Purge BIM Projects and Families to Decrease Revit File Size

With the introduction of Revit 2009 many users have been overjoyed with the more powerful rendering engine.  However, they failed to carry over the usability of the Revit 2008 material library.  Users were able create custom materials, save them to local directories, and then exchange the materials jpeg’s directly.  This feature was not carried over, but there are ways around this.  For instance, an architect wants the specific materials for a roofing manufacturer, but since roofing is only a material and not an object, the architect cannot simply ask for the material library.  However, what can be done is that all the materials can be loaded into a Revit project, then using the Transfer Project Standards, import the materials between projects.

Many beginner users can run into file size issues because of the parametric capabilities Revit implements.  To avoid the computer from lagging, the user can purge their files to clear out unused materials and families.