I am trying to find a Revit solution for an AutoCAD block that my client is currently using. The AutoCAD block is dynamic and it is used to define points along the edge of a free-form curved wall of a very large swimming pool, the builders then use these points to set-out the edge of the curved wall on site.
The AutoCAD block works with three points (Master Points) that are placed at pre-determined spots somewhere in the centre of where the curved walls will go, then they have about 20 to 30 other points (Set-out Points) that get moved to the edge of the curved wall and each of these points has an X, Y, Angle and Distance value that relates back to each of the 3 Master Points, e.g. Set-out Point 1 will have an X value, Y value, angle and direct distance from Master point 1, Master Point 2 and Master Point 3. From this they then get three tables (one for each Master Point) to show how each of the 20 to 30 set-out points relates back to the 3 Master Points so that they can set out each of the points precisely on site. The tables look like this...
Master Point 1
X Y Angle Distance Set-out Point 1 Set-out Point 2 Set-out Point 3 Set-out Point 4 Set-out Point 5 Set-out Point 6 Set-out Point 7 Set-out Point 8 Set-out Point 9 Set-out Point 10 Set-out Point 11 Set-out Point 12 Set-out Point 13 Set-out Point 14 Set-out Point 15 Set-out Point 16 Set-out Point 17 Set-out Point 18 Set-out Point 19 Set-out Point 20
I have told them that in Revit you can place a family (that looks like a dot) into the project and then place a Spot Co-ordinate on each one giving you a Northing and Easting for each dot family and this will give them the exact set-out of each “point” on site. They said that this would help if they were using shared co-ordinates, but they wanted to know what if they didn’t use shared co-ordinates as this would make the Spot Co-ordinates invalid. So they would still like to see if we could use the X, Y, Angle, Distance method.
Does anyone out there think there is a way we can create a Revit family that can behave in a similar fashion to their AutoCAD block?
Your thoughts will really be appreciated.