Letters on building

[cadmaster77]

Please give me some direction on how to get letters onto a building exterior wall... like a client wanting there name on the wall.. below is an example i found on google images... similiar to this type of lettering/sign for starbucks

http://www.babysitterofthedamned.com/uploaded_images/DSCN0092-725232.JPG

thanks

[iankids]

Hi Cadmaster,

There are many current threads on custom logos and model text, as a start, have a read through http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=118308 Probably answers most of your questions

Cheers,

Ian

[cadmaster77]

I noticed that thread.. but that is a thread from 2007 i think.. is it the same method in revit 2011? or has it been updated / made easier

thanks

[iankids]

Hi CM77

The basics are the same, but the location and look of buttons etc is different in 2011 from previous releases.

I can't recall any major changes to functionality of model text in the past few releases. 2d Text got a small makeover in 2011, but I think model text is pretty much the same.

Cheers,

Ian

[cadmaster77]

i am in the process of making these extruded letters.. i made a pline around the raster image in cad.. and imported into a hosted wall family as mentioned in that thread.. please assist me in getting this a step or 2 further (see image attached for what i have so far)

thanks

[r.grandmaison]

Do you have to model the pigeon guard spikes too???? ;)

Whenever I'm asked to replicate a company's identity, I ALWAYS try to go to that company and ask them for their font. Most companies are VERY particular about how they want their corporate logo and name to be displayed in images- so I'd go to whomever is responsible in the company and try to obtain the font list they use for their fonts...or see if they can supply the fonts for your use if they are proprietary in nature.

Now, having said that, I've never had to create any model text in Revit- yet! But, I suspect it's not very well thought out. I mean it REALLY should be able to create signage as it occurs in real life with just a few clicks...so, it should do the type of banding you see in real architectural graphics without much need for void/solid inteference. But, my hunch is that it doesn't and AutoCAD would be a much better application for making such signage in and importing it into Revit...anyone? Signs are rarely monolithic. The front letters are often recessed around the metal casing that extrudes the sign from the wall, as in the Starbucks example the OP provided. Anyone support my supposition?

Edit: One trick that I've often used is to use something like Corel or Adobe Illustrator to create text/signage in and then export/saveas a DWG. That'll allow you to retrieve the entire outline of the text as splines for extruding in AutoCAD. There's also a BURST command in AutoCAD that will allow you to dummy-down TTFs to lines/arcs...then you have to PEDIT them (or BPOLY) to make them useful for extruding.

[Munkholm]

Do you have to model the pigeon guard spikes too???? ;)

The pigeon guards aren´t working anyway, so no need to model them i guess... Notice the birds nest in the "O" :cool:

[cadmaster77]

yea.. well thanks for the help on this topic u 2

[dzatto]

YEah, look at the link he posted. That was my thread. The signs came out perfect and were reaaallllyyy easy to do. Our signs are pretty much identical (just different words).

Let me know if you have any questions.

[cadmaster77]

i read that thread... u posted that when u were a young buck in revit.. now ur schooling others which is great

im just not sure what to do next.. i traced the letters in revit.. its in a family file.. but not sure where to go next.. i now moved onto another lesson to learn phasing (demo phase, new const phase, etc) but would like to know how to make letters

thanks for the help

[dzatto]

i read that thread... u posted that when u were a young buck in revit.. now ur schooling others which is great

im just not sure what to do next.. i traced the letters in revit.. its in a family file.. but not sure where to go next.. i now moved onto another lesson to learn phasing (demo phase, new const phase, etc) but would like to know how to make letters

thanks for the help
I'm still a young buck in revit! lol I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. :shock:

But I did figure out letters.

I basically did exactly what the thread said. I opened a face based family. I already had the signs in ACA, so I imported one sign (one sign per family) and used the extrude solid command. I traced the inner part and extruded it. The I traced the black returns. Basically just an outline with an offset so you have 2 parallel lines and extruded that. So I have 2 separate extrusions. The sign and the black returns. I applied the materials and saved.

I save all my custom families in a separate folder from OOTB families. That make upgrading easier. Once the signs were saved I went to my project. Created a component (under the home tab). I then hit the load button and loaded my newly created sign. Since it is face based, just select the face of the wall and presto, the sign is hosted by that wall. All you have to do now is position it correctly.