structural framing ad nauseum

[Joef]

I am trying to model a very fancy greenhouse for a client and have a number of 2x6 beams that I would like to model. I have drawn these two beams so that they are touching but Revit won't show them that way. Is it necessary to draw each beam as an in place family? Any explanations as to why this behaviour happens would be greatly appreciated.

[Wes Macaulay]

Ah yes... This is why I use my own families or inplace families for stuff like this -- the offset problem you noted is one of the reasons, plus if the beam has a custom end shape it's easier to just start from scratch.

[Joef]

What is the offset for? In my experience it serves no function but to make the structural framing tools almost useless.
Thanks for replying Wes. Revit structural framing is apparently a taboo subject around here. It seems a total waste of my time to have to create a dimensional lumber family. This should be one of the most basic parts of Revit. A very expensive package that cannot properly draw a 2X4. If I sound steamed it is because I am.

[Wes Macaulay]

For wood frame applications I never bothered much with the OOTB wood framing tools in Revit. It appears the OOTB wood beams which we would use for joists work like the OOTB steel beams, and I assumed that someone out there in the structural engineering world does design with an end-of-member setback at the end of wood beams/joists... so I made my own families to deal with the situation.

[Joef]

Am I the only person who finds this a less than ideal situation? Having to custom build a wood frame structure because Revit draws wood the same as it draws steel? Anyone from the factory care to expand on why this is the case? Thanks for the reply Wes.

[Wes Macaulay]

And are there any structural engineers who do a lot of wood frame who need things to work differently, or is this OK?

I think we really need a beam offset param for joist to joist or joist to column connections, wood frame or not.

[Tom Weir]

The portions of the program devoted to structural wood members has not been on the front burner as yet, to my knowledge. They have been concentrating on steel and concrete.
The offsets are mostly to be used for stick symbols represented in course view, which are normally shown offset at the ends. But it seems to do the same on the medium view unfortunately.
They need to make the two independant in respect to their end displays, so we could butt the medium view, but keep the offset on the course view.
There are workaround that could help you in detailing if that's what you are getting at, for instance, draw the connecting lines in using detail lines.

Good luck.

Tom Weir
Los Angeles