Bradley Revit Family Secrets | LOD – Level of Development

Bradley’s Revit Family models were created with a high Level Of Development and Detail (LOD). Our Revit models are designed to accommodate the needs of all four Revit project members; architect, engineer, contractor and owner.

Antony McPhee Registered Architect Melbourne Victoria Australia | Practical BIM Blog Author Architect Antony McPhee | What is This Thing Called LOD

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There are several reasons the Bradley BIM Team chose to build a single Revit model; that was all-inclusive to serve all disciplines.

Bradley Revit-BIM Family Quality Standards | Top 10 FAQs

1) Logistically, its easier to manage embedded data parameters of more than 1,000 Revit models; as one inclusive model for all disciplines.

2) Ideally, a manufacturer’s Revit model that is shared amongst the team; guarantees data consistency and minimizes the modeling costs for everyone. Consider this:

How often will your consultant(s) build a Revit model for them and for your discipline? How often do you build Revit models for your consultants?

3) Realistically, my onsite client visits confirm that BIM \ VDC Managers maintain a LOD definition; specific to their organization, projects and team members.

“We will decide what content to keep and delete within our Revit families.”–Typical BIM \ VDC Managers Response

Bradley anticipated Revit Managers would remove content from Bradley Revit models; to meet their standards, preferences and criteria. It is far easier, faster and cheaper for them to delete content, from an all-inclusive Revit model.

Once they remove family content; perhaps after adding their own shared \family parameters –they will save a Bradley Revit family file down to a smaller file size.

Bradley Revit Family Secrets – Compact File Reduces File Size

For example;

Architectural designers may remove the MEP connections, solids or voids –keeping only basic solids, masking regions and symbolic line-work.

Engineers may remove the materials, solids and voids –keeping the MEP connections and portions of the masking regions & symbolic line-work.

Contractors creating the Owner’s as-built project Revit models; have typically requested and\or used the Bradley Revit models in their original high LOD format.

Technology’s Exponential Growth Will Change Revit Family Rules

The Bradley BIM Initiative strategy –forecasted that Revit, the LOD and BIM processes would be “moving targets”.

They will change annually based on several variables; including –the collaborative technology for storing, accessing and sharing the model amongst the team.

The Revit Cloud affects one of the 5 variables; listed in this article. The cloud will change how we manage Revit project and family models. The efficiency of Revit Cloud functionality; offers the opportunity to evolve, replace or potentially eliminate these Revit family processes?

The good news; Bradley’s Revit Library is already optimized for this process change.

Revit Cloud Potential | 5 Game-Changing Processes

“Our surveys say…”

In 2013, I’ve met nationally with more than 200 Revit-BIM managers; during Bradley’s How “BIM Changes Everything” city tours for ASPE, AIA and CSI.

We typically receive a dozen technical support requests per month for our Revit models; from the design and construction community. That level of direct contact with professionals; helps us gather relevant project performance on Bradley Revit model quality and define future improvements.

Our thanks to the design community for your Bradley Revit Family Downloads! We thank the global design + construction Revit-BIM professionals for their feedback, ideas and comments –and for the more than 7 million Bradley Revit models they have downloaded in 2012 and 2013.