What's in a Room?

What’s in a Room?
Ceilidh Higgins
Interior Designer | BIM Specialist | Blogger |
GreenStar Professional | Looking for opportunities

rooms
Furniture
Floors
Walls
Finishes
Ceilings
Casework
Doors
Plumbing
Equipment

a room
object itself
is a
container
for data –
both
physical
and
information
based
revit rooms

room data sheets
room data
sheets
document
what
SHOULD
be in a
room, not
what is
modelled

currently
word file, excel file
or access database
revit model objects revit model data

then there are 2D elements
is that a floor? an area?
or a colour fill?
and can you tell the
difference anyway?

what about
excel file revit model data
bi directional link

then if we could
revit model objectsrevit model data
compare

use excel to enter data
or a schedule
or a plan

compare proposed to actual
proposed number
of double power
outlets (data only)
actual
count of
double
power
outlets in
the model
calculation of
difference between
proposed and actual

Revit – schedules, graphic filters, room
colour schemes, annotations
Microsoft Excel for spreadsheets –
intermediate level of use
RTV Shared Parameter Manager to manage
project parameters – just $135 USD
Ideate BIMLink for bi-directional link between
excel and revit - $850 approx

what else?
• room data sheet - or
something else?
• what is modelled? what
is data? what is 2d?
• is it worth it?

schedule non-object data
physical
properties
of
modelled
objects data only
information
from room
parameters

create visual data plans
different
colours
indicate
different
PROPOSED
acoustic
zones

how will the data be used?
text, integer, length,
yes/no, material? what
parameter type will be
used?
for each parameter
consider what type of
parameter is required
based upon what you
want to record/check or
measure and the output
plans or schedules you
need

Note Blocks (attached to
nothing)ImagesRooms
Attached to Rooms
Symbols &
AnnotationsGeneric Model Objects
Attached to 2D Objects
Families with 2D
lines
Families including doors,
furniture, casework,
equipment
Attached to 3D ObjectsDetail ComponentsWalls, Floors, Ceilings
Information2D Objects3D Objects
what is a model made up of?

what is important?
think about how and
when you gather
information as well as
how you use it

simple parameter type tips
integers are good for comparing
quantities of like items
yes/no and text parameters with
limited number of descriptions are
great for visual plans

modelling finishes?
keynotes & scheduling ensure
consistency
adding colour and actual
material patterns can give
you a quick visual design
check

finish plans – why use a colour fill? with a material its there in 3D

what about walls?
All options are
work arounds
Paintbucket
Room object
Additional wall
Part of wall
Other options?
line based family attached to wall
with filters used to identify different
materials

no material parameters?
in the room object all the floor, wall,
ceiling and finish parameters are
text (so is casework), why?

2 reasons
1. timing - remember the room data
sheet is the brief an actual
material has not yet been
selected
2. good BIM - the room object is
not a physical object to which
materials can be applied

what room data?
this example of FFE is more
common in lab projects –
each item is listed
individually with dimensions
and other details – every cell
would be a parameter
this example is less detailed
for each piece of equipment
and relies on lists and text
based entries

integer parameters for quantities –
separate from text descriptions will
allow for excel spreadsheet check
yes/no parameter to identify
if there are standard
workstations in a room
text based list for joinery
(casework) means this will
be a manual check
chairs are separated into
different kinds, a yes/no
parameter in each chair family
will be required to identify which
kind of chair it is

client supplied equipment with separate
parameters for each dimension – the same
data could be used in a type catalogue to
build families
for a lab project each service might
need to be a separate parameter

again why?
1. timing - remember the room data
sheet is the brief, detailed types
of furniture are not yet selected
2. consider each type/item of FFE
individually and think how your
projects can use the data
collected
3. and still no materials – again
timing and good BIM

the revit template
create your room data
parameters in your revit
template file (you can
also load into an existing
project too)
other template tips – set
up views for multiple
levels and also set up
your standard schedules

creating parameters
parameter Names should
include “Proposed” or
“Briefed” so as to avoid
confusion with modelled
elements

bind parameters
parameter binding loads
the shared parameters
into the project file

in the order you want them
parameters will be in the
order they are bound, or if
multiple parameters are
bound at once, in
alphabetical order

check everything
I missed the CEH here
the parameter cannot be
reloaded into the same project
with a different name – you
have to create a new
parameter with a new GUID
and then delete the old
parameter

before loading!
the ‘new’ casework parameter
will come in after all the other
parameters now
learn from my lesson – I
wasted a lot of time not
checking parameter names &
types before loading them all
into the template

create the BIMlink
select create new link

you then have to set the order
up again in BIMlink, as this will
control the order you see them
in excel
select parameters

select export to export the revit
data to an excel file – at this
point all we are doing is
exporting the parameters not
actual information
export link

room data file
we now have a blank
room data file – there
was just one room in
the revit template –
this is its GUID
tip – you have to open
the excel file inside of
excel not double click.

testing
BIMlink allows you to
create new rooms
within excel, just add
NEW to the GUID
field

formatting tips
quickly change row
height and set all cells
to wrap text to make
editing easier
Freeze room
names/numbers to
aid navigation

one issue is that you can’t tell from
excel what the parameter type is –
maybe consider your naming?
but go ahead and fill out a row of
data
parameter types

import BIMlink
select import, then the excel file and
the workbook.

review errors and changes
the BIMlink
dialogue lists all
new and
modified data
and all identifies
errors
and allows you
to save an
issues report
as an excel file

error and change report
we now know when (and
probably who?) changed
the room data sheet –
this is a benefit over
using excel on its own

import complete
room data has now been
imported into room
parameters

opps this was a qty
these nils should be NO
4 of 5 errors easily identified

incorrect
parameter type –
parameter will
now have to be
deleted, remade
and will be out of
order
fixing errors

fixing errors
having fixed the
error in the revit
parameters we
also need to load
the new
parameter into
the BIMlink

and the data file
overwrite the previous
room data file

using find and replace
another benefit of excel – find and replace NIL with NO
be careful not to replace any
text in this row

repeat until you
get zero
warnings (took
me 2 goes)
import back to revit

save link
if you save the link
definition you will be
able to import the
BIMlink into other files
and not have to go
through picking the
parameter order again
(at least in BIMlink –
sorry still required to
load parameters into
Revit)

linked workbooks
BIMLink exported data file preformated worksheets

set up the excel data sheet
this is a
preformated
template that you
can use on every
project with links
back to your data
file

just make sure to
save it in the
same folder as
the file “Room
Data File” and
never change
the name of
“Room Data File”
maintain the links

some oddities
yes/no parameters will show TRUE/FALSE, if this
really bugs you run a find and replace on the data
file before issuing to client
I put NO into any field that would otherwise be
empty – so it doesn’t show zero and its clear its
deliberately NO

fix links
run find and replace on
each sheet to fix the
formula – replace $2 with
$3 means it will read the
next row down from the
data file

fix sheet names
it really would be better if
the sheet names matched
the room numbers (or
names if you like), to do
this we need to create a
macro

the visual basic editor
View ->Code
here is your code

select cell to reference
I picked B7 – room number – use
find and replace on your code

interesting
error dialogue -
room 10.10 is
considered the
same as room
10.1 – this
potentially
highlights a
problem with our
room numbering
scheme that
could occur with
other database
software

revise room numbering
close the room
data sheet and
update the room
data file
tip – you need to
always have the
room data file
open to update
the room data
sheet

when you reopen
the data sheet
you might get an
error like this
enable macros
go to tools->options

re run the macro
you may need to
close and reopen
the data sheet file
worksheets have
been renamed

formatting tips
select all worksheet tabs at once
all cells can be formatted as
‘general’ (room number had 2
digits after the decimal)

change the header
select all sheets
except the first
one, link them
back to the first
one – then you
only update once

enter more data
record the room
GUID before you
paste

your template is ready
tidy up the
template by
deleting the rooms
in a schedule view

test your template
create a new project based
on the template and import
the BIMlink data file
your data file had GUID
numbers in it, if there are no
rooms yet in the project you
need all NEW in the data file

fix the error
and reimport in BIMlink and your rooms now exist in
the project

rooms ready for placing
make sure your users know
to select the rooms to place,
not to always make new
rooms

here is one i prepared earlier
this revit file is
basically
complete for
construction but
the only room
objects are
inside the core

open BIMLink,
load the link file
and then load
the rooms
load the room data

edit the colour scheme
duplicate and modify an existing
colour scheme – pick a yes/no
parameter

proposed room acoustics
or a text parameter with limited different entries

add room tags
room tag using data
from the AV list
parameter
combined with
colour scheme
based on the
yes/no AV
parameter

proposed DGPOs
this plan would be useful at
an early stage, to agree
numbers with client or to
brief engineer. this model is
further developed and has
actual DGPOs already
shown – we can see there
are errors. ideally we want
to compare the actual and
the existing.
room tag
using data
from the
double
GPO
quantity
parameter

useful tip
as you can’t use the default
count parameter in formulas
it can be useful to give all
families another counting
parameter

create a schedule
power outlets are electrical fixtures select parameters available from electrical
fixtures and from rooms

schedule output
all electrical families are
scheduled and you can’t
filter a schedule by family
name

what can we filter?
needs to be a shared
parameter - using shared
parameters allows you to
use data for more uses
if you can’t find one - create
a new shared parameter

calculated values are not
taken into account in
formula for calculated
parameter
calculate the difference

a yes/no parameter
Count_Item_CEH = Room:
GPO_Double_Qty_Proposed_
CEH does not work either –
Revit is always comparing the
individual “Count_Item_CEH”
parameter in the calculation –
NOT the calculated total we
see in the schedule.
yes/no difference?

add conditional formatting
difference greater than 0
between actual and proposed

benefits
1. quicker data entry
2. create visual plans
3. data comparisons
4. review and save errors and changes
5. discovers data code errors

20 hours
time taken
to setup
and test
templates

Questions?
check out my blog at
themidnightlunch.com

Colours by Shershe (recoloured) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/shershe/3361427968/sizes/o/in/photostream/
The weakest link by Darwin Bell (clipped) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/465459020/sizes/l/
Tools by zzpza - http://www.flickr.com/photos/zzpza/3269784239/sizes/o/
The Thinker by 4johny5 (clipped) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnny4ever5/3226486640/sizes/l/
London Bridge Tunnel by Martino’s Doodles -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinosdoodles/2501720296/http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinosdoodles/250172
0296/
Level of Detail – Thanks to PracticalBIM http://practicalbim.blogspot.com.au/
Floor Walking by Amodiovalerio Verde - http://www.flickr.com/photos/amodiovalerioverde/41523777/sizes/o/
Alarm clock by kobiz7 (clipped) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/27369469@N08/2661018158/sizes/l/
Chairs - http://www.flickr.com/photos/masochismtango/283536089/sizes/o/
Creating the Future for Libraries blank book by Shifted Librarian -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shifted/3360687295
Bryant Park, Late April 2009 by Ed Yourdon - http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/3475417696/sizes/l/
Data slide by Bionic teaching (colours modified) -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bionicteaching/2920562020/sizes/o
Information by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/6950477589/sizes/h/in/photostream/
Just Full Of Ideas by Cayusa - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cayusa/981372736/
Time jumper by h.koppdelaney - http://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/6171907581/sizes/l/
Component Libraries by Daniel Moodie
Finishes screen shots by Ceilidh Higgins at GHD
All other screen shots prepared for this presentation by Ceilidh Higgins
image credits

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