parametric gate door family

[tylerVD3L4]

I am having trouble with this gate family I am trying to create.

It's to go in a curtain wall. I have everything working well, but I can't get the posts in the door itself to work.

In the attached project, I have two doors, "Metal Gate Door" and "Metal Gate Door-001". 

Metal Gate Door-001 works fine, but I messed up with the posts in the "Metal Gate Door".

I am trying to array them, but it breaks.

I based it on the youtube video by bimsmith for a louver. https://youtu.be/DQo_Nxs96pY

What do I do? Here's a link to all the files: https://we.tl/t-WtMZNca5R3

I think I lose it at two things.

(1) The formula for the number of posts in the array and

(2) The height of the posts snapping to the top and bottom of the door frame.

[barthbradley]

Give this one a shot.  

Note how Metal Post Height is controlled in the Array:

 

[barthbradley]

how do you want to handle this condition where the space allotted for posts is not equally divisible by 4-inches? 

[barthbradley]

[tylerVD3L4]

nice @barthbradley ! 😄

How did you get the post height parameter in the panel family? I had it in the metal post family, but I am not sure how to get parameters into the panel family from the 'sub' family of the post.

For the spacing, ideally they would all be equal. I was thinking of taking the distance of the array, and dividing by 4" to get the number of posts.

I think your family works pretty well. If it's too tricky to get the spacing right, I can handle it in a detail of the gate, but this will show up nicely in the model!! 

[Mike.FORM]

If you want the spacing to be equal between the posts you need 2 spacing parameters.

The first would be "target spacing" which you use in the array formula to get the post count.

Then you need an "actual spacing" parameter which you make a formula using the post size, gate width and count parameters to determine the final spacing.

If the metal post side offset parameter you show is different than the spacing parameter you can change you array by unchecking 'append to end'. Then you can lock the first and last element in the array to the reference planes controlled by "metal post side offset" parameter and they will evenly space out between those. This option means you wouldn't need the actual spacing parameter unless you want to know it.

[Mike.FORM]

I updated @barthbradley 's model to have the door posts be equally spaced.

I also added the actual spacing parameter so you can see what it actually ends up being.

[barthbradley · Accepted solution]

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@Mike.FORM wrote:

If you want the spacing to be equal between the posts you need 2 spacing parameters.

All's that needs to be done is Array to Last and drop the "-1" from the post count formula.  

[barthbradley]

maybe also rename "post spacing" to "maximum post spacing"

[Mike.FORM]

I had added "roundup" in my post count formula so that the 4" value would be a maximum.

The way you have it shown without round up or round down the actual spacing could work out to something above or below the target.

Also is there a reason you don't subtract "metal post side offset" twice? you subtract the "side rail" twice.

[barthbradley]

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@Mike.FORM wrote:

I had added "roundup" in my post count formula so that the 4" value would be a maximum.

The way you have it shown without round up or round down the actual spacing could work out to something above or below the target.

Also is there a reason you don't subtract "metal post side offset" twice? you subtract the "side rail" twice.

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okay, so don't rename "post count" to "maximum post count".  

Regarding "metal post side offset": it really doesn't matter if the posts are arrayed to Last.  Why wasn't it "*2" for the Array to 2nd version? Because I didn't what to consider that one side offset in the formula. It was intentional. That's exactly why I asked the OP how he wanted to handle a condition where the allotted space isn't divisible by 4 inches.  

...on second thought: scratch the "doesn't matter" remark.  

[tylerVD3L4]

thanks for the help!

At one point I was getting an error "A reporting parameter can be used in a formula only if its dimension references are all to host elements in the family." This was when I did "post count=panel width/post spacing" . Was the formula wrong or did I need to change the snapping of those dimension parameters?

[barthbradley]

You don't have any Hosts in your Family to Reference.  Those Reporting Parameters only report lengths in the Family/Project. They can't be used in the Family Formulas.  That's why I didn't use any of them.  You can get rid of them if you want.  

...a host would be like the Host Wall in a Door/Window Family.  If a Reporting Dimension was pulled between the exterior and interior face of the Host Wall, then that Reporting Parameter would be used in a Family Formula.  

Here's a good resource to learn about formulas:

Revit Formulas for "everyday" usage - Revit Forum