Why a Repeated component on a Divided Line Path is better than an Array

Luke Johnson

In the past, whenever you built a parametric array in a family, you needed to handle the “break” condition – that is, if the array value drops to 1, you need an IF formula to actually keep it as 2, hide the array and show the single element.  It works, but it is clumsy and needs some parameter obfuscation.

That is why a Divided Path,

  •  with a Repeated 2 point Adaptive family with Reference Line connecting the points,
  •  hosting “whatever” you want,
  •  on a non-driving point that lives on the Reference Line,

 is better – because when the number of divisions of the Divided Path is set to 2, there is still only one repeated element.  No formulas or duplicated parameters needed… Also, Revit error checking usually kicks in when you try to set the Divided Path to “1” and it will prompt you before the thing breaks.

Very useful in situations like this curved adaptive Window family – it can have any number of panels, from 1 to 200 (thanks Aaron).

EDIT  Following Aaron’s comment, here is some more “proof of concept”:

Download the example file here

Animating your Revit Model (and 2014 DevDays resources)

Luke Johnson

There are quite a few interesting ways to animate a Revit model these days.  You can use Image-O-Matic, things like Level Displacer, and there is also an interesting SDK sample for animating structural elements.

From The Building Coder:
One of the very visually impressive Revit 2014 API samples is the DisplacementElementAnimation application.
It automatically animates groups of structural building members in any Revit BIM, proceeding sequentially from bottom level to top.
It creates and executes an animation of the model by disassembling and then reassembling it from the ground up. The members are sorted into groups based on category and level and displaced from their actual position. Each group is then animated using the Idling event until the model is reassembled.
It is an external application, so it is not automatically made available by installing RvtSamples, which just provides access to the external command SDK samples.

Read more:
http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2013/08/animation-and-the-displacementelement-class.html

To get this running, you will need to install the 2014 SDK, open the applicable CS project, add the Reference Paths, Build it, add the dll and create the necessary .addin file.  However, if you want this type of animation – it will probably be worth it!

Along similar lines, you may be interested in the 2014 DevDays resources:
… here are the complete materials from the Revit 2014 DevDays presentations:

How big can an IF statement be in Revit?

Luke Johnson

Chris Price has been pushing the limits.  Check it out:
“What I found was Revit would crash at around 580 conditional statements in a single formula… Surely Autodesk should know someone would try and do this, lol!

So how to get around this limitation, my first thought was to try and use “And” and “OR” conditions to try and reduce the number of required conditions. However, this was going to be extremely tedious and there would still be 168+… So then I decided to simply split across a couple of parameters. EG: I had 500 conditions in one parameter then linked to a different parameter with the remaining conditions. SOLVED!

I did note a large performance hit when changing parameters in the family editor. Changing any values would take 5-15 seconds. However, testing in a project and the changes are instant! So not sure why performance is fine in a project.”

Read more at:

InfraWorks updates and tips

Luke Johnson

Download for Infraworks R2 (you will need to login to Subscription): http://subscription.autodesk.com/sp/servlet/download/item?siteID=11564774&id=22092239

Webinar on Establishing Existing Conditions:
http://www.cadgroup.com.au/community/blog/cadblog/index.php?s=cdfaa46673f4299416ee99e25d31a01c&showentry=350

Data and Layers:

Infrastructure Design Suite registration:

Another Realtime Visualisation Software Project

Luke Johnson

If you want to sign up to test it, email info@kalloc.com with subject Fuzor Evaluation.

From Steve’s blog:
The product is only about six months old at this point and about to become available for evaluation. It’s being developed by a team based in San Diego, CA. If you are interested they are asking us to send a request via EMAIL. There is a PDF Manual if you’d like to read it.

…

Key Feature Summary

  • Geometry Updates in Fuzor as soon as Revit data changes
  • Select elements in Fuzor first and then edit in Revit
  • Load specific levels (they call them layers) from linked files
  • Materials changes in Revit update Fuzor immediately
  • Camera Synchronization between Revit and Fuzor
  • Correct Time of Day Simulation
  • Weather Conditions: sunny, storm clouds, rain and rain with wind direction
  • Walk and Fly through controls
  • Uses Revit lighting data for interior lighting
via

COINS Auto-Section Box updated! (December 2013)

Luke Johnson

Arguably the most useful free add-in for Revit, there are some great new features – the one that particularly grabbed my eye was the automatic alignment and rotation of section boxes to certain elements:

  • Works with elements in linked files (Revit 2014 only).
  • Works with grid lines and level lines.
  • Picking a single wall, beam, duct, or pipe will produce a section box aligned with it.
  • Picking an elevation marker that has a single view associated with it will create a section box from that view.
  • Allow picking of assemblies.
  • Fixed issue where routine would not work if the model contained multiple assemblies with identical view names.
  • Thousands of users are now investigating their models at “the speed of conversation”. Thank you all for making this app one of the highest ranked, most downloaded, and most commented apps on the Autodesk Revit Exchange store!

Download it from here

As you may know, Harry made a free Section Box add-in with automatic rotation to walls a while back:
3D Section Box crop add-in WITH automatic rotation – Boost Your BIM