PILLOW TALK

If only ...

How often does Revit get me saying that ?  Its such a brilliant way of working, you can't help wanting to do more, to do everything the Revit way.  So if only.  If only we could use the conceptual massing tools to make furniture, or sanitary fittings, or pillows for example.

So how would I set about it ?  Could start with a profile, model lines drawn in a generic model family. Something like this.

Bring this into a massing family and place several instance of different sizes on reference places.  Use these to make a form.  Not a bad approximation to a pillow.

Using linked instance parameters, we can vary the shape, scale it up and down, even swap in different profiles.  An elipse for example. Some simple formulas will allow us to keep user parameters down to a minimum

Small versions could be pillows, cushions, various household items.

Larger versions can be panellised to make buildings, perhaps an arena ...

or maybe a flying saucer or two.   All variations on the same basic family.  Just tweaking the instance parameters will scale it up or down by a factor of 10 or 100, convert a rectangle into an ellipse, squeeze out a flange in the middle ...

Not too hard to imagine making better sanitary fittings this way.  In fact it turns out that you can do the same kind of form making with generic model profiles in an adaptive family.  Now adaptive families can be plumbing fixtures, and they can be shared, so by hosting them in a mass you can get them into a project and schedule them.  I made a version of Duravit's Puravida WC this way using a D shaped profile with 3 instance parameters to create 4 different forms, 2 for the bowl and 1 each for the seat & the cistern.  Loaded in a standard family that I use for flush buttons and the result is a better WC than I have been able to make before using native Revit modelling tools.

With Revit 2012 offering direct placement of adaptive components it will be no longer necessary to host my WC in a mass.  Now this is probably not what the factory had in mind for adaptive components, but it's about time we had some decent sanitary ware, so why not ?



A SCREEN FOR ALL SEASONS

Musharabiya screens are popular design elements in the Gulf Region.  Everyone loves them.  They look good, they come in all shapes & sizes, they are functionally justified and environmentally friendly.  But how best to make them in Revit ?

Its easy enough to make a fixed size screen or to take a fixed module and use it in a parametric array.  But in practice the sizes you need are probably not so well behaved.  Currently we have a project in Oman that uses screens with sizes like 2930x1150 and 3120x1230.  I need to make these using a regular pattern module of say 600x600.

Early attempts used extrusions for the panels and voids to trim the edges down to size, but they were never flexible enough to cover all sizes & the panels tended to distort at the edges.  So last weekend I tried again with much better results.

The key ideas were:

1.  use sweeps for the panels
2.  define the patterns with loaded profiles
3.  control the void using reference lines, not planes

Advantages include:

1.  sweeps don't distort
2.  it's easy to load a new profile with a different pattern
3.  reference planes tend to push the panels around when flexed, reference lines don't.

Screenshots & notes below describe how the family works.

3 versions of the family using different profiles (patterns) Workplane based can be horizontal or vertical. Size variable up to 1800x4800. Material by subcategory and/or parameter.  Rectangular frame with width & depth parameters.

 

24 panels controled by the same profile family in 8 rows of 3 define the maximum size. Smaller sizes are created by a void extrusion. Reference lines control the void cut and host the path for the sweep that forms the frame.
  
2 of the profile families

  

One final trick. By duplicating one of the elevation views I create a place to display text notes to guide future users of the family.  For those at GAJ, I will put the family on the server.

POST NO 1

So here it is.  A public space for the Revit team at Godwin Austen Johnson.  A place where I can share my thoughts with co-workers and anyone else who takes an interest.

I'll keep this one very simple.

Most of us are now using the ribbon interface (Revit 2011).  Various customisations are possible, but let's try to set an office standard.  I recommend docking the properties dialogue on the right and leaving the browser docked on the left.

You can also right-click on any command to add it to the quick access toolbar at the top of the screen.

 My quick access toolbar now looks like this:

That's all for post no 1