Revit for beginners

Start here if you are new to Revit or BIM. Learn how Revit thinks, then model the core of a building: levels, grids, walls, doors, windows, floors, roofs and components.

11 lessons · about 2.8 hours · free

BIM fundamentals and modelling basics

1. 1. What is Revit?

   Revit is software for designing and documenting buildings as intelligent 3D models. Learn what makes it different from drafting programs and why so much of the industry uses it.

   • • Describe what Revit does and who uses it
   • • Explain how Revit differs from AutoCAD
   • • Recognise RVT, RFA, RTE and RFT files

   12 min

2. 2. BIM fundamentals

   BIM is more than 3D. Understand the ideas that make Revit behave the way it does — elements with information, parametric relationships and views of one shared model.

   • • Define building information modelling
   • • Explain elements, parameters and relationships
   • • Understand why views are not drawings

   15 min

3. 3. The Revit interface

   Get comfortable in Revit’s window: where tools live, how Properties and the Project Browser work together, how to move around views and select elements.

   • • Name the main parts of the Revit window
   • • Use Properties, the Type Selector and Project Browser
   • • Navigate 2D and 3D views

   15 min

4. 4. Starting a project

   Good projects start with the right template and settings. Learn how Revit projects are created, what the template gives you, and how to save and back up safely.

   • • Create a project from a template
   • • Set project units and information
   • • Understand what a template contains

   14 min

5. 5. Levels

   Levels are the horizontal datum planes of a building — floors, roofs, ceilings. Almost everything in Revit is attached to a level, so setting them up correctly comes first.

   • • Explain what levels control
   • • Create and edit levels in an elevation view
   • • Create floor and ceiling plans for levels

   15 min

6. 6. Grids

   Grids are the setting-out lines for columns and structure, shown in plans, sections and elevations. Learn to lay them out, number them and control where they appear.

   • • Create numbered and lettered grids
   • • Dimension and equalise grid spacing
   • • Control 3D and 2D extents and bubbles

   12 min

7. 7. Walls

   Walls are the backbone of a Revit model. Learn to place them accurately, choose and create wall types, control height with constraints and fix joins.

   • • Place walls with the right type, height and location line
   • • Understand base and top constraints
   • • Create a wall type with its own layer structure

   22 min

8. 8. Doors and windows

   Doors and windows are hosted families: they cut their own openings in walls and carry size and type information for schedules. Learn to place, adjust and load them.

   • • Place doors and windows accurately
   • • Load new door and window families
   • • Flip and adjust instances

   16 min

9. 9. Floors

   Floors are sketch-based elements: you draw a closed boundary and Revit builds the slab with its layers. Learn to create floors, openings and simple falls.

   • • Create floors in sketch mode
   • • Choose and edit floor types
   • • Add openings and edit boundaries

   15 min

10. 10. Roofs

    Revit builds most roofs from a footprint: each edge either slopes or doesn’t. Learn to make hip, gable and skillion roofs, set overhangs and join walls to the roof.

    • • Create hip, gable and skillion roofs by footprint
    • • Set slopes and overhangs
    • • Model a roof by extrusion

    18 min

11. 11. Components and furniture

    Components are everything that isn’t a wall, floor or roof: furniture, kitchens, bathroom fixtures, equipment. Learn to load, place and manage them.

    • • Place loadable components
    • • Understand hosted vs non-hosted families
    • • Rotate, align and copy components efficiently

    12 min