REVITit

Custom Pattern

2010-06-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

In this post I will continue discussing the custom pattern process I started on the last post and explain our process in obtaining the pattern seen below.

After having established the pattern we desired as per my last post, we have to now input all those numbers, or as Revit calls them, the pattern descriptors on a .pat file in order for Revit to read it as a pattern. Finding the .pat file that comes with Revit is a task on it's own so I have provided our .pat file below.

Download

After you download the .pat provided, open it and when or if prompted do so with notepad, not word. The following notepad document should open:

The only text that can be change are the ones highlighted. The rest must remain as is or the file will not be read by Revit.

The first line is the name of the pattern with a * at the beginning of the name. This can be change to reflect the pattern type. In our case it's a custom tile pattern.

The second line is left blank on purpose.

The third line must be typed as shown ;%TYPE=MODEL

The fourth line is blank.

From the fifth line down are the pattern descriptors. These are what tells Revit what to do and how to create the pattern. See my previous post on how these numbers work.

Once the .pat file has been set with the pattern desired, save it.

In Revit create a new material. This is located under the manage tab, Materials.

Create a duplicate of an existing material. I usually use a material that resembles the one I want to create. See image below.

Click OK.

To the right are the surface pattern and cut pattern types. To add the new surface pattern click the 3 dots to the right of it. That opens the window below.

There are two types of patterns, a drafting pattern and a model pattern. Make sure that the model type is checked, otherwise Revit won't read the file type.

Click new and the following window will open.

Click to check 'custom' and click on the import button. Locate the .pat file you've saved and click OK on all the remaining open windows until all windows are closed.

Once all these steps have been completed, just add the material to the desired wall or object and your done.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Creating a Custom Pattern

2010-06-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Creating custom patterns is an easy way to add detail to a project and make it more presentable. Getting the pattern you desire, well that's a whole other story. It is as complicated as it can be. The image above is one of our custom tile patterns. I will explain how we got to this pattern later but before I do so, I think it is more important to decode the process of making the code. The way a pattern is made is through a series of numbers, or as Revit calls it, a pattern descriptor.

The image below is my attempt at understanding what the pattern descriptor does. And as a note, it is slightly different for horizontal lines and vertical lines, I will explain how.

The first number as can be seen from the above image, is the angle. As we all know a '0' means it's horizontal and a '90' means it's vertical. And of course any other angle in between can also be used such as '45', '30' and so forth.

The next set of numbers are the origin. Think back to math class, plotting points on a graph. In this example I started at (0, 0,).

The numbers that follow are the x-shift and y-shift numbers. These numbers are what set the starting point. The example above starts at (5, 5). The y-shift number is the desired spacing between each horizontal line. I will discuss how to determine the x-shift number further down.

The pen down number is the length of the line. I set it at 3. So I now have a new point at (8, 5), which creates a line between these two points.

The pen up is the spacing between each line segment. This number is always a negative. A -7 determines a new starting point at (15, 5) and due to the pen down number, an ending point at (18, 5). This sequence keeps going over and over. I will also discuss how this number is determined further down.

The x-shift number aside from determining the starting point on the x-axis also tells the line above to shift over, therefore creating a staggering pattern as it moves upward. A '0' for the x-shift would align the line segments vertically. This number can be any you desired but if a *Gap is desired, this number is also a contributor to creating it as explained below.

* In this example there's a gap between each line segment as shown above. This is determined by the following 2 conditions:

X-shift = Pen Dn + Desired SP
Pen Up = Pen Dn + Desired SP + Desired SP

The desired spacing (SP) is what you want the gap to be. In this example I want the gap to be 2 inches each way and my pen down to be 3. So once these two numbers are determined I can placed in them in the two formulas above.

X-shift = 3 + 2 = 5

-Pen Up = 3 + 2 + 2 = -7

These are now my x-shift and pen up numbers.

The horizontal lines are drawn once all the data above is inputted.

To draw the vertical lines, the process is exactly the same except for one exception. The x-shift and y-shift numbers are switch. The first number is no longer the x-shift, it's the y-shift. See the image below. I hope this helps and answers the dreaded question of how do I change the pattern. If you have any questions, please ask and I will do my best to answer it. I will post another blog of how we got our pattern shown on the first image.

2011!!

2010-04-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

We just got our copies of 2011 and are installing them now. Shit moved again, but it looks like the most of the changes are for the better. Has anyone worked with it much yet? Thoughts?

Renderings vs. Photos

2010-03-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

American Business Bank is finished and photographed. Here is the final photo and the original rendering we did for the client. I think we hit our original plan right on the head.

Exiting Tags

2009-11-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

As we all know room tags also have parameters and therefore making a tag display exactly what you need can be tricky. We have created our own exiting tag that displays the occupant load factor (OLF), the occupancy type, and the number of occupants. This process took us some time to figure out but at the end it was worth the time spent. And hopefully, this can help our reader(s) too.

Download

After downloading both the RFA file and text file, load the exiting tag onto the project on place it. By now, you've probably noticed that the tag cannot be edited. This is because the parameters haven't been set yet. So open the "Shared Parameters" dialog box.

Click on the browse button and load the text file, "Exit Tag Param" and click OK on the open dialog box. Your shared parameters should display the following:

Once the parameters have been uploaded, they now need to be link to the room so that the tag can be edited. Click OK on the "Shared Parameters" dialog box and open the "Project Parameters" dialog box.

The exiting tag parameters now need to be loaded. Click add and the following window will open:

Under the parameter type options, select shared parameter and click the select button. A new dialog box will open listing the parameters loaded. Select the "Occ Typ" and click OK.

Once back at the parameter properties, ensure that the now loaded parameter is being linked to the room. Under the categories section, scroll down and check the rooms label.

The project parameter should now list the added parameter.

Follow the above steps to complete all three fields of the exiting tag. The remaining parameters are as follow:

The exiting tag can now be edited. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to add a formula to the tag so that the number of occupants is automatically updated once the area of the room changes. If we figure it out, we will definitely post it. If any one comes across a solution, please feel free to share it with us.

Why Does Revit Just Close?

2009-11-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

Revit seems to have good days, and bad days. It seems you never know what kind of mood it will be in. We have been having problems with Revit just closing. It gives no warning (this is not the crash where you are offered the option of saving a recover) IT JUST CLOSES. We have asked anyone and everyone if they have a solution or an explanation but no one has been any help. So, I will put the question to our new blog’s reader(s?): Please help me understand why Revit does this to me- some days I take it personally.

Customizing Viewports

2009-11-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

Creating custom viewports on sheets is no longer as simple as drawing a line with text. It's far more intelligent than that now. In our quest to mimic our old viewport settings used in CAD, we came across this family. Like everything in revit, parameters need be set, families loaded, and settings set accurately. Viewports are no different. In this post, I'll go over the process of setting up custom viewports that meet your needs.

DOWNLOAD Four custom viewports with different title settings

After downloading the family, load it onto your project. Once the family has been loaded onto the project and you have placed a detail onto a sheet, you'll have to create a duplicate viewport so that the new settings don't overwrite the existing. I'm sure we've all learned the hard way that if you change the settings on an object, it changes all that have the same instance. Therefore, duplicate the viewport. Right click, go to element properties, duplicate. Name the new viewport accordingly.

Once the new viewport has been created, under the "Title" parameter, the new loaded viewport family should appear. Select it and hit OK until all the type properties windows are closed. And you're done. Repeat this until you've created all the viewports you need.

As a note, if you'd like to create a viewport that is not on the uploaded families, just open one and customize it to fit your needs. Hope this is useful.

DOWNLOAD

Another Light

2009-11-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

People seem to really be enjoying the last light we posted, so here is another one... this one took some effort to get the double glass surround just right, but we got there and it looks great.

Manufacture: Louis Poulsen
Model: Campbell
Light Source: 1/75w modeled with photometric data

DOWNLOAD

DOWNLOAD FILE AT REVIT CITY

You Can't Always Find the Perfect Family

2009-11-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

Some manufactures are getting on the Revit band wagon, but it seems next to impossible to find the exact lighting fixture, chair (or anything really) already modeled. More often than not we find ourselves starting form scratch to get it just right.

We will share with you family RFA's we make, boring to complex and everything in between.

Here is a light fixture we modeled:

Manufacture: Louis Poulsen
Model: Ph50
Light Source: 200w modeled with photometric data

DOWNLOAD

DOWNLOAD FILE AT REVIT CITY

Start With a Success

2009-11-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

As our very first post, I thought I would start with something to show off the good parts of REVIT... This is a rendering of a project that was recently finished. There is a lot of back work here that we will ~~bitch~~ blog about later, but like everyone else, we want to get right to the pretty pictures.

Rendering Information:
Project: American Business Bank
File Size Out of Revit: 250kb
Render Time: 24hrs
Render Quality: High
Render Light Setting: Interior- Artificial Only
Exposure Settings