by Dennis Collin
It is that time of year again when are treated to a new version of Revit. Autodesk Revit is used by many users of different disciplines, but this post will focus on the new features that may be of benefit to engineers and designers in an infrastructure or structural design environment.
Some useful core features are the improvements to the Project Browser. When working with large projects it can be a little difficult to manage and organise sheets. However, with the 2025 release it is now possible to organise drawing sheets into flexible groupings defined by Revit’s new Sheet Collections feature.
Fig 1. Sheet Collections enable users to more easily manage sheets in large projects.
For specific structural features, minimum and maximum structural rebar lengths are accessible to filters. These can be set to a view to facilitate easy inspection of the structural model, via a conventional view template.
Fig. 2 Users can filter rebar with minimum or maximum bar lengths!
Where splices need to be applied there are improved options to select lines by manual selection, using Grids elements or reference planes, or a specified length and indicate the run-out (origin) direction or modify existing splices.
Fig 3. Rebar splice families by be applied by length, or by an intersetcing Grid line or Reference plane.
Once confirmed, Revit will create a rebar splice system family that can be adjusted or removed as required. Like other system families these can be duplicated with differing options being set as needed.
Different splice families can be applied to different rebar sets according to circumstance. The Splice families themselves are of course parametric so that if the bar size changes the splice family updates accordingly. Similarly editing the Rebar shape handle, the splice joint adjusts to suit.
Fig 3a. Rebar Splice Family Options
Rebar annotations have also improved, in terms of display, with improved selection options for bespoke multi-rebar annotation (MRA). It is now possible to select multiple rebar in one step when defining bar set presentation options. These can then be tagged as required.
Fig 4. It is now possible to select multiple individual rebar and tag them.
Another nice improvement is to disable on an individual bar element its geometric constraint. Normally this is parametrically linked to the host concrete geomtery but for increased flexibility gives options for bespoke situations.
Fig 4a With 2025 it is possible to disable currently selected rebar’s constraints.
When annotating rebar with tags, there is a new rebar sketch detail option referred to a schematic bending detail, this will follow a conventional bar size and number tag with a sketched detail with the size appended as a suffix. Very nice and a much requested feature!
Fig 5. Annotating Rebar has been much improved with more editable bending details
Like all tags the bending detail can be aligned with 2025’s new annotation alignment tool. There is also a new bending detail tool which can be selected and positioned and tagged as appropriate. Dimensions are automatically applied, but they can be individually adjusted by tab selecting annotation to ensure clarity of reading.
Fig 6. With Revit 2025 it is easier and quicker to align tags and other annotations.
As well as concrete reinforcement modelling and annotation improvements, there are also improvements with the structural analytical model. A new instance parameter on analytical elements, move with grids, ensures that any changes with the structural grid updates the analytical model.
Fig 7. The Analytical Model generation script form a physical Revit model now works correctly!
Analytical elements now include support for local coordinate axis which can be toggled and flip as required. This is vital when applying loads to the model. Analytical members can now be trimmed and split if required. The analytical automation Dynamo script now works a lot better producing an analytical model from Revit geometry with analytical walls being joined correctly and analytical slabs being positioned at the correct level.
Fig 8. Elements can be split and modified further after steel fabrication details have been applied.
Steel detailing tools have also been improved with respect to the steel connection details because once applied to a beam or column it became a fabricated element and was unable to be split or have elements aligned to it. These modified elements can now be split, and further details can be added to the model.
With Advance steel now officially in maintenance mode I would expect new features to be added to Revit’s steel detailing suite. Whilst 2025 has made some initial strides in improvements, there is still plenty of road to travel!
There are also many improvements and developments in Revit 2025, including more functionality with Toposolids, better nodes in Dynamo 3, that make it easier to automate tasks when working with Revit files and linked projects. The ability to have families with an array value less than 2 and much more. I will discuss these features and updates in a separate post soon.