Geodesic Dome

[swiss cheese]

Hi

Does anybody out there know how I would model a geodesic dome (as a roof) in Revit? The structure would be something like the attached image.

Many thanks.

[tomnewsom]

I wouldn't even attempt it.
I would use 3d studio or similar to create the mesh, and then import that back in Revit. Unless you do all the facet calculations by hand and do individual cuts for each face, Revit just can't do this sort of modelling.

[davidwlight]

Tom is right...3dstudio max or viz is probably your best option. Export that geometry as a 3d dwg from max, create a new mass in Revit & then import the 3d dwg into the mass. Then use curtain wall be face to generate the form. Its not going to be exactly how you want it, but its probably a good start place.

[sbrown]

I would think it fairly easy to create a dome, then a face based family in the shape of your structure, then piece it all together.

[Brian Myers]

3DS would be the best option, but it wouldn't be impossible to do in Revit, just time consuming and likely a bit frustrating. Another option (if a fudge factor or just looks is an option) would be to create a massing object (Solid/Void Revolve, etc) and then apply a geodesic material/surface pattern to it.

[aaronrumple]

... and then apply a geodesic material/surface pattern to it.

Unfortunately, Revit materials don't map to compound curve surfaces...

[Phil Read]

I believe this could be done in Revit as a series of blends if you use maintain three or four sided faces. More than this will be dang tricky and probably worth creating elsewhere and importing.

-Phil

PS. Does it bug anyone when the word "Revit" is not recognized when you Spell Check before submitting?

[Brian Myers]

Unfortunately, Revit materials don't map to compound curve surfaces...

Ahhh.. second thing I've learned today. Amazing program it is, its a never ending exploration of different features and how far you can attempt to break them...

[mibzim]

Unfortunately, Revit materials don't map to compound curve surfaces...

Yeah, we had the same problem with a building on the gold coast - luckily tho it changed from the first image to the second and we were able to use millions of tiny curtain panels to represent the steel mesh. Because of the size of this file and the way it slowed everything down, we had it in an external file which we linked in and only reloaded when we needed to print.

I arrived on the project after the first image was produced... apparently they applied a curtain panel, linked the intersections with model lines, set the work plane using two of the model lines, and then extruded each panel. PAINFUL!! Sure there would be a better way...

[Arnel Aguel]

Tom is right...3dstudio max or viz is probably your best option. Export that geometry as a 3d dwg from max, create a new mass in Revit & then import the 3d dwg into the mass. Then use curtain wall be face to generate the form. Its not going to be exactly how you want it, but its probably a good start place.

That for sure can be done in max/viz but again that will be a tedious process to make since each face has five sides in the example you have shown that's the default mess for a geodesic dome in max/viz which has 3 sides for each face now making it to have 5 sides for each face is like doing it manually in Revit copy/paste each face to form a dome.

Doing that in any free form modelling program would not be easy but doable I guess it can also be done in Revit as Phil Read mentioned.