LED Exterior Reveal

[kmarquis]

On my Exterior Terra Cotta Wall System I have a 4" LED Reveal that runs veritically and horizontally on the building in a random pattern.

I was going to just use a Wall Reveal but areas where the windows got in the way become a problem and made the tool really clumsy and diffucult to manage. Some of the lights that are running vertically stop at the window sill and then start again at the window head so that was almost impossible to manipulate.

I was wondering if anyone could offer another solution. I was thinking either building a Wall Hosted Generic Family that was a void I could stretch and pull or doing an in-place void family. I know people usually try to stay away from in-place families but due to how custom this is I wasn't sure if it made sense.

Thanks in advance.

[r.grandmaison]

I'm hardly an expert on Revit, but taking the wall void approach works well enough and is probably more managable than reveals (which imho are difficult to place and klunky at times- though they work great in arrays!)

I created a vertical reveal/void easily enough from a wall based template and parameterized the "sill" and the "head" height of the reveal. I parameterized the depth of the reveal as well as the width- all as instanced parameters. Then as you place each one you can modify the heights accordingly as needed. The same could be done for the horizontal ones.

Now, since I'm not an expert that works and would get the job done. Smarter people than me with more experience would probably tell you to use a railing system or curtain wall as a void somehow and cut your reveals that way, or an adaptive component reveal that you could drag the nodes around on some mass that could then cut the voids...but I'll leave all of that fancy stuff to the experts.

[Ning Zhou]

will be great if Autodesk can provide us w/ "Line + Face based GM" family template.

[kmarquis]

will be great if Autodesk can provide us w/ "Line + Face based GM" family template.

If you make a length of something an instance parameter, isn't that essentially the "Line Based Family" you're looking for? It's not any different than a countertop you can stretch in length? I'm thinking my LED light reveal will behave the same way.

[Ning Zhou]

yes or no, w/ line based you can directly draw it by picking 2 points, just a bit easy to control.
for your case, "Face based GM" seems better option -> no limitation of wall hosted, horizontal / vertical only, etc.

[Alfredo Medina]

...I was going to just use a Wall Reveal but areas where the windows got in the way become a problem and made the tool really clumsy and difficult to manage. Some of the lights that are running vertically stop at the window sill and then start again at the window head so that was almost impossible to manipulate.
...

I am curious about what exactly makes the Wall Reveal tool a bad choice for doing this? I see that wall reveals can stop at the window sill and then continue at the window head, can be stretched, can be drawn in short segments, have different profiles, etc., why is it "impossible to manipulate"?

[twiceroadsfool]

I would use a wall hosted Light Fixture family, since thats what it actually is. Theres no point to using a Generic model for it. Even if you go Face based, switch its category to Lighting Fixtures, and be on your way. (Plus, even if you dont care, itll render)

I agree, Line Based that interacts (cuts) its host would be ideal, but were still waiting.

In-place voids? I wouldnt. Its not gaining you anything over the family approach, and it costs you a lot. You can schedule the fixtures, you cant update all of them together if you decide to change out the model or design, and they have unpredictable relationships with the elements around them.

Go with the Face Based or Wall hosted Light Fixture component.

[kmarquis]

I am curious about what exactly makes the Wall Reveal tool a bad choice for doing this? I see that wall reveals can stop at the window sill and then continue at the window head, can be stretched, can be drawn in short segments, have different profiles, etc., why is it "impossible to manipulate"?

Some of the Wall Reveals stop at the window sill and don't continue. I would put the reveal in at the window location and it would go the full height of the wall and then I would try to drag it to be the height of the sill and I got an error message that it couldn't make the reveal. I tried to split it and delete the top half, I tried to make the reveal off to the side of the window, make it shorter and move it under the window and it still would give me errors. It was just clumsy. Sure I might have been able to tweak it and move it around but it wasn't elegant at all. I made a Wall-Hosted Generic Family that is void extrusion I can drag in length that works fantastic.

I nested a light fixture into it so it will render but I couldn't get the frickin' lights to turn on. I was so frustrated on Friday at the end of the day trying to get these lights to render. I changed the wall hosted generic family to a light fixture, made the bulb family shared, made the bulb the brightest it could be, turned them on in the Artificial lights dialog box and I still got darkness. I kept re-rendering thinking, one more time and it'll work. If anyone knows anything I'm missing let me know.

[Paul Monsef]

Some of the Wall Reveals stop at the window sill and don't continue.
I have seen this happen, and usually on one side of the window. What happens when you flip the reveal? What fixes that issue for me is making sure the control side of the reveal is away from the window.

[kmarquis]

I have seen this happen, and usually on one side of the window. What happens when you flip the reveal? What fixes that issue for me is making sure the control side of the reveal is away from the window.

I could mess with it and maybe get it to work but I just don't think it's necessary. The family I made works awesome. I just drop it on the wall and stretch it to the length I want it and I'm done. It's as easy as placing a coutnertop in plan.