How do I model a canopy

[Nealo]

I am new to Revit and need to model and warehouse canopy.
The canopy would be supported by steel beams underneath and cables tied back to structural columns.
Do I model the canopy as a roof structure?
Any help would be greatly appreciated . . .

Cheers,
Nealo

[DanielleAnderson]

I would suggest using an in-place family, that way the canopy will act as a single object. Or you could use structural beam members and create a thin roof to put over the top of that.

[robert.manna]

I did a glass canopy on steel beams by creating custom steel beam elements, then creating a roof by footprint and turning it into a glazed roof (type becomes available after you create & finish the roof object), the glazed roof works like a curtain wall, and I was able to put in grid lines and custom panels to create each seperate glass panel. The beams themselves were heavily coped to be architectural and not just structural (more like outriggers) some of them also included rod tie backs that went up at an angle to the brick face of the building behind the canopy. If I have time tomorrow I'll up-load a screen shot.

Good luck!
-R

[Nealo]

Thanks Danielle and Robert, I think you have pointed me in the right direction.

Cheers,
Neal

[robert.manna]

Here is the promised shot. This was a rendering done post construction documents (I think), the site is screwed up, but the building looks pretty decent. Anywho, the canopy I talked about is in the lower right over the entry doors it wraps around the building, so you can see the tie-backs going up to the brick wall. You an also see the trellis I modeled up on the roof deck. Sorry I don't have more of a top down image that would show the canopy. You can barely see the beams under the canopy surface as I said they're heavily coped.

-R

[Architeria]

Hope it's okay that I resurrect another vintage thread but it does provide good advice on a specific issue and did answer at least half of the question I was going to ask. Is Robert still a regular contributor?

Nice building and rendering, Robert. I look forward to being able to do as well. But I was wondering if you might explain in more detail how you did the rods that support the canopy. I realize it may be more complex than easily explained in full but any indication as to your approach would be appreciated.

Regards

[robert.manna]

Hope it's okay that I resurrect another vintage thread but it does provide good advice on a specific issue and did answer at least half of the question I was going to ask. Is Robert still a regular contributor?


Nice building and rendering, Robert. I look forward to being able to do as well. But I was wondering if you might explain in more detail how you did the rods that support the canopy. I realize it may be more complex than easily explained in full but any indication as to your approach would be appreciated.

Regards
Not quite as regular as I would hope to be.....

The rods are generic families integrated with the outrigger family. There are parameters that allow you to adjust the overall height of the attachment plate relative to the location of the outrigger, and there is another paramter that adjusts where on the outrigger the rod lands. Beyond that the rod itself is a simple sweep (easier to control then an extrusion when doing stuff like this). The plate(s) are just simple exturisions I think, nothing very fancy. Lots of reference planes and dimensiosn to create a skeleton to which I lock all the geometry. Also couple of different plate options for corner or flat conditions. Looking back at it, there are some much cleaner ways to build the family now that I understand more about reference lines.

HTH,
-R

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Nice family Robert.

Philip,

depending on your detail needs another approach to the rods can be found in these old threads

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=30567&highlight=void+sweep+blend (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=30567&highlight=void+sweep+blend)

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=14753&highlight=void+blend+path

Using blended voids and the edges they create to define sweep paths is a neat trick I learned at AU a few years ago. It allows you to define a path in 3D space without the need for a lot of ref planes and angle parameters.

[robert.manna]

Thanks for the compliment, :)

Yeah, better use of reference lines in general would make that family pretty clean, maybe even as simple as the void trick. I just like sweeps better for a number of things because of the seperation it gives you, you have your path, which is one object, and then your profile, whereas with an extrusion its all the "same thing" (kinda). You could pretty easily create a triangular void to achieve similiar results though.

-R

[Architeria]

Thank you, gentlemen, Robert and Dimitri. You have given me much to digest and appreciate (and hopefully eventually learn).

Best