Comple Curved Curtainwalls in Revit and the Real World

[NKramer]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to build the attached curtain wall?

We had another project with complex curves in the curtain wall that in the end could not be constructed due to pannelization, fabrication and load pathing.

I know I can use the 2010 massing and curtain wall tools to build it in Revit but will it follow real construction rules? If not is there a better program out there for design as well as structural analysis?

Nick

[jeffh]

Here is my shot at it in 2010. I am not sure if it is any more constructable than what you were getting before.

I am attaching the file if you want to take a closer look at the Revit file.

[NKramer]

The issue is not necessarily drawing/ modeling it in Revit or any other software for that matter but creating something that is buildable....

Is there a way to get the curvature of each panel into a schedule or better yet to dictate the design based on a minimum and maximum curvature? Also can you unfold a curtain wall?

I think the answer to both of these is no, but perhaps I am missing something or the data is available via the API.

Nick

[harry.mattison]

Hi Nick,

If you are interested in considering how the Revit API might be useful in this situation, I'd be happy to make some suggestions.

I am assuming that the panels are flat, so could you describe more about how you would want to compute the curvature?

Regards,
Harry Mattison
Revit API Developer

[NKramer]

Hi Nick,

If you are interested in considering how the Revit API might be useful in this situation, I'd be happy to make some suggestions.

I am assuming that the panels are flat, so could you describe more about how you would want to compute the curvature?

Regards,
Harry Mattison
Revit API Developer

That would be great. I will try to find out the exact problems with the previous curtain wall and thus the constraints that we are forced to align with on Monday.

The basics of what we are looking at is how do we create the curtain wall based on a certain curve and then standardized panels/ curves.

Harry, From your post I assume that Revit knows the curvature of the panels and arc segments. Can this be formula or rule driven?

thanks,
Nick

[harry.mattison]

Hi Nick,

Are you using the 2010 Massing functionality to create this wall? You might be interested in the Revit API SDK samples for Massing which show some of what the API can do to create, measure, and analyze geometry. The SDK can be installed from the "Install Tools and Utilities" section of the Revit installer.

Points can be created based on formula and a curves can be created through those curves. Regarding "rule driven" geometry it would be helpful to understand more about the kind of rules you have in mind.

Harry

[jspartz]

Although I would never discourage trying to do what you are doing in Revit, I would just like to point out that Digital Project may be better suited for what you are trying to accomplish. It let's you do free form shapes and dimension and annotate in 3D space and the CATPart files can be translated into many different file types for fabricators. It's very expensive software though. http://www.gehrytechnologies.com/ind...at=3&Itemid=25

[NKramer]

Although I would never discourage trying to do what you are doing in Revit, I would just like to point out that Digital Project may be better suited for what you are trying to accomplish. It let's you do free form shapes and dimension and annotate in 3D space and the CATPart files can be translated into many different file types for fabricators. It's very expensive software though. http://www.gehrytechnologies.com/ind...at=3&Itemid=25

We thought about that. We actually have someone who use to work for Gehry and theirs is a very long and involved process that we don't really have the time or funding to learn and go through. Basically they draw in Rhino, export to digital project, work in there, export to cad and document there. That's assuming that everything is correct the first time and that you don't need to go through the process several times...

Unless anyone knows of a curtain wall designer/ contractor that uses it that we could sub out to.

We are working on getting the rules together to see if Harry has any insight as to how to plug them into the API. Still open to other suggestions though

Nick

[jspartz]

Here is my shot at it in 2010. I am not sure if it is any more constructable than what you were getting before.

I am attaching the file if you want to take a closer look at the Revit file.

Jeff, you make it look so easy. After 40 minutes I was finally able to create what you did from scratch. I had to learn the new form techniques. You can add edges to manipulate the surface. And you can dimension from points within the components used for the surface division. You can't unwrap it in Revit though. I've heard Inventor will unwrap, and know of a couple fabricators using Inventor, and now you should be able to send Revit information to it easier.

Unfortunitely, there are no 3D dimension capabilities. The dimensions are snapping to 3D points, but displaying a 2D dimension (not the object's dimension, but the view's dimension). I would use Inventor to do the dimensioning as well.

[jeffh]

Jeff, you make it look so easy.

to be fair, I have had access to the tools for longer than you. That gives me a head start. Once you guys have the tools for a couple of months you will put me to shame.