Category: Revit Interview Questions

Yes, you can install Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010, Autodesk Revit MEP 2010, or Autodesk Revit Structure 2010 (32- or 64-bit) on a Mac computer on a Windows partition. The system must use Boot Camp or Parallels to manage a dual OS configuration and meet the minimum system requirements.

Boot Camp is a utility provided with the Mac OS X v10.5 (aka “Leopard”). You can install Windows® XP or Windows Vista® on an Intel-based Mac computer by partitioning the hard drive. The Boot Camp Assistant guides you through the process. After installation, use Boot Camp to operate your Mac using a dual boot system.

You specify the required operating system (Windows OS or Mac OS) when you start the computer. Once you start the computer, the selected OS runs in native mode. If you start the computer in Windows, you can install and run Windows applications at native speeds.

Parallels Desktop for Mac is a system utility available from Parallels, Inc. It maps the hardware resources of the host computer to a virtual machine using a guest operating system. Use the utility to run applications in the required operating system without restarting.

Boot Camp is a dual boot configuration that allows the selected operating system to run in native mode. Use virtualization to start the computer using the Mac OS, and then use Parallels to start the Windows OS as a virtual machine. You can then run applications in each operating system without restarting the computer.

Autodesk has tested Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure running under Parallels Desktop and it is officially supported. Autodesk has not tested and does not recommend using Revit-based products with other virtualization software.

For maximum performance, use Boot Camp to run Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, or Revit Structure in a native Windows OS. For small to medium sized assemblies, Parallels provides greater convenience and good performance.

You can use either a standalone or network license of Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, or Revit Structure. Using the system as the network license server is not supported.

• Operating System:
  Mac OS X 10.5.x.
• Processor:
  Intel-based Mac, (64-bit Windows Vista requires an Intel® Core™ 2 duo or Xeon® processor).
• RAM:
  3-GB minimum, Recommend 4-GB for 32-bit guest OS, 8-GB or more for 64-bit guest OS.
• Disk space:
  Minimum 20-GB for the Mac OS partition, minimum 20-GB for the guest OS partition.
• Boot Camp:
  V 2.0 or higher.

The basic steps to install Boot Camp are:

• In the Mac OS, locate the Boot Camp Assistant in the Applications > Utilities area.
• Print the Installation and Setup Guide.
• Follow the instruction contained in the Boot Camp Setup Guide to create and pre-format the Windows partition.
• Install Windows.

You can specify the default Operating System in the Boot Camp assistant. Or, hold the Option key down when you start, and then choose the required operating system.

The recommended steps to install and configure Parallels Desktop are:

• Follow the steps to configure Boot Camp and create a Window partition on the hard drive.
• Start the computer in the Mac OS.
• Install Parallels Desktop. If a Boot Camp partition exists, Parallels Desktop detects and uses the Boot Camp partition.
• Once you have installed and configured Parallels Desktop, start Parallels Desktop and then start Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, or Revit Structure in a window. Use Full Screen mode to maximize the Windows application screen area. Use Coherence mode to integrate Windows applications fully in the Mac OS.

Built on the Revit® platform for building information modeling (BIM), Autodesk Revit Architecture software is a discipline-specific building design and documentation system that supports all phases of design, construction documentation, and even fabrication.

From facilitating conceptual studies and analysis at the earliest stages of a project’s development, through the production of the most detailed construction drawings and schedules, Autodesk Revit Architecture helps provide a competitive advantage by delivering better coordination and quality across project phases and disciplines. As a result, Autodesk Revit Architecture can contribute to better efficiency and higher profitability for architects, designers, and the rest of the building team.

Building information modeling (BIM) is an integrated process that allows architects, engineers, and builders to explore a project digitally before it is built. Coordinated, reliable information is used throughout the process to design innovative projects, more accurately visualize appearance for better communication, and simulate real-world performance for better understanding of important characteristics such as cost, scheduling, and environmental impact.

Autodesk® Revit® Structure 2010 software offers building information modeling (BIM) to structural engineering firms, delivering more efficient and more accurate design and documentation, helping to improve multidiscipline coordination, and incorporating structural analysis and design.

Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2010 software provides design and analysis tools both to help optimize building systems and enable mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers to make better design decisions.

AutoCAD® Revit® Architecture Suite software combines AutoCAD® 2010, AutoCAD® Architecture 2010, and Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 software applications into a single, comprehensive package, helping you to transition to building information modeling (BIM), while protecting your legacy software, training, and design data investments. With the benefit of access to three architectural design solutions under a single license, you can support ongoing work in either AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture while you make the switch to BIM with Revit Architecture, at your own pace.

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 continues to deliver superior design information to support better design decision-making by introducing new conceptual design features, adding more control and flexibility to existing features, and better utilizing performance and integration. The following are a few of the key features of Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010.

Conceptual Design Tools: New and innovative Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 conceptual design features provide easy-to-use tools for free-form modeling and parametric design, and the ability to perform design analyses at the earliest stages of your project. Sketch freely, create 3D forms quickly, and manipulate forms interactively.

Prepare your models for fabrication and construction with built-in tools that transform your conceptual forms into real buildings. Take your design from concept model all the way to construction documents, all within one intuitive environment.

• User Interface:
  Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 features a streamlined user interface. Find your favorite tools and commands faster, locate lesser-used tools more efficiently, and discover new features more easily. The result is less time searching through menus and toolbars, and more time getting your work done.
• Native 64-bit Support:
  New native 64-bit support enhances Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 software’s ability to handle large projects and improves performance and stability for memory-intensive tasks such as rendering, printing, model upgrading, and file importing and exporting.
• Enhanced Interoperability:
  Interoperability enhancements enable you to work more efficiently with members of your extended project team. Now you can export your building model or site, complete with critical metadata, to AutoCAD® Civil 3D® software. You can also import accurate, data-rich models from Autodesk Inventor® software.
• API Enhancements:
  The conceptual design API (application programming interface) gives users access to advanced modeling techniques and workflows, using complex formulas and other techniques. The family editor API will allow manufacturers to automate the creation of large content libraries, so that they can provide architects, engineers, and designers with more accurate and relevant native Autodesk Revit Architecture content.

These and other features take advantage of the continuous and immediate availability of high-quality, reliable, and coordinated information—efficiencies that users have come to expect from purpose-built software for BIM.

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 offers a rich set of capabilities that support better decision making for sustainable design. For example:

• Calculating material quantities to support cost estimating and study design analysis against LEED® criteria is greatly simplified through the use of the material takeoff feature.
• Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 sun studies enable designers to quickly analyze sun positions and solar effects while informing the design process.
• Designers can export building information to gbXML (green building extensible markup language) to perform energy analysis and study building performance.
• Using design options, easily develop and evaluate multiple design alternatives. Visualize, quantify, and present any combination of schemes to inform the decision-making process.

Whether you are considering one or several sustainable design options, through the analysis of materials, quantities, energy use, and lighting in a virtual building information model, designers can better create sustainable building performance in the real world.

The combined capabilities of Autodesk Revit Architecture and Autodesk Inventor software provide a digital design-to-fabrication workflow that helps enable architects to more reliably communicate their design intent such that a fabricator can cost-effectively manufacture key building components—thus gaining more control over their design.

Through digital prototyping and building information modeling, project teams can experience a project digitally before it is built, simulate performance and constructability, and communicate and interpret design intent to help produce design-intensive building components more cost effectively.

Designers can work entirely in Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 to generate construction documentation. AutoCAD software is not required.

For more information about producing construction documents in Autodesk Revit Architecture or interoperability with AutoCAD software and other CAD systems, see the Autodesk white paper on the subject at www.autodesk.com/revitarchitecturesuite.

The native 64-bit version of Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 surmounts the 4-gig memory limitation found in all 32-bit applications, which enhances the software’s capability to handle large projects. As a result, users of the 64-bit software may see improved performance and stability for memory-intensive tasks such as rendering, printing, model upgrading, and file importing and exporting compared to the 32-bit versions of the Revit platform products.

Worksharing in Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 distributes the power of the Revit platform parametric building modeler across the project team. Worksharing provides a complete range of collaborative modes, from on-the-fly simultaneous access to the shared model, through the formal division of the project into discrete shared units, to complete separation of project elements or systems into individually managed linked models.

Worksharing enables team members to choose the best way to collaborate and interact based on their workflow and project requirements.

All elements in Autodesk Revit Architecture software are based on families. The term family describes a powerful concept that helps users manage data and make changes easily. It refers to an element’s ability to have multiple types defined within it, each of a different size and shape. Even though the types can look completely different, they are all still related and come from a single source, hence the term family. Changes to a family or type definition ripple through the project and are automatically reflected in every instance of that family in the project. This capability keeps everything coordinated and saves users the time and effort of manually tracking down components to update.

The Autodesk Revit Architecture software library contains thousands of families and includes components in both imperial and metric units. Autodesk Revit Architecture family files are also available from the software’s web library (accessible from within the product) and from other publicly accessible websites. Each family file can produce many components. Because each file typically includes several sizes or types, the number of parts available is in the tens of thousands.

The term parametric in this context refers to the relationships among and between all elements of the model that enable the coordination and change management that Autodesk Revit Architecture provides. These relationships are created either automatically by the software or deliberately by the user as they work.

A fundamental characteristic of a building information modeling application is the ability to coordinate changes and maintain consistency. The user does not have to intervene to update drawings, links, tags, and so forth.

This concept is important because it is this capability that delivers the fundamental coordination and productivity benefits of Autodesk Revit Architecture: Change anything at any time anywhere in the project and Autodesk Revit Architecture coordinates that change through the entire project. This change management is also one of the fundamental characteristics of a BIM solution.

Yes, an important benefit to network users of Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 is the ability to use the License Borrow feature for laptop users. This feature replaces the concept of external floating licenses that existed in earlier versions of the software.

The recommended hardware and operating system requirements Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010. Please ensure that you have read these requirements before making your purchasing decision or installing software.

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 supports a wide range of industry standards and file formats, including

• CAD formats: ADSK, DGN, DWF™, DWG™, DXF™, IFC, SAT, and SKP
• Image formats: BMP, PNG, JPG, AVI, PAN, IVR, TGA, and TIF
• Other formats: ODBC, HTML, TXT, MDB, XLS, FBX, and gbXML

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 can produce DWG deliverables just as AutoCAD can.

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 provides industry-leading DWG compatibility using the RealDWG™ toolkit.

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 supports the process most architectural firms use with their consultants by producing well-organized and layered DWG files using any layering standard. Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 helps to ensure that nothing in an exported DWG file ends up on the wrong layer, easing consultant interactions and accelerating the design and construction process.

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 provides features that help integrate your work with that of consultants. Import or link DWG files directly into Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 to use as reference geometry or as the starting point for a new design, such as a site plan.

CAD systems that support the DWG, DGN, or DXF file formats can work effectively with Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010.

No, Autodesk Revit Architecture software 2010 does not have layers. Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 uses a system of categories and subcategories to organize information within the building information model. Users can create their own subcategories for organizing data and various filtering and graphic override techniques for visibility and graphic control. Autodesk Revit Architecture’s unique organizational convention helps to prevent costly drawing mistakes due to user error.

Categories and subcategories can be mapped for export in a way that creates layered DWG, DGN, or DXF files conforming to various CAD standards.

Four default mappings ship with the product: AIA CAD Standard 2000 (United States), BS1192 (United Kingdom), ISO13567 (Europe), and CP83 (Asia). Users can also create their own project-specific layer mappings.

Yes. Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010 ships with an extensive .NET API that includes the abilities to programmatically create Revit families and MEP systems. The Revit 2010 platform includes Microsoft’s Visual Tools for Applications (VSTA), a C# and VB.NET programming environment enabling Autodesk Revit Architecture users to create document and application macros.

You can use the software in trial mode for a 30-day period without an activation code. Using the software in demonstration mode allows all features except save, plot, and export.