Revit Suspended Ceiling Help

[Jessicas]

Questions about suspended ceilings..

1- When using the basic 2' x 4' ACT System ceiling in Revit, is there a way to chance which way the grid appears when doing Automatic ceiling?

2-I realize that the grid that appears is just the pattern applied to that specific material....is there a way to change those lines so that they would actually contain the information (a part #)of the metal supports that the ceiling uses?

My workplace is in the process of trying to change from just a visual use of revit to being more of a BIM system and I'm the one doing the brain work.... This is my first time coming across a suspended ceiling and I have no idea where to start. For all intents an purposes the grid "looks" great... but as far as i can tell there is no way to incorporate more "parts" into the ceiling...

Would a line based family be able to use to select grid lines that appear from the ceiling model? Is there an easier way?

[barthbradley]

Have you thought about using a sloped curtain wall? I think this may get you the "BIM" solution you're seeking - at least, the way I understand you. 

[Jessicas]

We havent done anything with curtain walls so I'm not sure how they work... It might be something to look into and try.

[ToanDN]

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@Jessicas wrote:

Questions about suspended ceilings..

1- When using the basic 2' x 4' ACT System ceiling in Revit, is there a way to chance which way the grid appears when doing Automatic ceiling?

I think the 2x4 ceiling orients to match the proportion of the room: 4 runs along the long dimension and 2 runs along the short dimension.  It is not applicable to odd shaped, square, round rooms.

2-I realize that the grid that appears is just the pattern applied to that specific material....is there a way to change those lines so that they would actually contain the information (a part #)of the metal supports that the ceiling uses?

My workplace is in the process of trying to change from just a visual use of revit to being more of a BIM system and I'm the one doing the brain work.... This is my first time coming across a suspended ceiling and I have no idea where to start. For all intents an purposes the grid "looks" great... but as far as i can tell there is no way to incorporate more "parts" into the ceiling...

Would a line based family be able to use to select grid lines that appear from the ceiling model? Is there an easier way?

You cannot build supports to Revit ceilings.  But you can create external support families, whether ceiling based, face based, work plane based, line based, and place them in the project.  They can align to the ceiling grid manually.

Another approach is not using system ceiling families, but using model in-place mass, divide the surface to create the grid, and attach and repeat adaptive support family to the surface's nodes.

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[Anonymous]

Unless you are a ceiling manufacturer trying to show off your products in 3D, I would not model it. There is such a thing as "over modeling" and that would be one of them.  Leave the hangars and suspension systems for details only.

If you are trying to create cost estimates from the Revit model...find out what your overall material sq footage is for ceilings and use an RSMeans book to figure out what it will be for everything....all that stuff gets worked into the cost based on Sq ft...

[chrisplyler · Accepted solution]

The grid pattern is, of course, just a pattern. It can't contain parameters itself.

Option #1: Make custom type parameters for the ceiling - one each for perimeter grid part, long grid part, and short crossing grid part, or whatever you need - and have those in the schedule. Easiest and least confusing.

Option #2: Create a key schedule for the ceiling parts that each ceiling type would have, and use it in conjunction with the ceiling schedule (or room finish schedule if it's going to have all the info). This would be my choice simply for the organized presentation.

Option #3: Don't do this one. It would be a nightmare. But you could actually make families for all the parts and the tiles and physically model the ceilings as they would exist in real life. You couldn't pay me enough to do this, but it's certainly a possibility. It's going to make scheduling a real headache, but you could instead just tag a few representative parts at each ceiling.

[Jessicas]

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@chrisplyler wrote:

The grid pattern is, of course, just a pattern. It can't contain parameters itself.

"Option #1: Make custom type parameters for the ceiling - one each for perimeter grid part, long grid part, and short crossing grid part, or whatever you need - and have those in the schedule. Easiest and least confusing."

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How would you go about adding custom type parameters to the ceiling? @chrisplyler

[chrisplyler]

First I would add them to my Shared Parameter file using the Manage > Shared Parameters tool. If I didn't have such a file already, I would use the tool to create one, create a parameter Group called Ceilings within it, and then add a parameter for each part type (perimeter grid, long grid, short grid, etc.).

Then I would assign them in my project using the Manage > Project Parameters tool. Add a parameter, choose Shared, click on Select and pick one from the shared parameters I had already created, change it to a Type parameter and apply it to the Ceilings category. Repeat for each of the new parameters.

Then I would open my Ceiling Schedule (or create one if I hadn't already) and add those new parameters, making them columns in the schedule. Then I would start adding the part number values into the schedule fields. Since they are type parameters, every ceiling of the same type will auto-fill the values once you fill them in for the first ceiling.