Revit Multiple Point Repeaters

Multiple Point Repeaters on divided surfaces in Revit

In Revit 2013 it became possible to host adaptive component "Repeaters" onto divided surfaces, and paths.  The adaptive components can have one or more adaptive points - last time we looked at single point components.  It starts getting more interesting with two point adaptive components - they can be hosted on nodes on a single divided path or surface.  They can also be hosted on nodes on two separate divided paths or surfaces – in this situation their behaviour becomes more difficult to predict as the logic is more complex.

Following on from the last post on single point adapters, here we will look just at two point components on a single divided surface:

Single Surface

A two point adaptive component hosted on adjacent nodes on a surface will initially behave much the same as a single point component - in the images below, the original hosted component is shown on the left, and the resultant repeater shown on the right.

The exception to this being that it will not place repeats where it cannot find equivalent locations for both nodes – so it may omit half a row/column.  In this example the repeater is stretched across two non-adjacent nodes, so that when it gets to the last column, it can only place the first adaptive point on a node, but the second one would be off the surface – so it omits them:

We can also see what happens when two components are placed on a single surface and then both selected to turn into a repeater pattern - the results are similar to the single point adaptive component patterns - you get a linear pattern.

 

If you want to alternate the direction of patterns by row, it will not work if you just place two similar components adjacent to each other in the reverse direction – it will just create a repeater in exactly the same place as the originals – not across the whole surface.  We will try to figure out why later.

To achieve the full pattern you need to place two pairs of alternating components in a square pattern.  It will actually create four separate repeaters but it looks correct (one repeater highlighted to show it is not a single pattern, but one of four interlocking patterns):

 If you try a different approach of placing just two alternated components  staggered on the surface, you get some surprising results:

This seems pretty weird -  what it appears to be doing is only repeating the second of the two components (top right).  It repeats it in the same distance and increment as the distance between the end of the first and end of the second component (point 2, narrow end) - ie. one grid module up the screen;  but at the same time it takes the distance between the start of the first and start of the second component (point 1, large end), and stretches the component, which is one grid up and 4 to the right.  It would put another component above, but that would be two up and 8 to the right - in which case it has run out of nodes on the surface so it gives up.  It is easier to see this pattern in the next example where it has room to fit more in the pattern:

If we try putting alternating components in line before repeating, the results are rather weird again - but at least we can understand the logic, that it is repeating only the second component but stretching its start and end points by the same proportion as the distances between the start and ends of the originals.

 

 It is a little clearer when the repeated component is smaller so that they don't overlap:

The next one has got me stumped - I just don't get it.  I guess it is following the same logic but its too weird that it flips the direction as well!

The good news is that once you begin to understand how these repeater patterns work, you can make some crazy diminishing patterns really easily.  This one didn't require any formulas (aside from creating the original adaptive component) - it just needs careful placement of the components before repeating them.  It would also be easier to understand the patterns with a larger surface where it does not run out of nodes so quickly:

Next time we might look at 3 or more point adaptive components;  or hosting them on multiple paths/surfaces . . . . Two-Point Repeaters on Multiple Hosts

Revit Repeaters Index Page