Finding Geometry Objects? (newbie question)

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Sorry If this has been asked and it might seem like a dumb question but I have very minimal/no experience with GeometryObjects in revit and most of my work has been based on filtering Elements.

I want to know if it is possible to Find geometry objects in the without prompting the user to select one?

can I use pickobject to select all or individual curves or lines to get all references programmaticaly?

Cheers

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Sorry If this has been asked and it might seem like a dumb question but I have very minimal/no experience with GeometryObjects in revit and most of my work has been based on filtering Elements.

I want to know if it is possible to Find geometry objects in the without prompting the user to select one?

can I use pickobject to select all or individual curves or lines to get all references programmaticaly?

Cheers

[jeremytammik · Accepted solution]

Dear Mendo,

Good question.

The Revit database contains elements.

They are mainly defined parametrically.

This generates their geometry.

You can query an element for its geometry.

The geometry objects are therefore more or less a read-only view of the elements and their parameters.

Yes, you can retrieve geometry without prompting the user, e.g. traversing all elements or a subset via a filtered element collector and querying each for its geometry.

My most recent foray into this area was published today:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2015/09/directshape-from-face-and-sketch-plane-reuse.html

The Building Coder has discussed hundreds of other examples of geometry retrieval and analysis:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/geometry

Some of the more interesting discussions are listed in various topic groups:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/about-the-author.html#5

One related area is exporting element geometry in various ways.

The easiest way to do so nowadays is to use a custom exporter:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/about-the-author.html#5.1

That hooks directly into the graphics pipeline and eliminates the need to query each individual element for its geometry.

Cheers,

Jeremy

[jeremytammik · Accepted solution]

Dear Mendo,

Good question.

The Revit database contains elements.

They are mainly defined parametrically.

This generates their geometry.

You can query an element for its geometry.

The geometry objects are therefore more or less a read-only view of the elements and their parameters.

Yes, you can retrieve geometry without prompting the user, e.g. traversing all elements or a subset via a filtered element collector and querying each for its geometry.

My most recent foray into this area was published today:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2015/09/directshape-from-face-and-sketch-plane-reuse.html

The Building Coder has discussed hundreds of other examples of geometry retrieval and analysis:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/geometry

Some of the more interesting discussions are listed in various topic groups:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/about-the-author.html#5

One related area is exporting element geometry in various ways.

The easiest way to do so nowadays is to use a custom exporter:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/about-the-author.html#5.1

That hooks directly into the graphics pipeline and eliminates the need to query each individual element for its geometry.

Cheers,

Jeremy

[rosalesduquej · Accepted solution]

Hi Mendo,

Adding to what Jeremy posted, First of all let me tell you, there is no such thing as a dumb question :), so we are glad you posted it. 

Another good source I have found that helped me understand Geometry API comes from the Revit Help site. Here is the link for you to check it out. 

http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-F429AAEC-551C-4E0D-9CE0-6F92A5A68CC3

Hope this helps you out 🙂 

[rosalesduquej · Accepted solution]

Hi Mendo,

Adding to what Jeremy posted, First of all let me tell you, there is no such thing as a dumb question :), so we are glad you posted it. 

Another good source I have found that helped me understand Geometry API comes from the Revit Help site. Here is the link for you to check it out. 

http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-F429AAEC-551C-4E0D-9CE0-6F92A5A68CC3

Hope this helps you out 🙂 

[jeremytammik]

Dear Jaime,

Thank you for the additional helpful pointer.

I published a summary of these suggestions on The Building Coder:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2015/09/geometry-basics-and-no-modifying-linked-files.html#...

Cheers,

Jeremy

[jeremytammik]

Dear Jaime,

Thank you for the additional helpful pointer.

I published a summary of these suggestions on The Building Coder:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2015/09/geometry-basics-and-no-modifying-linked-files.html#...

Cheers,

Jeremy

[Anonymous]

Thank you guys, you have been more then helpful. Very much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Thank you guys, you have been more then helpful. Very much appreciated.