Revit Implementation Questions (start an FAQ?)

[3dway]

We are considering including Revit in our delivery method, and have some questions that, I hope the community can answer:

 

-What are the file sizes like for a complete set of drawings of a custom home

-What are the file sizes like for a complete set of drawings for a commercial building like a car dealership

-How far above the minimum system requirements but below the reccommended system requirements are you able to operate? Hardware upgrades area daunting part of the switch to Revit. I understand it's a heavy application.

 

We are also looking for good online sources of legal, royalty free families and goodies to use in creating a set of working drawing.

 

Is anyone willing to share a file for a completed project or fictional project of the two types listed above?

 

Do you know of any manufacturers (window, furntiture, equipment, dock levelers etc) who are producing (quality)families for Revit. We (revit users) need a list.

 

Thanks to anyone who can help out. Please add to the FAQ.

 

Thanks,

Mark.

[mbowers]

Mark,

 

You do ask many loaded questions. But important questions they are.

 

First off, the file size will vary greatly depending on the level of complexity you build into the Revit model. My first Revit project was a 2 classroom school addition and its file size was a measly 8mb. Now i'm working on a 6 story high rise and it is about 1/2 through design development and is already topping out at 45mb. One file...45mb. Depending on your office setup, and if your going to have multiple users with one central file, i'd recommend reading everything you can about worksets, their pros and cons.

 

My work computer is a Dual Core 2.8 Ghz HP with 2 gigs of RAM, 160GB HDD with dual 20in flat panels. It sings with no problems what-so-ever. Obviously the more horsepower the better. I don't use Vista...XP all the way. Your network would be the next big problem. Obviously if you are working with different/multiple offices you'll want to investigate a wan accelerator such as Riverbed's Steelhead. It's a $50K piece of hardware that essentially opens up the network pipe to push these large single files through the lines. If your going solo with a single machine, then you should be okay. Otherwise make sure your office network has a gigabit network at the least.

 

Resources are ever-developing. I've found the most abundant resources at http://www.revitcity.com You'll need to create an account but the content is great and most is editable to suit your needs. Hope that helps for now. Good luck.

[3dway]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm wondering a little about your concerns about the network.

We only use a fast ethernet switch for the five or six workstations in the office. It does us find with AutoCAD since, I don't think, AutoCAD generates much network traffic.

 

I see that it might be slow to open a 45Mb file over the network, but once you're open in Revit, how much network traffic does it generate? For example, are the families stored in the file, and every time you want to change to another member of the family it has to go back and access the file on the server? Or like AutoCAD, only creates network traffic when it saves?

 

We have Photoshop files which are hundreds of Mb and they open fine. I think that Photoshop also genterates a minimum of network traffic once you're open and editing. Is this correct and how does Revit compare?

 

**edit** Any info on multiple users editing the same file at the same time would be good too. I think I read this in some reviews or promo material.

 

Thanks Again.

[Dave Buchhofer]

Caveat: I haven't really used it in any production yet, but these are thoughts brought up at various talks i've been to.

 

From my understanding is that check-in and check-out of the worksets can cause a lot of network traffic, It seems to work by keeping 1 centralized file, and copying that (entire?) file to a local machine on check-out, flagging the areas (in the central file) you are modifying as you go.

 

a 100mb internal network would work fine in many cases, the real problem people start having with that is working offsite. IE: We have offices in dc/la/philly that can all share some dutys on a single project, so things can get a bit messy in that regard, working on larger projects in the 100-200mb range, and across a (not so) little 7mb/7mb connection can make for some hassle. I've heard of some places making set times for checking in files, so as to stagger the load to the internal network.

 

with 8 users you should be more than fine i would think. and 8 users in revit can go a LONG way it more comes in on very large files, or with many projects running at once.

[AJLynn]

Have you looked at the AUGI Revit forums? I've found them very informative.

[RAYMOND]

Mark,

 

You do ask many loaded questions. But important questions they are.

 

First off, the file size will vary greatly depending on the level of complexity you build into the Revit model. My first Revit project was a 2 classroom school addition and its file size was a measly 8mb. Now i'm working on a 6 story high rise and it is about 1/2 through design development and is already topping out at 45mb. One file...45mb. Depending on your office setup, and if your going to have multiple users with one central file, i'd recommend reading everything you can about worksets, their pros and cons.

.

 

just curious, not doing Revit yet but does use the xref concept to abvoid

massive size file where the whole thing is one place

[AJLynn]

No, it keeps everything in one big file. It has mechanisms for more than one person to use the model at a time and the changes to be saved to a central server (and it's the Save To Central that takes time).

[RAYMOND]

well, bummer,

 

hope in time they can change this

 

i remember in ADT that you could have plans in one dwg and your scheduals in another. and they would update each other..

 

but, onward I go..

[kris McIsaac]

if you job has multiple buildings you can do them all separately then link them into one file. This allows people to work on different parts without bothering anyone else. I am not sure if it reduces the overall size of the master file. We are often over 50mb sometimes over 100mb and they are not huge buildings.

 

Generally a 10/100 network will be ok. From my experience more than 4 people working on one file gets busy. Lots of requests and save to centrals required.

 

We are on average core 2's at about 2.2Ghz and 2 GB ram, XP 32 and generally using 256mb Geforce cards and have no problems