Corner Mullion Limitation

[stuntmonkee]

I'm attaching a file to better explain, but here's the short of it.

We needed to create a curtain system that was not only curved in plan, but changed base elevation along the way. To achieve that we created a mass and then created a curtain system applied to the face.

Worked great

The problem came up when we needed to assign a few corner mullions to the system and found out that if the corner /join condition involved a length of wall that was curved, it wouldn't work.

The glitchy part is that the same condition WILL work if you are generating a curtain wall from wall types, but if its a system form a massed face, it wont work.

I have tried several work arounds, including drawing the straight portion of the walls as curtain walls, and the curved portion as a curtain system. . .no go.

The only work arounds I have found that would be feasible are to either eliminate the mullion and model it in, or to segment the curve manually.

Any thoughts?

Stunts.

[stuntmonkee]

OK, so to build on this. . . .

Has anyone figured out a way to have a butt glazed w/ corner mullion condition?

Per the attached examples.

[greg.mcdowell]

Not on the first but as to the second but glazed condition you might try reworking the panel family so that you have parametric control over the edges of the glass so that you could have the glass extend out over the mullion as needed.

[stuntmonkee]

Not on the first but as to the second but glazed condition you might try reworking the panel family so that you have parametric control over the edges of the glass so that you could have the glass extend out over the mullion as needed.

I have created that family as a temp/perm work around already. Just not a very useful one considering there are hundreds of these conditions on this particular project.

[greg.mcdowell]

In case you didnt't know - you can select an entire row or column and change them all at once. Should help some.

[DaveP]

We created three Panel Types (all the same family, different Types)
There's a Center Panel Type, a Left, and a Right.
In the Family, we added a Reference Plane on either side of the Panel, and dimensioned them so they extend past the Curtain Grid the same distance that the glass is offset from the Curtain Wall.
The Center panel works the same as the OOTB Curtain Wall Panel
The Left panel Type extends "Offset" distance to the left, and the Right panel Type extends to the right.

Since the extension distance is the same as the Offset, the two panels overlap each other by the correct amount regardless of the construction of the Wall. And, as Greg says, you can easily select all of the panels in a vertical column, so it's fairly easy to just change the panels on both ends.

(Hope that all made sense)

[stuntmonkee]

We created three Panel Types (all the same family, different Types)
There's a Center Panel Type, a Left, and a Right.
In the Family, we added a Reference Plane on either side of the Panel, and dimensioned them so they extend past the Curtain Grid the same distance that the glass is offset from the Curtain Wall.
The Center panel works the same as the OOTB Curtain Wall Panel
The Left panel Type extends "Offset" distance to the left, and the Right panel Type extends to the right.

Since the extension distance is the same as the Offset, the two panels overlap each other by the correct amount regardless of the construction of the Wall. And, as Greg says, you can easily select all of the panels in a vertical column, so it's fairly easy to just change the panels on both ends.

(Hope that all made sense)

That will have to work for now. Pretty much what we have working over here. I think it would feel cleaner if we werent trying to combine the curtain wall with a curtain system. But looks like we will have to use multi work arounds on this one. At least it will look pretty when its done ;)

[mrice.47661]

We use the same reference plan/custom family trick for extending the glass for a butt-glazed corner.

There is a limitation that's worth noting however. If the edges of your curtain panel are anything other than 90 degree corners, using a custom curtainwall panel produces an error, as it can't handle that geometry. So you're forced to use the system family panel which can adapt itself to any panel configuration.

I realize that doesn't really help your scenario at all ... just thought I'd throw the warning out there.