What’s new in Revit 2025?

April 2024 saw the global release of Autodesk Revit 2025.

In this post, Revit expert Stewart Cobb provides an insight into the new features, innovations and enhancements this latest incarnation of Revit brings.

In summary, it’s not a case of one or two headliners, but rather many smaller additions and improvements that will streamline your workflow and make your day-to-day use of the application easier.

The updates can be grouped into four general categories:

• Revit core enhancements
• Revit architectural enhancements
• Revit structural enhancements
• Revit MEP enhancements

Revit core enhancements

Toposolid

Introduced in Revit 2024, the Toposolid tool defines a topographical element using by means of elevation points or imported CAD or CSV files.

Revit 2025 brings significant enhancements to Toposolid, and topography in general. It offers improved tools for modelling and shaping, cutting and excavations and grading and appearance. You can now:

• Create Toposolids using the Model by Face tool from any non-vertical surface of a Mass element.
• Design intricate sites with new excavation tools. You can cut an existing Toposolid using floors, roofs, masses or other Toposolids.
• Carry out precise grading. You can snap to 3D points in underlay geometry, including linked DWG files, to ensure precise alignment, and visualise contour lines while editing your Toposolid shape. The process is now faster and intuitive.
• Display Toposolids in a realistic, high-quality appearance with smoother, continuous surfaces, both visually on screen and in exports. The triangulated mesh look has gone, though one setback is that surface patterns are no longer displayed.

Other enhancements include:

• Shaft elements stop at the bottom position of the shaft, rather than cutting all the way through a Toposolid. (The top is still not controlled.)
• Face-based family hosting is improved, with excavated edges now able to host face-based content.

Sheet Collections

Sheet Collections, available in the project browser, let you group sheets into a ‘collection’. These can then be organised separately, bringing more flexible sheet grouping.

In response to requests from the Autodesk Feedback Community, Sheet Collections have been enhanced significantly…

• Sheets can now exist directly in the model, or as part of a collection. They can be moved into or between collections by the Sheet Collection parameter in the Properties palette, or by dragging and dropping sheets in the project browser.
• A sheet can be created directly in a collection, and you can reference Sheet Collections to views, schedules and filters to better organise and navigate document sets.
• The Sheet Collection parameter can be included in filters, so filters can be created to find Section and Elevation markers that aren’t on sheets within the same sheet collection and hide them, meaning only views that relate to the same collection are referenced on the sheets. This provides a convenient way of managing this as no extra parameters are required, when the view is placed on a sheet in the collection it appears in the plans, until then it is hidden.
• Sheet collection information is now included as part of the Print Set selection tools. The collection is included in the details of the sheet, and can also be filtered upon to make it easier to create print sets that align to the sheet collections.
• The sheet numbers are associated to the collection, meaning that the same sheet number can exist in different collections.
• The more flexible Project Browser provides improved navigation when searching keywords within elements listed in top and lower-level collapsible nodes. The search feature has been promoted to a permanently visible location at the top of the panel. Search results are visible and highlighted for better context.

All in all, these enhancements, makes sheet management on large projects much easier.

Family editor – single element and empty array options

Until now, Revit families couldn’t have a single element (array value of 1) or empty array (array value of 0). Revit 2025 changes this; you can now have families with small array or zero values.

Arrays with an option of zero often have other geometry in them, so placed instances are still visible/accessible within the model.

This new feature promises a more nuanced approach to managing element visibility within families than the traditional Yes/No parameter did, bringing numerous practical uses. It operates seamlessly on both linear and radial arrays.

Material Editor enhancements

The Material Browser now supports selecting multiple materials in a project or library, e.g. for deletion or to load into a project.

A new Quick option is available for Render Settings which, when selected, optimises material thumbnails so they display quicker. (The Render Settings option is for the entire project, not just the selected material.)

Enhanced operating schedules

An operating schedule is a significant part of many models; they let you accurately represent building use during an energy analysis.

Previously, you could only specify the operating schedules based on a single 24-hour day. In Revit 2025 you can have a different schedule for all 365 days of the year, letting you account for weekends, holidays, summer shutdowns, and other specific periods. This provides greater control when specifying occupancy, lighting and power loads throughout the year.

Other notable enhancements include:

• Property Sorting. Properties can now be sorted in ascending or descending order, in addition to the original default order. Sorting happens within each grouping.
• Home Screen Enhancement. The Home screen now offers:
  – Your usage details and skill development suggestions, in the My Insights tab.
  – A new Revit Home toggle button (in the lower left corner).
  – An enhanced search feature, with access to cloud-hosted projects via the Autodesk Projects tab.
  The previews are also more compact, fitting in more recent projects.
• Align and Distribute Annotations. The new Multiple Align tools let you align text and tags, and set equal spacing.
• Revit Personal Accelerator. The Revit Personal Accelerator has been improved to offer more transparency and control over the local cache storage for Autodesk Docs, Design Collaborate Pro and Autodesk Construction Cloud. You can now check the location of the files and set the storage limit.
• Background PDF Export. You can now export PDF files for groups of sheets in the background, whilst continuing to work in Revit.
• gbXML version update. Revit 2025 now supports the latest version of gbXML03. This schema supports Revit’s advanced HVAC systems.

Revit architectural enhancements

Wall end wrap controls

New icons are available to control wrapping for each side of a wall in a plan view.

Previously, it was all or nothing, and you would need to create additional wall types for wrapping and non-wrapping conditions. In Revit 2025, you simply select a wall and click the new wrapping icons that appear.

If you want, one side can be wrapped and the other not. This is ideal for when one end of the wall needs to have the finishes wrapped, but the other end needs to butt up to a wall without the finishes wrapping around the end.

Mullion profile enhancement

Mullion profiles can now contain multiple loops. These loops can be internal and cut the larger loop, or they can be external and create additional geometry.

The way curtainwall mullions join or clean up with each other has not changed, so the transition between more complicated profiles may need to be considered (not unlike how they are built in reality). Also, it is not possible to assign multiple materials to different parts of the mullion.

Auto-Join, Auto-Join and Lock parallel walls

Two new options are available when creating parallel walls: Auto-Join and Auto-Join and Lock.

When Auto-Join is enabled, if you draw a wall along the face of another wall, so they’re touching, the two walls are joined. This means that in Course Detail Level views, the walls appear as a single wall.

Auto-Join and Lock additionally locks the walls together, so if one wall moves the other also moves, preventing the joined walls from being left behind when changes are made.

This has been a common workflow for finishes around structural walls for some time, with the extra steps of joining the walls being a manual process. These new options will improve modelling efficiency.

Revit structural enhancements

Revit 2025 sees the enhancement of the toolset available to structural engineers and rebar detailers, with many of the key requests from the Autodesk Feedback Community incorporated.

Rebar

The new Splice Rebar toolset accelerates your reinforcement modelling. You can:

• Splice rebar sets, specifying the position, lap length and uniform or staggered layouts, respecting engineering and fabrication specifications.
• Splice rebar sets at the desired location by clicking the set or a line reference from the model, in 2D and 3D views.
• Define the maximum and minimum lengths as well as the run-out position and splice rebar sets by length.
• Change properties of multiple splices between rebar sets, at the same time.

Other enhancements let you:

• Use schematic bending details with embedded tags to show rebar bending instructions.
• Set presentation options for multiple bar sets at once.
• Highlight bars exceeding the maximum length – visually inspect bars that require length adjustments.
• Prevent unexpected changes to the rebar model by disabling rebar constraints for one or all bar segments, to block modifications of bars when the concrete geometry changes.

Steel detailing and connections

Following the recent announcement by Autodesk that no new features will be added to the Advance Steel application moving forward, more steel connection functionality is being introduced to Revit, and this is a trend that’s likely to continue.

Revit 2025 brings:

• The ability to use Advance Steel Part and Assembly Marks in Revit. You can create general arrangement drawings for Steel projects using Revit, to be better connected across Design, Fabrication and Construction, by importing the part and assembly marks from Advance Steel
• Split Features for Framing and Columns with Steel Connections. Split and split with gap tools for steel framing and columns that have connections have been introduced.
• Tag and Dimension Steel Connection Components. You can tag and dimension individual components of steel connections. Existing tags and dimensions are preserved if you break the connection.
• Rules for Connections Automation enhanced. You can place more typical connections automatically using less scripts.

Local Coordinate System orientation enhancement

New local coordinate system tools have been introduced for analytical members and panels to align axis orientation and direction, improving structural analysis,

Revit MEP enhancements

For MEP, updates range from early-stage design and analysis, improvements to the stability of detailed fabrication models, and continued improvements to the cloud-based Fabrication Data Manager.

Enhanced MEP Fabrication Data Manager

The enhanced MEP Fabrication Data Manager features are denoted in Revit 2025 as ‘Tech Preview’, meaning that they’re still under development. They have been included in the software release because they’re thought to be useful in their current guise, but you can expect them to evolve and improve in future releases.

The MEP Fabrication Data Manager now offers:

• Part type geometry editing: You can edit the product-listed part geometry in the Fabrication Data Manager Parts Editor. You can add and remove types, edit data inline and have a real-time preview of your part modifications.
• Improved part search: You can more easily and more quickly search for part data in the improved interface.
• The uploading and assignment of images: You can upload images or generate them from the model and assign them to parts to make parts more visually identifiable.

Disable Mark Number auto-generation

In prior releases, Revit would automatically assign a value for the Instant Mark parameter when placing MEP elements. It would start with 1, and increment with each element added. This works well for Architects, but not MEP engineers who do not number MEP elements using incremental values.

In Revit 2025, the auto-generation of mark numbers for certain MEP categories has been disabled, so you can assign any value you require for the instant Mark parameter.

The auto-generation has been disabled for: MEP Ancillary Framing, MEP Fabrication Ductwork Stiffeners, Air Terminals, Mechanical Equipment, Duct Accessories, Electrical Equipment, Electrical Fixtures, Mechanical Control Devices, Lighting Fixtures, Pipe Accessories, Sprinklers, Plumbing Fixtures and Plumbing Equipment

Single phase electrical components

Single phase is now supported for electrical loads and distribution systems, and you can now use single phase electrical components in analytical and physical models to model conditions of your project more accurately.

Analytical duct and pipe segments

You can inspect and visualize pressure drop and flow data in design and fabrication networks. Analytical segments, which are sub-elements of design or fabrication elements, are exposed in the user interface as sub-elements. These segments may be selected, tagged, and scheduled.

MEP model consistency check

You can now run a model consistency check to display and review connection inconsistencies for quick fixing. This way, you can avoid reloading your configuration due to disconnects in your current project.

MEP parameters

New parameters have been added to data panels and fabrication ductwork, enhancing workflow capabilities.

Report low voltage panels

The power loads from low voltage panels are reported in the connected power circuits.

When low voltage panels are connected to a power distribution system, their power consumption is reported when viewed in the System Browser or panel schedules. You can use this information to effectively balance loads across your electrical distribution systems.

Conclusion

All in all, Revit 2025 brings a nice list of additional features and enhancements, some of which are bound to be relevant to most users.

Have you used Revit 2025 in earnest yet? If so, I’d like to hear your views. Are you enjoying using this latest version? Were there any features you were banking not included in this release?

Armada offers Revit training to users at all levels, from all key target industries: architecture, structural engineering and MEP.

For information about our introductory-level courses, see Revit Essentials and Revit MEP Essentials.

For our advanced -level courses, see Advanced Revit for Architecture, Advanced Revit for Structures, Advanced Revit for MEP and Revit Families and Content Creation.