Cedar Half-Round Shingle Fill Pattern

[ghale]

Does anybody have a fill pattern for a cedar half-round shingle pattern? (see the attached picture) Patterns are a pain and I don't want to attempt this one. If not, is there some software out there that makes the process easier? Thanks

[Maximillian]

try revitcity.com

[twiceroadsfool]

If you dont get it by the end of the day, i could make one with HatchKit really quick before i leave. I just have tog et some stuff done for now... Its a great program for those things...

BTW, where in Rochester are you? :)

[ghale]

Well,
I searched on Revit City this morning, and Cadalyst this afternoon. Nada. It would be a great help if you created this. I will have to look at HatchKit, because I know there will be more requests.

BTW Aaron - I work with SWBR Architects in downtown Rochester. I just recently saw a presentation from some of your folks at Dal Pos on the use of BIM for the Carousel Mall. It looks like your firm has gotten pretty far with BIM, and I hope we catch up to you soon.

Thanks in adavance for the help.

Greg

[twiceroadsfool]

Well,
I searched on Revit City this morning, and Cadalyst this afternoon. Nada. It would be a great help if you created this. I will have to look at HatchKit, because I know there will be more requests.

BTW Aaron - I work with SWBR Architects in downtown Rochester. I just recently saw a presentation from some of your folks at Dal Pos on the use of BIM for the Carousel Mall. It looks like your firm has gotten pretty far with BIM, and I hope we catch up to you soon.

Thanks in adavance for the help.

Greg

Oh, SWBR. :) Very cool! They (you) have a local office (formerly Brennan) LITERALLY down the street from my apartment, haha....

Let me fire up Hatchkit really quick and see what i can do.

Im assuming youll want it as a Revit Model Pattern, so it scales correctly, yes?

[twiceroadsfool]

BTW, is the 6.25" to the bottom of the center of the circle, or the spring point?

I also dont have a width dimension...

[ghale]

Revit Model Pattern is perfect. The exact dimensions are not entirely important. The dimensions and picture came from a vinyl siding manufacturer. Thanks

Greg

[twiceroadsfool]

Revit Model Pattern is perfect. The exact dimensions are not entirely important. The dimensions and picture came from a vinyl siding manufacturer. Thanks

Greg

Okay, i should have it for you soon... The only tricky part is Hatchkit wont let you draw circles, and wont import DWG. I did it with DXF, but it scales funny... And it makes the lines look like someone with bad caffeine shakes drew it. :)

Give me a bit...

[Architeria]

Would you have a link to a site where I could learn more about this HatchKit program?

Thanks

Philip

[blads]

Would you have a link to a site where I could learn more about this HatchKit program?

Thanks

Philip
Hopefully this might help (http://www.filesland.com/companies/Cadro-Pty-Ltd/HatchKit.html)...

[hugh.69031]

The attached file contains a 6.25" round shingle model pattern.

Curved items in hatch patterns are at best an approximation as patterns consist entirely of straight lines. HatchKit converts arcs, circles and ellipses to approximating lines when importing DXF or pasting items from the Windows Clipboard.

HatchKit Version 2.6 is here:
http://www.cadro.com.au/hatchkit/index.html

regards,
Hugh Adamson
Cadro Pty Ltd

[twiceroadsfool]

Thanks hugh... Thats the problem i was having, is the DXF has straight lines and an arc, but for some reason, the straight lines get chopped up in to squiggley pieces as well. Thats why i didnt get it posted yet. I was hoping to sort it out tomorrow morning for him...

It also blows the scale way up for some reason, and i cant get the scale tool to work properly....

[hugh.69031]

Aaron,

You may be trying to output a Revit model pattern at large scale and it's being distorted by HatchKit zigzagging to avoid a limit Revit imposes on model pattern scale.

Can't be sure about that of course, so I'll get in touch.

Hugh

[twiceroadsfool]

Ghale-

Please let us know if the one hugh posted will work for you, if not i will explore some scaling issues and get mine uploaded for you. I didnt get it figured out last night (was having some trouble with the export/import, but i dont want to leave you hanging.

Hugh, thanks for the attention to this issue... Im enjoying HatchKit :)

[ws]

On the subject of Hatchkit, it's also excellent at bringing in hatch patterns from non-Autodesk cad packages via the Windows clipboard.

I just copied my stone pattern in Allplan, pasted it into Hatchkit and imported it into Revit (I'm not keen on the supplied stone pattern)... surprisingly simple...

Now if I could only work out how to make diminishing courses for roof slates I would be very happy ;)

[Maximillian]

That is a great stone pattern and I would love a copy! It "seems" that there is a bit of a vertical seam in it though?


PS I have to say i wish there was no such thing as "hatch kit" I want to open a new family with the kind "pattern" with a square made by ref planes and have it mirror to the other side as I draw outside the box. Very attainable factory.

Thanks

[twiceroadsfool]

It wouldnt be as easy as it sounds. Not all patterns are square in repeatable fashion, in fact... Most of them are not. that vrtical "seam" that you are seeing in the above hatch is what happens when you take a pattern that isnt rectangular or square, and give it a square or rectangle to repeat in.

Floor tile patterns are another than wouldnt work very well square, as patterns often link together with offset tiles.

It would be great if everything could be piled in to one program, but buying Hatch Kit separately didnt phase me at all. The one time a client asked to see a specific tile on the floor of a Revit model, it more than paid for itself.

[ws]

You're very welcome to have a copy - if you can tell me what is the easiest way of posting it?
As a complete project so that you can transfer standards?

The 'seam' is a relic from Allplan actually. I used a tiling tool to create the pattern and it only works with completely enclosed polylines for the pattern, even though it auto-trims them around openings.
Hence the lines at the edges where in older packages I think I was able to match side to side and top to bottom much more evenly - must play around with Hatchkit now that I know it works into Revit OK to see if I can remove that seam.

[SkiSouth]

William, attach the text file to the post so it can be incorporated into the hatch pattern file.

Ghale, there is a series of victorian shingles posted HERE (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=16789&highlight=shingle), from an old Cadalyst issue

[ws]

Just a bit beyond my present knowledge of Revit customisation there ;)

Where are custom patterns stored, please?

They only seem to appear in the project within which they were created as far as I can see but do not appear to be in the default Revit or Revit Metric pattern files.

[Maximillian]

That is a good question. If it is put into your default revit .pat file it would be in :
C:Program Files/Autodesk Revit Building 9.1/Data/revit.pat

If you imported it as with the dwg copy trick then it would just be the original dwg.

Anyone else know?

[SkiSouth]

Just a bit beyond my present knowledge of Revit customisation there ;)

No problem. Brief explaination. A pattern file (pat) is a text file that describes a pattern. Its based on a "pen up - pen down" kind of logic, and was created by autodesk when autocad first came out. If you have a revit hard copy manual its in the chapter near the back on customization. Also if you type "pattern" at the Help pulldown, you'll get the same information is you select "creating" under that category of help. Revit's creators added a line descripton that tells revit whether or not to use the pattern as a drafting pattern or model pattern. That's the only difference between Autocad pattern files and Revit pattern files. ANY pattern that works in autocad should work in Revit - (there are line length exceptions to this due to the math base of Revit vs Autocad)

The original pattern file can reside anywhere on your computer, however its easiest if they are all gathered in one location- the installed revit.pat file is in Drive:\yourrevitsubdirectory\Data and is named Revit.pat. When you create a new pattern for use, its relatively simple. Select Settings->Fill patterns->either draft or model (i'm using model in this discussion), then all the loaded model patterns scroll up on the popup, then select new from the right side, give the pattern a name (coolstone) then select custom, and finally import - Here Revit pops up a file dialogue box where the default search name is looking for *.hat files. Simply point revit to a pattern file (with the Model type line added) and you have a new pattern file. If the preview window looks black or stays white, the scale is incorrect and you'll have to adjust the default 1.0 size to something else.
This hatch pattern is defined in the project only, or template file, and the definition appears to be a simple pointer to where on the computer the hatch pattern (or base pattern pat file ) is kept. You see this when you modify a pat file to change the pattern external from Revit, yet the Revit project file is updated to reflect the same changes in the hatch pattern.

When I said simply post the text file I mean as follows. This is a section of my Revit.pat file. It can be cut from this thread and pasted directly into your pattern file (Revit.pat) and you'll have access to this pattern to create a Revit hatch pattern.

This pattern file will show as conc90 when you go to create a new hatch pattern from it. I created it to be a surface pattern for concrete paving with a 10'-0" x 10'-0" jointing grid. The first line is the name, after the comma is a line descriptor that helps keep up with what this pattern is to do. The ;%TYPE=MODEL is a Revit unique line that must be added to any AutoCAD pattern file if you wish to use it as a model hatch pattern. Similarly a ;%TYPE=DRAFTING would be added for a drafting hatch pattern. The last two lines are the 90 degree continuous lines, the other lines just add a random stiple pattern.

*conc90,Random Dots for Stipling Effect with 90 degree lines @10'-0"
;%TYPE=MODEL
312, .1,0, .6,1.039230484, 0,-.75
67, -.05,.08660254, -.6,1.039230484, 0,-1.25
153, -.05,.08660254, -.6,1.039230484, 0,-1
180, -.05,-.08660254, -.6,1.039230484, 0,-1
74, -.4,0, -.6,1.039230484, 0,-1
286, -.4,0, .6,1.039230484, 0,-1
52, .2,-.346410161, -.6,1.039230484, 0,-1.25
300, .2,.346410161, .6,1.039230484, 0,-1
175, .2,.346410161, -.6,1.039230484, 0,-1
114, .05,.259807621, .6,1.039230484, 0,-.5
248, .05,-.259807621, .6,1.039230484, 0,-.62
0, 0, 0, 0, 10
90, 0, 0, 0, 10

If you cut the above text and place it in a file named conc90.pat, and if you were to point Revit to that file after the "import" button is selected in the above discussion, Revit would create a new hatch pattern based on this file. OR you can open and edit your revit.pat file and insert the lines in that Revit.pat file. Once there, you would point to that file after the "import" button is selected, all valid patterns in the Revit file would be listed, and you would select which pattern you wish to base the new hatch pattern on, conc90 or any other name listed. Either way works.

Hope this helps a little. Don't be afraid to modify your Revit.pat file, just make a copy and rename it before you edit it so you'll have a safety fall back just in case your edit doesn't go as planned.

[ghale]

I just got back to the office and tried out the shingle pattern. It looks good, the scaling is great. Just one hitch that maybe you guys can help me out with. If I use this pattern as a filled region, it comes in just as wanted: If I apply this pattern to a material, it comes in upside down. Any thoughts?

You guys are awesome for helping me to tackle this little issue. I'll probably be putting in a request for HatchKit shortly. Thanks

[twiceroadsfool]

Ghale-

If it comes in upside down, select one LINE of the pattern by hovering over it and hitting tab. Then just rotate it 180* and it will rotate the hatch for you. :)

[ghale]

Works great. Thanks for the lesson.

Greg

[ws]

Finally got round to locating the .pat file

I understand now what is going on, thanks.

I've attached the pattern file...
If anyone can improve on the setting out please feel free ;)

I will tweak it when I have time, but it's near enough while I get my head round slatestone quoins, heads, cills and drips.

[hugh.69031]

My attempt is WALLING2 in the attached .zip file, ws.

removed numerous dots (zero length lines) that weren't contributing to the pattern as they occurred at junctions of longer lines
rearranged the pattern tiling to make the repetition "seam" less prominent
added extra material to fill in gaps
rescaled to load at 1:1 scale into Revit.
The other pattern in the .zip is an attempt at a slate roof with diminishing courses - think of it as a "horizontal-only hatch" where you do not want any vertical repetition at all. Insert so the horizontal line at the top of the pattern lines up with the lower edge of any ridge capping and perhaps the lower edge of one of the rows will fall where you want. Most likely it won't, but then you can rescale (and if necessary extend) the pattern in HatchKit and reload to Revit.

A roof slated with aligned lower edges and tight vertical joints could be similarly modelled using diminishingly-spaced infinite horizontal lines with vertical lines sugging the joints. A lot depends on the visual effect sought.

Thank you vey much for the tip on importing from Allplan :-D :-D .

Hugh Adamson
Cadro Pty Ltd
www.cadro.com.au (http://www.cadro.com.au)

[ws]

Hugh,

that is very kind of you, thanks - can't wait to try it out :)

I'm on 'holiday' this week in the rain-soaked Highlands of Scotland with a tenuous link via mobile phone GPRS to the internet - so it may be a few days before I can comment further.

cheers,