Are you going to RTC 2012? Both Revit Technology Conferences promise to be better than ever this year - interesting new venues and a wide range of speakers on all things Revit and BIM. I am lucky enough to be presenting at both conferences:
This
presentation will look in detail at the new Revit v2013 features “Divide Path” &
“Repeat”, particularly as they are used in adaptive components. It will build on my RTC 2011 presentation
"Designing in Revit Using Parametric Formulas" – which looked at repetitive
patterns in design. It will show how the
new techniques can be used to achieve similar results in a different, but more
flexible fashion.
This
presentation will also look at the use of adaptive components within projects, again using the new techniques, to generate
curved shapes, and also at repetition on or within those shapes, thus creating organic architectural models
We
will look at the process of creating adaptive component families:
New “Divide Path” & “Repeat”
features of Revit 2013 will be explained and demonstrated in great detail
– including some limitations.
Practical examples of their use will also be demonstrated.
There will be a focus on
creating curvilinear geometry and organic shaped Revit models, but in a
systematic way that would aim to make the buildings more constructable.
Space Planning Repeaters
Some of the adaptive components
will use complex rule-based parametric formulas to drive iterative
design.
Will involve some trigonometry
and other mathematical formulas, including error checking.
It is common for architects to need to calculate, check and record escape paths or egress travel distances in a building design. Revit does not have an inbuilt method for doing this. I've seen many suggestions on how to do this in Revit, but they are all pretty clunky, mostly involving several components and tags and schedules.
In Revit 2012, there was a new way to do this using adaptive components. I did not publicise this before, because there was a bug in the software that prevented it from working 100% reliably - but in Revit 2013, that bug has been fixed, so here is how to do it:
This method will create a 2D travel path (calculating distances in plan only).
Create
a new adaptive component (use "Generic Model Adaptive" template)
Place a point on the intersection of the two reference planes;
Place another three points in a line along the X axis, and
Make all the points adaptive
In Object Styles, make a new subcategory called "Escape Path", with
a suitable linestyle – say red, dashed, heavy lineweight. Ensure that you choose the right category to
put it under (generic, if that is your family category) – as all categories are
listed.
Draw a line between points one and two, using 3D
snapping.
Change the line to the Escape Path
subcategory.
Join points 2 & 3 with a similar line, then
points 3 & 4.
Place a dimension between points 1 and 2, using
the Ref. level as your work plane – this will give you horizontal measurements
in plan. NB. Be sure to attach the
dimensions to the actual points (not line ends) otherwise the reporting
parameters will not allow you to use them in formulas.
Select the dimension, give it a parameter
“Plan_Length_1”
This must be set as an instance & reporting parameter
Repeat
this process between points 2 & 3, then points 3 & 4.
Flex
the component by moving each point; NB. do not click and drag (it will move in z direction) - use the arrows
Create a new Instance length parameter called
“Total plan escape distance”
Give it a formula: “Plan_length_1 +
Plan_length_2 + Plan_length_3
Tick the “Always Vertical” family parameter – this will ensure that measurements
are always true in plan (they can be slightly out if you don’t tick this).
Save and load the family into a project; and it should
prompt for 4 points when placed.
Once placed it should report back the total escape path length, in its instance properties.
To make this component more useful you could add some more checks and controls:
A
counter (integer parameter) for the number of segments, using visibility to hide unwanted segments and calculations to remove
them from the total; When placed in the project, it will still require all the adaptive points to be place, but it will just ignore anything after the required number in the counter.
A user
defined parameter for maximum allowable length;
A
calculation to see if the total length exceeds the maximum;
A
warning if the maximum is exceeded – this could either be a change of colour in
the lines, or else an element that is normally hidden, but has its visibility
turned on if the total length exceeds the maximum. NB. If
you want a text warning, it has to be done as model text nested in a generic
component loaded into the adaptive family.
This example only has 4 segments, but you could add more - of course then you'd need more visibility and calculation parameters.
You could also create a version that measures distances in 3 dimensions. To do that you need to host the reporting parameter lengths on reference lines drawn between each adaptive point - this would then measure the diagonal distance if any of the adaptive points are moved up in the Z direction.
If you make the Total distance a shared parameter, then you should be able to schedule and tag it.
Warning: In order to avoid the v2012 bug, you must start with a v2013 family template. It will not fix the bug if you start from a v2012 template and upgrade it.
Please use this technique at your own risk - it is entirely up to you to check that it all works properly, and that it meets your local standards for egress travel distance / escape path measurement. Revitcat accepts no liability whatsoever for the creation and use of this technique. For this reason it is not possible to post a copy of this component here, so you need to create it yourself from scratch from a v2013 adaptive family template.
