Dynamo

[kboyerYJ7VM]

I completely new to Dynamo. Is there a way to generate different plate sizes in Revit using a .txt file wiht Dynamo? I have txt files with all the information needed to generate steel frames. Before buying Revit I would like to know if txt data can be uploaded into Revit and used to generate 3D models (maybe by using Dynamo).

[jeremy_tammik · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Revit API!

Yes, what you describe is possible in Revit.

However, please note that this discussion forum is dedicated to programming Revit using the standard .NET Revit API.

If you specifically want to implement your solution using Dynamo, the best place to discuss it is probably in the Dynamo discussion forum:

https://forum.dynamobim.com

If you want to work with the standard .NET Revit API, please read the getting started material first of all, and work through the DevTV and My first Revit plugin tutorials:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/about-the-author.html#2

Good luck and much success researching and developing an optimal solution for your task!

Best regards,

Jeremy

[kboyerYJ7VM]

Thank you Jeremy very much for your quick reply! I apologize for my extreme lack of knowledge with Revit. Can I ask you one more question? Is standard .NET Revit API better than Dynamo to import text data into Revit to auto generate steel frames. I have "3rd party program" that designs custom steel frames. The data files have everything to needed to generate a 3D model. I don't know Dynamo or standard .NET Revit API so I will be starting from scratch. I know just enough Revit to be dangerous. I  really appreciator your advice!

[jeremy_tammik]

Dynamo is a wrapper around the standard Revit API; search these articles for 'dynamo' and 'wrapper':

• RTC Revit API Panel, Idea Station, Edit and Continue
• Dynamo, Symbol vs Type and Exporter Exception
• Revit API and Design Automation API Survey
• Zero Touch Node Wrapper and Load from Stream
• 11 Years and Revit API Docs Full Text Search
• TBC Samples 2023 and the New Structural API

It also adds some functionality of its own, e.g., its own geometry library.

For your purposes, I think both would work well.

For learning purposes, I would suggest starting step by step with different areas:

• Revit end-user interface, optimal workflow and best practices
• Programming basics, e.g., a non-Revit-related Python tutorial
• .NET programming basics, e.g., a non-Revit-related C# tutorial
• Revit API basics, e.g., the My First Revit Plug-in video tutorial
• A Dynamo tutorial

The first is vital. You need that to understand and solve your Revit task. Only after understanding it from a UI point of view will you be able to address it effectively from the API side of things.

Learning a little bit of Python is highly recommended. It is the most didactical language there is, and learning basic programming with it is fun and easy.

.NET is the foundation of the Revit API, so you need some understanding of that.

You need to understand the architecture of the Revit API to get an add-in implemented, loaded and running.

You can quickly dive in to Dynamo and then compare to see what you prefer:

• Python versus C#
• Pure Revit API versus Dynamo

Please look in depth at the Revit API getting started material and procedures listed here:

https://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/about-the-author.html#2

Good luck and have fun!

Please let us know how it goes for you, what you end up choosing, and why.

[jeremy_tammik · Accepted solution]

Rereading your question, I think that the most important step for you first of all is the first one: research the exact manual steps required in the user interface to read the available text data and generate your steel framing in Revit from that. I assume that the text data specifies the steel framing cross-section in some way, either by using predefined profile definitions or specifying the exact geometry of the cross-section. So, how can that data be transformed into Revit to define an appropriate steel framing element type? Once you have the profiles and element types defined, I guess placing the steel framing is simply a matter of reading the beam, column and framing element start and end point and placing straight segments. Finally, your text data may be specifying how the elements are connected and joined. That may be very complex. All of this is probably non-trivial to achieve in the UI. You need to know the exact UI approach, best practices and detailed execution steps before you can start thinking about programming it.

The pure Revit API will give you the greatest flexibility. The Dynamo framework may possibly offer predefined existing libraries and packages that you can use, and you may find it easier to learn. That is a question of taste.

But, first things first: what do you have, what do you need, and how to achieve it optimally in the UI, applying best practices?

[jeremy_tammik]

Added an edited version of our conversation so far to the blog to preserve it:

https://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2022/08/home-planet-and-to-dy-or-not-to-dy.html#2

[kboyerYJ7VM]

You are so awesome Jeremy! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you! I am going to follow your great advice and agree after researching Revit API. You are spot on about the text data containing the steel cross sections. You have giving me at least 6 months of work to just to get started. I decided I am going to learn C#. I learned little bit of Python about 5 years ago. Don't want to say to much about what I am trying to do but just let me say..... if I can pull this off it will be HUGE in the Pre-Engineer Metal Building (PEMB) industry. We use steel plates to build all our frames instead of convention steel framing to economize the steel. Right now our industry is using Tekla but I want to bring Revit into this industry. Also if I can make this happen there will be a tremendous amount of Revit licenses that will be purchased by the PEMB industry. Using Revit makes perfect sense to use in modeling PEMB because a vast majority of the jobs are designed by Architects using Revit. The Architect specs out the buildings and we design the steel framing and panels. After the building is designed the Architect can insert the PEMB model into their Revit model. I am certain that once Architects know PEMB can be modeled in Revit, they will start requiring PEMB manufactures to provide a Revit model. Being a structural engineer +25 years this will be the hardest thing I have tried but love a good challenge. Thank you so much!

[jeremy_tammik · Accepted solution]

Wow. Thank you for your appreciation and enthusiasm!

If you plan to do something really serious, I would suggest at some point in the future taking a look at hsbCAD and maybe even contacting them to understand, learn, maybe use and maybe license their advanced and highly intelligent beam connection technology. They work with wooden beams, not metal, but the technology might be useful for your kind of project as well. And, it shows what you can do, though it s anything but trivial to achieve. I'm not sure exactly what product I am talking about here, but maybe it is hsbTimber:

https://hsbcad.academy/hsbacademy/hsbtimber-for-autodesk-revit/