Revit Electrical Template Style

[lkenshalo]

Hi all;

 

I've just started an MEP consulting firm that has no templates set-up and I'm having trouble convincing management that this is something we need to do. Any tips on how to speed or simplify the process would be greatly appreciated.

 

What sort of things are you including?

 

Are you saving as a template or a project with dummy arch/struc links and worksets included?

 

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

Leon

[tzframpton]

What sort of things are you including?

Here's what I'd tackle first:

 

The "basics":

• Define your Line Styles
  
• Define your Text Styles
  
• Define your Dimension Styles
  
• Define your Patterns
  
• Define your Leader Arrows
  
• Basically, define everything under the Manage Tab > Additional Settings.
  
• Open up Object Styles and go through every category and have them set to your liking (linweights, etc)
  
• Define Materials (if applicable)
  
• Define Conduit Types
  

 

The "semi-advanced", under Manage Tab > MEP Settings > Electrical Settings:

• Define Wiring Types
  
• Define your Wire Sizes
  
• Define your Voltage Definitions
  
• Define your Distribution Systems
  
• Under "Load Calculations" define both Load Classifications & Demand Factors.
  

 

The "advanced":

• Create and define a Shared Parameters File
  
• Manage Tab > Panel Schedule Templates. Define a few.... Branch Panels, MCB/MLO, etc. (You will need Shared Parameters in place to do most of this)
  
• Manage Tab > Project Parameters. Define the ones you'll need.
  
• Create a company Titleblock Family and load it in, making sure the Project Parameters are correctly assigned.
  
• Set up your Default Sheets.
  
• Set up and define your Working Views versus your Plotting Views.
  
• Create View Templates.
  
• Create and load in your electrical families such as distribution panels, lighting panels, Electrical Fixtures, etc.
  
• Create and pre-load all Tag Families.
  

 

That's the big ticket items I can think right off the top of my head. Rest assure that this probably isn't the most complete list, but does cover the basics for an electrical engineer/designer. Also note that this cannot be tackled in a short amount of time, nor can you define it once and walk away. It'll be a constant ongoing process, and I have seen Templates take years to get to a point of efficiency from a team that is just "starting out" with Revit.

 

My template is top notch, but still lacks in many areas, and I've been doing this for a long time and spent countless hours on it. So don't let it overwhelm you when you get rolling on it.

 

Hope this helps. -Tannar