Block joints in plan view.

[boofredlay]

I started working for a new firm about 6 months ago and I am the only one using Revit. Until now I have done small stud wall jobs or arch/vis with SketchUp and Photoshop. I am now into a fairly large Revit project with masonry, tilt up, etc...

Looking over the past Autocad projects the firm produced they draw the masonry joints in plan view rather than use a standard hatch. I have been told they want to use Revit as much "out of the box" as possible but working on some of the other projects and talking with the other cad personnel I can see the conversation moving towards "we have always shown masonry this way so..."

So, before I tell them NO (or end up changing the pattern to white and drafting every joint), is there a way to show the joints and be able to manipulate their locations (like with the ceiling grid or brick pattern) with a model pattern or no? I tried setting up a horizontal and vertical masonry wall but only have a drafting pattern to work with, the model pattern is greyed out.
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P.S. I tried uploading an image as an example and it failed in many formats. I have other files in the viewer from previous posts but cannot upload anything new. Plenty of space left in my allotment too. Odd.

[david_peterson]

When you say joints, are you talking about every block joint or just expansion/contraction joints?
Those I would do by ending wall and not allowing it to join.
If you're talking about trying to create a pattern that show a line thru the wall every 16" trying to show the intended layout, refer your boss to graphic standards. You should do that unless you're doing field layout drawings for a masonry contractor. Even then I'd bet you'd be wrong. Layout of individual joints would also depend on what course within the wall you're looking at and what kind of bond.
You create a material to use as the course fill pattern do show them. I would think you can do the same for medium and fine. I can get my fire tape to work that way by modifying the material. But again, I'd go back to my last point. Refer you boss to Architectural graphic standards.

[boofredlay]

Ah, switched to the Basic Uploader and it worked.

This is what they typically produce and I imagine they will request it strongly very soon.
98819

[boofredlay]

Thanks David. I agree with you totally and thanks for the reply. As you can see above, every joint they like to represent. Don't know where it started or why.

[david_peterson]

It makes some sense if you're tying to make sure that you have everything on an even block course.
But there's no way you can easily do that in revit.
Only option I would see i would be to use a repeating detail component, and even then you'd still be placing the end half blocks by hand.
total waste of time IMHO unless your trying to show a high school kid how to lay that out. Frankly it's almost to much information. Thats really along the lines of means and methods. How that block gets laid out should be up to the mason not the designer. Unless you really want to have that much control over it. What happens if the mason chooses not to lay it out in that exact order? Are you going to tell him to redo his work? Or on the flip side, he does it exactly as it shows up on plan and something doesn't work or fit. Who's at fault? Just thinking out loud.

Again I get why this may have been done, and should be looked at as a layout tool to ensure that you were limiting the number of cut blocks you needed to have.
But again, show them graphic standard and just about any drafting manual, and I'll bet you never see it. Personally I'd never dream of doing that. If that's truly what they want you can give them the option of modeling individual blocks. :)

[boofredlay]

Yeah, I will create a block family and they can copy, rinse repeat, ha ha ha.

I was confused then shocked when I first saw it. Only one person has asked me about it so far and I hope it never comes to task. Just getting more ammo.

Thanks again David.

[Dimitri Harvalias]

you can give them the option of modeling individual blocks. :)
Don't laugh kids... I actually had a user do this on his first Revit project. It was a smaller building and all the walls were masonry block. He created a nice little block family and then proceeded to array it horizontally and vertically to create all his walls. He then had the nerve to complain that Revit was 'slow'
My definition of 'not clear on the concept'!

[tedg]

As David and others have mentioned, industry and graphic standards are the way to go and enforce.

As for minimizing cut blocks, as long as your dimensions are block-modular (4") you should be all set and that's all your company should be worrying about.
Unless your a CMU contractor doing shop drawings maybe..

[Craig_L]

I have to agree this seems like overkill on documentation - but I think it might be possible, if you were to create 1 block to true size, and use the "adaptive points" to lay it out, it would give the result you desire - the next issue would come to being able to generate a height out of it, although it may be sufficient to put your (1 block created to true size) as a detail component, and only lay it out in plan (this would mean you only need to worry about the length and width of the block and height be damned). Either way, its a fairly advanced family, and a nightmare...
There is a good tutorial video around on you tube of how to set up adaptive points - I honestly think if you really need it, this is the way to do it.

[boofredlay]

Thanks Craig.