What’s New in Revit 2021 – Platform Updates

Last week Autodesk released Revit 2021, and with it came a plethora of updates. We already addressed our overall favorites – now let’s look at the enhancements and features added to the Revit platform.

PDF + IMAGE LINKING

Utilize and manage PDFs and images much more easily

• Link PDFs and images from local or cloud file locations.
• Select multiple rows to reload or remove links.
• Convert links to imports as needed.
• Use the Show button to find a PDF or image in a project.

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CLOUD MODEL HOSTING IN EUROPE

Enjoy more choice in where your cloud-hosted projects are stored

• Store Revit cloud models on Europe data center.
• Location determined by location of BIM 360 account.

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IMPROVED BIM 360 PROJECT NAVIGATION IN REVIT HOME

Locate and access cloud-hosted models more easily

• Better experience of BIM 360 account and project navigation.
• Differentiate between recent files and cloud-hosted models.
• Search from a long list of projects.
• Direct access to the files saved in BIM 360 with the Go to BIM 360 button.
• Easily access the help links.

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CUSTOMIZED REVIT WORKSPACE

Tailor your Revit interface to better meet your needs

• Provides a personalized experience for the way you work, based on your discipline and primary job role.
• Proposes a customized UI that hides unnecessary Ribbon tabs.
• You can accept or decline the result, and your customized UI is saved.

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ROW STRIPING FOR SCHEDULES

Improve the readability of large schedules

• Makes it easier to follow rows across large schedules.
• Select custom colors for alternating rows.
• Easily scan information on both schedule views and sheets.

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INFRASTRUCTURE DISCIPLINE + BRIDGE CATEGORIES

Leverage new features supporting bridge design workflows

• New Infrastructure discipline.
• New categories for bridges:
  •  – 26 for model elements
  •  – 20 for annotation elements
• These categories support:
  •  – Visibility/graphics overrides
  •  – Object styles
  •  – Tags and schedules
• US Survey Foot unit added.

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DYNAMO 2.5 INSTALLED

The latest Dynamo capabilities are now installed with Revit

• Latest version of Dynamo now ships with Revit; no need to maintain multiple versions.
• Automatically finds required packages.
• Filters for external application dependencies.
• Offers significant improvements to performance and memory management.

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NEW DYNAMO REVIT NODES

Take advantage of improved capabilities for task automation

• 10 commonly-requested nodes have been added.
• Revit geometry joining functions.
• Set element pin/unpin and get status if element is pinned.
• Get hosted elements.

ENABLE VIEW FILTERS IN VIEW

Easily toggle view filter graphic overrides

• New column “Enable in View” added to the Filters tab of the Visibility Graphics dialog.
• Quickly disable a view filter without having to remove the filter from the view.
• Continue to view the elements that fit the criteria of the filter.
• Enabled by default when a new view filter is applied to the view.

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ROTATE TAGS WITH COMPONENTS IMPROVEMENTS

Create more accurate and readable annotations

• Ability to control tag rotation behavior.
• Edit the tag in the Family editor.
  •  – Enable the Rotate with component parameter in the Properties Palette
• Tag rotation matches the new component orientation.

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VOID CUTS FAMILY GEOMETRY INSTANCE + TYPE PARAMETERS

Use parameters to drive smarter void behaviors in families

• Voids can now be associated to family type and instance parameters.
• Customers no longer need to create two families to achieve what can be done in one.
• Voids can be controlled to cut some family types, but not others.

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OTHER ADDITIONS + IMPROVEMENTS

CONSISTENT LINESTYLE NAMING

• “Hard-coded” Revit linestyles are now consistently bracketed and appear at the bottom of the list.

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SUN + SHADOW REFINEMENTS

• Improved the accuracy of shadows in polar locations.
• Sunrise and sunset times now updated with project location.

Stay tuned as we take you through the enhancements aligned with architecture, structure and MEP functionality in follow-up posts.