How To Measure Egress Travel Distance

[sthedens]

That written...if I had a nickle for every time someone told me that they don't need "this approach", they just need 2D or plain lines or some such, I'd be rich. The interior designer says I don't care if the furniture is 3D...but when you later are looking at the building in a camera view the first question from them is, "Where's the furniture??". Reply with, "You said you didn't want 3D! They reply with, "Yeah, but this is Revit!?!"

This is why they don't allow firearms in the workplace. I need a Terry Tate Office Linebacker!

[twiceroadsfool]

Drawing a line = 2 clicks. Drawing a Line Based Family = 2 clicks.

Querying the lengths of the lines and writing the distance with text = 6 clicks plus typing (everytime it changes).

Tagging / making different Path types of Line Based families = 3 clicks per travel distance... Once.

Thats really the entire crux of the matter. Using steves example of the "interior designer who doesnt need furniture in 3D," they need to be educated in how the program works. If the piece of furniture is built, its the same work placing it in 3d as it is in 2d.

Its not a matter of if you NEED intelligent/parametric egress distances. Its that: If you take 4 minutes to build one, why WOULDNT you?

[bhanna]

Its not a matter of if you NEED intelligent/parametric egress distances. Its that: If you take 4 minutes to build one, why WOULDNT you?

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. The real trick is to manage systemic complexity and decrease overall project "entropy." I'm not convinced yet that this is a case where the extra complexity is beneficial; more schedules to manage, more families in the list, more "weight".

I certainly appreciate the power of families and scheduling, and I'm certain that people who post here can manage these things way faster than a typical user. As a novice responsible for novices, I have to be particularly attentive to time and efficiency.

For my part, why would I want to spend 4 minutes screwing around with something mundane when I could "draw" it in 1 minute and spend the other three figuring out something cool: http://buildz.blogspot.com/2009/12/a...el-plugin.html

Of course a good counter argument would be that simplicity is to be found in the consistency of the process algorithm; Build Family -> Schedule Family -> Extract Data. Foreverything.

[twiceroadsfool]

LOL. Im not someone who lives in the camp of "do it just because you can."

Im in the camp of "Do it because its way faster, much more efficient, keeps the budget lower overall, and makes the project team able to go focus on the ARCHITECTURE and not on having to draw and redraw lines and query them and chase text notes around 4 floors of Egress diagrams and..." Well, i guess you get the point.

Ive implemented these Egress Families in 3 offices now. Ive never had a single user (all novices when they first used it) have trouble with it. Have you USED a line based family? Its the SAME as drawing a series of lines. Literally. Only, then you dont have to query it.

Its not like their building it every time, its built for them. Believe me, im ware of the stakes in overcomplicating a Revit project, and all that it entails when dealing with Novice project teams.

I also know, that when youre responsible for novices, if you entirely defeat the tool for the sake of "letting them do what theyve always done" theyll never get good, or fast.

[Gordon.Price]

For what it is worth, I find that the folks doing Life Safety Plans, while novice Revit users, are never junior staff. They are Project Architects and Project Managers and sometimes even Principals/Owners. Show THEM that Revit done right is a better way and EVERYONE stops wanting to "do it like I've always done it" a lot faster. The "Working Door Schedule" may be the single most powerful "old hand converter" available in Revit, un-sexy as it is.

That said, I am wondering what people have done vis-a-vis scheduling to deal with "shared" path of travel. Like when three paths come together for a segment before exiting. I want to see all three paths as a total length of each path, but the one leg has to be counted three times in effect, and the schedule wants to only show it once. Never found a graceful way to make that work, other than stacking three segments at the shared portion.

Gordon

[twiceroadsfool]

We put them next to each other, so theres no ambiguity about the paths. Ive seen them done (at my olb job) where they get stacked on top of one another. Graphically i dont like it, nor do i care for it Revit wise, but it still works just fine...

[bhanna]

Have you USED a line based family?

Of course I have. I found it to be a clumsy workaround, lacking the typical elegance of how operations are typically performed in Revit. This is why I posted this question - I was hoping that there was something more powerful.

I fully support families and scheduling, but perhaps the original question should be phrased as conjecture, to wit, is the current "line-based-family" method of constructing egress routes the best possible solution or is there potentially a better way to do this? And if so then what?

Its the SAME as drawing a series of lines. Literally.

Yes. That's exactly the problem. I'd like to end up with a single intelligent object at the end of the process. Perhaps we're implementing this incorrectly?

[twiceroadsfool]

Of course I have. I found it to be a clumsy workaround, lacking the typical elegance of how operations are typically performed in Revit. This is why I posted this question - I was hoping that there was something more powerful.

I fully support families and scheduling, but perhaps the original question should be phrased as conjecture, to wit, is the current "line-based-family" method of constructing egress routes the best possible solution or is there potentially a better way to do this? And if so then what?

Yes. That's exactly the problem. I'd like to end up with a single intelligent object at the end of the process. Perhaps we're implementing this incorrectly?

I just cant see how its clumsy, unless im missing something vital. I click "Component- SE-Travel Distance Line- Path1," i check the Chain box in the option bar, and i start in the corner of the room. I click. Move around the desk, click, move towards the door, click, down the hall, click, down the next hall, click, out the door, click. I go to do it again, but first duplicate the type in the browser and call it Path2. Through that,the schedule is filling itself out.

If thats clumsy, then i guess its clumsy? Im not sure what you want it to do, aside from do the project for you.

[bhanna]

Again. Is the current "line-based-family" method of constructing egress routes the best possible solution or is there potentially a better way to do this? And if so then what?

How can one ever hope to grow and innovate if one can't imagine something better than the status quo?

[twiceroadsfool]

Again. Is the current "line-based-family" method of constructing egress routes the best possible solution or is there potentially a better way to do this? And if so then what?

Its the best there is.