Revit templates are an integral part of any Architectural or Construction project.
Especially, while working professionally; or if a company is making use of Revit to create their projects, it is very important that templates are being used to show consistency in projects and to align them in the same design to make them the trademark of a company.
After using Revit for years, experimenting with different templates, styles, etc. we came up with this list, which includes the top 5 tips which can be used to create an amazing Revit template, a project which takes a smooth start usually ends well too. So, let’s see what the top 5 ways are to create custom Revit Templates:
USE OOTB TEMPLATES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
OOTB (Out-Of-The-Box) templates, offered by default in Revit, are the best way to start customizing a template. It saves the time and effort needed to do everything from the very beginning.
There are many free templates to choose from in Revit (Architectural, Construction, Structural etc.); premium templates are also available online. You can choose one according to your specific requirements and then do the necessary changes to make it adapt specifically to your needs.
USING PREFIXES AS A TIME SAVING TOOL
Prefixes are a great way to mark elements inside Revit, if you mark the default elements (including standards like the walls, windows etc.), this will be of immense help when you want to use a downloaded family off the internet. The defaults elements and the ones you are frequently using will be clearly marked with a Prefix and will be easily distinguishable.
They don’t have to be very elaborate, simply adding a few letters like OP, AX etc. would be sufficient.
USING NUMBERED VIEWS HELPS WITH THE CHAOS
There are often multiple views inside a Revit browser, if they are not properly numbered then this could make things very confusing not only for you; the designer, but also for anyone else you share your work with. The easiest way to deal with this is to create numbered views (1-Section, 2-Elevation 3-Grid etc.), also, don’t forget to write a proper title for your views to make it easily recognizable.
USE CONTAINER FILES TO MANAGE THE MESS
If you keep putting every single family you have used inside of a single template then it will quickly become bloated, it will not only be confusing for you to work with but will also reduce the accuracy of your work because everything will be in single file.
Use ‘container files’ to save any family or element that you think will not be used very frequently, title blocks, drafting sheets, minute details etc. are best saved in separate container files.
USE A SINGLE TEMPLATE FOR METRIC AND IMPERIAL
Depending on your client’s requirements and your location, you will be either using the metric system or the imperial system for your project. Whichever system you are using, you should try to work in a single template, if there are two templates for two systems then it would only create problems in the future when you want to edit something.
The simplest workaround is to duplicate families of required systems and use them in your templates, the units can be changed while beginning the project and the required families can later be changed separately; instead of creating an altogether different template.