Cutting Geometry Issue

[richard.carlisle]

I'm drawing a simple deck with a 45 degree angle in Architecture. I made a custom family consisting of the 5/4x1 deck material and it appears as it should in the drawing. Here's where the problem comes in. When I try to trim the deck material to the shape of the deck, a 45 degree angle for instance, nothing seems to work. I tried the usual methods...void geometry, cut geometry and tried the cut opening tool, which sometimes works. The tools do not seem to recognize my deck material family as solid geometry.

I can use the cut opening in face tool to trim objects normally. After selecting the tool you are asked to select a face. When I hover around, all of the dimensional lumber in the drawing is selectable, but my 4/5x1 material is not.

Did I do something wrong when I made the family? Is that why it's not showing up as solid geometry.

Basically, what I want to do is lay the 5/4x1 over the framework and cut it off where it overhangs. On square decks I just alight to the edge grids, but on odd shaped decks the 5/4 board have to be trimmed to match the deck shape.

Any idea would be greatly appreciated.....

Thanks....Ross

[Dimitri Harvalias]

You won't be able to cut a family with a void once the family is inside the project. From your description it sounds like the family you created is being used to place individual deck boards. This can be very time consuming, may result in performance issues and will make edits pretty tedious. Remember, not everything needs to be modeled literally.

Might I suggest creating a floor type that is the thickness of the deck boards? The structure of that floor should be a material called 'deck board' or similar. This material would have a surface pattern (model pattern) to display the lines as required. You can then just create a floor sketch defining whatever shape is required and Revit will place the lines on the surface. No trimming required. The lines can also be rotated or aligned as required if the pattern is a model pattern.

If you need to create sections and want to illustrate the individual boards you can create a repeating detail component to speed up the task.

[richard.carlisle]

I tried creating a floor but I couldn't get the lines to display in 3D view or to render. That was in Structure. I haven't tried this in Architecture yet. I was able to get the cut geometry tool working in Structure. I had to take a dimensional lumber family that I knew worked with the cut geometry tool and modify it.

Just tried this in Arch with the same results. Model lines were visible in 3D but not rendered. Is there a way to tell Revit to show model lines when rendered? If I were doing a construction plan, a floor system would be fine, but I need to render the model as close to photo-realistic as possible.

Thanks...Ross

[TjonesCESO]

Be sure the material suface model pattern is using a "model pattern" not a "drafting pattern" and the render material should be set to a wood deck material.

Make sure you are using a pattern within the material and not just drawing model lines individually.