Adding hanging light fixtures to a sloped ceiling

[vanderloo5]

I've tried inserting a few different Vray light fixtures into my revit file and I can't get them to insert at all.

But I'm wondering, if I do figure out how to get them into my file, (Revit Families or Vray), will I be able to get them to hang from a sloped ceiling and be level? My current ceiling is also the roof at a 3:12 pitch and I would like my 4' LED light fixtures to hang level at 9' or so. Obviously the legs they hang on would need to be adjustable in length, (as illustrated in Revit). Is there a trick for this?

Is it possible the fixtures won't insert because they are ceiling hosted and will not attach to this roof?

Thank You

[syman2000]

Depends on how the Vray light fixtures are built. I would edit the family and set them to workplane base. If you want the fixture to always facing downward - check on the always vertical

Once you load it into the project, the light fixture will find a surface it want to host to.

[vanderloo5]

Thanks Syman2000. This is the type of fixture I was proposing. There would be multiple fixtures in a large commercial project with mostly sloped ceilings and I would want them all to hang at the same height. Easily done in the field. Maybe not so in Revit. I wouldn't worry too much if I wasn't trying to generate a cool interior rendering.

 

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

The easiest way is to create a non-host light fixture family, set it to Always vertical, place it on the Level and set the Elevation to 9'.  The family should have the rod length as with an Instance length parameter so that you can stretch it up to meet the ceiling.  The mounting base, if required, can be a separate face based family, Not Vertical, and placed separately.

With this approach, you don't need to care about the slope angle of the ceiling, and you can even place it on a vaulted or dome ceiling.

[vanderloo5]

Thanks Guys

[syman2000]

For the hanging light fixture, I would add angle to conform to the angle of the ceiling. See attach family as a sample.

[vanderloo5]

This is killing me! Thank You Syman2000 for your help but none of the light fixtures I am attempting to install offer an option to deselect host based or work plane based. I don't think it matters but I have tried to install 6 different downloaded fixtures from VRay cosmos library and none of the properties say ceiling based or host based.

Pretty sure my problem is I have no ceilings to attach these to. The roof IS the ceiling but not recognized as a ceiling.

Once I get these to install, hopefully I can edit the families as described above to install at consistent elevations regardless of placement on the ceiling.

But, for now, I'm just getting the dreaded circle with a slash through it when I drag the fixtures into the view.

ANY view.

I have no reason the add the angle reference line as all of the fixtures will be perpendicular to the ceiling slope so the 2 legs will be the same length. Just need to have that parameter relative to the drop at each location.

[syman2000]

Share the vray object and see if those can be expanded to help you get what you wanted.

[vanderloo5]

I have now gotten the lights to install by adding a ceiling below my roof at the same pitch. Now I need to figure out how to create an instance parameter to enable me to adjust the height. A little rusty on Family creation but I think I can figure it out. Attached is a very preliminary low res render, a section showing the  lights, and the light family.

[syman2000 · Accepted solution]

I have to reverse engineer the light fixture to make it workable for ceiling angle. Also you can adjust the how the fixture drop from the ceiling. See attached

[vanderloo5]

Thank You again Syman2000. The family is a little temperamental but with a little tweaking I can get it to work. It doesn't seem to want to attach to my ceiling in some instances so I have to physically move it up or down. And the cups at the top remain horizontal but I can mess with that. Your help is very much appreciated.