Tricky Revit Family Required

[desandli836892]

I am trying to find a Revit solution for an AutoCAD block that my client is currently using. The AutoCAD block is dynamic and it is used to define points along the edge of a free-form curved wall of a very large swimming pool, the builders then use these points to set-out the edge of the curved wall on site.

The AutoCAD block works with three points (Master Points) that are placed at pre-determined spots somewhere in the centre of where the curved walls will go, then they have about 20 to 30 other points (Set-out Points) that get moved to the edge of the curved wall and each of these points has an X, Y, Angle and Distance value that relates back to each of the 3 Master Points, e.g. Set-out Point 1 will have an X value, Y value, angle and direct distance from Master point 1, Master Point 2 and Master Point 3. From this they then get three tables (one for each Master Point) to show how each of the 20 to 30 set-out points relates back to the 3 Master Points so that they can set out each of the points precisely on site. The tables look like this...

Master Point 1

	X	Y	Angle	Distance
Set-out Point 1
Set-out Point 2
Set-out Point 3
Set-out Point 4
Set-out Point 5
Set-out Point 6
Set-out Point 7
Set-out Point 8
Set-out Point 9
Set-out Point 10
Set-out Point 11
Set-out Point 12
Set-out Point 13
Set-out Point 14
Set-out Point 15
Set-out Point 16
Set-out Point 17
Set-out Point 18
Set-out Point 19
Set-out Point 20

I have told them that in Revit you can place a family (that looks like a dot) into the project and then place a Spot Co-ordinate on each one giving you a Northing and Easting for each dot family and this will give them the exact set-out of each “point” on site. They said that this would help if they were using shared co-ordinates, but they wanted to know what if they didn’t use shared co-ordinates as this would make the Spot Co-ordinates invalid. So they would still like to see if we could use the X, Y, Angle, Distance method.

Does anyone out there think there is a way we can create a Revit family that can behave in a similar fashion to their AutoCAD block?

Your thoughts will really be appreciated.

[dhurtubise]

If you don't use Shared Coordinates you could still use a different location, move the base point to your "anchor" and use a spot coordinate. That would give you a relative XY from that "anchor" point

[damon.sidel]

I agree that the Spot Coordinate would be the easiest way. However, just for the fun of it, I think this could be done with an adaptive component. First a question: why do they need the XY coordinate? If they have the Master Points set out by survey, then an angle and distance is enough to locate each set-out point. The XY seems redundant. Having three Master Points also seems redundant, but I'm sure I'm missing something.

Anyway, I did a really quick test and my angle parameter doesn't quite work, so I took care of it in the schedule (360-degrees - Angle). As far as I can figure, you need one Master Point, which could be the project origin, and then place one adaptive component for each set-out point. A single schedule with angle and distance would be enough to describe the wall.

Set-out.JPG

Set-out AC.JPG

[dhurtubise]

That's a whole lot of clicking

[damon.sidel]

That's a whole lot of clicking

True, this is about three times as many clicks as spot coordinates, but more fun.

I was thinking it could be done with one family if you had a fixed number of set-out points, but that might be restrictive. Then it would be the same number of clicks as the spot coordinates plus two extras for origin and north orientation.

[desandli836892]

Thanks for the responses guys...

The information that I gave, in the original post, was an insight into the way their current AutoCAD block works, I think the X and Y values are for triangulation, so that they have more than one way of measuring and checking the location of each point on site. It does not mean that the Revit version/solution will adopt the same principles or look. I'm just trying to find a way that they can acheive the same result in revit.

I think that the adaptive component approach is the best way to go. I will be investigating that path further now.

Again, thanks for the responses, they are really valuable to the ongoing "sharing" mindset that we need to maintain for the Revit cominity.

[desandli836892]

Hi Damon

I was just testing your theory. You have three points in the adaptive component family, I understand the first one would be the origin, the second one will be the actual set-out point and I can see that the third one is to calculate the angle but where exactly would you click for it? Then I also couldn't get the schedule to populate, I have created the schedule with all the fields but they come up blank. Can you please explain how you got it to populate.

Thanks

[dhurtubise]

You need shared parameters for all dimensions

[damon.sidel]

where exactly would you click for it?

In the image Set-out.JPG, you'll see I drew some model lines as a cross at what I was making my Master Point or origin. You are correct with the first two points:

Point 1 = click on origin
Point 2 = click on set-out point
Point 3 = click on north, which the way I set it up is the end point of the north-south line.

You could redo the adaptive component to have a different order, perhaps origin, north, then set-out, might be more natural.

You need shared parameters for all dimensions

This is correct. The Set_Out_Distance and Set_Out_Angle parameters in my adaptive component are shared parameters, so that I could create a Multi-Category Schedule that would use these parameters.

[desandli836892]

This is correct. The Set_Out_Distance and Set_Out_Angle parameters in my adaptive component are shared parameters, so that I could create a Multi-Category Schedule that would use these parameters.

I have created a new shared parameter file for this project now, and associated all the parameters in the family with the parameters from the shared parameters file. I have loaded the family into a project and all the parameters came accross with it. I then created the schedule, but it still came up blank. I then went to 'Project Parameters' in the project and made sure that all the parameters from the family were entered into the project, and even this didn't help as the schedule still is blank. I then tried to change some of the parameters from reporting parameters to regular parameters, and still nothing???

So, I am lost again... Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Des