Creating Complex Families Within Revit

[ianwill93716476]

I work for a large arcade/vending machine corporation that uses AutoCAD drawings to layout and design arcades, break rooms, and office spaces.

My question is, if I'm to begin upgrading our ID system to one that uses 3D models and enables a virtual walkthrough of the building, does the Revit platform represent the best software for this application?
This would mean potentially redrawing all of the more complex machines that resemble bikes, cars, etc. into Revit as 3D models.

The things that tempt me to use Revit, are related to it's scheduling system and the ability to create a 2D floorplan at the same time as a 3D model.

If others here have used Revit for complex families in Interior Design before, i'd love to hear their opinions on it.

[nathan.chapman]

Ian,
If you already have 3d CAD files of the equipment then you could just import those into a Revit family and not have to create the database of objects all over again. Now long term i would say draw native Revit families. Be aware that Revit is not very good at complex geometry but we used it at my old firm for interiors layout without any issues since we knew the limitation and worked with it.

[david_peterson]

Revit it great at one off complex families.
The massing tools and adaptives can generate just about anything.
Add Dynamo into the mix and you've got the Power of Rhino with the Documentation skills of Revit.
What more could you want.
For the time being you could use the 3d cad blocks as families, but revit in general doesn't always play well with Cad files.
As for best program for what you want to do, it all depends what you want to do.
Fly-thrus or construction documents.
I'd tend to think 3ds would be much better for the rendering option for walk thrus or VR views.
If you need the documentation aspects I'd go Revit.

[ianwill93716476]

Thanks to the both of you,

Yes i've modeled some machines using AutoCAD and 3DS Max so I can just import some of those.
At the moment they're nothing more than glittery Blocks with Attributes i suppose. I guess that, more than anything, I was wondering if modeling in Revit was counterintuitive or not.
I'd heard that Revit doesnt make things easy for the modeler so I wanted to know if anyone had experience.

In reply to Nathan, I may try it out and see what can be done with some of the more detailed models and then determine if it's worth punching through. It sounds like that's what your firm managed to do.

And in reply to David, I'm curious as to what you mean by one-off families.
Unfortunately ill be needing both VR presentations and documentation, so I think I may be using both softwares in my workflow .

One more major aspect of all of this is that I was hoping to get to the point where I can supply some of our execs with the created models and then they'd essentially just need to drag and drop these models into layouts if they ever feel the need.
None are particularly tech-savvy, so I thought maybe Revit could use the created families similar to an AutoCAD tool palette. All of this so that our system is easy to use for everyone (except maybe me!)

When it comes to the more advanced documentation features, no one but me would need to know how to use it.

[damon.sidel]

Thought I'd jump in with a few thoughts, hope you don't mind.

I'd heard that Revit doesnt make things easy for the modeler so I wanted to know if anyone had experience.

I use Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, and a few other 3d modeling tools and I have to say, Revit is not the easiest. Very capable, but not the easiest. That said, there is nothing wrong with using multiple platforms. In fact, I highly recommend it. For complex geometry, I'd suggest creating Revit families with multiple modes of representation: use the coarse, medium, and fine settings to create families that show a simple massing, rudimentary massing, and detailed form all in one family. The detailed form could be created in your favorite modeling software (not Revit) and imported into the family. Plan, elevation, and section representations could be 2d representation right from your Autocad library.

And in reply to David, I'm curious as to what you mean by one-off families. Unfortunately ill be needing both VR presentations and documentation, so I think I may be using both softwares in my workflow .

For VR presentations, there are a number of solutions that work really well with Revit. Autodesk is developing a very good tool that will make it extremely easy to make a real-time walkthrough with the push of a button. Currently, the project is called "Expo" and is in beta. I've been using Unity3D, one of the two major video game engines (the other being Unreal), which works very well. Definitely another step (or six), but great results. There are also Lumion and Twinmotion, both of which have plugins for Revit. As for documentation, Revit is great. With a the right families described above, the right additional tools like Expo, Unity3D, or Lumion, you can put together a great system without that much trouble.

One more major aspect of all of this is that I was hoping to get to the point where I can supply some of our execs with the created models and then they'd essentially just need to drag and drop these models into layouts if they ever feel the need.

Absolutely, this can be done, but I've been in very few firms where execs or even some project managers ever learn Revit. I haven't seen much traction bring senior team members into the production real with Revit, but I have seen Revit be a vehicle for mid- and junior-level members to advance, because BIM is much more than drafting.

I could go on (and would be happy to help explain further any of the bits here), but I'll stop for now. Good luck!

[ianwill93716476]

Thanks I always appreciate an extra 2 cents

Using a 3DS max generated model as the detailed form sounds like a great idea actually. It sounds as though I should be prepared to use various software platforms.
I was hoping to simplify but I guess a software workflow is standard in the industry.

I actually did get the Unity Plugin and thought it was very cool, I do think that would be useful in creating walkthroughs.

Yeah the execs will likely never be good with the software, but they want to be able to "use" it. Even our sales people don't have much ability when it comes to software, so I need to make things as easy as possible.

I always appreciate the replies guys! Thanks for the opinions.

[rbcameron1]

I think you can make lightweight, detailed models in Revit. Especially for VR walk arounds.

http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspo...ender.html?m=1
Youve got to put the time into it. Let me know if you need help.