Daniel on Autodesk AEC software

BIM 360 Glue

2013-05-24T13:21:00.001+02:00

Finally I have gotten access to BIM 360 Glue.

I am quiet excited about the possibilities of this product. Basically it's navisworks in the cloud. This opens some very interesting communication options for companies working together.

Autodesk states that Glue offers:

Enable more stakeholders to contribute
Gain better project insight with up-to-date, single project view
Improve project delivery with less RFI’s and better coordination
Manage & resolve conflicts in pre-construction
Anytime, Anywhere
Design Review
3D Coordination
Clash Detection
Includes Mobile Application

It's not going to replace Navisworks at all. It complements it communication abilities.

It extends typical navisworks functionality to people without Navisworks. Below I'll give you an impression of glue in screenshots.

Starting in Navisworks

Notice the Glue it button. This is a separate add in you can download from:

https://bim360.autodesk.com/addins/addins.html

Glue it

Create folders

uploading

BIM 360 glue is launched from a website: https://b4.autodesk.com/shim/

Open your project

It very much feels like you download some form of the navisworks engine. Notice al the Navisworks features.

My Revit models keep turning up in annoying imperial units. Might have something to do with Revit running on an imperial engine underneath.

Show and hide like you would in Navisworks.

Create views and share them directly to someone who needs to see this

Section planes

And ofcourse mark ups

But also Clash detection online! (not with all the feature you have in Navisworks but still very nice)

The clash shown under is a bit stupid but the emphasis for this picture is more on the inofrmation screens and the ability to contact people about this clash. If you send a clash to someone they will get a link which they can open in their browser. (chrome like browsers seem to work best)

After you have merged uploaded models you may also download an nwd. I didn't yet get class results in the nwd or the views I created but I think that's just a matter of time.

Although you can change the units in BIM 360 glue, I have not yet been able to get a autocad dwg and a revit model on the same spot as I do in Navisworks. This might be just me at the moment. (another option is first sticking the stuf together in NAvisworks and then glue them.) I'll look into it and if it needs additional trickeries I'll blog about it)

Autodesk Bim 360 Glue is a very promising tool. Be aware that the major software packages have already plugins to add content to glue. (Revit Navisworks Civil 3D and Autocad)

If you are interested get a trial account here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=21318325&siteID=123112

Scope Box vs Project North

2013-05-01T13:51:00.001+02:00

This is blogpost number fifty. I have been thinking a bit what would be an appropriate topic for number 50. I like to think I know quiet a bit about Revit. But recently I ran into a feature of Revit for which I am pretty sure that it has existed since Revit Building 8.1. I haven't paid much attention to this feature because I didn't really see a use for it at the time. So this blogpost is going to be about scopeboxes.

I got a question from someone about grids that triggered me to have a look at scopeboxes. During this little investigation I ran into a feature from scopeboxes I did not know about. Scopeboxes can orient the view to be come orthogonally. See the image below. In the right big view you see two gridpatterns and two scope boxes.

For the lower left view, I have set a scopebox active in the view's instance properties. See below for how.

This feature makes me rethink about adding project north to a project. I have been writing a lot about coordinates, Project North and True North. I can't say I am a particular fan of rotating the model for Project North.

I draw the scopebox as follows:

Notice that you can only draw the scopebox orthogonally to the view

Rotate the selection box by selecting the sectionbox and place the origin on a grid intersection

Start drawing from horizontal

Rotate towards a gridlijn you want to become horizontal

Select the gridlines and assign them to a scopebox

Go to the instance properties of a view

Go to extends and set by scopebox the appropriate scopebox

Notice that the view orients it self orthogonally! Also when you apply a scopebox to a view then you can no longer have control over the cropbox the way you were used to. The crop box can only be turned of visually. The cropbox is now controlled by the scopebox. Be aware if you asign a scopebox to a section view or elevation view that the controls of those views are asigned to the scopebox. Also be aware that for some views the visibility of the scopeboxes have been turned of. You may edit this by selecting the scopebox.

Scopeboxes also have a height. Make sure that it's set appropriately.

I haven't fully made up my mind about using scopeboxes for project north but I will investigate it further and I would very much like to hear your thougths about them.

Revit 2014 3D dwg in families

2013-04-09T12:52:00.000+02:00

Revit 2014 families have the ability to use and explode 3D dwg. Being able to exploded and keep the 3D geometry is new for 2014. This gives new possibilities.

Why is this interesting? It becomes interesting when you are adding Civil 3D into the mix. Civil 3D has the abilities to create 3D solids. This has been difficult for civil 3D for a long time. This has been made easier with the introduction of the sub assembly composer.

For example: let's take a tunnel. part 1,2 and 3 are created from different assemblies.

Revit has no features for designing alignments like Civil 3D. Therefor we always advise people to model alignment based elements to be modelled in Civil 3D and none alignment based elements to be modelled in Revit Structure.

Next we would like to get this model on to the right coordinates in Revit. Experience tells that Revit can be rather tricky with coordinates. But we are going to use the same techniques we have used before to get Revit models and civil 3D dwgs onto the same coordinates.

See: http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/09/project-north-thrue-north-with-shared.html

and: http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/12/revit-shared-coordinates-de-film.html

We are going to create a dwg with a coordinate marker. You can see the marker already in the image above. The little white thing in the lower right corner. In the image below I have zoomed in a bit.

Of course these coordinates are going to be saved in an external text files, so we can retrieve this in case something goes wrong.

Next we start up in Revit 2014 a generic model template. Import (yes in revit families you are allowed to (must, because there is no other option) import dwg files. In projects this is strictly forbidden)

Import the dwg file with manual origin.
Place it anywhere
Move the dwg file and put the marker on top of the intersection of the two reference planes
goto a front view and check the vertical full alignment

Fully explode the dwg

Notice that the dwg is a freeform. This is the only way to get a freeform in Revit. There is no way to create a freeform with native revit commands. Notice the amount of draghandles?

Startup a revit project
go to level 0 or it's equivalent in your template
turn on the project base point
enter the coordinates you have used in civil 3D. Don't forget to turn them into mm
Load the family in the project and place the family in the right position
Create generic model schedule (new in 2014) and see the volume
Create a section over the model

It's my experience that the section doesn't always work. This has been logged with Autodesk and the are looking into the matter.

Revit Piramids

2013-04-04T13:24:00.000+02:00

Recently I was asked about a pyramid shape in Revit. The most important part was to get the volume from the pyramid. Next it was important to be able to flex the sides of the pyramid and to be able to set angles of the slope.

One way of doing it is like this:
First the end result:

The family is build up like this:

Notice the void forms

Notice that the length and width parameters are instance parameters. The void sweeps and the solid sweeps are created by a profile.

Next I have, in the pyramid family, mapped the parameters from both profile families mapped to the same instance parameters in the pyramid family.

Be aware that the parameters in the profile family have to be type parameters. So if I change the angle both profiles change accordingly.

A nice feature from Revit 2014 is that you can now schedule Generic Models.

If you want the revit files send me a message through LinkedIn.

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Revit files and Revit LT

2013-03-25T21:29:00.000+01:00

Lately I get more question about Revit files opening in Revit LT. According to the documentation it should not be a problem opening Revit files in Revit LT.

A little while ago I did receive a complaint about a Revit file not being able to open in Revit LT. I actually thought it would be a version problem. Maybe he tried to open an revit 2013 file in 2012. That doesn't work of course. He wasn't allowed to send the file so I do not know what really was wrong with the file.

I also considered maybe he got a central file from a 2013 project and he tries to open that in Revit LT and ofcourse Revit LT does not support worksharing. But to my surprise if you try to open a revit workshared file (central file) with LT it right away makes a copy of the file with LT added to it's name.

But what is even more surprising it leaves the central file intact. With that I mean I saved the central file in Revit LT and next I open the same file in it's bigger brother. Big Revit says right away: Would you like to create a new local? In other words, you are trying to open a central file. Revit LT doesn't throw away the worksets!

When you have opened the file take a look at the worksharing display

Revit LT has created it's own workset... called Revit LT user

Revit LT does another other interesting thing when you open a central file

It creates a backup folder with slog files. These slog files you can open with notepath.

slog entry:

user="DGi"

build="20120821_1330(x64)"

journal="C:\Users\DGi\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit LT 2013\Journals\journal.0017.txt"

host=192.168.56.1 "PS-14X"

server=192.168.56.1 "PS-14X"

central="C:\Revit Projects\Groninger_Daniel_LT.rvt"

local="C:\Revit Projects\Groninger_Daniel_LT.rvt"

timer="pulse-0250a23d.tmp"

timebias=-60

$0250a23d 2013-03-25 20:11:26.552 >Open

$0250a23d 2013-03-25 20:11:26.562 >Open:Local "C:\Revit Projects\Groninger_Daniel_LT.rvt"

$0250a23d 2013-03-25 20:11:26.678 .Open:Local:LFV central=105 local=1

$0250a23d 2013-03-25 20:11:26.692 .Open:Local:Progress lo=0 hi=40144387 "progress-4abcdac8.tmp"

$0250a23d 2013-03-25 20:11:28.430

$0250a23d 2013-03-25 20:11:28.440

$0250a23d 2013-03-25 20:11:28.450

$b0ce61fa 2013-03-25 20:11:28.563 >Session $b0ce61fa

This also makes me wonder what happens if I open a local file from a workshared project, change something and save it, reopen it it's bigger brother and try to sync the changes.

It right away creates a new file with LT appended to it
IT also turns this local file into a central file.... Oops

In other words: You are working in the central file! The BIM manager is going to make a voodoo doll and hurt you :)

I suggest that companies who work in a workshared environment and they need to cooperate with another company who works in Revit LT that they do the following:

You give the other company a detached file from your central and tell them to link this file into a new project. In that project file they do their thing. (Do not just give them your local file, it will slow their project down)
Detach and discard worksets

The Revit LT company can give you their file and you can link it in your workshared project. (on it's own workset)

This suggestion may differ depending on what they need to do. Just bare in mind that companies mixing Revit and Revit LT takes carefull planning and communication. IT's not undo able just be aware of the limitations.

Spaceframes

2013-03-13T14:11:00.001+01:00

Recently I have been looking into spaceframes again. Some very good Revit people have gone over that before. I always like reading this blog buildz.blogspot.com from Zach Kron and this blog from David Light http://autodesk-revit.blogspot.com

Reading up on that I managed to produce (copy) this. :) Sometimes understandiung a technology is best achieved by first copiën other peoples work.

Build from only this and a mass

To actually getting this to work I very much needed to know one tiny thing. That is how to make a seamless panel.

start a new family from a Metric Generic Model Adaptive template

create 4 reference points and make them adaptive
draw 4 reference points on top of the earlier created reference points
but set the ref plane first for each point you create. see image

When you place the point be sure to see the point snap lighting up. I also find it handy if revit has been set to draw on a workplane.

select all points and filter the reference points from the selection
go to the instance properties and add a parameter for the offset
choose your parameter setup

The points are now constraint!

set the ref plane to one of the 4 points (a horizontal one)
draw a reference line on top of the reference points with 3d snap on

it should look like this

Set the ref planes to draw two lines at the bottom
Move a adaptive point to see if the other geometry follows! (flexing)
draw the other reference lines
place a reference point on top of the reference lines
Here it matters how you place it. If you create the point with the command draw on a face you get a different point then when you create the point with draw on a workplane. See images and check the instance properties. Also notice the size differences of the two points!

I want the one where the reference point has a instance property that let me control the position along the reference line. (the little point)
Next you draw a reference line on those two points. The reference line you draw on a workplane with 3D snap turned on. (or at least I had to, to get the thing to work) I test the construction by moveing around points

Next is the point in the middle. (I want a small one)

Draw a reference line for the cross. (draw on face)

To add geometry to the frame I like to draw reference points. I need a lot of them. I use those points because they give me nice perpendicular workplanes on the reference lines I place them on.
draw geometry on the planes. Draw them big and set the dimensions to control the size. (circles are easier to start with)

Parametrize the dimensions
The bottom one was a bit of a pain. Adding circles on a ref plane at the end of the reference line did
eventual this worked, at first...

After a bit of trial and error I got the lower tube working this way

The trick is in getting the right reference plan, on both sides.
Be sure to flex the radius the tubes. Several times I didn't get the result I wanted. Also change the position of the adaptive points.
Load this family in to a conceptual mass

Divide a surface
Click on the little arrow next to the name Surface representation
Turn on nodes!

Place the family you made, be sure to place the points in the order they are numbered.
I tend to not to place the family at the side of the surface. The edge points tend to make a mess of it

repeat the element

Wait a long time

Deform the mass. flex the family and have lot's of fun and patience :)

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Navisworks selections methodes

2013-01-09T16:08:00.003+01:00

A little while ago I stumbled upon a selection feature in Navisworks that was new to me. When you want to select something in Navisworks you have of course the following options:

Select

Select box

You probably know that if you have the select methode you can press the space bar to make a selection window like the select box functionality

The selection box always works like a selection window in Autocad. It does not matter if you draw the window from left to right or right to left. It only selects objects that are completely inside the selection window. A little while ago I had a finger resting on the shift key while trying to use the select with the spacebar and suddenly I got a crossing selection....????

I do not recall anybody mentioning this when they were explaining the new features. Maybe it has been in the program for years. I looked at two different official courseware books. I couldn't not find the feature. So for you if you want to make a crossing selection like Autocad in Navisworks press the shift and the spacebar together and drag a window.

select + spacebar and draw this window

will select this:

select + shift + spacebar and draw the same window will select this:

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Vasari and Dynamo

2013-01-03T22:13:00.001+01:00

A little while ago I was talking to a french girl who was working for one of my former employees. She was showing me Grasshopper on top of Rhino. I was fun to see what she could do. She ofcourse asked if Revit had anything like that yet. I said that I knew of a labs project that had just come out. I had had the time to play around with it yet but now I have.

Before you try something yourself be aware that this is alpha (dynamo) software build on top of beta software (Vasari). Let's put it mildly it's not entirely stable. But who cares because this is for fun.

If you are looking for more advanced stuff, do the tutorials and take a look on these websites:

http://buildz.blogspot.nl/
http://revitator.blogspot.nl
http://autodeskvasari.com/

Basically I have set out this quest to be able to do with dynamo what I can already do with the family editor... Learn to crawl before trying to walk :)

I have a cube with 3 parameters width length and height. I want to control the dimension of this cube with a slider. I also want the length to be twice as long as the width and the height twice as big as the length.

Explanation of what is what:

Enable to select an instance of a family placed in a project
Is the slider that changes the value of the instance parameters of the cube. With this one I can controle the values of the parameters I put in the family. Be aware I first created the family then I placed this family in a project and next I change the values of the slider
Is a number I use in calculations to make the the length twice as big as the width parameter and the height parameter twice as big as the length parameter. This number I could also change of course
Here you select the parameters of the family you selected by 1
Here you see the slider value from number 2 being multiplied by the value from number 3
Takes care the values get inserted into the appropriate parameter
Is to see what the parameter value is going to be in Vasari. This is extra and no necessary for this to work

Now watch this spectacular movie...

More later

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

More Mullions

2012-12-19T12:01:00.001+01:00

Earlier I have written about mullions. The main focus was on rectangular mullions and the profiles you can use for these.

Circular mullions
aren't all that different than the rectangular. There are some type parameters that are different and quiet self explaining.

You see there is also the possibility to use a profile. This works the same as rectangular mullions.

There is also a setting that let you set the position to perpendicular to face or parallel to ground. The effect of parallel to ground is best seen in a sloped glazing with rectangular mullions.

L Corner mullions

Notice the type properties of this curtain wall. When you place the wall like below you will get a warning that there are duplicate mullions and that those will be deleted. You are probably better of setting the borders to none if you need corner mullions and apply the mullions yourself.

Check the type properties of the L corner mullion.

Here you can change the size of the corner mullion. No profiles here!

Quad corners mullions

these are good to use for corners that are not 90 degrees. Here you can change the size of the corner mullion. No profiles here either!

Trapezoid Mullions

behave slightly different. It's not right away apparent where the parameters are. The center width is the odd one.

V corner mullions

Are also good to use for non perpendicular corners.

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Revit Shared coordinates de Film

2012-12-18T23:15:00.003+01:00

(for the english readers. I'll create the same movie soon with english captions.

In toevoeging op eerder blogs die ik heb geschreven dan nu een filmpje over shared coordinates.

Als je de film bekijkt stel deze dan even in op hoge resolutie!

of gebruik deze link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2sZy6gvot9g

Als je vragen hebt laat een comment achter of mail me op daniel.gijsbers apestaartje detron.nl

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Kantplank

2012-12-03T10:17:00.000+01:00

(dutch only today)

Vandaag een simpele blogpost over een kantplank

twee ideetjes hoe je een kantplank zou kunnen modelleren. 1x als 2 slabedges met zelfgemaakte profielen en één keer gemodelleerd als een muur.

Er zijn ongetwijfeld nog meer mogelijkheden. Bedenk wel dat voor je hoeveelheidstaten het enorm kan uitmaken welke methode je kiest. Wat je ook gebruikt, documenteer het zodat het voor de volgende in het traject geen zoek plaatje word.

Dingen om te weten
De materialen moet je natuurlijk beter kiezen dan dat ik heb gedaan in de video. De optie met profielen is bewerkelijker maar je hebt wat meer vrijheden in vorm.

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Publish the shared coordinate system

2012-11-16T11:26:00.000+01:00

I got my hands on the revit files for the Millenium supermarket. In this Revit architecture files are two links: A MEP file and A structure file.

If I export the file to nwc (navisworks cache file) everything is exactly at the position it is supposed to be. But most of the time every discipline tends to create their own nwc. If you do this for this file you'll get the following result

NWC created from Revit with all the links loaded

NWC created from every discipline separately

Above in blue the entire supermarket selected

Above in blue only the architectural model from the supermarket selected

Above in blue the structural + mep model from the supermarket selected

Now how did that happen?

The structural + mep model are not modelled at the same coordinates as the architectural model. Now this can be fixed. Personally I think this should have been set before modelling. See one of my previous post about shared coordinates:

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/09/project-north-thrue-north-with-shared.html

Above I have the Architectural model and the structural model open. Notice that the survey points are in different locations. That's why the separate nwc end up on different coordinates in navisworks. If you reconcile the shared coordinate system from the Architectural model to the structural model and the MEP model you can get the separate nwc files onto the right position.

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Revit snaps

2012-11-01T11:16:00.000+01:00

Today I want to share a very tiny and simple trick. Have you ever had an autocad drawing under you revit model and you needed to use some of the autocad lines for modelling something.

Ofcourse you start out with turning of unnecessary layers of the dwg. But sometimes you need many of them to stay on. Next you try the pick lines tools and you are tapping like a madmen on the TAB key to try and select the lines. Some Autocad drawings won't let you get the result you want from the pick lines tool. After some tries you might think, okay I'll do it the old fashioned way and I'll trace over the lines myself.

When you start tracing you might notice you seem to only get an intersection snap... ofcourse you know you could press 'se' to force an endpoint snap. You will probably have to do it everytime and that might get tedious.

If you turn all snaps off (i normally tend to have them all on) and some other auto features you will probably see you won't have to use the override command so often.

Don't forget to turn the snap back on when you are done.

Disclaimer information
http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Revit 2 Vault 2 buzzsaw 2 Ipad 2

2012-10-15T16:28:00.000+02:00

I am preparing a Vault workshop for a client. Part of the workshop is being able to work together.

I set out to create the following. I want to get revit Files into Vault. When I get them into vault I would like to be able to share them with other project participants. So I setup Vault to communicate with Buzzsaw. This took a while because of minor details you need to know. I got great help from my distributor! Next I thought if I get it to buzzsaw I might as well try to view it on my Ipad.

The odd but nice part is that I can view the revit file with ease but the generated dwfs or dwfx's seem to have a problem.

Below a picture with the same sheet open in different applications:

Revit Structure 2013
Vault collaboration for AEC 2013
Buzzsaw 2013 (the client app)
Buzzsaw for Ipad

And not the least many patches service packs hotfixes and tweaks. No I only have to figure out why the dwfs don't work atm. Htere is more to the workshop than only this but it's certainly nice when you finally get a configuration working.

Disclaimer information
http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Autocad plot handleiding

2012-10-08T17:03:00.000+02:00

Regelmatig geef ik bij update trainingen de volgende opdracht: Maak van deze tekening:

een pdf
formaat A1
schaal 1:100

De cursisten moeten dit altijd met plain autocad functionaliteiten doen. Het valt me op dat zelfs ervaren autocad gebruikers hier toch redelijk moeite mee hebben. Omdat dit nergens in boeken staat schrijf ik de stappen hier een keer uit. Met een beetje handigheid kan je dit in 30 seconden doen.

Stap 1:

Stap 2:

maak een nieuwe layout aan of ga naar een bestaande. Als je nieuwe hebt aangemaakt ga naar deze layout

Stap 3:

Klik op plot (Je kan de volgende stappen ook met modify page setup doen maar ik vind mijn manier prettiger)

In het plot menu stel je de volgende dingen in in deze volgorde.

Kies de juiste Printer of plotter.
Kies het juiste papier formaat
Controleer dat plot area op layout staat ingesteld
De schaal moet op 1:1 ( je stelt de schaal van de tekening in bij het viewport)
Kies een ctb bestand, als je geen gebruik maakt van lineweights in je lagen
Druk op apply to layout, dan worden je instellingen opgeslagen.
Druk daarna op cancel, anders gaat Autocad direct plotten en dat wil je nog niet

Selecteer en wis het viewport

Creëer een nieuw viewport
als je direct op enter klikt nadat het commando is opgestart plaatst Autocad het viewport zelf zo groot als dat de marges van het papier dit toestaan.
Als je een ISO full bleed formaat hebt gekozen dan kan je het hele papier gebruiken.
Selecteer het nieuwe viewport en stel de schaal in

Druk op plot
Druk eventueel op add achter plot setup en geef een page setup naam. (Dat is handig voor volgende layouts en voor publish)
Klik nogmaals op apply to layout en daarna op okay om te plotten!

Dit hele systeem kan je nog eenvoudiger en sneller maken als je als applicatiebeheerder een paar goede templates voor je gebruikers maakt.

Voor vragen kan je contact met me opnemen!

succes!

Disclaimer information
http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Revit curtain wall Mullions

2012-09-18T23:21:00.001+02:00

This blog is a continuation of:
http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/09/revit-curtain-wall-magic.html

Curtain wall mullions are made of profiles. I always say during trainings that if you can create good profiles in Revit you have made a big step in modelling.

First you have several different mullions for different situations. This blog will focus on the Rectangular Mullion first.

Curtain Wall Mullions
Circular Mullion
L Corner Mullion
Quad Corner Mullion
Rectangular Mullion
Trapezoid Corner Mullion
V Corner Mullion

Be aware that a mullion is a system family!
Type properties of a rectangular mullion

Profile - if you leave this to default the you can set the value of 2 and 3
thickness is measured from the location line of the curtain wall and equal on both sides. This means that when you draw a cw that mullion is 75 mm thick on one side and 75mm on the other.
Here you control the width of the mullion and whether it is symmetrical. The total width for this one is 50mm

Personally I only use this default profile if I create interior curtain walls. If I need an exterior curtain wall I want a profile that is completely at the outside of the curtain wall. I do this for the following reason. Often an exterion curtain wall runs in front of a floor edge. If I change the mullion size thickness to a greater value I do not want the mullion to go suddenly through my floor.

How to create your own mullion?

Mullion creation rules: you may only put one closed loop into a profile
Model only the exterior lines
Keep it simpel
Keep the amount of line segments in the loop to the bare minimum
Do not draw lines on top of each other (it's not autocad)
If you need more detail add a detail component

goto Revit --> new --> family --> Metric Profile-Mullion.rft

This template is nice because it tells you where is the outside of the curtain wall.

Next create the following reference planes dimensions, parameters and family type.

Draw a rectangle over the reference planes. In this family you do not need to lock the lines. Revit has a system build in that is called assumed relations. Basically this means that when you draw something to coincide with something else that this can not be a coincidence and you will probably want this to keep coinciding. Sometimes this is nicknamed the feminine side of Revit...

Load into project, since I don't save this file it will come into my project named: family#:60x180mm uder the profiles in the project browser. I will rename this family to Rectangle_outside:60x180mm

(left of the : is the family name and at the right side is the type name)

For profiles I tend to name them according to their shape and purpose / location. (feel free to use your own)

Next create a new type under rectangular mullion. I tend to give the mullion name the same name as the type name of the profile I am going to use. So in this case I call the mullion 60x180mm

Go to the type properties of the mullion you have just created. (right click it)

Select the profile you have created. All the other parameters should make sense to you. If they don't, change them and watch the result.

Now that you have created your own mullion from your self made profile it's time to use this mullion in a curtain wall.

This will make the curtain wall look like this. (this is the lower left corner of the cw)

Example of different use of a curtain wall

The trick is in the profile

Use this trick for the length of wall, notice the center and pattern offset

If you change the wall by the cutprofile. Notice the result.

Openings also behave slightly different

This is the profile and here you can see where the 1240 and the 620 comes from.

Go to this blog: (link will follow later) for how you add a detail component to a profile to see the all the the lines of a typical aluminium mullion

Revit curtain wall magic

2012-09-18T22:07:00.003+02:00

In order to write down as much as I know about curtain walls I have separated the elements into different blogs. There is a link at the bottom to the next one.

Always when I give Revit trainings I spend a lot of time explain the power of curtain walls. The standard Revit books I have seen are always a bit thin on the subject. In order for students and other people who are interested I'll write out what I tell. This way they can read about it.

Curtain wall basics
First you need to know that a typical curtain wall exist out of the following elements

The curtain wall
Curtain wall grids
Curtain wall panels
Curtain wall mullions

type properties of a curtain wall

Wall function - very usefull for filtering your views. You won't right away see untill you need a way to show the difference between interior or exterior walls in a view. (or one of the other functions)
Automatically embed - You need this if you want to use a CW as window or a door. This will cut a hole in the wall you place it in.
Curtain Panel - here you set what kind of filling you want in between the mullions. Basically you have three options. See section panels below.
Join condition - here you set which mullion has the right of way. (which one is allowed to continue and which one has to stop. (see mullion connections below.
Structural material - as soon as I figure out how you ungrey this parameter I'll let you know. (Althought I very much doubt you want to use it)
Vertical grid pattern - here you can set whether you want a pattern and if you do how it should be modelled. Be aware you need a gridline to place a mullion.
Spacing - In the image the spacing has been set to 3000mm so the vertical gridlines will be placed 3000mm apart
Adjust for mullion size - see image. Basically when you turn this off the bottom and top panels are smaller than the other panels.
Fixed number - when you set this parameter to fixed number then the spacing parameter gets grey out and that parameter becomes an instance parameter. This enables you to create the same curtain wall type but have a different amount of horizontal grid lines per wall.
Spacing - is greyed out and controlled by an instance property
Adjust for mullion size - see image. Basically when you turn this off the bottom panels at the vertical borders are smaller than the other.
In the first image there is an arrow pointing to where this mullion is
In the first image there is an arrow pointing to where this mullion is
In the first image there is an arrow pointing to where this mullion is
In the first image there is an arrow pointing to where this mullion is
In the first image there is an arrow pointing to where this mullion is
In the first image there is an arrow pointing to where this mullion is

Instance properties of a curtain wall

Number - Only available if you have set layout to fixed number, this sets the number of gridlines in the vertical or horizontal direction
Justification - With this you control where you want the fitting piece placed
Angle - With this you can rotate the gridlines
Offset - With this you can offset the entire pattern by a value. You can increase or decrease the size of a fitting piece.

Next blog is Mullions

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Project North Thrue North with shared coordinates

2012-09-17T22:57:00.000+02:00

Here we go again... I have written about this subject in Revit before. I have written that I am quiet fed up with how Revit handles it and so I have said True North it is. No more rotating...

Ofcourse it's not all black and white. Recently during a Revit Structure training the subject got to the table again. Ofcourse this question came after I had setup the project base point. Not surprisingly things didn't go as planned.

In order to try and explaining it I went on to show the odd behaviour of rotating either project north or true north. It's my conclusion that you don't want to use these tools after you have setup the project base point. So far I have only been able to get it wright by using the wrong setting... True north is project north and vice versa. That's no way of working so let's try to get it right.

After a bit of testing it seems that if you do the project north before you link the first dwg things go right.
Original post: http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/04/revit-shared-coordinates.html
In red are the steps extra for Project north True North

Steps: Autocad

open the dwg from the site
choose a easily recognizable point as a project basepoint
use the ID command in autocad to find it's xyz values
create a symbol, I prefere a circle with a cross, and place that ontop of the choosen point
move the symbol to the nearest round value (important because of rounding in Revit)
This location is going to be the project base point
copy the ID value of this point and paste it into notepath

Steps: Autocad for getting true north setup properly

Take or draw a line in Autocad that you want to be horizontal in Revit
Dimension the angle of this line with a true horizontal line in Autocad
Rotate the line, that is going to be horizontal in revit, to such an angle that it is rounded at the third digit behind the comma. (normally this should be fine enough)

Explanation: you migh have a line that is at an angle of 20.52045493°. This number will give trouble in Revit. You can't use that number in Revit. It will round it down for you. I like to have controle over this therefore I do the rounding. I would rotate this line in Autocad to be at 20.520°.

If that is not precise enough round it maximally at the 6th digit: 20.520455°.

To give you an idea of the precision you are dealing with. If you draw a two lines that are both 1000 meters long and you rotate one of them to 20.520 and the other to 20.52045493° the ends of those lines are 7.9mm apart. If you would use 20.520455 the the ends would be 0.00000122mm apart. (For the metrically challenged people, an inch is 25.4 mm)

Copy the rotation value of this line and paste it into notepath
Save the drawing

Steps: notepath

Be aware most coordinate system are in meters and Revit models tend to be build in mm.
This means you need to move the comma 3 spots to the right

Steps: Revit

Open your level that has a Z value of zero
Goto visibility and graphics
Goto the site category, expand and turn on survey point and basepoint
Select the project base point (the circle)
Copy the X value from notepath into the E/W
Copy the Y value from notepath into the N/S
Copy the rotation value to the: 'angle to true north' value

Do not paste these values into your instance property window, you will get an error. If you paste them into the on screen thing it will accept those values.

Be aware you survey point will move away from your project base point. The project base point is still located on the Revit origin!

If you take a look at your survey point you should see that it's values are all zero. Your autocad origin (0,0) will be lined up with your Revit survey point.

Steps: Revit

Goto Insert --> link CAD
Choose the dwg with the site information
Set Import units to the meters (assuming it has been drawn in meters)
Set positioning to by shared coordinates
press okay and you will get the next message

This is actually good because this should import the dwg origin on top of your survey point. This should also have the effect that the project base point marker you created in Autocad lands ontop of your project base point set in Revit.

Steps: Revit

Pin the dwg. (it seems to behave better when re opening the project.)
Goto visibility and graphics and turn of the survey point this will enable you to use zoom extends again
draw two model lines in this view on top of Autocad lines
Save the revit file and make an export the nwc
Make sure that within the Navisworks export settings you set export to shared coordinates (do not use project origin)
Make sure that within the Navisworks export settings you set the units to feet... (yes really!!!)

Steps: Navisworks

Attach the dwg (the one you linked earlier into Revit)
Attach the nwc from Revit
take a look at the lines you drew in Revit and whether they line up with the Autocad lines. If they do you are good to go!
if you select the revit nwc file and right click it and go to units and transform you should get a dialog box with coordinates that are the same as the coordinates of the project base point in Navisworks. (nice to check)
If they don't check the steps and all the file and unit settings and adjust them accordingly where needed. If you still have problems contact me.

Disclaimer information
http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Navisworks planning from Revit

2012-08-12T15:35:00.001+02:00

Recently I saw an Autodesk video where people setup section boxes in different views so they could split up their model and this would help them in navisworks for planning. I got curious and gave it a try. I was wondering what would happen with the elements that are cut by the section box. I was hoping that those elements would not be exported. If they are exported do you get the whole ore the cut up elements?

It turns out you get the cut up elements . Since you can't line up section boxes or snap them to whatever, I can't say I am to happy about that approach.

Since I happen to have the same file they are using in the movie I thought let's have a go at it.

Some people will say use the worksets or use phases. Turn the one on you want and export the view. That could work but for this example I am assuming that the worksets setup or phasing for this project doesn't suite the needs.

I am going to add a project parameter, as an instance, to all relevant objects.

This instance parameter will contain information about to which part of the building it belongs.

First this is the building in masses with some names.

Next you add the project parameter

To make things a bit easier I suggest you create filters first. These filters are going to help you turn building parts on or of.

This is how I have setup the filter for this model.

Make sure you create one good filter and duplicate that one. This filter will look for elements that have 'Base' filled in their 'buildingpart' parameter. The nice thing is that you can turn off all the elements that match the filter with one tick.

I have added overrides to the filter which should make things more visible

Next comes the tricky part and that will take a while to get right. You have to select all the objects and and fill in the parameter. Of course you can do multiple objects at the same time. If there is an analytical model in your file make sure to turn them of first.

If you first add the filters to the view and next you add the parameter values you will see much more clearly what you are doing.

Next let's go to navisworks

Open the selection tree and go to the property tab. Notice that you see the project parameter you have added. To create a flexible planning it's handy to first create searchsets. Unfortunately you can not use the searches in the property tab. You have to select them and next save them in the sets window.

Next you can create a automated planning. See arrow 4.

This methode is not a fast as a using a section box but in the long run this will help you better.

Other Navisworks blogpost from me

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2011/09/navisworks-compare-functionality-1.html

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2011/10/navisworks-compare-functionality-2.html

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2011/10/navisworks-hide-objects.html

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/01/quantities.html

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/04/navisworks-2013-and-revit-files.html

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/05/autodesk-infrastructure-modeler-to.html

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/06/revit-vs-navisworks-nwc-files.html

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/07/inventor-to-navisworks.html

Disclaimer information

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Revit parts and IFC

2012-08-08T21:10:00.001+02:00

How to get Revit parts to IFC

It's important when you export a Revit model to IFC that the following conditions are met:

Export with “Current View Only” option
Parts must be visible in the view
If the "Split Walls and Columns By Level" option is chosen, then wall parts will be assigned to the appropriate level as determined by their spatial position

Be aware:

Parts import / export done for all categories except Roofs

Parts import from IFC : only geometry is imported not the parts information

I have opened a revit file exported to IFC in Navisworks. You see a part from a wall selected and on the right you see the properties. In the IFC material tab you will see the Revit material back asign to the compound wall in Revit. As stated only the geometry is exported to IFC but the wall openings are missing.

If your interested I can share the revit and IFC model with you.

Disclaimer

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Revit and IFC

2012-08-08T16:53:00.002+02:00

A common misconception is that Autodesk wants to undermine IFC. There is a lot of mud throwing between ADSK users and IFC zealots. Looking at the improvements ADSK is making to better support open standards like IFC. I would like to add my bit to the big discussion. (everything written in blue is mine the rest is provided by Autodesk)

This information comes from Autodesk.

Autodesk Revit 2013 is:

IFC v2x3 certification ( re-certified)
IFC export Add-In supporting 2x4 standard
Increased IFC open source customization : creation of own features possible
Local IFC requirements differs
Autodesk committed for IFC : full team works on this
New element types can now be exported
Support for workflows
Export as solids : more possibilities

More elements supported for export

.NET Open Source code released for Quasar

2D Plan view export no longer offset from 3D Geometry

Always export True North to IFC

Beam Length fixed for certain beams on export

Beams never extruded upwards

Better Geometry splitting for elements allows for fewer surface models

Coordination View 2.0 (CV2) improvements

IFC export has added a number of improvements for Coordination View 2.0.

"Current View Only" export now works in any model view

"Current View Only" mode has been fixed and now has extra functionality.

Doors with nested openings export opening

Export Assemblies

Export PSet_BuildingCommon

Export Filled Regions

Export Parts

Export Uniformat information as IfcClassification and fcClassificationReference

GSA export support

IFCExportAs shared parameter accepts "IfcWallStandardCase" as valid value

Internal Revit property set names no longer have "PSet_Revit_" prefix on export

Light Source no longer exported for lighting fixtures

MEP Plumbing Fixtures exported as IfcFlowTerminal

Multi-story stairs have correct properties

Postal Address is parsed in the Location

Slab base quantities are only exported for COBIE or QTO

Split by level option exports geometry below the lowest level

Unit specification for Mass corrected

Import

Fix normal of slightly non-planar faces

Prevent creation of illegal faces in imported geometry

Space geometry not imported as in-place family solid

Text Font not always set correctly

But more important is that Autodesk made an api for ifc so everyone could create their own importer / exporter if needed.

next to that:

BuildingSMART International Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) version 2x3 is now certified for Revit. Revit supports global industry standards including GSA specific classifications and property sets for building management and energy analysis. Open source Revit IFC exporter enables you to submit updates and at any time the exporter can be updated to support emerging standards.

The BIM Open Source Project now controls the code for the Revit STL and IFC Exporter. You can propose changes to the IFC exporter, fix bugs, or enhance the code base to support regional requirements, allowing you to collaborate more effectively with third-party applications to support design workflows.

Bottom Line: Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) for Revit provides greater support for industry and government standards.

Conclusion we are not the enemy :)

http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/08/disclaimer.html

disclaimer

2012-08-01T10:46:00.002+02:00

Dutch

persoonlijke mening van Daniel Gijsbers en staan los van eventuele officiële standpunten van Detron information Technology. Detron information Technology is niet verantwoordelijk voor de inhoud van uitlatingen en reacties van derden op de hier gepubliceerde stukken.

Voor Nederlandstalige lezers gelden ook de volgende engelse teksten.

English

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reference planes visibility

2012-07-26T16:32:00.003+02:00

Someone asked me the other day how can I make a reference plane visible in a level if the level is created afterwards and above the extends of the reference plane.

Having never had this problem before I thought it would work the same as a gridline. No, not entirely

If you select the reference plane and you propagate the extends it does not see the new level. See image

Level 3 was created after the reference plane. By default you don't get to see the reference plane in the new level.

I remembered suddenly that scope boxes have the ability to change the extends of gridlines and reference planes.

Create a scopebox in a level
Select a reference plane
Go to the instance properties and set to the scopebox
Propagating the extends of the reference planes will now show the 'new levels'
Create a section over the scopebox if you want to change the height of the scopebox later
With the scope box you can control also later if you want to see a the reference plane on a level
You can have multiple scope boxes

Conclusion:

Visibility of gridlines and reference planes is easier to control with the use of a scopebox.

Disclaimer information
http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Mass trick repeating element

2012-07-20T14:02:00.001+02:00

If you create a mass and you would like an adaptive component family to repeat over it's edges you might end up with some unwanted results.

Adaptive component family with 4 points and a little trick to keep the slanted ones in place

starting situation: a mass which adges were divided by selecting grid lines to do the division

first try: Place the frame, I tend no to use the first point in a division. I have some selection issues sometimes. Press the repeat button. (it's the one that looks like array with a red small P. Notice the cute little knot in the image below? It seems as I have experienced in other models and families that any line has a direction which so far I have not been able to revert.

adjustment to make it work: Add a second one next to the first. Select them both and press the repeat button again.

desired outcome

Next up, create part and assemblies

Disclaimer information
http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/disclaimer.html

Inventor to Navisworks

2012-07-16T21:13:00.000+02:00

Last week I gave a course in Navisworks to someone who works in Inventor on a daily basis. He models bridges in Inventor. He told me he was most likely going to work together on projects with Civil 3D and Revit files. I asked him how he was going to get his bridge on the right coordinates. After a few more question I learned that Inventor does share some of Revit's problems with working far from it's own origin. Inventor does not have a project base point and survey point you can set up like Revit can. This pretty much means that an inventor file will never end up on the right coordinates unless you setup a point together.

Having quiet some experience with trying to get revit files on the right coordinates I thought let's try this methode for inventor, except the revit bit. http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.nl/2012/04/revit-shared-coordinates.html

Goal: Inventor file to the right coordinate in Navisworks

Steps: Autocad

open the dwg from the site

choose a easily recognizable point as a project basepoint
use the ID command in autocad to find it's xyz values
create a symbol, I prefere a circle with a cross, and place that ontop of the choosen point. (I made myself a dynamic block with fields that read the xyz value)
move the symbol to the nearest round value. Technically you could go to 3 digits behind the comma, but I suggest you don't. (here is a little difference between Revit and Inventor workflow.
Measure the rotation from the positive x axis to the orientation of how the inventor file needs to be rotated. Do not us more than 3 digits behind the comma and round the number properly. Record this rotation!
This location is going to be the project base point
copy the ID value of this point and paste it into notepath
Save the drawing

Steps: Inventor

The inventor origin is going to be on top of the project base point you have setup up above. (finding the inventor origin is something you have to do yourself, maybe you do it in Inventor yourself or try importing a dwg with a symbol at the Autocad 0.0)

Create your Inventor model relatively to Inventor origin

Steps: Navisworks

Append the aim file to the Navisworks model
Select the aim file in the selection tree
Right mouse button and go to units and transform
Fill in the coordinates

Notice: fill in these values in meters! In red I have put which field is which. At arrow 3 you can add the proper rotation of the file. Arrow 2 indicates which axis will be used to rotate the model around. Be aware 1 means the axis is used. If you would add another 1 in the x box than the model will be rotated around both axis at the same time.

The Inventor model should be at the right position!

Disclaimer information
http://danielgijsbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/disclaimer.html