By John Flanagan
Revit 2020 – Creating Custom Templates
Introduction
Think of a template as a pre-set starting point. Templates have an .rte file extension rather than the .rvt extension that a project uses.
Templates are not static, they are evolving
It is important to remember that when creating your template(s), you definitely will not get everything you need in them the first time. Templates will more than likely change with each and every project you do. As new versions of the software become available, you will have to amend your templates to accommodate any new changes that you want to bring into your workflow.
What goes into a template can depend greatly on your workflow, as well as your knowledge of the types of things that can be put into them.
Conclusion
- Have a clear direction of office standards; text and file locations.
- Start with the tedious tasks first (Annotation Tags, Titleblock, Line Types, Text Styles etc.)
- Be project focused, not template focused. The scope of your project might change. Change your template to reflect these changes.
Checklist for a Good Template
Defining Levels in a project template is helpful. They could be just a few basic floor and/or ceiling plans for a residential project.
Settings that are typically added to project templates include Units, Snaps, Temporary Dimensions, Object Styles (Lineweights, Line colour, and Line patterns), Line Styles, Materials, Fill Patterns, Annotation Styles (Text, Dimensions, Arrowheads, AND Loaded Tags), Filters, Loaded Component Families, Views, Schedules, Sheets, and Views on Sheets, Discipline specific items such as Wall types, Column types, or duct and Pipe types are also included.
This list does not contain everything, but it includes important aspects that you will want to address prior to starting your project.
You can create templates by using a completely blank project, by saving an existing project as a template, or by using one of the default templates provided with the Revit installation.
Manage Settings
Most of the settings stored in a template file are found in the Manage tab>Settings panel. These settings include Units, Snaps, Temporary Dimensions, Object Styles (Line-weights, Line Colour, and Line Patterns), Line Styles, Materials, Fill Patterns, etc.