Help with "aligning" a sweep on a conceptual mass

[tobiasborelli365088]

Hi, I am creating a bridge in Revit 2013, which seems to be more difficult than i had imagined.

I've created the shape of the bridge as a conceptual mass. This allowed me to choose different heights by points and then cutting the mass with a void, so I could choose the thickness of the bridge. As you can see on the attached pictures, there is alot of different curves and difference in the heights.

My problem now is, that instead of having a squre mass I need a different shape for my bridge. I created a sweep which is following the lines of my bridge, but I can't make these lines follow the different heights.

Any ideas on how to change the shape of my mass or on how to "align" my sweep with the heights of my bridge? Also any other suggestions on how to create this bridge is much appreciated.

Kind regards
Toby

[damon.sidel]

Welcome to the forums with your first post. If you're also new to Revit, you've certainly taken a big bite to start!

If you place a point on one of the edges of the bridge, then create a profile that is hosted by the ref plane of the point, you should be able to sweep it along the bridge edge. Can you post the actual conceptual mass family file?

[tobiasborelli365088]

Hi Damon, thank you for your quick answer.
I'm a student and I've been working with Revit for 2 years, but I'm new to making families amd this is my first bridge. :)

I have attached 2 files:
Stibro 1, is the conceptual mass and Stibro profil, is a quick sweep i made, but in it you can see the geometri I want for my bridge.

Once again thank you for helping

[tobiasborelli365088]

If you place a point on one of the edges of the bridge, then create a profile that is hosted by the ref plane of the point, you should be able to sweep it along the bridge edge.

When I load the conceptual mass into a non-family project and try to create an in place component, for my sweep, I dont get the option of creating a reference point? I can create a reference line, but not a point.

[damon.sidel]

I'll take a look at the files as soon as I have a chance, but I'll answer your last question now: If you are creating the sweep in the project, you will not have the option to place a reference point. I was referring to creating a sweep directly in the conceptual mass family.

As another aside, are you required to use Revit for this model? If not, I'd consider doing it in something like Rhino if you are familiar with that. You'll have much more modeling flexibility and if you don't need Revit's BIM power, you're going to be fighting Revit for very little payoff. Just a thought.

[Alfredo Medina]

...As another aside, are you required to use Revit for this model? If not, I'd consider doing it in something like Rhino if you are familiar with that. You'll have much more modeling flexibility and if you don't need Revit's BIM power, you're going to be fighting Revit for very little payoff. Just a thought.

I disagree with that. It's not that Revit's modeling is not flexible enough. It's the approach that most people use when it comes to modeling what is not flexible enough. Notice in this thread, and in the thread from yesterday about a curved roof. Users' common approach to modeling is making a "mass" of solids and voids. That is just one of the modeling techniques, but it is usually the least flexible, least efficient, and most complicated.

Notice, in this image, related to a thread in another forum some time ago. The goal is to make a roof that looks like a bird, with body and two wings. The first approach shows the most common approach of solids and voids. Notice how complex it can get to create a form by this method, and after all that work, the roof was not correct. The other approach uses just points and faces, creating just the 2 faces that are actually required for the roof, and putting them together. The same analogy can be applied to this bridge, or to the curved roof from yesterday. The problem is not the software, it's the approach, the strategy. Revit has the tools, but if you use just the same approach of solids and voids, then of course, it's not going to be very flexible. Bottom line is, you don't have to go to Rhino to do a bridge like this, or a curved copper roof, or a roof that looks like a bird.

[mthurnauer]

You may want to consider making your sweep by creating an adaptive component. You could create a number of adaptive points and then generate a curve through points. You then make your sweep profile on the curve. If you need to be able to have a vertical offset for the sweep, then you would make your adaptive points and then place a point on each of the adaptive points and assign a parameter for the vertical offset. Then, generate a curve through the offset points and apply the profile for the sweep.

[tobiasborelli365088]

As another aside, are you required to use Revit for this model? If not, I'd consider doing it in something like Rhino if you are familiar with that. You'll have much more modeling flexibility and if you don't need Revit's BIM power, you're going to be fighting Revit for very little payoff. Just a thought.

I am required to use Revit and I have heard of Rhino, but I haven't tried it out yet.

@Alfredo, thank you for your input. Modeling the bridge and following the curve wasn't a big problem. But making the correct structure of the bridge seems to be. Do you have any ideas on how to do this?

@mthurnauer, I have tried to use an adaptive component and for some cases it seemed to Work. But making the adaptive component follow the geometry and curve of the bridge didn't seem to Work. When trying to place the adaptive points on the curve the bridge follows, some of the components was placed upside Down or in a weird angle.