Room Separation Entities

[raddis]

I want to get the office to try Revit out for Master Planning.
Here's the deal. I'll link in an AutoCAD plan of an existing facility, then draw Room Separation entities in order to add Room Tags (Name + Area only). I can then drop on a preset Color Fill Family.

Here's the question: I want the Room Separation lines to be real heavy, yet I don't see a setting for doing this in either the Properties or Object Styles.
Is there a way to get these Separation lines to be heavier?

[christo4robin]

Reid,

You're on the right track - for one view only, check Visibility/Graphics, then model tab, then Lines. Room separation lines are a subcategory of Lines. If you want the change to appear in all views, then go to Settings>Line Styles>Room Separation.

[Steve_Stafford]

Consider using a thin wall instead, something like 1 or 2 inches thick...call it "Fat Pen" or "sharpie" if you like. :wink: Now you don't have to redo anything if they decide to carry on. In plan it looks like a thick black line but you can put doors in etc.

When you are ready to make it real, just swap out the walls for nicer ones.
Also be sure to show them they can fill out the room schedule in advance to provide a nice list of rooms to choose from as they place rooms later. Add a parameter for Program Area and calcated value called difference and it starts getting fun.

[raddis]

These will never become real projects (I know never say never) and I don't want the designers worrying about wall types, face of wall, center of wall, etc. Good thought though.
Thanks guys.

I was ready to really push Revit for all the Master Plan drawings but then AutoCAD 2007 added all these way cool presspull features to 3D shapes making it much easier to create massing studies in ADT2007.

So, now it looks like I'll be supporting ADT2007, Revit 9, Photoshop CS2, maybe Google SketchUp, VIZ2007, and who knows. I'm beginning to have nightmares about this.

Add to this I'm re-teaching myself Calculus (long story) and I'm having Algebra added to the nightmares!

[aaronrumple]

What sort of master planning is this? I've been quite happy with Revit for master planning and have used it several different ways depending on the project type. The only thing I wish it did better was site work...

(Just finished one for student housing using massing elements and differnt types for the functions and suite designs. The best part - since this is a joint design/build project - was that we had instant gross floor area for the entire project.)

[raddis]

Quick Massing studies of hospitals.
I can more easily push and pull the edges or vertices of the presspull region/solid that ACAD2007 creates so that I can quickly alter shapes.

Revit is missing this feature according to the responses in my last email. I need electronic clay.

[aaronrumple]

Quick Massing studies of hospitals.
I can more easily push and pull the edges or vertices of the presspull region/solid that ACAD2007 creates so that I can quickly alter shapes.

Revit is missing this feature according to the responses in my last email. I need electronic clay.Attached are a couple screen shot studies for a project. The massing is based on units and a kit of parts. I used to work on MOB's and I'd use the same technique for layout of that building type. Of course right now what we're interested in is unit types, count, percent of service space and circulation and of course, gross sq. ft.

Once the basic "financials" of the building are firmed up, then I'll apply walls to the massing to develop the architectural massing of the project.

You might try experimenting with import of your massing done in other software into Revit to assist with volume/areas....

[raddis]

Thanks Aaron.
Your pictures make the case for ACAD2007 pretty clearly.
Everything is very box-like. If I want to slope a surface or lower a vertice, no can do - yet - in Revit.

I'm not sure how Revit 9 will read these objects.

[Steve_Stafford]

Aaron's example isn't focused on exploring design ideas rather, as he said, the financial and practical constraints of the project so I imagine "boxy" is just fine for that task.

Apart from the fact that the methods are different there aren't many shapes you just can't make in Revit. Those that are hard are the loft (a sweep using multiple profiles along a varied path) and the helix.

Just because you can't grab a vertex and pull doesn't mean you can't make a shape. What is the shape? Sketch the shape and extrude, sweep, blend or revolve it. Don't like the result edit the sketch and adjust. As opposed to sketching the "wrong" shape and distorting it by grabbing vertices.

If you prefer to model these solids in Acad you should be able to import them into an in-place massing family to apply walls etc to, or just place alongside others, within Revit. Post an example of what you want to use.

[sleimgruber06]

Consider using a thin wall instead, something like 1 or 2 inches thick...call it "Fat Pen" or "sharpie" if you like. :wink: Now you don't have to redo anything if they decide to carry on. In plan it looks like a thick black line but you can put doors in etc.

When you are ready to make it real, just swap out the walls for nicer ones.
Also be sure to show them they can fill out the room schedule in advance to provide a nice list of rooms to choose from as they place rooms later. Add a parameter for Program Area and calcated value called difference and it starts getting fun.

Wow Steve, thats a great idea, I'm going to have to try that one out to fool Mr. Brown! :wink:

[raddis]

Steve,
Thanks for the thoughts too.
I don't have any forms right now, but I was looking at a "layered" mass model in one of our competition firm's study and feel hat I could easily reproduce it in ACAD2007 but not Revit. Sloped faces, etc, are just so easy to do in the newest ACAD, and with 56 copies of ADT2007 to 4 of Revit 9, I've got may more AutoCAD users (hoping to reverse those numbers as the years go by).

[aaronrumple]

Steve is right. My plan was all about the boxes and how much is it going to cost to build this thing. Revit is certainly capable of making the shapes and doing a nice massing model. However, I do agree that it doesn't "flow" as well for free form massing as the current version of AutoCAD, SketchUp or 3D Studio.

It becomes a trade off. Do you need the numbers and parametrics Revit offers? Or will you save more time by having a more fluid massing tool?

[raddis]

Trust me. Fluid massing will win here. But if we get all the dots to eventually connect (revit to adt to revit to photoshop, etc.) I don't care which tool works best. That's the one we will use.