Tag Archives: Revit Technology Conference

Adaptive Component – Everyday Uses part 1

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This past year was a good one and I had the privilege to speak at several conferences and one of the most popular topics was adaptive components (my sessions were titled Everyday Uses of Adaptive Components). I thought I should share some of the process and families that I had presented.  This is going to be a series of posts discussing the process of adaptive components, their advantages and pitfalls as well as a tutorial on how to create a few.

Family Template Types

When starting an adaptive family, the first step is to understand what templates are available and decide which template is the most appropriate for the task at hand.  There are three templates that provide a starting place for an adaptive family: Curtain Panel Pattern Based.rft, Generic Model Adaptive.rft, and Generic Model Pattern Based.rft.  Even though the curtain panel pattern based family sounds like it can only be used on a divided surface of a mass, etc, it can actually be used similarly to a normal adaptive family.  Additionally, starting from the Curtain Panel Pattern Based template, and then changing the category to generic model would produce the same result as starting with the generic model pattern based family.

Generic Model Pattern Based / Curtain Panel Pattern Based

When starting with one of the pattern passed templates, there is a grid system (tile pattern), along with 4 points on that system, and reference lines connecting those points.  Unlike many family templates, these points, grids and lines are not static and can be adjusted.  To change the tile pattern and the amount of adaptive points, select the grid system (must be done by selecting the outside of the grid), and in the type selector, change the grid tile pattern type.  Depending on which tile pattern is chosen, the quantity of adaptive points may adjust along with the grid system.

TilePattern_TypeSelector

Note: To flex the family select the grid system and change the spacing in the instance properties

TilePattern_Properties

This type of template is ideal for creating a shape or panel that needs a specific quantity of points.  The downside to using this template type is that additional adaptive points can’t be added, the adaptive points can’t be re-ordered, and there can never be shape handle points in the family.

Generic Model Adaptive

This template is the most flexible type, but it also starts from basically a blank slate – only a couple of reference planes.  This means everything has to be created from scratch, starting with adding adaptive points and reference lines. This template type does allow for an infinite amount of adaptive points, as well as the flexibility to re-order the adaptive points at will and to add shape handle points.  This template type will allow for levels to be generated, but the levels DO NOT transfer to the project or massing environment; basically they simply act as horizontal reference planes.

GenericModelAdaptive

Note:  The Generic Model Adaptive looks extremely similar to the massing template, however adaptive points can’t be created in the massing environment.

 

Up next Adaptive Component – Everyday Uses Part 2

RTC Summary

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As you all probably know, we attended Revit Technology Conference, North America, last week, which is why our blog has been pretty quiet lately.  In the week leading up to the event we were putting the finishing touches on our presentations and finishing the content for our demos and labs.  We were looking forward to going to RTC again this year and of course it didn’t disappoint.  Some of the time slots had a few classes that were great, so Brian were often in different sessions (we didn’t even take any of each others classes), and we are still discussing all that we learned now back home in Colorado.

One of the sessions that Brian liked the most was Tim Waldock’s presentation on Divide and Conquer Adaptive components.  This was kind of a follow up session from last year where Tim shared some of the tools that he used to accomplish arrayed families.  This year he showed the new repeat and divide tools, and demonstrated the use of these tools on a current project.

One of the sessions I liked most was Autodesk Project Vasari: Playing with Energetic Super Models with Matt Jezyk.  The class title did not exactly match the session, but I didn’t mind since Matt covered the Dynamo plug in with Vasari.  Seeing Dynamo in action motivated me to learn more about it, and I can’t wait to play with the tool back at my office.

Although many people warned me that they are hard to teach, I really enjoyed teaching my first lab this year and I am already brainstorming for what I can teach in a lab format next year.  I also liked the small group I had for my What’s New in RST 2013 since we were able to skip much of the formalities and we ended up just playing with the software for most of the hour.  My Analytical Software Lecture went well, although it was very fast-paced since I had a ton of content to shove into the time frame.  As always, everyone loved both of Brian’s labs – one on Navisworks and one on managing details on multi-building projects – but we all knew that would be the case since he is such a Revit rock star.  We will see if he and Paul Aubin can break that tie for best speaker rating.

Of course this is a little biased, but a true high-point of the conference was seeing Brian up on the stage during the closing session.  He presented Glorious Gadgets with Jim Balding, which seemed to be a hit with everyone at the conference.  The two of them presented all kinds of cool (and geeky) gadgets, including a flying drone that they sent over the crowd, and the crowd-pleasing beer-fetching robot.

As was the case last year, one of the best parts of the conference is the networking, talking, collaborating and catching-up with all the people we see at RTC.  We hope the conference will always maintain this small, close-knit atmosphere since it is one of the things that sets RTC apart from …those other conferences.

With RTC coming to a close we now we have to wait another year for all of the learning and fun, however we are looking forward to next RTC not being as hot since it will be in Vancouver Canada on July 10-13, 2013.

 

 

Revit Technology Conference

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Late last night Dezi and myself received emails that our abstracts were accepted by the RTC committee and we will both be teaching one lab and one lecture style sessions.  Since we both love RTC we were excited and now get to start working on our handouts.  I have listed our sessions below.  If you haven’t already signed up for RTC I would hurry there aren’t many spots left.

Dezi’s sessions:

“Family Lab: Cuts with Voids” as a 60 Minute LAB in the Structure stream, Intermediate level.

  • With the release of Revit 2012 we were gifted an option to allow families to be cut by other families.  This seemingly small feature creates many possibilities for increasing the precision and accuracy of our Revit Structure models.  This lab will share examples of how this feature can be utilized in a structural beam family to create a beam pocket, in a precast spandrel panel with a sloped top, and in embed plates that need to cut more than one element.  Following the examples, the lab will go step-by-step through how to create one of the aforementioned examples

“Integrating Revit Structure with Analytical Software” as a 75 Minute Presentation in the Structure stream, Intermediate level.

  • When it comes to analytical software there are numerous options in which software to use, and how exactly to utilize that software with a Revit model.  This session will cover when Revit models should be exported to analytical packages, how best to prepare a Revit model for use in an analysis software and will be a comprehensive overview of the different analytical software options, including RISA, RAM, Fastrak, etabs and Revit Storm.  We will compare and contrast the different software packages and look at benefits, drawbacks, similarities and differences among them.  This session will be an balanced look at these software packages from the perspective of the end user

Brian’s sessions:

“Detail Management in Multi-Building Projetcs” as a 75 Minute Lab in the Architecture stream, All Levels (Forums etc.) level.

  • Working on campus projects, strip malls or any type of multi-building project inevitably brings up the discussion of how to manage the details.  Often a major driving factor in choosing how to manage the details depends on if all of the buildings will be included in one set of construction documents, or if each building will be a separate set of documents.  Based on the project and which of the two previously mentioned approaches is selected, there are a number of strategies that can be implemented within Revit to help streamline the construction document process. This class will cover a few scenarios of multi-building projects and will discuss which approach to detail management may be the most appropriate.  In addition the session will reveal and discuss the pros and cons to each approach such that the attendees will be able to apply the most appropriate strategy to their own multi-building projects.

“Navisworks for the Designers and Engineers” as a 60 Minute LAB in the CCFM (Construction, Coordination, Facility Management) stream, All Levels (Forums etc.) level.

  • Navisworks is commonly used to check for interferences and collisions, however, this software can also be leveraged as a powerful marketing tool.  This session will demonstrate how to expand the applications of the Navisworks software.  In order to use Navisworks for marketing one must first understand processes such as using search sets for up to date selections and using the consistency out of Revit to expedite the use of search sets.  Once this is achieved, the building may then be quickly and easily displayed in many different ways and animated using timeliner, both of which can be useful marketing tools.  This session will discuss all of these items and will share an actual project where these Navisworks procedures and tools were utilized for marketing purposes.

 

Revit Technology Conference

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For those of you who follow me know I am a huge advocate of the Revit Technology Conference.  I believe that anyone in the Revit realm, from the novice to the expert, will find great benefit in attending RTC.  Whether you go to RTC Australia, North America, or any possible new location in the future, it will provide huge benefits.  This week RTC announced VisDay for the Australian conference.

Excerpt from the RTC website:

The inaugural RTC Visualization Day is an adjunct to the Revit Technology Conference, dedicated to best-of-breed visualization technologies and methodologies. It will be held immediately preceding RTC 2012 Australasia. It recognizes the unique attributes of visualization as a process, and the skills of those in the industry. We are proud to have secured some industry heavyweights to share their knowledge and to support an open dialogue in an intimate environment – similar to established RTC events generally. Come and learn from some of the industry’s best, from Australasia and abroad.

There is a small additional fee to attend VisDay, but from what I have seen on the site, it will be more than worth it.

Hopefully we will get something similar for the RTC North American conference.