Ceiling Basics

[wbs69117950]

2 simple ceiling questions:

1. Can I make a barrel-vaulted ceiling with any of the ceiling model tools, or is this accomplished in another way? I really need a gyp bd barrel-vault dropped below a flat gyp bd ceiling, as a floating element.

2. When using the gyp bd on mtl stud ceiling, no "material" or element really shows on the ceiling plan, as it would if it was a 2x2 or 2x4 ACT grid. How do users know they put a ceiling into their model? Wondering how others are adjusting to this, as I read it as an invisible object, that somewhat throws me...

Thanks,

[aaronrumple]

2 simple ceiling questions:

1. Can I make a barrel-vaulted ceiling with any of the ceiling model tools, or is this accomplished in another way? I really need a gyp bd barrel-vault dropped below a flat gyp bd ceiling, as a floating element.

2. When using the gyp bd on mtl stud ceiling, no "material" or element really shows on the ceiling plan, as it would if it was a 2x2 or 2x4 ACT grid. How do users know they put a ceiling into their model? Wondering how others are adjusting to this, as I read it as an invisible object, that somewhat throws me...

Thanks,
1. Use a roof (Roof by Extrusion). You could make an in-place ceiling family, but a roof is simpler to edit. The Revit gods should really bless us with other ceiling creation tools. We need "Ceiling by Extrusion", and "Ceiling by Face" tools. I'd also like tools to create some of the newer ceiling materials such as the "cloud" shapes and other new system hitting the market.

2. You could add a sand or stipple patter to the material. I keep a separate ceiling gyp. material so the walls have no patter and the ceiling does. This helps clarify the ceiling finish schedule. Of course you could always have the material with a pattern while working an then take the patter off when printing. Even without the pattern - it really isn't too hard.

[wbs69117950]

Ok, I also need a domed roof in one area. I placed a dome, and tried to create a roof by face on it. I can only do a roof on 1/2 of the dome at a time, creating two separate (half-dome) elements. Tried to join them, but get an error. Having them not joined leaves a line down the center, which I don't believe is desirable.

Thanks,

[sbrown]

This is what inplace ceiling families are for. Model>Create>Ceiling, revolve for dome, extrustion or sweep for barrel.

[wbs69117950]

This is what inplace ceiling families are for. Model>Create>Ceiling, revolve for dome, extrustion or sweep for barrel.

Thanks Scott - I'll give it a try and see how it goes...still learning this beast, and my designer isn't making it easy!

[wbs69117950]

When I get help here, I do appreciate it. At times, even just getting some initial direction of what to look for in the Help or Tutorials is a great thing. When you don’t know something, or even where to start, it’s tough to proceed. Scott’s answer above gave me a notion of where to start looking in the Revit Tutorials provided w/ the program.

I would like to provide some further direction to those that read this thread in the future. My little contribution to AUGI is my learning experience:

I checked the Revit Tutorials' TOC under the Family Chapter, and found a portion called, “Creating In-place Families”, and more specifically creating a dome roof in-place family. I worked the tutorial, learning things about how reference planes work, as well, as work planes. Figured, if it works for roofs, it works for ceilings as well. And it did!

After some practice, and figuring out what I really wanted, and putting reference planes in to assist me, I now have my shallow dome ceiling piece in the model. And the designer is happy!

Thanks AUGI!