Parametric Arrays & Nested Families Tutorial

[Mr Spot]

Upon request from other users i've create a tutorial on using nested families to create parametric arrays.

Difficulty: Intermediate

Let me know if its helpful...

Cheers!

Note: As beegee mentioned the final formula for the no of louvres should read

Heigth /(Free Air + Louvre Height) and not width as shown. - THIS HAS NOW BEEN AMENDED

Please note this has now been updated and is available from my blog

[Nic M.]

Thanks Chris,

there goes the weekend again reading, fiddeling, cursing (a bit less now..)

[beegee]

Good work Mr. S.

( Just check the formula for number of louvres - I think it should read " Height / ( Free Air + Louvre Height ) ... not Width ? ) Your height and width dimensions are the same in the tutorial.

[Mr Spot]

So it should...! Thanks. I whipped it up pretty quick and was mainly concentrating on making sure i had all the right screen captures. When i was actually creating the family for the tutorial. I'll have to amend it when i get a chance...!

Cheers.

[Mr Spot]

Okay, so i'm pretty proud of this one. I wanted to test out the ability of arrays and nested families so i've created a double nested family to create a multi bay louvred panel window that will calculate the no of mullions needed given a maximum span for the louvres.

Cheers,

Chris. 8-)

EDIT: Just updated the file with an amended version as there were a couple of things i had to fix... :screwy:

[funkman]

Just wanted to say thanks Chris for the tutorial. I couldnt get one of my parametric arrays to work in the project so I looked this up again, and presto, it works. Thanks again.

[rtcorpuz]

Dear Mr. Spot,

It's really a nice and clear tutorial, nice works......!!!

Great help for a beginner user like me...

rtcorpuz

[funkman]

Following on from this discussion....I have a balustrade family I am trying to get parametric such that the glass panels are equal in size and I can specify end and centre gaps without exceeding a maximum panel size. I cannot for the life of me get the thing to work 100% correctly. I have attached the file. Please any help or guidance from the masters?

[Mr Spot]

For starters, try not to use instance parameters when nesting families... Always use type parameters and link these...

Heres the fixed file.

[funkman]

omg, thanks so much. I dont know what you did but it is awesome. What was I doing wrong? I see all the formulas are correct. Is it how I was locking the array?

A master of paramtetric arrays are you!!!!

[Mr Spot]

I did a couple of things... First up as i mentioned above change the instance parameters to type in the nested family.

Then added left and right reference planes and set them to be the appropriate references and then locked the panel to these instead of being in the sketch.

Then changed the defines origin point to the left reference plane as this is where we wanted to define the array from, not from the centre...

[funkman]

thanks for that Chris

[Mr Spot]

I just might add that with Revit 7 & 8 when nesting families to be arrayed it now seems necessary to make the bottom reference plane a strong reference as its now defaulted to "not a reference".

It should be named as bottom, set to bottom under strong reference and to define origin. This will assist in arraying vertically.

HTH.

[The Sweg]

I'm having some difficulty using 'align' with the louver being angled as you say to do in step#8. I pick the reference line, then pick the corner of the louver, and it just sits there. I know I'm picking the corner 'cause it highlights when I hover over it, but--nothing! I'm not sure what I'm missing. I'm really new to Revit and am using Ver. 8. Thanks for any help.

[Mr Spot]

I'm having some difficulty using 'align' with the louver being angled as you say to do in step#8. I pick the reference line, then pick the corner of the louver, and it just sits there. I know I'm picking the corner 'cause it highlights when I hover over it, but--nothing! I'm not sure what I'm missing. I'm really new to Revit and am using Ver. 8. Thanks for any help.
First item... In this example they are all reference planes as opposed to lines. Be sure you are using planes. Just use the move tool and locate the profile as shown in the image. Then use the align tool to lock the points. (i didn't use the align tool to move the objects but instead to make sure they don't move off the origin when adjusted).

HTH.

[The Sweg]

Thanks for a great tutorial. I was using ref. planes, but didn't follow everything else exactly . :Oops: It worked just fine after that. Now to apply this to a shutter I'm building! Very exciting stuff!

[chrisguy]

thank you, most usefull

[hkeller]

greetings...

the tutorial was great and very helpful, but i wanted to know how i create a louvre system that does not go into a wall. the frame and louvres site at least 100mm off the facade, and the facade is just full height glazing bound by steel columns...

can anybody help?

[Mr Spot]

The process isn't any different... Just the fact the you start with a non hosted generic model family as opposed to a window family...

[Mr Spot]

Just so you know this tutorial has now been updated, that fixes a number of errors, goes into more detail and will also be quickly followed by tutorial for more advanced arrays... Refer my blog as i can't upload it here, the file exceeds the 1MB limit?

Cheers.

[moon47]

Nice work... =] Much more comprehensive then that tut in the help file for parametric joist...

Umm... Did you notice you spelled LOUVER wrong in the tut... =]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre

If you made the tutorial to build that in Revit you would be a golden god... =]

And i only noticed when i did copy/paste on the formula for the Louver height and Revit TOLD me it was wrong compared to how i was spelling it (from reference)... I am horrible at spelling... =\

Thanks... =]

[Mr Spot]

Nice work... =] Much more comprehensive then that tut in the help file for parametric joist...

Umm... Did you notice you spelled LOUVER wrong in the tut... =]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre

If you made the tutorial to build that in Revit you would be a golden god... =]

And i only noticed when i did copy/paste on the formula for the Louver height and Revit TOLD me it was wrong compared to how i was spelling it (from reference)... I am horrible at spelling... =\

Thanks... =]
Australian spelling...

[Iro.K]

Hello,
I am totally new here so please let me know if I am in the wrong thread.
I am also quite the newbie in Revit. :Oops:
First of all, I want to give my thanks for the tutorial!
And come to my issue:
I am working on a building with brick walls. In the detail section, I want to fill in the bricks on the outer wall. I tried to do as shown in the tutorial, but I get an error that there is a circular chain of references among the formulas. I have attached a print screen of the whole situation. Is there anything that can solve this?
Thank you in advance!!

103931

[The Sweg]

You are using the parameter 'Spacing' in the 'No of Bricks' formula and the 'No of Bricks' in the 'Spacing' formula. Revit can't solve both at the same time without having a value for at least one of them. You'll have to separate it out into another parameter somehow.

[Iro.K]

Mm.. Thought so.. The thing is that those two variables are interdependent.. I will see if I can separate them somehow. Thank you very much for the reply!