What’s New in Revit 2020 - Platform and Architecture Features

The new release of Revit includes a host of new features. In this blog I have outlined the features that relate to the overall Revit platform, specifically the Architectural discipline.

The functions have been grouped into Create, Optimize and Connect. Create relates to creating the model, Optimize for optimising workflows and the building analysis tools, and Connect relates to connecting both teams and products in the workflow.

Create

The only real feature that has been added to this group is the ability to model elliptical walls. Whilst this is something that has been incorporated from the user wish list, I don’t think it will be a widely used function. Building elliptical objects in the real world is difficult due to setting out problems and using a series of arcs to replicate an ellipse would be preferred.

The ability to schedule and tag the elevation of objects has also been included. This will allow users to automatically pick up on the height of objects placed in the model rather than having to use workarounds to get this height data into schedules and tagged on drawings. Although this will mostly be used by building services engineers, the ability to take this information from Casework and Furniture families will also prove useful to Architects and Interior Designers.

Finally, there has been some improvements to the Materials workflow. The Material Browser has the option for larger thumbnails to better inform the user of material appearance and new filter icons to for material classes to be more consistent with the general interface.

Optimisation

Several features have been added to the Optimisation group. A new ‘Path of Travel’ routing analysis feature will assist in plotting emergency exit routes through buildings.

Enhancements to the filters allowing ‘or’ rules to look at all parameters rather than just common ones and to check whether a parameter has a value or not will allow for much more complex and comprehensive filters for views.

The ability to include Scope Boxes in View Schedules and Copy/Paste Legend Views between multiple sheets will also add to the usability of Revit 2020.

Connect

The headline feature for the Connect group is the ability to import PDF files. This has been a long-requested feature and one that is very welcome. They are imported and managed as an image, although the option to enable snaps will allow us to use the vector data to measure and re-model from the PDF. This will help greatly with the refurbishment of existing buildings where drawings are only available in PDF format.

The SketchUp import has also been updated to support the latest SketchUp version.

The Revit 2020 release continues with the Revit evolution. No doubt there are still many features that we would like to see added or refined, but this is a positive step along the Revit development path.