Complex Column, How would you model this?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I've a fairly complex column that needs to be modeled in Revit. The only way I was able to achieve the geometry for this column was in a conceptual massing environment where I used a blend, added profiles, and shaped the curvature of the column capital. This family is attached.

My initial approach was to model in the conceptual mass environment then change the category to a column; however, quickly realized Revit doesn't allow this nor does it allow for the mass family to be loaded into a column family. 

Next I exported the geometry of the mass as a DWG or DXF and imported that geometry into a structural column family instead - that worked. However, the nature of the building where the columns attach at the top is a curved profile thus all column heights are different. Creating a separate column for every unique height doesn't seem efficient and once I export the geometry to a CAD format I lose the ability to manipulate it via parameters...

I've attached both families, any suggestions and/or advice would be appreciated. 

[L.Maas]

I would consider to approximate the column shape by using swept blends and then use details to further detail the exact shape

In the screenshot I used 4 swept blends (1 for the column and 3 for the capital). To better approximate the shape you could increas the amount of swpet blends (but would not overdo it for performance reasons).

[shefypattambi]

Two Suggestion.

1)Model the column geometry with adaptive components inside with predefined picking point. once you loaded the adaptive component family u can pick the position depending upon your roof height.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSm_Ye3yd6I

2) try dynamo. if you are familiar with dynamo; by selecting the roof line curve you can crate point on that curve and manipulate that points further to create your column shape.