reviting

In this series of Tutorials, I will be going through, in detail, each element of the Revit Interface, and describing some common terms.

1. Menu Bar - This area will be familiar to you from the use of just about any software on a Windows system. These menus and submenus will provide access to every function available within Revit Architecture. I will obviously not list each and every function in depth here, instead list and summarise some interesting points.

2. Toolbars - These buttons provide easy-access functionality to the most commonly used actions. There are 6 Toolbars, including 2 that will be invisible to you by default (and aren't shown in the above image)!

3. Type Selector - This will become available when you select just about any object in your drawing and when you use certain tools. For example, you use this to select which Window 'Type' you wish to place or to change the currently selected Window(s) to a different type. The button to it's immediate right is used to open the properties of the currently selected object(s).

4. Options Bar - An extremely important area. Options change depending on your current action. You should be inspecting this area each time you select a different tool. For example, if you are drawing a wall, you will be able to specify it's height before you draw it by using the Options Bar.

5. Design Bar - This will give you quick access to Revit commands. Commands or Tools are organised into 'tabs', where each tab has tools that are used for a common purpose. Most common commands are in the 'Basics' Tab however some items may be shown in multiple tabs. The Wall tool is also shown in the 'Modelling' tab for instance. The image above shows some tabs that are not visible by default.

6. Project Browser - Here you will access all of the views, sheets, schedules, legends that you have created. You will also have access to any Families that have been imported, Groups (model and detail) and Revit links.

7. Drawing Area - This is fairly self explanatory. The contents of your currently active View will show here and you may add and remove elements to your model.

8. View Control Bar - The buttons here will, as the name suggest, alter in some way how your current view is displaying. Things such as Scale, turning Shadows on or off, etc can be modified here.

Of course, not highlighted here is the all important Status Bar (the area just below 5, 6 and 8). If you are new to Revit, this area will be your key to learning new tools as it will display information on what your next action should be as you are using the tool. It will also contain information about the object you are currently 'hovering' your mouse over. This will be important when you want to select an object that has another object on top. Using the Tab key will cycle through each of the objects under or near your mouse and their name will be shown in the Status Bar.