Roof slope tag?

[patricks]

Is it possible to create a roof slope tag that could be used in roof plans? It should be something that would automatically display the slope of the roof by using the Tag tool. Is this possible?

[robert.manna]

Unless someone else has a bright idea (which hopefully they will) then best solution I can think of is to create a new project parameter via shared parameters called "roof slope" throw it in your new generic tag family (there are no "roof" tags under family types) as a label. From there you would have to manually update the parameter (now associated with roofs in your project), unless you can figure a way to set it equal to the roof slope parameter that is there already in the roof objects.

HTH,
-R

[Teresa.Martin]

You could use the Keynote tag as well. This would require placing slopes in your keynote.txt file, etc.
Best regards,
Teresa Martin
Ideate Inc

[truevis]

You could use the Keynote tag as well. This would require placing slopes in your keynote.txt file, etc.
Sounds like a good idea because one roof could have more than one slope. So you'd have to use USER keynotes.

(Should be a real tag, though.)

[greg.mcdowell]

What would be the benefit of using a keynote for this?

I'm struggling a bit to understand when a User keynote is the right move instead of text... I guess when you want to ensure the text is consistent maybe (but you could turn the text into a Group if that's what you need)

I think for this I would create a Family (or just use the one that comes OTB... or did I download it somewhere?) and modify Type Parameters.

[ford347]

I think creating a tag with a shared parameter called roof slope is your best bet. I have this parameter in there anyway for a formula I use for roof area converted to roof surface area dependent on the slope. I could see how I could turn that into a part of a tag which actually is a good idea....I think I'll give that a shot.

Josh

[patricks]

I suppose ideally it would be a tag that references a particular face of the roof, not the whole roof element itself. Such as when you join a roof to another roof, you have to pick (highlight) the face of the roof you want the other roof to extend to, I think the tag in question would have to pick a particular face of the roof... and I don't think that's possible to do. :(

[DoTheBIM]

Yes I don't think either that it is possible with a tag which would be really nice. Unless you'd be willing to seperate all your roof planes into seperate roofs... where there can only be one pitch per object and the factory wanted to make some changes to allow a tag to read the pitch. I love Revit's roof tool, but there are some major thorns that just get me the wrong way, but I digress.

A second to best option (possibly?) would be to have someone program with the API a little shortcut to read a roof (or any line for that matter) in a view and report back the pitch/angle and thus draw/label a symbol to represent it. I did this for our operators in Microstation, and it gets used by all of our operators regularly. I need to learn a lot more Revit before I get into the API to even find out if it is possible.

[robert.manna]

Yes I don't think either that it is possible with a tag which would be really nice. Unless you'd be willing to seperate all your roof planes into seperate roofs... where there can only be one pitch per object and the factory wanted to make some changes to allow a tag to read the pitch. I love Revit's roof tool, but there are some major thorns that just get me the wrong way, but I digress.

A second to best option (possibly?) would be to have someone program with the API a little shortcut to read a roof (or any line for that matter) in a view and report back the pitch/angle and thus draw/label a symbol to represent it. I did this for our operators in Microstation, and it gets used by all of our operators regularly. I need to learn a lot more Revit before I get into the API to even find out if it is possible.
Since I haven't had call to do much with sloped roofs, I ran through a little test myself. I really love how once a single roof object has more than one slope defined, the slope parameter that does exsist in the roof object reports back blank...

Not knowing much about the API, you would think that if you can create a dimenion or measure, it would be possible to determine the angular slope of a specific portion of roof relative to the horiztonal than either report that information back to a parameter or create a tag with that info. You could also create an option to calculate the rise/run of the roof slope.

All frustrating, I have to agree. With sturcutural becoming more popular I can see the day coming where we actually want to slope our "flat roofs" and in that case I'm going to want to report that, both in section & plan.

BTW, was your firm doing 3D or 2D microstation, or Tri-forma?

-R

[patricks]

We do quite a few jobs with 1/4" per foot "flat" roof slopes that are actually sloping structure, because people around here don't seem to want to pay for tapered insulation.

[robert.manna]

We do quite a few jobs with 1/4" per foot "flat" roof slopes that are actually sloping structure, because people around here don't seem to want to pay for tapered insulation.
Tapered is pricey.... Have you actually been sloping the roofs & structure in Revit or not? We opted not to on the last project, because it was going to be too much of a hassle... Done any parking garages? Do you slope those slabs? Sometimes with those we knock it down to 1/8" / foot.... Thoughts?

Thanks,
-R

[DoTheBIM]

BTW, was your firm doing 3D or 2D microstation, or Tri-forma?
Both, but not Triforma. Mostly 2D, we use 3D to generate elevations that need lots of cleanup. We're actually still on Microstation, I'm in charge of making the switch... more like transition. Most people on the forums here know transitioning from traditional CAD to Revit is a change in itself in so many ways, but get this (are you sitting down?... no really please do.) we are transitioning from MS95..... Ok enough giggling ;) . Long story, but It seems I have my work cut out for me. Add on top of this learning and implementing a wall panel design software and integrating all this to other in house sytems. Anyway I'm getting off topic, back to your regularly scheduled program.

[rdaniel]

Tapered is pricey.... Have you actually been sloping the roofs & structure in Revit or not? We opted not to on the last project, because it was going to be too much of a hassle... Done any parking garages? Do you slope those slabs? Sometimes with those we knock it down to 1/8" / foot.... Thoughts?

Thanks,
-R

We've been setting up reference planes for roof slopes, hosting roof structure to the ref. planes, and then aligning the roofs to them. Unless you have extremely generous floor to roof height or are working on shallow buildings, I think you have to model low slope roofs at their actual slope. For many of our facilities, 1/4" per ft slope results in a 20" - 24" difference from one side of the building to the other.

[patricks]

Yes we absolutely model the roof slope, if it slopes, no matter how shallow it is.

I usually don't use reference planes. I will create the roof with the required slope-defining lines, and then I will go to an RCP view, set the underside of the roof as my work plane, and draw in the structure that way.

[rdaniel]

I usually don't use reference planes. I will create the roof with the required slope-defining lines, and then I will go to an RCP view, set the underside of the roof as my work plane, and draw in the structure that way.

If you adjust the slope or height of the roof, will the structure move with it? In other words, is the work plane fixed in space or somehow associated with the roof itself?

[patricks]

The work plane used to draw the structure is actually the underside of the roof, so if the roof slope changes, then yes the structure moves with it. If it's a drastic change, though, you may have to adjust the lengths of certain members.

[rdaniel]

Cool, I like that even better since it removes an additional element.