R9 beams

[rjjlee]

Can anyone explain what the "3D snapping" feature does? I've tried it out, but can't figure out what exactly it is meant to do and can't find any information on it.

[Steve Mintz]

Can anyone explain what the "3D snapping" feature does? I've tried it out, but can't figure out what exactly it is meant to do and can't find any information on it.

It seems to me that it snaps, in a 2D view, to a 3D object. I had hoped it would work a little differently, but here's my experience:

Say you have a sloping floor, with columns that extend 2 ft above it; you set the floor as your workplane and sketch a beam between columns.

If you have 3D snap disabled: The column will be sketched in the plane of the roof, attached where the columns pierce the floor. The drawings and plans will look kind of horrible. (PS: This is what I had hoped 3D snaps would fix)

If you have 3D Snap enabled: The column will snap to the end points of the columns, detach from the working plane, and have an independent slope. This results in the beam placed 2ft above the floor.

My initial thoughts as to the use of this are when you have no reference plane to work with, or when you want to have beams attach to girders, as shown below.

[Tom Weir]

Hi,
For a condition like you describe with a straight sloped floor you would set the bottom of the roof deck as your reference plane and then simply draw the members in plan view. Noi need for 3d snapping in that case.

The 3d snapping is especially useful for warped deck roof conditions. Most commercial "Flat" roof structures requires sloping the roof steel to the drains from the ridges. Prior to this release it was almost impossible to do it. So this is a huge improvement it seems to me.

Say you have a rectangular bay with 4 columns. Three of the columns are at 0" from the level and one is at -10" from the level. First you draw the girders that 3d snap to the column tops creating the slopes to the column at -10". Then you add the beam in-fill members using the 3d snap to the girders.

If you were to draw the warped deck first (using a solid blend form) you could also now attach the tops of the column to the bottom of the deck automatically.

I hope that helps.

Have a great day...

Tom Weir
Los Angeles

[Joef]

Isn't there any documentation on this feature? Seems the kind of feature worth the odd sentence or two.

[Tom Weir]

Hi,
I don't think there is much documentation on this feature yet. This is something I have been personally working with the developers on for the last year. I think that roof systems are one of the most complicated structural issues that we face in the design process (I am using Revit Structure by the way). Sloping steel to the drains was a near impossibility a year ago because of the warped bay framing it requires.
And so they have been developing some tools like 3d snapping to help out. Just the fact that we can raise each end of a beam independantly now is a major evolution to the program. Next we need to be able to create a roof deck that will also warp hyperbolically to ridges and drains. At this time we need to use hard to edit solid blend forms for that purpose.
So to answer your question we are trying to document a new workflow within Revit that would do all this.

Stay tuned......and have a great weekend...

Tom

[Justin Marchiel]

It seems to me that it snaps, in a 2D view, to a 3D object. I had hoped it would work a little differently, but here's my experience:

Say you have a sloping floor, with columns that extend 2 ft above it; you set the floor as your workplane and sketch a beam between columns.

If you have 3D snap disabled: The column will be sketched in the plane of the roof, attached where the columns pierce the floor. The drawings and plans will look kind of horrible. (PS: This is what I had hoped 3D snaps would fix)

If you have 3D Snap enabled: The column will snap to the end points of the columns, detach from the working plane, and have an independent slope. This results in the beam placed 2ft above the floor.

My initial thoughts as to the use of this are when you have no reference plane to work with, or when you want to have beams attach to girders, as shown below.


does this mean that if you where to "lower" the height of the column the 3d snapped beam would go with it?

No more drawing refrence planes for each individual member along a sloping girder? Great!
This feature was working back in adt 06 and i hoped that it would come to REVIT. This makes using beams much easier!

Justin

[Steve Mintz]

does this mean that if you where to "lower" the height of the column the 3d snapped beam would go with it?

You are correct, sir!

In fact, now that you can attach one end of the column to a floor, there's no need to lower it. Hopefully in the next version we can attach both the top and bottom!

[mmodernc]

Has this progressed any further? Any tutorials? is it still limited to structural framing? Is there a possibility of 3d snapping for model lines, reference lines etc.

[mibzim]

Has this progressed any further? Any tutorials? is it still limited to structural framing? Is there a possibility of 3d snapping for model lines, reference lines etc.

Wouldnt that be great!

(oh, but they are too busy developing structure and systems to remember building, aren't they?)

[mmodernc]

What is a beam & brace anyway!