Revit 2015 R2 Structural Framing Quirk

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With the release of Revit 2015 R2 one of the big features for structural engineers was the capability to flip framing members.  A simple right click on the member and the option to “Flip Structural Framing Ends” appears.  This was a welcome addition and a nice feature to have, but be careful, there are some quirks involved with this feature.  This feature is in reality rotating the beam 180degrees while keeping some of it’s properties relative to the end and others not.

Revit_2015R2_StructuralFraming_Flip_03

Here are some of the quirks I have found to be associated with this new feature.

  • If one end of the beam is utilizing the “Attachment” value it will either be flipped or removed
  • Face based objects hosted to the beam will rotate with the beam and end up on the other side of the beam
  • Adaptive components hosted to the beam will either be rotated or simply disappear
  • When flipping sloped beams they can become detached from their work plane (not like this warning is rare)
  • Cross section rotation will become a negative value keeping it’s relation to vertical (nice catch programmers)

In the images below the plate that host the clevis and rod is the OOTB gusset plate family which is a faced based element, the red connection plate at the top is an adaptive component family.

Revit_2015R2_StructuralFraming_Flip_01

As you can see in the image below the beam rotates when flipped thus creating havoc on elements that are hosted to it.

Revit_2015R2_StructuralFraming_Flip_02

Conclusion to this feature is to be careful when flipping beams and verify elements aren’t hosted to them.

Displaced Views used Internally

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I recently was at the second RTC Europe conference, (the reason for not having a post last week) as usual it delivered with good content, exceptional speakers and of course an all around great experience.  Having it in a castle was an enjoyable experience not to mention the extra time we took to tour most of Ireland.

As usual there were great sessions, sessions on Dynamo, Reality Capture, Families and the list goes on.

One tip I cam out with was during a session Havard Vasshaug was presenting on Dynamo.  The tip had nothing to do with Dynamo rather something he briefly showed to emphasize his point and made me think of how to use it in daily practices.  It was his use of displaced elements, he had moved away a few elements to show what he was working on for the delegates to see easily.

RTCEU_2014_Havard

This made me think that when trying to show a client or other team mates certain elements that are hard to focus on, or when simply trying to remember where you left off before a long holiday weekend.  Create a view and displace elements that you need to focus on or remember to update at a later date.

Revit Basics – Group Origin Points

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I am not a big fan of groups I tend to think they get over used in lieu of families, but this post isn’t going to get into that.  With that said there is a time and place for their use and when they are being used I think there are a couple of tips that I see commonly overlooked.  The simplest tip to discuss is the groups origin point.  When a group is created it will place a symbol in the center of the objects being grouped, this symbol is the origin point.  This symbol is used not only for the origin point when placing the group but also as the origin when the group is being changed from one type to another.  To adjust where this is located simply select the group and drag the symbol to a location that is better than the random center(ish) area of the group.  This way placement of the group is easier as well maintaining it’s placement when the group type is changed.

Group_InsertionPoint

In the image above a group was created for alignment of several schedules onto sheets, the “Group Origin” was moves such that is could easily be snapped to the title block.

Another tip is the fact that groups can be changed just liked any family.  If a group is selected it can the be changed via the “Type Selector” just like any family.  This is why it is important to pay attention to the “Group Origin” as stated above.

Group_TypeSelector

Last tip for the day is if you are only using a group one time consider ungrouping it and purging the group out of the model.  It is a known fact that groups will slow Revit down especially when they are over used.

Revit Basics – View Range

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Over the years I have had the question come up on why a level can’t be used as an underlay or be selected for view depth or bottom while in the View Range command.  ONLY levels with a view associated to them can be used in these situations.  If a level needs be generated and used for one of these options just add a plan view, so it can be used.

Level_NoView

Generic Annotation Bug

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While working with a family to resemble a Level head for detailing I noticed a quirk when dealing with Generic Annotations and justified text.  I had nested in a Generic Annotation family that only had a right justified label, this was nested into another generic annotation family.  What I discovered is right justified labels in a generic annotation family will end up moving the control point if there isn’t a line in the family.  This is odd because when the label is center or left justified the insertion point remains constant.  I traced this issue back to Revit 2012, can’t believe I hadn’t discovered this issue previously.

Generic_Annotaion_Quirk

To resolve this situation a line needs to be added to the family, I personally just added an invisible line on the vertical reference plane, such that it was easier to find if the label was blank.