Just a few days after the 20th anniversary of the Autodesk acquisition of Revit, the 2023 version has dropped. Similarly, the 20th edition of my first Revit book has already been updated and is in the publisher’s hands! For a trip down memory lane, check out this post: Carol Bartz and Phil Bernstein Signed my First Revit Book.
With the new version now out, we get to talk about what’s new and improved in the yearly release for Autodesk® Revit®. This is my seventh annual AECbytes ‘what’s new’ article, and we appreciate the value you find in this resource. You may want to sit down, get comfortable, maybe grab a coffee first… because Revit 2023 is packed full of exciting new things!
Let’s start with my top five favorite features in Revit 2023. Keep in mind that I am a registered architect (WI) and work at Lake|Flato Architects, which is a top ranked architecture firm. Thus, no structural or MEP items in my Top Five list, sorry.
Here are my top 5 new features:
This feature has to be my number one favorite new thing in Revit 2023 because it was my idea! Back in 2016, I posted a Revit Idea called Duplicate Material and Assets, which (just occurred to me now) the title of my post is exactly the title of the new command … which is funny because there was lots of discussion about what the command should be called so as to not confuse the alternate command that allows the original results to still be achieved.
In case you are not sure what problem this solves, check out this post I wrote about it: Duplicating a Material and its assets.
In the Material Browser, simply right-click on a material and you will now find two clearly labeled options to duplicate a material.
You can now set the path of materials and decals to sever-based locations, including BIM 360 hubs! You can even build your own custom material sever. Thus, we finally have a way for multiple firms working together, using BIM 360, to share material textures! This is particularly great for shared rendering activities.
This is another feature near and dear to my heart as we use it weekly, if not every day, at Lake|Flato. Autodesk has improved the accuracy and performance of the voxel algorithm (2-3x and no memory limits) that creates the energy analytical model (EAM) within Revit. The EAM is used in energy modeling, both locally (Systems Analysis using Open Studio and EnergyPlus) and in the cloud (using Insight). I was involved in this beta effort with Autodesk, among a group of select customers. Robustness with Systems Analysis (EnergyPlus) should be greatly improved.
Note: If you are interested in getting involved in the development of Revit, check out this Autodesk Community Voiced post I wrote on How to get involved in the development of Autodesk software.
Notice, in the image below, the comparison between the 2022 and 2023 EAM results. In 2023, the EAM was created twice as fast, and larger common curtain wall areas have been combined. Also, the curved wall has been faceted to match, more accurately, what is possible in Energy Plus.
Who doesn’t want better performance in Revit! Let’s start with these two and then list several others:
The on-screen controls enhancement was another beta I was involved in. This is a smart improvement as it reduces clutter when elements are selected (which often created clusters of pin icons not even possible to accurately select) and it also increases performance due to all the icons being resource intensive bitmap-based edits to the screen that Revit needed to make. Now, when multiple elements are selected, no icons are shown by default. However, if you only select a single element, you will see the pin icon.
This enhancement also includes a UI change as shown in the image below. The toggle to show or not show the pins has been combined with the Activate Dimensions command that would only appear on the Options Bar contextually. Now, the toggle is visible on the Quick Access Toolbar and the Modify tab.
Also related to the on-screen control visibility management is the Worksharing icon, which allows you to check out an element. I voted to just remove this altogether as you can still just right-click and select to check it out in the context menu. Thankfully, it will be off by default and people will have to manually turn it on if they really need it (although you may not know it is decreasing performance on your computer).
Another performance enhancement is to disable the raster image snapshots being taken every time you move around within a 3D view. This was/is being done in support of a feature many may not even know about (although I use it often) … that is, the Rewind tool within the SteeringWheels feature. The option to toggle this on, if desired, can be found within the Options dialog as shown in the image below.
Note that the Rewind function will still work, it just does not have the thumbnail references as shown in the second image below.
Additional areas of performance enhancements are:
Several categories are now optionally cuttable based on a toggle within Revit families for these categories:
This will help deal with the problem where a section through a shower (i.e., plumbing fixture) showed the controls/shower head that was behind the section.
New category-based tags are available for element types that were not previously possible to tag by category.
A new icon has been introduced within the Project Browser to graphically indicate whether a view has been placed on a sheet or not. When the icon is filled, it means that view has been placed on a sheet. This applies to all views and schedules which can be placed on sheets. Right-clicking on the Views node provides an option to turn this functionality off if desired.
When linking a CAD file, named reference planes are now a placement option within the Link CAD Formats dialog as shown. If the reference plane is deleted, the link will persist with the warning shown in the second image below.
In the past, in order to get a linked 3D DWG or SKP model to cut in a section, elevation, or plan view, you had to nest it into an in-place family. Now, you can simply select the linked element and toggle the Enable Cutting in Views instance parameter as shown below. The example is a section view which cuts through the center of a 3D SketchUp model of a lobby space.
You can now perform conditional formatting for Family and Family and Type parameters within Schedules. This is limited to the “Tests” shown in the image below.
Contour labels are now always right side up, rather than reading upside-down as they would sometimes become due to the angle of the toposurface contour line relative to the screen/view.
When a Model Group or Link is selected, there are now a lot more built-in parameters present. Combine this with the new ability to tag Model Groups and Link, and some interesting opportunities present themselves. Of course, in 2022 and 2023 we can create custom parameters for Model Groups and Links, so there are a lot of interesting opportunities here!
This will be a popular feature likely to be used more than any other new feature in this release. Until now, you have to manually arrange sheets within PDF editing software or use a feature in Bluebeam, which I wrote about here in 2018: Printing Revit Sheets in Order using Bluebeam Revu CAD.
As shown in the image below, the process is very intuitive. Notice there is even an option to make the print order, for a given Print Set, match the Project Browser organization. This feature works across all related print and export tools (print and export to PDF) as well as within a BIM 360 hosted project.
Most categories are now supported for this feature, which allows a schedule to only list the elements visible on the sheet it was placed on. With the Filter by Sheet option selected in Schedule Properties, the schedule will now change depending on what is visible on the sheet (among multiple views), and what sheet it is on. Note that the same schedule can be placed on multiple sheets.
This is a really cool new feature … selecting a view on the sheet now offers the ability to swap it out with another view, just like selecting a family and swapping it out with another one via the Type Selector. In this case, the controls are on the Ribbon. Notice there is also a Viewport Position option, where you can select from Viewport Center and View Origin. Of course, you cannot swap to a view that is already on another sheet. This can be helpful when setting up sheets and making sure views align between sheets.
This feature, along with the new Filter by Sheet for schedules, and the ability to duplicate a sheet (added in 2022) opens up interesting options for some low level automation.
Although this was mostly possible in Revit previously, not many people seemed to know about it. Now, there is an easy-to-find toggle on the View controls in the lower left corner of the view, called Solar Study (Tip: Shadows need to be on, but Sun Path does not). When this refreshed tool is engaged, there is a cool Solar Study tab on the Ribbon with controls as shown below.
In addition to improved performance over the old version of this feature, it is now possible to move/orbit the view while the solar study is running. Of course, mileage (i.e., performance) will vary depending on the complexity of the model and the specifics of your computer (this appears to be a CPU-based feature, not GPU).
When using Room Schedule Keys in the past, when you remove it, all the associated parameter values were removed. Now, when the key parameter is set back to None, the last-assigned values are preserved for Rooms and Areas.
When modifying floor sub-elements, you can now convert a folding line to a split line as shown in the image below.
This will make a lot of people who work with IFC imports and exports very happy. Everywhere you look within Revit 2023, you will see IFC mapping parameters built-in. Here are just a few examples …
Autodesk has come up with a new way to manage parameters across multiple design firms. In a robust way, similar to what they have come up with in this release for sharing material textures, we can now create a parameter service. This can be hosted in BIM 360 or on your own server. This functionality started as a Tech Preview, sort of a public beta.
Measure between two points in any 3D view! Hold down control and your second point is a perpendicular reference. This works in all 3D views, including camera views. (Tip: you can also right-click and select the Perpendicular snap override.) Note that the way you select your first point (i.e., the point/plane) determines how the perpendicular option functions for the second point.
The ability to control the visibility of the leaders and align them has been added. The second image shows a somewhat hidden option (in the Edit Label dialog) to include the count in a multi-leader tag.
Previously, families with shared nested families would not show temporary dimensions when selected. Now they do, as shown in the example below (conference room table with shared nested chairs).
Wall sweeps are now available when creating a filter, which can then be applied to a view filter. It appears this only works on manually applied wall sweeps, and not ones hosted within the wall type as pointed out in the following image.
New “rule” parameters have been added for walls: Base Constraint, Base Offset, Top Constraint, and Top Offset. This would allow you, for example, to color code walls to make sure they are all the correct height in a plan view for QA/QC activities.
When using the view reference Target View list, you can now search this list.
When cloud models are rolled back, they no longer lose any data. Previously, when a model was rolled back, all data after that point you rolled back to was lost. Now, the rolled back version becomes the latest version, rather than deleting anything.
When a linked FormIt model is selected, there is a new Edit in FormIt option to temporarily open FormIt, make changes, and save it back into the open Revit session.
When placing face-based families, the default placement option (i.e., Place on Vertical Face, Place on Face, Place on Work Plane) seems to always be set to the wrong option. Now, once you have changed the placement option for a specific family, the next time you place it, the same placement option will be used as shown below.
You can now schedule and tag the circuit number that a piece of electrical equipment is connected to.
Following the success of Systems Analysis aimed at mechanical engineers in previous versions of Revit, this new feature set allows preliminary electrical loads to be developed without modeling electrical equipment and fixtures and connecting them together. Rather, areas within plan views are established and analytical loads are associated. The results can be managed within the System Browser, within the new Analytical Power Distribution section.
When I helped create the Electrical Productivity Pack years ago, getting the symbols to behave was a huge challenge. With this enhancement on how symbols are displayed within the model even when content is placed on horizontal or vertical hosts and rotated, the symbols remain properly positioned in plan views.
A new family Type parameter allows the elevation displayed in a tag to be Relative (original behavior) or be based on Project or Survey Points.
The intent of this highly requested feature is to keep the MEP logical system intact when a section is set to demolished. I was not involved in this within the Revit beta eco-system, and I don’t work at a firm that does MEP in-house anymore. I do not fully understand why the system should remain intact, and preserve loads (e.g., CFM back to air handling unit) when a section is demolished. In any case, it is an enhancement requested by the community, so it should be well received!
To support improved visibility control and documentation, mechanical and plumbing designers get the following two new categories:
Previously, if an MEP connector needed to be moved to a different host, within the family editor, it would need to be deleted and recreated. Now, you can simply use the Rehost option and not lose any of your settings.
Concreate and masonry walls always need reinforcing, but they are not always structural bearing walls. Now, walls marked as structural have the option of being identified as Non-bearing to accommodate this situation as shown here.
The structural steel shapes have been updated based on the ASIC 15th edition tables.
By default, the structural analytical model will no longer be automatically created when structural elements are being created. This will likely cause a warning message when upgrading any Revit model as shown below. Now, the structural engineer has full control over modeling the analytical model, like they would in other structural analysis tools. Revit even supports analytical-first modeling. Rules can be created by project to control what was previously hard coded in the software.
Something everyone will surely be talking about is the new branding. After several years of the same Revit icon, the graphic has changed. This also propagates throughout the entire program, as shown in the example below. All Autodesk products are getting this same treatment this year.
This is another jam-packed Revit upgrade that will surely have features most can use right away! There are still other features and enhancements I was not able to include in this article. Hopefully this article with help you hit the ground running when your firm or school starts using this release.
Daniel John Stine AIA, IES, CSI, CDT, is a Wisconsin registered architect with over twenty years of experience in the field of architecture. He is the Director of Design Technology at top-ranked architecture firm Lake|Flato, in San Antonio, Texas. He has implemented to new workflow and culture around early energy modeling which has many design teams performing their own analysis with just-in-time support t for the firm’s building performance group. Dan is a co-author of the forthcoming AIA Climate Action Guide for Practice and is a member the AIA COTE’s Climate Action – Climate Justice subcommittee.
Dan has presented internationally on building performance and BIM in the USA, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Slovenia, Australia and Singapore. In 2022 he has presented at NVIDIA’s GTC conference, and will be presenting at the national AIA convention in Chicago, and at BILT in Anaheim. He was ranked multiple times as a top-ten speaker by attendees and has presented at Autodesk University, RTC/BILT, Midwest University, AUGI CAD Camp, NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference, Lightfair, and AIA-MN Convention. By invitation, he spent a week at Autodesk’s largest R&D facility in Shanghai, China, to beta test and brainstorm new Revit features in 2016.
Committed to furthering the design profession, Dan teaches graduate architecture students at North Dakota State University (NDSU) and has lectured for architecture, lighting design, and interior design programs at NDSU, UTSA, Northern Iowa State, and University of Minnesota, as well as Dunwoody’s newest School of Architecture in Minneapolis. As an adjunct instructor, Dan previously taught AutoCAD and Revit for twelve years at Lake Superior College. Dan is on the Autodesk Executive Council for AEC, is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), and Autodesk Developer Network (ADN), and is a Construction Document Technician (issued by CSI). In addition to being a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), Dan is also the Chair of the national IES BIM Standards Committee. He has presented live webinars for ElumTools, ArchVision, Revizto, and NVIDIA. Dan writes about design on his blog, BIM Chapters, and in his textbooks published by SDC Publications:
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