Revit 2023 MEP features

Image background credit: Serpentine Pavilion by BIG Architects

Post by: Nicolas Catellier, architect, BIM specialist and founder of Revit Pure and BIM Pure Productions.

Nicolas has more than 10 years of experience with Revit and has worked on multiple large-scale projects as an architect and BIM manager.

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Last year’s Revit 2022 was the best release in a long time. It didn’t have significant new features, but it did fix dozens of minor problems users have been complaining about for a while.

Revit 2023 is a... ok release? It doesn’t have many “real” new features. Instead, the update focuses on fixing issues with current tools. The big winners here are the advanced users and BIM managers. Beginners probably won’t see much difference beyond the logo. While the improvements are not very inspiring when observed individually, they add up for a decently helpful update.

I wish the new releases were bolder. I hope there would be more fun, surprising and innovative new features beyond minor technical improvements and bug fixes.

I’ve been the most riled up about the UI revamp + new branding, but it seems only Dynamo’s interface is updated. For Revit, we have a new logo. However, the rest of the interface hasn’t changed.

REVIT 2023 NEW LOGO

Autodesk unveiled their new logo and overall branding in September 2021.

Revit 2023 includes a new logo as well:

Overall, I like Autodesk new branding. Their apps are starting to integrate this visual image, but besides the logo, no change has been made to Revit UI.

However, you’ll see that Dynamo has an interesting new user interface.

TOP 20 BEST NEW FEATURES IN REVIT 2023

1- Revamped New Dynamo 2.13

The new release of Dynamo is amazing. The user interface has been revamped and modernized. Everything feels fresh and smooth. They also added new nodes and made searches faster. Click here to read all the new changes in Dynamo 2.13.

Here is an example of the revamped UI from the main menu. It uses the new Artifakt font that has been created by Autodesk.

The entire interface now has a dark theme by default. I like the turquoise text menus, although I’m not sure why they got rid of the preview image.

New right-click menu also looks good.

In addition to new menu, we now have black nodes! Each node now has a small image preview in the top left corner.

Better Warning Window

When you have a warning from a node, you can dismiss it.

Better Groups

Groups now have a description below the name. You can add and remove nodes to a group, instead of having to ungroup and regroup. It is also possible to drag a node into a group.

Collapsed Group

If you click the arrow on the group header, the group is collapsed. Only the open outputs are displayed. The amount of nodes is displayed at the bottom.

Nested Groups

Once a group is collapsed, it is possible to drag it into another group. It will be inserted as a nested group.

Interactive Wires

If you hover your cursor over a wire, you can pin it. You can also click on the eye icon to create a watch node. Hovering the wire displays the data contained inside of it.

25 New Units Nodes

A bunch of nodes related to units have been added. For example, the ability to get the unit name and to parse unit.

Faster and Better Search

Searching for nodes used to be slow and painful. You had to exactly type in the name of the node. Even then, you had not guarantee at all it would work.

The new search is much faster. It also allows for a few typos like a Google search would. It is still not perfect though, some nodes can still be hard to find.

Show and Install MIssing Packages

Dynamo’s biggest problem is the difficulty to deploy at large and to use scripts on multiple versions. They often break because of custom packages that don’t get updated or that users didn’t install. I like the new “Workspace References” menu, which shows which packages are missing. You can install the right version directly on this menu.

In the example below, Dynamo gently tells you that the Genius Loci package is missing from the script. You can click on Install Specified Version in the same menu.

As you can see, the new Dynamo is truly awesome and helpful.

2- Filter Schedules By Sheet

In Revit 2022: Except for keynotes, you cannot filter a schedule to only show elements that appear on the sheet they’re placed on.

In Revit 2023: You can check the “Filter by Sheet” box at the bottom of a schedule’s filter menu:

For example, if views on a sheet only show doors from a specific level, the schedule will only show those doors as well. The “main” schedule in the project browser isn’t affected by the filter. This feature might reduce the amount of duplicated schedules in your projects.

3- New Icons For Views Placed On Sheet In Project Browser

Views placed on sheet will have an icon with a filled blue square next to the name. Views not placed on a sheet will have an empty gray square.

If you don’t like the new icons, you can always turn them off. Right-click on the project browser and uncheck “Show View Placement on Sheet Status Icons”.

4- New Dynamo Player

I am enjoying the new Dynamo player! In addition to the revamped UI, there are some new features:

- Search for scripts and create different sub-folders.

- Add an image preview for each script.

- Add a URL link to explain how to use specific scripts.

Once you select a script, you will be forced to enter the inputs before you can run it. As you can see, new information is displayed: a description, the author of the script and a URL explaining how to use it. A description of each input and output can be added as well.

Also, it is now possible to run a script in the Dynamo player even if the script is open in Dynamo.

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5- Measure in 3D Views

In Revit 2022: The measure tool is not available in 3D views. You can only use dimensions, which forces you to set a work plane first. This process is not convenient for quick measures.

In Revit 2023: The measure tool is now available in a 3D view. You can use the tool without having to set up work planes. It works similarly to SketchUp. You can even chain-measure on different 3D planes.

I’m happy this feature is introduced and it will be helpful, but... we are in 2022 and I am excited for taking measures in a 3D view? Other modeling software had this feature for 20 years.

6- Duplicate Material and Its Shared Asset

In Revit 2022: When duplicating a material, the appearance asset wasn’t duplicated at the same time. Users often started to modify the appearance of a material, without realizing they were affecting other materials at the same time.

In Revit 2023: You can now duplicate a material with the option “Duplicate Material and Assets”. You should always pick this option if you aren’t sure. The other option “Duplicate Using Shared Assets” has the same effect as Duplicate from 2022.

7- Support Material Textures and Decals With Cloud Paths

In Revit 2022: All image used for materials textures and decals have to be local. That causes a lot of broken links issues:

In Revit 2023: You can now use cloud paths, which should reduce the amount of images broken links and make it easier to work away from a local server. Images placed on BIM 360 folders should work.

8- Activate Controls & Dimensions

In Revit 2022: Certain Revit elements display control icons such as pins when you select them. For example, curtain walls with constrained dimensions. The problem is that if you select too many elements, you’ll get a huge number of icons, which is annoying and cause performance issues.

In Revit 2023: In the modify tab, you will find the “Activate Control” tool. If you leave it off, all the annoying icons and automatic dimensions will be gone. The automatic dimensions will only display if you select a single element.

Initially, I wasn’t excited for this feature. But after trying it for a while, it makes a big difference in performance when you select a lot of elements.

9- Hide Worksharing “Make Editable” Icons

In Revit 2022: In workshared models, selected elements display an icon with 3 cubes when you select them. This is used to make the element “editable”, which means you take control of it.

The problem is that when you select lots of elements, these icons can get annoying. You rarely need to use this tool.

In Revit 2023: In the Collaborate tab, click on the arrow underneath the worksets. You can uncheck the “Show Worksharing Make Editable Controls” box to remove the icons.

10- Element Mapping for IFC Exports

Both type and instance parameters of all elements will have these added parameters:

The Export to IFC parameter lets you decide if you want to export the element by type, individually or not at all.

The Export to IFC As lets you pre-map an IFC category for the element.

You can also set an IFC Predefined Type and customize the unique IfcGUID. This is a great update for people who frequently work with IFC files.

11- Duplicate Family Parameter

When you are inside a family, click on the icon below to quickly duplicate a parameter. This will help users save time on complex families… Although the “ParaManager” plugin by DiRoots was a good existing solution for this issue.

Edit: this feature was actually introduced in Revit 2022.1.

12- Casework Category Supports Join Geometry

In Revit 2022: In the old Revit, you couldn’t use the “Join” tool with the casework category. In the image below, you can see 2 casework families that can’t be joined together.

In Revit 2023: The join tool now works with the casework category. You can join casework families together.  You can also join them to other categories such as walls.

13- Sort Page Order For PDF, Printing and Export

In Revit 2022: Exported PDF and printed sheets are alphabetically ordered by the page number. You can’t change it. Users are forced to re-order inside Acrobat. An alternative was to use Prosheets by DiRoots, which is a free PDF export plugin that allowed you to sort pages.

In Revit 2023: There is now a “Edit Print Order” tool that allows you to reorder pages. You can either use an existing Project Browser organization or manually drag & drop pages.

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14- Enabled Cutting in View Option For These Categories

In Revit 2022: Certain categories in Revit 2022 are not “cuttable”. That means that the line weight will always be set to projection, regardless of the cut plane in the view range. You can’t even set a cut line weight in object styles:

In Revit 2023: 4 new categories are now cuttable, including: Furniture, Furniture Systems, Plumbing Fixtures and Specialty Equipment. You can set a cut line weight to them. For this feature to work, you need to check the box “Enable Cutting in Views” inside the family properties.

15- Tag Model Links and RVT Links

In Revit 2022: You cannot tag model groups and Revit links.

In Revit 2023: The model groups and Revit links categories can now be tagged. Multi-category tags will work as well.

16- Temporary Dimensions for Element with Nested Family Elements

In Revit 2022: Temporary dimensions don’t show up if a family has a nested family inside of it. You have to click on the “Activate Dimensions” button in the contextual tab to make them appear. You have to click this each time you select the element.

In Revit 2023: The “Activate Dimensions” tool has been removed. Temporary dimensions will show up for all families, even if they have nested components.

17- Draw Filled Regions in 3D Families

In Revit 2022: In 3D families, you can only draw masking regions. No regular regions. The only workaround was to embed a nested detail component family that had the region you desired.

In Revit 2023: You can now draw filled regions in 3D families.

Of course, these regions are not visible in 3D views, only on the 2D views they were created.

18- Swap Views On Sheets

In Revit 2022: To “swap” a view on a sheet, you have to remove it from the sheet and place the one you want.

In Revit 2023: When a view is selected on a sheet, the “Swap View” tool becomes available. You can switch the selected view for a different one.

A limitation of this feature is that you cannot swap the view with another view that is already placed on a sheet, else, you’ll get the warning below. Quite frankly, not sure how useful this is. Plugins and Dynamo scripts are still the best way to organize sheets.

19- Filter Walls by Base Constraint and Other Parameters

It is now possible to filter walls based on these specific parameters: Base Constraints, Top Constraints, Base Offset and Top Offset.

20- Conditional Formatting By Family and Type

You can now use conditional formatting with the “Family and Type” parameters in schedules. For example, you could make a cell a different color based on which family it is.

MORE IN ARCHITECTURE / EVERYONE:

• Hide Mesh Edges and Improved Color Overrides

• Displace Elements and Tags in 2D Views

• Seach for View References

• Non-Destructive Model Rollback in RCM

• 20+ Performance Improvements When Working With Large Models

• PDF Export in Quick Access Toolbar

• Parameters Cloud Service (technical preview)

• Multi-Leader Tag Enhancements

• Contour Label Direction

• Performance in Print, Publish and Export

• View/Sheet API

• FormIt in Link CAD Format + FormIt Sketch Linking Workflow

FOR MEP:

• New MEP Categories

• Rehost MEP Connectors

• Maintain Systems of Demolished Elements

FOR STRUCTURE:

• Library-based Connection Design Automation

• British Rebar Shapes Update

• Reinforced Concrete Non-bearing Partition Walls

• Adaptive Propagation for Rebar

• Align Couplers to Create Post-tensioning Anchors

• Rebar Covers in Schedules and Tags

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