Revit Furniture Family with "Massing"

[RichConyers]

Revit has a knack for having issues with organic geometries. 

I have an example of a chair with a "massing" cushion I have modeled that we use in our Revit models for visualization. 

I've included the following to explain our current issue with the process as well as a request for a better solution. 

If we can't find a viable solution here, I will turn it over to the ideas board. 

1. Current Revit furniture models look blocky and uniform created with sweeps, extrusions, and voids. 

2. We are looking for ways to more effectively use more realistic furniture with compound curves and massing:

3. Currently, the "Generic Model Adaptive" families cannot be nested into "regular" parametric families

4. We want to use parametric families with tables and chairs (etc.) to allow adjustments and scheduling within the model. 

            *The key here is that we are aware of groups and links. We do NOT want groups to be the solution to this for a number of reasons.

Anyone who can shed some light on getting more realistic furniture into parametric families would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-R.

[RichConyers]

Revit has a knack for having issues with organic geometries. 

I have an example of a chair with a "massing" cushion I have modeled that we use in our Revit models for visualization. 

I've included the following to explain our current issue with the process as well as a request for a better solution. 

If we can't find a viable solution here, I will turn it over to the ideas board. 

1. Current Revit furniture models look blocky and uniform created with sweeps, extrusions, and voids. 

2. We are looking for ways to more effectively use more realistic furniture with compound curves and massing:

3. Currently, the "Generic Model Adaptive" families cannot be nested into "regular" parametric families

4. We want to use parametric families with tables and chairs (etc.) to allow adjustments and scheduling within the model. 

            *The key here is that we are aware of groups and links. We do NOT want groups to be the solution to this for a number of reasons.

Anyone who can shed some light on getting more realistic furniture into parametric families would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-R.

[ToanDN]

If you want both organic form and parametric then model them as adaptive generic families change them to Furniture category.

[ToanDN]

If you want both organic form and parametric then model them as adaptive generic families change them to Furniture category.

[RichConyers]

@ToanDN, already done. 

That still does not allow them to nest in other families. 

[RichConyers]

@ToanDN, already done. 

That still does not allow them to nest in other families. 

[ToanDN]

'Other families' need to be created from the adaptive template then changed category as well. All of them.

[ToanDN]

'Other families' need to be created from the adaptive template then changed category as well. All of them.

[RichConyers]

We can also push "regular" furniture families into the generic adaptive families to create the nest there. 

It's just not a great workflow to pull in a table and chair skeleton into a generic model to model a single cushion instead of the other way around. 

It also complicates any chairs that we would like to add options to (parametrically) that are organic in nature. 

My current "work around" is building the chair structure in a furniture template, importing that into the adaptive family, creating cushions, re-adding the parametric dims and textures to the chair, importing the table, re-adding the parameters to the table, adding parameters to the cushion, then importing into the model.

It works, it would just make far more sense to go the other direction and less cumbersome....

[RichConyers]

We can also push "regular" furniture families into the generic adaptive families to create the nest there. 

It's just not a great workflow to pull in a table and chair skeleton into a generic model to model a single cushion instead of the other way around. 

It also complicates any chairs that we would like to add options to (parametrically) that are organic in nature. 

My current "work around" is building the chair structure in a furniture template, importing that into the adaptive family, creating cushions, re-adding the parametric dims and textures to the chair, importing the table, re-adding the parameters to the table, adding parameters to the cushion, then importing into the model.

It works, it would just make far more sense to go the other direction and less cumbersome....

[chrisplyler]

Would an approximation, done with the regular family creation tools, be close enough to satisfy you?

[chrisplyler]

Would an approximation, done with the regular family creation tools, be close enough to satisfy you?

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @RichConyers

It's been quite some time and I was checking back to see how you were doing with your organic chair.

Generative 3D modelling and complex curves are cumbersome since Revit is more suited for parametric modelling.

I've been working on a project for a friend with Victorian furniture models and I came across this demo - worth a try:

Also,If this is for some other type of specific request that doesn't exist today with the product, you may submit your request through our IdeaStation

If you find posts have solved your problem, please click on 'Accept as solution' to help others with similar questions.

Thank you

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @RichConyers

It's been quite some time and I was checking back to see how you were doing with your organic chair.

Generative 3D modelling and complex curves are cumbersome since Revit is more suited for parametric modelling.

I've been working on a project for a friend with Victorian furniture models and I came across this demo - worth a try:

Also,If this is for some other type of specific request that doesn't exist today with the product, you may submit your request through our IdeaStation

If you find posts have solved your problem, please click on 'Accept as solution' to help others with similar questions.

Thank you

[RichConyers]

We've gone to an FBX replace method because of Revit's issues handling multifaceted curves, as well as exporting them in any form. The dynamo solution doesn't really get to where we are talking about going with parametric families and is not conducive to firms without in-house coders or a lot of time on their hands. 

It seems that the simple addition of massing tools in typical Revit families would solve the major part of our conundrum. To-date I have not seen a reasonable solution for Revit. 

Thanks,

Rich C

[RichConyers]

We've gone to an FBX replace method because of Revit's issues handling multifaceted curves, as well as exporting them in any form. The dynamo solution doesn't really get to where we are talking about going with parametric families and is not conducive to firms without in-house coders or a lot of time on their hands. 

It seems that the simple addition of massing tools in typical Revit families would solve the major part of our conundrum. To-date I have not seen a reasonable solution for Revit. 

Thanks,

Rich C

[rauburn]

---

@RichConyers wrote:

We can also push "regular" furniture families into the generic adaptive families to create the nest there. 

It's just not a great workflow to pull in a table and chair skeleton into a generic model to model a single cushion instead of the other way around. 

It also complicates any chairs that we would like to add options to (parametrically) that are organic in nature. 

My current "work around" is building the chair structure in a furniture template, importing that into the adaptive family, creating cushions, re-adding the parametric dims and textures to the chair, importing the table, re-adding the parameters to the table, adding parameters to the cushion, then importing into the model.

It works, it would just make far more sense to go the other direction and less cumbersome....

---

Agreed! The other problem with the Adaptive Component workaround of course is that you don't have the ability to add any 'flip' controls to the family, which a lot of designers tend to rely on to quickly rotate and adjust furniture.

[rauburn]

---

@RichConyers wrote:

We can also push "regular" furniture families into the generic adaptive families to create the nest there. 

It's just not a great workflow to pull in a table and chair skeleton into a generic model to model a single cushion instead of the other way around. 

It also complicates any chairs that we would like to add options to (parametrically) that are organic in nature. 

My current "work around" is building the chair structure in a furniture template, importing that into the adaptive family, creating cushions, re-adding the parametric dims and textures to the chair, importing the table, re-adding the parameters to the table, adding parameters to the cushion, then importing into the model.

It works, it would just make far more sense to go the other direction and less cumbersome....

---

Agreed! The other problem with the Adaptive Component workaround of course is that you don't have the ability to add any 'flip' controls to the family, which a lot of designers tend to rely on to quickly rotate and adjust furniture.