Door & Window Schedules/Type Elevations - Revit 2014

Creating Door & Window Type Elevations - Revit 2014

This blog post is intended to provide a short workflow detailing how to create "Door Type Elevations" which are typical on a sheet with corresponding schedules.  They typically provide the contractor quick information as to the look and type of door.

I've commonly seen architects and BIM modelers creating elevation views of a door. These elevation views not only show the door, but also the surrounding walls and other elements. After creating this view, it is required to then adjust the boundary to only show the door.  The problem with this approach is that it is not only tedious, but if the door happens to move or get deleted all together, then the view must be updated.

Let's look at a more efficient way of doing this and the process involved.

Creating the Door & Window Type Elevation:

Use Legends to create these elevations.

1. This process makes use of the Legend Tools under the View Menu-->Create Tab.  Click on the Legends Button to start the process.
   
2. A dialogue box opens asking for a Legend Name and Scale.  I entered "DOOR TYPE A," and kept the scale the same as the floorplan, in my case 1/4"=1'-0" for residential.  For commercial, I would typically use 1/8"=1'-0".
   
3. In the Project Browser, you will notice a new view titled "DOOR TYPE A" listed under the Legends area.
4.  Scroll down to the family area in the Project Brower and expand the Doors heading.  This will list all doors in the project you are currently working on.
5. Pick one and drag it into your drawing area. By default, it comes in oriented in a plan view.  On the Options bar that comes up, you will see there is a button to change the orientation to Elevation front or back.
6. Change the orientation to Elevation Front and then pick a place somewhere on your screen.
7. Within this view, feel free to place dimension annotation where needed.  Text can be added as well, but unfortunately, these elevations can’t be labeled using parametric information.  So we are basically adding dumb text to this view.  Obviously you need to be aware of this when making changes/updates to the model later on.
8. The process for windows is exactly the same as the door.
   

Storefront and Curtain Walls

Is the process the same to create Storefront and Curtain Wall elevations?

Unfortunately, Revit 2014 hasn’t addressed the need to elevate curtain walls, and storefront in the same manner as doors and windows.  The procedure I use which is the most common is to generate elevations of each storefront and adjust the surrounding boundary within that view.  It is certainly more tedious than the previous “Create Legend” approach, but it gets the job done.  Additionally, remember, if there are any modifications to these elements as far as positioning, the boundary will need to be adjusted.

1. Under the View menu, click on the elevation button and place a marker where necessary.
2. In your Project Browser, you will see a new elevation created.  Here you can rename it to be something related to your Storefront.
3. In the view, pick the bounding  box grips, and scale your window around the storefront piece.
4. Fortunately, you can annotate this view with dimensions and text similar to the door or window legend.

So there you have a quick and simple method for creating these necessary views for a set of architectural drawings.  Practice it a bit, and let me know how it goes.  If you find, or know of a better way of doing this let me know and I'll pass on the info. to all.

If you have any questions about this blog or have any ideas for future blogs, email me (David Barker) at dbarker@prosoftnet.com