Flexible take offs?

[Beancud]

So has anyone else come across a hidious looking flexible duct take offs?

I'm not sure if it is just me or it looks terribly wrong.

I had to build a custom take off with a damper to make it look acceptable.

Has anyone felt it was strange the way default take offs looked?

[tys90]

The tee takeoff is....strange, but the tap takeoffs look fine. If the contractor can understand what it means and it is consistent throughout, it's hard to call something "hideous" when you are working with Revit. I'm afraid to offend the program. Was it difficult to change the takeoff?

[Michael.c]

it's hard to call something "hideous" when you are working with Revit. I'm afraid to offend the program.

?? Not sure I understand that...??!! (unless your tongue was planted firmly in your cheek...)

Yes, the tee take off does look hideous. No, I'll revise that to "ridiculous".
Yet again I will ask the question: "would you have drawn it that way in AutoCAD?"
And yet again the answer is "no, of course not".

So why do we have to put up with it in Revit?

The tap take-offs look fine to me too though.

[Beancud]

?? Not sure I understand that...??!! (unless your tongue was planted firmly in your cheek...)

Yes, the tee take off does look hideous. No, I'll revise that to "ridiculous".
Yet again I will ask the question: "would you have drawn it that way in AutoCAD?"
And yet again the answer is "no, of course not".

So why do we have to put up with it in Revit?

The tap take-offs look fine to me too though.

Do you use the middle one? the default one. I only use that one for square duct but slightly modified in symbolic view. It looks like it has a square box inside, instaed of a single line.

We are quite happy with our custom round takeoffs+damper. Its a carbon copy from our manufcaturer's and when rendered it looks better than the real thing =0D

[Michael.c]

Do you use the middle one? the default one. I only use that one for square duct but slightly modified in symbolic view. It looks like it has a square box inside, instaed of a single line.

We are quite happy with our custom round takeoffs+damper. Its a carbon copy from our manufcaturer's and when rendered it looks better than the real thing =0D

I'd say the middle one most resembles what we'd use but the bottom one looks fine too.
It's the top one which is laughable....!

[Simon.Whitbread]

...
Yes, the tee take off does look hideous. No, I'll revise that to "ridiculous".
Yet again I will ask the question: "would you have drawn it that way in AutoCAD?"
And yet again the answer is "no, of course not".

So why do we have to put up with it in Revit?

The tap take-offs look fine to me too though.

So this may seem obvious - you don't put up with it in Revit. And Beancud answered his own question - build your own.

This seems to be a constant theme - 'Autodesk hasn't given us a library'

Yes they have - an EXAMPLE library, you need to build your own, just the same way as your company did with AutoCAD because Autodesk didn't supply the AuotCAD library.

If a company hasn't realised this yet, then some 'managers' just are not listening, or chosing to ignore the problem until it goes away. When it becomes Revits fault that it doesn't work properly so we may as well go back to traditional methods. What THEY are doing is planning to fail.

I know you guys already realise this - just point those 'managers' in this direction.

Hopefully you won't one day need to say 'I told you so'

[Beancud]

So this may seem obvious - you don't put up with it in Revit. And Beancud answered his own question - build your own.

This seems to be a constant theme - 'Autodesk hasn't given us a library'

Yes they have - an EXAMPLE library, you need to build your own, just the same way as your company did with AutoCAD because Autodesk didn't supply the AuotCAD library.

If a company hasn't realised this yet, then some 'managers' just are not listening, or chosing to ignore the problem until it goes away. When it becomes Revits fault that it doesn't work properly so we may as well go back to traditional methods. What THEY are doing is planning to fail.

I know you guys already realise this - just point those 'managers' in this direction.

Hopefully you won't one day need to say 'I told you so'

I don't mind building my own families but I feel that there should be some restriction on some defult connection. There are no contractor/builder in the world who connects a flexible duct with a Tee. Some sort of system constraints would be useful, bit like the flexible duct warnings.

I also can't figure out how to change the defult connection selections. Everytime I create a new transition and take offs, it never wants to be set defult....

[sgermano]

You can change the default takeoff or tap family by scrolling to the family section in the project browser then find the duct section, right click on it and you wil find your options for changing what type of family should be used as the "default" takeoff connector family ect. This should be set in your template so you do not have to change it for every project.
hth
SG


I don't mind building my own families but I feel that there should be some restriction on some defult connection. There are no contractor/builder in the world who connects a flexible duct with a Tee. Some sort of system constraints would be useful, bit like the flexible duct warnings.

I also can't figure out how to change the defult connection selections. Everytime I create a new transition and take offs, it never wants to be set defult....

[Michael.c]

So this may seem obvious - you don't put up with it in Revit. And Beancud answered his own question - build your own.

This seems to be a constant theme - 'Autodesk hasn't given us a library'

Yes they have - an EXAMPLE library, you need to build your own, just the same way as your company did with AutoCAD because Autodesk didn't supply the AuotCAD library.

If a company hasn't realised this yet, then some 'managers' just are not listening, or chosing to ignore the problem until it goes away. When it becomes Revits fault that it doesn't work properly so we may as well go back to traditional methods. What THEY are doing is planning to fail.

I know you guys already realise this - just point those 'managers' in this direction.

Hopefully you won't one day need to say 'I told you so'


Simon, for me the issue is not quite so much the lack of library or content, it is far more the likes of what Beancurd has described here....ie, the 'intelligence' of Revit coming up with this ridiculous 'T' thing, which as he says, no mechanical contractor would dream of doing it this way. To be frank, if we were to use some of the stuff Revit automatically generates in its duct and pipe systems it would make us consultants look like fools.
I'm happy to help provide input on how these items should appear.....where do I start?

[Beancud]

You can change the default takeoff or tap family by scrolling to the family section in the project browser then find the duct section, right click on it and you wil find your options for changing what type of family should be used as the "default" takeoff connector family ect. This should be set in your template so you do not have to change it for every project.
hth
SG

Sweet, thanks for that.

After browsing through the project browser for over an hour I've finally found the source of evil. I've removed all the Tee option from Flexible takeoffs / round duct take offs, and set defult as TAPS for everything!!

I'm little annoyed at little things as take offs looking totally wrong from the start, its gives bad impression, especially demonstrating the power of Revit! infront of your colleagues.

[sgermano]

Your welcome. Yea I remember the first revit demo a reseller showed me and he started drawing duct and take-offs and it looked nothing like anything that would ever be built in the field. But like mentioned above, once you get your templates setup with the correct fittings, taps, and 2d symbology you can manipulate the software to the point where you can come very close to the same printable graphics that you were generating in acad.

I personally plot everything in shaded, contractors seem to love it, especially seeing the shaded rises and drops in ductwork. While this looks nothing like our previous cd's, I have been getting positive feedback on the cd's from the field and in house. But of course its a work in progress.


Sweet, thanks for that.

After browsing through the project browser for over an hour I've finally found the source of evil. I've removed all the Tee option from Flexible takeoffs / round duct take offs, and set defult as TAPS for everything!!

I'm little annoyed at little things as take offs looking totally wrong from the start, its gives bad impression, especially demonstrating the power of Revit! infront of your colleagues.