Depending on the type of building you re planning, the geographical area in which your building will be built, and even the style of the building you re designing, it s likely that the default elements and general settings provided by the out-of-the-box Revit template won t be what you need. Software vendors make a great effort to provide locale-specific content libraries that respect local traditions as well as incorporate local regulations in their documentation, but as we all know, that is only a good starting point and can t cover all the types of elements you ll need in the course of a project. Like many other software packages, Revit allows you to start with a basic template and then spawn your own custom templates to suit your specific requirements.

As your knowledge of the software progresses, you ll soon see that the default selection of wall types, roof types, ceilings, stairs, and other families aren t sufficient to satisfy all your design and documentation needs. This is also the case with the graphical language that you or your firm has established over the years and probably want to continue using with Revit. How you graphically present elements like text, dimensions, annotations, keynotes, and hatch patterns defines your style of design documentation. The reality of the architectural profession is that we tend to develop customized graphics, and Revit respects this need by letting you stylize your content and use that in your starting templates. One possible example of graphic...