The last few Revit annual releases have been boring. Autodesk decided to step up their game this year. There is a lot of new features, many of which have been requested for a long time. Here are our favorite ones. Click here to see the official Autodesk blog post.

1- Double-Fill Pattern

This is probably the most exciting new feature, solving a lot of problems with patterns in earlier releases. You can now have two patterns for each region and material, one in the foreground and one in the background. In the example below, we create a Masonry style filled region with a solid grey background. In previous versions of Revit, you had to create two different region style and put them on over the other to get the same effect.

It also seems the Background parameter has been replaced by a Masking yes/no parameter.

In the example below, we create a CMU material using this double pattern feature. The surface pattern has both the block pattern as well as a light grey pattern. The cut pattern can also be customized with 2 different patterns.

This feature is going to be very useful to indicate multiple colors and tint for exterior materials while still using the Hidden Style visual style. It could also be useful to help add a grey tint to existing elements when using phases.

2- Revit Views on Multiple Monitors

These days, every serious Revit user is using a second monitor. Up to this point, you could not spread Revit views on multiple screens. The only use for the second monitor was to put the Project Browser and Properties panels. The workaround for this issue was to open a second instance of Revit, which was an awkward and slow process. In Revit 2019, you can now spread views on your second display. As you see below, you get a very beautiful, minimal style since all the options, menus and properties are left on the other screen.

3- Levels Can Be Visible in 3D Views

You can now activate the visibility of Levels in the Visibility/Graphics menu of all 3D views. Like you see in the image below, clicking a level will show the 3D extents, represented by a blue plane. The extents can be modified by dragging the blue circles. This will no doubt be very useful to properly control the limits of levels.

The levels can also be visible in a perspective view, although the level names won't show up.

4- Tabbed Views and Docking Preview

Revit 2019 offers a brand new tabbed view style. You even have a mini-icon next to the view name indicating the view category.

It is also possible to have multiple tab in the same window, like in the image below.

Drag a tab next to another to show the docking preview.

The Windows submenu in the view tab has been modified. The Close Hidden, Cascade and Replicate tool have been removed and replaced by Close Inactive and Tab Views.

Overall, this change will make it much easier to navigate between different views in Revit.

5- Improved Filters Rules

In older versions of Revit, you were limited to the And rule when creating filters. That often meant you had to create a lot of different filters. With Revit 2019, you can use the Or rule, allowing you to group filters in the same rule.

Related blog post: 6 Tips To Master Revit Filters.

6- Uncropped Perspective Views

In previous versions of Revit, you could not deactivate crop region in perspective views. In Revit 2019, you can deactivate the crop region and navigate in a perspective view on a full window. This creates a similar workspace to sketchup, or to plugins like Enscape and Lumion. Sadly, the Revit 3D navigation controls remain awkward to use.

This feature can only be used with views that are not placed on a sheet.

7- Match Section Box to Scope Box

Scope boxes can be used to crop plan views and elevations. In Revit 2019, you can now assign a scope box in a 3D view properties to create a Section Box fitting the scope box. See the image below for an example.

8- Split Railings

Splitting an automatic railing for a stair used to be complicated. You had to copy/paste the railing, then modify both instances. You can now use the Split tool on railings, similar to how you can split a wall. In the options bar, check the Delete Inner Segment tool to remove the railing section between two clicks. That produce a similar effect to the "Split With Gap" tool that can be used with walls or lines.

If you are using the Multi-Level stairs tool introduced in Revit 2018, splitting a railing will affect all the identical instances in the group.

9- Dimensions for Cut Curved Elements

In previous version of Revit, cutting through a curved element was awkward. You could not use dimension on the elements, forcing users to draw 2D lines over the curved elements. In Revit 2019, you can use dimensions on any cut curved object. However, this new feature didn't seem to work on specific layers of a curved element, like the gypsum layer line in the example below.

10- New Realistic Physical Assets

Revit 2019 includes new "physical assets" that are built to provide more realistic renderings. When opening the material browser, you will see a small yellow icon next to the material preview, indicating you should update your material with these new assets.

If you go to the new Physical Assets menu, you will find new appearance assets for each category. You can distinguish the old assets from the new by the exclamation mark next to the icon.

Proper testing needs to be done before giving a verdict on these new assets. However, the old default ones were usually pretty ugly, so it should be a step forward. Most people create their own appearance assets anyway.

Additional Minor Changes:

WARNING FOR CHANGING, DELETING LEVELS

Deleting a level can be a move with many dark consequences. Revit 2019 now gives you a warning including all elements that will be deleted or affected. But honestly... just don't delete important levels, period.

Another small improvement is the ability to remove the annoying dialog box asking you if you want to rename all views when you rename a level. Just activate "Do not show me this message again" and you will be all set.

EASIER TO RENAME VIEWS

In the project browser, a slow double-click on a view will allow you to rename a view. You don't have to go through the right-click menu to rename a view anymore.

CHANGES FOR STRUCTURE, MEP

As this blog focus on the architecture side of Revit, click this link to see what are the new changes for structure and MEP.