Design Options Question

[peakprecisiondesign]

Hi all,
I've been using Revit for a while now and am just starting to get into design options. We (my company) are designing all new homes in revit (with 3 seperate elevations for each) and are also converting all of our existing designs to revit.

For my trial option I added a third car garage option that worked well. I duplicated the necessary views and dimensioned them etc. so if a buyer wanted that particular option, stick it on the sheets and done. Seemed to work well.

My question concerns how to properly set up and manage a fairly large number of options in a "Base plan". To name a few common options, there could be bay windows, 8' wood front entry door, covered patio / deck, walk-out basement, walk in showers, and more. All of these options would be in each different elevation of the home. I don't know if I want to tangle with the different elevations themselves being options though. It seems like it could be crazy. I'll probably create one elevation with it's options, then the ol' save as and change the new elevation.

How would I set it up so I can show a home with a major option (like the garage or a covered deck) that I know how to do, but only certain minor options like the bay or a cooktop dbl oven combo instead of a range without having tons of duplicate pages?

Do you just do the duplicate pages within the "larger" options and then do a number of small options in these, duplicating them throughout the other larger options. Am I making this too hard or what?

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

Cole

[twiceroadsfool]

One way is set up views for all of the options and put them on an Options page? Then simply cross out the drawings that arent used? For instance, keep your Living Room Floor Plan noted up, and dont dim that one window with the option for a bay. Have a plan call out around it, pointing it to the option sheet, where you can have the three variations, or whatever. Yeah, its more front loading work, but itll streamline it down the road so youre not constantly changing and redesigning things...

[peakprecisiondesign]

I think I'm getting the hang of it. I created an option set called "Garage options" with two options in it: 2-car and 3-car. I set up different plan views etc. for these. In order to show all of the numerous interior options I started to set up another option set called "interior options" under which I put things like bay, fireplace, shower etc. Would I create a different option set for each particular option so they can be seperately turned on or off with visibility graphics? If so, would I then be able create the shower option for example in the 2-car version, then copy the shower option into the 3-car version? I may not be making much sense. I have to leave the office for a bit this morning so I won't be able to mess around with it until later. I just would like to know if I am on the right track before I do a bunch of work to find I planned it out wrong and have to start over. Thanks

[cliff collins]

My experience with Design Options:

1. Good for schematic design--quick modeling studies, say for variations of an entrance
on a building.

2. At some point, as you move into CD phases--you must chose the "main" model,
and discard the other "options"--or you will have big problems in diocumentation/CDs.

3. For a more detailed/defined set of documents, for which, in your case you may have
lots of varaitions/alternates/etc, I would make them into Groups, the convert to .rvt
files and link into the "base" model.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers......

[twiceroadsfool]

I think as he gets in to detailed Documentation/CD's, hes going to have some issues regardless of Design Options or Groups or Links. If geometry gets replaced, you will be dropping Dims and left with notes pointing to nowhere. Thats why i would include them as design options ahead of time, and then detail all of the potential configurations on sheets in the set using Callouts that point to a variety of options depending on selection.

FWIW, i have some projects that have gone all the way through CD's and still had Design Options in them. Owners wouldnt make up their minds until the construction crew was at that point, so we detailed it both ways in different views, LOL...

The only "big problems" we had, were creating options when there are a lot of hosted elements, becuase we ended up having to include unexpectedly large chunks of buildings, because of things like wall sweeps, which continued around walls that had nothing to do with the option, but were related to the walls in question through a wall sweep...

[peakprecisiondesign]

Me again,
I spent this morning making a number of option sets for this house and they are working like a champ. I am still having one problem though. I started out with a 2-car garage option (primary) and a 3-car garage option. When I initially set these up I was basically copying the dgcad tutorial I made these and then added the walls, floors, roof etc to the options and then went from there. During the creation of a railing option when I wasn't able to add the floor to the option I closed the option opened the 2-car garage (primary) grabbed the floor, ctrl-c, closed option, open railing option, paste aligned same place and boom it was now in that option. Just like all the posts on here say.
Now I was going to add a bay window to the master bedroom. I created option set "bedroom windows", with options "5050sl" and "bay". The master bedroom wall where these options will be is part of the 2-car garage (primary) option set so I edit that set click on the wall, ctrl-c, exit option, edit master window 5050 sl (primary) option, edit, paste aligned same place and it gives me the ol' "Highlighted walls overlap. Color fills, room tags and room areas may not behave correctly. Use Cut Geometry to embed one wall within the other." warning an places two walls in the same place. I can't get this wall into this option. I havent even tried the roof yet. Did I make a mistake at the very beginning when started this process by not somehow leaving the primary model intact. I don't know if that makes sense. Did I screw up by having the 2-car garage (primary) as the first thing in my design options list? I am not sure what I did and if there is a way to undo it if I did screw up without starting over. The head honchos abslolutely loved how I was able to display all the options and "add" them to the home so easilly. I would hate to have to redo these options but I want it to be correct so if I have to I have to. Thanks a ton.

[peakprecisiondesign]

Anyone with any ideas? Is there a way to leave your main model seperate from the options so I don't get these conflicts? Thanks in advance.

[twiceroadsfool]

Youre main model pretty much IS the primary option, but its more correct to say it the other way: The primary option is the main model.

How i do it, is i would have modeled the 2 car garage. Then id select it all, and hit the button with the + sign in the DO toolbar. Then i typically add the entire selection to ALL of the options, as a starting point. I usually edit the options from there.

The thing is, when i go to hit the + button, it often tells me that certain tems cant be included because of hosts/objects, etc. So at that point, i spend a little time splitting walls and floors so that i can include all of the hosts that i need to achieve the inclusion. That part gets tedious, and my wish was that DO would automatically include all of the necessary host elements, but that would be cumbesome too. It works sometimes with wall hosted elements, but i find that items like wall sweeps are tough, as it will make me have to include a lot of walls in the building if the wall sweep is continuous around the entire house/building...

[peakprecisiondesign]

Thanks for your help Aaron. So if I understand you correctly I should go back to a version I saved before I started the options (the one with the two car garage) and select the entire model to add to the 2-car option. Is it best to do this with all views open and then grab it all in a 3d wireframe (sort of like how some people mirror)? You then add these to all of the options. So would it be best to basically have a list of all options set up before hand so that when I hit the + button (after hopefully getting walls split sweeps taken care of etc), it will add the entire model to all of the options.

I have another question that goes along with this. In my current situation I am unable to copy a wall from one option into another option. I get the error telling me I have multiple objects in the same place blah blah blah. Why am I not able to do this. It worked when I added my floor to a different option. I read numerous posts saying to edit one option, ctrl-c, exit, enter new option edit, paste same place. My main concern with this is I don't want to get to what I think is done only to have the boss or the marketing folks come later and say they want new options z, y, & z and then get hosed trying to add them. Thanks.

[twiceroadsfool]

I wouldnt copy the entire model, just the parts necessary.

For instance:

I would have the floors/walls/roofs split where the garage meets the house. Select the entire garage, and use the Add button to add it to all three options. Then, the 2 car option is obviously done. I would then edit the 3 and 4 car option, or whatever.

For the bay window, i would model the wall and the first option. Then you use the add button, and add those elements to all three options, then in option 2 and 3, replace the window with the other. In cases like this you MIGHT need to add the wall itself, etc. That could get tricky if that wall is a sketch constraint for a roof too, thats when it starts to trip me up.

As for the walls overlapping... It sounds like you have an element that is in the main model (not part of the options) that then got copied in to the options as well. Naturally, when that option is visible, you have multiple walls in the same location.

You SHOULDNT have to copyclip and paste between the options... They work much more seamlessly than that if you add items in from the get go, and then edit them...

[peakprecisiondesign]

So you are saying only add objects that have to deal with the garages to the garage options. I had the 2-car done already and then added only the items that would deal with the 3-car. This worked well until this bay deal. The wall the bay is going to be in is on the side of the house. The same side as the garage (see pdf). So this wall is in the 2-car option, and the 3-car option. Should I split the wall at each end of the master bedroom so that it isn't in the garage options at all? Since this one is already set up like this is there a way to undo what I've done. Would it work to edit all options and delete the wall and then add it (properly split) back to the garage options? It would be nice if I didn't have to start over.

[twiceroadsfool]

I havent looked at the PDF, but i would split the wall anyway. Like i said, i split everything right around where i need the options, so that the options dont include anything thats already set, unless they have to for hosting reasons.

EDIT: Okay, i looked at the PDF. Now i would DEFINETELY split it. The garage option (imho) would only have the portion of the wall that encompasses the garage. I would have the rest of that wall a separate wall.

[peakprecisiondesign]

I went in and split wall in the options, deleting parts and redoing parts as needed. So far so good. Thanks for all your help.

[twiceroadsfool]

No problem! Let me know how it goes, im a huuuuge design options fan! :)