First Look

So I've mainly been playing around in Revit for the past little while. Just trying to learn the basics and start to know my way around the program.
Right from the get-go, I was a little discouraged. The user interface is different from other programs that I've used. For example, in Autodesk inventor the orbit tool that allows you to change your view of the model is easy to access with a hotkey, but not in Revit.
One big issue I realized right away was how basic the modeling system seemed. You can plunk down walls and change their size but I could not see a way to make your own walls with their own shapes and small details, all I had to work with was a flat wall that I could change the colour of. Eventually though I realized that it's much more powerful than I first thought. Apparently you can add a lot of detail to walls with these things called "sweeps and reveals". I have no idea what that means but I suppose I will find out. At least now I am sure that I won't be restricted to a boring flat wall. I also learned how to change the structure of walls and such, so that I could make it so that a wall has brick on the outside, wooden stud and insulation in the middle, and drywall on the interior side. I can manipulate all those materials separately and change texture or colour independently of the rest of the wall.

I have started drawing my first building. I find that when I do creative things, like drawing or writing, it's best to just start doing it and let the inspiration come as you go along. So I started by drawing an "L" shape and adding in floors and a roof.

As you can see from the render, it doesn't look like much. I haven't really started adding detail to the walls, so for right now they are just a generic grey colour. 

                           

Above is a screenshot from Revit. The blue reference plane represents ground level. Yeah...it doesn't really make much sense does it? The part behind the main house is going to be a walkout basement I think, and the front door above the garage door will have a small balcony and stairs adjacent to the driveway. I haven't quite figured out how to work with landscaping in Revit yet, but once I do I hopefully will have a better visualization of how it will all work.
I'm also not a huge fan of the roof at the moment, I think I might make one that is either flat or has a very slight incline.


On my goals page I've outline several things I want to achieve, but I didn't really state what my final project will be. To be honest I still don't really know. This house here might be my final project (although it will probably look very different by the end), or I might start a different project and design a business complex or another large public building like that.