Using a Super Void Generic Model to Cut Anything

Luke Johnson

I had a Structural Framing member (a portal frame) and I wanted to demolish only the overhanging part of it.  Using methods like Cut By Face would not have any proper respect for Phasing, so I thought “I’ll use an in-place Structural Framing void”.  Guess what?  In-place families can not cut a Structural Framing family.  What now?  Read on below the bars…

EDIT
Great tip in the comments from Michael Clothier – just use Parts!  Turns out I am guilty of not using current Revit functionality…

You can use a Generic Model Component with a Void, and set the Cut with Voids When Loaded property to Yes:

Here is one I prepared earlier, for you to download and use:
SuperVoid Family download

Ok, once you have loaded and placed this family, you can resize it to suit and then use Cut Geometry to slice up your Structural Framing:

But guess what?  It STILL does not respect Phasing!  Revit will think that the Structural Framing is ‘cut forever’.  Workaround – copy the original Structural Framing element, Paste Aligned to same place and then use another SuperVoid to chop that one with the opposite geometry.  Now that you have two bits, you can set Phasing to suit.  This is starting to get messy though, and it may all be better if you just had two different Structural Framing families to make this work…

You will also notice that the SuperVoid family has model lines locked to the edges.  Use the instance parameter Edge Lines vis to turn these off.

Heads-up from the Autodesk Forums:

Create a Generic Model . Just model a void extrusion e.g. Enable Cut with Void.
Place the void family and cut it with your framing family…..
Model in Place won’t work.

Regards Jordi

via
Void component cutting beams – Autodesk Discussion Groups

New Generic Natspec Keynote file

Luke Johnson

Can be downloaded at this link:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1dGdRkpk2beQjBNMDdxbXMxaTA/edit?usp=sharing

Received via Mark Kelly, Cadgroup Australia Pty Ltd.  It is dated October 2012.  Thanks Mark!

Apparently, this file will be available for general download soon.  In the meantime, Natspec made the following disclaimers:

·       The keynote file is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without warranty of any kind.

·       NATSPEC makes no warranty that the file will meet your requirements or expectations.

·       Use of the file is at your own discretion and risk. NATSPEC takes no responsibility for any problems that might arise from its use.

·       NATSPEC does not provide support services for any modelling software. Please contact your vendor for assistance.

You may also be interested in my previous posts:
Australian Revit Keynotes and NATSPEC

NATSPEC BIM Portal

Revit – Impression – Photoshop – Revit

Luke Johnson

Doing an interesting roundtrip today:

  1. Export Revit floor plan to DWG – basic walls / doors / floors only
  2. Add floor finishes / landscape / people / vehicles in Impression
  3. Save PDF, open in Photoshop
  4. Add extra Entourage (furniture etc) and text in Photoshop
  5. Save for Web and re-import into Revit.  Scale to match floor plan from step 1.

It may sound like a pain, but its working quite nicely…

Railing element is invisible when no Balusters are applied

Luke Johnson

Having some problems with a Railing that will not show up in a Detail View unless balusters are added to it!  Video:

I’m almost certain this is related to this previously posted bug:
Extents of Revit 2013 Railings bug – when no balusters exist in definition

More on Revit 2013 railings:
Automatic and Manual Railing Support locations in Revit 2013

Revit 2013 railings – almost 7 months old, but have you used them?

The Art of Revit

Luke Johnson

An interesting post by Daniel Burrus on LinkedIn has been doing the social media rounds.  Some quotes:
Every profession has both a science and an art. The science can be taught, and people can be equally good at the science of any profession. The key to differentiate yourself in your profession is to develop the art side, not just the science side.
…
The same is true with any profession, whether you are in sales, IT, customer service, or even medicine. After all, if healing was only a science, it wouldn’t matter who your doctor was. But you and I both know it does matter who your doctor is, and it’s not because of the science; it’s because of the art. It’s about what the individual brings to their medical practice—their uniqueness, their problem-solving ability, their diagnostic capabilities, and their way of solving problems in real time when they’re working on you.

Obviously, this principle holds true for Revit.  Just knowing how the tools work and where to find them in the Ribbon does not mean that you know the Art of Revit.  The Art of Revit involves:

  • Understanding What Revit Wants.
  • Being able to analyze 5 different ways of doing things, and being able to choose the best one.
  • Solving problems by thinking through the process, not just by asking someone.
  • Finding completely new ways to solve old problems.
  • Knowing how to break the rules, and knowing when the rules should be broken.

Of course, the Art of Revit also involves being able to do cool things like Marcello and David…

Heads-up via this tweet from Aaron:

Led me to this page:
There Is a Science and an Art to Every Profession | LinkedIn

Moving docs between Google Drive and Skydrive and keeping them in Sync

Luke Johnson

Install the Google Drive desktop utility and the Skydrive desktop utility.  After syncing both of these utilities / folders, you will have an offline version of both sets of documents in folders like:

Then, use FreeFileSync to sync folders locally.  For example, I made a subfolder on my Skydrive called Google_Drive and synced all of my Drive documents to that Skydrive folder.  You would have to do something similar in the opposite direction too.

Once the desktop utilities have re-synced, you now have access to all of your docs from each cloud.

Note:  Skydrive docs can’t open .gdoc yet.

You may have guessed that I have started using Skydrive due to my recent acquisition of a Windows Phone 8 device, a Nokia Lumia 820…

More info:
Google Drive Help

A new level of weirdness

Luke Johnson

I copied some Planting / RPC from one project (in a Design Option) to another project (in the Main Model).  This is what I got:

Somehow the Planting instances appeared as a Type of an existing Profile family???

I closed the project and re-opened with Audit.  This did not fix the issue.  Create Similar is greyed out when selecting the RPC, and Create Instance is greyed out for that Type in the Project Browser (not surprising, given that it is on a subnode of Profiles).

This is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen in Revit, and I have seen quite a few…

I can copy and paste the elements with no issue.

And guess what, it even shows up as an option in the Sweep / Select profile list:

Not surprisingly, when I try to use this as the Sweep Profile, Revit ‘Can’t Create Sweep’.

I deleted the Type and the copy / pasted again but using Edit Design Option rather than unticking Exclude Options – I had the same result.

Apparently, Revit can put your Entourage families into one of the Types of Profile family!

Next try, copied the Type from Project Browser of source RVT:

How to stop Arrays from breaking when they are copied or mirrored

Luke Johnson

Great tip from James Herndon:
The secret lies in the original array line itself, that line, the one that shows up next to the array and lets you change the number of objects inside of the array, is actually an element in and of itself, and you need to select it too before you perform the mirror or copy function.

 Now you can see that after I’ve mirrored the array the new array has an array object associated with it and will let me change the array after the fact.
via
The Revit Blog: Arrays – Part II

Interestingly, you can select the Array line and add it to a Group.  You can also use the IDs of Selection tool to get the Element ID of the array itself:

IFC Exporter for Revit 2013 updated to version 2.7

Luke Johnson

IFC Exporter for Revit 2013 | Autodesk Revit | Autodesk Exchange Apps
or
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ifcexporter/files/2013/IFC%20Exporter%20for%20Revit%202013%20v2.7.0.msi/download

Apparently this is version 2.7.  I may be wrong, but there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to check the ‘version’ on Autodesk Exchange Apps.  If you download the MSI, you can check the properties of the file, where you will see that the digital signature is timestamped:
‎Wednesday, ‎23 ‎January ‎2013 10:39:38 AM

You could also check the IFC Exporter page on Sourceforge:

From the documentation:
The source code for this application is available on open source, at the SourceForge project : http://sourceforge.net/p/ifcexporter/home/Home/
This application is a good complement to the IFC Exporter UI client app, also available on the Exchange store. However, it is not required to get the latest version of that application when installing this application. Nor is it required to use this alternate UI when getting the latest IFC Exporter UI.

More info:
24th January 2013, version 2.7.  Read more at BIM Blog
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbimblog.typepad.com%2Fautodesk_bim_blog%2F2013%2F01%2Fifc-exporter-v27-for-revit-2013.html&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=UTF-8