Wall Sweeps Moving (was>And another thing.)..

[sjsl]

Wall sweeps don't stay where you put them. Everytime I move a window or sonehing that make the wall move or an embedded wall (window) even a bit, the sweeps will resort to their default position. So I spend half of my time fixing them. And then....

[sbrown]

How are you placing your sweeps? Wall hosted sweeps have a height paramater, that can't change unless you pick it and move the sweep up or down. Are you by anychance trying to place little sweep segments ontop of windows for headers? if so they need to be built into the window family so they stay with the window.

[rookwood]

sbrown,

How on earth do you go about building soldier courses and rowlock sills into the window family if you have many, many, many windows. I have used the Anderson Casement window families as a base and adjusted the sizes for Pella Casement windows. For each window, I have a family for that size at 6'10" RO, 8'-0" RO, Grid Shown and No Grid. Obviously I am doing something terribly wrong, as life shouldn't be this difficult.

I find that existing window families, in particular, are lacking a great deal. With so much data and flexibility that can be inserted into the family, I have been unsuccessful in finding anything acceptable out there.

With custom home design and the extensive window packages usually accompanying such design, insertion of soldier/sill courses has become one of my more tedious tasks which I often leave to the end.

[sbrown]

You are doing it terrible wrong. You edit the sizes of the windows in the project, you don't need a separate family for each window size. Windows have parameters for the heights and widths. you can add mullions and have them beable to turn on or off. For custom homes you may have 3 or 4 maybe more windows, but not one for each size. You may need to do the training on families, there is one on windows and doors.

as for your other issue.

You just create a sweep or extrusion in the window family, add parameters for thickness,material, overhang. My question to you is just the opposite, how could you possibly not add them to the window family. The soldier course will automatical resize length wise with the window, so you only have to do it once for each family. YOu don't need to do it for each size revit does that for you. Dont forget you can nest families, so you can make a sill family and a header family with length widht and height parameter, load that into your window and door families, set its width to equal the door or window with and boom, one family for all window and door headers. ps don't try to make windows that are exact duplicates of any manufacturer, make simple generic windows that look right in plan(as a symbol, just like you would have with acad) and look good in elevation, then use embeded detail components that are visible in fine view for your manufacturer profile, etc.

Basically make a kit of parts that suits your business, and assemble them as necessary within the window or door family editor. So you'll need to create various window panels, door panels, then you assemble them into any complex window you need. Take a look at the tutorials on nested families.

[PeterJ]

Rookwood, look around at some of the examples people have posted here, you can create a very simple family that represents a window head or a cill and nest it inside a window. With care you can nest several cills and have them switch on or off by family type. Anything nested in the family will stay with the family wherever you place it. Also, you shouldn't need a family for each size, the idea of the parametric control inherent to Revit is that you can produce a family that has different types - each type being a different size. With some practice, but without considering yourself an advanced user, you should be able to see how others have produced windows which will enable them to change the number of glass panels parametrically at family type level, without creating more families.

If the above is double dutch then you perhaps need to discuss it with Nic Maes or with respect go and take a closer look at the help files and the tutorials.

[rookwood]

I know I did it terribly wrong. The problem I was experiencing was that the settings in the properties box were not responding. I found that the Anderson series to the most detailed and accurate and therefore used these as my base and adjusted the sizes to correspond to Pella's sizes.

When I inserted them, the grid visibility and swing didn't respond. Soooooooooooo, I just created 4, now that's 4, copies of each size and edited each family. Grid, No Grid, RO, etc.

Now I really feel foolish, as I was going to recreate my problem with the standard Anderson unit, and post the rfa here. Well, don't you know what happened. Visibility works. I haven't used the standard rfa since upgrading to Revit 8. How do you get the family to respond to Ro height and not sill height? Strange! I would like my window schedule to list RO Heights so the carpenters know if it is 6'10", 8'0" or whatever.

Nic Maes? I will go back thru the tutorials for help and will create the families with sweeps. Hope I can come back for your help!

[Batman]

Dont forget you can nest families, so you can make a sill family and a header family with length widht and height parameter, load that into your window and door families, set its width to equal the door or window with and boom, one family for all window and door headers.
I've used this method for redoing my window families. I've created a window sill family which includes a void for cutting the wall and then a solid to fill the void and extend past the wall.

When I insert the window into the sill file I get the appearance working right but other issues (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=20862) present themselves which I won't go into here.

When I insert the sill family into the window the other issues are OK but it doesn't display correctly.

I keep getting a line showing up across the sill in line with the wall. It seems as though the void (from the sill family) is not cutting the wall in the project file.

Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks in advance.

[aaronrumple]

I think this is what you want. Do all the cuts in the main family. Nested cuts do not display or cut the main host.

You can also simplify by making the sash as a unit and nest it in the window family which has nothing more than an opening. It gives you more flexibility down the road for other window/sill combinations. Quick sample attached.

Using shared families can really speed things up.

A couple of hints. The plan/ceiling cut plane of the family determines its display in the project - not the project settings. Also I started with a generic family and then set it to a window family for the shared sash and sill.

[eddy.lermytte]

Aaron ... you are right ... but I don't like the "antimatter" step to cut out forms.

I.m.h.o. a great improvement in family creation should be >> select a form and assign "subtract" or "cut" from selected second form. This way we do not need to create the void. Am I wrong ?

In the case of nested families ... I do understand this is not easy achieved since Revit do not know which form it has to cut once nested in an another family. Maybe some kind of extra parameter type "subtract from " can handle this. ?

Eddy

[aaronrumple]

I agree a few things could be streamlined, but this technique has greatly streamlined my door and window creation and allowed me to more quickly take a window from one project to another without redo-ing a lit of parameters.

[Batman]

I think this is what you want. Do all the cuts in the main family. Nested cuts do not display or cut the main host.
I see, that explains a few things.


You can also simplify by making the sash as a unit and nest it in the window family which has nothing more than an opening. It gives you more flexibility down the road for other window/sill combinations. Quick sample attached.
I understand (I think), in your example you have your sash aligned with the wall edge whereas I want the sash to be set into the wall (as it actually is part of the wall) so when view in plan there should not be any external wall line appearing in the window. Regardless, I think what you'r e suggesting is to create a seperate family for an opening (void form) and sash cut (void form) and then nest the window into that family. Problem with this, as I see it, is that I would have to create two families for both the sashed and sashless types because of the voids/openings issues.

The method I used in Revit 7.0 involved the window family (with opening included) being nested into another family which had the sash only. It worked fine in all cases phasing and all. In 8.0 there seems to be a change. Refer to my other post.


Using shared families can really speed things up.

A couple of hints. The plan/ceiling cut plane of the family determines its display in the project - not the project settings. Also I started with a generic family and then set it to a window family for the shared sash and sill.
Thanks for your help. I will look into the other issues.