Bay Window Creation

[RudyBeuc]

I'm trying to create a bay window family with revit content from a national window manufacturer.

So has anyone done this?

Have been trying to get a series of walls in the family to host the numerious windows I'm trying to insert, but have come to the conculsion that perhaps it's impossable to create more walls within a window family. 

Is is possable to get a window family to be hosted by an extrustion?

Thanks,

Rudy Beuc

[LisaDrago]

Hi - I am wondering if you are using the correct family template to create your window from... if you are - it should already have a wall in there for you to work with...

I would check the template and go from there...

LD

[loboarch]

The window family template file will not allow you to place multiple instances of a wall in it.  I understand a bay window would typically have 3 "walls" in it, but to Revit this does not really make sense.  It is a bit of a philosophical question.  The bay window as we might think about it is the complete construction, the walls and the window.  This does not work in Revit's "mind".  A window is a singular thing that is inserted into a singular wall.

Is the bay window in this case really ordered as 3 separate window units and then placed into 3 walls that are built?  If so then the "bay window" in this case is really 3 separate windows and can be create as such in the project itself.  Draw the 3 walls and then place 3 separate windows.

If the bay window is really somthing ordered as one unit and placed in 1 wall then you can create the bay window in the window family template, you just have to model the side walls as basically geometry of the window giving you the bay shape.

[RudyBeuc]

It's the correct template. A window family template which has the one host wall in it.

The thing is, I wanted to create more walls to represent the sides of the bay window. Revit won't let me do that.

Tried creating the walls of the bay from an extrusion, and then inserting the windows into the extrusion. Revit won't let me do that. 

Revit knowing more than me about how I should work is really aggravating.

Thanks,

Rudy Beuc

[RudyBeuc]

Please see the attached image. 2 different sizes of the bay window are visable in the photograph. There are 4 different sizes throughout the existing house. These bay windows were not premanufactured. They were built on site and standard window units set into them.

>>If the bay window is really somthing ordered as one unit and placed in 1 wall then you can create the bay window in the window family template, you just have to model the side walls as basically geometry of the window giving you the bay shape.<<

Tried that. The windows wanted a wall as a host and would not accept an extrusion as a host.

Thanks,

Rudy Beuc

[loboarch]

Please see the attached image. 2 different sizes of the bay window are visable in the photograph. There are 4 different sizes throughout the existing house. These bay windows were not premanufactured. They were built on site and standard window units set into them.

Looking at the picture I would model the "walls" of the bay window as part of the project and model them as walls.  This is the way it was built in the field, so I would model it the same way in Revit.  If I have multiple instances of the window I might create a group so I could chang ethe size etc... as needed and get the multiple instances to update. 

>>If the bay window is really somthing ordered as one unit and placed in 1 wall then you can create the bay window in the window family template, you just have to model the side walls as basically geometry of the window giving you the bay shape.<<

Tried that. The windows wanted a wall as a host and would not accept an extrusion as a host.

By modeling the geometry I am meaning the entire window geometry, glass, frame,sash, etc...  A "window" in Revit needs to have a host wall to be placed into.  In this example the host wall would be the farthest back plane and the other "walls" are simply extrusions.  In the extrusion where the "window" actually is, you create a void in the "wall" and then model in the window parts.  You will not be able to place a true window as a family into anything except a wall.

[RudyBeuc]

>>Looking at the picture I would model the "walls" of the bay window as part of the project and model them as walls.  This is the way it was built in the field, so I would model it the same way in Revit.  If I have multiple instances of the window I might create a group so I could change the size etc... as needed and get the multiple instances to update. <<

This is the direction I am now taking. Have to jump on another project from this client for the next few days, but will return to this in about a week.

>>By modeling the geometry I am meaning the entire window geometry, glass, frame,sash, etc...  A "window" in Revit needs to have a host wall to be placed into.  In this example the host wall would be the farthest back plane and the other "walls" are simply extrusions.  In the extrusion where the "window" actually is, you create a void in the "wall" and then model in the window parts.  You will not be able to place a true window as a family into anything except a wall.<<

Ouch, I'd have to remodel a window that's already been modeled by the mfgr? Matey I could jailbreak this by copying and pasting geometry from the mfgr's window family. Anyway, too busy right now, will have to get back to this in a few days.

Matey what Revit needs is an assembly family. That is, a family where one has full access to system families. It would be like a project with types & parameters.

Thanks,

Rudy Beuc

[RudyBeuc · Accepted solution]

Hey all, here is what I've done.

Created the different bay windows in different groups within a separate project.See attached file

Did this within an new project instead of the original one for clarity's sake only.

Copied and pasted the blocks - woops! groups I mean - into the originall project.

Appropriately positioned a bay window group against a wall. Placed a correctly sized opening in the wall, edited the group to add that hosted object to the group, closed & saved the group, and then copied placed the group as desired within the project.

One has to be careful about the references when coping if that hosted opening is to follow along correctly.

Thanks,

Rudy Beuc