14. MEP: sleeves, rooms → spaces

The MEP panel has two buttons for MEP models: Sleeves and Rooms → spaces.

Sleeves#

Inserts a sleeve (or an opening) at every point where pipes, ducts, conduits and cable trays cross walls, floors and structural elements. It searches the current model and linked models. Each sleeve is a Generic Model with size, code and elevation already filled in. It opens with the Sleeves button in the MEP panel of the BIMit tab. The window is called Sleeves and openings.

Before you start#

• Open a project: in families the command does not start.
• Linked models appear only if they are loaded.
• Want to work only on some services of the current model? Select them in Revit before clicking Sleeves, then in the window check Only elements selected in the current model. If you don't check it, BIMit uses all the services of the current model.

Services passing through#

Elements to cross#

BIMit reads links in their true position, even if they are rotated or moved. If the same model is linked several times, each copy has its own row (name · copy 1 (id …)).

Opening size#

Opening = outside size of the service + 2 × insulation (if checked) + 2 × clearance. If you checked Round up to standard sizes, the size goes up to the first one in the list that is equal or larger. Length = the stretch of the service inside the element + 2 × projection. The length is not rounded.

Checks#

Codes and workset#

Each sleeve is a Generic Model (DirectShape). It has three text instance parameters, in the Data group:

The element name gives shape, size and length in mm: Manicotto Ø150 L300, Manicotto 400×300 L300 or, for a merged opening, Foro unito 400×300 L300 (Manicotto = sleeve, Foro unito = merged opening).

Window footer#

When you click Insert sleeves#

1. Value check. If a value is not valid, BIMit tells you and does not start. This happens with an invalid number, a value out of range, an invalid size list (with Round up checked), or no category or no model chosen. In the mm fields you can use a comma or a period (in the size list only the period). An empty field counts as 0.
2. Search. BIMit reads the BIMit sleeves already present, the elements to cross and the services. In this phase it modifies nothing. Straight segments in line form a single run: both when a fitting or an in-line accessory joins them (coupling, valve, straight tee) and when they just touch. So a pipe split inside a wall gives a single crossing, not two. BIMit uses the whole geometry of the element (layers, several pieces). Each crossing of the same element has its own opening, for example on the two legs of an L-shaped wall.
3. Creation. BIMit merges nearby openings and assigns the codes from bottom to top. Then it creates the missing parameters and the sleeves. It does not ask for confirmation. It closes Revit warnings by itself.
4. Result. The Result box appears at the top of the window. Hide closes it.

Stop stops after the current step. During the work the rest of the window and Close are locked. The window's X, during the work, also stops it, but the window stays open. If you stop, no sleeve stays in the model: the sleeves already created and the new parameters are undone.

The result#

The message at the top:

The table has one row for each category of crossed elements in which BIMit found crossings. With several categories, the last row is the Total.

Below the table you find the notes:

• how many services, runs and elements to cross were read, and the seconds spent searching and creating;
• how many services were below the minimum size and how many had no axis (skipped);
• how many BIMit sleeves were already in the model;
• the services that come out of an existing BIMit sleeve, because the service was moved or the sleeve is too small. For these BIMit creates a new sleeve. About the old one it tells you whether it still contains other crossings (keep it) or no longer contains any of the chosen services. In that case check it and delete it only if no service needs it any more. This note appears only with Skip where there is already a BIMit sleeve checked;
• an explanation of End inside and Shallow (always) and of Overlapping (if there are any);
• up to 8 other notes, for example errors or parameters not written. The others are in the log (Account → Log folder). BIMit records at most about 30 notes: beyond that, errors do not even reach the log.

Good to know#

• One Ctrl+Z in Revit undoes the whole insertion, i.e. parameters and sleeves. In the command history the operation is called BIMit: sleeves.
• What stays intact. Services, walls, floors, structural elements and existing sleeves are not modified or deleted. Linked models are only read: sleeves are always created in the current model. In the project only the sleeve parameters change (see Parameters).
• Old sleeves are never deleted automatically, not even when a service has moved. A merged opening can also serve other services. BIMit points them out in the notes.
• BIMit recognizes its sleeves by an internal mark, not by name: you can rename them. It recognizes only those in the current model, not those in linked models.
• Codes. Numbering restarts after the highest number with the same prefix (case-insensitive) written in BIMit_Manicotto_Codice in the model's Generic Models. So two insertions never produce the same code. If a sleeve is not created, its code is not used and the numbering has a gap.
• Parameters. If they are missing, BIMit creates the three parameters from a shared parameter file of its own, with fixed GUIDs that are the same in every project. The file is BIMit_SharedParameters.txt in %LOCALAPPDATA%\BIMit. Revit's shared parameter file setting does not change. If the project already has a parameter with the same name that is a type parameter, or is not a text parameter, BIMit does not write it and says so in the notes. If it exists but is not assigned to Generic Models, BIMit adds that category and puts it in the Data group.
• Worksharing. The new sleeves go into the workset chosen in Workset, usually the active one.
• Units. All the sizes in the window are in mm, whatever the project units.
• BIMit reads only the straight segments of pipes, ducts, conduits and cable trays. Fittings, accessories and equipment do not get a sleeve of their own.
• If BIMit cannot read the size of a service, the opening becomes Ø100 mm + 2 × clearance (a square of the same size with SHAPE · Rectangular), rounded up to the standard sizes if Round up is checked. The minimum size does not apply to these services.
• If BIMit cannot read the geometry of an element to cross, it skips it without warning: it does not even appear among the Errors.
• Design options. BIMit reads the main model and the primary option. Secondary options are ignored.
• Selection. Only elements selected… uses the selection present when you opened the window, and only if you check it. To change it, close the window, select and reopen.
• Your choices are kept. BIMit saves them in %LOCALAPPDATA%\BIMit\Mep_Manicotti.json every time you click Insert sleeves and the values are valid, and offers them again next time, in any project. It does not save the checked models, Only elements selected and the workset.
• No report file is written. The result stays in the window and the notes go to the log.

Rooms → spaces#

Draws space separation lines in the current model by tracing the boundaries of the rooms of a linked model, level by level. They delimit the MEP spaces like the architectural rooms, without redrawing them by hand. Lines already present are not repeated, even if they were drawn by hand or in several pieces. It opens with the Rooms → spaces button in the MEP panel, on the BIMit tab.

Before you start

• Open the project (not a family) in which you want the lines.
• The model with the rooms must be linked and loaded. A link that is unloaded or on a closed workset does not appear. If there is none, BIMit tells you and does not open the window.
• The current model must have levels (if it has none, BIMit tells you and does not open the window) and, for each level you use, a plan: the lines are drawn there.

Model with the rooms

Levels

Each level of the linked model that has rooms takes one row, in order of elevation. Click a header to sort (except the one of the checkbox column). If you change the linked model or the phase, the table is recalculated: the checks and the levels chosen by hand go back to BIMit's proposal.

Existing lines (on the right)

The How they are traced box is just a reminder: you find the details below.

Window footer

When you click Create lines

1. If you checked a level with a Gap over 1 m, BIMit lists those levels with their gap (at most 10, then “…”) and asks whether to continue. With Yes their rooms go on the chosen level anyway.
2. BIMit looks for the plan of each chosen model level. A level without a plan is skipped.
3. With Replace it first deletes the BIMit lines of that level: only those of this link if Only those created from this linked model is checked, and never those locked by other users in the workshared model (see Good to know). On a level skipped for lack of a plan it deletes nothing.
4. It reads the boundary of each room at the wall finish face, with the inner loops (shafts, free-standing columns). It brings it into the current model, with the translation and rotation of the link, and places it at the elevation of the model level.
5. It compares each segment with the space separation lines already on the level (within about 30 cm of its elevation and not closer to another level of the model), even if drawn by hand or in several aligned pieces, and with those just drawn for neighboring rooms. It draws only what is missing. Lines at another height are ignored and Replace does not delete them.
6. It does everything in a single operation, BIMit: space separation lines. Revit warnings, for example about overlapping lines, close by themselves and you don't have to click anything. When committing, Revit joins the ends of nearby lines: it may lengthen, shorten or tilt them by a few centimeters. That is fine: on each of its lines BIMit remembers the segment it was drawn for and does not repeat it on the next run. If a newly drawn line becomes too short for Revit, BIMit removes it, as Revit proposes. Any other Revit error undoes everything without opening Revit's dialog, with the reason in the notes.

Result

At the end, below the levels, the Result box appears.

Good to know

• One Ctrl+Z undoes everything, deletions included. The model stays as it was if you stop, if an error blocks the operation or if Revit refuses it. A segment that cannot be drawn, instead, does not stop the rest: it is counted in Not created.
• Lines drawn by hand are never deleted and, if they are on the level, they count as already present. BIMit recognizes its own lines by a mark saved on each one.
• Add missing only never deletes anything. If a room of the linked model disappears or moves, its old lines stay: to clean them up use Replace those created by BIMit.
• BIMit draws only the lines, not the spaces: you place the spaces yourself.
• Rooms are read only from linked models, not from the current model.
• Only placed rooms with an area count, from the main model and the primary design options. Rooms without a level are skipped; you find them counted in the message under Model with the rooms.
• A straight segment counts as already present if there is an aligned line within 3 mm (and with an angle within 0.5°). If the line covers only part of the segment, BIMit adds the missing part. An arc counts as already present only if there is an arc with the same ends and the same midpoint.
• Segments shorter than the minimum Revit accepts cannot be drawn: they are counted in the note segments too short for Revit. The lines that Revit makes too short when joining them to their neighbors end up there too (note N lines too short for Revit were removed).
• To recognize the source model, Only those created from this linked model looks at the link, not at the file name. If you reload the same link from another file, it stays the same link. If you delete it and link it again, it is a new link: the previous lines are not replaced, unless you uncheck the option.
• Workshared model (worksets): with Replace, BIMit lines borrowed by another user or changed in the central model are not deleted, so the rest of the work goes on. They stay, count as already present and the result tells you about them. Reload latest or ask for them to be relinquished, then run again.
• If the level already has space separation lines, or the plan has a work plane, at the level's elevation, BIMit reuses that work plane and does not create a new one at every run.
• The window does not create working files (it only writes a few lines to BIMit's technical log) and does not remember your choices. Every time it starts again from the first link in the list, the last phase, Add missing only and Only those created from this linked model checked.