Did you know you can nest a Generic Model family in a Generic Model Adaptive family and create a form that allows the swapping of the Profile Type?

Post by gaby424
Use Adaptive Components
-you can draw profiles as simple shared generic models families (you don`t have to use profiles template)

-nest them in a generic model adaptive family and instanciate them 2 times in paralel planes
-put a family type parameter on their label fields (the same for bouth)
-carefully select only theirs segments for bouth the profiles using ctrl+click & TAB key (you can also just select the 2 instances but you can receive an error message in the next step)
-press create form button
-create voids to cut the ends as in your truss family
now play with changing the family type parameter (assuming you have more than one profile in family/project) 

via
2013: Chnage profile of sweep in nested family

via email:

Greetings,
You are getting this message because you downloaded a version of IFC Exporter for Revit 2013 or Revit IFC Export Alternate UI prior to January 23, 2013.  We have posted an update to both, which you can get to using the links below:
IFC Exporter for Revit 2013 (v2.8):
IFC Export Alternate UI for Revit 2013 (v1.8):
Updates from versions 2.7/1.7 are listed below.  Please upgrade to the newest version! 
If you do not wish to receive upgrade notices, please reply and I will make sure you don’t get these notices in the future.
Regards,
(omitted)
Senior Principal Engineer
Autodesk, Inc.

What’s new for IFC Exporter for Revit 2013 v2.8:

General:
– Clean up code dealing with door and window operation and construction type.
– Clean up code dealing with getting Solids from element geometry.
– Finalize support for FM Handover view.  The new functionality for this is included in the lists below.
– Replace native function call to create some columns as extrusions with .NET code.
– Renamed the shared parameters for many entity properties to have “Ifc” at the front.
– Sort parameter names on export to minimize changes in IFC file from subsequent exports of the same file.
New Functionality:
– Add 11 new IFC common parameter sets, including: Pset_AirTerminalTypeCommon, Pset_DistrubutionFlowElementCommon, Pset_FlowTerminalAirTerminal, Pset_SpaceOccupancyRequirements, Pset_PlateCommon, Pset_ReinforcingBar*Common
– Add support for IfcLengthMeaure parameter export.
– Add support IfcCircleHollowProfileDef; use for extrusions if appropriate.
– Add support for Provisions for Voids.
– Allow specification and export of a user-defined classification system, instead of just Uniformat.
– Allow exporting elements as IfcDiscreteAccessory/IfcDiscreteAccessoryType.
– Allow “IfcExportAs” to take both the entity name and the type name in the format “IfcEntityName.TypeName”.
– Export base quantities for 5 elements: IfcBuildingStorey, IfcCovering, IfcDoor, IfcSpace, IfcWindow.  Some of these were already supported and were just moved from native to .NET.
– Export FabricArea and FabricSheet as IfcReinforcingMesh and IfcGroup, respectively. 
                – Note: that the default export settings have these set as “Not Exported” – these have to be updated manually to “IfcReinforcingMesh” and “IfcGroup”.
– Export ceilings as extrusions or BReps if possible, instead of just surface models.
– Export surface styles by default for Coordination View 2.0.
– Include Ceiling as a room bounding element on export if it is part of only one room.
– Stabilise GUIDs for Pset_Building/BuildingStorey/SiteCommon, internal Revit property sets, and slabs in roof containers (only for  the case of an IfcRoof containing a single IfcSlab, however).
Bug Fixes:
– Changed incorrect “PSet” to correct “Pset” for various parameter set names.
– Don’t create openings for doors and windows when the host is exported as parts
– Don’t export RepresentationMap for IfcTypeProduct with 0 items.
– Don’t ignore an internal Revit parameter on export if it has the same name as a parameter in another group.
– Export materials for IfcReinforcementBar; make body representation “AdvancedSweptSolid”.
– Fix export of grids so that only one IfcShapeRepresentation is created.
– Fix export of some extruded columns that were split into separate components by other elements.
– Fix issue where classification reference was not exported in non-English versions of Revit.
– Make “NosingLength” parameter of PSet_StairFlightCommon IfcLengthMeasure.
– Make GetExportTypeFromClassName not reject some unrecognized IFC class names.
– Move the local placement of many entities with extrusions and mapped representations for geometry to be closer to the geometry.
– Properly export Pset_ZoneCommon for IfcZones.
– Properly label some mislabelled IfcOpeningElements as “Opening” or “Recess”.
– Properly scale door panel properties, window frame properties, and base quantities on export.
– Remove incorrect PsetLightFixtureCommon.ArticleNumber property.

What’s new for IFC Export Alternate UI for Revit 2013 v1.8:

New Functionality:
– Add a “Classification” tab to allow specification and export of a user-defined classification system, instead of just Uniformat.
– Allow choice of whether to include the elevation offset of IfcSite in the local placement of the IfcSite as a UI option.  By default, the elevation offset is NOT included in the local placement as of version 2.7/1.7 of the exporter.  Note that currently this override is disallowed for Coordination View 2.0 files; if there is a demand for this, we will consider allowing it with a comment in the IFC file itself.  Note that this UI change needs Exporter v2.8 to work properly.

– Export surface styles by default for Coordination View 2.0.

WhiteFeet Tools for Revit is a powerful set of add-ins that can make the impossible, possible.  I have posted about them before.  In this brief post, we look at how you can effectively Schedule the Reference Planes you have in a model.

On the Add-ins Ribbon, choose Utility Tools – Schedule Tools:

Pick Write Category to Excel, then select the Reference Plane category, All Elements in Model:

After you press Write Data, you will get something like this:

You can then sort the Data to find the unnamed versions, and then use the Element ID to select and name those Reference Planes, if you so desire.  In our office, an unnamed Reference Plane is fair game for deletion…

Also, some of you may have picked up that you can use this same process to export data from ANY CATEGORY in Revit – including those that you cannot schedule!

Find out how to obtain the Whitefeet software here:
Tools

  1. Make a rectangular extrusion form
  2. Make a revolve form using funny looking profile shown above – switch to void
  3. Cut geometry, and then adjust grips as necessary to make it look nice

Download the file 

(dissolve it if you want to see how it works)

In response to:

Collaboration is the buzzword in the AEC community for 2013.  Something relatively unique to the current era of technology is Architectural collaboration – more than one firm of Architects working on a single project.

But how do we collaborate across large geographic distances?  And how do Architectural collaborators (we are not talking about consultants here) handle modelling standards and model management in general?

There is so much rhetoric out there, both from a technological and a psychological perspective.  There are a plethora of cloud-implemented technologies, including Revit Server and VEO.  There are a bunch of different theories about the best way to control the entire process.

So, what is your firm doing to solve these problems?

Consider a few thoughts from this case study posted in August 2012, co-authored by Cara Gastonguay, Associate AIA LEED AP, Payette and Carolyn Hoef, Associate AIA LEED BD+C, Ayers Saint Gross.

Different firms have varying electronic standards, and templates and conventions. In the BIM world this also means varying project file templates, families, detail components and even line styles. Choose one team to lead file set-up and commit to using one firm’s library of families and graphic standards.

reference view tags such as section markers, elevation markers and callouts do not appear in the host model. For example, an enlarged plan callout in the partner file will simply not appear when linked into the host file. To work around this issue, we coordinated “dummy views”...

Read more at:
Notes on BIM Collaboration across Multiple Offices

Some quotes from Making Breakthroughs in Revit: An Interview with Marcello Sgambelluri (the cow and elephant guy 🙂

“I realized … that Revit is much more than a program to be used to document buildings and I started my pursuit to push Revit to its limits so I could better myself.

Refocusing Phase: This is when I realize that there has to be a different way of doing something to achieve the end goal. I find a way.

there is nothing that motivates me more than when I hear the words “You cannot do that in Revit.”

My engineering training has helped me to step back and look at my Revit problems in a new light.

I am working on how to use the site modeling tools to model complex shapes… (*)

If you don’t know how to do something in Revit, try it. Remember it’s only a program—you can’t hurt it!

Get to know Revit and its environment. (**)

I realized that the only way I could achieve breakthroughs in Revit was to change my mindset about the program. “

Read more:
Making Breakthroughs in Revit: An Interview with Marcello Sgambelluri | AUGI

(*)
For my take on this, check out Using meshmixer to morph your Revit Topography

(**)
This goes hand-in-hand with the theme of this blog – finding out What Revit Wants.  For further reading on this, check out  The Revit Mind and What Revit Wants

Image from AUGI, by Marcello

From Jeffrey McGrew on RevitForum (I’ve underlined key parts):
“While I respectfully disagree that rendering in Revit is a waste of time, for there are still times we do so, I totally agree with what you’re saying here. If you want to produce renderings from Revit models using anything but the built-in Mental Ray (and it’s vast limitations) then your best bet really is to link the Revit file into Max.

The new model linking in Max 2013 works very well, so we simply link our models, continue to do the ‘real work’ in Revit while we simply swap materials / plants / lights in Max and then use Octane Render to produce the images.

We’ve tried just exporting OBJs out of Revit or Max & bringing those into Octane Render, and the lack of control over UVs, instancing, entourage, etc. drove us back to using Max.

Just to be clear, I HATE Max. The UI drives me crazy, and it’s so crash-tastic that it’s a wonder we get work done sometimes. I’d much rather work with another program, but the Revit linking works so well, and the Octane Render plugin works so well, that well, I just suck it up. 😉

I’ve tried several rendering plugins for Revit, and run into the same problems. Even if there were a Octane Render plugin for Revit, I don’t know if we’d use it, unless it was as well integrated as the Mental Ray one is…

Jeffrey McGrew
Architect

via
2012: Maxwell for Revit

Or is it a professional, individual endeavor?  Or both?  Five quick quotes from different parts of the latest JBIM:
When practiced correctly, BIM is meant to support collaboration across the facilities life cycle. BIM is the flow of information through a project, from inception to completion and throughout the entire life cycle of a structure.

Unfortunately, the industry is still developing separate models that are not communicating.

… as projects become bigger and more distributed, some teams struggle with the collaborative aspects inherent to BIM.

The utilization of BIM technology can result in improved occupational safety by connecting the safety issues more closely to construction planning.

IFC4 introduces the concept of material profiles, where axis-based components, such as beams, pipes and ducts, can be described by paths and cross-sections of materials, along with offsets relative to the axis and end points.

The journal seems to contain quite a bit of info on NBIMS,  NBIMS-US and even IFC4.

Heads-up via:
Download BIM Can Be a Team Sport | Journal of Building Information Modeling – Fall 2012 | Bradley BIM