How much detail should you include in your building model? How do you decide?
- As you develop your initial design?
- As you continue to iterate and develop on your design?
the dimensions of the room,
- What are the key stages?
- And how much detail should you include at each stage?
When I start to design the building model, I always need to set the area and shape for the building. Starting from there, I choose suitable walls, doors, roofs, and windows for specific needs that are listed by the customers. The dimensions and materials of these facilities are important. Sometimes, special designs should be made for different needs. As I iterate and develop on the design, I should also consider the overall arrangement of each room and how people could be more effectively using different areas. To make the building more realistic, more features should be added to the design at the development stage, such as furniture, plumbing, etc. The accuracy and details of these furniture, plumbing system is very important, which might affect the arrangement of other equipment.
Key stages include conceptual design, preliminary design, design development, construction documentation.
Conceptual design: knowing what the building will be used for, and design theme based of purpose
preliminary design: building framework, such as walls, roofs, shape, size, etc.
Design development: adding more details such as what type of material will be used for walls, roofs, furniture, etc.
Many door and window manufacturers provide Revit families for doors and windows that you can specify for your building design.
- What is the advantage to manufacturers for providing these families? (it's not free to create and provide them...)
If the designer use those manufacturers Revit families to design for their building, they have a high chance also purchase those doors and windows to restore their original design. In this way, manufacturers could attract more customers and gain more profits by presenting their products on Revit.
- What is the benefit to you as the designer of using these manufacturer-provided families? Is there an advantage to using them versus the families provided in the Revit library?
Many manufacturers have some more creative and aesthetic pieces that designers could use them to build a theme for their design. It is also easier for designers to image how the design will be seemed if different families are used. In other words, designers also have more chances to complete their ideal theme design.
What are the advantages of getting the Revit component families (for furniture, equipment, and fittings) directly from the manufacturer versus from an online sharing website like RevitCity.com?
If using the Revit component families that are provided from the manufacturers, it is high possibility that those furniture, equipment, fittings are sold by those manufacturers or are produced by them. If customers want exactly same design of products, they can purchase those furniture directly.