Autodesk is honored to showcase Alfredo Medina in the AutodeskHelp blog's 2016 Expert Elite Highlight series. Alfredo is an experienced and esteemed BIM Manager that has been utilizing Autodesk products since the late 90s and active in sharing knowledge through the Expert Elite program and other avenues.
When was the last time that you visited a theme park? Have you noticed that the architecture of the buildings and the design of common objects have something special? It’s a place for fun and surprise, where fantasy is possible; and this is extended to the design of buildings and objects. Concepts such as alignment, symmetry, rhythm, proportion, order, are not the same in a theme park as they are in normal urban architecture. Design is definitely not “generic” in a theme park. It’s either themed to a special time in history, or themed as per some imaginary place where our beloved characters and heroes live, in a comic strip or in a movie.
If you are a designer working on a theme park project using Autodesk Revit, you might face some special challenges if you try to model these buildings and objects for your project. In this article, I want to make a brief journey inside a theme park, and at the same time explain the basic principles of the adaptive families in Revit, and how these principles can be used to model some of the elements that we see in a theme park. What are my tools in the generic adaptive template of Revit? Points, lines, surfaces, profiles, divisions, and patterns. Let’s describe first some basic concepts about these tools.
Template
First, we need a template to create these Revit families, this template is called Generic Model Adaptive, as shown below:
Inside this template, we need to use points. There are 3 types of points:
- Reference Points,
- Shape Handle Points, and
- Adaptive Points (also known as Placement Points)
These 3 types of points create families that behave differently in the project. Let’s see some basic properties of these points:
1) Reference Points
We use reference points when we need a Revit family that requires parametric precision, a family that can be modified with exact numeric distances.
Reference points have some very useful properties:
- Rotation along the plane of its host.
- Offset in relation to its host.
- Location along a host element.
- Three workplanes that can host other points, lines, or other families.
Reference points look like black dots on the screen. When they are hosted on lines, they look like smaller black dots.
2) Shape Handle Points
We use shape handle points when we need a family that needs to be adjustable, flexible, allowing the user to move the points in the project to change the shape of the family, without worrying about the precision. To create a shape handle point, first you select an existing point and then change its Point parameter to be Placement Point (Adaptive). The shape handle point looks on the screen as shown below. The three workplanes of the points are highlighted in blue.
3) Adaptive Points (also known as Placement Points)
We use Adaptive Points when we want to determine the shape of a family by clicking points on the screen; these points can adapt to the movement of other elements in the project. To create an Adaptive Point, first you create an existing point and change its Point parameter to be Placement Point (Adaptive). Or you select a reference point and use the “Make Adaptive” button on the ribbon. Adaptive Points show their three workplanes in blue, and show a number. A number one indicates that this point would be the first click required from the user in order to execute the family in the project. Adaptive points can be used to create repeater families with reactors for doing adaptive repetitions.
Profiles
Profiles for adaptive templates are made with the generic model template (not with the profile template). These are families that contain 2d shapes, made with model lines, which are usually parametric. For example, a circle with a parameter that controls the diameter. These families should be set as “work-plane” based, to be hosted by the workplanes included in the points. For example, 2 profiles as circles, hosted on points, can create a cylinder, as shown below:
Summary of types of points and their effect in projects
In summary, here’s an example of 3 similar families, made with 3 different types of points:
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A cylinder with 2 profiles on reference points |
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Points can be moved in the family editor but cannot be moved freely in the project. Points can be moved with precision by entering values in parameters. |
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A cylinder with 2 profiles, on shape handle points |
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Points can be moved freely in the family editor and in the project. The shape is loaded in the project exactly as it is modeled in the family. Then, the user can adjust the shape by moving the points. Points can snap to reference planes. |
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A cylinder with 2 profiles, on adaptive points |
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In the project, the user needs to click points on the screen in a certain sequence, as per the number indicated in each point, in order to execute the family. Points lose precision but gain adaptability. These type of points require more processing for Revit and can slow down a project. Points don’t snap to anything. |
Divisions
For making a division, we need a divided path, a number of divisions, and a repeater. The repeater must be a family made with an adaptive template, even if it contains a nested generic element.
Divided Path
For example: a reference line between 2 points can be used as the divided path, by simply connecting two points with a reference line, and using the “Divide Path” tool on the line.
Number of Divisions
This is an integer parameter, which determines how many nodes there will be in the divided path.
Repeater
This is the object that we want to repeat along the divided path. It must be a family with the adaptive template, even if it contains a nested generic model family. For example: a generic “ring” that needs to be repeated along a path, can be modeled in a generic family. Then, this generic family needs to be nested into a generic adaptive family to be the repeater.
Repetitions
Putting all this together, we could make a family like this first object that I found in my journey through the theme park. We need four points, indicated with the blue squares in the diagram below. At points 1 and 4 we host circular profiles, to create the cylinder. Between points 2 and 3 we draw a reference line, and divide it to be a divided path. Then, we load an adaptive family (the repeater), which contains a nested generic “ring” family; we place that family on one of the nodes of the divided path, and then, we repeat the repeater along the path. In this example, the number of divisions is 24.
Another variation of this element is seen in the back of the previous photograph. This one could be represented by a perforated “ring” generic family, which is inserted into the adaptive repeater, copied on top of the first ring, and rotated, to create a repeater that has the pattern that repeats.
The generic family can contain all the parameters required to model the object with more precision. This generic family can be done with regular extrusions, solids and voids.
In this example, the generic family contains a simple array of voids to create the perforations in the panel.
Putting this together, we could create the other variation of this pole, as shown in the next illustration: At points 1 and 4 we host circular profiles, to create the cylinder. Between points 2 and 3 we draw a reference line, and divide it to be a divided path. Then, we load an adaptive family (the repeater), which contains the nested generic “ring” family (twice); we place that family on one of the nodes of the divided path, and then, we repeat the repeater along the path. This time the number of divisions is 12.
Pattern-based panels
In the next photograph, there is a pattern on the floor, indicated with red lines, and there is a pattern in the railing, indicated with green lines.
To create patterns, we need to create families with the generic model pattern-based template. In this template, we can use reference points and reference lines to create the skeleton of the pattern. The template contains adaptive points at each corner of the area that represents the pattern.
The relation between the points that define the skeleton are based on proportions and not on actual distances. In this case we are using another property of reference points, the location along the host. In this example, I have placed reference points on the reference lines, located at specific distances, such as 0.33, 0,66, or 0.20, 0.40, etc… With this points, I have created a spline curve that defines the pattern.
Randomness
In my journey through the park, I found this unique gate or fence. How we could do something like this, and provide fabrication drawings with dimensions for all these random pieces? Is there a logic in this?
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My solution for this gate consists of creating a family that represents a group of 3 wood panels; then, repeat that panel as many times as needed; then, use the Randomizer add-in to create the effect of randomness in the top of the panels and the interior angles in between one board and the next.
This family could be made with a generic template. However, if we want to be able to repeat it along a divided path, the generic family would need to be nested into an adaptive template, and then nested into another family of the same kind to do the repetition. The Randomizer tool would not work in that case. So I have to do this family in an adaptive template.
In the left view of the template, I create a skeleton of reference planes as shown on the right. The angles that control the rotation of the reference lines will create the effect of randomness.
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Using the skeleton of reference planes and reference lines, I create the 3 panels, using some default values for all these angles A, B, C, D, and E, as shown in this image. All these values will vary. |
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A new family, started with the generic model adaptive family, I create a reference line, 24’ feet long (for example). Then I use the “Divide Path” tool to create a series of nodes along the line: |
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Then, we load the family of the 3 wood panels, and place the first instance, By Face, on one of the nodes of the repetition: |
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Then, I click on the first instance, and use the Repeat tool to create the repetition. |
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Then, I use the Randomizer add-in (By Dpstuff, available in Autodesk Exchange), to create the range of values for angles A, B, C, D, and E, as shown on the right: |
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And start using the “Randomize!” button to create several iterations of the same design: |
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A repetition of two elements, post and rail, with some randomness
I found several variations of this design. Notice the randomness in the size of the posts and rails. They all have something in common, the elliptical or rectangular section, but angles and dimensions are always different.
In this case, I need 3 families, made with the generic model adaptive template. One for the elliptical post, one for the horizontal board or rail, and one family to contain the divided path for the repetition.
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The first family represents the elliptical post. It contains parameters for the major and minor axis radius of the ellipse at the bottom and top, a parameter for the height of the post, and a parameter to control the rotation of the ellipse at the top. |
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The second family represents the rectangular board that goes in between two posts. It contains parameters for the height above floor level, for the length, and for the height of the two short sides of the rectangle. |
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Then, in a the 3rd family, we load family 1 and family 2, (post and rail), and create a reference line with a divided path, and place one post and one rail on the nodes of the divided path, and repeat these items: |
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After doing the repetition, all posts and rails look the same, as shown on the right. We will change these dimensions with the randomizer tool. |
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We will change these dimensions with the randomizer tool, using values like these: |
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On the right, we see different results of the randomization: |
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Finally, we can load the family into a project, and apply materials to it, and reuse the pattern as many times as needed. |
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Video demonstration of the randomization of the railing
Conclusion
Well, there are a great number of topics to talk about families that we can make from the objects we find in a theme park, such as roller coasters and dinosaurs, but I hope we can cover those other topics in another session. I hope that the examples presented in this article are useful as a good starting point to get you started before proceeding with more advanced exercises. Thank you very much, and I hope to see you in another article.
For the continuation of this series see Making Revit Families for Theme Park Projects Using the Adaptive Template, Part 2 here: http://autode.sk/2oKrVEw
About the Author, Alfredo Medina
BIM Manager, Revit advocate, speaker, instructor, blogger, video author, family maker, problem solver. I participate in several forums about Revit. I have participated in the Autodesk forums since 1997 (If I remember correctly). I was born in Cali, Colombia. I studied architecture there. I came to the US in 1999 to work for an architectural firm in New Jersey. Some five years later I moved to Florida. At the moment, I work for Universal Creative in Orlando, Florida. I have been a speaker at some events such as Autodesk University in Las Vegas (virtual event, 3 times), and in the Revit Technology Conference (Auckland, New Zealand, in 2013, and Melbourne, Australia, 2014). I speak Spanish, English, and Italian. I enjoy writing, drawing, teaching, solving geometrical problems, listening to classical music, and watching soccer. I follow the Spanish soccer league: La Liga.
Contact information:
Email: info@planta1.com
LinkedIn profile & résumé: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfredo-medina-64357255
Thank you for reading. Autodesk would also like to thank Alfredo for all the contributions provided that benefits the architectural community.
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gracias por compartir, thanks for sharing
