Revit Beginner - Linking files

[GIB39]

Hi

 

I work for an engineering consultant who is stepping into the Revit mine field for the first time. I have limited experience in using revit but no experience at all regarding the linking of the various engineering disciplines.

 

We will be having electrical, mechanical, structural and civil engineers working on the model at various offices. There will also be external architects involved along the course of the scheme as well, again who will be based outside of our office.

 

What is the most suitable way to link each discipline where you can only alter your own discipline elements?

 

What is the best way to back up and save files?

 

Anyone got any procedures for carrying this out please that would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks

[tzframpton]

First and foremost, read up on Worksharing, Central Models and Local Files:

http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2014/ENU/?guid=GUID-C8E54DC5-2A4C-4C12-A4B9-86D73EB9C048

 

Worksharing is best bet for a collaborative environment. This will allow you to set the number of backups in which you can roll back to if needed. Your local model also provides an extra layer of protection. There isn't an "auto-save" feature like AutoCAD, but there is a notification feature that allows you to voluntarily save upon the frequency you set.

 

Linking Models can be found here, and is straight forward:

http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2014/ENU/?guid=GUID-7B2D9699-D9CE-446D-A424-A8BF488C728D

 

Also, preceding Linking it's best to become familiar with Shared Positioning (aka Shared Coordinates) to keep models aligned:

http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2014/ENU/?guid=GUID-049BE99D-249F-4D1F-A79C-A348955AB49C

 

In AutoCAD there is a hard coded WCS that never changes between drawings. So to align projects you have to physically select everything and move it to an absolute WCS coordinate. In Revit, the origin is manually positioned every time and it can (and should) reflect the physical geographical location. But, this is all relative to what's already been established from the architect.

 

Since you're starting out I'd suggest a basics training course for your office, or a Revit Essentials book which can be found on Amazon.com. Happy Revit'ing!!

 

-TZ

[GIB39]

Thanks tzframpton

 

One thing that is confusing is where is teh best location to save the central file?

[tzframpton]

Network location, in a Job Folder. If you will be Worksharing with people in a WAN environment, have your I.T. department look into installing and setting up Revit Server.