Walls are often the basic elements of an object, so in this lesson I will show you how to create them. To that end, I’ve already opened a new project so I can run the Wall feature from the Architecture section. This will automatically be reflected in the appearance of the entire palette, and if you pay attention to the section located at its right end, you will see that there are options that allow you to place new walls even more precisely (Modify, Place Wall). The same applies to the so-called Options Bar, which is normally located below the toolbar, although most of these parameters are also available via the Properties palette.

If you pay attention to the lower left corner of the screen, you’ll see that the user is expected to press the left mouse button to determine the position of the new element, so I’ll take the opportunity to define its first point in one stroke. After that, I can move to the right and the program will try to show me the possible appearance of the new wall. If the direction I have chosen is completely straight, the corresponding notification will appear on the screen (Horizontal or Vertical), but this does not prevent me from freely determining the position of the new element. I will deliberately opt for a small slope and complete the drawing of the first segment with a simple click. As you can see, the program allows me to continue immediately, which means that walls can be added continuously, using the same command. In addition, the new segment will automatically be connected to the previous one, which is called a chain in Revit. To show you how this all works in practice, I will draw a whole series of new elements in a few quick strokes, and they will automatically be connected into one whole. On the other hand, if you want your walls to be independent, simply turn off the Chain option and repeat the same process. I prefer them to stay connected, so I won’t change the currently selected parameters.

If you are satisfied with what is on the screen and do not want to add new segments, simply click the Modify icon and cancel the command to draw the walls. In that case, to repeat it, the appropriate function must be started again, so I recommend that you press the Esc key after drawing the first string. In this way, you will avoid adding new segments, but at the same time you will be able to start a new sequence immediately. I will draw two completely separate elements this way, which turned out to be much more efficient than repeating the entire command both times. If you want to definitely cancel the drawing of new walls, you can do so by pressing Esc twice.

Until now, I used only the first of the offered options (Line) to draw the walls, so they were composed of straight line segments. If you want to draw an entire rectangle in one stroke, select the Rectangle option, and in a similar way you can reach more complex shapes such as a hexagon or a polygon with an arbitrary number of sides. Its final shape depends on a parameter that can be easily changed, and if you prefer to use the height instead of the radius, simply click on the third icon.

For walls that should have a circular shape, there is a special option and it is located on the right side of this section. In the second row, there are a whole series of options that allow you to create arc segments, and on this occasion I will choose the one that uses two points and a radius (Start-End-Radius Arc) as input parameters. Don’t be fooled by the fact that after entering the starting point, a straight line will appear on the screen, because the curvature can only be determined by selecting the other end. This parameter depends on the current position of the cursor, but it is possible to determine the radius by directly entering the desired value. I will opt for the second option and define a curvature that corresponds to a radius of 12000mm. As soon as I press Enter, helpers will appear on the screen that confirm these dimensions, and since I didn’t interrupt the basic command, there is an opportunity to immediately draw another arc segment. This means that I am expected to determine the next end point and redefine the desired curvature. If I’m careful enough, I’ll be able to create segments that connect properly, meaning they have a common tangent. I believe you understand how this works so I’ll double-press the Esc key to terminate this function.

Before I continue, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to clean up this mess a bit and remove all unnecessary elements from the drawing. To that end, I will use the so-called Crossing the selection, by dragging the mouse from the right to the left side, include all the walls and press the Delete key. Unfortunately, since when selecting the elements I also included the symbol representing one of the views (View East), a corresponding warning will appear on the screen, so I have to go back to the drawing by selecting the Cancel button and correct this error. To that end, I need to exclude this small circle from the selection, and this can be easily achieved with the help of the filtering function. So I will click on this icon and in the box that follows turn off all the options except the one related to the walls. As soon as I close this box by selecting the OK button, I will be able to press the Delete key again and definitely remove all the redundant elements.

In the second part of the lesson, I will show you how to determine the height of the walls. To that end, I’ll restart the Wall feature and automatically show additional options. As you can see, there are three parameters on the Options Bar that allow you to precisely determine the height of the future walls, and it is currently 8000mm for me. The same values can be seen on the Properties palette with the difference that it is clearly emphasized here that the walls will be placed on the first level (Level1), without connection with other elements (Unconnected) and the same height (8000mm). That suits me for now, so with two clicks I will determine the start and end point of the first segment. If I then press the Esc key to break this sequence, I will be able to change the height parameter and draw another part of the wall in the same way.

Before I go any further, I’m going to pause the Wall function again because I’d like to show you some of the alternative methods for determining the height. For now, I have two walls, the left one being 8m high and the right one 1m less. Unfortunately, these values are fixed and will not be affected by possible changes to other elements. If you want the height of the walls to be automatically adjusted to the parameters that apply to the levels, it would be a good idea to set the Top Constrain option to the appropriate value. To that end, I will select the item Up to level: Level2 from the list and thereby cancel the effect of the option that until now served as a height measure. Its value will automatically be reduced to 3000, so I only have to define the position of the new element with two moves.

I can repeat the same procedure two more times, with the fact that I will first select Level3 as the upper limit and then Level4. In the end, I just need to press the Esc key twice to terminate the Wall function and check what I have achieved.

In this view, all the walls look exactly the same, so I have to select the appropriate item from the Project Browser, Elevation South, and to show them from the side. As you can see, on the far left there is a segment whose height is 8000mm, while right next to it is the one whose height I manually reduced by 1m. The next three segments are connected to the corresponding levels, so it is no wonder that their edges coincide with the elevations.

Changing the height of the first two elements is reduced to entering a new value. In order to prove it to you, I will select the second segment and in the field called Unconnected height, write 5000. As soon as I click the Apply button or press Enter, this element will become significantly lower which means I have successfully changed the parameter that determines its height.

A completely different principle applies to the last three elements. With them, the height can only be changed indirectly, through parameters related to predetermined levels. To show you how it works, I’ll first select the line representing the third level (Level3) and then move it up. As you can see, it was automatically reflected in the height of the corresponding segment, so there is no need for me to subsequently correct its parameters.