How to Place a Landing at the Top of a Flight

Luke Johnson

Tim over at the RevitCat has put together a nice writeup on component stairs, and specifically, landings.  Some of you may have struggled to place a landing at the top of a stair flight – particularly when dealing with multistorey stairs.  Along with other tips, Tim shows you how…

Here is the key to the workaround:
Place an extra run at the top so that Revit creates an automatic landing; then delete that run – the landing will remain, but will be converted to a sketch based component

Read the whole post:
http://revitcat.blogspot.com/2014/01/revit-stair-landings-part-1-creation.html

Convert Topography to Massing using Code in Revit

Luke Johnson

I recently posted about converting Topography to massing forms using a somewhat “manual”, yet lofted and smooth, method:
Convert Revit Topography into Massing Forms

Harry provides some code to do a similar thing with triangulated flat faces over here:
Read the whole post with macro code

Heads-up via:

IFC Exporter updates – January 2014

Luke Johnson

Its already across the Twitterverse, but in case you missed it:

2013:
IFC Exporter for Revit 2013 (v2.16):
http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/RVT/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3aifcexporterforrevit%3aen
IFC Export Alternate UI for Revit 2013 (v1.16):
http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/RVT/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3arevitifcexportalternateui%3aen
2014:
IFC Exporter for Revit 2014 (v3.8):
http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/RVT/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3aifcexporterforrevit2014%3aen
IFC Export Alternate UI for Revit 2014 (v2.8):
http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/RVT/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3arevitifcexportalternateui2014%3aen

Using Vasari with Dynamo to Generate Revit Forms from Faces

Luke Johnson

This topic is somewhat of a work in progress (I know Julien and a few others have been chasing how to make this happen nicely).  Lev Lipkin made a comment on the thread, which reads a bit like a how-to, but to my knowledge it is probably more of a wishlist at this stage.

First, a few basics for setup:

  1. Install Vasari Beta 3
  2. Open / activate Vasari
  3. Install Dynamo (experimental builds here).  If you want to try DynamoDS, here is the current download.  (Remember all that talk about Dynamo and DesignScript merging?  DynamoDS seems to be where its happening…)
  4. Packages – Search for a Package
  5. Install relevant packages / nodes and…

Then, have a read of this:
Comment here

Quoted below:

Permalink Reply by Lev Lipkin
Dynamo when working on Vasari beta 3 has node “Face From Points” (which needs n x m grid of points) and “Replace Solid Faces” (which would keep adjacent faces as bounds of the resulting Solid). Resulting solid could be put into Form using “Bake Solid as Revit Element” node. Hope this might help.

Finding an Object you have Selected

Luke Johnson

While you can use Highlight in Model from a Schedule, there is no similar command relating to a ‘current selection’.  If you have somehow selected an object and want to “find” it so you can actually see it, what can you do?

This:

  1. Select the object
  2. Manage – IDs of Selection
  3. Ctrl+C (copies the ID)
  4. Manage – Select by ID
  5. Ctrl+V (pastes the ID)
  6. Don’t press OK, instead
  7. Click Show.  You can cycle through various views by pressing Show multiple times.
To speed this process up, map some keyboard shortcuts to IDs of Selection and Select by ID.

Profiles in Adaptive Components, with Repeaters

Luke Johnson

I have posted about Profiles and Adaptive components before, but more recently Tim Waldock put together a nice, detailed post on the subject over at this link.

In the post, he states:
You can host it on a divided path node; but don’t bother to convert it to a repeater because it cannot then be used to create a solid form.

Technically, this is true.  If the element is not a Repeater – just a set of Profiles in an Adaptive, you can then Tab-select until you get the “closed” loop of lines, and use these to generate forms.  In other words, you aren’t selecting the Component – just the lines inside the component.  It can be a little fiddly, but it does work.  This is only really necessary if the normal workflow of selecting the Components and using Create Form does not work or is not available.

However, when it comes to Repeaters, even the above idea does not work.

Neither does “doubly nesting” another shared Component inside the Repeated Component.

One of the few things you can do is to select a Line in the Repeated Component and use the Divide tool.

You are then left with using the Repeater to set up a “rig” to place multi-point line families on or between, and using this skeleton to generate forms.  In some ways, it depends how parametric and adjustable you need the resulting form to be…

Tag Floor Thickness – workaround

Luke Johnson

You can’t simply use a Floor Tag to tag the thickness of a Floor in Revit…

However, you can:
Convert the Floor to a Part, and use a Parts Tag

Parts tags can natively report thickness of the Part.

EDIT There is another method that comes via Kym Vdz on Facebook, it refers to this post on RFO (you will need to login to download).  I haven’t looked into this deeply yet, but it seems to basically use a Floor-based family with a shared Reporting parameter to pass the Floor Thickness into a nested Generic Annotation… there is always many ways to solve a problem in Revit!

Julien writes “you should try this family….hope you like it. it reports the slab thickness. just place it on a floor.

credits to: Revitez!: Utiliser les paramètres de rapport pour coter l’épaisseur d’une dalle dans un plan d’étage

Attached Files Attached Files

Revit Interference Check with Shared Nested families can actually be Useful

Luke Johnson

By now, most of us are using Navisworks for some sort of aggregation, model checking or clashing.  So why would anyone want to use Revit Inteference Check (on the Collaborate tab, Coordinate panel)?  Basically, because its “in-canvas” and doesn’t require workflow-disconnect (export NWC, find Clash, Switchback, modify, refresh NWC).

Instead, we can run a clash report within Revit, close the dialog, fix the problem, then refresh the report.  Much easier.

For one recent Basement Carpark Design, we already had Parking families set out, and the Structural model linked in.  All I had to do was edit the Parking family, add a Shared Nested family of suitable Category (in my case, Electrical Equipment), run the Interference Check, fix or mark up the problems, and then switch “off” the shared nested component (using a visibility switch on the shared nested component).  Quick and easy.

Obviously, there is a lot it can’t do (especially compared to Navis), but some things it can do nicely.  Read on for some Q and A:

Is there a limit to the Categories you can use in an Interference Check?
Yes, see image below

Can you clash against a Shared Nested form of one of the above Categories?
Yes!

Can you clash against a Linked file in Revit?
Yes, of course – the above Category limitation still applies

Can you clash against selected objects?
If you select objects before starting the command, only items matching above Category limitations and present in the selection will be available as a tick box.

Will collinear 3D faces trigger a Interference in Revit?
Unfortunately yes.  You can work around this by offsetting one of the forms by 1 or 2mm to “ignore” those clashes.

Will an invisible (unchecked) Extrusion or Family be included in the Interference Check?
No

Will an item that is completely transparent (either based on a View setting or Material setting) be included in the Interference Check?
Yes

Can you clash against a Void form?
Yes

While you can’t “Save” a Search Set, you can Refresh your previous Interference Check in Revit.  Just do this:
Interference Check – Show Last Report – Click Refresh
Note: pressing “Refresh” does not re-run the Check, it just re-checks the things already in the list to see if any have been fixed.

To make “finding” the clashes quicker after the report is run – open a few key views first.  As these are in memory, when you click “Show” on an item in the report, Revit will look in these open views first.

Helping google:
Revit interference checking shared nested