What’s New in Revit Structure 2022
There are many new features to Revit 2022. A lot of the changes in the Structural 2022 application are focused around the further development of rebar modeling. This article will discuss the R22 improvements to the rebar tools as well as some of the Core R22 enhancements that Structure can utilize.
Some of the rebar enhancements in this release of Revit include the ability to move a Rebar Set, Better Precision Placement by Two Points, Modeling Rebar using Real Bar Diameters, Remember Settings when Placing Rebar, Select Shape Code for Custom Bent Free Form Rebar, and Rebar Visualization Performance Improvement in 2D Views.
Some of the core enhancements in R22 include Wall Enhancements, PDF Export, Share 2D Views, Spot Slope on Ramps, Revision Numbering Enhancements, Split Schedules Across Sheets, Prefix/Suffix for Dimension Types, and support for CSV Export for Schedules just to name a few.
Rebar Enhancements
Several years ago, rebar tools were added to Revit for detailing and modeling rebar more efficiently and accurately. Along the way new tools and techniques have been added to improve upon the existing tools. A lot of the R22 enhancements improve the performance of the rebar detailing and modeling tools once again.
One such enhancement is the ability to Move modeled rebar elements in a Set. This gives the end user the ability to control individual bars selected in a set. This is accomplished by selecting one or more bars in a set to be moved, removed, or reset. This helps avoid clashing with other bars in the set, any openings or other element types but will maintain the original definition of the Rebar set or system.
Another major enhancement to the rebar tools is the Faster and Precise Rebar by Two Points. You can now place individual, or bar sets by simply specifying two points to define a bounding box in which the rebar shape is expanded from. This allows you the control to specify both the direction and the dimension of said bars. This ultimately enables the end user more control over the placement of the bars and does not require adjustment to the location after the placement of the bars.
The third rebar enhancement is the Model Rebar using the Real Bar Diameter. This was a community idea where you can now model rebar using the actual bar size to help teams avoid clash conflict while modeling concrete elements. This provides for more accurate representation of reinforcing in the model.
Another nice enhancement to the rebar tool set is the Select Shape Code for Custom Bent Free Form Rebar. This allows the end user the ability to custom assign shapes to free form rebar that can’t be matched automatically to typical rebar shapes.
In the R22 release, the Remember Settings when Placing Rebar, this enhancement saves time and remembers your settings used to place rebar for the whole session and does not reset on you after placement of said rebar set. The following are element type retained in this enhancement.
- Layout
- Placement Plane
- Placement Orientation
- Rebar Shape
- Rebar Type
Figure 1 – Rebar Enhancements – Place Rebar by 2 points
Finally, the Rebar Visualization Performance improvement in 2D Views. This enhancement has improved the functionality of rebar in 2D views showing rebar sets in both Fine and Medium detail level. This enhancement helps when opening, zooming and panning in 2D views showing rebar sets.
Core R22 Enhancements
In R22 just like in previous versions there are many enhancments the core product that aren’t Structural Enhancements but are valuable features that will enhance your workflow with the development of the structral model and drawing development.
Many times when working on large projects, scheduled items like column schedules, for instance, can be very large and not fit onto a single sheet. In R22, Autodesk has enhanced the schedules dialog to enable you to dynamically split your schedules so that they can be placed on multiple sheets now. This is done by splitting the schedule into segments and then move the segments to individual sheets across your project. There is a tool inside the schedules menus called Split & Place. This tool allows you the functionality to select said schedule and split it. First, select the break line on the schedule to break the schedule into segments. From there, you can adjust the size of the schedule into segments and then move segments of the schedule to different sheets accordingly.
Figure 2 – Core Enhancements – Split Schedule
Another core enhancement that has been a long time coming, is the ability to develop custom revision numbering sequenses. With the addition of the Revision Numbering Enhancements the end user now has that ability. This enhancement to the Revision Numbering sequence the end user now can;
- Create and customize multiple numbering sequences
- Specify the number of digits used for the numbering sequence
- Transfer custom numbering sequences from one project to another
In previous versions of Revit, there have been issues with Tags hosting properly with linked models. This has been corrected with R22. Now Tagged objects in hosted models remember the host from linked models and automatically re-host.
The Share 2D Views enhancement makes it easier to share 2D views with other team members by creating shared views that can be shared in the cloud now. This feature allows for better collaboration with the team in the same way that in previous versions of Revit you could share 3D models. This is helpful during the coordination of construction details when the team is trying to coordinate the final details of the project.
Keeping with the theme of Tags, Spot Slopes on Ramps was another community suggestion that was implimented in R22. This enables the placement of spot slope annotations directly on the ramp elements. This feature was added to improve the model documentation. In previous versions, this limitation prevented the spot slope annotation from being placed directly on the ramp for proper annotation of ramps and sloped slabs.
The ability to customize dimensions to meet the documentation needs, by adding a prefix and/or suffix to a dimension type, was added in R22. When you need a custom dimension containing a prefix, suffix, or sometimes both in a dimension type. Previously, you only had the ability to add the to individual dimension instances. Now you have the ability to add them to a dimension type and save time modifying individual dimension strings.
Another community idea that Autodesk picked up in R22, is the ability to create tapered walls. This enhancement, when displayed, will only display the wall’s core layers. This is accomplished by changing one of the wall layers to be a variable. With this set, there will be a Cross Section Properties in the wall properties allowing for the definition of:
- Default Exterior Angle
- Default Interior Angle
- Width Measured At
Figure 3 – Core Enhancements – Wall Enhancements
When the wall is placed in the model, set the cross-section parameter to the Tapered setting. This is all that is needed to place tapered walls in the model. There are also override settings to taper the wall in different directions if so desired.
Final Thoughts
Although I have covered a lot of enhancements in this article on what is new in Revit 2022 (both Structural and Core Enhancements) those are just a few of the enhancements to R22. For the full list, check out the help file and see the What’s New section for a full list of enhancements to R22.
Kenn Farr is currently the CAD and BIM Manager for Teasley Services Group in Nashville. TN. Previously Kenn worked in the Practice Technology Group for 13 years in charge of Training, Development, implementation and Support over the Building Engineering groups. Kenn has over 24 years ofexperience in the AEC industry.
