by Tim Alatorre at 7:30 am
April
14th
2011
Prior to reading this post we recommend reading “Revit Families 103 – Formula Basics” to get the complete overview of all the basic operations allowed in Revit formulas.
Many times when working with Revit Formula in family creation you will want to work with right triangles. The following is meant as a handy reference for you to make working with right triangles a little easier.

| Known: a, b
c = sqrt(a ^ 2 + b ^ 2)
A = atan(a / b)
B = atan(b / a)
Known: a, c
b = sqrt(c ^ 2 – a ^ 2)
A = asin(a / c)
B = acos(a / c)
Known: b, c
a = sqrt(c ^ 2 – b ^ 2)
A = acos(b / c)
B = asin(b / c)
Known: c, A
a = c * sin(A)
b = c * cos(A)
B = 90° – A
Known: c, B
a = c * cos(B)
b = c * sin(B)
A = 90° – B
|
Known: a, B
b = a * tan(B)
c = a / cos(B)
A = 90° – B
Known: b, A
a = b * tan(A)
c = b / cos(A)
B = 90° – A
Known: a, A
b = a / tan(A)
c = a / sin(A)
B = 90° – A
Known: b, B
a = b / tan(B)
c = b / sin(B)
A = 90° – B
|
by Tim Alatorre at 7:30 am
April
13th
2011
As discussed in “Revit Families 103 – Formula Basics” there is no native function in Revit for Greater Than or Equal to (>=) and it’s brother Less Than or Equal to (<=). That’s no problem. With the basic conditional statements we can recreate them.
Greater Than or Equal to (>=)
What we want to do:
If (ParameterA >= ParamaterB, <true>, <false>)
How we do it:
If(not(ParameterA < ParamaterB), <true>, <false>)
Less Than or Equal to (<=)
What we want to do:
If (ParameterA <= ParamaterB, <true>, <false>)
How we do it:
If(not(ParameterA > ParamaterB), <true>, <false>)
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by Tim Alatorre at 7:30 am
March
25th
2011
Podcast: Play in new window
| Download (50.0MB)

Pete Sandholdt, Cal Poly B’Arch ’90, and Bob Vargas, Berkley B’Arch ’86 join Tim live in the “studio”. Haley is still part of the fun as we discuss the good “old” days of architecture licencing , the struggle of IDP vs good business, and Tim’s wardrobe.
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by Tim Alatorre at 7:30 am
March
4th
2011
Podcast: Play in new window
| Download (77.9MB)

Jason A Silva, AIA, LEEP AP, class of ’96 or ’97, Partner and Design Principal at Dreyfuss & Blackford, AIA California Council, Young Architects Forum Regional Liaison for Northern California. Need we say more?
Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes, vote for us on Podcast Alley, and follow us on Twitter!


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by Tim Alatorre at 10:36 am
February
21st
2011
I’m always on the lookout for good Revit tools and things to make life easier. I’ve recently found two that look promising. I have yet to use them on a project but am looking forward to giving them a try.
If you have any experience with either of these leave a comment and let us know what you think!
40,000 + Native Revit Details
FREE!

This is a really interesting idea. They just made all of their details available for free on Dec. 14th, 2010. You can read about that and their plans on their blog. http://arcxl.blogspot.com/
I’m not sure how useful this is, especially if you generate a high amount of custom details or already have a comprehensive detail library, but it’s worth looking into.
Revit Family Browser
7-Day FREE Trial
This looks like a much easier way to browse and manage my ever growing collection of Revit families. It allows you to organize them and see previews. Some of the highlighted features are:
- Instant Family search with each letter typed in the search box;
- Type Catalog functionality (Create/Edit/Recreate Catalogue);
- Add families by drag & drop from Windows Explorer;
- Add families from within the project environment;
- Create a tab with wall families (more functionality to be added in upcoming releases);
You can read a couple of reviews here: