I'm getting better with dimensioning and temporary dimensions etc but still not sure I'm using what most would consider "best practice" with some of this.
Working through some storefront and need a lot of equal type spacing and because with temporary dimenisons there is no way to add additional temporary dims (I think) I'm trying to figure out a good way of handling this.
Original thought was to do string of dimensions and then apply an equal constraint, but when I do this my offset guidelines end up moving and it's just not intuitive for me the way it works (yet) when I do overall dim + the individual division dim string and lock one or the other.
So, recognizing my limitations here, I thought well just draw another detail line and split it into segments then apply the equal constraint to the 3 segments.... that way nothing moves except the break points.
Then I simply tab to select the grid line and move the mullion to align with the end point of the line. That way end up with the equal divisions I'm after.
Thinking I could just do all of this as invisible linework on the face of my storefront and leave it there in case things change later.
Curious as to everyones thoughts about approaching this way. Would this be considered bad practice?
If so, how would you handle?
Hopefully someone can follow my current approach to this and maybe give me some guidance.
You can use separate views, a working view to work through modelling the curtain wall and a presentation/sheet view with it's own information including more/less dimensions. The dimensions in either view can affect the curtain wall but you can show different ones where they are most relevant. This way you can keep the layout dimensions you used but they don't all have to be included in your documentation.
Steve Stafford
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1. Haven't gotten into door/ window schedules/ elevations in revit yet. But wondering what your thoughts would be about if I generate an elevation of each of the window types (which is actually a section acting like an elevation in my current setup) and then drag those onto sheets for my window door elevations? Thinking as you suggest above that I could make these views (with the required levels and dims, notes etc) become my window/ door elevations. Could something along those lines work/ make sense? For all I know there is already something like this built into door/ window tags. Would be great (I think) if I could assign a door or window tag and click on that to see the elevation.....
Revit Legend views can work pretty well for door and window type documentation. They do not work well for curtain walls or their panels because the Legend components are symbols, not actual family elements...so they don't factor into (affect) schedule quantities. As such elevation view types dedicated to Curtain Wall elevations are more effective. It is a mistake to mix curtain walls as windows with actual window category elements for scheduling or documenting as types. A window in Revit's world is a prefabricated item that is shipped to site and installed in an opening where as the curtain wall tools are more in tune with the stick built world of storefront curtain wall systems (ignoring the reality of pre-assembly or fabrication of such elements).
2. Short of any of above being possible, Wondering what the limitations would be of just creating double building elevations and using one building elevation for construction of the windows and the other building elevation mark for the actual elevations. Would be a lot less clutter in the model (extra section marks or extra elevation marks for all the individual window/ door types.
It really depends on the scope of any given project. A small project with a modest number of glazing features might work well as just elevation views with adequate tagging and scheduling pertinent information. It also depends on how closely you are associated with the pricing and acquisition of them. The more design side you are then the more generic your information might be, leaving the manufacturer selection and final details to the owner and contractor relationship to finalize those things.
3. If go this approach, thinking I probably want to create a separate section mark type (or elevation mark type maybe) to better help designate/ isolate on the plan
Additional view types for purpose will certainly help with Filtering annotation in/out of views for documentation.
Another strategy for doing legends involves using phases. The primary advantage of this strategy is that you can tag that actual components being used in the model as well as seeing exactly what views will show throughout documentation. This technique involves two phases in front of the actual project. For example, if a project has an existing and new construction phase then the two phases for legends would occur before Existing and they could be called Phase Legend and Phase Legend Demo. Then specific model views would be created to add the design elements you will use in the actual project, they would be assigned to the Phase Legend. Further if this technique is used for Curtain Walls then you'd create each unique curtain wall design in Phase Legend and make a group for each unique configuration. Then in Phase Demo these elements are demolished, their Phase Demolished parameter is assigned to Phase Demo.
This means in the Existing phase where you begin documenting the existing conditions there is nothing to see, since those elements have been demolished. Then for each sheet you need a legend view of curtain walls (or any other category element) you add this view or create duplicates for the view if it is needed on more than one sheet. If you needed the curtain wall legend on three sheets you'd have Curtain Wall Legend 1, 2 and 3...all copies of the original. It's a lot of words to describe but in practice it's not difficult at all. Some people use this technique for all their legends because they like being able to tag them just like in the rest of the model so...for floor finishes, ceilings, doors, casework, windows, curtain walls ... you get the idea.
It does require a bit of back and forth since you probably don't know what will actually need to be in a legend until you've designed it in situ...in that case you just copy and paste it into a legend view dedicated to the legend phase later, once you know it needs to be in a legend.
Also...the reason to make a Group of the Curtain Wall design(s) is that a group instance will allow you to place multiple copies of the configuration throughout the design and change any individual instance and have the design change propagate to the other instances of that group. That won't happen copying a curtain wall configuration to another location, they are unique individuals in that condition. A Group make it easier to manage their repetition, just like for other design conditions that repeat in a consistent way.
Steve Stafford
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