REVIT - Custom Architectural Column with Reveal and Sweep

The CADclip below illustrates a custom REVIT Architectural Column Family that has two type parameters for Column Width and Depth and 7 Instance parameters for Column Material, Sweep Material, Sweep Radius, Sweep Height, Reveal Height, Reveal Vertical Dimension and Reveal Width Dimension.

We start in the project and then open the family to have a look at the guts.

CADclips REVIT Videos Here

CADclip - REVIT Parametric Massing Study

I am VERY EXCITED about REVIT 2010 Massing and particularly the fact that you can create parametric Loadable Masses.

This effectively allows you to create a parametric prototype of a building, load it into a project, copy it around and manipulate each instance of the mass. Then for each instance of the building Mass you can generate and schedule floors, walls, curtain systems, roofs, floor areas, volumes, surface areas and much more.

It's all demonstarted in the CADclip below !

REVIT Void Geometry Trick

Below is a great CADclip on how to work around the fact that you cannot turn off the visibility of void geometry in a family. Instead you just use a parameter (instance) to move the void outside the solid geometry.

REVIT 2010 Massing Study Demo

The CADclip below demonstrates just how slick and simple it is to mass out a building with a curtain system and schedule floor areas, perimeters, volumes and wall surface areas in a matter of minutes.

REVIT - Placing Model Text on a Curved Wall

You cannot place model text on a curved wall but you can place model text on reference planes so the work around is to create a series or reference planes tangent to the curved wall and place one letter on each reference plane. Takes a little bit of time but it works. In the example shown above I named each reference plane according to the appropriate letter ie: ‘M’ ‘O’ ‘D’ ‘E’ ‘L’, then 'set the current reference plane' before placing the model text letter. You can fine tune the ‘plan’ positioning by moving or rotating the reference planes after the letters have been place. You can also nudge the letters around within the reference plane. I changed the ‘material’ of each letter to achieve the color effect. See images below.

CADclip - REVIT Family Type Catalog Files

The majority of REVIT families should take advantage of 'Type Catalogs'.

This can be used in all 3 REVIT disciplines as follows:

1. You can quickly create 10's to 100's of family types.

2. You can load only the types you need when you load the family.

3. It keeps the project file size down.

ENJOY !

CADclip - Solid Sweep Tips

Have you even come across the error above?

Below is a CADclip on a tip when applying a solid sweep where a straight segment in the sweep path transitions to a non tangent arc. The underlying tip is, if you keep running into the "can't create sweep" where you have a "path" and "profile" that do abide by all the rules, use "sketch path" instead of "pick path" and you find the sweep works ok. I suppose if you ever get the error anytime using solod sweep swith from 'pick' path to 'sketch' path anyway and see if it solves the problem. Always remember to check your work plane as well.

CADclip - Eyebrow Dormer by Sloping Solid Blend

Below are a couple CADclips on creating the Eyebrow Dormer shown above.

Canadian Unemployment Rate Up to 8.6%

October 2009, Following two months of moderate growth, employment decreased by 43,000 in October, all in part-time jobs. This drop pushed the unemployment rate up 0.2 percentage points to 8.6%. Most of October's employment decline came from retail and wholesale trade, "other services" and natural resources. These losses were partially offset by gains in transportation and warehousing.

US Unemployment Rate Reaches 10.2 %

Currently 11,000,000 (legal workers) out of work. November 06, 2009 In October, the unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000). The largest job losses over the month were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade. OUCH !

AU and Budget Cuts

I've been talking to alot of architectural companies over the last month or so. It appears to me that the cost of attending AU is just not in the budget for most people / companies this year? According to Lynn's talk every year, AU attendance has been going up progressively each year. To the point that the only place that can host AU is Vegas. No longer could Orlando accommodate AU. With wide spread lay-offs, construction halts and overall global economic hard times I will be interested in the attendance numbers this year. The education at AU is second to none, (if you can filter out the crappy sessions). But I wonder if this is going to be the year of the 'fat cats'. I suspect the slow migration to REVIT 2010 isn't helping either. If you will be one of the privileged attendees at AU 2009, be grateful. Very grateful.