Understanding dimensions - Revit Tutorial

you'll often sketch in the approximate locations of the walls and then come back and manipulate those more precisely later. Now this is appropriate for early schematic design, but at some point you're going to need to start refining that layout to make everything more precise. but the way that I want to demonstrate here So let's start with what a temporary dimension is. I'm going to select this wall right here in the middle of the screen and notice that when I do two dimensions will appear off to the left. Those are temporary dimensions and they're called temporary, and the two temporary dimensions will disappear. So they're called temporary, because they only display while something is selected. Now notice that when I select that wall the dimensions will automatically choose where their witness line locations will be. So in the lower dimension it went out to this exterior wall and the upper dimension went over here to this horizontal wall. Now you have some control over where those locations are, but one of the easiest things you can do So I'm going to deselect that wall, put my mouse nearby that wall without clicking it, and roll the wheel to zoom in a little bit closer. Now notice that when I select that same wall it will still see this wall up here, but notice in the other direction so it went to the grid line instead. then it might switch over to grids or even other geometry. So that's going to be some of the behavior that you can expect to see with these temporary dimensions. Now once a temporary dimension appears, let's say that we knew the distance from this grid line to this wall, well, notice that you can put your mouse right on that number, click it, and that will activate that dimension. Once it's active you can type in a new value, such as eight, and when I press Enter that will have the result of moving that wall. So it now moves that wall, so that the new distance matches whatever you input, eight feet in this case. Now let's look at another example. Suppose I hold down my wheel and drag slightly to pan over to this location and I'll select this wall next. Now once again, notice that the temporary dimensions are favoring the nearby walls. Well, maybe I want to measure this wall off of this grid line. Now you certainly could zoom in again and use that trick I showed you a moment ago, where those witness lines are located using these small little controls that appear on each of the witness lines. Now all I have to do is click and hold down that little dot and drag it until it highlights the preferred reference, like this grid line, and let go. That will move the temporary dimension, I can activate the number, and type in the value I want. Now this time I want both feet and inches. Now to get feet you've seen that just typing in a whole number and pressing Enter Revit will interpret that as feet, but what about feet and inches? Well, one way that we can get feet and inches is to put in the number of feet followed by a Spacebar and then the number of inches. So I'm going to put in three, then Space, and then four, and press Enter. That will move the wall and notice that it interpreted that as three foot, four inches. All right, let's look at another example. So I'll pan down slightly, select this wall next, and if I'm satisfied with where the temporary dimensions are I can edit them directly, but in this case I want to measure this wall off of this wall. So once again, I could take this witness line grip, drag it, notice it will highlight that wall, and you'll see that those two dimensions remain on-screen. So that's the difference between a temporary versus a permanent dimension. So these are actual dimension objects that are not only visible on-screen and could be used to document your model, but if you actually select one of the elements Watch the number very carefully. I'll click an empty space, now it's not selected, now I'm going to select the wall. You see the change in the number. Now I'm going to click on the number, type in nine, and press Enter. Now a common mistake that folks make is they'll go right to the number and they'll click it That's not the same thing at all. What this is is the edit Dimension Text command, so it assumes that you want to override this dimension value and put in text there instead. So always remember to select the element that you want to move first, that activates the dimension, and then you can type in the number you want to move it. So let's do that again with another example. So let me come back up here and choose the Align Dimension So let me come back up here and choose the Align Dimension and notice that it's defaulting and notice that it's defaulting to the center line of the walls. to the center line of the walls. Now you could move your mouse slightly to one of the edges, Now you could move your mouse slightly to one of the edges, press the Tab key and it would highlight that edge, press the Tab key and it would highlight that edge, and then you could click to set that witness line. and then you could click to set that witness line. But if you needed to set several witness lines But if you needed to set several witness lines on the face of the wall instead of the center on the face of the wall instead of the center you might not want to do all that Tabbing. you might not want to do all that Tabbing. So alternatively you can use this drop-down So alternatively you can use this drop-down right here on the options bar right here on the options bar and choose Wall faces instead and choose Wall faces instead and now instead of defaulting to the center lines, and now instead of defaulting to the center lines, notice it's defaulting to the faces. notice it's defaulting to the faces. And I'll pick this face, this one, and this one. And I'll pick this face, this one, and this one. Notice that that's all one dimension right there, Notice that that's all one dimension right there, but don't forget that you have to click but don't forget that you have to click in empty white space to finish it. in empty white space to finish it. If you click again on one of those witness line locations If you click again on one of those witness line locations you'll just simply move that witness line. you'll just simply move that witness line. So let me do another one in this direct, So let me do another one in this direct, click my Modify tool to cancel, click my Modify tool to cancel, and then I'll come back and select this wall here. and then I'll come back and select this wall here. Now I'm going to zoom in slightly, Now I'm going to zoom in slightly, pan down slightly, so we can get a better look at this. pan down slightly, so we can get a better look at this. Watch all of these walls when I change the location of the selected wall. when I change the location of the selected wall. I'm going to make that 15 foot, eight, and press Enter. I'm going to make that 15 foot, eight, and press Enter. And notice that all three of these walls stayed connected to the wall that I moved stayed connected to the wall that I moved and resized accordingly. and resized accordingly. Now I want this wall selected Now I want this wall selected and I want this corridor right here to be five feet, and I want this corridor right here to be five feet, so I'll click right there, type in five, and press Enter, so I'll click right there, type in five, and press Enter, and notice that that moves that wall and notice that that moves that wall and keeps these two connected. and keeps these two connected. Let's do this wall next at nine foot, 10. Let's do this wall next at nine foot, 10. And this one here we can move with the temporary dimensions, And this one here we can move with the temporary dimensions, but let me show you an alternative. but let me show you an alternative. If I come up here to the Modify tab If I come up here to the Modify tab there's a Move command right here. there's a Move command right here. If I click that notice that there's all these symbols If I click that notice that there's all these symbols that appear when you move your mouse around. So you've got a little X indicating intersections, So you've got a little X indicating intersections, you've got a little square indicating end points. So I want to start moving from the end point of this wall So I want to start moving from the end point of this wall and then move up until I see a little triangle right there, and then move up until I see a little triangle right there, that indicates the midpoint of this wall. that indicates the midpoint of this wall. And by doing it that way And by doing it that way I don't have to figure out what the numerical value is I don't have to figure out what the numerical value is and do the math, and do the math, I can simply say, let's move this wall I can simply say, let's move this wall to the midpoint of this other wall and now I know that it's bisecting that space and now I know that it's bisecting that space into two equal spaces. into two equal spaces. So it's just another way to achieve a similar effect. So it's just another way to achieve a similar effect. Now let's do one more Move command. Now let's do one more Move command. I'll zoom out slightly, pan over, I'll zoom out slightly, pan over, and let's go back to this wall right here. and let's go back to this wall right here. I'll go to the Move command I'll go to the Move command and I'll start moving it from anywhere on the wall. and I'll start moving it from anywhere on the wall. Notice if you start moving in the direction you'd like to move there's another dimension there and you can edit that value directly. and you can edit that value directly. So if I just type in a number, So if I just type in a number, like one foot and press Enter, like one foot and press Enter, that will move that wall over exactly one foot. that will move that wall over exactly one foot. So regardless of which technique you use, you can see that you can start you can see that you can start with a very simple layout of walls with a very simple layout of walls that's roughly sketched in that's roughly sketched in approximately where you want it to go, approximately where you want it to go, and then using a combination of temporary dimensions, and then using a combination of temporary dimensions, permanent dimensions, and commands like Move, permanent dimensions, and commands like Move, you can fine-tune the placement of all those walls you can fine-tune the placement of all those walls and very quickly make a very precise building layout. and very quickly make a very precise building layout.