Architectural Enhancements in Revit 2017

Learn about software improvements for architectural features of the software.

Visualization

• Depth cueing: Depth cueing (available in architectural views and coordination views) allows you to better visualize your elevation and section views. This graphic display feature uses gradient presentation to indicate the elements that are farthest away and the elements that are closest to the front of the view. See About Depth Cueing and Define Depth Cueing.
• Visibility of point clouds: After importing one or more point clouds into the model, you can now control the visibility of individual scan locations and scan regions in each view. This feature allows you to hide point cloud information that is not important or relevant in a particular view. It also helps to improve performance when working in the model. See Visibility of Point Clouds.
• Rendering:
  • Autodesk Raytracer is now used for all rendering functions. See About Rendering with Autodesk Raytracer. You no longer need to select a rendering engine. See Workflow: Render Settings.
  • When you export a walkthrough, if Visual Style is set to Rendering, the Autodesk Raytracer rendering settings specified for the walkthrough view are used for export. See Export a Walkthrough.
  • Autodesk Raytracer rendering settings are now saved with the view properties. See Change Render Settings for a View.
  • Autodesk Raytracer is used when you render a material preview. You can select draft or production quality. See Change the Appearance of a Material.
  • When you upgrade a model, rendering settings that were specified for the NVIDIA mental ray engine are mapped to the appropriate settings for Autodesk Raytracer. See Upgrade Mapping for Render Settings.
  • A new style is available for Background in the Rendering dialog. Select Transparent to create a transparent background that can be preserved when exporting the image as a PNG or TIFF format. See Specify the Background for a Rendered Image.

Analysis

• Energy Analysis: To simplify the settings required to generate an energy analytical model, the following changes have been made:
  • Energy Settings: This dialog is redesigned so that you only need to specify a location for the model. All other parameters use intelligent defaults to provide optimal analysis with minimal input. See Energy Settings Dialog.
  • Advanced Energy Settings: Many parameters that were formerly in the Energy Settings dialog have moved to the Advanced Energy Settings dialog. Adjust these settings after performing an initial analysis when you understand their effects and want to refine the analysis. See Advanced Energy Settings Dialog.
  • Many parameters related to energy analysis have been renamed: On the Energy Settings dialog, Analysis Mode is now Mode, Core Offset is now Perimeter Zone Depth, and Divide Perimeter Zones is now Perimeter Zone Division. On the Advanced Energy Settings dialog, Conceptual Constructions is now Conceptual Types, Building Construction is now Schematic Types, and Include Thermal Properties is now Detailed Elements.
  • Help links from the Energy Settings dialog and the Advanced Energy Settings dialog provide direct access to descriptions of the parameters.
  • During energy analysis, thermal properties are defined for building materials based on the following hierarchy:
    • Conceptual types are applied by default to all conceptual masses and building elements.
    • More specific schematic types can override individual conceptual types.
    • When the Detailed Elements parameter is enabled, thermal properties defined for room-bounding elements override schematic types and conceptual types.
  • The Export Category parameter in the Advanced Energy Settings dialog no longer relates to thermal properties used during energy analysis. See Advanced Energy Settings Dialog.
• Export to gbXML: The Export to gbXML tool now allows you to choose whether to export the energy analytical model created using energy settings or the model using volumes based on rooms or spaces. See Exporting to gbXML.

Additional Enhancements

• Hosted Railings: You can now sketch railings onto the top faces of floors, slabs, slab edges, walls, or roofs. Balusters and railings adjust to the slope of irregular surfaces. See Create a Railing by Sketching.
  Important: After upgrade, review all views to verify any changes to your railings. See Upgrade Information.
• Display of walls: To improve performance so that views open and update faster, Revit regenerates walls only for those visible in the drawing area. In addition, if a wall appears very small in the drawing area, it displays as simplified lines, regardless of the detail level assigned to the view.
• Export to FBX: When exporting a 3D model view to FBX, select the correct format to ensure import compatibility: FBX Files for import in 2016+ version products, or FBX 2015 and Previous for import in 2015 and earlier version products. See Export to FBX.
• FormIt Converter: This add-in is now installed with Revit and available on the Add-Ins tab. Use it to convert FormIt files for use with Revit, and Revit files for use with FormIt. See FormIt Converter.
• In-Place elements: Stairs has been added to the list of available family categories for In-Place geometry. You can now create an in-place stair element in the context of a model. See In-Place Elements.