to expand that section (if required) and
then double‐click on the 3D to open that view.
12. Rotate (hold Shift and press the mouse wheel) the office around to see the back side, click on the
corner of the View Cube to set it up in Isometric mode.
13. Type your name in the location shown below. (set to 1/4” text height)
14. Print this view using the same setup as your floor plan.
15. Staple both copies together and hand in.