Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineering Enhancements in Revit 2017

Learn about software improvements for mechanical systems, electrical systems, plumbing systems, and related analysis.

Revit Fabrication

• Convert design intent to fabrication parts: You can convert generic, design-intent Revit parts to LOD 400 fabrication parts. See Convert Generic Revit Parts to 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. See Fill Gaps in a Revit Fabrication Model.
• Quick Connect: To simplify the process for filling a gap between a fitting and a straight, use the Quick Connect command. See Fill Gaps in a Revit Fabrication Model.
• Trim/extend: To simply the process for filling a gap between two straights, use the Trim/Extend tool. See Fill Gaps in a Revit Fabrication Model.
• Swap fabrication parts: Use the Type Selector to quickly swap fabrication parts. See Modify Fabrication Parts in a Revit Model.
• Fabrication parts optimization: To help optimize 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. See Modify Fabrication Parts in a Revit Model.
• 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. See Modify the Position of Hangers in Revit.
• 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. See Place Hangers in Revit.
• Tag fabrication parts: To support workflows for construction documentation for fabrication, additional fabrication parameters are available for tagging fabrication parts. See MEP Fabrication Parts Instance Properties.
• Fabrication parameters: To improve tagging, scheduling, and filtering capabilities for MEP fabrication modelling, several parameters are now available for fabrication parts. See MEP Fabrication Parts Instance Properties.
• 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. See Visibility and Graphic Display in Project Views.
• 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 Revit are defined in the Autodesk Fabrication products, and are mapped to the rise drop symbols used for duct, piping, and electrical containment systems in Revit. See Rise Drop Symbols for Revit Fabrication Detailing.
• Tooltips for fabrication parameters in the Properties palette: To support usability, tooltips provide descriptions for fabrication parameters in the Properties palette. See Tooltips.
• Fabrication settings: When you specify a fabrication configuration, you can also specify a fabrication profile. See Specify a Fabrication Configuration and Load Services in Revit.
• MEP Fabrication Content for Revit: This fabrication configuration is now available as part of the Revit installation. See About Fabrication Configurations, Profiles, and Services in Revit.

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 customize the labels for the tags. See About Duct Settings or Specify Pipe Settings.
• 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. See About Load Calculations. 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. See HVAC Family Parameters, Electrical Family Parameters, and Piping Family Parameters.
• 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. See Specify a Pressure Loss Method for Fittings and Accessories for Duct and Pipe.

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. See Customize System Types.
• 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.