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Matching a 3D view Section Box to a Scope Box

September 5, 2012May 7, 2017 Luke Johnson

I had one of those slap-your-head moments when this finally came to me … use Coins Auto Section Box!

Step by step:

Close Revit
Install Coins Auto Section Box
Open Revit
Open a project
Draw a Scope Box
Go to a 3D view where you want to match the Scope Box
Select the Scope Box
Go to Add-Ins > Auto Section Box
Set Element extents, plus buffer: to 0
Hit OK!

The 3D view now has a Section Box that matches the selected Scope Box.

I previously tried to implement some sample code from The Building Code, but couldn’t make it work (see below the lines). I’m sure this is due to my less-than-optimal API skills…

How to compile code SLN for Revit (using Building Coder as example:)

Download the ZIP
Unzip it
Double click SetSectionBox.sln and open it in Visual C# Express (or use SharpDevelop, see below)
Click on the Reference Paths side-tab
Using the … add your Program FilesAutodeskRevit 2013Program directory
it is looking for RevitAPI.dll and RevitAPIUI.dll
Right-click on the SetSectionBox node and press build
Find the setsectionboxsrcSetSectionBoxSetSectionBoxbinRelease folder, and copy the SetSectionBox.dll
Paste it into %AppData%AutodeskRevitAddins2013
If it isn’t already there, paste SetSectionBox.addin into the same folder.

Revit 2013 ships with the open source IDE SharpDevelop.

If you want to use SharpDevelop:
“yourdrive:Program FilesAutodeskRevit 2013ProgramSDAbinSharpDevelop.exe”

Just drag and drop the solution file into the SharpDevelop window.

Running the command, I get a couple of different errors. One is:
Revit encountered a Autodesk.Revit.Exceptions.ArgumentException: Box is
empty
Parameter name: box
at Autodesk. Revit.DB.View3D.set_SectionBox(BoundingBoxXYZ section Box)
at SetSectionBox.Command.Execute(ExternaiCommandData
commandData, String& message, ElementSet elements)
at apiManagedExecuteCommand(AString* assemblyName, AString*
className, AString* vendorDescription, MFCApp* pMFCApp, DBView*
pDBView, AString* message,
Set< Elementldstd::less tnallc< Elementld> > • ids,
Map tnallc > * data, AString*
exceptionName, AString* exceptionMessage)

Here is SetSectionBox.zip containing the complete source code, Visual Studio solution, and add-in manifest of this command.
via
The Building Coder: Set View Section Box to Match Scope Box

Rounding values to a custom increment using a Formula

September 3, 2012May 7, 2017 Luke Johnson

Nice tip from Revit Rants on how to round values within a family – and it allows much greater flexibility as to the rounding increment. In the example below, Chris uses ROUNDUP to round to a 5mm degree of precision. You could combine his method with Shared Parameters to ensure that the resulting value is schedulable (make Param2 a shared parameter in the example given below):

Quote:
I have a parameter called “Param1” that I want to drive “Param2” from.

Param2 = (roundup((Param1 + 5 mm) / 5 mm)) * 5 mm

Using Modifiers to Export Phases to the Correct Layer in a DWG from Revit

August 30, 2012May 8, 2017 Luke Johnson

From IMAGINiT Technologies Support Blog:
We can add a modifier to the export dialog box for the items we want to adjust, make sure that you also do this to the sub-categories of the element also, and select the Phase Created modifier and add it to the list, in the separator space, add the separator type you want to use…this will give us
something similar to the following in the cad file: A-DOOR-Existing

Rotating Section text with the Section Line

August 30, 2012May 8, 2017 Luke Johnson

Have you ever wanted to control the text on your Sections, even forcing the text to be rotated / aligned with the Section Line itself? If so, check out the information and links below.

From Oliver Langwich blog:

Thomas had in his blog at that time solved the problem so that it creates different types of families in the project and appropriate types of sectional views to choose from are issued.
After last weeks I have id delve into the topic of “Nested Labels” and aligning tax and labels, I just had to try again looking and if it does not yet have a way to control the labeling of an angle parameters.
And it goes !
Although one must still interface types to create and assign an icon, but I have not in the family and setting up elaborate and symbol labeling parameters, provided with a visibility parameter, create family types, etc.
The following three pictures you see above the normal average always labeling, including the angle of parameters.

German link:
http://revit-family-planner.blogspot.com/2012/07/schnittpfeile-reloaded-oder-steuerung.html

Calculating the U-value of walls in Revit

August 28, 2012May 7, 2017 Luke Johnson

What is the U-Value? It is:
Also known as the U-factor or coefficient of heat transmission, a measure of the rate of non-solar heat loss or gain through a material or assembly. U-values gauge how well a material allows heat to pass through.
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/U/AE_U-value.html

autodesk.de recently carried a detailed post on formulas related to the U-value.

Summary

To get the U value of a wall structure, add the sum of the heat transfer coefficients for the wall types specified thermal resistance R T by this value to be used as a divisor.

With walls so:

U = 1 / (Rt (from Revit) 0.17 (K · m) / W)

SOLVED: Area Calculation Totals – Rounding and Precision

August 28, 2012May 7, 2017 Luke Johnson

Thanks to one of our readers, we have a solution for the schedule precision problem described here.

The comment below the lines gives the formula to convert an Area into a rounded number in a schedule, and the totals work! Thanks Максим Ашихмин.

Максим Ашихмин

August 24, 2012 7:00 PM

Type: Number

round(Area / 1 м² * 100) / 100 – rounding to 2 decimal place

round(Area / 1 м² * 10) / 10 – rounding to 1 decimal place

My previous post:
What Revit Wants: Area Calculation Totals – Rounding and Precision

Create New Local checkbox not available? Why it happens, and how to fix it …

August 27, 2012May 7, 2017 Luke Johnson

Daryl Gregoire posted about this recently and I found his post very helpful. In the past, if the checkbox was grayed out to ‘Create New Local’, I would just manually copy the file to my C: drive, append my username to it, and then open it that way. This is ‘old school’ Revit, before the automated local file creation became available. However, Daryl’s fix is better than my workaround…

Why is the checkbox not available?
you are NOT using the same version of REVIT that was used to create the Central file

How to fix it properly?
open the file, upgrade it to your version of REVIT (done automatic) then ‘save as’ the file and click the ‘Option‘ button in the Save dialog box and tick the option for ‘Make this a central file after save‘.

EDIT – Steve posted about another cause for this problem, and he gives some wise advice along the lines of “before you upgrade, think about the consequences…” Check out his post:
Revit OpEd: Can’t Alter Create New Local Selection

Revit gaining popularity as FM tool?

August 26, 2012May 7, 2017 Luke Johnson

FM, or Facility Management, is sometimes thought of as the sixth dimension of BIM, or 6D BIM.

Mario Guttman, creator of Whitefeet tools, reposted an interesting video / case study by David Mettler showing a potential workflow from Revit into an FM scenario using MySQL:

The process: “I exported the Revit tables out to Access using the DBlink. From Access I had to setup a ODBC export using SSH Tunneling to get the remote host to show up as a localhost. It took a lot of time to figure out the connection issues get the data across to MySQL. Once I got the bugs work out on the ODBC connection it’s a piece of cake post the information into MySQL. I used phprunner with the SSH Tunnel to create the pages.”
via
Revit FM Tool | WhiteFeetTools

Reinforcement add-in for Revit – Preview Version available for download

August 24, 2012May 8, 2017 Luke Johnson

The goal of this Preview Version of “SOFiSTiK Reinforcement for Autodesk® Revit®” is to enable the productive design of 3D reinforcement with Autodesk® Revit®. This particularly includes the creation of 2D plans and steel schedules.
via
SOFiSTiK AG – Finite Elemente & CAD Software f�r den Ingenieurbau: LabsReinforcement

Heads up:
http://bimblog.typepad.com/autodesk_bim_blog/2012/08/sofistik-bewehrung-f%C3%BCr-revit-2013-als-labs-version.html

Category: Uncategorized