If you are interested in getting into the Revit API, you're going to need some resources to help you along. Below are the links to the places that have helped me and continue to help me.
First, the free resources:
Autodesk's DevTV introduction to the API:
http://download.autodesk.com/media/adn/DevTV_Introduction_to_Revit_Programming/
Snoop Tool - RvtMgdDbg:
http://download.autodesk.com/media/adn/RevitAPI_2010_Webcast.zip
AUGI Revit API Discussion Forum:
http://forums.augi.com/forumdisplay.php?f=218
Autodesk Discussion Groups - Autodesk Revit API
http://discussion.autodesk.com/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=160
The Building Coder - Jeremy Tammik
http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/
CAD Application Development - Matt Mason
http://cadappdev.blogspot.com/
Revit Programming - Ed Pitt
http://revit-programmer.blogspot.com/
Bolt Out of the Red - Guy Robinson
http://redbolts.com/blog/
Rod.Net - Rod Howarth
http://roddotnet.blogspot.com/
And Rod's Revit API search tool:
http://revitapisearch.rodh.org/
Software Development Kit (SDK)
It comes with your Revit media/DVD or if you downloaded Revit and then installed it, look in C:\Autodesk.
The SDK has lots of samples, the Revit API Developer Guide pdf, and the RevitAPI chm (help) file.
These resources aren't free but may be of great value:
Autodesk Developer Network
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=723353
Your Autodesk Reseller
And finally some personal notes from my experience with the API
Brief Outline of What I Do When Writting Code:
Working with the Revit API is mostly about automating or simplifying something you can already do manually with regular Revit tools. The exception to this may be in the area of analysis tools. So your first steps with any code you make should be to understand the manual steps, menus, dialog boxes, and human interactions involved in your code idea.
Once you have an idea and understand the regular manual process, then use the snoop tool RvtMgdDbg to learn what is exposed in the API. This will help you figure out if what you want to do is possible. Also look at the SDK examples. That may give you some indication of what is possible as well as give you a head start on your code.
Then as you go, use the resources above to help you along and get over rough spots.
Word of Warning
If your code gets ambitious, be careful about ROI. Revit already automates many tedious tasks and is always improving to automate more. So as a rule of thumb, make sure that the payback for the effort you put into making the code and supporting it occurs before the next release of Revit just in case that new release has a viable equivalent to your code.
This warning is especially directed at those like me who are used to complex coding for AutoCAD. AutoCAD is NOT inherently an AEC program and needs ambitious add-ons to make it so. Revit however IS inherently an AEC program and just needs some simpler (analysis tools excepting) helping code to fit it to your company's workflow. So don't get too carried away before doing some risk assesment.
Comments in Your Code
Do yourself and your company a huge favor and put appropriate comments in your source code. If you get hit by a bus (why are buses always getting the bad rap?) and someone else has to continue with your code or you are revisiting or updating your code which you spent a whole year forgetting about, then these comments will come in handy. Mostly my comments start off by outlining the reason why the code was made and the general outline of what it should do. Then throughout I will put in notes about why a certain coding path was chosen or even why certain seemingly obvious coding paths were not chosen. You can look at the code to see what it is doing, but the why is not always obvious but very important.
Showing posts with label BIM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BIM. Show all posts
2.24.2010
7.24.2009
Revit 2010 Classic?
ZOMG!
Roll on over to the Augi forums and see what witchcraft and sorcery those 'never-say-die' folks have cast on the new Revit 2010 UI. I'll give you a hint: the ribbon has been cut, shall we say.
Hacks have a way of changing the game. I am curious to see how Autodesk responds. This may get interesting.
More to come...
6.17.2009
Family Matters
It has been hypothesized (by me) that the brunt of the productivity we hit in Revit comes less from the KB reported by Windows and more from the information Revit tries to render on-screen. Re-gen is a beast. Stories are told far and wide about typing 'regen' in the AutoCAD command line and going to grab a cup of coffee, making some phone calls, heading to your daughter's recital, and watching paint dry while your state-of-the-art, AutoCAD desktop crunched the numbers. We make fun of it now and will likewise do so in the future about Revit. But what is it that is making "Revit so slow" NOW?
The Graphix
The debate rages on about the role of the GPU, Open GL, and other current gen compu-speak processes. But right now, what we know is this; the more dense your file (notice I didn't say BIGGER), the more slowly it runs. Density come in a variety of flavors, but the 2 biggest culprits are Data and Model. The "I" and "M", if you will. While data richness is my life's goal and shouldn't be reduced, the Model can (and should) be. One of the the easiest way to control the Model is through the...wait for it...families. Before you think it, this is not a discussion of 2D vs 3D (in my opinion, there is no discussion, but more on that later), but a discussion on View Frugality. That is, showing what is important to you and not showing what's not. While a complex, fully realized 3D family can bulk up your KB, it doesn't have to muck up your view render time. Through a couple of responsible family creation maneuvers, you can have the leanest, meanest, Chuck Norris-est project on the block.
Visibility, Detail Levels, and Symbolic lines...Oh MY!
The Graphix
The debate rages on about the role of the GPU, Open GL, and other current gen compu-speak processes. But right now, what we know is this; the more dense your file (notice I didn't say BIGGER), the more slowly it runs. Density come in a variety of flavors, but the 2 biggest culprits are Data and Model. The "I" and "M", if you will. While data richness is my life's goal and shouldn't be reduced, the Model can (and should) be. One of the the easiest way to control the Model is through the...wait for it...families. Before you think it, this is not a discussion of 2D vs 3D (in my opinion, there is no discussion, but more on that later), but a discussion on View Frugality. That is, showing what is important to you and not showing what's not. While a complex, fully realized 3D family can bulk up your KB, it doesn't have to muck up your view render time. Through a couple of responsible family creation maneuvers, you can have the leanest, meanest, Chuck Norris-est project on the block.
Visibility, Detail Levels, and Symbolic lines...Oh MY!
Long story short...
- ALL forms to be turned off in Plan/RCP (maybe Front/Back. Left/Right, if your elevations are giving you fits too)
- The most highly detailed bits (nuts, bolts, washers...j/k) should be set to Fine ONLY!
- Symbolic Line representation of the family.
What Revit can't see, Revit can't generate. Problem solved.
So stop all this worrying about file size, and focus on better creation. 2D vs 3D is another Red herring. The most highly detailed model and the most generic family of lines are separated by but a few hundred KB. Building Responsible Familes is everyone's responsibility.
5.15.2009
Lazy Parsing
When is the right time to break a single model in multiple models?
That is the $25,000 question, isn't it? Do you rely completely on Windows to tell you the size of our Revit database? If so, what size are you afraid of? How is the database compressed?
Most BIMs start as a singe file. Sometimes, you are asked to split out certain parts of our building for others to access (read: structure, medical equipment, etc). But what about the architect's model? You all know by now that there is a connection between the compressed database size (what Windows reports) and the physical memory we have available. You have perfected the 3G switch and maxed out your MoBo with 4gb of the fastest RAM. You have heard and are applying the 10:1 rule (or [10:1]x2 depending on who you ask). You have all increased your virtual memory to be twice the size of our physical. But, with all that in place, what then is the ceiling? What about compresing the file or even re-creating the central file? Sure, your number will drop significantly, but then balloon back up within days. Can you really trust that number?
The obvious answer (which is not an answer at all) is "maybe". Quite honestly, it's the only number we have to go on. There are, however, other things to be considered. How much detail is Revit trying to render onscreen at a time? Is Revit trying to render and\or hide every face of the every family, or have the 3D forms been hidden in plan, leaving the Symbolic lines to represent? How many families are loaded, but unused. Extraneous views, anyone? Embedded jpgs, or, say it ain't so, exploded ACAD! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! What about other software running at the same time (FOR SHAME!) "File size" is not the only determinate factor in breaking a BIM apart. It is a bit of a red herring. Only through responsible model building and family creation can better performance be achieved. We must all do our part. Tune in later for a look at "Building Responsible Families", where I will try and dissect the family creation process into it's major functional uses, and assess how far is too far enough.
Otherwise, "split the model up when you need to". Unfortunately, there is no magic number.
That is the $25,000 question, isn't it? Do you rely completely on Windows to tell you the size of our Revit database? If so, what size are you afraid of? How is the database compressed?
Most BIMs start as a singe file. Sometimes, you are asked to split out certain parts of our building for others to access (read: structure, medical equipment, etc). But what about the architect's model? You all know by now that there is a connection between the compressed database size (what Windows reports) and the physical memory we have available. You have perfected the 3G switch and maxed out your MoBo with 4gb of the fastest RAM. You have heard and are applying the 10:1 rule (or [10:1]x2 depending on who you ask). You have all increased your virtual memory to be twice the size of our physical. But, with all that in place, what then is the ceiling? What about compresing the file or even re-creating the central file? Sure, your number will drop significantly, but then balloon back up within days. Can you really trust that number?
The obvious answer (which is not an answer at all) is "maybe". Quite honestly, it's the only number we have to go on. There are, however, other things to be considered. How much detail is Revit trying to render onscreen at a time? Is Revit trying to render and\or hide every face of the every family, or have the 3D forms been hidden in plan, leaving the Symbolic lines to represent? How many families are loaded, but unused. Extraneous views, anyone? Embedded jpgs, or, say it ain't so, exploded ACAD! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! What about other software running at the same time (FOR SHAME!) "File size" is not the only determinate factor in breaking a BIM apart. It is a bit of a red herring. Only through responsible model building and family creation can better performance be achieved. We must all do our part. Tune in later for a look at "Building Responsible Families", where I will try and dissect the family creation process into it's major functional uses, and assess how far is too far enough.
Otherwise, "split the model up when you need to". Unfortunately, there is no magic number.
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