Revit MEP 2017 Release – improvements for MEP

All areas of Revit have been updated with the new Revit 2017 release, and you can learn about software improvements for mechanical systems, electrical systems, plumbing systems, (MEP) and the related analysis here on the Cadassist blog.

Revit Fabrication

• Convert design intent to fabrication parts: You can convert generic, design-intent Revit parts to LOD 400 fabrication parts
• Route and Fill: To simplify the process for completing a fabrication model, use the Route and Fill command to step through possible routing solutions.
• Quick Connect: To simplify the process for filling a gap between a fitting and a straight, use the Quick Connect command.
• Trim/extend: To simply the process for filling a gap between two straights, use the Trim/Extend tool.
• Swap fabrication parts: Use the Type Selector to quickly swap fabrication parts.
• Fabrication parts optimisation: To help optimise fabrication ductwork layouts, you can use in-canvas controls to reposition short straight segments and to extend fitting extensions. Additionally, you can review warnings to find fittings that are longer than specification-defined lengths.
• Hanger bearer position: To avoid clashes in the model, use the hanger controls to modify the length and position of the hanger bearer and its corresponding rod location.
• Hanger placement: You can place a fabrication hanger on the straight portion of a fitting extension. Hangers can be placed on other hangers to model trapeze conditions or in free space.
• Tag fabrication parts: To support workflows for construction documentation for fabrication, additional fabrication parameters are available for tagging fabrication parts.
• Fabrication parameters: To improve tagging, scheduling, and filtering capabilities for MEP fabrication modelling, several parameters are now available for fabrication parts.
• Fabrication family categories: To improve annotation, scheduling, and filtering capabilities for MEP fabrication modelling, family categories have been added for MEP Fabrication Containment, MEP Fabrication Ductwork, MEP Fabrication Hangers, and MEP Fabrication Pipework.
• Hidden lines for fabrication parts: To improve documentation, fabrication parts now display hidden lines.
• Insulation and lining: To improve documentation, fabrication parts now display separate sub-components for insulation and lining for duct and pipe elements, allowing more control of display properties.
• Rise drop symbols: This enhancement supports coordination between fabrication models in Revit and the Autodesk Fabrication products (CADmep, ESTmep, and CAMduct). Rise drop symbols for a fabrication run in Revitare defined in the Autodesk Fabrication products, and are mapped to the rise drop symbols used for duct, piping, and electrical containment systems in Revit.
• Tooltips for fabrication parameters in the Properties palette: To support usability, tooltips provide descriptions for fabrication parameters in the Properties palette.
• Fabrication settings: When you specify a fabrication configuration, you can also specify a fabrication profile.
• MEP Fabrication Content for Revit: This fabrication configuration is now available as part of the Revit installation

MEP User Interface and Workflow Enhancements

• New annotation families: To improve annotation for generic and fabrication parts, several annotation families are now available for tagging ductwork and pipework. (Electrical containment is not currently supported.) You can use tags for offset, elevation, spot elevation, invert elevation (pipework only), set up, and set down to tag generic and fabrication elements. Use the Mechanical Settings dialog to customise the labels for the tags.
• Electrical settings: You can specify the load calculation method for how Revit sums electrical loads: Sum True Load and Reactive Load, or Sum Apparent Load and True Load.  When upgrading a model, Revit uses the Sum True Load and Reactive Load method as the default.
• Temperature Difference family parameter type: The Temperature Difference parameter is now available for HVAC, Electrical, and Piping families.
• Calculate pressure drop for taps: To improve workflows when calculating pressure drop in a duct system, you can associate an ASHRAE table for duct tap fittings.

MEP Performance Improvements

• Duplicate marks: To improve performance, the Mark parameter is not populated when placing elements for the following MEP categories: Cable Trays, Cable Tray Fittings, Conduits, Conduit Fittings, Ducts, Duct Fittings, Duct Placeholders, Duct Insulations, Duct Linings, Flex Ducts, Flex Pipes, Pipes, Pipe Fittings, Pipe Placeholders, Pipe Insulations, and Wires.
• Volume calculations: To improve performance, Revit performs pipe system volume calculations as a background process.
• Display of ducts: To improve performance so that views open and update faster, Revit regenerates ductwork only for what is visible in the drawing area. In addition, if duct appears very small in the drawing area, it displays as simplified lines, regardless of the detail level assigned to the view.

For more information on Revit MEP 2017 give our team a call on 0845 872 5555 or email us.  If you want to be kept up to date with Autodesk software and Cadassist news, don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.