Autodesk Revit Architecture

[#1]

Help! please.

I need to create a sloped roof. I want to base this roof upon a beam system created using a sloped workplane rather than offset from a level. I now understand that (for some reason) Revit will not create floors or roofs using work planes, but only on levels, and I know that I can create a flat roof on a level and apply slope arrows and adjust the offset height, etc. etc. but that is very imprecise (lots of micro adjustments) and a lot of steps.

Isn't there any way to create a floor or roof using a work plane as the level?

The attached image shows a roof I created "by face" from a box mass element I set on the plane - unfortuately now I cannot edit the outline to get it to fint my non-rectangular roof.

Can anyone set me on the right path? Thank you.

Shawn

[#2]

You can use Roof by Extrusion. Go to a side elevation or section view, and sketch the profile then create roof.

Then in Plan you can adjust the depth. You may also then need to use a Void to trim the roof to the irregular shape of the footprint.

Another method would be Roof by Footprint, and then use Edit Points to set heights at the various corners in Plan.

[#3]

Thank you for your input - both valid suggestions. Unfortunately not as clean or accurate as what I was hoping for. The point editing tool doesn't seem to work on sloped surfaces - you need a flat floor to start with - and not available for roofs. (?)

I was able to create the roof with basic roof modeling methods, level offset and slope arrow adjusments - and it's close, but the roof doesn't really connect to the plane if you zoom in close enough you can see they are not perfectly aligned or mated.

Seems like Autodesk should take a look at this unless it's some fundamental issue with the program. After all, most commercial roofs are exactly what I'm trying to model - a variably solped surface below a parapet wall.

[#4]

I don't see anything complicated in the roof that you show in the .doc file. Could you provide an image of desired floor plan and elevation?

[#5]

You are correct - it's not the least bit complicated, which is why I am surprised that I can't do what I want.

The floor plan below the roof is bascially open. The structure is a transportation terminal for a bus company. The only structural elemment that is non-standard is that the engineer decided to slope the roof framing (beams and purlins) rather than slope the roof insulation for run-off.

I created the roof structure using a beam system along a ref. plane - I thought I would be able to model the roof (metal deck and rigid insulation) on top of this, but neither the roof or floor tool is set up to use reference planes and the slope arrow and level offest method is a bit hit and miss.

The roofing finish is done, but not really mated to the structure - if you don't get too close you can't tell - I just wasted a bit of time trying to figure out how to use the reference plane to model the roof.

Thanks for your interest.

SG

[#6]

Did you try Roof by Extrusion?  

Another possibility would be to create a Mass, then apply Roof by Face to the sloped face of the Mass.

The Slope Arrow method or Edit by Points both work very well, we have done hundreds of these roofs in past projects.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

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Shawn wrote:

Help! please....

Isn't there any way to create a floor or roof using a work plane as the level?

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Yes, but in a different workflow or sequence. If I understand correctly, you are doing the beams system first, and then you want to do the roof. Change the sequence. Do the roof first, create a reference plane that is aligned and locked to the roof, then, set a view that is perpendicular to that reference plane, and use that to sketch the beam system. Now, if the slope of the roof changes, the reference plane will folow the slope, and the beam system will follow the reference plane.,

[#8]

Thank you,

I did try using the mass creation method as described in my original post -the problem was that my roof has a cut corner and the roof created from the "box" mass did not allow me to edit the form.

The extrusion method has the same limitation (I think). Having to use voids to get your geometry correct sounds like a potentiall messy and overly involved solution.

Using the edit point tools only seems to apply to floor elements - I guess I could make the roof from a generic floor and edit - but more to the point, from what I read, there seems to be serious limitations with editing points regarding how far the points can be moved and how complex the shape can be???

My basic problem is that I am only boderline competent in revit, most of my work being done in Autocad. I'm sure there are perfectly acceptable ways to do what I want, but they are not straight forward and require using a mutiple set of tools in the box that I just haven't used enought to be proficient with.

I would love to take a few advanced classed - but the training is just waaaaay toooooo expensive for me. I don't have a corporate overlord to pick up the tab.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

SG

[#9]

Wow! Brilliant thank you. That makes perfect sense.

Gracias.

SG

[#10]

You can easily edit points of a Roof.

see attached.

(Alf's method is also a good one, when using a Beam System with a Ref. Plane.)

cheers